Eggs are an integral part of street foods

Over the years, street foods have invaded our lives. Any city in India or abroad boasts of a large variety of eatables and usually eggs play an important if not vital role. Eggs have always been a part of the menu right from the bachelor days. From simple boiled eggs to omelette and poach with the bright yellow undamaged yolk side up, eggs have always been the attraction. Boiled egg is the easiest to prepare – all it needs is a container to hold the egg, water and a heating medium like the gas stove or an electric heater. The omelette is a tasty dish – apart from the egg, there has to be additives that make the final product more tasty and attractive. These are usually onion, green chili, salt, coriander leaves and of course oil to fry. When it comes to the regular kitchen, eggs transform into scrambled eggs or egg curry or egg do-piazza.

Then there are the egg rolls one can find on display on trollies at street corners in Kolkata. Once upon a time, these used to be a craze but with the entry of other options like South Indian fast foods (the idli, dosa, upama, uthappa etcetera) and Chinese fast foods (the noodles, mo-mo chili chicken etcetera) there has emerged variety. Many have become self employed and these have solved the unemployment issue to a large extent. Coming back to eggs, one cannot ignore the delicious but difficult to prepare mughlai paratha – these require expertise. There is also the vanilla flavored egg puddings that are wonderful desserts. Of course, one cannot imagine cakes minus eggs. At times, the egg whites are beaten up and go to make the icing on cakes.

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Street foods have become a common feature even in Hong Kong

Thanks to television, the world has entered our drawing rooms. From our experience, we know a bit about India and the street foods that tickle our taste buds. Now let us have a look at Hong Kong. Some of its favorite street foods are fish balls, egg tarts, roast goose and pork buns. Then there are Cantonese deserts and local snacks of Hong Kong. Apart from these, there is the rice noodle rolls. These are a sort of snack. The first step is to douse them in sweet sauce, peanut sauce, soy sauce, and chilli sauce. Then comes the sprinkling of sesame seeds followed by steaming before being served hot on the street. To know more about street foods of Hong Kong try this link Where to get the best street food in Hong Kong

There are innumerable TV channels that try to meet the curiosity of food lovers and foodies. They are foodicted and those who run these channels offer an insight into the wide variety of dishes that are irresistible to many. These food outlets are there in Europe, America, Asia and those who love to travel like to carry back memories of exotic dishes. Some of them love to experiment and come up with their own version of a well-known dish.


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Bengalis rolled out the egg-roll culture

If I remember correctly, the egg-roll culture rolled out sometime in the mid-1960s and it caught the fancy of Kolkattans like wild fire. It must have been some bright eyed Bengali who discovered this method of keeping himself gainfully employed and earn a decent living. All it needed was the willingness to toil for six to seven hours in front the oven – and dish out egg rolls by the dozens to everyone from a school child to the grandmother.
It was a time when these trollies could be seen at eve street corner and the trollies would be stocked with trays of eggs, cans of cooking oil and ready-made paratha-like stuff made of a dough of maida. Plus, of course, the chopped onions, and chilies for the omelet.

There would be a huge frying pan placed on top of the stove and, once a customer arrives, one paratha would be placed on the frying pan and a little bit of oil would be applied at the edges. Then the beaten egg mixed with chopped onions would be poured over it. The combination would be rolled, wrapped in a paper and served- ready to munch.
It was a good and honest business and once the fad caught on, the demands branched out to mutton roll, and, occasionally, chicken roll – these depended on clientele.
Anyway, as long as these were individual initiatives, they went along fine until local goons descended on the scene. They began to demand a cut of the profits and followed up with threats to create problem if they were not kept happy. Needless to say – they had the backing of local political leaders.
Still – the enterprising individuals carried on and, over a period of time, they formed small groups and added other fast foods to their menu – fast foods of Chinese origin like chow mein, noodles, chili chicken, momo etcetera. And, began to operate all through the day – in shifts. They had a huge task to keep feeding the Kolkattans. (to be continued …)
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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ICU beckons me for a second time

My first visit to the ICU was for a duration of a fortnight. I was kept under 24-hours observation by the monitors installed in the cabin, my physical movements were restricted, my taste buds went haywire with new concoctions dreamt up by my wife to ensure that I got used to a diet of minimum cholesterol, fats and all the ingredients that do not make for a happy meal. It was a real mental and physical torture not just for me but for my wife and son as well because, in a family of three, one cannot continue to have two different sets of menus at all times. I had to accept it all with a smiling face but, internally, I was determined to find a way out.
Anyway, Man proposes and God disposes and the same happened to me.

It was a month after I was released from hospital. I was gradually returning to normal when it happened again. I had done some marketing of vegetables and fruits and met my doctor there. He enquired about my health and I gave him the thumbs up. Both of us were happy and, after returning home, as I sat down with a cup of tea, I suddenly felt uncomfortable. I was experiencing breathing problems.
My son was not at home so my wife ran to our neighbor and he immediately took me in his car to the hospital and it was a repeat performance of the earlier instance. Knowing my past medical history, the duty doctor admitted me immediately and that was that.
I once again cursed my luck and resigned to my fate. I had stopped smoking, I had moved away from mutton because red meat is loaded with cholesterol, similarly, eggs were banned from my diet. I tried to argue with my wife and convince that the message of ‘Sunday ho ya Monday, roj khao andey’ means that eggs are safe. But, she was not convinced. (to be continued…)

(Image courtesy wikimediacommmons.org)

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