“Egg whites & yolks cooked together in butter with the addition of salt & pepper & served while eggs are slightly undercooked”, that’s the easiest summarization of a simple scrambled eggs recipe. Easy to cook & quite filling. Who invented scrambled eggs is yet a mystery to us. Although during Tudor times (16^th century England) a dish called buttered eggs was known. Buttered eggs were served with bread & loosely looking at the recipe it can be concluded that scrambled eggs are based on the same concept. Today many recipes of scrambled eggs exist throughout the world.  

Egg Bhurgi/Anda Bhurji- a dish somewhat based on the concept of scrambled eggs is quite famous in India. The dish originated from Indian subcontinent & Iranian plateau. It is a popular dhaba (street side restaurant) food & is often served with pav (dinner roll/ yeasty roll) or roti or naan. Like scrambled eggs, the inventor of egg bhurgi is unknown. According to one indiatimes article, parsi (Zoroastrian) community introduced Bhurji Pav in Mumbai. However, I am quite certain the dish was widely available at Iranian joints as well. The main difference between scrambled eggs & eggs bhurji is the level of spiciness. Scrambled eggs are mostly subtle in flavour while egg bhurgi is quite spicy. Bhurgi often contains onions, tomatoes & different Indian herbs & spices. However, the addition & deletion of ingredients is purely subjective. My mother cooks bhurgi with only onions & green chillies; while I cook it with tomatoes, onions, green chillies & garlic. (My version somewhat resembles dhaba style cooking).

Like every other Indian dish, a vegetarian substitute for egg bhurji was promptly developed. It is called Paneer Bhurji, in which egg is substituted with paneer (Indian cottage cheese). For health conscious-calorie watching people tofu bhurji can also be made. However, it is my humble belief that the original taste of egg bhurji cannot be replicated with other substitutes.

Here’s my Version of Egg Bhurji:

Ingredients:

1. Eggs
2. Onions, finely chopped (for authentic Indian taste, use red onions)
3. Tomatoes, finely chopped
4. Garlic, finely chopped
5. Green chillies (Thai chillies), finely chopped
6. Oil
7. Turmeric powder
8. Red chilli powder
9. Salt
10. Pepper
11. Freshly chopped coriander/cilantro leaves

Method:

1. Add oil in a kadhai/wok/pan.
2. When the oil is hot enough, add garlic & sauté for a bit.
3. Add turmeric powder (lower the heat while doing this if you are a novice in handling turmeric powder, as turmeric powder quickly burns)
4. Add chopped onions & tomatoes, mix well.
5. Cook the veggies, stirring in between.
6. When veggies are cooked (tomatoes start leaving the oil), add eggs. (you can directly break the eggs in kadhai or break the eggs separately, slightly whisk them & add).
7. Mix the eggs & veggies properly.
8. Add green chillies, red chilli powder, salt & pepper. Mix well.
9. Add freshly chopped coriander/cilantro leaves.
10. Serve with pav or roti.