Spice up your scrambled eggs

By Metro Creative

Conventional wisdom says breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But many people find breakfast is also the most bland meal of the day. Those who want to venture off the beaten breakfast path to enjoy something more flavorful than another bowl of cereal can spice things up with this recipe for “Akoori (Indian Scrambled Eggs),” a tasty if somewhat more fiery take on traditional scrambled eggs from Suneeta Vaswani’s “Easy Indian Cooking” (Robert Rose).

Indian Scrambled Eggs

Serves 4 to 6

8 eggs

1 teaspoon salt or to taste

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 cup chopped onion

2 teaspoons finely chopped green chile (see tip below)

1 cup chopped tomato

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Tomato wedges and cilantro sprigs, for garnish

1. In a bowl, gently whisk eggs, salt and pepper. Do not beat.

2. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and add cumin seeds. Stir in onion and green chile and saute until golden, 3 to 4 minutes.

3. Add tomato and saute, stirring continuously, for 1 minute. Stir in cayenne, turmeric and cilantro. Cook for 1 minute longer. Reduce heat to medium-low and slowly add egg mixture. Cook, stirring gently, until eggs are soft and creamy, 3 to 4 minutes. Do not overcook.

4. Serve garnished with tomato wedges and cilantro sprigs.

Tip: The important thing in Indian cooking is to use a chile pepper with spirit. Fresh cayenne peppers, or any similar ones, would work very well. If using Thai peppers, now readily available in North America, use only half the amount called for in the recipe. In a pinch, jalapenos also can be used.