Quarantine life is bringing us together like never before. Before we had Sassi, both of us were consumed with our work in different cities. Once she was here I would see my day fly with her and my home based work while he would still be working all day out of the house. Nothing out of the ordinary but since we didn’t exactly grow up together and got married at what might be considered a more advanced age by desi standards, our days looked a lot different from what it would’ve been through our respective twenties. We were both at an advanced stage of our career with far more responsibilities at work.
Lubbé lubaab Yeh (so Bottomline is) that we hardly ever got to have leisurely breakfasts or extended brunches. It is only through quarantine that I’m finding out what my husband likes to eat for breakfast more than other things. He is a fairly no nonsense guy when it comes to food. Frankly I won’t know how to handle a guy otherwise since I grew up in a household where any comment on the food quality was off limits. As long as it’s cooked. You eat it. Period. Blessed with a husband who follows the same Standard Operating Procedure is a relieve I don’t usually realise but here I am. Realising it.
In the past week I found out his undying love for Khageena. Something I grew up watching Ammi (Nani) make on Sundays with Paratha. This man gets ecstatic with just toasted bran bread and refuses a paratha. Slight emotional adjustment but I’m fine with that.
Here’s a recipe I found online and tweaked slightly to make this bad boy suit our needs.
Though it is amazing how through times of despair we find connections we didn’t find time to make earlier or wipe the dust off some.
More on Quarantine Life but for now, here’s the Khageena that makes my husband a happy man.
For Khageena (serves 4 or one very happy husband)
11/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup finely chopped tomatoes
1 Tablespoon fresh mint and cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1-1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 green chillies chopped fine
4 eggs
2 Tablespoon oil
In a heavy bottom pan, heat the oil and fry the onions and green chillies till the onions are golden brown. Add the ginger garlic paste (and run for cover. This sputters!) and fry till the raw smell disappears. Add the turmeric, red chilly powder and salt and stir well. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till it turns mushy, but the liquid is more or less dry. This is important else you will have an eggy smell in the Khageena. Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk lightly with a fork. Pour the eggs into the onion mixture and cook on medium heat, stirring until the eggs are cooked and scrambled into small pieces. Continue to cook till there is no liquid and the eggs and onion mixture have merged. It should be light brown in colour. Stir in the cilantro and mint leaves and stir fry another few seconds. Serve hot with paratha or toast.
Original recipe : https://arundati.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/khagena-eggs-hyderabadi-style/
Thanks Arundati for such a balanced recipe. I quite literally had to tweak a few quantities and adopt this as a staple!
