Parsis can add eggs to almost any dish and even use them to ward off the evil eye
You’re not in a real Parsi home if you don’t find trays of eggs stacked over each other in the kitchen. It would be blasphemous if a Parsi restaurant’s menu didn’t boast a separate section of egg dishes. The Parsi community’s penchant for the humble egg in their cuisine is well known.
For the rest of the world, the egg may be an ingredient for breakfast dishes or desserts, but for Indian Parsis, the community of Zoroastrians from Persia (now Iran) who settled in Gujarat in the 7th century, other than relishing good food, the egg is a way of life.
Parsi-style Eggs
“It’s difficult to explain our undying love for eggs,” says Kainaz Contractor, who co-runs Rustom’s Parsi Bhonu, a Delhi-based restaurant that offers home-style traditional Parsi food. “How can anyone resist a simple fried egg with a runny yolk? What I love the most is how comforting eggs are, not to mention their versatility,” says the food writer turned restaurateur.
Every Parsi has grown up on a diet of eggs. “Right from the age of one, my mother fed me one fried egg every morning,” recollects Rita Kapadia, a software engineer who runs Parsi Cuisine, a 20-year-old blog on all things Parsi food. Meanwhile, Contractor has been a fan of eggs from a young age. “My parents tell me stories of days when I polished off three to four eggs in one sitting,” she exclaims.
Tracing how the egg came to dominate the Parsi recipe book, Contractor explains, “During the month of Bahman, the protector of all animals, Zoroastrians abstain from eating meat. Since the availability and variety of vegetables were limited, fish and eggs were the mainstays of the month.”
Par Eeda
The Parsis don’t believe as much in the famous saying “break a leg” as they believe in their cooking motto, “when in doubt, break an egg.” Be it vegetables, meat, paratha, leftover food, the Parsis can turn around absolutely any dish by breaking an egg over it. “Eggs can uplift any plain dish to something indulgent with minimum fuss,” says Contractor.
To make vegetables more appealing to children, Parsi parents often introduce egg into the recipe. It’s no wonder then that many Parsi recipe names include the Gujarati term “par eeda” or “par eedu”. “It means ‘eggs on top of’,” says Kapadia, “so ‘Bhindi Par Eeda’ means ‘eggs on top of bhindi.”
The menu at Rustom’s Parsi Bhonu has a section dedicated to egg dishes. “This includes vegetables topped with eggs. There’s bheeda (crispy okra), papeta (garlicky potatoes), and tamota (spiced tomatoes) topped with egg,” says Contractor.
Poro and Akoori
Besides the “par eeda” variations, Poro and Akoori are the two most popular egg recipes from the Parsi kitchen. The Poro is a Parsi-style masala omelette with onions, coriander, green chillies, turmeric, ginger-garlic and red chilli powder. “We add a splash of milk while whisking the egg to make the omelette fluffy and light,” says Contractor. The Akoori could be compared to scrambled eggs or egg bhurji, but Kapadia explains, “The Akoori is made a little looser and is less cooked than the egg bhurji.”
Beyond the Kitchen
For Parsis, the egg is more than just another ingredient in the kitchen, with its significance extending to Parsi culture. “In ancient Iran, and the entire Caucasian region, eggs symbolise fertility and new life,” explains Contractor. The egg plays an integral part in the Parsi Ses or auspicious puja thali. Kapadia says, “Egg is added as the one that gives life and represents fertility.”
“It was and is still a custom to decorate hard-boiled eggs on Navroz. The Christians later adopted this custom to celebrate Easter,” adds Contractor. The community also uses eggs to ward off the evil eye. “We believe that if the evil eye is encountered or a bad wish may wreak havoc in your life, you take a raw egg and circle it around the person’s head seven times while reciting Parsi prayers to negate the evil eye,” says Kapadia. This ritual is common at Parsi weddings and Navjote celebrations.
[Originally published by Zee Zest]
