Hard-boiled Egg Whites with Veggies — Mutta Thoran

With the Easter egg frenzy visible in every food magazine, I decided to try and share something new with this egg-ceptional food. Right in time for celebration.

Eggs are central to many cuisines and one of the most versatile of all ingredients in the kitchen, as it's used to bind, thicken or lighten a dish, as well as for glazing. Many recipes, sweet and savory, call for the extensive use of eggs—cakes, macaroons, cookies, custards, pancakes, waffles, fritters, French toast, soufflé, frittata—and it can be quite tricky for anyone following a vegan diet, or allergic to eggs, to avoid dishes prepared with this food.

The nutritional value is exceptional and the glory is that eggs can be cooked and served to suit your individual taste. Scrambled, fried, poached, hard-boiled or soft-boiled. Personally, I adore omelet. My family too. This is one guilty pleasure we indulge in a lot. Served with bread for breakfast, a side  dish for lunch, or rolled into pita bread or chapatti for a simple and hearty supper. Whatever the meal, I’m always happy to whip up the exquisite fluffy omelet. Perhaps because this takes me back to those times when my cooking skill was limited to the basic omelet recipe I prepared for Sunday breakfast, from freshly collected eggs  from the chicken in our courtyard. Like many children, my sibling and I loved to gorge on omelets and noodles for breakfast. Oh yeah...Oh yeah.

As a kid, I used to hate yolks. Unfortunately, not much has changed in this food habit since my salad days. In fact, despite the great nutritional profile of the yolk, my whole family shies away from eating the yolk when eggs are served fried or boiled. How peculiar, huh? Okay, let  me elaborate a bit to help you understand this behavior. The men in my family are fitness freaks—two of them even successful international models. Needless to say, with the focus on being fit, lean and muscular, they avoid the high cholesterol yolks and rely on the protein packed egg whites, that too oodles of them, to increase their muscle mass. Did you know that two egg whites equals protein of one regular egg, that too minus the fat or cholesterol? No wonder bodybuilders don’t care for egg yolks!

When I came across this new egg recipe in one of the old cookbooks by Mrs. K. M. Mathew (Malayalam edition), I was immediately inspired to try it. With out the yolks, of course. Just the way we like it.

Hard-boiled Egg Whites with Veggies — Mutta Thoran

Ingredients

2 cup egg whites, boiled and diced (I used around 7 eggs)

1 cup veggies (carrot, beans and cabbage), chopped

1 teaspoon split black lentils (urad dal)

¼ cup onion, quartered and finely sliced

½ teaspoon ginger, shredded

2 small green chilies, sliced

10 curry leaves

1 teaspoon black mustard seeds

½ teaspoon kashmiri chili powder (optional)

1 ½ tablespoon oil

salt, to taste

Directions

To boil eggs, place them in a saucepan, cover with cold water by an inch and simmer over medium heat for about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat, drain and then soak in cold water for 2 minutes to stop cooking. Peel, cut into half, and separate whites from yolks. Now cut the egg white into small cubes; set aside.  

Meanwhile, heat oil in a wok or nonstick pan, over medium-low heat. Add mustard seeds and cook until they crackle, about 30 seconds, then add lentils and toss well for 15 seconds. Stir in onion, curry leaves, chili and ginger and cook until the onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Tip in the veggies with salt and chili powder, if using, and cook on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes until tender, but still has some bite. Now add the egg and gently toss everything together for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Enjoy the egg and the beauty of the season until I see you next time.

Wish you all a Happy Easter, if you celebrate that holiday.