Gastronomic tours with Swiss Cheese

It was a rare day at the Tellis household today. Philip made something edible in the kitchen. Dad was making steaks and ham with mushrooms and cabbage. I decided to make Golfer's Egg. I've seen it once before in a newspaper a long time ago, and figured, hey what the heck, if I know what it looks like, maybe I can make it. I mean... it works with software right?

The Golfer's egg is basically two slices of sliced bread, with a hole cut out of one of them, and the yolk of a fried egg looking out through it.

1. Take two slices of sliced bread (don't take a pav and slice it, trust me).
2. Cut out a yolk sized hole in the centre of one of them
   (a yolk sized hole is approx. 1" in diameter)
3. Butter the insides
4. Add Jeera (Cumin seeds) and other herbs (I used a bottle of mixed herbs) (but see note below) to the buttered sides.
5. Fry both sides of both slices - use a non stick pan, and do not add any butter or oil in the pan, just let them fry in their own butter. Use a low flame - but you'll really have to figure out the frying time and flame size yourself.
   Once the bread is crisp - and you really want to figure out some way to keep it crisp, take it off, and keep it aside.
6. Now, fry the egg - try and get the yolk in the centre of the pan - it kept sliding to one edge for me. You may need to cool off the pan first to prevent the egg from sticking. Also, make sure the albumen doesn't spread out too far - you want it to fit in the bread, but if it does, don't worry, there's a trick you can use.
7. Once the egg is semi fried, ie, the bottom is firm, but the top is still wettish, place the holed out slice over the egg such that the yolk sticks through the the hole. You'll have to be careful that you don't break the yolk in this process, so try and do it as early as possible into the frying.
8. Let the egg fry as you normally would (if you don't normally fry eggs, then you probably shouldn't be starting with a golfer's
9. If you've let some of the albumen slip out from under the bread, trim it out neatly. You could use a pair of scissors, or just the spatula that you use to lift the egg off the pan with. Do this while still frying. (I've never used a pair of scissors for this). Once the trimmings of the albumen are fried, place them on the full slice of bread - you want it to be as flat as possible.
10. Give the yolk portion a little longer to fry - remember, part of it is in the bread, so it will require a while... you'll have to figure this out yourself.
11. Lift the egg with the bread off the pan and place atop the other slice.
12. And there you have it, golfer's egg

You could of course try your own variations on the herbs and spices used. I think you're supposed to put in Ginger and Garlic paste too, but not being a big fan of either, I left that out.

NOTE: You probably want to add the herbs after you're done frying, or they'll get burnt. Jeera though, is great when fried.

So, after having done all that, I served out three plates with golfer's eggs, a thick slice of ham with melted cheese, some cabbage and mushrooms.

Well, it wasn't all pretty. I started my golfer's egg with three loaves of bread because I couldn't find any sliced bread. That plan went awry without any eggs being used, but I still had a plate full of three loaves worth of sliced up bread.

No problem. Sis turned the bread into a chocolate bread pudding with almonds and raisins. Nice.

So, we had a great dinner, and I feel sleepy now.

French class is on mid-term break, so I stayed late in the office today. That of course means that I'd be hungry by the time I left, so I stopped off for Bhel near Amitabh's place in Juhu. Bhel must be the staple diet of Mumbaikars during non-monsoon months.

Our Bhel walla was on break during the monsoons, but he's back now, just in time for my break :D He charges 10 bucks for everything — Bhel, Sev or Pani puri.

The bhel rates across Mumbai differ widely. What you get also differs. The guys who come around with their wares on their heads offer mainly bhel and sev puri. The cart guys have Pani puri also. Some of them have the Dahi Batata and Masala Puri too.

At other places you'll also get Raghda Pattice and Samosa - Sukha/with Chutney.

While I was doing my hardware diploma in 1994, I befriended a Bhel Walla near Churchgate station. He used to be on the road towards Xavier's boys academy (and USIS/Theosophy Hall). Bhel was 10 bucks then, and it was my daily lunch... at 5:45pm. One day I met him long after I'd stopped going there. I didn't buy any bhel that day, but he bought a pear, and gave me half. :) Nice guy. Checked up on my way to Theosophy hall earlier this year. There's a different guy there now.

When I was in VJTI we used to frequent all the bhel wallas, and there was a huge choice. The guy on the way to Matunga station — just across the main road — used to have the best Masala Puri. It was 5 bucks when we started, and went up to 6 by the time I left. I didn't even have to order, he just knew what I was having.

Then there was the guy midway between VJTI and the main road on the way to Matunga. We used to have bhel there for 6 bucks. It was okay, but huge quantity. I remember myself on my cycle, Murli who would tow me, Narsi and Jagan doing that route almost daily. Sometimes Tinaz and Deepa would be with us. Sometimes it was me, lols, soujanya and monal, and sometimes sushil would come along.

At 5 gardens the demand was high, and so were the prices. 10 bucks for anything, but you got a good squeeze of lime in it. I think that was to make up for the fact that there wasn't much else.

Finally, on the way to Wadala was the Samosa walla. 5 bucks for a plate — two samosas, with raghda and chutney. Was awesome. Mujtaba introduced me to that guy. We also had dahi batata puri, sev puri and bhel puri here. He was by far the best. This was the regular place when I stayed late in college (to study, but mainly to have a snooze :D in sushil's room). sushil, muji and i would take a walk down there, and then go hang out at 5Gs with the other hostelites to watch the walkers :D ;)

Yeah, bhel is a culture in Mumbai. And there's some awesome memories associated with it. The only other item that brings back so many memories is chaaaai. But that's another story :D

Heh, I haven't written this much in a while.