Featuring eggs in an eggsiting way!
Although I had this topic on my mind for several months, I just could not bring myself to pen down my thoughts until today. There would be so much to write about, on eggs! It is something you can have for breakfast, lunch and dinner! It can be cooked in so many different ways, used in so many different kinds of dishes that it is overwhelming.
If ever I am short of eggs in my house, I feel like I have nothing at all. Eggs have that kind of power over me!
Eggs are a rich source of protein, omega 3 and other vitamins and minerals. They are few of the only sources of vitamin D contained in food.
My family is very fond of eggs. I tend to mix salad or barbeque leftovers to my eggs mixture just to make a change from the normal fried egg or omelette breakfast that they expect.
One of the most popular egg dish I whip up regularly at home is our local favourite; zege or chips mayai. My kids love it and so I tend to make it just the way it is supposed to be made with hardly ever any experimentations unless it is to add to the chips either sausages or left-over barbeque chicken and/or mishkaki. In which case, it takes this dish into a completely different yummy level. To it add some chopped vegetables consisting of grated carrots, cabbages and/or lettuce, slices of tomatoes and cucumbers and you have a filling meal ready to be devoured. It tastes equally good as breakfast, lunch and dinner.
While looking up information on the internet about eggs, I found out the reason why eggs come in different colours. Did you know the difference in colours is due to the different breeds of chicken?
Normally I store my eggs in the refrigerator but recently when I bought a tray of eggs; I just kept the tray at the top of my kitchen cabinet. We went away for a few days and on our return, I found my kitchen smelling extremely badly. We just couldn’t trace the source of the awful smell. I then decided to clean the whole kitchen from top to bottom and upon cleaning the top part of the kitchen cabinet a horrible sight and odour met us. The eggs had gone bad and the odour was emanating from the tray of eggs I had stored there.
For quite some time after that, I was so afraid of the eggs going bad again that every other day I would test the freshness of them. How do you do that? Take a dish and fill it with water, place the eggs in it. Old ones will float while the new and fresh ones will sink to the bottom of the dish.
Most importantly, do not store your eggs outside. Better to be safe and store them in the refrigerator than to be smelly sorry later.
One other neat trick I learnt was how to tell if a boiled egg has been cooked well or is still raw, is to spin it like a top. If it spins well it means it is hard and properly cooked but if it wobbles then it means it is still raw and needs to go back into the pan to be cooked some more. This has been extremely helpful to me as I get absent-minded and can never remember how long I have had the egg boiling and sometimes end up cracking it much earlier than I should.
Egg is a very good source of protein. Children should be encouraged to have it in their diet however they like it. My youngest son is a very fussy eater. His main diet consists of plain rice alone. One time I cooked the rice with an egg (I beat the egg and mixed it into the boiling pot of rice) the egg cooked so well that not a trace of it could be seen and he ate it all up. It was a very gratifying moment for me as I knew he had something new and nutritional added to his diet without any extra fuss.
Speaking of kids, one afternoon I had an errand to run and had to leave my kids on their own for a while. Before I left, I told them to play outside in the garden and if the neighbours’ kids came over they could have a lemon and spoon race, which they normally play and enjoy. Thus, I went off with the knowledge that the inside of my house would be clean and tidy just as I had left it and the little mess that they would make outside wouldn’t be too hard to clean up. How very mistaken I was! When I got home, I nearly slipped and fell right at the gate. My garden was shining and smelling something, I could not quite recognise at that time. Instead of playing lemon and spoon, my over smart children tried to make it a more challenging game by playing egg and spoon race instead. It took me a while to clear out the mess but worse than that was the smell which lingered for many days after this frightfully memorable incident!
I did not find it funny at the time but when I think about it and remember the children’s scared expressions over my reaction, I allow myself to have a good laugh. You can laugh too!
Ummehani
0762445210
