Cheddar

Eggs Kejriwal

by:
August 20, 2020
4.5
2 Ratings
Eggs Kejriwal
Photo by Haarala Hamilton
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 10 minutes
  • Serves 1
Author Notes

Fried eggs atop chile cheese on toast is a favorite of the well-to-do Willingdon Club, the first such Bombay institution to admit Indians. It is reputedly named after the member (not to be confused with the Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal) who, not allowed by his wife to eat eggs at home, kept asking for the dish.

The most convenient way of finishing the eggs here is to use a frying pan that can go into the oven. If you don’t have one, fry the eggs until cooked in the pan, then top with the cheese, spring onions, chile and pepper. The cheese won’t melt quite as much, but it will still be delicious. If your frying pan is reliably non-stick you should need little or no oil.

Reprinted from Dishoom: From Bombay With Love by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar, and Kaved Nasir. Bloomsbury (2019). —Food52

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 80 grams mature cheddar, grated
  • 1 or 2 thick slices of white bloomer, sourdough, or brioche
  • 2 spring onions, very finely chopped
  • 1 green chile, very finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 1 or 2 large eggs (one per slice of toast)
  • Coarsely ground black pepper
  • Tomato ketchup
Directions
  1. Let the grated cheese come up to room temperature; it needs to be quite soft and workable.
  2. Heat the oven to 240°C/Fan 220°C/Gas 9 (464°F). Place a baking tray inside to warm up.
  3. Toast the bread until very lightly browned on both sides. Set aside to cool slightly while you prepare the topping.
  4. Put a small handful of the grated cheese (roughly 10g), 1 tsp chopped spring onion and a pinch of green chilli to one side, to be used when you fry the egg(s).
  5. Crack the egg(s) into a cup or small bowl, being careful to keep the yolks intact.
  6. Put the remaining cheese, spring onions and green chile into a bowl, add plenty of black pepper and mix well. Using the back of a spoon (or your fingers), work the cheese mixture into a paste by pressing it firmly into the side of the bowl.
  7. Spread the cheese mix evenly over the toast and press it into the bloomer, using the back of the spoon, to create a firm, even layer that goes all the way to the edges. Place the toast on the tray in the oven and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until deep golden and bubbling.
  8. While the chile cheese toast is cooking, warm a frying pan over a high heat and, if using, add the oil. Gently tip the egg(s) into the hot pan and add some black pepper. Top with the reserved grated cheese, spring onion, and green chile. Place the frying pan in the oven and cook for 2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the egg white(s) are cooked but the yolk(s) are still runny.
  9. Carefully slide the egg(s) onto the cheese on toast and serve right away, with plenty of tomato ketchup.
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8 Reviews

cosmiccook
cosmiccook August 30, 2020
What is a bloomer?
 
Pecan
Pecan August 29, 2020
Wow, I am surprised Food 52 actually bothered to share the origins of this recipe and didn't just appropriate it, like they did with Alison Roman's stew aka chana masala. Kudos. Just take baby steps, I am sure you will get there.
 
gandalf
gandalf August 21, 2020
What do you do with the reserved 10 g of grated cheese and 1 tsp. of chopped onion (Step 4), after putting it to the side? I am unclear on this point.
 
Chotu
Chotu August 21, 2020
And when / how are you cooking the eggs? Recipe seems incomplete.
 
jlg84
jlg84 August 22, 2020
This is rather typical of Food52. They don’t seem to edit their recipes very well.
 
Brinda A.
Brinda A. August 24, 2020
Hi! Just want to share that this is due to an ongoing product bug that unfortunately is deleting steps of recipes at random. Rest assured, we're looking into this and will get back to you ASAP with the full directions. (And for what it's worth, this recipe came from a cookbook that was previously edited by a separate editor, so it is not necessarily a matter of our editing standards here!)
 
Gigi
Gigi August 30, 2020
It says in the full recipe to fry them til done but still runny. You have to open up the recipe.
 
gandalf
gandalf August 30, 2020
Yes, it does now; but when the recipe was first posted, several of the steps that are now included in the recipe were missing (including the one about frying the eggs).