Dim die chichinga bhaja / Snake Gourd Fry with Scrambled eggs

 I got some snake gourd / chichinga from a friend and memories came flooding. Maa used to make dim die chichinga / snake gourd fry with scrambled eggs whenever she could get hold of them. She was a vegetable freak, and though at that time I could not understand her obsession with veggies, as I am growing older, I can better understand her situation. Despite being not so loud in arguing with our parents, we were a troubled lot, who had a bad relationship with veggies. We loved potatoes and that is what we wanted to eat always. Too much whining would end up in a beating and then me and my sister would wipe our tears silently while we stuffed our mouth with veggies and rice. It was a typical everyday situation in our house and all would have been forgotten within five minutes after the end of the meal. Next day the same events took place at the same time. 

While I smiled alone with the snake gourds in my hand, my husband thought I am turning mad because of all the lockdowns and pandemic and left me to myself in the kitchen. In a trance I proceeded to make the dish right away for our dinner and the dish turned out to be a piece torn from our childhood and served in a platter to awoke all those emotions packed inside nicely for 2 years, since the pandemic hit. The snake gourd / chichinga recipe is simple to say the least and takes about 15 minutes to prepare. But that is what our everyday food looks like. Simple, seasonal and defined. Not loaded with spices or oils, but a simple soul soothing vegetable fry, which can be eaten anytime during the day without much thinking about the acidity.

Snake Gourd Fry with scrambled eggs

Serves 3

Ingredients:

300gm chichinga / snake gourd

1 small onion - thinly sliced into half moon shapes

2 large eggs

1 tsp Bengali five spices / ranch foron

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 dry red chilli

salt & sugar to taste

2-3 tbsp mustard oil ( as per choice)

Method:

Peel the skin of the snake gourd and cut the head and stem from it. Then cut them half lengthwise and chop into thin slices. They should look like thin half moon shape.

Heat the oil in a kadai and add the patch foron and dry red chilli into it.

When the spices become aromatic (it should take about 10-15 seconds), add the sliced onions to them.

Sprinkle some salt and fry the onions until they become translucent.

Then add the snake gourd into it.

Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.

Then cover the kadai and cook on low until the snake gourd becomes soft.

Once the snake gourd is cooked, break the eggs into the kadai.

Stir and cook making the eggs to scramble and turn them into small bits of pieces.

Once the eggs are firm, switch off the flame.

Add sugar and stir to mix.

Serve immediately with another drizzle of mustard oil.

This recipe can be paired with simple lentils and rice or chapati or paratha.