Dheekra was the single word that started my love affair with Parsi food. I had heard that word many times in Indian movies. Growing up abroad I did not know what it meant. I asked my father. It means a "child" he said, it is Parsi. What was Parsi? Who were these people, always portrayed in the movies to be a fair skinned intellectual lot? I had to learn more. Rohinton Mistry's books opened doors for me to a culture that was complex and lovely and endearing. I fell in love with the characters he created, living together in a multi-storey building in Mumbai. A community that is small in number, it has contributed to the world’s political, business and arts in amazing ways: think JRD Tata, Godrej (India’s leading business families) and Zubin Mehta. They came from what was Persia, now Iran, and landed in India in the state of Gujarat. Unfortunately this wonderful community is fast decreasing in numbers. This is primarily due to the structure of their religion, Zoroastrainism. There are no converts allowed. One can only be born Parsi. Their cuisine is a tantalizing marriage of Persian and Gujarati styles. Flavoring their curries with nuts and apricots, they brought the richness of Persia to the simple Gujarati food. Parsi food is not hot with chilies but has complex flavors and textures. They are primarily non vegetarians and enjoy eating chicken, mutton and eggs. I saw a recipe years ago on the Parsi way of making eggs – cooking them on top of potato chips. I would read the recipe over and over again and while it sounded quite interesting, i have to admit that I did not quite have the nerve to try it.. I mean frying eggs on top of potato chips? Then, I thought, what do I have to lose. I will try it and if I hate it, I will just eat something else! Well, there was no worry of that. The dish combines all my favorite ingredients – onions, potato chips and yes, eggs. It is delicious, unusual and is now a staple in my kitchen. 
Photo for my blog by wasabimon.com
I would love for you to try it and share your thoughts here.
Eggs on Potato Chips (Wafer Par Ida)
Recipe adapted from My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home CookingCopyright © 2007 by Niloufer Ichaporia King.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon ghee, clarified butter, or mixture of vegetable oil and butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon Ginger-Garlic paste (optional)
2 to 3 hot green chiles, finely chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
4 good handfuls of plain potato chips from a just-opened bag
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon (about) water
• Heat the ghee over medium heat in a sturdy
medium skillet, preferably cast iron. Add the onion and let it soften, stirring occasionally, a few minutes. Before it browns, add the paste if you like and the green chiles, and as soon as the mixture looks cooked, add the fresh coriander. Crumble in the potato chips, tossing the contents of the pan to combine them thoroughly. Make nests in the surface of the mixture—they'won't be perfect hollows—and crack an egg into each. Pour a tablespoon or so of water around the edges of the pan to generate some steam, cover the skillet tightly, and let the eggs cook just long enough to set the whites without turning the chips soggy.
• Turn out onto waiting plates.
Serves 2 to 4.
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
That looks tantalising for sure…recipe seems to be quick and easy…have to try this,thanks for the recipe
Oh my! I would eat that for sure.
Looks amazing. I bet the saltiness of the chips adds so much to the flavor!
Looks like a quick breakfast to start an active day… Must give it a try.
Ok, frying eggs on top of potato chips???? This is officially the most genius thing I’ve seen today. Runny eggs and potato chips are two of my boyfriend’s favorite foods. He *needs* this breakfast in his life! ASAP!
I was intrigued by Parsi food while travelling in India as well – it has the complexity of flavors I love about Indian food without the blinding heat I’m not bold enough to take. But this recipe reminds me of my grandfather, who, when he thought no one was looking, used to eat his morning scrambled eggs scooped up with Pringles potato chips. It’s a suprisingly good combination. I wonder what he would have thought of this?
This looks so good! I’m going to have to try it!
My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking, is getting rave reviews on Amazon. Just what I need, LOL, another cookbook. But …. can’t …. resist …. ordering ….. it! Thanks for posting this, Monica!
Oh, yum. Really, potato chips, health issues aside, are the perfect food. This reminds me a tiny bit of migas, the mexican dish of tortilla chips with scrambled eggs: the same irresistable combo of crunchy/salty with eggy protein and strong spice. My kids will go bananas for this excuse to eat their favorite, infrequent snack!
Deb of Smitten Kitchen tweeted of her breakfast envy when she saw this picture. What a unique idea! I could go for this!
I showed this to my husband and now he wants it. So, I can see I will be potato chipping it soon. What an interesting recipe.
Oh My goodness!! This looks absolutley delcious. BTW, I love Rohington Mistry’s books as well!
I am definitely trying this out. I’m Iranian/Persian and I love Indian food. I have Iranian ghee to use too. Perfect!
I think my husband and I could really get into this! Yum!
fried eggs and potato chips are my two favorite foods, and this recipe is simply genius!
This looks amazing! I wonder how it would taste if you used fresh potatoes instead of ready-made chips….I cant wait to try this!
Isn’t it amazing what we discover when we occasionally step outside of our culinary comfort zones? Having grown up in the deep southern U.S., I of course would have never experienced anything remotely like this recipe, but your creative writing of it and beautiful photo makes me want to try! As you say, what do you have to lose? A few eggs and potato chips. Big deal, right?
Wowo looks beautiful and sounds super delicious, whoc can resisit this delicous combination, I am so gonna try this and will sure tell you how much we enjoyed well i know for sure even before making this we will enjoy them imensly.
I love fried eggs. I love potato chips. Put together and that looks delicious!
What a lovely combination of flavors and textures…my family is south Indian, and we always eat lays potato chips with rasa and rice. Will have to give this a shot! Great photograph too.
That looks like a Swedish Pytt i Panna. It is a left over kind of dinner where we mix everything we have in the fridge: potatoes, sausages, root vegetables… And them we fry an egg to put on top!
That sounds so yummy!!!
I love this idea congrats on Top 9. GREG
Rohinton Mistry is one of my favorite authors. This recipe is brilliant, makes me wish I liked eggs!
Congrats on your Top 9 spot! This recipe doesn’t sound weird to me at all – just yummy. Does that make me weird?
Love eggs…love potato chips…love cilantro…love onions… Bookmarked! Gotta give this a try.
I too have a recipe to share that I thought I would hate and ended up loving. Those are the best recipes and you hold on to them because of the surprise.
this is insanity! so good. i love sandwiches with potato chips in them so i can’t imagine how amazing it would be with eggs on top. love this so much.
This is an amazing dish Monica; my husband cooked this for me this past weekend. I was absolutely enamored with all the flavors. I’m going to feature it on my ‘cook the blog’ series this Friday. Will include link backs and references to your site!
I can see my nephews going nuts over these! I prefer scrambled eggs to fried, but I would be willing to try them for this. Thank you so very much for sharing the recipe with us.
Carol
What an interesting concept. I think my husband (who is a vacuum by the way) can eat just about any of my creations, but this is a little different. I think you will either love or hate this dish! I might like it, but I’m really a texture person so it can be a hit or miss..
-Sylvia
Digital Kitchen Scale
Potatoes are one of the most common vegetables all over the world. They are cheap, easy to cook and have so many health benefits.
You can bake them, boil them, microwave them… everyone can make something to eat with potatoes.I will start to grow tomatoes
in my farm and now learning watever i can about them, thanks for information. I also found another good site
about potatoes and so many other methods of agriculturing, i recommend you to take a look.
http://agricultureguide.org/
We do this on a regular basis minus the potato chips though… the eggs on onions …
potato chips & eggs… Why not,? it sounds so innocently delightful! would love to see more parsi recipes, akoori ….
Nice idea! I’ve done something similar with coarse breadcrumbs made of crushed cracker bread.
You have a way with potatoes… guess you love eggs too. Both of these my favorites too
This looks so awesome that I can’t wait to try it. What a way to get the crunch without having to wait 30 minutes or more for my hashed browns to get crispy. I think this recipe would serve 1 though. JUST ME!!
i love rohinton mistry’s books. this recipe is a great idea ! dhansak is still my favorite parsi dish
they are the best bakers too !