Eggs and potatoes have always been a weakness for any average Bengali. Especially for an average common Bengali like me, who has gone through hostel life. Lots of hard-boiled eggs, mashed with boiled potatoes and eaten with hot steaming rice with a dollop of ghee or butter — it is manna from heaven. And for many Bengalis, it is a staple diet, eaten even during breakfast!

And who doesn’t like the ‘Solanum Tuberosum’ — the Potato. At home on Sunday mornings, it was always luchi and aloo torkari (potato curry). Even with the main meal, like rice, dal and fish, there would always be a bowl of jhuri aloo bhaja (thin crispy fried potatoes). We would have it with the dal or with only rice and ghee.

Of course, potatoes are the core of most Bengali dishes. You cannot have a machher jhol (fish curry) without potatoes, regardless of whether you put cauliflower or any other vegetable into it. So, the koi phulkopi (koi fish with cauliflower) will have potatoes as an inherent part of the dish. This was just the beginning of my taste buds salivating for mishti kumro aloo (sweet pumpkin and potato curry) or a chorchori (mixed vegetables with potatoes). And the most cherished — aloo posto (potato with poppy seeds). 

My love for potato preparations nearly had me arrested! This was during a trip to the US. My friend had specially requested me to bring him aloo posto. The US customs stopped me and said that I would be jailed for carrying poppy seeds. Luckily for me, I was carrying posto paste, so was saved!

My love for eggs is another story altogether. This intrinsic love story started from childhood with the aroma of an omelette wafting in the morning air. Eggs, in all its forms and variations, is my other weakness and I’m not eggs-aggerating it! My fascination for eggs was enhanced further when I first visited this 91-year-old teahouse — Flurys on Park Street.

Who doesn’t know about Flurys and its scrumptious breakfast?! Their beans-on-toast, although I always added a poached egg on the side. For all egg lovers, the introduction of the English breakfast, comprising bacon and sausages along with fried, poached or scrambled eggs, came into being many centuries ago. It was often referred to as ‘Full Monty’ after the British army general, Bernard Montgomery.

The love for eggs among Bengalis is unconditional. Any form is revered. In my childhood,

I remember Sunday evenings when we would have dimer devil (Scotch eggs) as a snack, or dimer dalna (egg curry) for dinner. Of course, if it was raining, there was always dimer omelette or dimer bhurji (scrambled eggs with onions) along with khichuri and fried fish. 

Another place that I recently loved was The Bikers Cafe, for a dish called Angels in Egg’s Womb. This is the most delectable egg dish I have ever had. And I still start drooling whenever I think of it. The yolk of the hard-boiled egg is scooped out and filled with bell peppers, corn, olive and kidney beans cooked in a tomato gravy. This is then topped with cheese sauce and served hot. 

However, when man proposes.… My cholesterol levels hit the sky and I was told to stay away from eggs and potatoes and all non-vegetarian food. This plunged me into the deepest abyss of despair. A life without eggs and potatoes — unthinkable. I tried to bargain with my doctors. But alas, even my wife put her foot down. Eventually I had to switch to stews. 

When I had to travel to London on business, I was down in the dumps as I could not gorge at my favourite haunts owing to my restricted diet. However, my friends in London showed me some really great restaurants serving low-cholesterol egg dishes. Seven Dials Hotel at Covent Garden is the perfect place to taste Turkish Eggs whipped with yogurt in sour dough. Or the Baked Eggs with Merguez Sausages at Caravan on Granary Square. These places lifted my downcast mood.

For Bengalis, a meal does not finish without a ‘sweet ending’. And like every Bengali, I love sweets. But since I am talking about eggs, let me take you on a cakewalk to the 120-year-old Jewish bakery in Calcutta — Nahoum & Sons. I started whetting my palate with a cheesecake and went on to the black forest — all to simply die for. When I regaled my son and daughter with this, they wailed, “Dad it’s time you went eggless!”

Eggless! Can cakes ever be eggless? It was unfathomable. I just couldn’t think of cake without eggs. It was sacrilege! Then I was introduced to a bakery in the suburbs of Mumbai — Oven Fresh, which serves an array of eggless cakes and pastries. They are definitely delicious, but nothing akin to a cake with egg in it. Maybe I am just biased....

Now I am back on track with better medical reports. And my passion for eggs and potatoes has been rejuvenated anew. I cannot face life’s challenges without my comfort food around me. So, my life’s motto now is, let’s face all up-hills ‘sunny side up’ and a bowlful of crisps!

Anjan Chatterjee is the chief of Speciality Restaurants, which owns Mainland China, Oh! Calcutta, Cafe Mezzuna, Sigree Global Grill, Hoppipola, Asia Kitchen and more. And yes, he is a foodie