Suvir and Charlie keep over one hundred chickens at their place, American Masala Farm up in Hebron, NY. Brown ones, spotted ones, snow white ones, sleek black ones and one with an impressive hairdo. They are beautiful creature. Each variety lays eggs in different size, shape and color. It is said that the average
chicken can lay 300 eggs a year. On my recent visit to the farm Suvir made me a breakfast with a sunny side up from an egg that had just been collected. Look at this very plump yolk! It was the best tasting egg I have ever tasted.
Tough eggs and chickens are very popular food ingredients today in Japan (average consumption of eggs per person/year is 350), when chickens were brought to Japan from the Asian continent between the fourth and the sixth century they were kept as a sacred bird serving the gods. So, slaughtering chickens and consuming their eggs were banned while other wild birds were freely eaten. This attitude clearly changed when the Portuguese arrived in the sixteenth century and introduced new dishes that used eggs, such as pound cake and tempura. By late 18th century eggs had become very popular and the famous cookbook which cointains 103 egg recipes was born.
One of my favorite egg dishes is tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled omelet). Beaten egg is diluted with some dashi (fish stock), flavored with shoyu (soy sauce) and sugar and cooked by layering thin omelet sheets to make a thick omelet. To make this omelet we use square omelet pan, but you can use your small size round skillet (a 6-inch skillet is perfect; a non-stick one is better). Find a recipe either in The Japanese Kitchen or The Sushi Experience.
The Japanese omelet I prepared at American Masala Farm makes everyone so happy! Suvir, Charlie’s Granma, Charlie’s Mom, Charlie and Buzz.