Those who have visited Kolkata or have stayed there couldn’t
have missed the ubiquitous “Egg-Roll” stalls everywhere in the city . You will
find them also in other towns of West
Bengal and some of the neighbouring states but somehow it is not so wide spread
in the rest of the country. Maybe
because , generally people in other states
have a definite culture of vegetarianism and the smell of fried eggs in public places
may not be welcome to many . Or maybe it is the same reason why Vada-Pav stalls
are not so much popular beyond Mumbai and Maharashtra. Whatever , it may be , if anybody has lived
in Kolkata for an extended period of time in his/her youth , Egg-Roll becomes a
part of life and you miss it, elsewhere . Those who have not visited Kolkata must have
surely come across Egg-Roll stalls during the Durga Puja.
In Mumbai , there is something called Frankie which is
something nearer to Egg-Rolls but there is a difference between the two . Also the
Shawarma , middle eastern in origin is also a distant cousin . But the taste of
Egg-Roll remains different. After staying for over a decade now in Mumbai
, I find that there is indeed a growing
culture of Egg-rolls in the city as also the number of Bengali food joints
.
Egg-Roll is different in different countries . The Chinese egg roll is a different thing
altogether . I have myself seen in Macau
and Bangkok that what they call eggrolls are actually types of spring-rolls
dipped in egg batter and fried crisp .
Other countries may have different definitions, I am sure . Bengalis have this
knack of creating different category of
snacks sounding something else or meaning something different from the original
. For example take Alu Chop , Kobirazi
cutlet , Fish fry , Kachoori , Moglai Parota
, Ledikeny etc. Each of course has its history which are
quite interesting , too .
Kolkata Egg-roll , as
the outlet in my area proudly advertises , for the uninitiated, is in its simple
form a plain paratha with a layer of omelette
on one side rolled with pieces of onion, chillies with a drop or two of green
lemon juice inside . This is the basic eggroll . Now there are a lot of derivatives
like Double Egg-roll , which ( yes, you
have correctly guessed ) means two layers of eggs on both sides , chicken roll
, mutton roll etc. There are variations
for vegetarians too . But they are not
egg rolls . Just vegetables or paneer wrapped in parathas . Like the Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. I confess that till date I have never tried a
veg-roll .
Those who have tasted will only know how a bite on the minced or skewered kebabs of succulent juicy
chicken or mutton , which goes as the filling in a hot tangy eggroll can elevate, uplift and change your mood . How mesmerising , the act of peeling off the layer
of paper around the roll is , almost like enjoying a delectable strip-tease . The heaviest eggroll I have eaten in my life
is the Double Egg Mutton roll from Hot Kati Roll on Park street in 2004 before
I left Kolkata . It is really a fat monster to gulp down . The preparation of an Egg-roll is simple and
quick and this is the reason of its popularity . It can be a very filling snack to satiate
hunger instantly and at least once I had to perforce subsist on a dinner of two
Egg Chicken rolls . This is actually a very versatile food to have in many occasions . Like with friends in a group , in the interval of a cinema , during the rehearsal of a play , during the night
long trek of Durga Puja pandals etcetera
. It is as good on a rainy or winter evening with a cup of warm tea as also on
a dry hot evening with a bottle of cold beer. It can be a comfort food as well
as a on-the-go food .
My affair with eggrolls started probably in the late
seventies 77-78 when I used to visit Kolkata and feeling hungry during my long treks on the roads , invariably
had a roll . If I am not mistaken and my memory serves me right ,the price of a
simple eggroll then was around Rupees three . But of course egg, oil and flour was also much cheaper then, even in those Burre Dins!!!
Then we had egg-roll shops opening up in our town
Jamshedpur too by the start of eighties . The roll culture was initially Kolkata centered
. Because I remember in 87 -88 also there was no
eggroll stall in places like Coochbehar and Burdwan .
Only a very few in Siliguri . But by the nineties , it spread all over
in the state . At Nizam restaurant near
New Market , Esplanade , they used to
sell beef-rolls which were quite cheap compared to mutton-rolls and very popular too . I don’t know
if they still do . Hot Kati Roll , the
shop on Park Street was a much frequented shop , both for its heavy rolls as
also the taste . Many a times during late sittings in office or some
programmes, we had rolls from that shop. And egg-roll always had that socialist aura with it being the food for masses with nutrition.
Nowadays , I have this divine but most socialist food very rarely because of (misplaced) dietary norms . But I will
vouch for its efficiency as a snack .
