Egg scramble with dried prawns

Seafood will reign any port city. Visakhapatnam, the place where I was born, is no exception. Apart from fresh seafood, the dried prawns, dried salted fish are also very famous. The prawns and fish are usually dried in the sun until dehydrated thoroughly. Dried prawns are also referred to as "Endu (dried) Royyalu (prawns)". These dry foods act as an additional flavor to the already spicy Indian type of egg scramble (PURATU). I couldnt wait until tomorrow to make this dish, so before we go into the recipe,

Few things while dealing with dried seafood
1. Wash throughly - some sand sediments might be present in the food
2. Adjust the salt of the curry based on the salt content of the dried food.
3. Store in air tight container in a dry place.

So, back to the recipe (serves 6):

- 12 eggs ( beaten ) (2 eggs per person)
- 2 cups Onions chopped
- 1 cup tomatoes chopped
- 2 or 3 green chillies
- 1.5 tbsp garlic ginger paste
- pinch of turmeric, salt and chilli powder (as per taste)
- 1 cup dried prawns ( washed thoroughly and soaked in warm water for 10 minutes and drain the water). Vegetarians can subsitute this for shredded carrots.
- 1 bunch of cilantro for garnish

In a bowl, beat the eggs with turmeric, salt and chilli powder. Heat 2 tbsp of oil or ghee and saute onions until transparent. Add the dry prawns (royyalu) and chillies and saute 2 minutes. Next add the tomatoes and ginger garlic paste. Saute the mixture for 5-8 minutes. Pour the egg mixture and keep stirring for couple of minutes until the egg scrambles up. For the quantity mentioned above, it takes about 10-12 minutes for this procedure.If you forget to stir during this time, the eggs on the bottom and sides will start to burn and there wouldnt be even cooking. Saute further depending on your taste. I usually saute it for another 10 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.

Eat along with warm cooked white rice. The crunchiness of the prawns wonderfully complements the soft eggs.