J. Kenji Lopez-Alt recently posted a photo on his Instagram about making a “crazy viral Indian egg sandwich thing”. Of course my curiosity was peaked. After some Googling I chased a link in the comments section of his Instagram post to a video on Twitter showing a street food vendor in India making an omelette and bread sandwich. The video had over 7 million views! Egg sandwiches are a common street food in India but it was more the technique of flipping the omelette and folding it over into a sandwich that had folks fascinated.

I love a good fried egg sandwich and eat it at least twice a week for breakfast. I also like to eat my omelettes the Indian way with onions, cilantro and serrano peppers (you can also add cumin, tomatoes and turmeric for a masala omelette) but I didn’t realize until coming across this video that I had been making my sandwiches incorrectly this entire time. Now I know making a fried egg sandwich is not the most complicated thing in the world but it does involve a two step process of frying the eggs in one pan and grilling the bread in another. This video demonstrates an ingenious way of combining both steps into one. The egg is poured into a buttered pan, you dunk the bread into the egg batter, everything is flipped, folded over and voila you have the most perfect egg sandwich. The bread soaks up the egg batter like a savory french toast and the omelette filling stays light and fluffy — absolutely delicious! I’ll never make my egg sandwiches any other way ever again!

INDIAN BREAD OMELETTE RECIPE

2 pieces white sandwich bread (I use the Whole Foods brand but any white bread will do)
2 large eggs
filling of choice (I used 1/4 cup sliced onions, 2 tbs chopped cilantro, 1 tsp diced serrano peppers)
salt to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons butter (slightly more or less depending on the “stick” level of your pan)

INSTRUCTIONS

beat eggs with your choice of fillings and salt, melt butter in a heated pan, once butter is sizzling pour egg batter into the pan and swirl around, place both slices of bread into the batter and coat both sides, once the egg has cooked a little (it may show a little browning) flip it over and cook 1-2 minutes, fold the egg into a sandwich. The bread should be golden brown and the egg cooked all the way through.

Indian Bread Omelette