Our kitchen survival course continues here with the newest cook in the house dishing up these creamiest ever scrambled eggs this morning.
The best thing about this version, and let's face it, there are many ways to scramble an egg, is that there is no fat or butter involved whatsoever. Nil. Zilch.
Instead, it's some patient stirring, waiting, and checking, that produces this delectable pile of goodness.
It's also a version that cooks on stored heat to a large extent, so you can afford to wander off and brush your teeth or prepare school or work lunches while the heat works its' magic.
All you need is:
2 eggs per person
1 saucepan of a size to accommodate the number of eggs. So if you're only cooking 2-4 eggs, your smallest saucepan would do. If you're cooking a larger number, then a medium sized one is better. You want the egg to cook really slowly, so you don't want it spread thin like an omelette in a frypan.
Optional extras could include:
A tablespoon of creamed corn
Some shallot (green onion) snipped finely
A drizzle of sesame oil
Some crumbled feta
A couple of slivers of chorizo
A bit of grated tasty cheddar cheese
Diced capsicum
Then just:
Turn your hotplate onto High. Set out a plate for serving, your garnishes and extras if using them, and have a whisk or fork, a large spoon for stirring, and a lid that fits your saucepan, close to hand.
Crack your eggs straight into the saucepan. No bowl required for this. Give them a quick whisk to amalgamate the yolk and the white.
Set the saucepan on the hotplate and stir the egg constantly until it starts to steam. This indicates that the egg mixture is heated through.
Continue to stir constantly for two minutes (add about 30 seconds per additional egg), until the mixture starts to thicken slightly. If you've ever made traditional stirred custard, you'll know what I mean. The mixture just sort of becomes silky and a little thicker.
You can now remove it from the heat, cover it and allow the stored heat to do it's work. Turn your hotplate off. If it's an electric one, the cooling hotplate will still retain sufficient heat to finish cooking your egg. If you have gas, then you may have to reignite it to warm the final product through.
The newest cooking recruit left her scrambled egg to pack her lunch. This took about three minutes. She lifted the lid and gave the eggs another stir. They still weren't cooked quite enough for her liking, so we returned them to the warm hotplate and stirred them through for another minute to kick the process along.
They were starting to form the familiar scrambled egg curds, and personally I would have served them at this stage as I prefer my scramble very soft. However she likes hers a little more well formed, so back onto the hotplate one more time, a gentle stir, lid back on and off the heat.
Off she went to finish getting dressed, and two minutes later, her eggs were ready.
She added some creamed corn, stirring that through to heat it, and snipped the green onion onto the top. If it were me, I would have added a couple of drops of sesame oil, and some fresh chilli, but she was happy with the creamed corn and greens to make it look pretty.
Once again, she was amazed that the process was so simple. She was able to do several other things while her eggs were cooking, and it really was a no fuss way of getting her to prepare a healthy breakfast.
This isn't the quickest method of cooking scrambled eggs, but it's certainly easy, creates minimal mess, and allows you to tackle other tasks in the busy morning routine while it simmers away all on it's own.
For a teen, being able to cook, dress, make lunch and text her friends all at the same time, is a big bonus ;0)
