Are Scotch eggs actually Indian? Mughal curry nargisi kofta is awfully similar to the breaded fried eggs Brits claim were born in Yorkshire

From the time of the Mughals to the British Raj, India’s culinary map has been dotted with dishes that have their roots all across the globe.

It hasn’t all been one-way traffic though, with the British “recreating” a few recipes from the Indian kitchen – like the railway mutton curry and mulligatawny soup. One of their more glorified yet debatable interpretations is the nargisi kofta, popularly known in the West as Scotch eggs. A Scotch egg is a boiled egg enclosed in a minced meat patty and deep fried – usually served cold though the original recipe calls for gravy – a nod to its Indian roots.

Michelin-starred chef Graham Campbell says: “According to Culinary Delights of Yorkshire, they originated in Whitby, Yorkshire, England, in the 19th century, and were originally covered in fish paste rather than sausage meat. They were supposedly named after William J. Scott & Sons, a well-known eatery which sold them, and they originated in England. The dish does not use gravy and it’s made with boiled eggs wrapped in minced pork, herbs and spices, and coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried and more often served cold. Supposedly, legend says that it may have come from nargisi kofta but no one really knows.”

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Certainly the Scotch egg is uncannily similar to nargisi kofta – said to be named after narcissus, a winter flower grown in India (the egg yolk and white if cut into quarters resembles the flower). An Awadhi dish, according to 20th century food historian Alan Davidson it was a result of an experiment by an adventurous khansama (cook) who took a hard-boiled egg, enclosed it in mutton mince and deep fried it, giving birth to a curry which is now a rare find in the country.

Vijay Malhotra, the complex executive chef of ITC Sonar and Royal Bengal, states: “Nargisi kofta is a Mughlai dish. It all started when Babur invaded India in the 15th century. In fact the Sushruta Samhita also mentions the use of ground meat. Mughals have had the highest impact around Awadh and Hyderabad so the dish could originate at either of these two cities and travel up north or vice versa. But because the families are now nuclear, no one has the time to make a dish this intricate. What is pub food in Scotland and UK is an actual delicacy in India.”

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The word “kofta” is Persian and it translates to meatball, underlying the fact that it was brought to India by the Mughals. Food writer Alan Davidson also states that once the English had tasted this curry, they fell in love and tried to recreate it. However, making the sauce was a tedious task for them so they subbed it for hot sauce, which remained a part of the dish as a gravy, a more general habit they picked up from their days in India.

Food historian Dr Annie Gray summarises the debate nicely as such: “In my view the kofta has a lot to do with it. By the time the Scotch egg started to appear – the first printed reference is 1808 – the British would have been pretty familiar with it from trading with and, later, colonising India.

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“The general concept of a minced meat patty with breadcrumbs goes back even further in most cultures, including western Europe, so it isn't much of a stretch, and would have been easily embraced. The egg seems to strongly suggest a direct riff on the nargisi kofta though.

“The 'Scotch' bit may or may not relate to Scotland … [or] to how it was cut, and later seems to have meant breaded and fried, but there was also a trade in eggs from Scotland at the time. It is one of those origin debates which goes round in circles with no definite answer.”

To put it simply – be it the eggs or the kofta, they’re both delectable, and better served with gravy!

Where are Singapore noodles from? How are century eggs made? Are French fries improperly named? And what’s the final verdict on where tikka masala was created? With the Origins series, STYLE delves into the often surprising beginnings of iconic dishes or foods, how they’ve evolved over time and the many ways they’re enjoyed today.

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