Making of the ‘Pizza Omelette’ 

We Indians love fusion. Give us a cuisine and we’ll give you an Indian version of it. It’s no wonder then that the popular dishes of Italy and France were married in West Delhi to give birth to the Pizza Omelette. 

Offered by several hawkers in Dwarka, Palam and Janakpuri, the fusion dish’s base is prepared by pouring three beaten  eggs in a pan and spreading bread slices over it. Once it cooks a little, three more beaten eggs are poured on top, and then flipped and cooked till fully done. 

While all vendors retain the same base, toppings vary from the stall to stall. Some keep it simple with sautéed onion, tomato and grated cheese, while others add paneer, dry fruit and a variety of garnish. Hence, unlike pizza, which can be divided into clean slices, the load of toppings that softens the base and the lack of anything to bind both, the pizza omelette has to be spooned like salad. 

Several vendors have been serving it for the past couple of years, advertising the dish with boards reading: ‘Pizza Omelette @Rs 150’, but most people, including vendors say the pioneer was Mukesh Kumar, whose humble beginnings were in a corner of Palam’s tiny Parshuram Chowk junction about two decades ago. His stall, Mukesh Ande Wala was open every evening barring Tuesday – when Delhities usually avoid non-veg and alcohol – and served customers everything from omelettes and egg bhurji to boiled eggs and half- fry. With time, he began playing with new ingredients, flavours and garnish making him a favourite among customers, who’ve grown exponentially. The Pizza Omlette with several layers of toppings was a result of one such experiment six years ago. 

“I asked some regular customers to try something new and they agreed. I served them Pizza Omelette, and they liked it. Since then I’ve modified it many times as per customers’ demands,” says 42-year-old Kumar, who cleared two rounds of MasterChef India with this dish.

Vendors in Janakpuri market prepare it only on demand “because it’s very expensive and there’s no customer base for it,” says Sunil Singh, a hawker who’s been in the business for the past 15 years, but “Mukesh Ande Wala in Palam has a strong hold on it,” he adds.

That’s true. Kumar sells 30 - 40 Pizza Omlettes a day even though he charges between Rs 250 and Rs 770 based on the number of eggs used.His success, he believes, is due to “no compromise on the quality of products, be it pomegranate, butteror cashew”. It’s possibly also his presentation and toppings that include  cottage cheese, milk cream, dry fruit, coriander, grapes and various sauces for garnish. 

Kumar also serves Paneer Omelette and Dry Fruit Omelette, but it’s the former that’s most loved.