Eggless Scrambled Eggs Are Cooking in IIT Delhi Labs, May Hit Your Plate Soon

New Delhi: There is no need to crack shells to get eggs anymore, as plant-based eggs, packaged in bottles and packets, are enroute your plate.

Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi have developed a vegan, non-soy, gluten-free alternative for eggs with a mung bean-based formula.

The product was presented in a demonstration ahead of Industry Day 2019 at IIT Delhi. It comes in cubes that can be crumbled to cook scrambled eggs in the saucepan, and at the same price that you get them in the market.

Assistant Professor Kavya Dashora from the center for rural development and technology, who worked closely with the project, made the proposal. It was taken up and funded by Four Pursuits, a venture run by trustee of Indic group Srijan Foundation Rahul Dewan. He is also working on taking the product to the market.

Dashora said, “Eggs have their own health problems – like cholesterol and allergies. Vegetarians who don’t get the protein found in egg can use this mung formula eggs."

"The most common thing for protein is pulses, so we started with research with pulses. Moong dal has the protein equivalent of egg whites,” she added. Experiments were conducted by four people and spanned several months.

Rahul Dewan was on the lookout for environment-friendly projects “with social impact” when the proposal drew his attention. He said, "We liked this plant based eggs proposal and it makes sense in India, which is majorly a vegetarian country, even as the meat market is the fastest growing, while west is vegan.”

Director of IIT Delhi Professor V Ramgopal Rao said, "We as a nation, should work on our challenges and build on our strengths. Industry driven research will also focus on creating jobs for our youth, and achieve our ambition of $5 trillion Indian economy. IIT Delhi’s Centres of Excellence are working with multiple Industrial partners towards this national vision”.

IIT Delhi is working on building a robust productive academic-industry relationship for the foundation for the long term development of India.

Industry Day 2019, which will be held at the institute on September 21, aims to harness and promote the power of Industry-Academia collaboration. Dr VK Paul, member, NITI Aayog will be the chief guest at the 3rd edition of the event.