Egg Roast and Poori, a perfect pair…

Before I talk more about this dish, let me share a little piece of happy news with all my readers. I was featured on a newspaper couple days ago. It was in deed an exciting moment. Part of the article is online here. The print version had my picture and a recipe.

I clicked a picture of the article on the paper to share it with you all. I was on could nine!

My husband and I were on a non-meat run last week. Our goal was to give up meat for a full week and eat seafood, eggs and lots of vegetables. Here is one of our dinners made with hard boiled eggs.

Poori and egg roast when served together makes a perfect breakfast or dinner. Poori is fried puffed up wheat roti, which is very common in India. It goes well with almost all curries. I will post the recipe for making poori soon.

The key to making a delicious egg roast is to roast the onions well till it turns brown. I put some gashes on the hard boiled eggs and cooked them nestled in the onion roast for some more time. This egg roast tasted very aromatic and was flavorful.

Egg Roast:

Ingredients:

• Hard boiled eggs, shelled- 4-5 no’s
• Oil- 2 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds(optional)- 1 tsp
• Red onion, cut thin long- 3 no’s
• Green chillies, halved- 2 no’s
• Ginger Garlic paste- 1 1/2 tbsp
• Garam Masala- 1 tsp
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Tomatoes, chopped- 2 no’s
• Cilantro, chopped- 1 handful
• Salt- to taste

Masalas:

• Chilly powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/8 tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Boil the eggs completely immersed in water over high heat for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool down in the saucepan.
2. When the eggs have cooled down,de-shell the eggs and rinse the eggs under water to wash off any tiny shells that is stuck on it, keep aside.
3. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat, add oil and add mustard seeds when the oil gets hot, let it splutter.
4. Add onions that are cut very thin and long to the oil.
5. Sprinkle little salt to it, combine.
6. Saute the onions till it turns tender.
7. Add green chillies, ginger garlic paste, garam masala and curry leaves to it, combine well and cook for sometime.
8. Cook till the onions start to turn light brown.
9. Now, add chopped tomatoes and cook till it gets mashed up completely.
10. Add all the masalas mentioned in the ingredients one by one and combine well.
11. Cook the onions along with the masala for some more time.
12. Taste and add more salt.
13. Make a couple of slits or gashes on the boiled eggs.
14. Place the eggs over the cooked onions and cover the eggs with the onion mixture. Sprinkle cilantro over it.
15. Cover the pan with its lid and cook at medium low heat for 5 minutes so that the masala will get into the eggs.
16. If the roast is getting too dry you could sprinkle some water to it and cook.
17. Remove from the heat and keep covered for sometime.
18. Serve with Poori, Chapati, Orotti etc.

This is the perfect breakfast I could ever ask for, as it only takes 2 minutes to make and is quite healthy. This was introduced to me by my hubby, since then I’ve been having this for breakfast quite often. For a few days I added mixed veggies to the eggs, but last week I even tried with trail mix, it was crunchy, chewy, nutty and of course eggy.

So now, you have two choices, either make it with mixed veggies if you are a huge veggie fan or with trail mix if you want to add a crunch to your breakfast. Both of them are equally tasty and healthy. After a bowl of this you would be all set to kick off your day.

2 minute Microwaved Egg Omelette with Veggies:

Ingredients: For one serving

• Mixed frozen veggies or fresh (beans, carrot, corn, peas) chopped small- 1/4 cup
• Egg- 1
• Ground pepper- 2 pinches
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

• In a microwave proof bowl whisk together mixed veggies, egg, ground pepper and salt.
• Make sure you beat the egg well.
• Microwave the egg mixture for 2 minutes or till it has cooked well at the center.
• Depending on the microwave the cooking time may vary so keep an eye on it.
• That’s it, you have your healthy breakfast ready!

2 minute Microwaved Egg Omelette with Trail mix:

Ingredients:

• Trail mix (peanuts, almonds, cashew nuts, raisins, sun flower seeds and pumpkin seeds)- 1/4 cup
• Egg- 1

Preparation:

• In a microwave proof bowl, combine egg and trail mix using a whisk, beat the egg well.
• Microwave for 2 minutes or until the egg has cooked well in the center.
• You have your crunchy breakfast ready.

Tips:

• I didn’t add oil, if you want you could add little olive oil to the mixture.
• You could even add cheese to the veggie egg omelette.
• Cooking time may vary with the kind of microwave you are using, so watch out for that.

In my family, fried hard boiled eggs are served along with biryani and also during special occasions. Once you taste the fried hard boiled eggs, it’s very hard to go back to just the boiled hard boiled eggs. For health reasons it’s not a good idea to have the fried ones everyday. However, once in a while you could treat yourself with this delicious fried hard boiled eggs.

The marinade for making this is almost the same as used for frying chicken. You first boil the eggs, de-shell it, marinate them and deep fry till golden brown. It is as simple as that.

Fried Hard Boiled Eggs

Ingredients:

• Eggs, at room temperature- 3
• Curry leaves- 1 sprig
• Oil- for frying

For marination:

• Ginger-Garlic paste- 1/2 tsp
• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 2 pinches
• Fennel powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Lemon juice- 1 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Water- 1/2 tbsp

Preparation:

• Cook the eggs in boiling water for 15 minutes or so.
• Let it cool down and gently de-shell the eggs without breaking the eggs..
• In a bowl, add the above mentioned ingredients to make the marinade, combine with a fork to a paste.
• Put 2-3 gashes or lines on the cooked eggs, as you do while marinating the chicken for frying.
• Spread the marinade over the eggs till evenly coated, let stand for a few minutes.
• Heat a frying pan, add oil.
• Place the eggs in the oil and sprinkle curry leaves over it.
• Deep fry till the eggs turn golden brown.
• Transfer the fried eggs on a paper towel.
• Using a slotted spoon, remove the fried masala and the fried curry leaves that have settled down at the bottom of the pan.
• Sprinkle the fried masala over the fried eggs and serve.
• The fried masala tastes really good along with the eggs.
• Serve along with biryani or as an appetizer.

It’s Saturday morning and I woke up early, that’s quite unusual! Well, I asked myself what I was doing this early? What happened to cuddling up some more and enjoying the coziness under the blanket? I told myself, well this morning I would like to enjoy the warmth from cooking rather than from the blanket.

My husband’s new breakfast obsession is scrambled eggs with spinach. This morning, as soon as I woke up I got the request for the same. At first I felt a little lazy, but in a while I was in full swing. I had collard greens and so I went with collard greens instead of spinach. This is quite a healthy way of making eggs, a plate of this will provide you with all the nutrients you need to kick off your day.

Collard Green Scrambled Eggs:

Ingredients:

• Brown eggs- 3 no’s
• Collard Greens- 3 stalks
• Onion, chopped thin- 1/2 of the onion
• Mushroom, chopped small- 1/4 cup
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Half and half cream- 1/4 cup
• Cheddar cheese, grated (optional)- 1/4 cup
• Olive oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation:

• Wash the collard greens under running water, discrad the stem and chop up the leaves.
• Pour 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a pan and saute the chopped collard greens for a few minutes till it starts to wilt, keep aside.
• In a bowl, beat the eggs along with sautéed collard greens, mushrooms, onions, ground pepper, salt and cream.
• Heat a non-stick pan, add 1/2 tbsp olive oil and pour the egg mixture on the pan.
• Sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top of the egg mixture.
• When the egg mixture just starts to cook, scramble it using a wooden spoon.
• Combine everything, let the cheese melt and eggs cook well.
• Avoid cooking the eggs till it turns dry, there should be some creamy texture in it.
• Serve on a plate.

Tips:

• You could use any greens for making this.

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”…

Love is in the air and most of the people are seen busy getting gifts for their loved ones. I’ve decided that this Valentine’s day I am going to express my love to my valentine through delicious food. When everything seems to fail, delicious food helps me to win over my husband’s heart. I am not going to wait till dusk to make a special dinner for him, but this time love showering is going to start from dawn itself, the moment he wakes up.

Who wouldn’t love to see breakfast ready on the dining table as soon as they jump out of the bed? My husband loves this and I terribly fail to do so almost everyday. So this valentine’s day I am going to surprise him by this special Valentine’s day breakfast. If you are someone just like me wanting to surprise your husband or wife right from the dawn of Feb:14 th, then do join me and here I share with you an easy, yet delicious and nutritious breakfast.

Valentine’s Day Breakfast

Heart shaped French Toast

Ingredients:

• Whole Grain bread- 4 or according to your needs
• Eggs- 3
• Sugar- 2 tbsp or according to your needs
• Cinnamon powder- 1/4 tsp
• Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp
• Butter or Ghee- 1 tsp per slice

Preparation:

• Whisk eggs, sugar, cinnamon powder, vanilla extract in a bowl and keep aside.

• For making heart shaped french toast, you need to get a heart shaped cookie cutter, available in almost all stores.
• Place a single slice of  bread on a cutting board and center the cookie cutter over the bread slice.

• Gently press the cutter into the bread.

• Remove the bread around the outside of the cookie cutter and save these for making bread crumbs or bread pudding.
• You will have heart shaped bread on the board.

• Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat, add the ghee or butter.
• Dip the heart shaped bread into the beaten egg one at a time and place on to the ghee or butter.

• When it turns golden brown, flip to the other side using a spatula and let it turn golden brown on that side as well.

• Transfer to a platter and serve warm with fruits and hot chocolate.

Tips:

• If you want you could pour maple syrup on the french toast while serving.
• Just increase the eggs, sugar, cinnamon powder and vanilla extract accordingly to make more french toasts.
• Don’t throw away the bread from the outside of cookie cutter, you could make french toast with them too or use for making bread pudding or bread crumbs.

If someone placed a hidden camera in my house, and watched me secretly, Ok, I know what you are thinking now, don’t think wild, you have no access to my bedroom and restroom, may be just in the living room. One activity you could see me doing is lying on the couch and day dreaming. You could even watch some of my insanities: talking to myself(mostly while cooking as if I am on a cooking show), laughing, even talking to an imaginary figure. Before you all make a statement about me, I would like to make it clear that all these insanities are confined within the walls of my house. Now, don’t even think of hiding a camera anywhere in my house:) Many times my hubby had asked me to whom are you talking to, I will be like ‘to myself ‘ and his reaction would be ‘whatever with his eyes rolling’. He is obviously too sweet to not to label me as mad.

Now you will be starting to think, isn’t this the blog for steamed plantain cake and why is she talking about all these craps. I can explain, I have a point here, since I have revealed some of my insanities, one of which is day dreaming. One daydream that keeps recurring to me is the clip of me strolling among the plantain crops that I would have in my backyard some day. Hailing from kerala, which is the land of plantain crops, could be the reason for my obsession with plantains. Almost all houses there have at least one plantain tree in their backyard. I can never forget the huge plantain crop at my grand parents. Whenever I visited them, one activity I always loved to do was to run/stroll among the plantain crops touching the leaves and looking for the bunch of plantains ready to be harvested. I even helped my grand father in harvesting the plantain, this was one memorable moments for me. I can still feel the joy I had after harvesting the plantain and eating one from the bunch. After the harvest, next thing I did was eagerly waiting for all the dishes my grandma would make out of the plantains. One dish, I wanted immediately was the plantain chips, my grandma would fall for my sugar coated request and she would start frying the chips first. It would start with the chips and followed by the variety of dishes made from the harvested plantain by my sweet grandma.

One such dish from my grandma’s edible palette is steamed plantain cake. This is an authentic Malabar dish which is often served as an evening snack.This recipe has been handed down for 3 generations in my family and now I pass it on to all the food lovers out there. A dish filled with lots of memories and love of my grandma.

Ingredients

• Plantain, ripe-2
• Eggs-4
• Sugar-3 tbsp, or as needed
• Cardamom powder-1/2 tsp
• Raisins- 1 handful
• Cashew nuts-2 handful
• Ghee/butter-2tsp
• Oil- required for frying

For Garnish:

• Raisins, roasted in little ghee/butter-1 handful
• Cashew nuts roasted in little ghee/butter-6

Preparation:

• Cut the plantains lengthwise and slice into small pieces.
• Fry the plantains in oil until golden brown and keep aside on a paper towel.
• Take a large oven proof glass bowl, grease it with 2tsp ghee/butter.
• Combine the eggs, sugar, cardamom powder, raisins, cashew nuts using a whisk .
• Add the fried plantains to the egg mixture.
• Pour the mixture into the bowl.
• Steam cook this mixture for 20-25 minutes or till it has cooked well.

How to steam cook:

• If you don’t have a steamer, don’t worry, follow this method.
• In a large vessel, fill 1/4th of it with water. Cover the bottom of the glass bowl (with the mixture) with aluminum foil.
• Also, cover the top of the glass bowl tightly with aluminum foil.
• Place the glass bowl into the water in the vessel, cover the vessel with its lid. Now turn on the stove to medium flame and steam cook for 20-25 minutes, until the egg has cooked and gets fluffy.
• After it has cooked, remove from the water bath and let it cool down.
• Now run a knife along the side of the cake in the bowl.
• Cover the bowl with a plate and turn it upside down, the cake would nicely fall onto the plate.
• Garnish the cake with roasted raisins and cashew nuts.

Tips:

• Don’t forget to grease the bowl, otherwise the cake would stick to the bottom of the bowl.
• This would make a healthy breakfast to jump start your day.
• Plantain: eggs should be in 1:2 ratio

Whenever I come across plantains, I make sure to buy it to make this dish. I love this dish as much as I love stuffed plantain fry (check for recipe). This is very easy to make and at the same time makes you want more. So when making this dish, make sure you make it generously, otherwise trust me you are going to make this again. This dish is very rich and nutritious, hence good for even kids.

Ingredients:

• Plantains(ripe)-2
• Egg-1
• Sugar-3tbsp
• Raisins-2tsp
• Cashew nuts-3 tsp
• Almonds-2 tsp
• Ghee-3tsp
• oil- for frying

Preparation:

• Cut the plantain vertically and slice it into small pieces.
• Fry the plantain in oil until golden brown and transfer into a paper towel to remove all the excess oil.
• Beat the egg with sugar and keep it aside.
• Roast the raisins, cashew nuts and almonds in 1tsp ghee and keep it  aside.
• In a bowl, mix the fried plantains, egg, roasted raisins and the nuts and mix well.
• In a skillet, add 2tsp ghee, add the mixture to this and saute until the egg gets cooked.
• Serve hot or cold, garnish with more nuts if you want.

Tips:

• You could make more by increasing the quantity of the ingredients. Plantain: Egg ratio is 2:1
• While feeding this to kids, you could mash this dish with wooden fork, hence it would be easy for them to eat and digest.

PS:  I submitted this recipe to LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow 2009

In Barbara’s (Winos & Foodies) words, “LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow is my way of supporting the  Lance Armstrong Foundation by raising awareness of cancer issues world wide. It is a way for all food and wine bloggers to share their stories. The happy and the sad, the struggles and the triumphs. If you are lucky and have not be touched by cancer you are still welcome to participate”.