Merry Christmas & Blessed New year

Unto us a SON is given.....JESUS CHRIST THE LORD

May the Lord grant you all the blessings this season has in store...

...LOVE.....JOY...PEACE....AND MUCH MORE.

To all my readers & visitors -

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A PROSPEROUS 2009

Esther (Rina)

Egg Rice

Egg is so versatile that it be eaten just by itself or can mix with any other dish to enhance the flavour of the dish to which it is added...as in baking, soups, noodles, rice etc...

Though egg is extensively used in most kinds of fried rice varieties.. the dish i'm going to share now is precisely only with egg...no other vegies or poultry or meat or seafood here.

The relationship with this dish is as long as the years of my marriage...you can guess now who is the author of this dish...yes of course my dear hubby. And ever since i learned this dish from him it has been a savoir dish for me.



Ingredients :
3 Eggs
4 Cups of Cooked (preferably strained)
1 Tbsp cooking oil
1 Onion Medium size
3 Green chillies cut
8 Curry leaves
1 tsp Ginger garlic paste (optional)
1/2 tsp Black pepper powder
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves finely chopped to garnish

Procedure :
Heat up a wok or wide kadai, add oil and after the oil is hot enough add green chillies saute, add curry leaves saute and then add onions and saute for 2min.
If adding ginger garlic paste add it now and fry till nice aroma comes
Now add eggs by breaking them one by one and thoroughly stirring and mixing to make egg scramble and fry for a min till scrambled egg is cooked and dry.
Now add little salt and pepper powder for the egg scramble.
Now add the rice and salt & pepper and mix it nicely to combine with the rest of the ingredients in the wok .
Add coriander leaves and mix and remove form heat.

This can be served as it is...with just a papad or with a heavy masala gravy or meat fries...

One good combo with this is a thick crab gravy or Butter chicken or Paneer Butter masala with a cracked papad.

Egg in Eggplant gravy

Its been a while, since I published a post. Life is hectic with business projects and festive season. Nevertheless, I'm continuing my egg series...This time its Egg cooked with Eggplant.
There are two methods to make this dish. We can either make it with the whole baby Eggplant cutting it into 4 length wise pieces and making a dilute gravy, or use the big Eggplant and cut into small cubes and as they cook mash them to mix with the gravy and then add the boiled eggs and cook.

The picture is of the second type.

A very staple dish in my childhood back home.

Ingredients:
5 Eggs hard boiled
1 Big Egg Plant (around 1 to 1.5 lb), cut into small cubes
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Garlic pods 4 - finely chopped
Green Chillies - 4 slit length wise
Onion - 1 Medium
Curry leaves - 8-10
Tomato Paste - 1 Tbsp
Red Chilly Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Tamarind Juice -Soak a medium lemon size tamarind ball in 3/4 cup of hot water for 1/2 hour and then squeeze the pulp and filter the juice and add an additional 2 cups of water.
Finely chopped Coriander leaves

Procedure:
1. In a deep pot add oil after the pot is hot. When the oil reaches a good temperature add mustard seeds.
2. After the mustard seeds splutter add garlic and saute till color changes slightly.
3. Add cut onion, green chillies; curry leaves - saute till onions change color.
4. Add tomatoes or tomato paste and mix.
5. Once the raw smell of tomato is gone, add the egg plant pieces, add salt, chilly powder and mix well.
7. Add 1 cup water, mix and cook for 10-15 minutes covered.
8. Keep mixing in between and add more water if necessary.
9. Once the egg plant is almost cooked, add the tamarind juice, mix well, and add the boiled eggs at this point too.
10. Cook for another 5 - 7 minutes and add the coriander leaves, cook for another minute and remove from heat.

Serve with plain rice, pilaf or rotis.

Tandoori Egg Scarmble

Continuing the Egg series...here is yet another different version of scramble egg...This is real spicy though and actually doesn't require any recipe writing...This is more of sharing a thought than writing a recipe. Obviously I used Tandoori malasa here... There was a day when I needed to do scrambled egg and my pan had this remaining oil and cooked tandoori masala from the pan fried Tandoori chicken on it...So the thought occurred to me why not make use of it. So I heated the Masala tawa and cracked eggs into it and scramble the eggs coating them with this masala. There is no need to add any other ingredient here....
But the end result is simply gr8. You get this spicy masala chilli egg scramble to go as stuffing into your wheat tortilla wrap...You can add same salad to make a more complete meal or snack.

Onion Tomato Egg Masala Curry

As I was blogging eggs for my last two posts, I decided to break some more eggs for the next few posts in my space. This egg curry preparation is inspired by my dear Mother. I remembering me, my Father, and my relatives always loved this dish whenever my mother served.

Preparation is quiet simple. All the time you need, is to chop onions and once the eggs are hard boiled you are ready to roll.

Though this can be enjoyed with Dosa, Chapati, Parota to take the real benefit of the masala, mix it with plain cooked Ponni/Sona Masoori raw rice and then finish it off with sambar.

Ingredients:
5 Large Eggs boiled
2 Tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
3 Big size Onions finely chopped
4 Green Chillies
2 large Tomatoes or 1 cup Tomato Puree or 2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
8 -10 Curry leaves
1 tsp Red chilly powder
1/2 tsp each of Coriander and Cumin powders (if Desired)
Salt to taste
Finely chopped Coriander leaves to garnish

Method:
Heat a skillet medium high heat and add oil.
After the oil is hot allow mustard to splutter.
Now add the chopped onions, curry leaves and green chillies.
Saute' till the onions are cooked and change their color.
Noe add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a 1 minute or till raw smell changes to curried aroma.
Add the tomatoes(canned/ fresh/puree/paste)
And allow to cook til the raw tomato smell is gone.
Now add the chilly powder and the optional powders along with salt and mix thoroughly to coat the onion and tomato masala with the spice powders.
Add 1/4 cup of little water and cook for another 5 minutes or till all the water is absorbed by the masala.
Now add the boiled slit eggs to masala and the coriander leaves and mix well for the eggs to be coated with the roasted masala.
You can cut the eggs into half one the dish is fully done and spread the masala evenly on the halves.

I forget to mention this Egg masala goes very well with lemon rice or Tamarind rice too. I think that is the best combo.

Indian Egg Scramble W/ Breakfast Sausages and Toast

Continuing the series of Breakfast combos with a little twist.

This is again a weekend breakfast combo.

In an attempt to spice up and add flavour to the western breakfast styles this Egg scramble made in Indian style is tailored.

Most of the time I have the breakfast sausages readily in my freezer. So just bring them to the room temperature in the microwave and pan roast and remove excess oil through a tissue.

Toast some slices whole wheat bread and cut an orange and boil some hot water in a kettle for a hot cup of tea or coffee and we are ready to roll.

To prepare Scrambled egg in Indian style:
(for 3-4 servings)
1 tsp oil
4 Eggs
1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
2 Medium sizes Onions cut length and breath wise
4 green chillies
6-8 Curry leaves
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves finely chopped for garnish

Method:
In a Wok or Skillet add oil after hot.
Once the oil is hot allow mustard to splutter and then add onions, green chillies, curry leaves and saute' till onions just start to change color.
Now add salt and then break the eggs onto the hot pan and scramble them mixing with the other ingredients.
Keep stirring continuously till all the egg is cooked talking care not the burn it.
Add Black pepper powder
Garnish with finely chopped coriander and remove from heat.
Serve with the roasted sausages, toast and fruit.
This also goes well with chapatis.

Breakfast Special - Peameal Bacon with Yam fries Combo

I think I would have already mentioned in my blog that I'm not a restaurant freak. But I would like to imitate those foods served at the restaurants. For those of who go for a traditional weekend breakfast in a Restaurant " Toast+Eggs+Bacon+Home fries+Orange" is not new. Often times I too make the same breakfast combo at home either with "sunny side up" or scrambled eggs.

But there are times when I want a little twist from the regular menu combo. This is definitely healthier than the regular version. The fatty Bacon is replaced by Peameal Bacon which has very less fat, the bland Egg scramble replaced by Indian style spicy egg scramble with onions,green chillies and herbs(Recipe will be published in my upcoming posts) and at last replacing the carby potato home fries with Yam fries rich in fibre which I'm going to blog today. And don't forget to replace the oranges with Grape fruit, which is really good for people on diet.

This post is more of the concept than writing recipe.

Ingredients & Method of preparation:
For Yam Fries:
1 - Big size Yam(approx 1 lb)
2 Tbsp - Vegetable Oil/Olive oil/Pam for frying
1/2 tsp - Red chilly Powder or Kashmiri chilly powder.
Salt to taste

Optional:(if u want to spice it up more to a desi taste)
1/4 tsp Garam masala
1/4 tsp Chat Masala
1/8 tsp Amchur powder
1 tsp Kasturi methi

Garnish:
Finely chopped coriander leaves

Method:
Peel skin and cut Yam into small cubes.
Heat up a wide heavy bottom frying pan, allow oil to become hot on medium high heat and then add the yam pieces and salt and fry till done, regularly stirring to see that they don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
When almost done add chilly powder and other optional masalas if desired.
Stir nicely to coat the yam pieces with all the seasonings.
Sprinkle with finely chopped coriander and remove from heat.

For Eggs:
I just made an sunny side up and broke the yoke so that the yellow can flow on the white (That's the way i like)and seasoned it with salt and black pepper or red chilly powder.

For Toast:
Apply butter or margarine or desi ghee on both sides of the whole wheat bread slices and pan toast them.

For Peameal Bacon:
I've never heard of this back home. But here in Canada from the time I've tasted this I really like it a lot. Most of the Grocery stores carry this. Look for the package with Yellow edges of cornmeal around the meat slices in the frozen cured/processed food section.

To know more about this Peameal bacon please click here here here and here

The method to cook this is very simple. Defrost a few slices and pan roast them till done. More receipes can be found here too

Now serve all the items in a plate and garnish with a thick slice of Grape Fruit.

This is more of a brunch than breakfast cause its so full and complete with a hot cup of French Vanilla coffee or a cup of Orange Tea. So we can skip lunch and straight head to early dinner. A typical saturday life style for me.