Recipe for Masala Omelette

What's so special about an omelette, anyway? Well, after a lot of experimentation, I've discovered how to make one with a subtly different flavour and texture. I call it a "masala omelette". Try this recipe to see if it works for you.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 onion

1/2 chilli pepper (Jalapeno)

2 tablespoons grapeseed oil

Seasoning paste (I used a Mediterranean seasoning with basil, oregano, garlic and bell peppers)

Salt and Pepper

Procedure:

Mix two eggs with salt, pepper and a squeeze of seasoning paste and stir well until uniform. Set aside in a bowl.

Seasoning paste - the "masala"

Chop the onion and chilli peppers finely and fry in grapeseed oil in a saucepan until the onions are almost brown. I always fry the onions and chillies first. I know lots of people just add them to the eggs and pour the mixture into the saucepan, but I think fried onions taste better.

An aroma to die for

Now transfer the fried onions and chillies into the bowl with the eggs and mix in well.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and make the omelette as usual, turning over when appropriate.

Yum! All that remains is to ruin it with ketchup :-)

The garlic, I suspect, causes the omelette to fluff up a little more than normal. The seasoning paste gives the omelette a subtly different flavour, a blend of spicy chilli peppers, garlic and herbs.

Enjoy!

Recipe for Mushroom-Baked Beans Curry

Mushroom-Baked Beans Curry

Whenever the opportunity to commandeer the kitchen presents itself, I put together as many ingredients that are exclusive to my taste as possible, so I can turn out fewer unpopular dishes, if that makes sense. For example, I'm alone in my household when it comes to liking mushrooms and baked beans, so it wasn't going to be long before a combo of this sort made its appearance.

Ingredients:

1 tin of mushrooms in "butter sauce" (Butter sauce? Some kind of maize starch, as it turns out)
1 tin of baked beans in tomato sauce
1 spanish onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 chilli (Jalapeno peppers are my favourite)
2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil
1 pinch of turmeric powder

Procedure:
(Procedure, heh! The procedure is so simple as to be almost mindless.) Chop the chilli and garlic into fine pieces. Chop the onion into slightly larger pieces. Sauté the chilli and garlic first, then add the onion. Add a pinch of turmeric powder to bring out a rich colour.

Add the baked beans and stir well. When that's well mixed, add the mushrooms and stir well.

This is a dish that can't make up its mind whether to be sweet or salty, so you'll have to make its mind up for it. Add salt or ketchup as per your fancy. I chose salt because that was my mood for the day.

Serves one :-/

Recipe for Potato-Bean Mélange

Potato-Bean Mélange

I was wondering what to do with a can of beans (Four-Bean Mix), and this dish followed.

Ingredients:

2 Desiree potatoes (the kind you can cook with the skin)
4 medium-sized red (Spanish) onions
1 tin of beans (I used a four-bean mix, as I confessed earlier)
1 red capsicum
1 small cup of green peas
1 cube of vegetable stock
Chilli sauce instead of chilli peppers (for a change)
Ginger powder
Cooking oil (grapeseed oil is best)

Procedure:
Chop the onions and potatoes separately into medium-sized pieces. (I use this very convenient chopper with a coarser setting. The finer setting chops into smaller pieces, which I don't want for this dish.)



Chop the capsicum into finer pieces.

Steam the potatoes and peas in the microwave for 6-8 minutes using a steaming container and set aside. (Sprinkle a little salt onto the potatoes before steaming.)

Heat 3-4 tablespoons of grapeseed oil in a large pan and then sprinkle ginger powder into it. Add the onions and then the capsicum and sauté both well.

Dissolve the cube of vegetable stock in a small cup of hot water and then pour into the pan. (Vegetable stock cubes tend to have oil, so hot water is required to avoid messy fingers.)

Add the potatoes, peas and beans and stir. I prefer to wash and strain the canned beans because I don't trust the liquid they've been soaking in for months ;-).

Add as much chilli sauce as you like. I like lots ;-).

The potatoes may not have fully cooked. So cover the pan and leave to cook on a low heat for a few minutes.

Serve with naan, roti or bread.

[Secret ingredient: If you're South Indian or through some inexplicable means possess mild idli chilli powder (affectionately known as "gunpowder"), add 3-4 teaspoons of it to the mix along with the potatoes.]

Recipe for Protein Potato Mash

Protein Potato Mash

Mashed potatoes taste great, but they're very starchy, and in these health-conscious times, starch is a no-no ("No starch for me," said Tom stiffly). Here's a recipe to take some of the guilt off a deliciously salty mashed potato dish.

Ingredients:
3-4 Desiree potatoes (the kind you can cook with the skin)
1 tin Cannelini beans (you can use any bean or combination of beans instead)
1 cup hommus (chickpea paste)
1 small cup of green peas
A handful of pine nuts

3 cloves of garlic
1 chilli pepper (Jalapeno)
1 piece of ginger (same overall size as the garlic)

Cooking oil (grapeseed oil is best)

Procedure:
Grind the chilli-garlic-ginger mixture into a paste.

Chop and steam the potatoes in the microwave for 10-15 minutes using a steaming container until well-cooked.

Steam the green peas in the microwave for 3-4 minutes using a steaming container.

Heat 3-4 tablespoons of grapeseed oil, pop mustard seeds into it and wait till they start to crackle.
Add pine nuts and chill-garlic-ginger paste and saute for a few minutes till pine nuts turn light brown. Add the steamed potatoes and stir for a while. Drain the cannelini beans and add to the mix, stirring constantly.
The potatoes and beans should start to get mashed. Add the hommus and keep stirring. Add about a tablespoonful of salt little by little, taking care to ensure that the amount is just right for your taste.
I prefer to let the mixture get somewhat dry and powdery before adding the green peas, but you could add them while the mixture is still "wet" and stop after stirring them in.

Serves 2-4. Will serve as a standalone dish or stand in for a daal.

Oh, and hommus tends to be a wee bit bitter, so I also added a tablespoonful of maple syrup at the end without telling anyone ;-). I know, it's whatever meets my eye...

Recipe for Mushroom Soya Pasta Noodles

Mushroom Soya Pasta Noodles (Satay flavour)

I'm forced to make this combination dish because no one at home likes mushrooms or soya nuggets, and only some like noodles or pasta. So if I'm going to make a dish that most or all others will avoid, I may as well use every hated ingredient at one go and enjoy the dish all by myself!

Ingredients:
1 tin of whole champignons (mushrooms)
1 cup of soya nuggets (e.g., Nutrela/Nutri Nuggets or some such)
1 cup of pasta shells
1 packet of noodles (e.g., Maggi)
1 small cup of green peas
5-6 cloves of garlic
1-2 chilli peppers (preferably Jalapeno)
Red chilli powder
1 bottle of Satay sauce
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil (Grapeseed oil)

Procedure:
Boil the soya nuggets with a spoonful of salt and a spoonful of red chilli powder for about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Boil the pasta with a spoonful of salt and a teaspoonful of oil for about 15 minutes. Drain under cold water for a couple of minutes and set aside.

Boil the noodles without tastemaker in 1 cup of water for about 10 minutes until no longer "wet", and set aside.

Steam the green peas in the microwave for 3-4 minutes using a steaming container and set aside.

Grind garlic and chilli peppers into a paste.
Heat grapeseed oil, pop mustard seeds into it and wait till they start to crackle.
Add garlic-chilli paste and saute for a couple of minutes.

Add champignons and stir for a while, allowing mushrooms to cook.

Add soya nuggets, pasta and noodles one after the other, stirring all the while.

Flavouring options:

Add Satay sauce to the mix, stir well for a few minutes, then serve. Serves 2-4. Satay sauce is a bit overpowering in its flavour, so although the result is quite delicious, the individual character of the ingredients is sadly suppressed. As a milder alternative to Satay sauce, add any masala or herb powder, with salt as required. In the latter case, some chopped spring onions (with stems) or coriander will provide a colourful garnish.

Recipe for Bread Upma

Wondering what to do about that slightly older loaf of bread once you've bought a fresh one? Too much of a waste to throw away, yet a bit dodgy to consume...

Try a bread upma snack. This is another of those offbeat, male-only recipes handed down from father to son :-).

Ingredients:
8 slices of bread (you do use multigrain, don't you? That's the best from both a health and flavour perspective)
4 medium sized red (Spanish) onions
1 red hot chilli pepper (preferably Jalapeno, my favourite - slurp!)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
Any cholesterol-absorbing butter alternative
Cooking oil (grapeseed oil handles heat much better than olive oil, I'm told)
Chopped coriander

Process (two parallel processes, in fact):

Process 1:
Chop the chilli and onions. The chilli pieces should be really fine. We want a pervasive spicy taste, not islands of dynamite.
Heat a couple of tablespoonfuls of cooking oil, pop the mustard seeds into it and wait till they start to crackle. Add the chopped chilli and saute for a while, then add the chopped onions and stir until well-fried.
Add one or two teaspoons of salt depending on preference.

Process 2:
Toast the slices of bread in a regular toaster until nice and brown (that's to ensure that any nasty effects of the mild staleness are burned away).
Apply small amounts of the butter substitute to soften each slice, then cut the slice into 16 square pieces (3 cuts in each direction).

Merge process:
Add the toasted, "buttered" bread pieces to the fried onion/chilli combine and stir well for a few minutes.
Add chopped coriander, turn off heat and continue to stir for a couple of minutes.
Serve hot.

Serves 2-4, depending on appetite :-).

I would have included a photograph because it looks really yummy, but then it was all gone before I could get my camera!