Food for a hot busy day - Another curried egg salad!

I think if you live in the east coast like me, today was certain a day to stay indoors and certain away from major cooking. Well, this is where it gets tricky. My daughter Deepta had a performance in school, which meant a lot of juggling in the evening to keep the routine intact and of course, meant having something that we could all eat. I think by now most people know, I love salads, egg salads in particular are high on my preference scale. Well, there was an egg salad that was sitting there on my kitchen bookshelf with my name on it - well actually it had Monica Bhide's name on it. It was a recipe from her cookbook Modern Spice.  This recipe had just the perfect overtones of flavor and would work wonderfully for all of us. The carmelized onions, that get folded into a nice assortment of egg and vegetables add an amazing amount of flavor to a very pretty recipe.

I actually made a double recipe, and tweaked the ingredients ever so slightly - I used a half cup of mayonaise for 12 eggs instead of the 6 that the original recipe had, I eliminated the chilies for the kids but added them back in for us and squeezed in a lime to balance the flavor and moisture. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Curried Egg Salad with Carmelized Onion

Recipe from Modern Spice by Monice Bhide

Note (this is a double recipe)

Serves 8-10 people

Prep/Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used olive)

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 dozen hard cooked eggs

1/4 medium red onion, diced

` 1 organic red or orange bell pepper (seeded and finely diced

1/3 cup mayonaise (using her recommendations this would be 1.5 cups)

4 tablespoons minced cilantro

2 small green serrano chilies, minced 

3 teaspoons hot Madras curry powder (1 used about 2 teaspoons)

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

1 lime, halved (my addition)

2 cups spinach leaves, loosely packed (I used garden lettuce)

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a medium skillet heat the oil and add the onion and carmelize for about 5 minutes, the onion softens, turns pale golden and then light brown. Mix in the salt, sugar and black pepper.

2. Chop the eggs and mix with the onions and bell peppers.

3. In a separate bowl, mix in the mayonaise, cilantro, chilies, curry powder and the mustard. I squeezed in the lime juice at this time.

4. Mix in the carmelized onions and the dressing and toss well.

5. Serve the salad in cups of crisp lettuce or spinach.

Spicy Scrambled Eggs - Cooking for one

It is strange when one gets out of the habit of something, the basic can seem complex. It has been a while since I began putting meals for just myself. The past week and I guess the next ones to come, I shall be eating lunch at home, by myself.  Sure there are sometimes leftovers but not always, so here is what I made on Tuesday.
This classic Indian style scrambled eggs have several variations, mine has to have freshly grated Parmesan cheese and I have to have it on crusty buttered crisp toast.

So there you have it,

Spicy Scrambled Eggs

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 tablespoons oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
            1 tomato, chopped
            1 teaspoon powdered cumin
            1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
            2 eggs, lightly beaten
            2 green chilies, finely chopped
            1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
            Salt to taste
            2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

            Method of Preparation

            1. Heat the oil and add the onions and cook for about 3-4 minutes, until the onions are soft and they begin to sweat.
            2. Add in the tomato and cook lightly, mix in the cumin and black pepper and gently add in the eggs and cheese with the salt (a note here, the cheese is pretty salty so use additional salt with care.
            3. Gently stir in the eggs till most and just set, add in the cilantro and serve.

Around the world

Well, the kids have recently been show how to use the globe. Deepta gets it and Aadi sort of, kind of gets it! Well if you make a child a foodie, you have to be prepared, everything will be about food, you shall tell him about a country, he shall try to spell, when he tries to spell it, he shall ask you all about it and when he asks you about it, you shall tell him about the food, and when you tell him about the food he might want to heat it and chances are he shall ask you to cook it - if you make a child a foodie..

Well that was my attempt at the if you give a moose a muffin series, but we have decided to try to do an A-z series of food. It has so far been going well (we are upto "C" but there is always a lag in blogging, so A was Algeria.

I came across this blog - that is called Algerian Creole Cuisine and I made the egg tangine recipe which essentially is a nice baked egg stata - hard to go wrong with eggs, the kids ate the eggplants, this recipe essentially layers one ingredient on top of another and bakes them till done.

Egg tangine - Baked egg casserole

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour (mostly baking)

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 chopped green pepper

3-4 egg plant slices

1/2 cup olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2-3 cloves garlic

1 cup sliced mushrooms

6 eggs

1 cup half and half

Salt to taste

Lots of black pepper

2-3 tablespoons cheese

Cilantro to sprinke

4 slices, sliced baguette

Method of Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease and line a casserole dish.

3. Line the baking dish with tomatoes.

4. Add in the peppers.

5. Cook the eggplant in oil until brown and cover the tomatoes.

6. Cook the garlic and onions and mushrooms until soft.

7. Cover the tomatoes with this mixtures.

8. Beat the eggs and the half and halt with salt, pepper and the cilantro.

9. Cover the layered vegetables with this mixture.

10. Add the bread slices and bake for 1 hour until set.

The kids loved it and it makes a great plan ahead brunch recipe!

Egg Masala with mushrooms!

Still savoring the remains of fall, the past few weeks have been rather stressful at work - feeling the sharp impact of the times. I have been trying hard not to let the impact get me down just before thanksgiving.

Well, a few nights back, I made a very simple curried egg version. Actually, much simpler than the Dimer Dalna, that some people liked a lot. It is different but nice as well. It would make for a good brunch dish, or really anytime of the day!
We actually had it for dinner over rice.
Egg masala with mushrooms

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
6-8 shallots, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2-3 pods of garlic, minced
4-6 minced green chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 teaspoon curry powder
3-4 tomatoes, quartered
1 teaspoon salt
6-8 boiled eggs halved
1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin and mustard seeds.
2. When the mustard begins to pop, add in the shallots, ginger and garlic and cook lightly till soft and transluscent. This takes about 5-6 minutes.
3. Add in the chillies, curry leaves, curry powder, tomatoes and salt cook till the tomatoes are soft and a light gravy is formed.
4. Lightly fold in the eggs and stir in the vinegar.
5. Heat the butter and saute the mushrooms until the mushrooms are soft, this takes 3-4 minutes.
6. Stir in the mushrooms and cilantro and serve immediately!

Westchester Farmers Market Blogathon - Day 4

Somedays, you just keep it simple. We had an incredibly simple and quick. This does not mean you cannot do flavorful! What we had tonight was filled with all the goodness of my shopping. The onions and cilantro used in the eggs was actually from the Elmsford Farmers market, which I have featured before. The eggs are scrambled with torn spinach leaves from our garden. The corn is roasted on an open flame, brushed with a lime, cumin and melted butter emulsion. Kids loved it so did we!!!

Marylou's Devilled Eggs

Marylou is our lovely and kind neighbour who goes out of her way to make life a little more cheerful for us, she gets me cut flowers from her garden, whenever possible she helps with the kids, brings us nice seasonal surprises. So yesterday was no different. She actually took my daughter over to make these lovely devilled eggs, then she asked me to come up with a more Indianized version so we had two variations of these. My son decided to amuse himself my writing his name all over the sheet. (the bed sheet that is). That kid has no plans of growing up. He was even upset that I fussed, since he was practicing writing as I had asked him too, LOL!

So here we have the recipes, the original,

Marylou's Devilled Eggs

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 hardboiled eggs

Beetjuice to color

2 tablespoons mayonaise

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon relish

Method of Preparation

1. Carefully cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks.

2. Soak the eggs in a pool of beetjuice and watch as the color seeps in.

3. Remove and set aside.

4. Mix the eggs with the remaining ingredients and stuff back into the hollows.

5. Enjoy!

Marylou's Eggs after a cup of tea with Rinku

Serves 6

Ingredients

6 hardboiled eggs
Beetjuice to color
2 tablespoons mayonaise
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon freshly chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon chat masala

1 teaspoon minced green chillies
1 teaspoon salt

Method of Preparation

1. Carefully cut the eggs in half and remove the yolks.
2. Soak the eggs in a pool of beetjuice and watch as the color seeps in.
3. Remove and set aside.
4. Mix the eggs with the remaining ingredients and stuff back into the hollows.
5. Enjoy!

Welcoming 2009!!!

I think it is always a greater challenge to cobble together New year's breakfast/brunch than to mannage the a new year's eve party. This is especially tricky if you have partied the night before. I do not know if this is any indication of the rest of the year, but today was an absolutely perfect day!! We enjoyed ourselves last night as well. Anyhow, for the few friends who chose to join us today, we had a lovely breakfast. The eggs are actually based on my son Aadi's request for cheddaring food! I personnaly was amazed at how good these very simple flavors tasted.

The flavors of the tomato, Cheddar and the cilantro mesh very well.

Cheddaring Scramble!!!
Serve 6
Ingredients
2 tbsp butter, 1 onion finely chopped, 1 tsp chopped garlic, 1 tomato chopped, 5 eggs, 1/2 cup lowfat milk,1.5 tsp salt, 1/2 cup diced ham, 1/2 cup grated NY cheddar, 1/3 cup chopped cilantro, lots of freshly ground pepper.
Method of Preparation
1. Heat the butter on low heat saute the onion and garlic. 2. Add the tomato. 3. Beat the eggs with the milk and salt and pour onto the pan. 4. Add the ham and the cheddar and gently rake the egg, when partially set, stir in the cilantro and pepper. 5. Turn of the heat when the eggs are moist but not runny and enjoy.
It has been a while since I sent something to WHB, actually it has been a while since I sent anything to any events. Just been lazy! The event has found a new home, Haalo's Blog, where it is also being hosted this week.

Chive-Sun Dried Tomato Omelette

The other morning I had made myself an omelette on a whim, and, my daughter tried it. Well, now she is all into having an omelette usually for breakfast. Well, nothing to inspire your creative juices than your eager 4.5 year old. That (.5) half is especially important, she will make sure that you do not forget it when mentioning it too her. Well, this morning, this is what we had for brunch with a side salad.
It also got me to use a new herb, yes, just in time for WHB. This is being hosted by Kalyn at Kalyn's kitchen.

For Each Omlette

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
1 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp chopped chives
Salt to taste
1 tbsp chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp goat cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil on skillet or frying pan.
2. Beat the egg with the onion, chives and salt and pour on the skillet.
3. Quickly top with the sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese.
4. Cook for about 5 minutes and sprinkly with the pepper.
5. Fold and serve how.

My daughter added some ketchup on hers, I encourage you to have it any way you like it.

An Apple a day

I am not a particular fan of apples in general, but the granny smith is an exception. Its tart crisp texture gives it an amazing versatility.

Well I tried to find out a little more about it and discovered that they get their name from their original cultivator a Marie Ann Smith.

They do not brown as easily as other apples, hence they are great for salads, Like the one I am writing about.

Apple-Spinach Salad with red onions

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 granny smith apples peeled and sliced

1 tsp black salt

10 oz baby spinach leaves

2 eggs hard-boiled and sliced

1/2 cup wine-vinegar onions with some of soaking liquid

3 slices bacon cooked till crisp and crumbled (optional)

Method of preparation.

1. Mix the black salt with the apple and let this sit for 10 minutes.

2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

3. Eat with bread or alone.

This weeks WHB is being hosted by Sue and Coffee and Cornbread. Thanks for hosting!