Bombay Toast

It's a sunday and I consider bread and egg the ideal sunday start. So this sunday I decided to make bombay toast. I made them with olive oil, which is neutral and does not affect the flavor of the dish. I used to think that extra virgin olive oil should not be heated up but after watching Aditya Bal do it on "Olive it up", I decided that I too could do that once in a while.

Ingredients (For 5 slices of bombay toast) :

1. 3 eggs
2. 5 slices of bread - I used Nilgiris multigrain bread, taking advantage of having a Niligiris 1905 store near my place
3. 1/4 cup milk
4. 1 tbsp sugar
5. 1 tsp vanilla extract
6. a pinch of salt
7. Olive oil/Butter - 2 tbsp

How I made it :

1. Beat the eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and salt together.
2. Heat a tawa.
3. Add some olive oil to the hot tawa.
4. Dip a slice of bread in the egg mix ensuring that it absorbs quite a bit of it and place this on the tawa.
5. Let it cook for a minute on each side on low flame. 
6. Repeat with other slices of bread.
7. I served mine with my homemade strawberry preserve. 

Spicy Mushroom and Egg curry

Well, I wanted to eat something really spicy when I got home after work. I remembered Namratha's spicy egg curry which I've made quite a few times before but I also had a pack of mushrooms which I had to finish so I combined the two together and the result was quite good.

Here's a pic of what went into my dabba so sorry for a not-so-good picture.

Ingredients (serves 2 as a side dish to chapatis):

1. 2 hard boiled eggs
2. 200g mushrooms cleaned and quartered
3. 1 large onion finely sliced or chopped - I sliced them finely with my new Pure Komachi series knife
4. 1 large country tomato
5. 1 tsp garam masala powder
6. 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
7. 1/2 tsp coriander/dhania powder
8. Salt to taste
9. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
10. water - 1 teacup
11. 1 tbsp oil
12. Chopped coriander for garnish

How I made it :

1. In a pan, heat the oil.
2. Add the mustard seeds. Cover and let the spluttering stop.
3. Now add the onions and fry till the turn pink.
4. Once onions are pink, add the mushrooms and cook them as per your liking. I wait till all the water that they leave our evaporates.
5. Now, add the tomatoes, red chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and let the fat separate.
6. Add about 1 teacup of water and let it come to a boil.
7. Drop in halved boiled eggs and the garam masala powder.
8. Cover and let it simmer for about 8 minutes.
9. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve with rotis/chapatis.

Eggless Ragi Pancakes

What better way to get back to blogging than with a healthy recipe? Here's what I made for breakfast after being inspired by Appu's ragi pancakes. She made them in a jiffy when I decided to drop in for a cuppa chai :)

Ingredients : (makes 3 pancakes)

1. 1/3 cup ragi flour
2. 1/2 tsp baking powder
3. 1 tbsp sugar
4. A pinch of salt
5. 2 tsp olive oil or any neutral oil
6. A little less than 1/2 cup of milk
7. A few dried pumpkin seeds - I usually pop them in the microwave for 2 minutes and once cooled, store in an airtight container. These add some texture to the pancakes - tip borrowed from Appu
8. 2 tbsp butter/oil

How I made it :

1. Mix all the ingredients from 1 through 7 to form a smooth batter
2. Heat up a tawa or griddle.
3. Lightly greast hot tawa with butter/oil
4. Pour a ladleful of batter.
5. Cover for 45 seconds
6. When you lift the lid and see nice holes, flip and cook for another 45 seconds to 1 minute.

I served these healthy pancakes with my homemade strawberry preserve. It was my first attempt and I did not add enough sugar so the preserve was a bit tart.

A month away from cooking and blogging

I was dreading this month but it has turned out quite okay. The trip to the US was not boring but a rather eventful and now I am homeward bound for the holidays. Been away from the usual experimenting and blogging. Be back soon. Wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy new year.