Omelette Curry

 

Omelette Curry

This reminds me of Mum. We'd have this as a wonderful alternative to Dimer Dalna made with whole eggs. Cook the omelette in a large frying pan, more like a flan than rolling it up. It's very simple and easy to make, but cutting diamond shapes out of the flan makes it look fancy. Serve this as a main dish with steamed rice or chapatis.

Chet Oo Chin Hin - Burmese Egg Curry

Chet Oo Chin Hin

Chet = Chicken 

Oo = Egg

Chin = Sour

Hin = Curry or Gravy

I love the convenience of combining all the ingredients for this egg curry in one skillet and simmering over medium-low heat until oil rises to the surface. 

Egg and Onion Salad Dressed in Mustard Oil

Egg and Onion Salad

Dressed In Mustard Oil

A suitable side dish to accompany biryani or khichuri, this simple egg salad is dressed in mustard oil. The original recipe was posted in a food group on Facebook. This was made with a couple of changes to that recipe. 

Stir-Fried Eggs and Potatoes

Alu Pyaj Deem Bhaja

The internet, and Facebook in particular, are an endless source of inspiration. This recipe, taken from a food group in Facebook, is one of a myriad of egg curry recipes and is also the easiest. The eggs and potatoes are boiled for 20 minutes, cooled, peeled and cut, then stir-fried with onions. By boiling the potatoes first, they taste wonderfully soft after cooking.

We had this with steamed rice, but it can be served with any Indian bread and tastes really good rolled up in a tortilla. 

Deem Begun Bhaja - Fried Eggplant Omelette

Deem Begun Bhaja

The texture and size of purple globe eggplant are best suited to this recipe. Begun bhaja or fried eggplant slices round out any Bengali meal and here's another preparation to add to my repertoire. Add ground meat to the omelette ingredients and it could make a main dish.It reminds me of a California sunrise in which a circle is cut out of the center of a piece of toast, filled with a cracked egg and fried. 

Deem Posto - Eggs in White Poppy Seeds Sauce

Deem Posto

Posto (the Bengali name for white poppy seeds) dishes are a common item at Bengali tables. The poppy seeds are soaked in boiling water, cooled and blended with green chilies and salt until smooth and creamy. This sauce is used in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The general procedure is to temper the oil with nigella seeds (kalo jeera) and green chilies, add the vegetables or hard-boiled eggs in this case, simmer them with ginger until cooked and add the posto before taking off the stove.

A word of caution for anyone who has a drug test coming up, I have been told that consuming any food containing poppy seeds (black poppy seed muffins, for example) may affect the results of the drug test.

Burmese Egg Curry - Chet Oo Chin Hin

Chet Oo Chin Hin

Egg curry in Burma is generally made from duck eggs (bae oo) but in North America duck eggs are scarce, so chicken eggs (chet oo) are more commonly used. I've left the eggs whole to keep them in tact. Halved eggs tend to lose their yolks during this cooking process.

A Burmese lady in our Burmese food group on Facebook introduced us to her hassle-free way of cooking egg curry. After hard-boiling and peeling the eggs and potatoes, all the ingredients are combined in a saucepan with enough chicken broth and/or water to cover and slowly simmered together until the potatoes are cooked through and the gravy thickens.

This spicy-hot and sour curry is best enjoyed with steamed rice.

Dimer Dhokar Dalna - Steamed Egg Cakes in Tomato & Onion Gravy

Dimer Dhokar Dalna

An interesting variation to Egg Curry, eggs beaten with turmeric powder, salt, minced onions, tomatoes and green chilies are steamed in the microwave oven and cooked in a tomato-based gravy.

Dhoka, which means fake or deceptive in Bengali, refers to the vegetarian substitute for meat served on auspicious occasions. Dhokar Dalna is generally made with lentil cakes in gravy. The lentil cake method is tedious and time-consuming requiring soaking the lentils overnight, blending them the next day and cooking the paste until all liquid evaporates, then cutting the cake in cubes and frying the cubes until browned. In the process, a lot of oil is used and a lot of effort expended. 

Dimer Dhoka is much simpler to make, although it would not be considered a vegetarian dish. It doesn't require as much preparation and uses a lot less oil.

Dim-er Dalna - Egg Curry

Dim-er Dalna

Eggs in any shape or form are easy to prepare for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Hard boiled eggs and boiled baby potatoes in an onion and tomato sauce are an egg-cellent choice for a dinner entree because they go so well with steamed rice.

The sauce is easy to prepare too, because all it requires is for the onions and garlic to be blanched in boiling water and blended with tomatoes, a green chili and ginger, then stir-fried with spices and the potatoes and combined with the eggs. 

Deem Ruti or Anda Pau or Egg Sandwiches

Deem Ruti 

Making breakfast for a crowd can be daunting. Over the holidays we had a full house which was a lot of fun. Even though I was well-prepared to make several breakfasts, lunches and dinners, the weather did not cooperate. Temperatures were frigid and windows were iced in place and we hate the smell of stale food in the house, so we ate out a lot - a whole lot!

The Stuffing Inside

King's Hawaiian Rolls are fluffy, portion-sized with a slight sweetness that we all love, but reserve for the holidays. These bite-sized sandwiches are sold as snacks by street vendors in all the metropolitan cities in India. We love our omelettes with minced onions and tomatoes and green chilies which makes a delightful filling for the sandwiches. I went a step further and added slices of provolone cheese and sliced chicken to the mix.

Topped and Fried

Once the bottoms of the buns are smothered with the eggs, cheese and chicken, the buns are covered with the top halves and fried in butter. The little snack-sized buns are then segmented and served with ketchup or a variety of chutneys like tamarind or mint chutney, or sweet chili sauce.

Egg-Topped Glass Noodles Soup

Egg-Topped Glass Noodles Soup

Fall is in the air which fits the bill for hot and soul-satisfying soups for lunch. All the left-over bits of vegetables and tofu from the fridge form the base for this meal in a bowl. 

Egg Adds More Protein

My preference for glass noodles over egg noodles lies in its make-up. Glass noodles are made from mung beans whereas egg noodles are made from wheat so there are less carbohydrates in the former. Tofu is high in protein and low in fat which makes it an excellent choice for this meal, but any form of protein works in the soup.

Fast & Easy Prep

The ingredients for the soup were previously chopped and left over, making it really easy to dump into some chicken broth. The glass noodles simply need to be soaked in boiling broth and cut with scissors into smaller lengths directly in the saucepan. I used triple-washed baby spinach, kale and other greens that came prepped from the store. To add some more flavour, the egg was beaten with a touch of chicken bouillon powder before topping the soup.

Dim'er Korma - Eggs in Onion Gravy

Dim'er Korma

Taking the definition from Wikipedia, korma is a dish originating in the Indian subcontinent, consisting of meat or vegetables braised with yogurt/cream and spices to produce a thick sauce or glaze. I used evaporated milk instead of cream and cooked the eggs and potatoes long and slow over a low flame. Onions that are grated or blended into a paste tend to take a long time to cook enough to remove it's strong aroma. I read that blanching onions before blending takes care of this problem. A thick sauce is produced by adding simmering water when making the gravy. Somehow, cold water or broth added to simmering spices thins out the gravy, so make sure to keep a simmering cup or two of water/broth close at hand.

To make perfect hard-boiled eggs, bring the eggs to a rolling boil over medium heat, cover the saucepan and simmer for ten minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the eggs in the saucepan for another ten minutes. Drain the eggs and rinse under cold water then fill the saucepan with cold water and leave the eggs to cool down completely. They'll be easy to peel with no blemishes at all. Slit the eggs vertically four or five times to make sure the gravy penetrates to the core. Lightly fry the eggs until golden brown before releasing them into the gravy.

Scrambled Eggs, Cabbage & Peas

Scrambled Eggs, Cabbage & Peas

Here's another dish that places Mum's presence front & center in my consciousness. I remember having this with hot rice in Rangoon and more frequently in Darjeeling. It's really simple to make with just a few ingredients and is so delicious! It goes well with rice or tortillas.

Singapore Egg Noodles with Shrimp

Singapore Egg Noodles

I generally make Singapore noodles with rice noodles, but egg noodles work just as well. This is a one-dish meal that can be made in under 30 minutes and is a great lunch idea. Accompanied by a serving of pan-fried dumplings, this hits the spot and keeps you satiated for a while.

Oatmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal Pancakes

Craving something wholesome and delicious first thing in the morning generally leads me straight to a breakfast loaded with carbohydrates. Oatmeal or porridge, which I love, takes some time and effort to prepare, so here is a low-carb, gluten-free and delicious alternative, for diabetics in particular.

These delicious 5-ingredient oatmeal pancakes go from pantry to table in under 15 minutes and are a cinch to make. Using a package of instant oatmeal flavoured with maple syrup and brown sugar (the box stated 50% less sugar than the regular) eliminates the need to add sugar to the batter. Top the pancakes any which way - with more maple syrup or fruit compote and/or nuts. I simply sprinkled pumpkin pie spice over my pancakes and paired them with a couple of veggie sausage patties. 

Savoury Oatmeal Pancakes

I've made savoury oatmeal pancakes before and those were delicious too. 

Astho Dim-er Malai Curry - Whole Eggs in Coconut Sauce

Astho Dim-er Malai Curry

Fried Whole Eggs

Fried Eggs

Malai Curry is a favourite sauce made with coconut milk that is most commonly combined with shrimp, fish or chicken. Today I decided to cook eggs in coconut milk. I've made this before with eggs cut in half, but today they were left whole. The hard-boiled eggs and chunks of potatoes are fried (separately) to a golden-brown colour, then simmered in the coconut sauce. The eggs are shelled and scored across the circumference 4-5 times through the egg white to the egg yolk, so that the sauce can penetrate them to the core.

Tofu Eggs Akuri - Indian-Style Scrambled Eggs with Tofu

Tofu Eggs Akuri

Eggs Akuri is a common Parsi breakfast dish that is served all over India. 

The Ingredients

Beaten eggs are combined with diced onions, tomatoes, green chilies and cilantro for a very tasty accompaniment to buttered toast. In Bengali households this style of scrambled eggs are given a bright golden colour with the addition of turmeric powder.

Extra-Firm Tofu

I figured tofu would taste great with the scrambled eggs because of its firm and silky texture. To give it an Indo-Chinese twist, the diced cubes of tofu were tossed in chicken bouillon powder to give the tasteless tofu some punch. After allowing them to sit for 10 minutes, the cubes of tofu were soaked in beaten eggs before scrambling. No salt was added because the bouillon powder was salty enough.

Chicken Bouillon Powder

These scrambled eggs taste great with buttered toast or hot chapatis or even steamed long-grain rice. I can imagine them stuffed inside egg parathas or bread pakoras...the possibilities are endless!

Alu Deem Posto - Potatoes & Eggs in White Poppy Seed Sauce

Alu Deem Posto

Posto (white poppy seeds) dishes are a common item at Bengali tables. White poppy seed sauce is used in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The general procedure is to temper the oil with nigella seeds (kalonji) and green chilies, add the vegetables, or eggs and potatoes in this case, simmer them with ginger until cooked and add the poppy-seed sauce at the end. The poppy seeds are soaked in boiling water until cooled and blended with green chilies & salt until smooth and creamy.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'm providing a pictorial of the steps I followed in making this dish.

Breakfast Scrambled Eggs & Potatoes

Alu Deem Bhaja

We were late getting up this morning so we had breakfast for lunch. This was really quick and easy to put together because I used frozen hash brown potatoes from the freezer. But it's just as easy to peel a large russet potato and dice it instead.

Beat Eggs Until Frothy

First, I beat 2 eggs with salt & pepper to taste & a pinch of turmeric powder until frothy. The turmeric gives the eggs a lovely flavour and is what makes it Bengali scrambled eggs.

Stir-Fried Potatoes

Then, 2 cups of diced potatoes were stir-fried with salt & pepper, 1/4 cup each diced tomatoes, green onions and 1 green chili.

Setting Eggs

When the potatoes were cooked, a well was made in the center of the potatoes and a little more butter was melted, the beaten eggs poured in the well and allowed to set around the edges.

Scrambled Eggs & Potatoes

The eggs were then scrambled and stirred with the potatoes...

Plated

and mounded on a toasted and split English muffin. Add to that a mug of steaming hot coffee for a deeply satisfying meal. 

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 eggs, beaten until frothy with
   salt & pepper to taste
   a pinch of turmeric
1 onion, minced
1 tomato, diced
1 green chilli, diced (or to taste)
2 stalks green onions, sliced
handful cilantro, chopped
2 cups potatoes, peeled & diced
2 Tbsp. (1/4 stick) butter
2 English muffins, split and toasted
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Melt half the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Stir-fry onions, tomatoes, chilli, green onions & cilantro until oil resurfaces.
3. Add potatoes along with salt & pepper and stir well.
4. Sprinkle some water over potatoes and cover.
5. Simmer potatoes, stirring occasionally until potatoes are cooked.
6. Make a well in the center of the potatoes and melt remaining butter.
7. Pour beaten egg over melted butter and allow edges to set.
8. Stir and scramble egg into potatoes; turn heat off.
9. Toast 2 split English muffins, mound scrambled eggs & potatoes over muffin halves and serve with beverage of choice.

Huevos Con Queso - Microwaved Eggs with Hot Peppers & Cheese

Microwaved Eggs with Hot Peppers & Cheese

The best dishes are created when one is ravenous. Lunch was late today because I had only myself to cater to. Earlier in the day, a Pinterest post caught my eye - 12 Ways to Cook Eggs in the Microwave. I've done that before with great success, so when my stomach began to growl, I raided the fridge and came up with this heartwarming and oh-so satisfying one-dish meal.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

salt & pepper to taste

1 wheat tortilla

1 cup left-over chicken fajitas or taco meat (optional)

1 handful cilantro, minced

1 green onion, minced

1 green chili, minced

2 Tbsp. grated cheese

Directions:

1. Break eggs into a microwave-safe dish and beat well with salt & pepper.
2. Tear tortilla into pieces and top with remaining ingredients, except cheese.
3. Mix everything together and microwave on high for 2-1/2 minutes. 
4. Sprinkle with cheese & microwave for another 30 seconds until eggs set.

Serve for lunch with fruit or salad for a hearty meal. Notice I didn't use any butter or oil so it's fat-free.