Omlet Molly or Omlet Curry

Advent is on, but we have not given up on eggs. Hence eggs happen to end up on our dinner table usually. Isn't that an easy option, no matter whether it is advent or lent or any lazy night dinner. I have some egg recipes which I keep rotating to avoid boredom. So it always seems fancy for the picky eating kido to finish his dinner without fuzzing on it.

This omlet curry recipe was borrowed from my Mom's home science book. Everytime I visit home, I make sure I go through her book, and make a note of recipes that I could recreate in my kitchen. Apparently I have seen a shift in the taste over the years. I was just glancing  through my recipe stash and realized that when I started my blog I had plenty of time in hand and I always used to pick the most difficult or challenging recipes which are time consuming and fancy. These days the recipes are picked only if it is simple, impressive and serves to help us survive :). This omlet curry recipe was ignored back then, but this time, while browsing through the recipe book, I just couldn't miss noting down this recipe. It is simple and requires minimal or everyday pantry items. So this is a star recipe for those rain days when you are running low on groceries or just running low on your energy to cook, yet the desire to have a yum meal is high.

Ingredients 

1. 4 eggs
2. 4 tbsp of milk
3. 3/4 cup of sliced onion - preferably red onions
4. 1 tbsp of finely chopped ginger
5. 1 tbsp fo finely chopped garlic
6. 2-3 green chillies, slit length wise
7. 2 cardamom
8. 2  cloves
9. 1 stick of cinnamon
10. 1/2 tsp of garam masala
11. 1/2 tsp of pepper powder
12. 1 1/2 cup of thin coconut milk
13. 1/2 cup of thick coconut milk
14. A strand of curry leaves
15. Oil for omlets 
16. 2 tbsp of oil
17. Salt to taste
18. 1 tsp of butter
19. 1 large tomato sliced

Method

• In a bowl, break in the eggs. Add 4 tbsp of milk and salt. beat it well.
• In a pan, melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, turn the heat to medium. Swirl the pan, to spread the melted butter in the pan. Add the beaten egg mixture and spread it to make a omlet. Do not cook the eggs completely. As soon as it is ready to be flipped, fold the omlet in half, so that it forms a semi circle . Cook for a minute. Remove it on to a plate and cut out strips of 1 inch. Place it aside. 
• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add cardamom, cloves and cinnamon. When they splutter, add ginger, garlic, curry leaves and green chillies. Let them loose their rawness. Now add sliced onion and salt and mix it. 
• Once the onion turns tender, add garam masala and pepper powder. Give it a mix and add the thin coconut milk. Let it come to a boil.
• Add the omlet pieces. Let it get heated untill it starts to boil. Add the thick coconut milk and stir it well. Now line the sliced tomatoes on top of the curry(as shown in the picture). Cover the pan and let it cook on low heat for another 3-4 minutes. 
• Remove it from the heat and serve it hot with Appam, Parotta, Bread or Chapathi.

Tips

• Make sure to not overcook the omlet. When making omlet, it can be half cooked, because you will anyways end up cooking it in the gravy too. If the egg is overcooked, it will not be soft when the curry is ready.
• If you do not have the luxury of making fresh coconut milk at home, canned coconut milk is good enough. You could adjust the thickness of the coconut milk for the gravy accordingly. 
• You could use roasted cashews and fried raisins to garnish your Omlet curry if you wish to.

Bebinca

With Christmas around the corner, I am sure most of you might be baking a lot of goodies for your family. With the covid-19 and lockdown here, we have been indulging in a lot of cooking experiments. It just doesn't see the light of the blog. Well the reason is pure laziness which I try to cover up by blaming on the technical glitches - instagram which doesn't let me post the links, image hosting sites changing their storage policies frequently etc.  Anyways, I am trying to make sure, that I post atleast one post per week this christmas season. I thought the comeback should be done with a special bake of the festive season - Bebinca. It is an Indo Portugese desert which is very popular esp. during the christmas season in Goa. This melt in the mouth pudding does require some effort, but all the effort seems to be worth it when you happen to taste it. So yum !

Without waiting another minute, lets move on to the recipe. I came across this  recipe when a fellow blogger had published it during my initials days of blogging. The very look of it made me tempt, because I had been looking out for the name of this dessert which I had, when I was a kid, and my tastebuds seemed to have recollected it from the memories. Without wasting any time, I tried the recipe. As usual, when a recipe is a success, I do note down the recipe, for future reference. Now when I look her up, I am unable to locate the blog. Well this is exactly what happens, when we stay disconnected with the blogging world. I hope that if you are reading this post, let me know so that I can link back to your blog. 

Bonda / Undan pori

Imagine you are at a chaikada/tea stall and you have a wide variety of palaharam(tea time snack) infront of you. Without any second thought what would be the one palaharam that you would go for? For me, it is Pazham Bonda/Undan Pori. Do not ask me why? I just love this non fancy and simple snack so much. It was not a frequently made snack at home, though they are quite easy to make. I wonder why? But when we would visit Kerala, I grab on these, every single time, I would go to a bakery or chai kada. Even the shop owners have given me that look/stare when I walk out of there shop, not settling in for any other option, in case they might have ran out of these bonda. It is so addictive for me. If you have some overripe bananas that you are looking forward to using up, try these. It is a different, simple and easy snack to put together for tea time. Uff ! Now I am craving for Bonda.  

Kappa Chips/ Tapioca chips

I love munching on these Tapioca chips. They are so addictive that you can't just stop. I remember getting it while we used to take the train ride form kerala to the township that I grew up in. Forget about these chips getting to the destination, it just wouldn't survive the four day train journey. We would finish it off in the train itself. 

I somehow prefer these match stick shaped tapioca chips rather than the round ones. My lil one also loves it, so its just the perfect excuse to make them at home. I used to think that it would be a huge task to chop those hard tapioca roots. But I was surprised when I actually tried them the first time. Wasn't at all difficult as I had expected. I would suggest to make it at home if you are a tapioca chips lover like us, because nothing beats the taste of freshly homemade chips. 

Sloppy Joes

This lockdown has taught us and made us experience so many things. It had made us appreciate the little things that go unnoticed in our busy lives and to be happy and content with it and explore more joy with whatever little we have. It has given us the time to be with the family, the entire day, which otherwise would have been spent at office or school. We used to eat out once a week, or once in two weeks atleast. But the lock down and fear of corona has made us give it up completely, which made us try different recipes that we had never tried before. It has taught us, that you need not have to go to a beach or park to do the picnic and have fun. You can absolutely enjoy a picnic in your own little patio, while staying home and adhering to the instructions by the governing officials, and help curb down the ever rising number of people infected by covid-19. 

This sloppy joe was one of items that we had on our picnic menu. It was delicious. Juicy with all the sauces that go in it and with the ease with which it all comes together, makes it a perfect item for your grill parties or picnics. So grab the recipe and make it for your family patio picnics :)

Bread Upma

Bread is one constant thing on my grocery list. I usually buy it as a back up plan - what if I get up late and it's already late for us to start with office or school work. Also, what if I have nothing planned for tea time I can turn it into sandwich or bread butter etc. But sometimes this back up plan never gets used up and that fresh loaf starts turning hard and dry that no one feels like having it. To finish of such dry bread, I go for other options like bread pudding, bread pakora, bread roll, French toast, bread upma etc.  The dryness of the bread never shows up in these options and you get to use your not so fresh bread in an appealing manner. 

Thakkali Pulissery/ Tomato in seasoned buttermilk

Lots of buttermilk and curd, mangoes, icecream ..... isn't it the best part of summer. Though we like the plain buttermilk , seasoned buttermilk is something that pairs better with steaming rice. We tend to make it more often and is kind of staple at south indian households. We just had it for lunch yesterday and it reminded me, how this post had been in the draft for years now. So I decided to work on it today. After all, its been a while that I visited by blog baby. Everytime, I shout out my come back, it ends up in 1 or 2 blog post and then again, I disappear. I think, I have become lazy in blogging. I definitely need to overcome my laziness before I commit to regular blogging. Well, coming back to the recipe, it is simple and just perfect for your summer lunches. If you have not tried this version of pulissery, I would strongly suggest to do so. It takes simple lunches to another level. I am sure you would like it. 

Instant Unniyappam

My mom's version of instant unniyappams have been always a hit. It always helps to bring down our cravings for unniyappams and to finish off the overripe bananas. And the word instant is so apt. As it doesn't need any soaking of white rice and hence no delay in making it.

Whenever we have guest who pay a surprise visit and I have hardly anything to serve them to snack on, I choose to make it. It has been a hit. Make it and let me know if you loved it.

Peanut Butter Cookies (3 Ingredient Cookie)

One of the simplest cookies ever, with minimal ingredients, super addictive etc. are some of the characteristics of these cookies. They are so easy to make that you could even chose to involve your kids in making it. When we have the urge to make something sweet and have, this is one go to option. In minutes you have warm cookies, to calm down your cravings.

Now that kids are home, it is the best recipe to go with, for cooking with kids. It is hardly a recipe but hey correct measures are a must to make the cookies stay in shape. So why don't you grab the measures and make some cookies for your family.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Happy Easter everyone !

Hope everybody is doing good at the respective places that you are at. We are doing fine too. Before you start asking if I made it today, the answer is No, I didn't. This time we had a very minimalistic Easter celebration. Just because we have the groceries for the next two weeks stocked up, due to lock down, we didn't want to use it all up in a day. But, wanted to celebrate it in a simple way with so much thanksgiving for all that we have for today.

This cake reminded me of how simple things can also be made more special. With minimal ingredients this cake was made to happen in a matter of an hour or less, but was very yum and appreciated far better than the cakes that would have involved too much effort. You don't have to make things complicated or put in extra efforts to make it special. Simple things can also make it to your memories. Such was this year's Easter. No potlucks or family visits or get togethers but still it shall be in our memories with the simple menu and a lot of catch up with family and friends over video chats :).

Aloo Curry / Aloo Masala

Some tastes just get stored in your taste buds, that you would never want to get away or alter a particular recipe in any way, to make even the slightest change. This aloo curry is one such recipe. No matter what, I would just blindly follow this recipe, that my mom always used to make. As kids, we used to love it and we still do and can just scrap off the bowl untill the last bit is consumed.

If you are wondering what is so special about this recipe then let me tell you that, this recipe has the minimal ingredients that could be used to make a potato curry, so amazing and finger licking good. It is just one of the perfect recipes I have ever known. While it cooks in the pressure cooker, you could parallely work on the poori /parathas/rotis that could pair well with it and make an awesome meal in just half an hour. So here is the recipe for that awesome aloo curry.

Khandvi

Ever since I started blogging, these pretty khandvi's had been in my to make list. Come on, there would be hardly anyone who wouldn't notice them. They are so pretty that you just can't resist to taste them and once tasted, you will fall for it. 

Usually when I give a try for the first time, I make it during snack time, so that if it doesn't come out well or if it is not liked by anyone, they would have an alternative in the pantry to go grab some quick bite. When I tried these the first time, Jacob thought I had really put in a lot of effort to make these. When he tasted it he liked it and then started asking how I made it and he too was amazed that these pretty looking khandvis are quite easy to make. They look so much more pretty for the least effort that goes into making it. So if you too want to try making it, here is the recipe.

Tutti Fruiti Cake

I know I know.... I have been missing in action for a while now right? I did not post even during the holiday season, when the cooking actually takes its peak, with all the baking, parties and potlucks. Last year, we had been facing a lot of health issues and it was so hard to keep up with everything, that I thought, may be, keeping it slow would be one way to get through it. So after a break, last weekend, I thought to get back but then the flu hit the entire family and the blogging went down to square one. Guess this year too, would be no different. While we are still recovering from flu, I wanted to post something colourful and hence this post.

It is so hard to start again from where you stopped. I have been thinking for a while to get back. But I still was not able to get through my laziness. Finally after all the push from all who told me to start again, here I am. I hope to keep up with your expectations and also to find that same energy to keep blogging. Today's post is a simple but feel good cake - both in its taste as well as looks. If you are among the lucky ones to have got a long weekend, then do bake it and enjoy it with your family and friends.

Dates Bar

What is the most exciting part of the trip for you ? You would call me crazy if I say getting ready for the trip, packing up food to eat while on the drive etc. is very exciting for me. And yes to make sure that we don't get bored of the same item, I pack up different things that we could munch on. This dates bar was experimented for one such trip and I must say, even before we started the trip , it got over :). These are super yum and filling too.

With the crunch of the walnuts and flax seeds and the sweetness from the dates, and the feel good factor that I am munching on something healthy, makes this snack option the perfect and the preferred one. You could add or delete the ingredients, except for dates, as per your creativity or liking to make it interesting for you are your family. They are perfect for kids snack box too. Here is how I made it.

Chicken Pot Pie

Fall is in the air and with the speed at which the time is flying,  soon it would be holiday season too. One favorite thing of mine, during the holidays is the extensive baking, which leaves our house smelling good and warm. This chicken pot pie is one perfect bake for this chilled weather. With all the buttery crust and the melt in the mouth chicken mixture in it, it is one of our favorite and the best baked ever. Try making it at home and enjoy this fall/ winter season.