turmeric powder Archives - Travels for Taste

Weekend mornings demand a good breakfast, especially if you have had a tad too much wine on Friday evening 😉

I love making a simple Indian omelette and my dinner guests who stayed with us for the night, last Friday, had to be fed a hearty breakfast before they set out to go home. Like my aai I am obsessed with feeding people and cannot imagine sending off guests on an empty stomach.

Luckily, now that I am part of the Happy Eggs Taste 100 Blogger network a #happyeggtastemakers, I had 2 boxes of these lovely Happy eggs at home, red onion or the Mumbai pink onion which I buy from my fav Indian-Pakistani grocery store and loads of frozen coriander.

This is a very basic recipe for the Indian masala omelette- with a bit of twist , added in my me . I also love adding in cheese and bulking it up with ham or sausages which I did for my guests, but hubster is a purist of sorts when it comes to the masala omelettes (read fussy hehehe) and so made 2 huge omelettes , one using the recipe that follows and another with the cheese, sausages and Parma Ham – so… so… so… good !!

Indian Masala Omelette

Serves:2

Ingredients:

1 medium sized red onion or pink Mumbai onion chopped fine
3 Happy eggs
1 green chillies chopped into fairly large chunky pieces- easy to pick out for the faint hearted!
a pinch of turmeric powder
1 /4th tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander
2 large tbsp butter
Salt to taste

Additional Ingredients to bulk up the omlette:

1 cheese single
2 sausages
2 thin slices of Parma Ham
1 /2 tsp red chilli powder
1.5 medium sized red onion.

Adding the garam masala is something I like to do as it gives the omelette a fabulous amped up flavour but feel free to leave that out if you aren’t a fan.

Method:

Finely chop the red onion.
Chop the green chilli into fairly big pieces so they can be picked out by those that don’t want to chew on them.
Crack the happy eggs into the bowl.
Add in the chopped onions, green chilli chopped, red chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Whisk with a fork till the mixture foams and is well aerated , this will give you a beautifully ‘fluffy’ omelette .
Then add the chopped coriander and mix again.

I add in the turmeric as it has loads of health benefits – it has powerful anti-inflammatory effects and is a very strong antioxidant, and our guest who do not consume turmeric on a regular basis loved the idea.
Now add in the cheese – torn roughly if it using a cheese single or crushed if using a soft cheese or crumbly cheese, sausages and Parma Ham.Lightly beat the egg mixture once more with a fork to mix well.
Place a big pan on medium heat and when it begins to heat up melt the butter.
See the photo below – when the butter begins to sizzle and pan resembles what you see in the image then it’s the right time to add the egg mixture.

Move the pan around so that the mixture spreads evenly and cook on a low flame for about 2 minutes .
When the omelette leaves the sides of the pan ,slightly lift it with a wooden spatula and check , if it has browned it’s time to FLIP , you can tell by the aroma wafting around too.
With a big wooden spatula gently flip over and cook on the other side, I place a lid over my pan at this stage to trap the steam and it also gives me a really fluffy omelette, of course it will fall flat if you don’t serve immediately.

Once done, turn off the heat and cut in half using a wooden spatula. Fold and place in between hot buttered toast for a fabulous breakfast.

An Indian masala omelette, served at breakfast with hot buttered toast and hot cups of masala chai, I think is a breakfast fit for a king – Made better with Happy Eggs I say!

I am so egg-cited to be part Happy Eggs Taste 100 Blogger network, they sent me this beautifully packaged cute box with a massive chocolate cookie made using Happy Eggs and a lovely picture of the latest campaign – Top of The Flocks – where Happy Eggs produced an original album of classical music following a study by the University of Bristol looking at the positive benefits of music on hens.The results showed that Happy Hens prefer Bach to Beyonce – they have refined taste these hens! Happy Hens produced 6% more eggs in nest boxes playing classical music compared to pop! Awesome or what?! – always good to know where your eggs are coming from isn’t it?!

Ahem… as you can that by the time I actually got around to taking a photo of the welcome kit , hubster and me had managed to devour most of the cookie …well , don’t blame us – it was soo yum!

Well a new year and a new beginning and with tomorrow being the first day for getting back to work, I will be making us egg omlettes and devouring them with freshly ground coffee and buttery toast – after all Monday mornings are never kind especially in the winter and more so after a long break!

Make Ahead – perfect for a make ahead style breakfast, this mixture can store in the fridge very easily.

Linking my savoury Indian Masala egg omelette recipe with the monthly link up at Belleau Kitchen for the Simply Eggcellent recipe link up – love the name!

Also linking up with #BrilliantBreakfasts at Made with Pink blog by Andrea, for I think without doubt a masala omelette makes a darned good breakfast!

*With thanks to Happy Eggs for taking me on as part of their Exclusive Blogger Network and for a complimentary voucher sent with their cute welcome pack . No monetary compensation was offered for a positive review. As always all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

Valache Birdhe is an extremely popular bean gravy and has helped soothe many aching hearts and settle ruffled feathers after long gruelling work days.I managed to procure a few packets of these beautiful field beans with brown skin after a lot of searching!Hubs goes completely mental at the mere mention of this dish and insisted on me uploading the recipe and help all the other hungry hubbies out there..ahem ..so without further ado ladies and gents I present to you yummyscrummy recipe.

This is a typical C.K.P way of making a rather traditional legume curry. Vaal or kadve vaal (kadve meaning bitter in Marathi) are generically referred to as Field Beans in English.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 20 mins. Soaking and Sprouting: Depends on the climate, longer in winter about 2-3 days.

Serves:2 as a main course served with boiled rice or Indian bread – chapatti and a bhaji (sabzee/sabji) as an accompaniment

Ingredients:

Vaal – one and half cupful – soaked, sprouted and skin removed – takes a few days
Garlic Cloves – 3- 4 with skin
Asafoetida a tiny pinch
Red onion – one small finely chopped for the pan
Dried Kokum – 2-3 or tamrind paste 1tsp or dried tamrind soaked in water -remove the pips and use the gooey thick bits
1/2 tsp Jaggery
Mustard Seeds -1 tiny pinch
Cumin/Jeera- 1 small pinch
Oil – 1 and 1/2 large tbsp
Red Chilli Powder -1 tsp
Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp
Coriander powder -1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Fresh Coriander finely chopped to garnish – half of bunch
3-4 heaped tbsp grated coconut paste made by running through a mixer fresh grated coconut or frozen coconut with 1 green chilli and 1 clove of garlic.My mum prefers to also add 1/2 a finely chopped red onion which has been tossed on a pan with the coconut and green chilli – must admit it lends a toasty warmth to the gravy but I skip this step simply because the I compensate for it by using the onion in the pan!
Salt as per taste

Method:

Soak the Vaal overnight, change the water in the morning and by evening if they appear puffed then wrap them in a damp cloth and set aside in a vessel with a lid to create an environment warm enough to allow them to sprout
Remove sprouted vaal into a bowl and pour like warm water on them,stir with your palms to loosen the skin and many will float to the top,decant the water and remove all the rest of the skins and discard .
Heat the oil in a saucepan and dust some asafoetida and throw in the mustard and cumin.
When the cumin seeds begin to pop, throw in the garlic with their skin on and smashed to flatten them and as they turn colour and release their aroma,add he chopped onion.
When the onion turns a delicate pink add turmeric powder,red chilli powder and then add the vaal/field beans.
Now add the turmeric,red chilli,coriander and cumin powders and quickly stir in enough water to cover the beans.
On a low flame cook with lid.
When the vaal is almost done,add the jaggery,coconut paste and the tamarind paste or the water from the dried tamarind which has been soaked or dried kokum soaked in water and when the vaal are done add salt and garnish with finely chopped coriander.
The logic of adding salt towards the very end is so that it does not interfere with the rest of the spices as they pack a punch into the beans while they cook and also salt can hasten the cook time for the vaal which is not ideal as the full strength of all the flavours steeping into the curry will not happen.

I do know this process sounds rather cumbersome and complex but believe you me its easy peasy and the main labour is only getting rid of the skins.

Do leave me a comment of you make this dish and also any variations to the recipe that you may have heard of, any anecdotes,happy memories are always welcome.

Bon Appe’tit !

P.S: coming soon a Vaal Pilaf recipe that’s another firm family fav!