Basil. Mushroom and Tomato Omlette or egg crepes.

We love eggs. Yes, we are an egg loving Tam Brahm family. I think we will very soon drop the Tam Brahm title because of our non Tam Brahm-ness.

It has been pouring in Bombay this past week and it makes the weather very gloomy and depressing. Stuck home you are left with nothing to do but while away your time in front of your laptop or the Tele. Then a sudden thought drifts into your mind. There are eggs in the fridge and mushrooms. So you jump up and head to the kitchen with a mission. Long forgotten is the humble roti subzi made for lunch. You are now whipping up something awesome, which will forever convert your omlette hating sister, who is now asleep.

One, bite down,she proclaims that this is the best omlette ever. And you modestly agree.

The pictures below were taken when I made the same omlette for breakfast. So here goes.

Ingredients:
3 tomatoes, chopped
5-6 big mushrooms, chopped
Basil (i use dried basil)
4 garlic pods chopped fine
butter or oil for sauteing
4 eggs
salt for seasoning

Chop up the tomatoes real fine. Like this:

Heat oil in a pan and let it become nice and hot.
Add the garlic an let it fry till it become fragrant. You can let it fry till golden, if you like.
Now add the basil and fry till you get that heady aroma of basil and garlic.
Now add the tomatoes and toss.

Did I say toss? Yes, I am a tosser now. I have taken the sage advice of Julia Child and have fearlessly tossed my way through this omlette. I suggest you do the same. And it is better if no one is watching, if you make a boo boo, you can always put it back in the pan.

Then add the chopped mushrooms and toss again.
Let the mixture simmer and cook till the tomatoes have cooked down and the water has evaporated.
You can add the salt now.

Beat your eggs nicely and add some milk if you like.

Heat oil or butter in a pan and pour some egg mixture and twist and turn the pan till it coats the pan evenly. Like this

Let the egg cook till the sides come off the pan.

Place the mushroom and tomato filling on one side very gently. Gently because I made my omlettes thin, so they were in danger of getting torn. Keep the gas on low while doing this, you can take your own sweet time and your omlette won't burn.

Now take a wooden spatula and gently start to lift up the other side. Fold it over the filling very gently.

Slide it onto a plate. Yes, slide not lift with a spatula or you will stand in danger of breaking the precious omlette.

Toast some bread. Butter it, my sister drowns her toast in butter. And enjoy.

You can add cheese to the filling. There wasn't any at home. The cheese will complement the filling and reduce the tartness of the tomatoes. I personally love the tomatoey taste, but you know, just in case you want to indulge and have a great figure.

I think this omlette qualifies to be a crepe. It is too thin to be an omlette and some omlette purists will kill me for this.

It is a great breakfast, lunch, dinner, mid-day snack, mid-night snack any time of the day food.

Enjoy and have a Happy Sunday! 

Here come the rains! Bring out the Bhajiyas.

It is here. The bombay monsoons. Love them, hate them they are an inextricable part of the Bombay experience. If you ever do come here you have experience the lashing wrath of the rain gods.

I dislike the rains. Mostly because it makes travelling very difficult. I had to travel 1.5 hours to reach college from home. As college was on the other side of the city I had no idea how much it was raining there. It could be pouring here and all sunshiny at college. So during monsoons we would get up and frantically call the hostelites and anyone who lived near college to assess the situation.

After all this tamasha too, we would have to bunk college or the government would declare a holiday and many days would be spent at home watching movies, reading, eating soup, bhajiyas and having chai. Or better still days are spent wearing old clothes being soaked to the bone eating roadside samosas which always taste better in the rains.

Now that I have waxed eloquent I will shut up and get it the point. Which is this.

Mirchi stuffed with potato masala bhajiyas. The thing to have this monsoon.

I wont bother with a proper recipe, because there isn't one.

Just mix mashed and boiled potatoes with salt, and red pepper (mirchi) powder and stuff it in the fat green chillies that are easily available these days.

Dip it in a paste of gram flour and deep fry.

Have it with ketchup, mint and coriander chutney or kasundi.

We have ours with kasundi, which is my dad's greatest discovery to date.

Kasundi is a bengali mustard sauce which is amazingly pungent and just yum.

So if you are stuck home this monsoon just have these look out your window. If you are lucky you may see the neighbouring guys playing football in the mud! ;)

Happy! Happy!

Yesterday was a fun day! I was to go for my farewell lunch organised by some friends. See the cake below? That was for me! It was a chocolate fudge cake. It was divine and not too sweet, as sometimes fudge cakes can be. It was soft and moist and gorgeous. 

My friend had borrowed my recipe book for it (i know!) and this was the first cake I had ever baked. I trust this book and all it's recipes with all my heart and I am glad it didn't let her down. 

The top view of the cake. The prettyness courtesy, my arty friend. 

There was also paneer chilli and stir fried noodles. Both were amazing. the noodles was simple and mildly garlicky. The paneer was great, soft and spicy.

Another reason for yesterday being a good day was my friend who was vacationing in the US, came back and with her came my new laptop (Nemo. yes we name inanimate objects) and her gift for me, the gorgeous recipe book you see below.

Her choice was great because all the ingredients are easily and cheaply accessible in India. They even suggest substitutes that can be used, which I find very useful because some books can be pretty obstinate that way. 

Oh the pictures in tho book! AAH! They are so pretty and look so delicate with tea china. I have a secret obsession with tea china since we did a cultural paper on Jane Austen and had to display things from her era. My mother produced this gorgeous tea set from the depths of her kitchen attic complete with miniature victorian paintings on it! (In case you are nit picking, I know Jane Austen didn't write about the Victorian Era, but the tea set looked very English). Also one of our favourite professors who looks as delicate as the tea set herself, fell in love with it. 

What keeps you happy these days?

P.S It is my sister's birthday in a week and I will get to try the new book!