Indian bread omelet

Indian bread omelet is a satisfying food that can be prepared easily. Many Indians prefer this spicy bread than the sweet French toast. Bread omelet prepared with loads of butter and cheese can be seen as street food in North India. This is my version. Check out my another bread omelet recipe too.  Try this and tell me how much you like it :)

Indian style bread omelet.

step 1: Add one egg for one person.  Make more and share with friends too :)

step 2: Beat the eggs very fluffy.

step 3: Add some onions and vegetables as per choice.

step 4: beat again.

step 5: Spread some tomato ketchup sauce on one side of the bread.

step 6: Heat some oil in a tawa.

step 7: Pour a ladle of egg over the hot oil and place the bread with sauce side facing up. Soak the other side in egg very well.

step 8: Gently flip the bread now, so that the tomato sauce side faces the omelet.

step 9: After the egg gets cooked in one side, flip it. cook both sides in medium heat.

step 10: Serve hot ...the Bread omelet is ready !

Ingredients:
Egg - 4
whole wheat bread slices - 8
red onion - 1 (big)
green chilly - 2
scallion / spring onion - a small bunch
salt - to taste (1/8 tsp for each egg is my option)
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
black pepper powder - 1 tsp
garam masala powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
tomato sauce - 1 tsp per slice
oil / butter - 1 tsp per slice
cilantro, mint leaf - handful

Method:
Spread 1 tsp tomato sauce on one side of each bread slice and keep them aside.
Crack the eggs and add salt, pepper, turmeric powder and all the powders mentioned above.
Beat using a fork or electric beater until fluffy.
Chop the onion, green chilly, cilantro, mint, scallion very finely (I used an electric chopper).
Add this to the egg and beat again till fluffy.
Now heat a tawa with little oil, pour a 1/2 cup measure of egg and spread thinly.
Place the bread slice with tomato sauce side facing upside and let the other side absorb some egg.
Now flip the bread carefully so that the tomato sauce side faces the uncooked egg side (using our hands we can flip this).
At this time, the egg would have got cooked in one side. Using a spatula, flip the bread omelet and cook the other side too. Do this whole thing in medium to low heat to ensure evenly cooked omelet.
Take out and serve hot.
Bread omelet is ready !
 
Serving suggestion / note:
Serve as breakfast or dinner.
It can be served as a very good evening snack for children, as soon as they come home from school.
Egg whites can be used instead of whole eggs too.
If needed we can substitute 1 egg with 1 tbsp besan flour mixed with 2 tbsp water (i.e., instead of 3 eggs we can use 2 eggs and 1 besan flour substitute. Don't add too much besan flour). It will taste the same. I have tried it many times.

Gongura chutney

Other names : gongura / Pulicha keerai  / roselle leaf / Hibiscus sabdariffa, 
Gongura is a popular variety of spinach in Andhra and Chennai (Tamilnadu). This spinach is sour in taste and it is generally cooked with dal like a curry. Sometimes this gongura is used in making chutney and pickles too. Gongura leaf costs around $4.99 / lb (2015) in US cities,

Gongura leaf : This plant can be grown easily in kitchen garden during warm weather.

Gongura chutney

Ingredients:
Gongura leaf - 2 cups (loosely packed)
dry red chilly - 5
urid dal - 1 tbsp
salt - to taste
cumin - 1/2 tsp
garlic - 1 clove
curry leaf - few
sesame oil / olive oil - 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp

Method:
Choose and buy fresh gongura. Pick the leaves alone and discard the stems.
Wash well and drain water completely.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add urid dal and as soon as it starts getting mild red, add the dry chillies , curry leaf and switch off. The chillies get fried in the pan heat itself.
Take away them and keep aside. Heat another tbsp oil and add the cleaned gongura leaves.
Saute till the leaves get cooked well.
Switch off and let cool.
Grind the fried chilly, curry leaves, urid dal, cooked gongura, cumin, garlic, salt to a fine paste using little water.
Again heat the pan with a tbsp of oil and add the mustard seeds. As it gets cracked, add the chutney paste and cook well till the chutney leaves the sides.
Gongura chutney is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as side dish with  idli , dosa or curd rice.

Homemade plantain chips

Banana chips / plantain chips / vazhaikkai chips / valai kai chips / yethan kaai chips , however we call it, anyone who has tasted the freshly fried chips of Kerala and Tamilnadu will love it :)
During my mom's era, she would make a tin full of plantain chips and keep it handy to serve as snack for our whole big family for the summer vacation picnics :) Variety rices like lemon rice, tamarind rice prepared for picnics would get a facelift with this crunchy chips always. Whenever I make some plantain chips, I fondly remember those days when my mom's sister, my Gandhi chithi making these plantain chips in a large yellow container for us all , with the green plantain from our backyard. I know , we all love the foods that have created good memories and that is what encouraging us all to cook happily,

Nowadays getting an air filled pack of chips is easier than going to the kitchen. But still I try my best to make chips whenever we want to buy one. In USA, the deep frying oils come in sale many times a year and I love those sales very much (who wouldn't...hi ..hi ). One plantain will always cost about 19 cents and 1 liter of oil can be calculated to $ 1. In less than $2 + 30 minutes we can get a large quantity of fresh chips.
My version of plantain chips is very easy. Just peel, slice and fry them directly.

Note: Amma's achi (Madurai achi ) gave this chips kattai to amma's amma then amma got it from her. I inherited it from my amma. I'm using this mandolin always :) It's made of pala kattai I heard. Happy memories :)

Golden yellow plantain chips , prepared at home.

Fry in small batches only. Do not rush and crowd the chips. Then only we can get crispy chips.

Note:
The success of homemade chips (plantain or potato), lies in the following:
1. the thickness of the chips
2. The quality of vegetable used. (fresh is the best). Yethan kaai (long variety of banana available in Kerala), is the best. Matured and little ripe is also good. We can see them at Aldi and many grocery stores in USA.
3. Use generous quantity of oil to fry. And also do not crowd the chips while frying. If there are a lot of chips getting fried, then they will become soggy by their own moisture instead of getting fried.
4. Lighter oils are best to fry . e.g., coconut oil, corn oil, Canola etc., . The best thing about coconut oil is , we can reuse that oil after frying.  I add some coconut oil in corn oil (as coconut is very expensive here), to bring out that real flavor :)

Ingredients:
Unripe plantain (long variety) - 2 or as per need
oil - 3/4 liter (to deep fry)
turmeric powder - 1 /2 tsp (optional)
salt - 1 tsp
red chilly powder - little for garninshing


Method:
Peel the skin of plantain gently , leaving behind some thick skin on.  If using an adjustable type slicer, then set the screw to make medium thin to thick chips for plantain. Slice the plantains and keep handy.
In the mean time , heat oil in a broad wok. Put little turmeric powder and salt in the oil for color and flavor. This is optional only. Sometimes I add salt and pepper after frying only.
Add approximately 10-15 slices of chips and fry till bubbles settle. Using a slotted spatula, mix / flip the chips and fry evenly. Take out and keep on paper towels to drain oil.
Likewise repeat and fry all the chips.
Put the chips in a container and sprinkle little salt and chilly powder. Shake and mix well.
Keep open to cool completely before putting the lid.
Store at room temperature for more than a week.
Plantain chips is ready.


Serving suggestion:
Serve as snack or side dish with any rice.

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Earlier (before bringing my chips slicer from India), I had tried using this shredded shown below.  This type of slicers are available in walmart. They too come handy, but getting the same thickness as Kerala chips is a bit challenging without the wooden chips slicer. But vazhaikkai bajji cannot be sliced with this, as this makes very thin slices only. So I used to slice manually :)

My hubby dear completely helped me preparing this mega batch of plantain chips (2014)

Kaara boondhi

Kaara boondhi is one of the spicy snacks that can be prepared very easily. The broad multi holed spatula, is the special equipment which makes boondhi preparation very easy. I bought this spatula in a nearby Indian grocery store for $4. This spicy boondi can be used to make raita too. It is a popular snack in Tamilnadu and also this is one of the main ingredients in Tamilnadu / Kerala mixture snack.

Spicy Boondhi (Kaara boondhi)

This is the equipment, boondhi karandi needed to make boondhi (spatula with multiple holes)

Ingredients:
besan flour - 1 cup
rice flour - 1/4 cup
salt - less than a tsp
baking soda - 1/8 tsp
red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
oil - for deep frying (300 ml)

for garnishing:
raw peanut - 1 cup
curry leaf - few
red chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
salt - to taste

Method:
Put the besan flour, rice flour, salt, red chilly powder 1/2 tsp, baking soda in a wide mixing bowl. Using a 1/2 cup water (add little by little), mix to a thick idli batter consistency.
Heat oil in a deep and wide frying pan.Bring it to frying temperature. Reduce to medium heat.
Scoop a ladle full of batter to the boondhi karandi (boondi spatula). Press and allow the boondhi batter to fall as small droplets. These tiny balls of boonthi gets fried within a few seconds. Check and fry till crispy, while maintaining the pale color.
Drain oil, take out and spread over paper towels to absorb excess oil.
Repeat for all the batter and gather the boonthis in a container.
In the same hot oil , fry the raw groundnut and curry leaves separately.
Mix the boonthi with fried items and add chilly powder and salt to taste.
Kaara boonthi is ready!

Serving suggestion:
Store the boonthi in airtight container and serve as snack.
The plain boonthi without adding peanuts can be used to make boondi raita.

Oma podi (sev)

Omapodi (plain sev) is a savory snack of India. The flavor of these crispy snacks comes from a seed called omam / ajwain / bishop weed. This is one of my most favorite snack. I prepared this on a Friday evening to give as surprise gift for my hubby. In my house, preparing some snacks for weekends is a must, otherwise hubby will buy a pack of snack from any first grocery store we enter :)  Homemade snacks are not only fresh and delicious, they are definitely an inexpensive way to show our love for our family :)  This recipe is my mom's , which she got from our 'Tuticorin ladies club cook book'.

Omapodi (sev) ready to be served with evening tea.

various sev / omapodi pressing molds. I used the middle one for a Tamilnadu style omapodi. Very thin sev is used for chaats.

Ingredients: Flours and ajwain seed powdered.

The flavor of the oma podi comes from omam seeds (ajwain).

Before squeezing omapodi.

Oma podi gets crispy within a minute of frying.

Perfectly prepared oma podi should not absorb any oil.  Anyways stack them over kitchen towel.

Ingredients:
Besan flour - 1 cup
rice flour - 1/4 cup
salt - 1 tsp (to taste)
ajwain (omam) - 1 tsp
oil - to deep fry

Method:
Put the flours in a wide mixing bowl.
Run the ajwain seed in mixie and powder it finely. Add some water and make a fine paste. Add the above said salt to this and dissolve it in 1/4 cup water. Extract the omam juice. Likewise extract another time.
Add this to the flours. Mix well , so that it gets a 'soft sticky chapati dough' (or cookie dough) consistency. Fit a required sized hole in the pressing mold (see photo above). Fill the omapodi / sev presser (idiyappa kuzhal).
In the same time , heat enough oil to deep fry in a frying pan.
As soon as the oil got hot, reduce the flame to medium heat and squeeze the omapodi directly to the oil in a circular form. Oma podi gets cooked in less than a minute. So flip once and cook both sides and take out still it is yellow in color, but completely crispy. This is the correct texture for the sev / oma podi. keep it over paper towels to drain oil.  Oma podi is ready.

Serving suggestions:
Serve as snack with evening tea.
Omapodi is one of the major ingredients in the popular Indian snack , the 'mixture' / namkeen.
The same sev, if prepared using a very fine pressing mold , is used as a garnishing item in chaat foods.

Note:
Perfectly prepared omapodi should not absorb oil.

Fruit custard

We tasted this fruit custard in a nearby Indian restaurant called Mirchi in a buffet and loved it very much. This simple dessert which could have taken only a few hours to prepare was seemed to be cherished by many on that day.
I have a passion for 'easy to cook recipes' as they come handy for a weekend lunch :) I prepared this dessert on a Friday evening and we shared and enjoyed it with our friends on that weekend. In this recipe I have used Brown & Polson brand vanilla custard powder along with assorted fruits. Try this and enjoy a very quick dessert !

Fruit custard

Fruit custard : ingredients

Ingredients: (makes 5 1/2 cup approx)
Any Custard powder - 3 tbsp
milk - 2 1/2 cup
condensed milk - 2 tbsp (optional)
powdered sugar  or sugar - 4 tbsp (to taste)
mixed fruits - 2 cup
(apple - 1/2 , pear - 1, banana - 1, seedless grapes - 10, pomegranate - 1/2 cup, dates - few)
cardamom powder - 3/4 tsp

Method:
Peel the apple, pears, pomegranate. Chop the apple, banana and pear into bite size cubes and keep aside. chop dates, grapes and keep aside.
Bring milk to boil and add the chopped apple, pear and cook till semi-soft. switch off. Then add chopped banana and cook in that heat.
Dissolve the custard powder in few tbsp of cold milk and add to the cooked fruits. Start heating and cook for 2-3 minutes or till the custard gets thickened.
Add required sugar, condensed milk , cardamom powder, chopped grapes, dates and pomegranate arils. Let cool to room temperature. Keep refrigerated for 2-3 hours or till chilled.
Fruit custard is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve chilled as dessert.

Note:
I am suggesting condensed milk, as we generally have fat-free milk only at home and this dessert tastes nice with a rich milk content.
Instead of fresh fruits, we can use canned fruits too, to save time.

Happy Easter ,

Easter cake I prepared (April 5 2015)

 This is the carrot cake I prepared for Easter 2015.  I just prepared this cake and enjoyed icing it. Also showed one of our neighborhood friend Amritha some of my icing techniques. I have used buttercream icing and readymade marshmallow birds and bunnies to decorate the cake. The nest is made of dry shredded coconut and eggs are from Hershey's chocolate eggs.
Please click the links to see the recipes: Carrot cake

Wishing all a very happy and blessed Holy Easter !

Cabbage chutney

Cabbage is one of the low calorie vegetables and it is a staple in South Indian cooking. Making stir fry is the most common way to cook the cabbage in our house. I never knew if I would find something good in it other than its lesser price in all seasons. While I was staying in an working women's hostel, we used to get some newer kind of chutneys like this. It was run by Catholic sisters and we were given the best of the season's food, but it would be centered around health only. Though I always appreciate all the foods provided, I couldn't realize the health benefits behind the various salads and chutneys at that age :) Myself and my friends used to think that coconut chutneys are the best. One day we started asking for sambar or someother well known chutney with breakfast,  as it seems weird to have vegetables in breakfast time....then my favorite Stella sister, (the most friendly hostel warden) explained us and told us about the goodness behind sneaking in vegetables into all our foods. She explained how they are maintaining a huge vegetable/fruit garden in their farm all by themselves and providing us and many people around at a nominal price. From that moment I started falling in love with these chutneys made of cabbage, brinjal or any veggies ,as they were introduced to me by some great people I could ever meet :)I am sure , it is by her blessings and sweet explanation I could admire healthy cooking in a graceful way.
Hope you too start including vegetables along with every meal and enjoy everyday !

Cabbage chutney with idli for breakfast or dinner.

Ingredients:
Cabbage (shredded) -  2 cups / 100 gms
shallot onion - 5
garlic - 4 cloves
dry red chilly - 5
oil - 1 tsp
urid dal - 1 tsp
cumin - 1/2 tsp
tamarind - small gooseberry size
salt - to taste
curry leaves - few

To temper:
sesame oil - 1 tbsp
mustard - 1 tsp
urid dal - 1 tsp
hing - pinch
curry leaves - few
 
Method:
Heat few drops of oil in a pan. Fry dry red chillies till it smells nice. Keep aside.
In the same pan add few more drops of oil and add the curry leaves, peeled shallot, garlic and saute till shallot turns golden brown. Then add urid dal and keep stirring in low heat till it becomes mild red. Take this out and keep along with fried chillies.
In the same pan, add shredded cabbage (if needed add some oil for sauteing) and saute till the cabbage wilts. Switch off and let cool everything.
In the meantime soak the tamarind in some hot water.
Now grind together the cabbage, fried items, salt and tamarind.
Again heat the same pan with 1 tbsp sesame oil. Add mustard, urid dal. As soon as the mustard starts popping add hing and curry leaves. Pour the prepared chutney to the tempering and cook for 2-3 minutes till the raw smell vanishes.
Cabbage chutney is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with idli or dosai.

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Quick version:
Sometimes I make this chutney using left over cabbage poriyal. Click and see the recipe.

Ingredients:
cabbage poriyal (stir fry) - 2 cup
tamarind - 1 inch
tomato - 2
salt - to taste
idli podi - 2 tbsp
Tempering : (see above recipe)

Method:
Microwave the chopped tomato, tamarind with 1 cup of water and cook well.
Grind the cabbage fry, tomato, tamarind, salt, idli podi together to a fine paste with enough water.
If needed add some red chilli powder.
Do the tempering and saute the chutney again for 2-3 minutes till the raw smell vanishes.

Green fuit salad

St. Patrick's day (March 17) is associated with green as a symbol to remember the shamrock and Holy Trinity, as described by the Saint. It is a festival of the Irish. It is widely celebrated in America for  a whole week or more. Any food made in green color, wearing green color dresses, green shamrock earrings and accessories is the way we celebrate it here in USA.
I like this day very much and here is the St.Patrick's day dish I made to enjoy with friends and family.

Here is a list of Green color fruits ( I could find in stores):
Honeydew
Galia melon
green seedless grapes
green apple (granny smith apple)
kiwi fruit
green pear
key lime - 1/2
powdered sugar - to taste (optional)

Honeydew, kiwi, golden delicious apple, green pear, green seedless grapes.

Refrigerate the leftover green fruits salad and enjoy as snack !

Peel the honeydew, melons , kiwi and chop them into small cubes. Then slice the apple (I used golden delicious as they are sweeter) without peeling. Then toss all the fruits in a wide mixing bowl and sprinkle some lime juice (yes, it is green too) (to prevent discoloration of apple).  We can add few tsp of sugar, just before serving (optional).... tada!!! a very easy and beautiful green dessert for St.Patrick's day is ready !
Read health benefits of green color fruits ...here .
Have a happy and beautiful celebration !

Wedding anniversary cake for my friend

Recently I prepared this wedding anniversary cake for my friend Paaru. I really appreciate her effort, love and dedication for her husband, to make this occasion a very sweet one.
We both enjoyed this whole baking and icing process like a girl's party and had so much fun. Thanks for this beautiful opportunity Paaru,
Please click the below links to see the recipes.
1. Plain vanilla cake.
2. Butter cream icing.
3. Rose icing video.

Many more happy returns of the day Paaru. May God bless you both always and may all your wishes come true. Live in love and prosper dear.

My handwritten notes for baking the cake.

Paaru did this cup cake icing for me as a sweet way to say thanks, while I was clicking the cake photos. Thanks Paaru, its the sweetest !

Happy Anniversary,
Best wishes and congrats both of you !
Cheers,
Viki and Xavier