Vegetable Spanish Omelette

Thank God for the chickens for without them how would I have gotten their eggs :D
Thank you chickens!! :D :D

Eggs are easy to prepare and readily available for me so long as I can drag myself to the store to purchase some... While scanning across the kitchen and fridge to refill my depletion list for next grocery shopping, finding eggs in the fridge is reassuring coz that means there is enough food and shopping can wait till there is a kitchen drought... Yeyyyy!!!

That's what eggs are for me :D My best food friend! :D :D

I came across the Spanish Omelette the first time from a show in TLC. It looked easy, tasty, and filling - meeting my most important expectations when having to make my own breakfast on a weekend when all I want to do is sleep and have breakfast appear magically. How I wish Hogwarts was real... Sigh!

So there on, I tried this enriched omelette many times with my own choice of ingredients of course, but this particular one baffled me! I loved it and wanted everyone around to have this!!! :D :D

What I used

1. Vegetable oil: 1/2 tablespoon
2. Butter (optional): 1/2 tablespoon
3. Diced/grated medium-sized potatoes boiled with salt till soft: 2
4. Diced large onion, yellow and red capsicum: 1 each
5. Garlic: 5 cloves
6. Chopped green chillies: 2
7. Salt: to taste
8. Pepper powder: 1/2 teaspoon
9. Eggs: 4
10. Curry leaves (optional): 5-6

How I made it

Note: The size of this omelette is dependent on the size of the pan as the contents need to be spread out filling the pan to get the egg to hold everything together. So size of the pan or baking tray (if planning to bake after pouring the eggs) is important

1. Heat a small frying pan on low flame and melt the butter with the vegetable oil
   PS: Ensure the sides of the pan till the top are well coated with oil so in the end, the omelette will slip out smoothly 
2. When oil is hot enough, turn to medium flame and saute the onion with salt till it gets really soft
3. Add the chopped capsicum, garlic (whole or chopped is fine), green chillies and continue the sauteing process till the capsicum glistens and is cooked 
4. Next goes in the potatoes and pepper powder. Mix everything well and adjust the salt if needed
   PS: Remember the potatoes were boiled with salt. So do a salt check after adding potatoes
5. Once all ingredients in the pan are well blended, spread it out across the pan
   PS: If it's a small pan, the pan would be full already. Otherwise spread it out
6. Beat the eggs really well and pour over the spread out contents in the pan and cook on low flame. Shake the pan well intermittently till the egg semi-hardens to ensure it seeps into all the crevices
7. On top, spread the curry leaves when the egg is still gooey and wait.... patiently till the egg is semisolid
8. Shake the pan gently to ensure the side of the omelette is not stuck to the pan. Then slide it onto a plate. The top wouldn't have been fully cooked since this is a thick omelette. To cook the top portion, slide the omelette upside down back to pan. To do this, place the pan upside down on the plate covering the omelette and turn the setup so the omelette is back in the pan top down
9. Cook on low flame for another 5 minutes and turn off the flame. Keep still for another 10  minutes and serve this omelette cake hot 

The convenience of an omelette is the recipe can be modified to include whatever is available and it would still be an omelette. But of all the Spanish omelettes I have tried, the above recipe was just too goood that I couldn't stop bragging. I must warn you this is really heavy.. a small slice made me feel like I had a huge meal :D :D

This is quite a filling breakfast. It can be had with garlic bread, fruit salad, green salad, plain toast or even by itself! The day I made this I planned to have it with a French toast, but the toast got over so quickly :D :D.... So I made a quick-toss pasta fruit salad mix to go with this

Don't hope to finish it alone. Have friends over to share this!!! :D :D

Achinga payar mezhukkupuratti - Long beans/Yardlong beans stirred fry

Home is where the heart is. The familiarity of what to expect might the solace that the comfort of home provides

Kuravilangad is my mother's hometown where I spent the first few years of my childhood. We had a joint family and our ancestral home was a buzz of young uncles, aunts, grandparents, cousins and lots of people who helped with the farms and fields. It was a festival everyday for the little me!

The farms and fields were active with a variety of crops and the harvest seasons were so full of activity. My! My! :D

While my grandfather managed the fields with the yields that had to go on sale, my grandmother and uncles had their own space to grow what they wanted. While ammachi used her space to grow veggies for the household, for my uncles, it was a means of earning their pocket money :D :D

The kitchen garden grew various veggies at various times of the year: kovakka, pavakka, achinga payar, brinjal, chillies, tomato, tamarind and so many more. So the dishes were a variety. There was never a question of being bored with a dish and no repetition of dishes the same day ;D Even if there were some unexpected guests, my ammachi and aunts had a tasty solution and the dining table was an array showcasing their kaipunyam ;-)

That familiarity was home for me for a long time :D :D Home sweet home!

Achinga payar is the long beans and whether it is thoran (with grated coconut)or mezhukkupuratti (stirred fry), it's damn easy to make. You don't even need spices to make it (though I use it when I have my own sweet time) and it's all ready in a jiffy :D :D

What I used

1. Oil: 1/4 cup
2. Mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon
3. Long beans (achinga payar) cut or broken into ~1-inch pieces: 350 grams
4. Diced large onion: 1
5. Meat masala (optional): 1/2 tablespoon
   PS: vegetarians, if you are particular about not using meat masala, can use a mix of 1/2 tablespoon of corriander powder, a dash of garam masala and a pinch of turmeric powder
6. Salt: to taste
7. Green chillies: 2
8. Curry leaves (optional): 1 sprig
9. Water: to sprinkle

How I made it

1. In a pan, heat the oil on medium heat and splutter the mustard seeds and a few curry leaves
2. Add the onion and saute well with some salt
   PS: for this dish, I preferred to use onions cut into half and then vertically slicing. No need to finely chop
3. Add the meat masala at this stage if you are using it and saute well till the raw smell is gone
4. Next goes in the long beans, green chillies and rest of the curry leaves and mix everything well. Sprinkle some water and cook on medium flame with pan covered for about 20 minutes with occasional mixing of contents
5. Once the fire is turned off, keep the pan covered for another 20 minutes before serving

The combo of this juicy stirred fry with brown rice, pulissery and beef roast is to die for! It's a feast on its own :D :D

The vegetarians out there, pair this up with rice, sambar and some pickle and I assure you you won't stop digging into your plate. It's so wow!