Tamilian Omlette Curry

Came across this Tamilian Omlette curry which is super if you love eggs, the recipe credit goes to 
Chef Zac. Was first introduced to this by my niece Shruti. Loved making it and more so loved eating it. Helped by my son Nidhi, who has more patience than me!! You can make this with chicken or, potatoes. Chicken made for my son and husband, omelette for me. So here I am sharing the recipe with you.....

Ingredients
3 large onions chopped into not very thin long pieces
3 tomatoes chopped in the same way
3 tspns of tamarind pulp
3 tspns of ground garlic, green chillies and ginger
2 cups of coconut milk
1 tspn chilli powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1 tspn black pepper powder
1/2 tspn turmeric powder
A few curry leaves
2 green chillies cut into halves
Salt to taste
Coriander for garnishing
Clarified butter as needed

An omelette made of four eggs in the traditional way, I folded it and made it, kept ready for adding later

Method

In a pan take some clarified butter, add the onions cook till they are caramelized, add tomatoes, cook till mushy, keep adding salt bit by bit to help the curry to be moist, add the ginger, garlic, chilli paste, cook till done, add turmeric powder, coriander powder, chilli powder, cumin powder, pepper powder, mix well, add little water to mix it well, now add the coconut milk, salt and the tamarind paste, stir a bit, in another pan make a tempering of clarified butter, mustard seeds, green chillies and curry leaves, add this to the curry. Now add the omelette cut into pieces as shown in my picture. Tate check the salt and add only if need be. Mix well and your curry is ready. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander and serve hot with roti or steaming hot white rice. 

                                                       
                                                               The Classic Hummus

This classic Middle Eastern dip is one of the dishes that I personally enjoy with the extra drizzle of the amazing olive oil. It can be eaten as is or with Pita or even the normal toasted bread makes a good company. Here goes the way I made it.

Ingredients

For blending

2 cups of chick peas soaked overnight and pressure cooked to 2 whistles/according to your cooker, I add a bit of edible soda and salt to it
1/2 cup olive oil
10 cloves of garlic roughly crushed
3 tbsp of tahini (sauce made with white sesame seeds and olive oil)
Juice of one lemon

For the garnishing
A few sprigs of parsley
Olives for garnishing
Olive oil for drizzling

Method
Blend all the above ingredients for blending in a blender, check and add salt if need be, transfer to a serving bowl and smoothen the  surface of the paste with a spatula, drizzle olive oil and garnish with olive pieces and parsley. I could not get hold of it, so not there in my dish!! I like paprika or chilli powder is an option too. Now dip the bread of your choice and enjoy.

                                                    Cottage Cheese In Paella Spice Mix

A dish that I tried as an experiment. This has a very unique taste with the spice powder straight from Spain brought to me by Ashwini, my daughter and is very fine on the palette. Some of my experi-mental trials have come out very well, this is one of them worth sharing. So here goes my recipe......

Ingredients

250 gms of cottage cheese chopped into small cubes
2 green bell peppers chopped fine
2 onions chopped fine
2 tomatoes chopped fine
2 tspns of ginger garlic roughly pounded
2 tspns of paella spice mix
1/2 tspn of chilli powder
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
Coriander finely chopped

Method

Take a pan, just toss the cottage cheese in some  olive oil and salt, remove and keep aside, in the same oil add the chopped onion, saute till golden, add the bell pepper, saute till done, add the ginger garlic, let it cook well, add the tomatoes and the salt, spice mix, the chilli powder and cook till it is a mushy gravy, now add the cottage cheese, cook for about five minutes, lastly add the coriander and the coconut milk. Stir to mix well and serve with bread, roti, paratha, the choice is yours. 

                   
                                                          Oat Dry Fruit Honey Cookies

Easy, healthy, nutty cookies for an evening with tea or coffee. They can also be had as an energy giving snack. Made for the first time but was happy with the result so thought of sharing here with all of you.Here goes the way I made them.....

Ingredients
2 cups of plain oats
4 almonds, 4 macadamia nuts, 4 hazel nuts, 4 cashews, 4 almonds all roasted lightly and roughly crushed
6 dates, soft ones roughly chopped
Some dry blue berries soaked for 15 minutes
2 table spoons of roasted peanut powder
Some raisins, black and brown
1 tablespoon of honey
2 tablespoons of coconut milk

This mixture will give you 10 to 12 cookies.

 Method

Preheat oven for ten minutes on 180 degrees

While your oven gets heated you can take a mixing bowl and mix all the above ingredients except the blueberries, make equal sized balls and flatten each one into cookies, place one blueberry on each cookie. Keep all on a greased tray and bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Your cookies are done!!

               
                                                         Pan Seared Butter Garlic Fish

A tasty fish starter with minimal ingredients. Does not need any accompaniments. The fish used is Rawas or the Indian Salmon. Will taste good with simple dal and steaming hot rice. Here goes my recipe..... 

Ingredients

4 pieces of fish fillets,  well cleaned and marinated with salt, turmeric powder and a dash of lime, let it sit for half an hour

In a mixing bowl take some Amul butter at room temperature, add some crushed garlic and a table spoon spoon full of mixed herbs 

Method
Heat a pan and smear the butter garlic mix on it, keep fish pieces and coat the upper side also with the mixture. Make them golden crisp on both the sides and they are ready to savour. I have avoided salt since there is salt in the butter and also in the marinated fish. 

               
                                                           Dahi Aloo/Potatoes In Yogurt

Potatoes in yogurt is a dish which was on y mind for a very long time, this was a day when I decided to make it. Loved it and would like to share it with you all.

Ingredients
200 gms baby potatoes pressure cooked and peeled
2 cups of thick yogurt
2 onions finely chopped
3 chillies slit
6 garlic cloves pounded
Some juliennes of ginger
Chilli powder as per taste
Juice of half a lime
1 small spn of turmeric powder
1 tspn of coriander powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn of ginger powder
Mustard oil for making the dish

Method
In a pan take some mustard oil, saute the potatoes after poking them with a fork, add some salt, chilli powder, turmeric powder and wait till they become little fried and keep ready. In the same oil you can add the ginger juliennes, garlic, fry till golden, add the onions, wait for them to become golden too, now add the rest of the chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and the ginger powder, mix well and add the potatoes, give it a quick mix, now add the yogurt and salt as per taste. Mix well let it cook for a bit and take it off the gas else the yogurt can curdle. Now  add the lime juice and mix well, garnish with coriander freshly chopped. I have garnished it with some home grown mustard cress, the plant you can see in the background. Enjoy with rice or rotis.