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09 December 2011

Curried Omlette



This may look a bit daunting because of the long list of ingredients, which is mainly the spices. If you prefer not to bother with the individual ones, just use a curry mix that you like, e.g. Madras Curry or a commercially available curry paste.  Even if you use your own spices, this is a quick and easy Indian meal, which allows for a lot of flexibility, depending on what you have in the fridge and the larder and on what is in season. The ingredients below reflect that it is December, but in summer you can substitute tomatoes (which are actually really nice in this dish!) and courgettes for some of the root vegetables. Potatoes are a standard ingredient, though.  

What you need

  • 2 potatoes, diced and steamed or boiled
  • ½ celeriac, diced
  • 2 carrots, diced or thinly sliced
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cm finely ginger chopped or pressed
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed
  • 1 leek, halved and cut into thin strips
  • 4-6 eggs, depending on their size, beaten
  • 1 tblsp turmeric
  • 1 tblsp jeera powder (ground cumin seed)
  • 1 tsp (+) cayenne pepper
  • 1 tblsp ground coriander seeds
  • a dash of tamarind juice (or vinegar)
  • 1 chilli pepper finely cut
  • oil for frying
  • salt (and pepper) to taste
optionally:
  • 1-2 medium tomatoes diced
  • ½ capsicum pepper, diced
  • grated cheese
  • 1 handful of coriander leaves, finely chopped
  • for garnish a green chilli in fine slices

What you do

  1. Fry the spices (including the chillies) in a wide frying pan until they begin to go dark.
  2. Add the onions, garlic and ginger (and the leek, if using) stirring to prevent them from going brown.
  3. Add the other vegetables, stiring from time to time, and fry it all for about 5 minutes. The vegetables should still be crunchy. 
  4. Add the beaten eggs and the coriander leaves/cilantro  to taste. (If you find there is not enough egg for the vegetables, beat one or two more and add them too)Fy gently until the eggs are no longer runny.  
  5. If using, sprinkle with grated cheese to taste before the eggs have set completely.  
  6. Either turn with a large plate and fry on the other side as well or put under the grill until the top of the omelette is browned.
    Add caption
Optionally garnish with some fresh coriander leaves and the sliced green chillies.

Remarks

Indian spice mixes can be checked out here. What is important is that the ingredients are usually dry-roasted (without fat) in a skillet or a frying pan, then cooled down and ground in a mortar or a specially designated spice mill (cheap coffee grinder used exclusively for this purpose). The list above obviates this need because all the spices are already ground and then fried before use.

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