Heavenly Divine Breakfast

I am traveling in the states right now and woke up at my mothers craving a big breakfast. With the jet lag and lack of helping hand and the availability of an oven - i felt inspired to try out a recipe I had seen on Nigella Express. Before I get into this recipe - let me explain how lovely this breakfast easy. Its hearty but light and flavors just make a pleasant wake up call. This is a perfect Mother's breakfast if some you are so inclined. Ok here goes - my recipe - as usual is a bit tweaked from Nigella's....

Eggs with Tomato

Will need:
1 deep dish to hold ramekin
1 ramekin (small oven proof bowl/dish)
Butter
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. minced onions
1 tbsp. chopped tomatoes
1 slice of american white cheese (or any cheese you wish)
1 large egg
2 tbsp. cream or whole milk or any type of milk
salt and pepper for taste
a pinch of cayenne

1) Turn on oven and pre-heat to 350. Heat a skillet on stovetop and add about 1 tbsp. of butter. once it starts bubbling sautee the onions and garlic for about a minute or until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook till soft, add salt and pepper to taste. Don't let it melt or get mushy!

2) Boil some water. Prep the ramekins by spreading the sides with a little bit of butter.

3) Place the tomato mix bottom of ramekin. Layer lil bit of cheese, crack the egg on top (careful to not break the yolk!), add the cream/milk, add a little bit more cheese on top, add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.

4) Place the ramekin in the deep dish. Pout the boiling water into the dish and let it come up half way up the sides of the ramekin. Place the dish in the oven for about 8-12 mins.

5) Make sure to keep an eye on it - you want the yolk to be runny so, try not to over cook it. I overcooked mine first time around.

Pull it out of oven and enjoy with some crusty bread or buttered toast.

I made a concoction of tea and coffee to go with it. to get over the jet lag and becasue I don't like the flavor of coffee.

Boiling water
instant coffee
tea bag
2 cardamoms, pinch of cinnamon, 2 cloves
brown sugar
hazlenut flavored creamer

Just mix 'em all up in a big mug and enjoy!!

Onion Beef Curry - Mangshoer DoPiaza

It is so hot here that we don't have an appetite for anything! Cooking feels like a chore and eating a tiring experience. I have trained our servant to read and cook so i can write up a recipe for him or hand him a bengali recipe and he can come up with a very delicious recipe. So, after racking my brain for a yummy meal that Cal and I would actually WANT to eat - I landed on this recipe. Served up with flaky parothas and cool cucumber yogurt - was very satisfying.

Please keep in mind to read this first then start cooking. South asian curries are all about patience and time. The flavors need time to really mix well for the delicious flavor to come out. So do the cooking in the steps and wait in between for few mins for the spices to blend well.

One tip for added flavor - marinade the beef for an hour or two in a paste of fresh garlic, ginger and onion with salt.

Ingredients

Beef: 2 pounds
Onion: 4 med to large (sliced)
Ginger: 1 inch (paste or cut small)
Garlic: 6 cloves
Dry red Chili: 6

Paste or powder: 2 Tsp. each
Turmeric
Chili powder
Coriander powder
Cumin powder

Ghee (clarified butter): 3 1/2 Oz.
Sugar: 2 Tbsp.
Dry bay leaf: 2 med. size
Salt: as per taste

1) Wash and cut beef in medium bite size pieces. Slice onions. Grind/paste together ginger, garlic and Dry red chili.

2) Heat the ghee in a pot. Add half the onions and sautee. Add beef and fry together for few mins. Add ginger, garlic, chili paste and stir and mix well.

3) Add the rest of the onions. Lightly stir and the spice powders and pastes of 2 tsps. each. Fry all and stir well. Cook few mins. Add sugar, salt and bay leaf.

4) Once it fries all together and sticks pastey add 7 oz. of water. Cook on med. high until the water dries or the oil rises to the top about 1/2 hour to 45 mins - depending on your meat and cooking temp. Check if meat is well cooked and tender. If not - add more water and cook longer.

5) Take off from stove, add some crispy fried onions on top and serve!

Enjoy!!

Fresh Mango Spicy salad

Green sour mangoes are in season and they make perfect additions to a curry, daal or on its own. The mangoes are a parrot green and white flesh and when u bite into it raw - it will pucker your mouth! I remember when I was a kid, there was a huge mango tree in front of our house. We could just pluck mangoes from our balcony and roof! Mmmmm... those were the lazy summer days. We wound eat the ripe ones right off the tree - but the younger "kaccha" ones we would slice then up and mix with some fresh f=green chilies, sugar and salt. Its delicious!!

Green mango
Slice them into thin strips. Mix with fresh green cili chopped up and mix with a little bit of salt and enough sugar to bring out natural flavor and not pucker your mouth.

Enjoy!!

hot Hot HOT!

It is just too Hot to be in the kitchen!! By the time I am over the stove - I am sweating like crazy and completely drenched by the time I am done! No central air. Can't put a fan in the kitchen cause it blows out the gas stove flame =( So - I apologize for not having any new recipes up right now!

I am looking for recipes that are cooler - like fruit salads, cold soups and fresh salads.

Mangoes are season as are watermelons and other sweet fruits!