Recipe: Shakshouka

After an extremely long hiatus, I am back! And back with one of my new loves - the single-pan Tunisian, Libya, Algerian, Moroccan, Egyptian (phew!) breakfast, shakshouka.

I saw a friend's picture on Instagram taken while making shakshouka and was instantly fascinated. I absolutely had to make this eggy delight. I looked up the recipe online and shared it with my recipe-hungry (that's a compliment) mom. And as co-incidences happen, we found ourselves making the same thing on the same day, at the same time!

This recipe is a variation of the one I found online and is not will not yield an 'authentic' shakshouka but this is the one I liked the best, after making the dish 3-4 times. Hope you enjoy this truly spectacular, and simple dish.

Pictures are from both, my mother's kitchen and mine! :)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 chillies
• 2 small onions, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed then sliced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chilli powder
• 2 tomatoes, squashed and squishy
• salt, to taste
• 4 eggs
• 3 sausages
• 1 tablespoon parsley or dhaniya patta
• Feta cheese (optional)
• Serve with bread, toast or pita bread for serving

Heat oil in a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high heat. Add chiles and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden brown, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and paprika, and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 2 more minutes.

 Place the tomatoes in a bowl and squish them with your fingers and hands till they are nice and pulpy. Add the tomatoes and their juice to the skillet along with 1/2 cup water, reduce heat to medium, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.

Prepare the sausages in a separate pan (either fried or boiled), cut in slices and add to the skillet with the tomatoes. Season sauce with salt.

Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across sauce’s surface.

Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle shakshuka with parsley and feta and serve with bread, for dipping.

Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk.

Don't forget, it's a single-pan preparation and it only tastes good if the family digs in as one!

French toast with berries: A recipe

I enjoy experimenting with various flavours and today a serving of french toast with a side of berry puree, as part of my spring themed brunch, did take me by surprise! If you want to try this slightly unconventional combination, here goes the recipe!

Ingredients

• Bread sliced into small cubes - I used brown bread with sunflower seeds but any bread would do
• Olive oil
• Eggs - I used eggs 4 for 2 people
• Salt and pepper
• Grated parmesan cheese
• Strawberries and berries
• Sugar

Preparation
Break the eggs, add salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar and grated cheese. Whisk well.

One by one, dip the bread slices in the egg and let them soak in the egg mix.

On a low flame, heat some olive oil on a non-stick pan and place 3-4 pieces of bread.

Once the egg is firm, nice and brown, flip the bread slices.

Take off the heat once the egg is cooked on both sides. You don't need to keep adding oil to the pan every time you put in the bread if using a non-stick pan.

Serve with berry puree as a dip. Recipe here. Or with honey or maple syrup or just plain!

I would love to hear about the quirky combinations you enjoy. Do let me know!

How to make Scrambled Eggs & Vegetables in 4 simple steps!

Eggs. One of the most versatile food items ever. Like potatoes, eggs are always readily available in the house and don't take much time to cook.

One of my favourite egg recipes is scrambled eggs with vegetables (anda bhurji) to be had with 'paratha' or bread. It's easy to make, it's healthy, it's filling and it's delicious and fluffy! So here goes the recipe -

Ingredients -

• 3 eggs
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 green chilli
• 1/2 capsicum
• 1 tomato
• Asparagus
• Salt
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder/ chilli flakes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Four simple steps -

Cut the onion, bell pepper, tomato, green chilli and asparagus in cubes and keep ready.

Break the eggs, pour them in a bowl and beat them till frothy. Add 1/2 spoon olive oil to the eggs.

In the meantime, take 1/2 spoon olive oil in a pan and heat it.  When it is hot enough, on medium flame, add the vegetables and stir for 2 minutes till you can smell the onion and the bellpepper cooking.

Add salt, chilli powder/ flakes and mix well.

Once the vegetables are soft (but not squishy), pour the egg mixture into the pan. The pan should be on low heat.

The eggs will start cooking very fast so don't let the egg run together. Keep stirring to break up the egg. 

Let it cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally and your eggs are done!

This makes for the perfect snack/ breakfast or meal. You can make it as spicy or bland as you want. I like it slightly dry, some people prefer it runny or moist. It's totally up to you to make it the way you want to! :D

Let me know if you liked this recipe! And if you would like to know any more egg recipes. Also, how do YOU like your eggs done??

Scrambled eggs & vegetables / anda bhurji in 4 simple steps!

Shopping: Top 5 things for the weekend grocery list!

The weekend is finally upon us!

While it's all about the Friday night, the weekend is also about catching up on your weekly shopping. To help you keep track of what goes on that list, here are the Top 5 things you'll need this weekend -

Fruits, lots and lots of them! Yum yum.

Veggies - all colours, all varieties!

Eggs - what would we do without them, I wonder from time to time...

And of course, our dairy champion, Milk!

Sausages - ready in under 15 minutes to go with that leisurely brunch or with those drinks!

Have a great weekend you guys!! Happy Friday night... and Happier Saturday night. Woohoo!!

Breakfast!

This is my favourite breakfast. I really like this picture. I just had to post it!

Hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes with olive oil and parsley, multigrain bread.

Makes for a healthy, wholesome and filling breakfast!

What do you enjoy breaking your fast with the most? Please share some ideas! :)

Recipe: Flan again.. and again!!

Flan. Flan. Flan. I love you flan. Flannity, flan. flan.

As is probably evident to many by now, I am a major fan of flan. Like I could have it every day, day after day and still ask for more. Friends who have visited Parsee restaurants with me in Mumbai know that my meal shall end with flan, flan, flan. :)

So a couple of months back when I found out that it's the husband's favourite-est dessert too, I decided to try my hand at the humble yet delicious caramel custard. I got the recipe for the best flan in the world, my mother's recipe, and decided to MAKE it.

This is an incredible dessert for those last minute dinner plans as it can be made with ingredients lying around in any average household.

On popular demand, the recipe has been reproduced below with a few tweaks.

Portions: Serves four
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Time to set: At least two hours

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 glasses regular milk (full cream milk for a creamier texture but that packs in a lot of calories)
Sugar to taste
Water
1 tsp vanilla essence

Tip: Milk should be in proportion to number of eggs, two glass milk for two eggs etc.

Directions:
For custard:
Bring the milk to a boil and add sugar. Stir. The sugar should melt in the hot milk.
Thicken the milk on a low flame till almost half
Take off the flame and cool
Take eggs in a bowl, add vanilla essence
Beat eggs well, for about 2-3 minutes
Add eggs to the cooled milk
Mix well.

For caramel:
Take 4-5 tablespoons of sugar and mix with little water
Put the water and sugar mixture in a heavy, flat bottomed vessel on medium flame
Keep stirring with short breaks till the sugar dissolves in the water
*Once it starts bubbling and turns dark brown in colour, take it off the flame
Swirl it around the vessel to cover the sides, if using the same vessel to set the flan OR transfer to another cook-friendly vessel and swirl.
Do this quickly as caramel cools very fast.
Cool completely.

Combining:
Once cooled, pour the mixture into the vessel with the caramel.
Pour some water in a large vessel, like a kadhai and place the container with the mixture inside it.
Close both tightly and place on low flame.
Steam for 35-40 minutes.
Make sure the water from the larger vessel does not enter the flan container, especially once it starts boiling.
#Take off the flame and cool.
Once cooled completely, cover and keep in fridge.
Un mould right before serving.

Enjoy! :D

And, DO send me pictures once made and let me know how it turns out. :)

Notes:
*Caramel can be a little tricky as it tends to burn very fast. Keep a watchful eye on it once the sugar starts changing colour.

#Insert a knife into the custard to check if cooked properly. The knife should come out clean if ready to be taken off heat.