Friday, May 05, 2006

Easy, Speedy, Tasty - Egg Bhurji Frittata Style

Warning: No skillets were injured when making this recipe :) - read below for what I mean :)

Last week,came home from work one day, very tired with no energy to cook anything that would take a lot of time. I immediately thought of egg bhurgi with just onions. When I was in school here, I made this quite often when I was pressed on time. On one of those ocasions, I was in the process of making egg bhurji and one of my roomates asked me if I could try NOT to scramble the eggs. She asked me if I could try leaving them on the skillet on low heat so they cook all the way through without the need to scrambling them. She said her mom did it that way. I used to leave the eggs undisturbed on low heat for a while until they were set and flip it carefully if the top looked like it needed some cooking.

I started with the intention of making what I usually make but this time as I started chopping my onions, gathering other ingredients when I thought I would take this one step further by making a desi frittata out of it. I was only using 3 eggs, and I did not have a small enough oven-safe skillet. I then remembered Rachael Ray saying one time that her mom never distinguished between an oven safe skillet and a regular one. She went on to say that her mom always put aluminium foil on the handles and put the skillet in the oven. I decided to do it this way too and it turned out perfect. I wrapped the plastic handle of my skillet atleast 5-6 times with heavy duty aluminium foil before putting it in the oven!

I put grated carrots in this recipe, because I had only one lonely carrot in the refrigerator all by itself and I just decided remedy it of its lonlieness by pairing it up with some eggs and onions :). I really loved the crunch the carrot imparted to the bhurji. It is going to be my intentional addition from now on.

I know the ingredients list seems long for the title but believe me, it doesn't get easier than this :).

Now on to the recipie:

Software
---------------
  • 1/2 small onion, finely diced
  • 1 garlic, finely sliced
  • one big carrot, grated
  • 1 small roma tomatoes
  • 3 eggs, slightly beaten
  • 1 Indian green chili, chopped fine
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 pinch cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
  • 3-4 tbsp crumbled paneer
  • 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 tbsp chopped cilantro and chopped mint
  • salt to taste
Hardware
---------------
  • one small oven safe skillet or do what I did at your own risk :)
Method
---------------
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Heat the skillet on medium heat, add the onions, chilis and the garlic. Fry for a minute.
  • Add the grated carrots, tomatoes fry for another 1-2 minutes. Add the salt, cumin, coriander powder, chili powder an stir.
  • Add the eggs and cook for a minute or so. I usually make a slit with a flat wooden spoon in the middle and get the uncooked egg to flow in to the crack, eventually making it to the bottom of the pan.
  • Put the crumbled paneer, mint and cilantro and after the mixture is about half set, put the pan in the oven for about 10-15 minutes until the frittata is golden brown.










Serving Suggestion: We ate this up with some frozen store bought rotis and it was yum! But this could be served by itself on a brunch or for breakfast.

11 comments:

Lakshmi said...

nice recipe for egg bhurji, with paneer and carrots, sounds yummy

Lakshmi said...

that was for 13 dollars

Unknown said...

Delicious!!!

wheresmymind said...

Man...you are living on the edge! My pal Priya loves putting tin foil in the microwave!

Winston said...

You make me hungry!!!

Luv2cook said...

Lakshmi:

Thanks for letting me know the price of the mortar and pestle :).

Pushpa:

Thanks.

Jeff:

Well..I never do that..metal in microwave, that can't be good. But this really worked though. For the 10 min the Frittata was in the oven, I was patiently waiting by the oven trying to "smell" if the plastic caught on fire :). hehee...

Dunzo:

;). I am hungry now too :-p.

Anonymous said...

That is a nice recipe. I usually cook the eggs(unscrambled) on ths tove, but your frittata is a nice variation :).

Vaishali said...

This idea of covering the handles with alu foil is great. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

What on earth is a 'frittata'? What
cuisine is it?

Vineela said...

Hi,
Nice frittata,l2c.Adding paneer is nice idea.lovely writeup.
Vineela

Rajesh &Shankari said...

A novel idea - I mean both the pan and paneer.
I just bought an iron skillet this weekend at Kohls, it is a good investement. My chapathi's are coming out well and yeah we can use it in the oven. Mine was 9.99 on sale.