Stir-fried vegetable and cheese tortilla

I just came across the Weekend Breakfast Blogging event. The October event deadline for submission is quite close, but I decided to try meeting it! We have omelettes occasionally and I just realized I hadn't made one in a while. I try to pack in as much nutrition as I can into a lot of my cooking to make sure my daughter eats healthy. She is usually game, especially if the process and final product seems exciting or unusual. A tortilla is a spanish omelette usually made with eggs and potatoes. This recipe takes a bit longer to make than the average omelette, but then this is a tortilla for Sunday Brunch!

Ingredients:
4 medium eggs (I used 2 eggs and 2 egg whites)
1 tsp cornflour
¼ cup milk
1 cup approx. vegetables (I used capsicum, carrot, cabbage- all juliennes, potato diced, and some frozen corn and peas)
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp grated processed cheese
2 tbsp crumbled paneer
¼ tsp crushed black pepper
¼ tsp chilli flakes
¼ tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tsp butter + 1tsp oil
Salt to taste

Method:
Break eggs into a bowl. Add the milk, cornflour, black pepper, chilli flakes, herbs and salt. Beat well with a fork till blended.
In a non-stick skillet, melt butter and add oil. Sauté onions till golden. Add all the vegetables, except the capsicum. Sprinkle a little salt and stir-fry till almost done. Now spread the vegetables so they cover the base of the pan evenly. Pour the egg mixture and turn the heat down. Cover the pan and let the omelet cook slowly. Make sure the underside does not burn. When the top has set, slide the tortilla onto a plate and then back into the skillet so the other side cooks. After a minute or so, slide the tortilla back onto the plate again and back, once again into the skillet and sprinkle the cheese and paneer over it. Cover again for about ½ a minute till the cheese just melts. Switch off heat and remove cover.
Served warm (with or without tomato ketchup) alongside wholemeal toast and fruit, this tortilla is a complete meal. Hope you enjoy it.

This is my entry for Weekend Breakfast Blogging #16

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Parippu Pradhaman

This is my first recipe posting and I thought I would start with something sweet. One of my personal favourites among Palakkad Iyer desserts, our traditional cuisine, is Parippu Pradhaman . A pradhaman is a Keralite payasam(kheer/dessert) usually made using jaggery and coconut milk. Parippu(lentil) pradhamans can be made using either moong dal or chana dal, or a combination of rice and moong dal.

I usually make this using a combination of moong dal and chana dal, which we like. My version:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup moong dal
1/4 cup chana dal(bengal gram dal)
1 to 1 1/2 cups powdered jaggery( depending on the sweetness of jaggery)
coconut milk from 1 coconut(I use Maggi coconut milk powder when I am short of time)
2 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp halved/ broken cashewnuts
1-2 tbsp coconut slivers(optional)
1 tsp powdered cardamom



Coconut milk extraction:

I'm sure everyone knows this but am including it anyway.
Add a couple of tbsps of warm water to the grated coconut and blend. Squeeze out the milk- this is the 1st milk. Add just about 1/2 cup of warm water to the residue and blend again. Squeeze out the milk-this is the 2nd milk.



Method:

Heat 1 tbsp ghee and fry cashewnuts till golden. Keep aside. In the same ghee, brown the coconut pieces and keep aside.
Now put the moong dal in whatever ghee is left in the pan and roast till pinkish and an aroma rises. Do not brown. Pressure cook the moong dal and chana dal with about 1 cup water till soft. Slightly mash the dal. The moong dal should be more or less completely mashed with some part of the chana dal still whole.

In a heavy bottomed or non-stick deep dish, pour in 1/4 cup water. Add the jaggery, dissolve and strain to remove impurities from jaggery. Keep the jaggery solution back on heat and bring to boil. Add the mashed dal and allow to come to a boil. If using natural coconut milk, add the 2nd milk now and bring to a boil. Otherwise, let the solution boil on medium heat and thicken.

Once a thickish consistency is reached, turn down the heat to minimum and add remaining 1 tbsp ghee and then 1st coconut milk. If using preserved forms of coconut milk, add now ( I dissolve the coconut milk powder in 1 cup of water). Switch off the heat immediately. The coconut milk will split if boiled. Also add the cardamom, cashewnuts and coconut pieces and stir well till blended.

Traditionally, this pradhaman is served warm. Can also be served chilled.
P.S. Shortcuts are convenient but nothing brings out the taste quite like natural coconut milk!

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Hi

Hi,
I am Aparna and welcome to My Diverse Kitchen.
I am the newest member of the food blogging community. I stumbled upon the world of food blogs while browsing for a recipe, some time back. Since then, I have been toying with the idea of sharing my experiences in my kitchen. My daughter, the biggest fan of my cooking, has been after me to get going and even came up with the title for my blog.
So, what would be a better day than today, Vijayadashami (Vidyarambham), to make a start in this direction?
We are a food loving family and as long as the food is vegetarian (we do eat eggs) and looks good enough to eat, we are willing to give it a try. So, though we are rooted in our traditional Palakkad Tamil cooking, we love the variety of other cuisines.
My regular cooking includes a lot of diverse dishes sourced from family, friends and cookbooks. I have also come up with some originals, from cooking over the past few years! Another thing I truly enjoy, cooking-wise, is baking.
My Diverse Kitchen is open to you all with recipes from me. Please feel free to step in and also provide me with feedback. You may write to me at aprna00@gmail.com
Thank you and here’s to Good Food.
Aparna

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