Migas: Crumbled and Mixed Veggies and Corn Tortillas

I stumbled upon migas a few years ago when I was making Chili Rellenos and didn't think much of it as it seemed like a quick scramble of leftover bread.

However, after reading Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer by Kelly Jones with delightful and quirky illustrations by Katie Kath, I was inspired to make a version of migas myself.

Stale-old almost-stiff-as-a-board corn tortillas got a new life with some colorful peppers and jalapeños, plus chard ribbons.

Sometimes, there's eggs and cheese, plus a side of avocados. And, sometimes, I leave out the eggs and have just the crisped tortillas and veggies.

Ingredients
1 cup chopped colorful bell peppers
1 japapeño, chopped
½ cup red onions, chopped
1 cup chard, chopped into ribbons
½ tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp cumin powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp brown sugar
salt to taste
3 tablespoons of oil
4 to 6 corn tortillas, cut into bite-size squares
2 to 3 eggs, beaten (optional)

Preparation

1. Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a shallow pan and crisp up the corn tortilla squares and keep handy
2. Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a separate pan and saute the veggies, adding the spices
3. Add the beaten eggs, if using, with the veggies and scramble
4. Toss in the crisped corn tortilla squares with the veggies and the eggs, serve warm

Scotch Potato Falafel

Things enveloped in things, enveloped in things... ad infinitum has been quite a tradition with the royalty around the world and through the ages.

Scotch eggs come about in my kitchen on and off, especially since the kids and the other half like it with pasta and sauce. The usual Scotch egg I make for them is fairly standard, with only the flavoring customized.

While I am not a big meat fan, I don't mind occasional turkey or chicken, maybe salmon or halibut, that's about it. No red meat, no other exotic meats. 

So, to satisfy my tastes, I make Scotch eggs my way: instead of ground turkey, I use falafel batter for the outer coating. And, sometimes, I substitute the boiled egg with par-cooked largish new baby potato. That, in short, is the Falafel Scotch Potato/Egg. 

Turkey Enveloped Scotch Egg

Ingredients
For the coating layer:
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp Bragg liquid aminos
1 tsp Shawarma spice mix
1 tsp Cajun spice mix
1 tsp celery seeds
½ tsp ground oregano
1 tsp demerara sugar

1 Tbsp oil

5 boiled eggs, peeled

Preparation

1. Combine the ingredients for the coating layer and mix well
2. Rub some oil in the palms and flatten a ball of meat mixture
3. Envelop the eggs with this seasoned meat mixture coating 
4. Bake in a 425°F oven for about 20 minutes; I prefer it well done rather than underdone so, I turn off the heat and leave it in the oven for an extra 5 minutes
5. Serve warm with salad or vegetable sides like green beans and peas and potatoes; my kids prefer it with pasta and sauce, or pasta salad with veggies

Falafel Scotch Potato

I try to keep the falafel batter envelop layer fairly thin for quick cooking; if the consistency of the batter is not just right, the outer layer will crumble easily. It has happened to me quite a few times - adding flour and baking powder per Bittman's recipe seems to work consistently well, especially if the batter is fairly thick to be able to shape.

Incidentally, veggie balls dipped in chickpea flour batter, called Bonda, is a favorite tea time snack in India. Any filling can be used, but, typically it is mashed potatoes, carrots, peas and onions. I remember "Egg Bonda" that a neighbor aunty used to make and share with me. Bonda is fried in oil. In that sense, this falafel wrapped baked eggs is much like the Egg Bonda from my younger days, only not as much oil involved.

Ingredients

1 to 1½ cups any standard falafel batter - I use soaked chickpeas ground, with added flavors like garlic, tomato paste, salt and cayenne pepper powder; Mark Bittman's recipe works well

a few par-cooked new baby potatoes 

a couple of boiled eggs

a tablespoon or so of oil

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F
2. Envelop the boiled eggs and par-cooked potatoes with the falafel batter
3. Bake in the 375°F oven for about 10 to 15 minutes turning it around, and turning the pan around as needed, depending on your oven
4. Remove from heat, allow to rest before cutting open to serve

Florentine Omelette

I savor Sunday mornings: I let the baby talk and play in the crib with a few crib toys I sneak in when he is just waking up, before he notices me and jump-starts my day; I push down the surging guilt at not rushing to greet but letting Ana (who is old enough at 3¾) to get up from bed and read her books or play a bit in her room or even get out of her room if she likes.

I just sit on the bed, propped up with comfy pillows, savoring my morning cuppa, deliberately attempting to tune out the baby's prattle and Ana's parley with her dollies streaming in through the baby monitors.

And, when those 4 or 5 minutes pass, I busy myself thinking up a good way to cook up eggs for the morning brunch as I change the wriggling baby's diaper under Ana's watchful eye :)

This is just another omelette recipe, but happens to be D's and my favorite that I haven't posted so far. Typically, it is fairly thin, cooked only on one side, with favorite veggies and cheese filling, folded up and served warm with the morning joe.

As I make it in a 10x10 pan, this is large enough to be a meal in itself - usually ends up being Sunday brunch for us...

Ingredients
1/3 cup Eggbeaters™ whites
1 whole egg
1 tsp Herbs de Provence mix (or Italian herbs mix, if handy)
salt and pepper to taste
chopped spring onions for garnish
1 Tbsp Olive oil, or canola oil or even butter if preferred

Filling:
Baby spinach leaves
marinated and sauté mushrooms, if handy,
fresh grated colby jack or part skim mozarella or both
some diced smoked gouda, if preferred
some diced mock chicken sausage, if handy
Other veggies if preferred**

**I prefer not to use bell peppers or tomatoes as the omelette gets a bit soggy.

Preparation:

1. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat
2. Beat the egg whites, eggs and herbs till fluffy - do this right before ready to pour in the pan and cook
3. Pour into a fairly wide and shallow pan - I use a 10x10 square non-stick pan with about ¼-inch rim that works out just perfectly for this dish
4. Pick up the pan and spread the egg mixture around to form a thin uniform layer, sprinkle salt and ground pepper lightly
5. Allow it to set part-way, add the sausage, spinach, mushrooms across the middle, then add the cheeses on top of this layer of veggies, allow the eggs to cook through and the cheese to start melting
6. Fold in the two edges to form a packet and slide it off the pan into the serving plate
7. Garnish with chopped spring onions or any other favorite garnish like chopped parsley or shredded basil or oregano leaves

Quiche Cups-To-Go

Since eggs seem like nutritious protein-rich breakfast food, especially if using only egg whites, these single-serving Quiche-To-Go savory cupcakes have been good to have handy for the morning rush for us.

Now, there is no pastry shell holding this, so, in that sense it is not really quiche per se... just baked eggs mixed in with savory spices, herbs and vegetables.

Simply beat some eggs with chopped veggies like mushrooms, onions, spring onions, baby spinach, some cheese if preferred, just like for making omelettes; pour into cupcake baking cases and bake in a muffin pan, in a 350°F oven, for about 20-25 minutes. Check after 15-20 minutes, inserting a toothpick to see if done.

Tamago Omelette

D thinks it is not easy to give me presents for anniversaries and birthdays. There might be some truth to it. Not because I am difficult to please, just that I never feel I deserve anything special, so, it overwhelms me when I get something I didn't really need, and it shows...

But, to get around this, we had established a wish-list system at home when we got married, where we could list things that would be nice to have, but, life can go on fine without it... practical things, usually, but, sometimes some intangible stuff as well...

Anyway, for Christmas 2007, D gave me a rectangular Tamago Pan since I had written some kitchen things on my wish-list. I do like getting kitchen items or any household items as presents as they are practical and usable.

It came with instructions for making Tamagoyaki, Japanese rolled omelette. It seemed a bit intricate and would need some practice to get it right. I decided to try a simple version anyway a few weeks ago...

Basically, it involves making thin layers of omelette and rolling them back, and making more layers and rolling them back and so on, and then assembling them all together, cut into thick slices/slabs, and served with Donburi, or with some sushi rolls, or just enjoyed it as-is for breakfast.

Ingredients
4-6 eggs
1 Tbsp mirin OR 1 tsp castor sugar, or powdered sugar
2 Tbsp shoyu or soy sauce
1 Tbsp dashi stock, or a pinch of dashi-no-moto (optional)
vegetable oil for frying

optional: spring onions, bell peppers

Preparation

1. Beat the eggs, and combine the rest of the ingredients, mix well
2. Pour a quarter of the mixture on the tamago pan, or any regular pan, allow it to set but not cook through
3. Then roll or fold (I couldn't roll neatly using chopsticks as suggested, so, I used a spatula and sort of roughly folded it back) the partially set omelette farther away from you, and add another quarter of the mixture and repeat till all the egg mixture is used up and a big roll/slab is formed, and is cooked through
4. Cut into blocks as desired and serve with Donburi, or with some sushi rolls, or just enjoy it as-is for breakfast

Simple Egg Curry

For a while now, we have been getting our hen eggs from a colleague who has a smallish farm, where the chicken roam free and are as well cared for as I can imagine. As I had noted in my other blog, I find that these farm fresh eggs taste a whole lot better than commercial eggs, so we have given up buying commercial eggs... for now.

You've probably not met Helga if you have not stopped by my general rant space, but, she happens to have a special place on my crochet shelf. Anyway, the farm fresh eggs were perfect for a warm weekend meal of egg curry with coconut rice.

This egg curry is not as elaborate as my usual egg curry recipe, or as spicy as Gulai Telur, and has fewer ingredients than Telur Balado. But, it came about quickly one evening with ingredients handy at home and tasted quite good that I wanted to save it here.

Ingredients
6-8 hard boiled eggs, shelled
1 medium onion diced finely
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp brown sugar
salt to taste
water

garnish: chives, cilantro or any other favorite fresh herbs

masala paste:
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
6 sundried tomatoes† (not packed in oil)
3 Tbsp grated ginger
3 Tbsp sambal oelek (or 2-3 Tbsp cayenne pepper powder)
2 Tbsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp cumin powder

† Pour some hot water over the sun dried tomatoes in a shallow bowl till just immersed, and reconstitute them before blending into paste

Preparation

1. masala paste: combine the masala paste ingredients and blend to a smooth paste
2. heat oil in a pan, add the onions and sauté till translucent
3. then add the masala paste and sauté it till rawness is gone, about 5-8 minutes over medium heat
4. add the shelled hard-boiled eggs with some slits on the surface, or halved if preferred, add some salt, and a little water to make sure the eggs are submerged in the gravy, cover and simmer till flavors meld
5. taste and adjust salt, garnish with chopped chives and cilantro

Serve it with plain hot rice, or even simple rotis. I was in the mood for coconut rice, a simple version, so, here it is...

Coconut Rice:
4 cups cooked rice
½ cup dry unsweetened dessicated coconut
salt to taste
tempering: 1 Tbsp canola oil, 1 tsp urad dal, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 tsp mustard seeds

1. start the tempering: heat the oil in a pan, add the chana dal, when it turns golden brown add the urad dal and when it turns brown add the mustard seeds, and when they pop add the coconut and toast a little
2. add the rice and some salt, stir well

p.s: thanks to bee's thoughtful comment, I would like to send this out to CLICK: the photo event

asparagus omelette rolls

Ever since we started getting farm fresh free range hen eggs, I have been making something with eggs for weekend breakfast or brunch.

This is a very easy dish to throw together if a jar of pickled asparagus is handy. Else, fresh asparagus can be used, but, they need to be steamed first.

Ingredients
3 eggs
some soy sauce & mirin (OR, kecap manis, OR, just salt & pepper)
4-5 pickled asparagus spears
1 Tbsp canola oil

Preparation

beat the eggs with soy sauce & mirin, heat oil in a pan and pour enough of the egg mixture to make a not-too-thick omelette

when the top side just sets, add a few asparagus spears along one end of the omelette, gently tilt the pan and roll the omelette, finish cooking

remove from pan, cut into bite-size 2-inch pieces, sort of like sushi rolls

Serve warm with chili sauce.

gulai telur

Gulai Telur (Telor) is a fiery, spicy SE Asian hard-boiled egg curry. Many SE Asian dishes like Pad Thai, Sambal Terong, Telor Balado were introduced to me by friends and fellow residents at the International House back in my student days over a decade ago. Friday evenings we used to meet for the Coffee Hour, where International students shared food and culture information.

I have adapted the recipes to my taste over the years, so my version is not authentic in that sense.

It seems to me that the longer the eggs steep in the gravy/curry, the tastier they get, so, I like to make this dish a day ahead and warm it up gently before serving. Dry red or fresh green chilies can be used here. Adjust the number or type of chilies to cut back on heat.

Ingredients: for the spice paste: ½ cup coriander seeds, toasted ¼ cup dry grated coconut 6-8 thai dragon or bird's eye chilies* 2 Tbsp grated ginger 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped 2 shallots, diced cilantro for garnish *reserve a couple of chilies for garnish

6-8 hard boiled eggs, shelled 1 cup coconut milk 2 Tbsp canola oil 1 tsp turmeric powder salt to taste

Preparation

combine the spice paste ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend to a fine paste

heat oil in a pan, add the spice paste and sauté for a few minutes to release the aroma

add the boiled eggs, coconut milk, turmeric powder and salt to taste; bring to a gentle simmer

simmer till flavors meld, say for about 10-12 minutes on medium-low, stirring often; add water if the gravy/curry is too thick

garnish with red or green chilies and cilantro, serve warm with rice or roti

huevos motuleños

Eggs, Huevos, Wyau (oo-ya, in Welsh), however we call it at home, are a favorite breakfast/brunch meal on weekends.

Every once in a while, D likes what he calls Farmer's Breakfast: eggs (fried, poached, omelette, scrambled, just any way is fine), (soy) sausages, hash brown and griddle cakes.

I like eggs, but, not when they feel "eggy" in certain dishes - like, certain cakes have the eggy smell, soufflé feels eggy (quel dommage!), custard feels eggy... however, fried or scrambled eggs seems alright - just a quirk of mine :-)

Huevos Rancheros is pretty popular and easy to do, but, this time I decided to make Huevos Motuleños for Sunday brunch, which i don't make often.

Huevos Motuleños is eggs served Motul style (of the Yucatan): tortilla, black beans, fried eggs, peas & ham, some kind of queso fresco, with fried bananas on the side.

Quite a meal in itself!

Seems deceptively elaborate and labor-intensive... But, really, it is quite simple to assemble and enjoy.

Especially, since some parallel processing can be done, the brunch comes together quite easily: i usually start the black beans in the back burner first; while it is simmering, get the egg-batter ready and pan-fry the tortillas; simultaneously, in another pan, fry the bananas, while egg is getting poached in the microwave and Violà!


Always excited about experimenting, I did a few things differently from the traditional recipe: as we don't eat ham or beef and such, omitted the peas & ham; instead of queso fresco, used queso panela made with part-skim milk; prepared poached egg instead of fried egg; and, pan-fried the tortillas in egg-batter, not much unlike French toast.

For the French-toast-style egg-battered tortillas:
2 large flour tortillas
2 eggs
2 Tbsp finely minced onions and jalapeños
salt to taste
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1 tsp canola oil

beat the eggs with onions, jalapeños, salt and cayenne pepper; pour into a shallow bowl and keep handy for dipping the tortilla

cut the tortilla into a square, saving the 4 edge pieces

heat oil in a pan, dip the tortilla pieces in the egg mixture and pan cook both sides till golden brown and done



For the black beans:
1 cup cooked black beans (if using canned, drain and rinse well)
½ medium onion chopped finely
2 jalapeños chopped finely
1 Tbsp coriander powder
1 Tbsp hot sauce (Frank's®, Tabasco®)
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp canola oil
cilantro
salt to taste

heat oil in a pan, sauté the onions and jalapeños, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low till flavors meld; taste & adjust flavors; off heat, stir in cilantro, reserve some for garnish

For the poached eggs and pan-fried bananas:
2 ripe bananas, slit lengthwise & 1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs, for poaching with 2 Tbsp finely minced onions and jalapeños
some oil

poach the eggs in a microwave egg-poacher, adding the onions and jalapeños on top

meanwhile, heat oil in a pan, add the slit bananas, sprinkle brown sugar on top; flip and cook the bananas all over till crisp on the outside and the brown sugar caramelizes

Assembly:

lay the egg-battered pan-fried French-toast-style tortilla on a plate, top with some black beans, a poached egg, a couple of slices of fried banana, and crumble some queso panela (or feta, or any crumbly cheese of your choice); serve warm

Sig at Live To Eat is hosting this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging (WBB#9), and this is my Egg-stra Ordinary Breakfast entry:-)

stuffed omelette and hashbrown breakfast

It was a lazy Sunday morning. I woke up with a nagging headache, but, Baby and D needed breakfast...

Left to themselves, I am sure they would have been fine with some cereal and milk, but, since that's what they have on weekdays, I try to cook a sumptuous breakfast on weekends.

This breakfast is usually quick and easy to make, and is quite filling. The omelette is stuffed with spiced spinach and cheese; hash browns are plain and simple with a touch of salt & black pepper.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
¼ medium onion, finely minced
½ cup grated cheddar cheese
1 medium potato, matchstick or julienne
½ tsp Madras curry powder
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
salt to taste
canola oil or butter or ghee as needed

Preparation

beat the eggs with 2 Tbsp milk or water, some salt and ground black pepper

heat oil in a pan, sauté the onions and the spinach with some salt and curry powder; keep this mixture as dry as possible

make two omelettes as thin as possible and set aside for stuffing

layer some spinach mixture and some grated cheddar, roll up the omelettes just like a burrito; cut on a bias into 3" long pieces

cook the potato matchsticks on medium low heat, with some oil or butter till it browns to desired crispness; sprinkle some salt and a few turns of the pepper mill before serving

instead of cheddar, either feta, or home made bag cheese (paneer) can be used for stuffing the omelette

French Toast Two Ways

Classic french toast remains D's favorite.

I try to keep it very simple:

Beat some eggs and milk with some (brown) sugar; dip a slice of bread in the egg mixture and toast on a non-stick buttered hot pan; cook both sides to preferred doneness; drop a spot of butter and let it melt on top before serving; sprinkle some powdered sugar if preferred and serve warm; D likes maple syrup on top.

A strong cup of Indian Malabar or Costa Rican Peaberry brew usually rounds out this breakfast to D's satisfaction.



Classic French Toast has its merits, no doubt. But, since I prefer savory to sweet, this variation of the recipe came about on a lazy Saturday morning. And looks like my wee one likes this savory version better than the classic sweet version.

• Chop some scallions and chilies finely; beat the eggs and add the scallions and chilies, some salt and curry powder; mix well, keep handy;
  
• preheat and butter the waffle iron; pour some of this egg mixture on the waffle iron, then a slice of bread, and some more of the egg mixture and cook it just like waffles;
  
• the mixture is more watery than waffle batter so the waffle iron might steam a little, so handle carefully;
  
• when done, remove from waffle iron, sprinkle some grated jalapeno cheddar and some home-made bag cheese.
  

My wee one likes ketchup with it. Or, I should say, she likes ketchup with the waffle on the side.

Serve warm with a steaming cup of chai.

telor balado

I like hard-boiled eggs and i like spicy sauce; this dish combines the two favorites of mine.

Ingredients
3-4 hard-boiled eggs
oil for frying

for the sauce:
¼ cup sambal oelek (or chili paste)
¼ cup tamarind concentrate
¼ cup tomato purée (or, tomato paste diluted in water)
2 medium tomatoes chopped
1 shallot finely diced
1 Tbsp Thai Chili-Basil paste
2 Tbsp Kecap Manis
1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce (optional)
2 Tbsp White wine vinegar (optional)
water as needed

Preparation

1. Heat oil for frying and deep fry the hard-boiled eggs for 3 minutes or so till golden brown; drain set aside
2. In a saucepan, combine all the sauce ingredients except water and let it simmer for a few minutes; add water as needed to keep the sauce consistency rather like a thick pasta sauce but not pasty
3. cut the fried hard-boiled eggs in half and gently set it in the saucepan and let it simmer with the sauce; stirring breaks up the eggs
4. serve warm with steamed rice, or even hot rotis

Spicy Egg Curry

I like eggs. But, not when i can sort of taste and smell the raw eggs - like in cakes, mayonnaise, aioli etc. So, i usually end up making omelettes, fried eggs, pickled eggs and egg curry with eggs.

This is a simple recipe, but, to get some depth, i wanted the eggs to absorb all the rich flavors from the gravy, so i let it sit in the slow cooker overnight and woke up to the wonderful aroma.

Ingredients

for the gravy/sauce: ¼ cup chopped fresh ginger 10-12 cloves of medium sized garlic 1 medium size yellow onion 4 medium size tomatoes 5-6 dried red chilies (less if you don't like it hot) 1 star anise 2 inch piece of indian cinnamon bark 2 bay leaves (dried) one can of diced tomatoes

6-8 hard-boiled eggs, shelled 4 tbsp canola oil (or any oil of your choice) salt to taste ¼ cup chopped cilantro for garnish 2 tsp brown sugar 1 Tbsp curry powder (more if you like the spicy flavor)

Preparation

1. blend all the ingredients for the gravy until smooth
2. heat oil in a pan and all the blended items from 1.
3. sautée until the oil releases, stirring occassionally
4. add salt to taste, curry powder and brown sugar and stir well
5. transfer the gravy from the pan to a slow cooker, and add the shelled hard-boiled eggs, making a few slits on the surface of the eggs
6. leave the slow cooker on overnight making sure there is enough liquid so it doesn't burn and char
7. if you don't have a slow cooker, just add the eggs to the pan in step 4., cover it and simmer it on low heat for about an hour, making sure there is enough liquid in the pan
8. the gravy/sauce can be as thick or as thin as you want, so, add water accordingly
9. garnish with chopped cilantro and serve warm with roti, naan, paratha, roti jala,Green Rice or plain cooked rice.