Thursday 1 November 2012

Post Halloween Eggs Bhurji (fancy scrambled eggs)


Post Halloween Eggs Bhurji (fancy scrambled eggs)

Yikes.  What could be scarier than Halloween, with the frost deadened flowers and grinning pumpkins leering at all the Halloween Candy still left in the bowl?  Goblins, ghouls, zombies… They were all at my innocent door last night, but the worst scare was all the chocolate that I allowed myself to gobble down.  I knew I should have bought stuff that I wouldn’t like!

Luckily I watched the good Dr. Oz’s explanation of carb day staggering, where you eat carbs one day, and only proteins and vegetables the next.  So, out of a genuine terror of the five Reeces peanut butter cups and the one O Henry that I devoured last night, I created this scrambled egg dish to quiet my trembling…
This served just one, greedy guts old me, but you can double, triple or millionify for the number of people you are serving.

1 teaspoon mustard oil
¼ teaspoon dark mustard seed
¼ teaspoon cumin seed
1 tiny red onion, diced (you can use a partial onion)
1 hot chilli, finely diced
3 mushrooms, sliced
1 leaf of kale, washed and torn into bits, rib removed
splash of water if needed
1 sweet red pepper
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
½ teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
2 eggs
thin slice lemon, squeezed
fresh cilantro leaves


No photoshopping, the world was this colour this morning.
There’s something about roasting spices and then grinding them for a single person’s breakfast, mainly mine, that seems a little over the top.  But after last night’s debacle, I didn’t want a high salt intake, so a pre-prepared masala from a box was out of the question.  Instead, I went with this saltless masala.  You can add salt to taste if you like.

Woops I added too much turmeric here.
Tiny onions are out of my garden.
In a non-stick fry pan, add the oil and turn the heat to high.  Sizzle the dark mustard and cumin seeds for mere moments and add the onion and chilli, stirring to cool the pan, turning the heat to medium.  When the onions are translucent, add the mushrooms, and cook till soft, which will take three minutes or so.  Add the turmeric powder and dried fenugreek, then the kale and cover the pan.  Five minutes later, check for moisture and if it’s too dry, add just a little water, a splash might be equivalent of a tablespoon.  Let it boil off if you do use it.  You just need to cook the kale and spices without any scorching.  No liquid in the pan!  Once the kale is close to being soft enough to eat, about eight minutes, add the red pepper.  Put the lid back on the pan and cook for another three to five minutes.  No need to overcook these jewels to mush!  
Finally add two whole raw eggs.  Gently stir them into the dish, and they will cook rapidly.  The larger the number of eggs, the longer it will take.  Mine took less than a minute.

Squeeze the lemon over the eggs and serve with a little cilantro, knowing that this low carb high protein dish will set you on the right path, if you’ve gone astray.  I know that eggs don’t belong in my new vegan lifestyle, but today I had to make a serious adjustment to last night’s fright.  Best to just have some nutritious high protein, and avoid the carbs today.

Nyeee!
Nyeeeeeee!
Nyeeeeeeeeee! (Sounds from Psycho when Norman Bates enters the bathroom...)
What were your Halloween frights?
 

2 comments:

  1. Can't find many Indian spices here but enjoy reading you blog

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  2. Hi Irene,

    Thanks for visiting the blog. It's comforting to know that somebody's reading this! Do you have a Real Canadian Superstore nearby? Ours carry a large range of Indian ingredients, but of course I haven't been in your area for years, so I have no clue what's offered there. For sure you could find these ingredients in Regina or Saskatoon.

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