The Ultimate Breakfast Burrito

 

I've been trying wraps, burritos and the likes with a variety of fillings. Looks like we now have a sure fire recipe that I call a breakfast burrito just to identify it with a name.

Easy to make, yummy to eat and flavorful to the hilt. No competition here.  Below are the steps to make this delicious meal in a roll. Good news is the roll can be a chappathi, tortilla or any flat bread that takes your fancy. No need to roll if what you have at home is not big enough. Just fold it once, hold both ends together with your God given fingers and start attacking from one end to the other for finger licking goodness. Makes enough for 4 people.

In The Mix

potatoes - 4 or 5 large peeled and diced
olive oil - 4 tbsp
rosemary fresh- 1 tbsp
garlic - 5-6 cloves peeled and crushed
ground pepper - 1/4 tsp
shallots -  thinly sliced

hot italian sausage - 4-5 cooked, skin removed 
(you can use any ground meat like chicken, beef or turkey or even fried  fish. vegetarians can substitute with chickpeas or soya chunks)

eggs - 5
milk - 1 tbsp

salt to taste for all

avocado - 2 large
tomato - 2 medium

shallot - 1 thinly sliced and diced
cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
lime juice - from 1 lime squeezed as needed
serrano chili - 1 seeds removed and sliced thin
cilantro fresh - 1/4 cup
salt - 1/2 tsp

grated cheese to sprinkle on top - as needed
organic wheat tortillas - as needed

How To Do

Heat oven to 425C for baking the potatoes after cooking them.

Potatoes ** Boil water, add enough salt, and cook peeled cubed potatoes for about 15-20 min covered on medium heat. Drain, toss with olive oil, rosemary, garlic and pepper and bake at 425 for 20 min on each side until browned enough. Set aside in a bowl.

Slice 2 shallots, toss with olive oil and salt and air fry at 390C for 5-6 min on each side and mix with the baked potatoes. Can add this to potatoes while they are being baked. I just prefer the air fried version.

Sausage ** Now start off with hot sausage. Brown in a pan on medium heat with little oil, stirring often for about 4-5 min. Remove from pan and set in a bowl. Save the pan with sausage grease for the next step.

Eggs ** Break eggs into a cup, add milk, salt to taste and beat. Add to the pan set on medium heat, scramble the eggs and set aside in another bowl.

Salsa Mix **Remove skin and cut avocado into thin pieces, dice tomatoes and the remaining shallot.  Toss all together with cilantro, green chili, lime juice and cumin powder. Add or reduce the quantity of each ingredient to your taste. The salsa mix which is the last component to build your breakfast burrito is ready!

Microwave a tortilla for 10-15 seconds, spread the salsa mix, sausage, potatoes, eggs and sprinkle with cheese on top if you like. Fold together, take a mouthful and continue. Take another tortilla and repeat as many times as you want:-)

Egg Curry Recipe -The Real McCoy!

When I was at home one thing I hated eating was rice. I wondered why people would want to eat rice when they can have breakfast all the time. Why would someone want to go to the trouble of making rice and curries when at the same time they could just make puttu or idli or idiappam. I used to throw away the rice curries in my lunchbox almost on a regular basis since I couldn't tolerate the smell when I opened it at lunchtime. Such ignorant and heartless was I of the toils of the kitchen!! There came a time when some of my classmates started being afraid for my health and complained to our classteacher about the fate of my lunch. Bless their hearts, little did they know how heartily I ate breakfast and gobbled up tapicoa and the likes up to the nose in the evenings and therefore had nothing to fear for:-) Anyway the teacher asked to see my lunchbox before I could take it to wash and the only way I could satisfactorily get out of the dilemma was by bringing breakfast items for lunch which I had no problems with at all. My Mom was surprised at first to see a docile rice eating me once I got here. It is true that we take many things for granted. Don't we? But even at the time there was one combo that I could not resist regardless that it came with rice in our home. Nice seasoned buttermilk and my Mom's egg curry. So this curry was the one I put my whole heart into learning while declaring to my Mom that I doubt if I'll ever make any other curry in my life. I have made this egg curry many times here which was always well liked by friends and foes alike. It must be the love!!

In The Mix:
Eggs – 6 to 8 (boiled, shelled & halved)
Onion – 1 big onion sliced lengthwise - Keep a few slices aside for seasoning. (5-6 shallots are best instead of the onion but then that is too much trouble.)

Coriander powder – 5 tbsp
Chili powder – 2 tsp or more or less depending on your heat tolerance
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Mustard – ¼ tsp
Curry leaves – 1-2 sprigs
Coconut milk – 1 can (dilute 2/3 can with 1 ½ cups to 2 cups water)

How To Do:
1. Heat oil in a pan, add onion and salt to taste. Sauté till onion turns brown and slightly crisp. Remove from pan.
2. Break mustard in remaining oil, add the set aside fresh onion, curry leaves and sauté.
3. Make a mix of the 3 powders with water and add to the pan.
4. Roast in low heat till aroma fills the air and the gravy begins to roll into soft balls. Keep stirring so it won't stick to the pan.

5. Add the diluted coconut milk and stir well. Add salt if needed.
6. Add eggs and the sautéed onions from step 1.
7. Boil all together once. Then cover and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes or more depending on the desired gravy thickness.

8. Add remaining 1/3^rd can coconut milk. Stir gently once so it blends and remove from heat.
9. Enjoy!

Note1. Coconut milk can be substituted with warm milk for a lighter curry.
Note2: Cubed potatoes can be added at step 7 if you are in the mood for a more wholesome curry. Just increase the cooking time accordingly. I did this for the curry in the picture.

An Egg Curry with a Story

It was a Saturday evening and not a curry was found in the fridge. It was a busy day for all and one thing led to another with no time to be had for grocery. A heavy depression surrounded all – esp Mom & Dad – who didn't want to go out again just for grocery on this cold, cold rainy day. Dad who was suffering from an onslaught of seasonal cold allergies decided to sleep it off with a nap and make do with toasted bread for the whole family when the time came. After giving it some thought, Mom decided to investigate the fridge. And there it was! A lonely, lonely egg all by itself in the egg carton. Egg is a favorite ingredient of Mom's and this provided the inspiration for a curry.

With added zest Mom was able to discover the following:

A 2/3 piece of green bell pepper.

Some (8-9) small red potatoes – the kind that does not need to be deskinned!

2 pathetic looking but still alive carrots

½ a head of cabbage

1 big onion – this item was plentiful but only one was needed

Other stuff deemed necessary to make it into a curry:

coriander powder – 4 tbsp

chili powder - ¼ tbsp

kashmiri chili powder – 2/3 tbsp

turmeric powder - ¼ tsp

garam masala powder - ¼ tsp

½ cup milk

2 ½ cup water

salt to taste

What happened:

A pan was out on the stove with oil to heat.

The onion was sliced and added to the oil. Salt was added and stirred well together.

All powders were added and mixed together by adding little water. At this point Dad woke up from the heady aroma of roasted curry mix in the air and remembered the frozen thinly sliced beef in the freezer. This he thawed in the microwave with new found vigor and added to the pan. The meat was saute'ed in the mix for 3-4 minutes. 2 ½ cups of warm water was added and after boiling once, diced and sliced veggies except cabbage were added. After boiling once the pan was covered and allowed to cook for 10-15 minutes. Once the all the ingredients were cooked, the one lonely egg which was behind all this was broken into the boiling water and scrambled to join the rest of the crowd. As you can see from the pic it all but disappeared!! Cabbage was added last and mixed well. Then ½ cup of warm milk was added and after boiling once, removed from heat.

This was heartily enjoyed by the whole family with fresh cooked rice and a dollop of yogurt. The wonderful meal with the things found in the fridge was surprisingly tasty and wholesome!

The whole thing reminded me of a story I remember reading in a Children's Magazine (Poompatta?) long time back. There was this man who liked to spring visits on families just as they were having their meal so they'd have no choice but to invite him to join them. One day it so happened that the family who spotted him from far away finished their meal rather fast and informed him of this “sad” fact. Not to be fazed in adversities the guy said that they could still have some dessert. When the family mentioned that they have no ingredients for any dessert he said “ but you don't need any ingredients to make vellarankallu payasam/kheer and it is so tasty you'd want more” Vellarankallu are small white stones/rock pieces that can be found anywhere in the land. This of course raised the familiy's interest and the visitor generously offered to make some for the family as a favor. In no time he got them to boil a pot of water to which he added the cleaned stones the kids brought in. After a while he tasted the “payasam” and said that it would have been even better if only he had some milk. The family by now fully vested in the making of this extraordinary payasam brought out the milk. After a while he tasted again and in similar fashion got them to provide him with jaggery, coconut and other “normal” payasam ingredients without the family catching on!! The 'vellarankallu payasam” was finally ready and the eager family tasted to find that they were conned into making a payasam for their cunning guest after all... The visitor left after having his fill of the wholesome payasam!

So here it is, my “Egg” Curry:-)