Masala Omlette

from Nigella Bites
Nigella Lawson
The UK's latest, & certainly most stunning, celebrity food personality. Let the backbiting begin in earnest. There are too many author photos, too much borrowing ( but at least she cites her sources ), and what's with the trash cooking ( Elvis's infamous fried peanut butter and banana sandwich again)? However, a taste of slow-roasted pork shoulder, aromatic lamb shank stew or raspberry and lemongrass trifle will stop the critics cold. Give us more! $50.00.

Maybe I should come clean here. Although this is a Keralan dish, I have never, in fact, been to Kerala. But the book's designer had just come back from there when we did the pictures for this book and cooked it for us one day. To eat is to be convinced and the omlette found its way into the TV programme. One of the advantages is that it's an unusual thing to eat for breakfast but easy to make, and, what's more, suitable to be cooked for yourself alone. If I'm being honest, I should say that when I cook this for myself, on a weekday at least, I usually dispense with most of the ingredients: I chop two chillies, turn them around in a hot pan with a little bit of oil for a while, then beat them into a couple of eggs, adding some roughly chopped coriander and Maldon salt at the same time. I then pour everything back into the frying pan and cook for a few minutes before sitting the pan under the grill for a top-setting minute or so.
And feel free to add as well as subtract ingredients: grated ginger is good, as is chopped fresh mint or, indeed, dried. You can eat this, flat on the plate, with a knife and fork, or roll it up inside a chapatti that you've just warmed through in the microwave. And don't tell them in Kerala, but I like this with a splodge of brown sauce, too.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 spring onion, sliced finely
1-2 chillies to taste, red or green
1 clove garlic, Microplaned or finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 eggs, beaten
freshly chopped coriander for sprinkling over
chapattis to eat with, if you feel like it.

Preheat the grill.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan 20-27 cm in diameter, and fry the spring onion, chilli, garlic and tumeric until soft. Add the other spices and fry for another minute, stirring occasionally, then add the beaten eggs, swirling the pan to help the eggs set underneath.

When the omlette is nearly set, flash it under the hot grill to finish it off, and serve with chapattis, and fresh coriander or the Green Coriander Chutney (see book) which follows.

Serves 1.

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