My way of coping amidst this panic of Covid 19 is by cooking. It helps me calm down and release my stress.
This morning I decided on cooking a big breakfast. The thing about Huevos Rancheros is that it is a Mexican dish rich in protein from the beans and the eggs. You may skip the yolk and even make the eggs with simply egg whites if you like.
This recipe is simple yet a bit time consuming in terms of the number of ingredients and plating or layering involved. If you want to make it quick you may skip few ingredients as per your liking.
Ingredients:
Eggs -1
Onion- 1 medium chopped fine
Garlic cloves- 4-5
Habanero lime tortillas from Trader Joes (you may use any brand tortillas or any kind)
1 Can of black beans
1 jalapeno diced
Cheddar Cheese or any mexican cheese blend
Salt to taste
1 avocado sliced
Sour Cream
Salsa -either homemade or any store bought (I use Ghost pepper or Habanero salsa because our family loves spice)
Butter or oil
Cilantro for garnish
Preparation:
Take a pan and place over medium heat, add 1 tsp oil, garlic cloves, onions and black beans along with salt and saute for about 5-10 minutes. Then take another pan and make half fry eggs over medium flame. Toast the tortillas in medium flame and I add some cheddar cheese over the toasted tortilla while its warm so the cheese melts over it.
Take a plate -place the toasted tortilla with cheese
Tranfer 2-3 spoons of the beans with onion and garlic on top of the tortilla
Place the half fried egg over
Add some salsa
Add a dollop of sour cream or more as per your liking
Add sliced avocados
Add jalapenos if you like the crunch and spice
Garnish with cilantro
Layering or Plating:
Tip: I always try to make the yolk runny since that elevates the quality of the dish so much.
I love baby eggplants but in India we always removed the skin and cooked it to a point where it gets mushy and it would drive me
nuts when my mom would insist that i eat this mushy eggplant curry with my rotis/bread. I wanted to come up with an eggplant dish that I would rather enjoy to eat than be forced to eat:(
So here goes people!
This is by far my best take on the Mighty Eggplant! and takes you less than 15 minutes to prepare this. Its an awesome dish to consider if you have guests coming over.
Ingredients:
4-8 baby eggplants
Olive oil
Goat cheese crumbs
5-6 Basil leaves
Salt to taste
Black Pepper
Lemon pepper powder 1/4 teaspoon
Garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon
Finely chopped onions- 1/4 cup
Habanero Mango Salsa( I sometimes make this at home using habanero peppers and finely diced mango cubes with onions and tomatoes but you can always find and buy a bottle of any salsa at the supermarket if you do not want to deal with the heat of habanero peppers)
Note: You can substitute any salsa depending on your or the guest’s tolerance to spice levels. BUT I strongly recommend this combination:) Trust me its delish!!!if you can tolerate spice or heat!
Preparation:
Cut the baby eggplants in half and place them on a baking pan lined with parchment paper(for easy clean up). Then sprinkle salt, black pepper, lemon pepper and garlic powder on top of each half to make sure that they are well seasoned. Then drizzle some olive oil on top of each half and top it with some chopped onions, 1/4 teaspoon of the habanero mango salsa and garnish with some crumbs of goat cheese and chiffonades of basil.
Stick this into the oven at 350 degrees F for about 20-30 minutes. Voila! I insist on a particular combination of salsa and cheese for this particular recipe since the habanero (heat) and the mango (sweet) in the salsa cuts the tanginess of the goat cheese and the flavors become so well balanced.
I was born in the state of Kerala in India. Kerala is in the southern part of India and is know for its beautiful backwaters and greenery! There is one another thing Kerala is well known for- Its Plaintain chips!!!!
My mom always made these crispy plantain chips that me and brother always kept munching on them. And when we had guests over, my mom would reach out to the canister of Plantain Chips and too late to realize- ALL GONE!!!
I have been craving some crispy homemade plantain chips a while now. So I decided to add my own twist to it:)
I love the idea of salt and sweet so paired up home made Crispy Salted Plantain Chips with a Mango Salsa and hot Jalapeno! Enjoy!!!
