King Mushroom and Shallot Omelette

Why? Because Sunday's are just much more fun when you wake up to an awesome breakfast.

And also because I just had to get away from the pile of uni work that I'm buried under at the moment. You may have noticed the shortage of posts this month, but it's because it's that time in the semester where all your tests, quizzes and assignment come together and give you one helluva SHAZAMM!

Putting that aside...

Much to my delight, as I rummaged through my almost empty fridge, I found a packet of the most scrumpdiddlyumptious babies in the world. KING MUSHROOMS!

These beasts kick all other mushrooms in the backside anyday. They're meaty, flavoursome and definitely not for the faint-hearted. Field mushrooms ain't got a thang on these thugs.

Oh and mum, if you're reading this. WE'RE STARVING over here! Our fridge is empty.

We call these Chicken Drumstick Mushrooms in Mandarin. Funnily enough, I do see the resemblance. Uncanny isn't it?

Start with one of these and just slice in half, and then some. You don't want them too thin or you'll lose the meaty texture of the mushrooms once they start sweating in the pan.

If you feel like more, feel free to slice up another one. The world is your oyster.

You'll also need about half a sprig of spring onion, finely diced.

Can you tell I've been practising with my camera?


You'll also need about 40g of grated tasty cheese. I simply julienned my COON slices - it won't make a difference because you'll be needing to melt the cheese later anyway.

I also use light cheese...just in case you wanted to turn me into the Heart Foundation for some serious lessons on how to not kill myself with what I eat.


Freshly grated parmesan will also help. 1/4 cup.

And no, it most definitely must be fresh. Ah-a-a-, no buts.

Whisk 3 eggs up. 4 if you feel like something quite cafe-sized, but promise me you'll share. 4 eggs in a day just isn't healthy. Neither is 2, but it's still better than 4. Less is more.

Melt some butter in a shallow frying pan. Feel free to use olive oil, but personally I always use butter with mushrooms as they provide a nicer colour and flavour.

Oh, and a grill-proof/ovenproof frying pan would be ideal. We'll be needing the grill later.

Throw in your sliced mushrooms and a sprinkle of salt.


Toss the mushrooms around until they a golden brown. These ones don't sweat all that much compared to the likes of button and field mushrooms, but you still need to sweat them in the pan properly before adding the egg.

Once mushrooms are done, turn the heat right down to low and pour in the egg. Go make yourself a cup of coffee or something while you give it a minute or two to just set on the bottom.

Sprinkle the tasty and parmesan cheeses. You may want to start the grill on about 250°C .

The cheese will begin melting, but it won't colour. Once the egg looks like its started to cook on the top, sprinkle the spring onions over the top of the omelette.


Next, pop the entire pan into the grill.

Once upon a time (say, when I was still in primary school), I remember the grill and oven used to be separate compartments underneath the stove. I also remember that when you used the oven, you had to remember to close the door (seemed kinda silly if you didn't), but when you used the grilling device, you had to leave the door open.

So when our new oven arrived post-renovation, I flicked through the instruction manual hoping to find instructions on what you should do with the oven door when you switch to the grilling element on the combined grill/oven system.

The manual gave me nothing. Zero, zilch, nothing.

It wasn't until my trip to the Blue Mountains that AL finally enlightened me that we are to leave the door ajar even on the combined system. Seems kind of dangerous doesn't it?

Oh well, so that's pretty much the way I've been doing things since. It makes better photography anyway. This post with the picture of marinated vegies grilling is still one of my favourites all time.

Pull the pan out once the cheese is golden brown on top. It would have puffed up quite a bit, but will sit back down before you manage to find your coffee.

Give us a moment as we admire the mushroom poking out of the omelette.

Finally, serve with a slice of buttered toast and a mug of (soy) coffee. Sundays just couldn't start in a better fashion could it?


King Mushroom and Shallot Omelette
Serves 2

Buy:
40g Cheddar/Tasty cheese, grated
1/2 Spring onion, finely diced
1~2 King Mushrooms, sliced thickly
3 Eggs, beaten
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Butter, for frying
Salt, to taste

Make:

1. Melt butter in an ovenproof/grillproof frying pan
2. Brown mushrooms in pan until golden brown
3. Turn the heat to low, and gently pour in beaten eggs. Do not stir and allow to cook for a minute
   
4. Sprinkle cheese over the top then allow it to melt into the eggs
5. Turn grill to 250°C
6. Once the top of the eggs look like it is starting to set, sprinkle spring onions over the top
7. Place pan underneath the grill and allow cheese to brown
8. Remove from grill and transfer to plate
9. Serve with buttered toast
   

Royal Egg Flan

It's been a while since I've posted a recipe. Now that food is officially murdering my bank account, it's nice to settle to some home cooking and just have a quiet night in.

Egg flans have always been a sort of comfort food for me. It was always the thing that mum fed me when I was sick, or upset...or recovering from surgery (it's one of the few things you can slurp with a straw when you're recovering from having your wisdoms taken out).

Anyway, over time, I've slowly upgraded this recipe to give it a little more pizazz.

It's a pretty basic recipe consisting of two parts. The egg flan, and the sauce to go on top of the flan.

The list of ingredients is pretty basic. Frozen peas & corn, a couple of eggs (around 4 or 5 large eggs will suffice), tofu, garlic, chicken stock and corn starch mixed with water. Depending on how heavily flavoured your chicken stock is, you may want to add more salt.

It's also a pretty healthy recipe provided that you don't consume the entire egg flan by yourself. Sharing is caring my friends.

First, you steam the mixture of chicken stock and egg flan. While it's steaming, feel free to work on the sauce. Multitasking is also your friend.

A note to remember, however, is that the heat must be turn on low. Slow steaming is the way to go or your flan will have trappled air bubbles and end up with an uneven top.

Then throw in your prawns and tofu in a wok and go for your life. Don't flavour too heavily here because you'll be adding in chicken stock in here as well to match the flavours of the egg flan.

The key to this part is to make sure you don't overstir the mixture. The last thing you want is to have little bits of broken up tofu floating around your sauce. Let the sauce simmer away and then turn the heat on low and pour in the corn starch mixture, let it thicken slightly and take it off the heat.

The colours should be vivid. Your family will hate you if you turn your vegies yellow.

Lastly, just simply pour the sauce on your cooked flan and garnish it with a few sprinkles of spring onion.

Go on. Give it a go.


Royal Egg Flan
Serves: the family

Buy
5 peeled prawns, diced
3 blocks of tofu, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 tblsp peas and corn
5 large eggs
1 tblsp corn starch, mixed with 3 tblsp water
400mL chicken stock
salt (optional)
white pepper (optional)
1 sprig spring onion, chopped finely

Cook:

1. Beat the eggs in a large bowl
2. Pour in 1 cup of chicken stock and beat until evenly distributed
3. Transfer mixture into the bowl you want to serve in (you can't transfer the flan into a bowl after it is cooked)
4. Place the bowl into a steamer, and steam for about 15~20mins on low heat.
5. Set aside
   
6. In a wok, pour a teaspoon of oil and saute tofu and prawns with garlic.
7. After prawns turn pink, pour in the remaining chicken stock and bring to simmer.
8. Add peas and corn and sprinkle with white pepper and gently simmer the mixture for about 3 minutes.
9. Turn heat down to minimum and pour in corn starch mixture. You may not need all of it, depending on how much of the chicken stock evaporates off.
10. Once sauce thickens, pour onto the steamed egg flan
11. Garnish with spring onions and serve hot.

Nom it.

Request Line - SK

This post is dedicated to a friend currently on exchange in the U.S.


I can't remember the first time we talked about the tomatoegg dish anymore. My assumption is that the conversation came up some time during work, and caught between professing our love of tofu and the dinner date at Temasek which never happened in time before her departure.


It's not like we haven't kept in contact while she's been over there. In fact we've been keeping each other updated with EPIC emails (the length and detail of which puts War & Peace to shame), but somehow, somewhere in the epic emails, the recipe for this dish got lost, and the dish never eventuated on the other end.

Luckily for her, she has a foodie friend. A foodie friend would never let a friend starve, even if they were 9000kms away.

So here's the recipe, again. With love.


I made this last night. For those who have been following the posts, you would be aware of the sad state of my fridge.

Well, at the time of making this, the problem had not yet been resolved, so the eggs pictured above were the very last normal chicken eggs in our house. (I still had mini chicken eggs from my own chickens, but they don't work so well for this dish).

Oh and they were the last two tomatoes as well. The one in the middle of the picture was bruised. But you don't know that.

Good news is, the randomly missing member of my family is back today. She never lets the fridge run empty. In fact, I think it goes the other direction...which gets annoying at times as she takes up all your jelly-making space in the fridge. And then you can't make jelly. And that's just mean.

Either way, this has always been one of my ABSOLUTE favourite dishes. I've told my parents many-a-times that I'd rather have a plate of tomatoegg to go with my rice than abalone or lobster. I'm a weird child like that.


TomatoEgg
Preparation time: <2mins
Cooking time: roughly 10mins

Buy:
2 medium sized tomatoes, roughly chopped
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp chicken powder (or MSG)
1 1/2 tblsp fish sauce (feel free to use cooking salt, I think you'll need about a teaspoon or two?)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
Oil for cooking

Cook:
1.) In a frying pan, heat oil for frying.
2.) Fry the eggs in the pan until just cooked. Do not scramble and break it up into little pieces just yet. Remove and set aside.
3.) Add oil to a wok and heat.
4.) Add tomatoes to wok and let it sizzle. Turn on high heat and toss it around a few times.
5.) Quickly add chicken powder and fish sauce. This will help collapse the tomatoes and extract liquid from them to make the sauce. Turn down heat and let it simmer for 3 minutes.
6.) Add sugar. This will help thicken the sauce. Simmer for another minute.
7.) Turn the heat up and add cooked egg. Break it up into smaller pieces while coating it with the sauce. Cook quickly and turn off heat as soon as egg is coated and broken up.
8.) Plate it up.

Nom it while it's hot.