Sri Lankan turmeric omelette

This is a favourite breakfast dish; one my mum cooks when she’s taking orders for breakfast at the weekends from her grandson, Thierry, who may be only six but knows what’s up. You can have it on its own with something fresh like a little dill, lime and watercress salad, perhaps with some soft white bread, too.

Credit: Bloomsbury / Alex Lau

• serves

  1

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  10 minutes

It’s very easy and quick: just softened onions, a little garlic, curry leaves, turmeric and green chillies. Don’t skimp on seasoning, with plenty of salt, black pepper and cumin – an amazing mix called milagai seeraham in Tamil.

Ingredients

• Pinch of cumin seeds
• Pinch of black peppercorns
• 3 large organic or free-range eggs
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste, plus more to serve
• ¾ tsp ground turmeric
• 1½ tbsp (30 ml) coconut or vegetable oil
• ½ red onion, peeled and finely sliced (or a nice alternative is 2–3 spring onions, chopped into 2cm pieces)
• 1-2 green chillies, sliced
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
• 7- 8 fresh curry leaves

Instructions

1. For the pepper-cumin salt, toast the cumin seeds and peppercorns in a small dry frying pan over a medium heat for 1–2 minutes until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl to cool, then blitz in a spice grinder or mini food processor until fine, and keep aside for later.

2. In a bowl, whisk the eggs together with the salt and turmeric until frothy. Set aside.

3. Heat 3 teaspoons of oil in a frying pan around 20-25cm wide over a medium heat. Add the onion (or spring onions), green chillies, garlic and curry leaves. Allow to cook, stirring occasionally, for 4-5 minutes, so that the onion softens; don’t allow it to crisp, and don’t cook past the point that the chillies and curry leaves are still bright green.

4. Add the remaining oil to the pan, wait 30 seconds for the oil to get hot, and then pour in the eggs. Keep cooking over a medium heat and use a spatula to pull the edges in as they set, tilting the pan to spread the uncooked egg around. Continue this motion of pulling the edges in and tilting all around the pan, until the omelette is almost set, which will take around 2-3 minutes.

5. Fold in half and serve, dusting generously with pepper-cumin and a little extra salt.

Recipe and image from Rambutan - Recipes from Sri Lanka by Cynthia Shanmugalingam (Bloomsbury, HB$44.99).

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

It’s very easy and quick: just softened onions, a little garlic, curry leaves, turmeric and green chillies. Don’t skimp on seasoning, with plenty of salt, black pepper and cumin – an amazing mix called milagai seeraham in Tamil.