Healthy Eating: Indian Style Omelette, a Comfort Dish from My Childhood

A new book publication is always a hectic affair, and since the birth of Before We Visit the Goddess, things have been exciting but crazy. I’ve been rushing around on book tour, eating whatever I can grab on the run. So now that I am home for a few days, I thought I would make something healthy for myself and Murthy for our lunch.

I decided on an Indian style omelette, because it is tasty, easy to make, quick, healthy and low-carb. It's also a comfort-food out of my childhood. My mother used to make omelettes spiced with onions and chilies to be served with khichuri, a rice-and-lentil dish, on rainy days. We were not rich; she probably chose to make this meal because it was an easy and inexpensive way for her to get her family some protein. Still, I have many happy memories associated with omelettes.

I started by chopping up one red onion and a jalapeno pepper, because I like my omelette spicy. I chopped up an inch of ginger, one green bell pepper, and one red bell pepper. You can add garlic, also – I just wasn’t in the mood for any. I sautéed all this in 1 tablespoon olive oil in a nonstick pan. I chopped some cilantro leaves and kept them aside. I used 1/4 cup, but you can adjust for taste. I added a little salt into the vegetables.

I beat up four large eggs, adding 1 tablespoon of water because I don’t like my egg mixture too thick. (I only use cage free eggs nowadays because I feel it’s more humane. I use eggs from pasture roaming hens when I can find them.) I added salt and pepper to taste.

I sprayed a non-stick skillet with olive oil spray, added the egg mixture, lowered the temperature to 3, and allowed the eggs to solidify without browning at the bottom. Once they were semisolid I lowered the temperature further (I don’t like crisped omelette!), added the sautéed veggies onto one half and sprinkled the whole thing with shredded cheese – shredded sharp cheddar works really well for me, but mozzarella is good, too. I topped the cheese with chopped cilantro and folded the omelette in half. I cut it into two pieces-- and lunch was ready!

I feel an omelette is a full meal in itself, so that was a good lunch for me. Murthy ate his with brown bread, and that, too, is a good way to eat omelettes!

 What is a favorite comfort dish for you out of your childhood? I'd love to know. 

Writing Characters of a Different Gender: Some Tips, via my Writer's Digest Article

With each of my novels, I try to set myself a new challenge.  While writing my newest, Before We Visit the Goddess, I set myself two: I would write a novel-in-stories, and I would use multiple voices to tell the three-generational tale of Sabitri, Bela, and Tara. Additionally, some of these voices would be male. (So maybe that's three challenges!)

The male voices were difficult. I won't pretend they weren't. Women's voices just come more naturally to me. I understand how they think. How they look at the world. Men – not so much.

But I worked at it, and I worked at it, and I worked at it some more. And I was really quite happy with the result. I learned a lot about writing as I went through the process, and I've put it all together in this article, link below. Take a look. Tell me what you think. And if you have other ideas, please share them with me. Questions are also welcome. 

The Four ‘R’s of Writing Characters of the Opposite Gender