A taste of spain for lunch

The first time I had a Spanish omelette was at an Indian eating establishment in PJ and it wasn't a good experience. Frankly, the omelette tasted abysmal. It served me right, really, for who goes to an Indian restaurant to order a Spanish Omelette when there is menu full of delicious curries, kurmas, flatbreads, chutneys and such. Oh, I blame it on curiousity.

That was a good ten years ago and the restaurant has since shut down, not at all because of the omelette I am quite sure. Since then I've had the pleasure of eating delicious Spanish omelettes on numerous ocassions.

The authentic name for this omelette is "Tortilla de Patatas" and it is quite a typical Spanish dish: an egg omelette with fried potatoes and onion. Other additional ingredients are incidental and variations of the original.



You just have to slice potatoes into 1/2 cm pieces and fry them and some sliced brown onions in olive oil. You have to be generous with you rold as the potatoes have to kinda boil in the oil. Stir once in a while, cook them uncovered for about 10 mins and then covered for another 15 mins or till the potatoes are tender.  Well, almost boil. So if you cut 3 medium potatos, use about 4 or 5 tbsp oil.Season with salt and lotsa black pepper.

Once the potatos are tender, drain them well on some paper towels.

Now beat your eggs with milk. I used 5 eggs and 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk. Mix with the potato/onions and put everything back in the skillet on the fire. Fry on side on  low heat and then flip over to the other side for just a few minutes. OR you can fry one side well and then place it in the oven (grill function) for 5 -7 minutes.

Other vegetables I added in were some swiss brown mushrooms and some chopped tomatoes. I also threw in some chopped parsley and cut up some chives as well.

The omelettes are eaten cold as a tapas. I think it goes well in a sandwich too. For this sandwich. I tried a new bread made of semolina flour. It tasted nice but the crust was a little too crunchy to be used as a sandwich bread. The flavour of the semolina went well with the omelette.

As an extra layer, I added some aubergines that I sliced and coated with flour, egg whites and herb and curry flavoured polenta. These were nice as the coasting was crisp while the aubergines remained soft.