That egg-batter thing

My mum, never ecstatic in the kitchen, was blessed in that she had completely non-fussy eaters in the hubby and child. However, as small rewards for not making trouble at dinner, she would whip up little treats for us every now and then (which is to say, fairly often). They were mostly uncomplicated, easy-to-make things that no one bothered giving a name to, and were yum. Especially if you have a taste for the crisply fried. Here's one of our favourites, with my nips and tucks.

Ingrid.:
1. Eggs:People = 2:1.
2. Red onions, peeled and reasonably finely chopped. Don't make them so thin that they're transparent. Not making a fancy salad here.
3. Green chillies (kNachalonka), chopped. Don't substitute with green peppers (capsicum). Really, they're not the same thing.
4. All purpose flour/moida.
5. Tomatoes--chopped into very small pieces and cleaned completely of the soggy bits. The final pieces should be dry to the touch.
6. Fresh ginger, skinned and chopped to tiny pieces.
7. Rimi's addition--sharp chedder cheese, cut into small thin slices or shredded. Also, if you like, chopped or hand-shredded cold cuts or left-over roast/curried chicken. Do not use uncooked meat.
8. Milk, a tiny little bit. About two tablespoons.
9. Salt, pepper.
10. Oil/butter to fry.


Process:
Keep the eggs out of the fridge for at least forty minutes before cooking them in any way. And when I say "keep them out for forty minutes" I do NOT mean take them out of the fridge and pop them into the microwave for two minutes and they're ready to go.

Whisk room-temp. eggs well. Once fluffy, add milk, chopped onions, green chillies, ginger and a little salt, and whisk some more. When the egg+veg+milk+salt is fluffy again, add a small fistful of flour (don't kill this with whole wheat, please), whisking all the time so the flour folds in well with the rest of the batter.

Meanwhile, heat oil/butter in a frying pan. Spread the oil/butter so all the base is well-greased and about half an centimeter of the sides as well. If the sides aren't greased the batter tends to stick to it.

Drop a little batter into the oil to see it if sizzles. If it does, turn the flame to low immediately (or the oil will reach burning temperature and there goes you dinner) and pour the batter in, covering as much surface as you can. A circular motion of the wrist as you slowly pour the batter in is always useful.

Now hold the pan firmly and swill the batter inside it so it's spread out even more evenly. Turn the flame up to medium-low, and lift one of the corners of the frying batter with a spatula to see if the other side is turning golden brown. From here you can go two ways: either fry this circle of batter well, one side then the other, and skip straight to serving, or continue to the next step. My mum used to do the former.

Once the side lying on the pan turns golden brown, turn the flame down again and evenly cover one half of the batter-circle with the cheese. It shouldn't be a thick layer or it will ooze and stick to the pan and be generally unpleasant. Add the meats too, if you have them. Remember to leave a margin along the edge of the half circle--the cheese and meats shouldn't be falling over the edges onto the pan.

Now with the spatula lift the non-covered half and place it carefully over the covered half, so that the entire thing resembles a bulgy half-moon. Press the edges of the non-covered half to the edges of the covered half, sealing the cheese and meats in. If you want to be sure of your sealing, you can use a blunt butter knife (I use the spatula) to fold the joined edge in on itself and press it down.

Now the turn heat up just a little and turn the whole thing over. The other side should be nicely goldened by now. If this... thing looks like it's charring, add more oil or butter. After sometime push a fork inside the half-moon to see if uncooked batter sticks to it. Keep flipping sides till the inside is well cooked.

Serve, if taste allows, garnished with lemon juice and a little salt. I used to eat it with thick yellowish-brown Chinatown chillie sauce, I remember :-)