Nina’s Rugged Omelet

After an evening of great galbi, we woke up to a lazy, pre-Valentine’s Day Sunday morning. So what’s next? How about breakfast at Tee’s?

No, nothing expensive Think Comfort food + Romantic + Pleasurable + FAST. During the brain-storming session, Mr. Chi-Town and I kept coming back again and again to the one-and-only superstar of the fridge: *Eggs*.

Omelets. Nothing fancy. It’s a homemade, “R” rated (“Rugged”), fluffy kind cooked with a generous sprinkle of earthy, woody, freshly ground Sarawakian black pepper. (Black pepper heats things up!) It’s served with a side of guacamole and/or harissa. Sounds good? Mr. Chi-Town gives a thumbs up.

Talking about Sarawak, well, there was a time when I was posted to East Malaysia to work as a secondary school teacher. Talk about one of those truly rural areas in the world, folks. The school was literally a long house if you can imagine. But I was intrigued — not just with the school but also with the “apprehensive-but-willing-to-learn-English” indigenous students. A handful of talented indigenous men would regularly visit the school staff room to sell freshly harvested honey, and what we would now call free-range chicken eggs, artwork, beautifully weaved mats, potteries, and so on for only a few ringgits. The majority of local Foo Chow Chinese clan were mainly in the local businesses or the timber industry.

Just like in the Great Plains, the humble and friendly indigenous locals believed in a slow-paced life, too. Cigar, if not, cigarette-smoking, betel-leaf-chewing women, mostly moms with babies and children or grandmas clad in sarongs sold the freshest, locally-grown hill paddy, edible green ferns, fruit, free-range organic eggs, and produce I’d never seen before at the bi-weekly farmer’s market. Every time I came across a new cooking item, I’d ask the ladies for their recipes to which they’d happily oblige. (The men, on the other hand, worked as farmers, fish mongers, and/or fishermen.)

If you know Borneo, you know that it was once the land of the headhunters. I was told that some of the villagers in the interiors prided themselves with their so-called ‘prized’ possession: Skulls their head hunter ancestors had collected. After several years of working with some of the most sweetest Sarawakian native students, feeding on delicious ferns, slurping Sarawakian laksa, tasting all kinds of colleague-made colorful layered cakes, and my best friend’s ‘umai’ (raw prawn pickle), I left Borneo with my head and everything intact. I’m ever so grateful for the experience I had (yes, the hornbills are such beautiful creatures!). Though I had to fight with over-sized cicadas with my broom while my daughters went into hiding, Fortunately, I never had to fend off a komodo dragon or salt water crocodile. Because of the latter, my second daughter refuses to visit Florida…

Hungry? It’s time to prep the eggs – As it Cooks-style. They’re free range, store-bought of course. Mr. Chi-Town discovered this and picked it up at an out-of-town grocery store.
The freshesr the eggs, the fluffier the omelets.  It’s very easy to whip up and wok up this omelet. Beat the eggs with salt, freshly ground pepper, and a tablespoon or so of almond milk. Heat the pan with a tablespoonful of ghee (clarified butter.) You hardly need much if you are using a non-stick pan.

Heat the pan until it’s medium hot. Pour the beaten eggs. Let it sit and fluff up. Like this.
It gets fluffy very quickly.
Using a ladle, gently lift the side of the omelet. If it comes off easily, scoop the omelet with the ladle and flip it like you would a pancake. It just doesn’t matter if the omelet is not round enough or if it breaks into pieces at this point. This is not bistro-style, my dear. In the context of the Great Plains, it’s delightfully ‘rugged, rustic” and most of all, it’s homemade.
After that, to serve this omelet, we need a side. Or two.
Guacamole! You’ll need two ruggedly-dressed avocados, some white onions, and a red jalapeno.
A really pretty red jalapeno with the seeds and all. Don’t forget a lime, a little salt and a little freshly ground cumin powder.
Time to assemble and mash; then, let the ingredients mingle.
Next, using a spoon, scoop out the luscious green butter. See that little avocado seed? I call it the ‘runt’ puppy. So what if I use ugly fruit or veggies?
Squeeze the lemon juice over the avocados. It’s now time to mash it up. I like to leave some chunks of the avocado. That’s the way we like it.
If you are a ‘salsa-person,’ you might want to give harrisa a try. (I’m sure some of you are already familiar with it.) But if you’re a newbie like me, this is the bottle I bumped into at Wholefoods.
For your information, this delicious harissa sauce also comes in regular/mild. It’s got a nice smoky flavor that I tend to use it to make a quick prawn stir fry. If your curiosity is piqued by this Moroccan red pepper sauce, check it out. I did (and the Korean red pepper gochujang sauce, too, remember?) and never looked back.

Breakfast with Mr. Chi-Town was memorable. Whoever created eggs is worth my worship. Eggs are comforting. They’re satiating, and they can be consumed cooked or raw (watch out for salmonella!). They are in every grocery store and can be easily shared with a village, a big family reunion, your Valentine, or eaten alone anywhere anytime. Even every tiramisu recipe calls for eggs.  🙂

As a child, I still vividly remember how much I enjoyed eating our own home-reared chicken eggs. Being non-vegetarians, the hens would mooch around from dawn to dusk looking for worms, insects, seeds, leaves, fruit. Believe it or not, they even devour leftovers! Tiger mom would soft boil the eggs every morning and serve it to me in a saucer. While the eggs were still nice and hot, she’d sprinkle light soy sauce and a big generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper. I still like my soft-boiled eggs that way. The brilliant deep orangey-yellow egg yolks were the tastiest. At least I have a piece of Sarawak in the form of black and white Sarawakian peppers in my kitchen.

So much for a pre-Valentine’s Day breakfast at Tee’s. What’s your favorite egg story?

Much love,

Tee