TOMATO OMELET, 🍅🍅it has nothing to do with the eggy one

Just another savory, vegan pancake

I grew up in Mumbai, the financial, commercial and entertainment hub of India. Though New Delhi is India’s political capital, it is Mumbai which is the seat of diamond trade, stock market, banking, and Bollywood. The city is teeming with traders, businesspeople, stockbrokers, executives, officegoers, blue-collar workers along with restaurants and businesses to cater to these hardworking people. Top of this list are fast casual restaurants called Udupis (named after a town on the western coast of India where the cooks and restaurant owners hailed from). These bustling restaurants boast a menu resembling a booklet and serve steaming hot, insanely delicious meals and snacks within minutes of ordering to a revolving door of customers.

Udupi restaurants

One of the standard items on the menu of Udupis and university, office canteens (cafeteria translated to American English) is tomato omelet. A misnomer, tomato omelet is vegan and so named as it resembles the eggy omelet. If you ask me, this vegan omelet was born to save Mumbai’s prominent business, trading communities, who are lacto- vegetarians, from FOMO of the eggy omelet. These communities are famous for being connoisseurs of food and are on the prowl for novel culinary experiences.

What is a tomato omelet?

It is a savory, vegan, tomato-onion-studded pancake with a luxurious brown, lacy, crunchy-at-the-edges crust and a tender interior cooked up from chickpea flour. Tomato omelet is a swift meal and the time taken to throw it together is only limited by one’s onion and tomato dicing skills. It is my go-to quick hot lunch - the sizzling-off-the-skillet omelet is on my plate in less than 30 minutes, though it needs a dip or a chutney that must come together in a snap too. Typically, this savory pancake is served in Udupi restaurants with a green blob of cilantro chutney and ketchup.

I have seen my college mates eat this tomato omelet sandwiched between two slices of bread and though I didn’t see the appeal, these mates who typically lived in hostels (dorms - translated to American English) were notorious for wolfing down astronomical amounts of anything edible.

RECIPE – TOMATO OMELET

Ingredients

• 1 cup chickpea flour

• ½ cup semolina flour

• ¾ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

• ½ teaspoon cumin powder

• ½ cup diced red onions

• ½ cup diced tomatoes

• 1-2 thai chile pepper thinly sliced (optional)

• ¼ cup vegetable oil

Makes 8 omelets about 6” in diameter

Method

• Combine 1 cup chickpea flour with ½ cup semolina flour along with 1 teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, ½ teaspoon cumin powder in big bowl. Mix these dry ingredients well. Slowly stir in 1.5 cups of water to form a batter. Whisk it vigorously to make sure there are no lumps.

• The batter should be easily pourable like say a good tomato soup. Getting the consistency right is important so that the batter flows and allows for a circular-ish pancake.

• Add ½ cup diced tomatoes, ½ cup diced onions and sliced thai chile pepper to the batter and stir well. Since we are heat fiends in my house, I often add 2-3 chile peppers. Those pepper bits are like flavor bombs that take your palate by a gleeful surprise.

Tomato Omelet batter

• Please remember that as the batter sits, it will thicken because semolina tends to absorb water. Feel free to add a tablespoon or two of water after mixing in vegetables to maintain a pourable consistency.

• No need to rest the batter. We are ready to make tomato omelet.

• Heat a non-stick pan or cast-iron skillet over medium heat. After 5 minutes, sprinkle some water. It should be hot enough that as soon as water hits, it sizzles and evaporates.

• Pour about one fourth cup of batter onto the skillet. Start in the center and with the back of the ladle swirl around lightly, starting from inside and moving outside in a circular motion to make a disc about 6” in diameter. Cover the omelet.

• Remove the lid once the top surface is dry and pour ½ teaspoon of oil around the edges. Please note that the presence of tomatoes and onions may hinder formation of a smooth round shape. That is fine, we are not in pursuit of visual beauty or geometrical accuracy.

• Flip the omelet and let it brown on the other side. Flip it once more on both the sides and let cook for half a minute or so on each side.

• Don’t be surprised if you don’t see a lacy pattern in the first or the second omelet. The lace is a function of the skillet heating up progressively with each omelet.

• Serve the omelet hot for oohs and aahs from the family. I love a room temperature one too.

RECIPE – Quick 5-minute dip for Tomato Omelet or any savory pancake

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon plain yogurt

• 1 tablespoon tahini

• ½ - 1 teaspoon chile crisp

• ½ teaspoon dried mint

• ½ teaspoon lime juice

Method

Mix all the ingredients together and add two tablespoons of water to thin out the consistency. How easy is that? 😁😜 (Sorry, could not resist that)

I know, I know they don’t photograph well but their taste far outweighs the efforts

Technique - Making a dip/chutney/spread out of whatever condiments you have in the fridge

One of the most valuable skills in life, according to me, is to whip up a meal or a dish in the fraction of expected time. I remember my mother cooking up a hot meal of piping hot rotis and a kickass sabji in less time it took to catch up with the unexpected guest who sauntered in just after we had finished our lunch. That too with a smile and truly welcoming vibe and demeanor, which deserves a separate post.

I aim to master that skill with dips and chutneys. Especially for quick-lunch days of savory pancakes or on days of a dinner party when there is no energy to prepare an appetizer dip after cooking the full spread.

Here are my typical recent creations –

Dip for Vegetable Quesadillas for a potluck – Smushed avocado, a dollop of plain yogurt, tahini, lime juice, salt and pepper

Spread for Bagel – Plain cream cheese and crushed Aleppo chile peppers and dried mint stirred in.

Dip for potato chips – sour cream, cream cheese and a spot of green cilantro chutney

And here’s the template

Creamy base – cream cheese, sour cream, plain yogurt, blended cottage cheese, blended silken tofu, tahini, smushed avocado

Punch – hot sauce, chile crisp, harissa, gochujang, Aleppo chile pepper, gochugaru

Acid – squeeze of lime or lemon

Herbs – dried or fresh mint, cilantro

Throw caution and your overthinking mind to the wind and feel free to experiment with this template.

What am I watching?

I just finished watching Away on Netflix. It depicts the story of an international mission to Mars headed by an American astronaut (an excellent Hillary Swank). Yes, you might be representing the entire human race in taking the first step on Mars, but you still have to deal with earthly issues like a teenager gone amuck and office politics. The show ends with the crew landing successfully on Mars after tackling insurmountable difficulties. I would have liked to see their journey back to earth but then that’s just me, an earthling too attached to my bed and cast-iron skillet.

ChutneyLovers’ next meal is a rice dish - a pulao (flavored vegetable rice) and tomato chutney seasoned with nigella seeds.