Japanese Curry Omurice

This is the perfect lazy weekend lunch. The recipe is super simple - all you need are eggs, rice and curry. I love Japanese curry but I find the boxed dried curry roux takes too long to cook and requires a lot of prep. I like the individually portioned pre-packaged curry that you just heat up and serve with rice. This recipe also works best if you have leftover rice to save time, but if you don’t you can quickly substitute with minute rice or those microwaveable rice packs from college. You can totally skip the tomatoes and spring onion of course. I added them for garnish to make the dish look more camera-ready. This dish took around 5 minutes from start to finish. I hope this will inspire you to cook something other than Shin Ramen when you’re hungover!

Sieve the whisked eggs to get a smoother consistency.

Not the most attractive looking omurice out there oops

Plate it ugly side down!

Japanese Curry Omurice

For 1

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil for the pan
Pinch of salt
1 cup cooked rice (Japanese rice would be ideal but normal long grain rice will do just fine. If cold, reheat in microwave first)
1 package ready-to-eat Japanese curry (like these, not the dried boxed kind)

Method

1. Boil water in a pan and submerge the pre-packaged curry to heat up its contents.
2. Whisk the eggs together and run them through a sieve and into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt.
3. Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat. Slowly pour the egg mixture into the pan and lower the heat to medium low.
4. When the egg has begun to set (this will take less than a minute), spoon the warmed cooked rice onto one side of the egg. Using a spatula, carefully fold the other side of the egg on top of the rice to make an omelette (aka OMURICE!). Cook for a few more seconds.
5. Plate the omurice and carefully pour the heated curry over it. Garnish with whatever you have on hand - something with acidity would be great, like Japanese pickled vegetables!

Hong Kong - Brew Bros Coffee

One of the (few) perks of being unemployed is being able to enjoy a late breakfast out on a weekday. Recently, I visited Brew Bros which opened recently in Sheung Wan. It's a cute small cafe on Hillier Street across from La Rotisserie. They serve breakfast food items like bagels and eggs all day, and they source their coffee beans from Melbourne.

Their latte was pretty good

Smoked Salmon Bagel with Cream Cheese: The bagel came with rosemary potatoes and a side of salad. Generous portion of smoked salmon, but the bagel was a bit too hard. The potatoes had good flavour, but were cold. The salad was dressed with a splash of balsamic.

Brew Bros Brekkie: This breakfast platter consisted of eggs on toast, smoked salmon, rosemary potatoes, a side of salad and baked beans. The scrambled eggs were very creamy and the bit of truffle on top was a delicious touch. The baked beans were not bad. Again, the potatoes were cold, but overall a hearty breakfast. 

Verdict: Not my first choice to go for breakfast, but if you are working in the Sheung Wan area, it's a decent place to get your coffee fix. Avoid the bagels.

I recommend: Eggs, Coffee

Brew Bros

Address: Shop F2, LG/F, 33 Hillier Street, Sheung Wan

Phone: 2572-0238

Website: https://www.facebook.com/brewbroscoffee

Baked Caprese Crostinis

I'm about to board a plane to Barcelona! I'll be gone until the end of the month, but I will still post new recipes and reviews when I have time between Gaudi visits. After Barcelona I will be in France. Be sure to follow @christineatsss on Instagram for daily updates of the amazing food I'll be eating! I will now leave you with this easy yet delicious canape that you can whip up in no time. 

Recipe

Makes 8 crostinis

Ingredients

8 thin baguette slices

1 garlic clove

1 medium ball of mozzarella, cut into 8 slices

8 cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Torn basil leaves

Kosher salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

Olive oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to broil. I used my toaster oven!
2. Cut the garlic in half and rub the cut side lightly on one side of each baguette slice. Drizzle the baguettes with olive oil.
3. Layer the tomato, mozzarella and basil.
4. Sprinkle salt and pepper, then drizzle with more olive oil.
5. Bake for a few minutes until the cheese has melted.

A Healthy Breakfast

I don't want to sound like a huge cliche but yes, breakfast IS the most important meal! It really helps kick start your metabolism and you will feel less tired and less likely to over eat during the day. We never ate "proper" breakfast food at home until a few years ago. I have fond memories of frosted Pop Tarts, Cap'n Crunch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch (fave!). Three years ago, Mama Bear started going to a personal trainer who was also a certified nutritionist. He set up a meal plan for her which included fresh berries and oatmeal for breakfast. He also suggested that she snack on cherry tomatoes, avocado and nuts throughout the day. Since then, our kitchen has been stocked with only healthy food items. No chips, no peanut butter, nothing. It was tough at first, but we finally caught onto Mama Bear's healthy eating habits. Recently I've been switching between having a sandwich and oatmeal with berries for breakfast. 

Here is one of my favorite breakfast combos: smoked salmon with avocado, cherry tomatoes and Greek yogurt on toasted sour dough. These things taste so good together! And you get vitamins and antioxidants from the tomatoes, Omega-3s from the avocado and salmon, and probiotics from the yogurt. You'll never want to eat plain ham and cheese again.

Recipe

For 1

Ingredients

1 thick slice of sourdough, toasted
1 slice smoked salmon
1/2 small avocado
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
Freshly cracked black pepper
2 tablespoons low-fat or non-fat Greek yogurt

Method

1. Lay the salmon on the sourdough. No butter or mayo needed!
2. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the avocado into chunks.
3. Add the yogurt and cherry tomatoes.
4. Finish with black pepper.