Indian Breakfast Bowl

This, right here, is one of my favorite things to make. It’s not something I was brilliant enough to come up with on my own, but I was blessed enough to be able to share it in my cookbook Tasting Pennsylvania (2019, Farcountry Press). It’s a collection of 100 recipes from contemporary Pennsylvania cooking, dining, and eating.

It comes to me from Cafe Santosha, a lovely little eatery that’s tucked inside a health food store, so you know it’s already got a lot of good stuff going for it. And so I am now sharing it with you because it’s plant-based and delicious.

Indian Breakfast Bowl from Cafe Santosha. Photo by Alison Conklin. Recipe reprinted with permission from Tasting Pennsylvania, Farcountry Press, 2019.

This Indian Breakfast bowl is a delicious and filling dish that owner Sarah Collins serves at her cafe. Now you can make it at home. You may look at this recipe and think, why are there two chutneys? And where on earth am I going to find curry leaves? There are two chutneys because you need both of them. You can find them elsewhere on this blog.

And the curry leaves? You can get them at some Indian grocers or, if you’re like me and you live near a cool market that stocks all sorts of groovy things for food lovers, you can find curry leaves at the Easton Public Market Highmark Farmstand. Whatever you do, please don’t swap curry powder. It’s not the same thing. If you can’t find them, don’t sweat the small stuff, as they say. It will still be really delicious, and you won’t regret a single moment of making—or eating—this dish.

The chutneys live elsewhere on my website because otherwise this recipe would be too long and no one would want to make it. Please make them ahead of time (the day before or so is fine) so all you have to do is just spoon them out when your breakfast bowl is ready.

Ingredients

• 5 to 6 medium Yukon gold potatoes, 1-inch dice

• 4 tablespoons olive oil, ghee, or coconut oil (divided)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

• 4 tablespoons mustard seeds

• 6 curry leaves (omit if you cannot find)

• 8 eggs (or 12 ounces firm tofu, drained excess moisture patted out of it)

• Pinch curry powder

• 4 cups baby spinach (or kale)

• 2 cups purple kale, rinsed and torn into small pieces

• 1/2 cup tomato, onion, and golden raisin chutney

• 2 tablespoons cilantro coconut chutney

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400. Toss together the potatoes on a rimmed baking sheet with 2 tablespoons of olive oil or ghee, salt, pepper, 2 tablespoons mustard seeds, and curry leaves. Roast for about 30 minutes until crispy. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil or ghee in a small cast-iron or nonstick skillet on medium heat. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and season with salt, pepper, and curry powder. Using a spatula, gently push the eggs around the pan, forming “sheets” of eggs. Continue to fold the eggs over themselves until they are just cooked through or a bit undercooked—they will continue to cook once they’re off the heat. This should take about 5 minutes.

(To substitute tofu for the eggs, wrap the tofu in a clean kitchen towel, and place a heavy plate or bowl on it for ten minutes to extract as much water as possible. Pat it dry. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high, and add the tofu. Break it up with ta spoon and saute until it starts to turn golden brown—it should only take about five minutes. Add the salt, pepper, and curry powder. )

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small saute pan and add 2 or 3 tablespoons of mustard seeds. Stir to coat in oil and when they start to darken after a couple of minutes, become fragrant and then pop, remove from the heat and set aside.

Place a quarter of the spinach and kale in a bowl. Top with about 3/4 cup of potatoes, add a quarter of the eggs or tofu, followed by 2 tablespoons tomato chutney and a teaspoon of cilantro chutney. Garnish with a little bit of mustard seeds on top, and serve with your favorite hot sauce.