Flipping through the photographs of past travels – a favourite pastime in 2020 – I found myself grinning at the memories created with my BFF during our 2019 trip to Sri Lanka. As I flipped through the photographs, I could almost hear our chatter in the background, like an audio cassette on the loop. A particular photograph had me bursting out in laughter – the one with a tear rolling down my cheek and a sheepish smile on the face. While it may not seem funny at first instance, it is hilarious because I was in tears over the stress of not finding food as we travelled from point A to point B in Sri Lanka. I’d strongly urge you to read That Week in Sri Lanka to understand why the stress over food.
Among one of the things that the BFF and I spoke at length about during this trip was the food we wanted to eat as soon we returned home. This memory prompted me to start conversations with several ‘traveller’ friends – the kind of friends who travel as much (and more) than I do – about the comfort food they like to return to. And each one of them was kind enough not only with their stories but with the recipes too. And as we inch closer to 2021, towards a time and space where leisure travel still continues to be a strict no for a majority of us, celebrating travel memories with ‘comfort food I return home to’ seems like a good idea.
THE TRAVELLER’S ‘COME HOME TO’ MINI MEAL
The first recipe in this series is one that I’ve learned from Souvik Dutta, my brother-in-law (in photograph above). An avid traveller, both he and my elder sister prefer to eat a homecooked snack or meal at the fag end of their travel. “We need to set our body clocks into work mode as soon as we touch Bristol because more often than not, we are required to head back to work the next day. Whether we reach home at 5pm or at midnight, a quick egg noodles is enough to tide us till dinner time OR breakfast. Its quick, easy, healthy,” says the BIL.
I’m sure all of us have our versions of this noodle dish tucked away in our mental recipe list – but before you scoff, remember, some of us occasionally need reminders of the basics. Consider this recipe a reminder of the basic with a twist of sesame. Because that, my dear friends, is my little addition to the recipe. The BIL and elder sister prefer to cook in olive oil. But I’ve found that the use of sesame adds an earthiness to this particular dish, raising the taste level by several notches. If sesame oil is not your thing, use any cooking medium that you have!
If eggs are as loved in your household as they are in mine, you might also want to take a look at the Fenugreek Leaves Omelette, Azeri KyuKyu, Omelette in a Spicy Curry and the Egg Chilla. Enjoy cooking and if you post on social media, don’t forget to locate and tag @from.the.corner.table
A noodle dish with the nutty taste of sesame oiland goodness of eggs
- 150 grams Hakka noodles
- 4 Spring Onions
- 4 Eggs
- 6 tablespoons Sesame oil
- 4 cloves Garlic
- Salt (to taste)
- Black/White Pepper powder (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon Roasted sesame seeds (optional)
Cook noodles as per package intructions. Make sure you drain the noodles when partially cooked.
- Finely chop the garlic cloves; slice the spring onion in length and set aside.
- In a non-stick pan, heat ½ tablespoon of oil. Whisk the eggs. Pour into the heated pan and scramble. Set aside.
In a wok/kadhai, heat 3-4 tablespoons of sesame oil. Add the chopped garlic to the hot oil and give it a quick stir.
Add the spring onion, toss.
- Add the noodles, scrambled eggs.
- Season with salt (to taste) and pepper powder (to taste).
- Toss well.
- Remove from heat and serve with a drizzle of sesame oil and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.
• This noodle dish is named Sesame Egg Noodles because of the liberal use of sesame oil. If you do not like sesame oil (for taste or health reasons), feel free to switch to a cooking medium of choice.
• Feel free to add other vegetables and even diced sausages to this recipe if the mood strikes you.
• Drizzling with sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds are an optional serving suggestion.
• Best eaten hot/warm.
