Culinary Experiments I: A composition in yellow and green

Appetite, of course is the motor of all change. So the last weekend I had a bit of a change of philosophy. Like all revolutions, this one began not from the intellectual strata of my corporeum but was firmly rooted in a subaltern base. The stomach had, in other words, once more triumphed over the mind. I finally decided I had had enough of the readymade mircowave meals and pepperoni pizza takeways. The kapsalon – that truly unique Dutch construction – too failed to tingle the tastebuds anymore, and even that oregano-flavoured tomato-sauce-pasta composition I would delight in felt like a dead end. Ditto with the ham-gouda boterham. There was a a sense of stagnation, of having truly hit the gastronomic rock bottom on my study abroad. And thus I began anew, the palette swept clean.

The visit to the Saturday market had left me with 2 kilos of spinach (wonder why someone would buy so much) and quite a bit of potatoes. Besides there was the regular stock of eggs lying in the fridge. Spinach clearly had to take the centre stage, supplemented by the potatoes and perhaps the eggs. I wondered what would come out of it if I put them all together – and that’s exactly what I did. The result was surprisingly good (yes, so good as to have a blog post dedicated to it). So here goes the patented recipe:

Since potatoes take some time to cook, begin by dicing them into small cubes and boiling them.
Clean the spinach in a pot of water and chop it fine. Then chop an onion and couple of garlic cloves.
Heat a bit of oil in a pan and get some cumin seeds sizzling. Add the garlic, wait a minute then add the onion.
Wait some more (enjoy the aroma, as they say) and then add the chopped spinach
Add some coriander powder, chilli, and salt to the spinach.
Once the spinach looks soft, make three puddles and break in an egg each.
Meanwhile, if the potatoes are boiled (shouldn’t be too mushy), throw them into a pan with a bit of oil and add some turmeric for the colour and salt to taste. Keep tossing them to get them a bit crunchy.
When the eggs have congealed in the spinach, turn of the heat.
Lay out the potatoes on a plate. Then place the spinach and eggs on top. Squeeze some lemon juice to add some zing. And you’re set to let those flavours sink in!!