💬 My plain omelette gets more questions than anything else I cook

I make a plain omelette. 2 eggs, 1 onion, 1 green chilli, salt. That's it. People still ask for the recipe. My cousin tasted it at breakfast in January and said, what did you put in this? I said, eggs. He didn't believe me. He asked 3 times that week. Then he made it himself and sent me a photo. It looked sad. Flat and brown and a bit rubbery. He wrote, what went wrong? I didn't know. So I watched myself the next morning. First thing, I cook the onion alone in oil for about 3 minutes. Not brown, just soft and a bit see through. Then the chilli. Then I turn the flame down low. I beat the eggs with a fork for a long time, longer than you'd think, till there's no clear bit left. Pour, wait, and don't touch it. That waiting is the hard part. I always want to poke it. I flip it once, count to 10, and it's out. The middle stays a bit soft, almost creamy. My cousin cooks on a high flame because he's always in a hurry. That's the whole problem, I told him. He said, I'm not waiting 4 minutes for an egg. I said then you'll keep sending me sad photos. He sent one more last week. Better. Still a little brown at the edges, and he blames the pan. People assume there's a masala in it. There isn't. I tried a pinch of turmeric once and it tasted like a school canteen. Salt goes in at the very end, never before the onions. My mother told me that and never explained why. I eat it with 2 slices of bread, toasted dry on the same pan after the omelette comes out. That's breakfast most days. 12 minutes start to finish, and I wash up before I leave for work.

Mine started as a mistake. I ran out of tamarind once and used lemon juice and a bit of jaggery. Everybody now asks for that version and I can't copy it. Every batch comes out a little different. Your cousin's rubbery omelette sounds exactly like mine in the early years. Fast flame, no patience. I'll try the onion first method this weekend. If it fails I'm blaming you.

Mine is lemon rice. Plain, yellow, nothing fancy, but my aunts ask for it every time they visit. The trick is letting the mustard seeds pop properly and using curry leaves from the tree outside.

Mine is plain dal. People ask for the recipe and I can't explain it, which annoys everybody. My mother showed me by feel. A bit of this, wait till it smells right, then add that. Your low flame point hits home though. My dal went wrong for years because I was always rushing. I've stopped writing it down. I invite people over instead, and they bring their own spoons.