Egg vs Eggs.

I don’t know whether it’s a Nigerian thing, or a Victoria thing (most likely the former), but there is a huge difference in making eggs (sunny side up, scrambled, poached, Benedict) and making egg.

Let me explain:

Eggs are a delightful dish that you can add to other breakfast items to  make a hearty meal that will give you the energy needed to face the day ahead.

Egg can be an entire meal in and of itself- filled with mouthwatering tomatoes, onions and spices and is usually paired with yam or plantain.

Now before you tell me “it sounds like an omelette”, technically, yes it is one but it also isn’t….okay?

Plantain and Egg is honestly my favourite thing to eat mid-morning on a day where I don’t have any spectacular plans. Mostly because it sends me right back to bed for a cat nap.

A very important point to also note is that in this entire world, there is no one and I mean NO ONE- not my mother, any of my aunties, friends or foes- that can make plantain and egg better than I can. And that is an absolute fact.

Argue with your ancestors.

Ingredients used:

(feeds two people)

• 2 Ripe Plantains (the riper the better)
• 4 Eggs (if large eggs, then use 3)
• 1 Onion (white or red)
• 2 Vine Tomatoes
• A Tin of Sardines
• 1 Scotch Bonnet
• Seasonings
  • Sunflower oil
  • 1 stock cube (maggi/knorr)
  • Salt (to taste)
  • Mixed Herbs (a pinch)

Prep time – 10 mins

Method:

1. Peel the skin from the plantain and cut at an angle to create slices of your desired thickness. To be honest it doesn’t matter too much how you cut plantain- cut it according to how you like to eat it.
2. Slice the onions and tomatoes and put in a bowl
3. Finely chop up the scotch bonnet and put in the same bowl
4. Open the sardines, drain the excess oil and crush into smaller pieces. Again, there is no hard and fast rule about how many sardines one should use- let your spirit guide you.

Cooking time – 30 mins

Cooking:

1. In a clean, dry, deep pan, measure out enough oil to shallow fry the plantain. As a healthier alternative, I have a Phillips Air Fryer that allows me to cook food without the use of oil and achieve somewhat similar results.
2. Heat the oil, but don’t wait for it to get too hot before adding the plantain, otherwise the outside of the plantain will burn faster than the middle cooks.
3. In another shallow frying pan, add 4 tablespoons of oil and put on high heat.
4. Once hot enough, add the tomatoes, onions and scotch bonnet and fry until the onions become translucent (3-5 minutes).
5. Add the stock cube, pinch of mixed herbs and sardines to the tomato and onion mix and lower the heat.
6. Make sure to keep an eye on the plantain. Once it has achieved the level of brownness you like (usually 7-9 minutes), flip each plantain over so the other side can cook.
7. In a separate bowl, crack the eggs and a pinch of salt and whisk together and pour into the frying pan with tomatoes and onion mix.
8. At this point it’s most likely time to remove the plantain. Put in a bowl lined with kitchen roll to absorb the excess oil.
9. Leave the egg mixture to cook on medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Once it has begun to solidify at the bottom, take care to flip the mixture over so the other side can cook. I use a wide spatula to flip the egg over in sections so it retains it’s ‘togetherness’ as much as possible.
10. Cook for a further 7-10 mins on medium-low heat, flipping the sections as needed until the egg has been cooked through.
11. Put the plantain on a plate and place the egg on top of the plantain.
12. Serve

Extra tip: there isn’t one. That’s how perfect this meal is.