Egg Muffin | The City We Became

‘Right,’ I say, biting into the egg sandwich and damn near wetting myself. Actual egg! Swiss cheese! It’s so much better than that McDonald’s shit.
The City We Became
N.K Jemisin

This entire recipe is possibly a touch ironic considering the sandwich within The City We Became is lorded for having real egg and real cheese! My version basically had the opposite to real egg and real cheese. Or real bacon for that matter. However, it is still so delicious and according to my dedicated taste tester - genuinely has the texture and taste of omelette.

I picked up The City We Became a few days ago, half because I had seen a few great reviews floating around, and half because the cover jumped out at me from the shelves. I know many say to not judge a book by its cover but, come on, look how great that cover is.

If you’re looking for an almost subdued sci-fi/fantasy this novel is fantastic. A world in which certain cities when they become a size become sentient. Their spirit and force envelops a human avatar who becomes the city. It’s a weirdly fun read - and I can only imagine that native New Yorkers could only love it more.

Egg Muffin
Makes approx. 8 - 9
Ingredients
Muffins
2 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tbsp white sugar
400g plain flour
120ml warm milk
120ml warm water
2 tbsp butter, melted
50g polenta
Sea salt
Eggs
100g chickpea flour
80g firm tofu
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp black salt
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
120ml water
Seal salt
Cracked pepper
2 tsp butter
+ bacon/plant based bacon of your choice
+ cheese of your choice
+ sauces of your choice, tomato and hot sauce is particularly delicious

Muffins

1. Combine the warm water and yeast in a bowl, leave to sit for around 5 minutes or until it becomes frothy.

2. Once the yeast mixture is nice and frothy add in the warm (not too hot!) milk and melted butter. Also add a pinch of salt and two cups of the flour - mix until it becomes a dough. You will likely need to add more flour as you go along.

3. Lightly flour a clean surface and turn the dough out onto it, kneading it until it becomes smooth. Place the dough into a clean bowl and cover with a damp tea towel (this will help stopping the dough drying out) and leave in a warm place for around an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

4. Once the dough has doubled in size turn it back out onto a floured surface. Roll it out to about 1/2 inch thick and use either a biscuit cutter or a jar/glass to cut out your muffins. Ball up the scraps of dough and roll them out again, continue to cut them out and roll the scraps until you’ve used it all.

5. Scatter the polenta over a baking tray, placing the cut out muffins onto it before covering with a damp tea towel again. Leave the prepared muffins for another hour to rise again.

6. Heat a heavy bottomed frying pan on a medium heat, once the pan is hot carefully transfer a few of the muffins into the pan. You want to cook them for around 5 minutes before flipping them to cook another five minutes on the other size. Once each side is a golden brown place them onto a cooling rack.

7. Repeat the process with the remaining muffins and leave them to the side to cool.
   Egg

8. Combine the chickpea flour, water, tofu, black salt, nutritional yeast, turmeric, a pinch of sea salt and some freshly cracked black pepper into a blender. Blend until the tofu has been well blended and all you have remaining is a yellow-y mixture. It shouldn’t be too watery but also not super thick. Add a little more water if necessary.

9. Melt the butter into a frying pan, moving it around to coat the surface. Once the pan is hot pour in the ‘egg’ mixture. It will take a few minutes to cook, try and avoid touching it or moving it until it firms up.

10. Once the ‘egg’ mixture has solidified and you can easily get a spatula beneath the edge, flip it over in the pan and leave it to cook for another 30 seconds on the other side before removing it from the pan.

11. Either use a biscuit cutter to cut out exact circles from the ‘egg’ or just cut it up into squares to assemble the egg muffins.

12. You can really do whatever you want from this stage. I cut up my muffins and lightly grilled them with cheese before adding on bacon, egg, tomato sauce and hot sauce. Enjoy!