Quiche is one of the favorite dishes and it is made all over the world. The reason for it is that it is easy to prepare, but you can use a huge number of different ingredients. You can make it with meat, cured meat, vegetarian, or vegan.

The main thing that you should know is how to prepare the base of the dish. That means that you should know how to prepare the crust, and how to make the base from milk and eggs. Then you can add a whole bunch of ingredients. Anything that you like. What people also like about quiche is how practical it is to serve it. You can feed a lot of people at the same time. You can serve fresh or reheat it, and serve it as breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you can serve it hot, cold, or at room temperature. Additionally, you can keep the baked quiche in the fridge for about two days and when you need it, just reheat it and serve.

Almost all quiche recipes contain vegetables and when people hear the word "vegetables" they automatically assume that it is a healthy dish. Well, the truth is that it can be healthy if you make it that way. Many recipes contain a lot of butter, oil, cheese, and cream. If you overuse these ingredients, you might pack hundreds of additional calories. And that is not so good. Depending on the ingredients, you can make the quiche with more protein or fiber. If you are looking for a way to make the quiche healthier, you can either use less of the unhealthy ingredients or replace them with healthier versions. For example, you can use cheese with less fat or make a quiche without the crust. Crustless quiche is even easier to make since you only need to prepare the filling.

Here, we will go through a short history of the quiche and then we will clear out some common questions concerning quiche. And then, in the end, we have a tasty recipe for you - curry quiche with mushrooms and spinach.

Quiche history

For those of you who don't know, quiche is a pie with the filling made of eggs, cream, and milk. Many people simply think of it as an egg cake. Since many people think that quiche is a French dish, we need to provide some interesting historical facts about this dish.

Quiche has actually originated in, believe it or not, Germany - in the medieval German kingdom of Lotharingia (a region that was stretched across France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Belgium). France had annexed this kingdom and they renamed it, you can guess - Lorraine. The word "quiche" actually originates from the German word "kuchen" which means cake.

In England, the quiche Lorraine was a part of the cuisine in the 14th century, but as an open pie with savory custard. The first time the term quiche Lorraine was used in England was in 1925. But, even before that, the dish was very popular among people. This quiche consisted of an open crust, with the filling made of eggs, bacon, and cream custard. After a while, the cheese was added to the ingredients. At that time, it was something new and very delicious.

However, some people refused to eat it because it wasn't, to put it roughly, "manly enough". World War II veterans were mostly among those people. They would often say "real men don't eat quiche" because it didn't contain enough meat. We guess that the steak was a more manly dish for them, as much as the story sounds a bit crazy today.

Even though there were variations of the dish under different names and in different countries, the real worldwide recognition of the dish came from, of course, French cuisine. They are the ones who made this dish that popular. But, as the years went by, the ingredients slowly changed, and the quiche Lorraine is just a variation of the dish called quiche. The modern quiche contains not only the crust, eggs, and milk, but also vegetables, cheese, meat, different spices, and even seafood.

The common questions

When making quiche, some people have a problem with getting the perfect texture of the filling. It can be either too thick or watery. There are a couple of things to avoid that. You should avoid using only milk, or only cream. Use both and you will not have this problem. Another thing you can do is keep an eye on your milk-to-egg ratio. It is measured this way - one egg, half a cup. One egg with milk and cream should fill half a cup. Two eggs - a full cup, and so on.

If you want to avoid your quiche becoming soggy, you can blind bake the crust before pouring the filling. Also, what is important is that you should not poke any holes in the crust, because you might end up with the leak. What else can you do to avoid the crust being soggy? If you are using the vegetables in your filling, make sure to dry them first. The same goes for the fresh cheese that might be watery.

The length of the baking time can vary, depending on the ingredients. But, if you prepare the ingredients before you put it all in the filling, it takes about half an hour to 45 minutes to be baked. You can, however, check if the quiche is done by using the food thermometer (it should be between 165 and 185 degrees) or you can use the knife. When you stab the knife into the quiche, and if there is no food on it when you pull it out, it is done. Another thing you can do is shake the quiche back and forth while observing the center. It should stand still and if it jiggles, it is not done yet.

Our recipe's ingredients

Besides the quiche base, the main ingredients in our quiche are curry, mushrooms, and spinach. Let's check out some of the health benefits of these ingredients. 

Curry powder

Curry powder is a mixture of various spices like turmeric, curry leaves, black pepper, cumin, cloves, nutmeg, chilies, coriander, ginger, etc. It is a product of Indian cuisine and it has a lot of health benefits. It can reduce inflammation, it is good for the bones, good for fighting Alzheimer's disease and cancer, and fighting against the bad bacteria. It is also helpful with digestion and heart health. 

Mushrooms

Mushrooms provide a lot of nutrients that are vital to our health. Besides proteins and fiber, they provide the antioxidant selenium and vitamin D. They are boosting the immune system, they protect against cancer, help the heart to be healthy, and they help to lower the cholesterol. 

Spinach

Spinach can help to improve the blood's quality, it can increase vitality, help bone health, and especially fight anemia. The reason for it is that it is rich in iron.  It is also a great source of vitamins K, A, C, and B2, magnesium, and manganese.