French Toast: Middle Eastern or Mediterranean?

I've been baking cookies. You know, trying out the bazillion "Best Choc-Chip Cookies Ever!" recipes floating around the food blogosphere. I've succumbed to all the tricks and tactics of the trade: adding an extra egg yolk, using cake flour, stuffing it with chunks of chocolate, refrigerating cookie dough for 36 hours, resisting eating raw cookie dough for the 24+ hours. The whole nine and a freaking half yards.

So you know what my post is going to be. Not Chocolate chip cookies. Had enough of them  for a while.

Middle-Eastern French toast.

I'm sorry for the build-up. Please go do some cardio+crunches(20 reps, 3 sets), and I'll have about six batches of Chocolate Chip Cookies prettily ready for you in a couple of days!

Middle-Eastern French Toast was the result of a happy accident. By that, I mean I overheard my 8-year-old sister instructing mum on how she wanted her french toast. It could also mean that I stole a slice of her French toast (and swooned) as I'd rather my metabolism went for a toss than eat Ragi Kazhi for breakfast. P.S.: It isn't a frou-frou thing. I like Kazhi, just not the ones made with Calcium-enriched Diabetic food.

Sumi had this brilliant idea of adding pinches and pinches of saffron strands to the French toast egg mix... she probably thought it'd make it taste like kheer or sheer korma.



She isn't at the age where she understands how much each milligram costs... and if I tell her that mind-altering drugs cost less, I'd be killed by mum for a) "spoiling your sister and making her exactly like you" b) even if it's been two years since I graduated Medical school, Mum chooses to believe that her 24-year-old daughter has no clue about the existence of "drugs" or where babies come from; simply because unmarried girls mustn't know/speak of "these things".
I'll spare you the lengthy diatribe this post is evolving into... and teach you how to make Middle-Eastern french toast.

It's easy, you'll know how to make it already (I use the base recipe from i am baker). To go along with it, I suggest a simple, luxurious dry-fruit milk we make only (justifiably) in the month of Ramadan.

Middle-Eastern French Toast:

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/2 cup + 2 tbsps milk
2 tbsp sugar
a pinch of salt
3/4 tsp rosewater
7-8 strands of Saffron
5-6 slices bread


Method:

Heat the 2 tbsp milk until it's boiling. Add the saffron strands to it and squeeze the extract out of it. Keep aside the saffron to infuse in the milk until cool.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, milk (both the plain and saffron-soaked), sugar, salt and rosewater.

Silly me forgot to do the saffron-infusion before hand. You must, though!

Heat an non-stick pan or griddle. Add a pat of butter or ghee.

Dip a slice of bread into the milk mix. Do not let it soak too much, as there won't be enough egg-milk mix for the rest of the bread.

Cook the dipped bread on medium-low, about 2 minutes on each side.

Do NOT use skim milk and wholewheat bread. Please.

Take it out and serve hot with Saffron honey and butter!

A dusting of confectioners' sugar is pretty handy when you're out of honey.



Could not resist a couple of bites fresh off the griddle, pre-photo session!



Dry-fruit milk:

Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk.
5-6 walnuts
4-5 almonds
4-5 unsalted pistachios
5 raisins or a couple of chopped up dates
a pinch of saffron
1 tbsp sugar (or more, per your liking. Remember, dates are sweet!)

Method:

Feel free to use and hold off on the dry fruits of your choice!

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap/lid, and refrigerate overnight (minimum7 hours).

You can eat it by itself or with the french toast!

Suddenly can't wait for Ramadan. For more reasons than one.

Minced Meat Pizza/Breakfast-AND-Dinner of Champions.

I love pizza. I love breakfast.

Scratch that. I love good pizza and great breakfast.

Idli and filter coffee, frittatta and fruit, pancakes and espresso. Great breakfast.

Homemade pizza dough, bursting with three types of cheese, a rich tomato sauce and chunks of meat. Goooood pizza.

So, today, after all the dessert, Vegan and miscellaneous girlie food, I thought I'd post a recipe for minced-meat (kheema) pizza. You can use any ground meat, but the cooking time will vary depending on whether it's chicken, lamb or beef.

This recipe also does not require you to make a separate sauce or break the bank (non-existent in my case) on an expensive bottle of Ragu/pizza sauce. It's a stew on its own, which can be eaten with naan or Pav bread or over some Penne tossed with olive oil. It's versatile, one pot and man-approved. Win-win-win situation for us all.

And whether you want to top it with an egg is completely up to you. Some would love the yolk oozing over the beef and creating a hearty breakfast pizza (does the intro make sense now?) But make sure the people you're cooking for can take eggs, meat, cheese and bread in one go.

For a flavour boost, I'd suggest you used either stock cubes or packaged stock or if you can lay your hands on some, rehydrate porcini mushrooms in the hot stock. Yum.


Minced Meat "Breakfast" Pizza:

Ingredients:

Ground/minced meat - 400 grams (I used beef)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
400 grams tomatoes, pureed*
4 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 tbsp red chilli sauce
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 vegetable/beef bouillon cube
1/4 cup water
Dried oregano and basil-1 tbsp each.
Salt-to taste

To assemble:

1 onion, cut into thin slices
1 orange/red pepper, cut into thin slices
Tomato ketchup, mustard- to spread
Olive oil, for greasing
Egg-1 per pizza

*Tomato puree to be made in the mixie after boiling the tomatoes for around a minute, skinning them, deseeding them and removing excess water.

Method:

In a big pan, heat the olive oil on medium-high
.

Add in the minced meat after the pan has completely heated up. The meat should sizzle when it hits the pan.

Saute the meat for around 2 minutes, after which you can drain the excess fat.

Add in the onion and garlic. Saute over medium heat until the meat has browned and the onions have lightly browned.

Reconstitute the stock cube in 1/4 cup boiling water. Add it into the meat mix and cook until the water evaporates.

Add in the tomato puree, salt, ketchup, red chilli powder, pepper and sauce. Give it a good mix. Let it cook down on low heat. At this point, you can taste and see if your meat needs any extra seasoning.

Sprinkle in the dried herbs after the mixture has cooked downed.

To assemble:


I do not approve and wouldn't ever use this type of a pastry-ish white pizza base if I had my way.


Spread the pizza base with olive oil.

Coat it with 1 tsp tomato ketchup + 1/2 tsp mustard.

Add a portion of the meat.

Strew on the onion, bell pepper and cheese.

Bake in a preheated oven at 225 C for around 8 minutes.

Take it out, break an egg over the pizza (if desired) and bake for another 5 minutes. If you're not adding the egg, just bake until your cheese is gooey and the edges are browned.

Sprinkle on extra chilli flakes, hot sauce and oregano.

Dig in! And I mean it literally.

P.S. To the good people of Blogger. It's chiLLi, not chili, where I live. Annoyance.

Creme Caramel Pudding/Eid Mubarak.

It's been 70 days since Eid-ul-Fitr (The Eid that comes at the pointy end of Ramadan). 70 rainy (not all of them, I should hasten to add) days and very few blog posts. It's Eid-ul-Adha already (the one with sacrificial goat).

The idea of putting up harried, uninspired posts doesn't, at all, appeal to me. Recipe cards and Twitter-like reviews of the kick-ass places that have been sprouting around the nooks and crannies of Madras, maybe?
Hm.

Or I could just give up going to the gym and post instead (Yes!) That'll work out well for all of us.

Instead of disbanding the blog altogether (saddening, because it's a product of my rapidly degenerating-but-still brain and my ever-growing love of all things edible-and-halal), I'll drop by when I have something I have to foist on everybody.

Case in point: it's Bakrid today! The festival of sacrifice. I'm going to make one of my most favourite desserts of all time. And then sacrifice it for the ones I love. Or double the recipe and keep a portion for myself. It's still sacrifice, voluntarily giving up dessert and all. It is, OK?

Dessert. I've compiled so many adjectives for the course, I could have a showdown with both Matt Preston and Nigella Lawson, and still win.

Dark Chocolate. Espresso. Peanut Butter. Nutella. Salt. Dark Chocolate. Mint. Demerara sugar. Raspberry. Dark Chocolate. Apple. Cinnamon. Pretty much covers all the dessert ingredients I'd give a passing grade for. However, before going off-tangent, I started like everybody else (we're all inherently good). With Dairy. And loads of it.

Crusty, day-old bread soaked in milk with a teensy sprinkling of sugar and a drop of vanilla. Creamy kheer (one portion I'd have warm, straight from the pot, and one portion, all cold, at midnight, with Friends). Sheer korma. Rice pudding with jam. Trifle with custard, jelly and sponge cake. Coconut-milk based Jaw arasi payasam (sago/tapioca payasam). Pineapple kesari.

Comfort food, all of it is. On a regular day, I'd take a Dark Chocolate Caramel Ganache Tart. On a horrible day which is on its way to Horrible-r lands, I'd take the comfort food.

Topping the comfort food list would be Caramel Pudding. Yes, of the Creme Caramel/Vanilla pudding mix variety that you get in green boxes and can be whipped up in a jiffy. Or the real way of making Creme Caramel, the only one worth trading in your skinny jeans for. I'm sure your granny or your mum has a treasured recipe for it. If not, you'd be happy to know that I'm giving away my family's version. Don't tell my mum. Kidding. Or am I?

This recipe has a lot of eggs, milk and sugar. Not much else; so you can spare me the "where in the world (I know you mean Madras by this) would I find Madagascar vanilla beans  or gold gelatin leaves?" The equipment, if we're getting all technical, would be an aluminium anda or a Rice cooker. No sorbet-crankers or waffle irons. This pudding does originate from a gazillion years back, before newfangled notions like electricity existed/was accepted.

If you like Creme Brulee or a good New York style Cheesecake, give this one a shot.

Creme Caramel

This makes a dense, cheesecake-like pudding. If you want a wobbly, flan-like pudding, reduce the cooking hours of both the milk and the pudding by half!
Ingredients:

Whole milk: 2.5 litres
Eggs- 3 cups (approximately 14 or more)
Sugar (white, granulated)-3 cups
Vanilla essence: 2 tbsp
Sugar for the caramel glaze: as needed.

Method:

Note: The proportions of the thick milk jam:sugar:eggs is 1:1:1, so feel free to play around keeping the ration in mind.

On a low fire, heat whole milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Make sure the bottom doesn't burn. Stir occasionally.

The milk will thicken and reduce down to less than half of the original quantity. This will take an hour or more.

At the end of the boiling process, you'll get a milk jam (sort of like a thinned-down Dulce de Leche or Confiture du Lait) that'll measure around 3 cups/tumblers.

And it's OK that there are icky bits of malai/milk skin/adai in it, we'll be straining the milk mixture.

Beat with a immersion/stick blender for 10 seconds, so you break down the skin. This step can be skipped.

Add in the sugar and eggs.

With the eggs, I can't give you an exact number since I don't know if you prefer free range, organic or the jumbo variety. Just keep breaking and pouring them out until you get 3 cups worth of egg whites and yolk.

Fold it all well with a spatula. Add in good quality vanilla so that you won't have a eggy smell at the end.
 Don't be tempted to use the stick blender after adding the eggs and the sugar as this will tamper with the smooth silkiness of the pudding. Mix until it forms a cohesive batter.

Next, strain the pudding batter through a fine sieve.

Keep aside the pudding batter.

Making the caramel top:

In a stainless steel or aluminium deep vessel (make sure it's DRY, not one drop of water allowed), add a couple of tablespoons of granulated white sugar so a layer of it covers the bottom.

On a low heat, swirl the sugar around. DO NOT use a spoon or spatula. Just toss the pan around.

An amber to golden caramel base will form.

Keep aside and let it cool and harden. If you pour in the pudding straight away, it'll mix with the sugar!

Pour the pudding batter into the prepared moulds (the bowls in which you've melted sugar into a golden glass-like layer).

Steaming the pudding:

You can use a water bath. Take an aluminium vessel. Fill up to a third to half of it with water.
Position a ring mould in the centre of the vessel. Place your filled pudding mould into it. Cover the pudding mould with a stainless steel lid or aluminium foil. Cover the water- bath with a bigger lid. Let the pudding steam on low heat on the gas range in this manner  for 3 hours.

Using the rice cooker:



This photo was clicked at the end of three hours of cooking time. You'll need way more water for your water bath!!

 Filling a third of the rice cooker with water. Place the ring, then the filled pudding mould. Cover the mould with a stainless steel lid. Cover the rice cooker with its own lid. Let it cook for 3 hours.

At the end of the steaming, it should look like this.

If you feel it needs more time, so be it. Take out the pudding, let it cool for an hour or so.

Unmould it into your plate. Run a knife through the edges before unmoulding if you think it necessary.

Once the pudding is fully cooled, place it in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving.

I know this whole process sounds scary and labour intensive, but it is in fact one of the easiest desserts to whip up. Only the cooking time can be a little weird and prolonged, but it is a special day and for special people, so all things considered? Win.

Especially when the brunt work of it was done by the sister-in-law. Thanks, BV!

Eid Mubarak, you lot. Make sure you eat some extra biryani for me. And dessert. Always the dessert.

Breakfast Panini with Eggs, Mushrooms and Peppers/The CSK sandwich!

Yellow is the colour du jour. Why? Yellow is the colour of the Chennai Super Kings, who have undoubtedly proven themselves to be the most kick-ass cricket team, ever. In honour of them opening the first match of the season, I thought I'd do my bit by making tribute food and yelling myself hoarse when they win.

The natural choices would be lemon bars or cheesecake. But then I got this whole Breakfast-of-Champions idea in my head and set to making a panini. Not that I'm saying you can't have lemon bars for breakfast. Would I ever do that?

This panini has eggs, mushrooms, yellow bell-peppers and cheddar cheese between two glorious pieces of bread. You can close your eyes, and each explosive bite might fool you into thinking it could be a pizza or a taco (with a little bit of imagination).

But I strongly suggest you keep them open and enjoy the goodness that panini is!

I'm giving you the recipe for what I made. Play around with it. Change the cheese, change the spread. Throw in chillies or baby spinach, whatever makes your palate sing. If it isn't for breakfast, you can even add bits of poached or grilled chicken. And as always, a sandwich press or a griddle can sub in for a panini press.

CSK-inspired Panini:
(Makes 4 paninis)

Ingredients:

8 slices whole-wheat bread
1 Yellow bell pepper, cut into strips
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
200g Mushrooms, sliced
Extra-virgin olive oil-1 tsp
Dried oregano & Chilli flakes, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste.
Spread of your choice-Cheese spread, muhammara, mint chutney, mayo.

Method:

1)Place a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add in the olive oil. When heated, add the mushrooms and saute for a minute (just before the water starts coming out). Add salt, pepper and herbs to taste. Keep it aside.

2)Prepare the eggs to your liking. Simple sunny-side up eggs, an egg-white omelette, poached eggs, etc.

I did them sunny-side up, with a pinch of salt and black pepper. I kept yolks runny, so that when you cut into it, it makes a delicious mess.

3)Shred the cheddar cheese and keep aside. You can use feta or parmesan, but I like cheddar in this; it melts like mozzarella except that it's got some sharpness to it.

4)Assembling the sandwiches:

Dab on the spread of your liking on a slice of bread. I used Britannia's Coriander and Mint Cheese Spreadz. You can skip it altogether, to keep it healthy and add extra herbs.

Add a quarter portion of the mushrooms, cheddar cheese, yellow bell pepper and half an egg to each sandwich.

Sprinkle on some dried chilli flakes/cayenne for some extra heat.

5)Close with another slice of bread and put it onto the heated panini press.

Recipe Source: My own! Yay!

Serve hot with mustard (for the punch and an extra bit of yellow).

I do hope they win. And even if they don't (no!!!), maybe I'll whip up something else next time. Do you think a pineapple or mango dessert will be luckier charms?

Omm-lay du Frrromage!/Brunch, Part 2!

I'm pretty sure all of you know how to make an omelette and churn out smoothies.

Still, omelettes are something I manage to routinely screw up. I always use lesser oil than I'm supposed to, or my pan isn't non-sticky enough or the high heat makes fried-rice eggs out of them. Sometimes they brown up too much, sometimes they aren't cooked enough for me to flip/fold over.

Mum says I'm just picky.

However, as I'm sure all of you have been taught by experience and know how to fry a couple of eggs, so I'll post my modified Tortilla de Patatas recipe. You need atleast 6 eggs to make that fluffy, potato-Spanish omelette.Since nobody at the household are big fans of the egg/potato combination, I use just 2 eggs and make a thin crepe-like omelette. What's not to like? Eggs, good. Potatoes, good. Bread, gooood. Yes, I grew up watching Friends.

And for as for the smoothie, it isn't weekend brunch, more like a weekday breakfast because it takes approximately two minutes to make and ten minutes to consume. If you want to take it easy on your day off, make this, drink it up and go out and get overpriced coffee and buttery croissants later.

Easy Fruit Smoothie:

Recipe Source: ME. As in Rabia.

Ingredients:

4 plump strawberries, hulled and halved.
1 banana, frozen overnight, cut into chunks.
1/3 cup yogurt (low-fat is fine)
1/3 cup cold milk (low fat is fine)
1/3 cup granola/muesli
Ice cubes, for serving.

Method:

Pulse/Blitz all of the ingredients in the food processor/mixie.

The granola had berries and nuts in it! Yum.

I freeze the banana, so I can use it in lieu of ice cubes that will water down my smoothie in an unpleasant manner. Baggry's Fruit N Fibre muesli is what I used (for the extra strawberry flavour), but any granola with a teensy bit of brown/raw sugar should do.

You can play with the combinations. Mango in place of strawberries, with a little elaichi, in the summer, maybe. Blueberries if you have access to fresh berries. Dates and bananas. Mmm. Flavoured yogurt, if added sugar is kosher to you. Too many choices, not enough Weight Watchers points.

I sincerely hope you know I'm kidding.

The mint-failed attempt at Chef-ing it. Never you mind.

Take advantage of seasonal produce, and since we've got strawberries flooding the market at Madras, I used them. You can pick up a box at Rs. 55 at Mint (sowcarpet) and similar neighbourhoods or at the more high-end greengrocers' for Rs. 100.

Spanish omelette a la Rabia:

Recipe Source: If it turns out good, it's mine. Lol. Mine, either way.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
5 thin slices of uncooked potato.
1/2 cup chopped bell-pepper (green, orange, red, yellow)
1/4 cup chopped onion
Salt & Pepper, to taste.
1 tbsp olive oil.
A matchbox-sized cube of feta/2 tbsps of grated Parmesan.

Method:

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper until nice and frothy.

Heat a small, non-stick saucepan on medium-high. Add the oil.

When hot, drop in the potato. Let it sizzle around for a while on low heat until it becomes fork-tender. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Try one of the slices. If you feel it's done, it's done.

Take the slices out and saute the onion. When pinkish, throw in the peppers, and saute until just heated through. Sprinkle some more salt and pepper. Soggy peppers do not a good omelette make.

Strategically place the potato slices around the pan, onion, peppers and all. Douse it all with the egg mix. Add a few drops of olive oil if you deem it necessary.

When the omelette holds it shape, sprinkle the cheese. Fold over, if you like runny eggs or flip and cook the other side if you like your eggs fully cooked.

Serve garnished with fresh/dried herbs. I use dried parsley, extra pepper and freshly chopped coriander/cilantro.

And pick up some good bread to go with it, won't you? I bought this fabulous multi-seeded bread at Nilgris; a whole-wheat bread with grains of rye, sprinkled generously with pumpkin seeds. I toast it for a tiny bit, and serve it hot with the omelette.

Another good way to ruin the posh-ness of it all would be squirt a little ketchup when nobody is watching. Oh, come on. It's Sunday. Rules are for wusses and weekdays.