Crepes/Breakfast in bed.

Even if you've been reading the blog for only a couple of weeks now, or if you have the pleasure of knowing me in real life (modesty, begone!), you know I'm a big fan of food Breakfast.

However, on weekdays, even managing to throw down a Nature Valley bar (um, no) and a glass of milk (plain milk=hell, NO) is a luxury and a half. And nobody wakes up in time for breakfast on weekends. So what is the point of all these breakfast recipes, you might ask.

I'll tell you.
If you've ever been stone-broke, and you're obligated/bullied/coerced into giving someone a surprise, nothing beats Breakfast in Bed^(Trademarked). There's something decadent about waking up to a steaming mug of English Breakfast, Spanish omelettes and a stack of pancakes drenched in syrup. With a random roadside flower to top it all off.

Whether it's for the cousin who begs you for "fancy breakfast" in exchange for unlimited access to her Body Shop's Coconut Lip Butter. Or for the mum who gets off kitchen duty for just one day in the week. Especially if you're a guy, cooking for a girl (note: even if you can't cook very well, throw in some chocolate and it'll go from unedible to amazing).

Today, you can see how I made traditional French crepes. You will need a crepe pan for this, but you can totally make it in a saucepan/dosa tawa that isn't totally flat.

Use these crepes as blank templates, like you would with bread or brownies. Spread them with Nutella, serve with whipping cream, honey, whatever suits the pampered-person-of-the-day's fancy. You can even use them as savoury crepes, filling them with cheddar, sausages or even for Asian seafood rolls!

But. They taste pretty great the French way, hot off the griddle with a squirt of lemon juice and a dusting of powdered sugar. Yum.

Believe in breakfast. Eat it. I do, since it's the closest I get to being a champion of any sort.

French Crepes:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
zest of half a lemon/orange
1 tablespoon butter (melted)
Method:

Mix everything in a bowl.

Chubby two-year-old hands are best for mixing.

Do not overbeat, as you'll get gluggy crepes.

Heat a crepe/non-stick pan over medium. Add a pat of butter.

Spread it around with a tissue.

Pour in 1/4 cup of the crepe batter.

Immediately swirl so that the batter spreads over the entire circumference of the pan.

Cook for around 2 minutes.

Add some butter along the edges so it'll be easy to flip it.

Flip it over (I used a spatula). Cook for another minute.

Tip it onto the serving plate.

If you're adding any type of filling, don't flip it.

Instead add in the filling on the uncooked side and fold the cooked sides over the filling.

Use whatever is fresh and in season.

Mahableshwar strawberries and Malta oranges are yummy.

Simply chop up a cup of strawberries and soak them in 2 tbsps orange juice and 1 tbsp white sugar.

Serve with greek yogurt, cream cheese or whipped cream. Sweetened, of course.

Add bananas, peanut butter, honey, whatever your tastebuds adore.

Maintain a minute of mournful silence (for the absence of Nutella. Goshdarnit) and dig in!

Bon appetit, mes amours!

"Mmm. Food." tries Vegan!

I'm a big believer in chocolate and butter and sugar. That's how the world goes around.

But my favourite type of thing to eat? Grilled chicken breast on top of a hearty fattoush salad. Broiled teppanyaki-type fish with wilted greens and rice. Nutella.

I absolutely love light, healthy food, cooked with the freshest of ingredients and minimal cooking techniques. I abstain from posting these from the blog, because my Stats-meter always shows heavy leanings toward Falooda and Chocolate Biscuit Cake.

Even then, if the dish is good enough, I will break my own rules and post it for the world to see. Case in point: Oven Roasted Chickpeas, Muhammara and Garden Pesto Pasta.

My family is another whole story... they don't go a day without eating poultry, meat, fish or worst-case scenario, eggs. And I go rogue. I make Vegan food.

You heard me. Vegan. No meat. No eggs. No dairy. No honey, even!

The sister-in-law said even "poor" people didn't eat this way... and that she wasn't brought up eating "this type of food". The brother said he was 99.99% sure that it was unlawful to shun all that God made rightful (Muslim men love bringing up religion when it suits them). On a side note, annoyingly-ignorant match made in heaven. I told them that I wouldn't be offended if they didn't taste, and that I'd make enough only for me and my health-freak of a mother.

So for today, I give you a savoury dish and a dessert... the tiniest steps you can take into Vegan-dom. There are plenty of amazing, exclusively Vegan food blogs like Chocolate-Covered Katie (from where both recipes du jour have been adapted from) and Oh She Glows. However, if you're hesitant about starting with Chia seeds and Virgin coconut oil, these two dishes could be your happy crutches into the land of all things Vegan.

The first is my excuse for Nutella. I'm a Nutella-holic. I make my own from peanuts. I buy bottles of the stuff from a whole-sale retailer. No lie.

The second is an Italian spin on Hummus. Pizza hummus! I had to add Parmesan cheese and de-Veganise it, but that's just me.

Chocolate-Banana-Peanut butter fudge:

Ingredients:

2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp coconut butter (can substitute with extra peanut butter)
80 g over-ripe banana
a pinch of salt

Method:

If you want to make your own coconut butter, just whiz around 3 tbsp of freshly grated coconut in the mixie/food processor until it forms a smooth buttery/chutney-like mix.

Add the peanut butter, salt and cocoa powder, and blend some more.

Add in the overripe banana, and give it a final blitz.

Taste the mix, to see if you'd like a teensy bit of brown or white sugar.

Pour it out into a bowl and freeze until firm. You can also refrigerate and eat it like frosting/Nutella.

Pizza Hummus:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup garbanzo beans, drained (chickpeas that have been soaked and pressure-cooked)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (sub with nutritional yeast to keep it Vegan)
1 cup cherry tomatoes (or regular)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 an onion (un-chopped)
1/4 tsp dried basil
2 tsps tomato paste/ketchup
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Microwave or boil the tomatoes until the skin bursts.

 If you're microwaving, poking all over with a fork prevents them from splattering out.

In a medium sauce, heat the olive oil. Add the peeled, deseeded tomatoes, half an onion (unchopped) and the garlic with some fresh basil (if available).

Let it stew on medium heat for around 15 minutes.

Once this has cooled down, remove the onion. Blitz the rest of it in a mixie/food processor, along with the ketchup. Add in the chickpeas/garbanzo and blend will until no chunks remain.

Add in the dried basil and the cheese and give one final whirl. Taste it.

Add more olive oil for richness, extra salt, pepper and ketchup to taste. You might need more of the "pizza sauce" if the consistency isn't that of hummus.

Serve with crackers or veggie sticks.

My sister-in-law, the veggie-hater, ate the whole bowl, albeit with plenty of extra shaved parmesan.

My brother nearly cut his hands trying to get the last bits of the Chocolate-PB fudge out of the mixie cup.

I'd be more smug about the whole thing if they had bothered to save me some.

Wholewheat Orange Ricotta Scones/Dessert for Breakfast!

I'm a dessert snob. Dessert has to be dessert. Seriously.

I'm not saying that I need a pint of expensive gelato with visible vanilla bean flecks. A sliver of cheesecake, a spoonful (or ten) of Nutella, honey-swirled Greek yogurt: qualifies for dessert. Half an apple isn't. Not even if you sprinkle cinnamon on it.

For the longest time, the only healthy component in any of my desserts happened to be Oats. In cookies, crumble, fudge... the other components being only butter, sugar and maida (AP flour). And chocolate.
The sad part being, this wasn't the best scenario in a household where the prime eaters are a diabetic-with-a-sweet-tooth-and-no-self-control (Dad) and the-girl-who-had-a-root-canal-at-the-age-of-five (Sums).

Dad has his own definition of dessert as well. Cinnamon rolls made with wholewheat flour, Phirni made with Splenda and Slim milk, he does not deign to eat. Trust me, I've tried. As for Sumi, she adds extra butter when I'm not looking. Who are these people?

So when I came across another one of those "healthy dessert" recipes, I didn't ever think it'd make the cut/blog. I made it from milk that had curdled in the cruel Madras heat! How can a recipe from odds-and-ends taste remotely good, right?

Wrong.

These Orange Ricotta scones are fantastic. Crisp like a biscuit on the outside and light-fluffy-airy on the inside.

They can be manipulated with whole-wheat flour and sugar-substitutes; nobody would know the difference. I'd suggest that the sugar that you use for sprinkling over the scones, pre-baking, is either raw/demerara/turbinado or the coarse/granulated sugar that is given out by the Tamilnadu Government's Ration-kadai. It'll add a nice bit of crunch and luxurious sweetness to a simple breakfast pastry.

Everybody (including Dad, whose version was a leetle bit toned down) enjoyed it. Even Sumi ate a couple... she recommends you dunk it in condensed milk or honey or both.

One more thing I'd have to insist on is you make them and eat them instantly. These do not keep (keep well, at least). I always freeze my shaped scone dough in Ziploc bags, so I can take out and bake it at my wish and whimsy. It's almost a party trick, when you make a smashing smoothie out of frozen, over-ripe bananas and a plateful of freshly baked Chocolate-chip cookies and present it to a guest within five minutes of their unexpected arrival. So don't let anybody tell you it's weird to stock your deep freezer.

We'll get to making these scones now? I've liberally adapted the recipe from this site, subbing out all the "fancy" ingredients for healthier options and methods suited to the Indian kitchen. They're easy-peasy, but also equally easy-peasy to go wrong. After many attempts, I'm leaking out the secret on these babies. Pay attention, my lovelies.

Wholewheat Orange Ricotta scones:

Ingredients:

1 cup wholewheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
zest of half an orange
3/4 cup fresh chenna (paneer) or whole ricotta cheese
1/4 cup butter (cold)
1/2 cup milk + 1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp orange juice
1/4 tsp vanilla essence

For sprinkling
1 egg, lightly beaten (I skipped this)
1 tbsp raw/demerara/turbinado sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade, 400 degrees Farenheit. Line a baking tray with greased foil or baking paper.

In a bowl, rub the orange zest into the sugar, releasing all the flavour and colour into it. Add into it the white flour, wholewheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking powder and salt. Give it a stir and set aside.

Use a grater/microplaner to grate the cold butter into the flour mix. Combine the flour and the butter (use your sterilised thumb and fingers!) until the mixture resembles coarse sand. There should be a few clumps.

Combine the milk and paneer(curdled milk)/ricotta.

For a richer scone, use whole milk or half-and-half!

Add the milk mix to the scone dough and combine with fingers until it is a granular mix.

Add in the vanilla and orange juice and stir gently.

Turn the dough out onto a clean workspace that has already been dusted with flour. Pat the dough into a circle.

Don't pummel it too much, or the pastry will be gummy.

Cut it into 8 triangles. You can flash-freeze and store these in an airtight freezer bag/box for a few weeks.

If you're making them right away:

Brush the tops of the individual scones with the beaten egg or milk (I used milk). Sprinkle the sugar over it.

Bake for around 15-20 minutes, until the craggy exterior is all golden brown.

Eat hot! And you know what else is better than Dessert? Dessert for breakfast!

With a mug of Cafe au Lait and the Sunday tabloids. It's my version of living the high life.

The Doner Kebab/Chicken Shawarma Experiment Turned Lovechild.

How did I survive before Chicken Shawarma finally made it to Chennai?

Incidentally, how did I survive before Sub of The Day existed? Or Subway? I know they've pulled the offer; and it's thoroughly depressing.

Everything comes late to Madras, thanks to honcho-types firmly believing in the penny-pinching cliche of Tamilians. Cliche is not uncalled for, since Mum nearly goes into Kussmaul's breathing when she finds out how much fancy things like Callebaut gelato or a pint of Haagen-Dazs costs; and I always tell her only half of what it actually did.

What I meant by things coming late: KFC, Mocha, Costa, Starbucks and the like. Extremely annoying, except maybe when I have to pour/squeeze/pull/push/shimmy/wriggle into skinny jeans.

Along the way, I've learned to make most of the things these places have to offer. Breaded Chicken (way better than KFC's), Momofuku's Crack Pie (I've no clue about the original, but it'll be interesting to find out) and Magnolia Bakery's Cupcakes (Ditto).
Chicken Shawarma, I learnt to make quite recently. I'm sure you think there is no reason for you to attempt these, when there's a stall within 200 metres of your home.

I'd like to insist (very politely) that you try. You can control the spice mix, the moistness of the chicken, the crispness of the potato wedges, the fluffiness of the pita and instead of a gloopy mayonnaise, you can make your own garlic-scented tahini and yogurt sauce. Instead of a garden variety chicken-and-mayo roll (which at Rs. 50, is still ah-mazing). And it's supremely easy and takes up only one bowl (each).

This is one of the dishes that redeemed my savoury-cooking skills at home. I had to search high and low for the recipes of each of the components, and I am in love with all of them. The chicken part is from a Dubai-based site, so that comes with a Bonafide attestation. I added some garlicky fries, some tahini and shawarma pickles, because I'm a big believer of foodgasms.

I'm also going to try something new. I'll put up all the pictures and basic recipe details first, and a detailed and uninterrupted recipe below. Let me know if you like it!

Start off with the best spices you can find.

Pound the elaichi/cardamom pods, grind the cinnamon sticks, make your garam masala, whatever it takes.

Taste the marinade before the meat goes in and adjust, if necessary!

Marinate the chicken for at least an hour. Cover with cling film or some random lid and pop it into the refrigerator, if you live in a hot place like Madras!

Cook the chicken in all of the marinade over low heat, breaking it up as you go.

For the fries:

Refer to this post. And try parboiling, instead of microwaving... it makes a world of difference.

For the tahini-yogurt sauce:

Make a not pretty (but deelishus) batch of tahini.

Add lemon juice, salt and yogurt, playing by tongue and eye.

Use thick, preferably hung or Greek yogurt, for this sauce. You can make a regular yogurt sauce.

For the pita:

Make wholewheat pitas or buy the fluffiest, grainiest piece of pita bread in your city.

For the shawarma pickles:

Recipe coming soon! I don't give everything away on the first date. You can skip this step and add a couple of more drops of Tabasco, to spice it up.

Assembling these babies:

Get all of you stuff on one table and gather the people around it.

Slick the tahina-sauce on the pita.

Add chunks of cooked chicken.

Add the lettuce, pomegranate seeds, onions, tomatoes, shawama pickles and fries.

Splash on some tabasco, wrap it up and CHARGE!

Doner kebab/Chicken Shawarma Lovechild:

(marinade recipe from Sips and Spoonfuls)Ingredients:

For the chicken shawarma marinade:

500 gms boneless chicken, cut into 1 inch cubes

2 tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup thick yogurt

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp cardamom pod powder

1 tsp cinnamon powder

Salt to taste

½ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp garam masala

3 tsps ginger-garlic paste

For the tahini-yogurt sauce:

1/2 cup white sesame seeds
3 tbsps Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Greek/hung/full-fat yogurt
2 plump cloves of garlic
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:

1 batch of Garlicky baked fries
8 wholewheat pita bread (1 batch of this recipe)
1 cup iceberg lettuce, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup cucumber, chopped
1 cup tomato, chopped
Pomegranate seeds.
Shawarma pickles.
Chopped coriander and mint leaves-plenty.
Tabasco, as needed.

Method:

For the chicken:

Marinate the chicken pieces in the marinade ingredients for at least an hour.

In a non-stick pan (no need to grease), over medium-low heat, cook the chicken for about 10 minutes. The marinade should have dried and the chicken should be moist and tender. Break up the chicken as it cooks.

Keep aside.

For the tahina sauce:

Roast the sesame seeds over low heat until it turns a pale shade of brown and pops. Take it off the pan in which it is heated, or it will continue to cook in the residual heat and burn.

Once cooled, grind the seeds to paste in a mixie/food processor. Add in the garlic, salt, olive oil, lemon juice and blitz until a nice paste is formed.

Add in the yogurt, and adjust the salt as per taste.

To assemble:

Heat the pita over a non-greased tawa for around 10 seconds on both sides, on medium heat.

Spread the tahina sauce on it.

Add the chicken, fries, pickles, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pomegranate, herbs, tabasco as per each diner's choice.

Serve immediately.

Store each of the components separately, closed in the refrigerator.

I didn't bother with that, because there was enough left over for one tiny roll.

A midnight-snack-portion roll. As my own personal toast to the amazing Nigella Lawson. Cheers!