SCRAMBLED EGGS

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said."

― A.A. Milne

 

 

Enough with the truffles, the meringues and the layer cakes. It's time this blog got back to basics. I might have gotten carried away with the fancier, fluffier recipes but I havn't forgotten the principles this blog was founded on. Life, love and the pursuit of happiness. Maybe not. But reluctant chefs don't despair! This is a perfect first for people to start with in a kitchen.

 

Also, I love eggs, they're the simplest thing to work with and if you know your way around eggs there's no culinary mountain you can't climb. I may be getting carried away again. I'm going to stop.

 

 Serves 4 - 5

 

What you’ll need:

6 eggs

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp butter

1 chopped spring onion

How to:

1. Beat the eggs with the salt and pepper. Put a couple of tablespoons aside.

2. Heat a frying pan, add butter and swirl till the pan is coated.

3. Add the eggs to the melted butter and spring onion - let it sit till you see the eggs firming up.

4. Swirl the eggs around every time they start to settle for 3 to 5 minutes.

5. Add the remaining egg mixture and stir till it stops looking wet.

Note: This is some fancy technique that some fancy chef came up with to make sure that you don't totally dry out the eggs and end up with sawdust instead of scrambled eggs. I've clearly forgotten the name of both the technique and the chef so this does not seem as impressive as it should have.

6. Remove from the heat and season with more salt and pepper if you think you need it.



 

 

COFFEE MUFFINS WITH BROWN BUTTER STREUDEL

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it."

― W.C. Fields

 

 

 After the super sugary Love Buns we're going to give our haywire glucose levels a rest with these perfect-for-breakfast Coffee Muffins. I love the strong coffee flavour but it's the crispy, fragrant brown butter struedel that I find exceptional.

Introduction to Brown Butter

I've become a faithful follower of the brown butter bandwagon. As you would expect the French with their unerring ability to indentify simple, beautiful, indulgent things are founding members of this fan club going ahead and giving it a fancy name Buerre Noisette as they tend to. And when you find a good thing why limit yourself? Buerre Noisette is applied to both sweet and savoury productions in French cooking - from pastry to pastas.

For all this fanciness there isn't really much to the exercise. Instead of chucking butter into the microwave to soften as you might ordinarily, all you do differently is pop it on to a stove top on a low flame. The butter will foam and start to separate because the heat is splitting the butter into its component parts of milk solids and fat. In a couple of minutes you'll see brown flecks start to sediment at the bottom of the pan. The milk solids are burning faster than the fat and getting toasted brown. The butter will go from golden yellow to golden tan to finally a nutty delicious smelling brown which is the basis of the name Buerre Noisette, literally translating to hazelnut butter, a reference to the flavour and colour of the sauce.

The only real hitch is you could burn the butter but if you keep the flame low and a hawk eye on your pan you should be fine. Don't get distracted by the amazing nutty aroma filling your kitchen making you lightheaded, once the butter has nicely browned take the pan off the stove and continue with your recipe. A lot of people seem to prefer using unsalted butter for this but it's really painful for me to hunt down unsalted butter and I just use the salted stuff for everything and I can't say I've had any trouble with it.

The magic of brown butter is its distinct, deeper flavour - use it instead of ordinary butter in other recipes also to kick up the flavour.

This is my hideous muffin tray but it's been around for years and does it's job well so I won't apologize for its derelict state.

Makes 12

Adapted from Joy the Baker
 

What you’ll need:

 

For the muffin
 

 2 ¼ cups flour

1 ¾ cup butter

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

2 ¼ tsp baking powder

2 tbsp coffee powder mixed in with 3 tbsp hot water

 

For the topping
 

3 tbsp butter (cold)

½ cup flour

3 ½ tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

How to:
 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter up your muffin tray or line with cupcake liners and set aside.
 

2. Melt the butter for the muffins in a pan on a not very high flame. It’ll first melt and then slowly start to brown (at which point it is going to start smelling amazing!). Let the butter brown till you see little brown bits in your pan and then remove from heat.

 

Note: Keep an eye on your pan to make sure the butter doesn’t burn!
 

3. In a bowl whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla. Add the (slightly cooled but still liquid) butter and whisk some more. Add the milk.
 

4. In another bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix the egg mixture and whisk well.
 

5. Divide half the batter in the muffin slots. Stir the coffee mix into the remaining batter. Now divide the rest of the batter between the muffin cups.
 

6. For the topping mix together all the ingredients with your fingers till it’s nice crumbly. Top your muffins with this.

 

7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (just start checking on the muffins from 15 minutes up). Cool them before serving.

 

 Note: These are muffins not cupcakes so serve warm – you can even split them and serve with a pat of butter and a cup of coffee.

 



 

BREAKFAST BANANA LOAF

“Baking is like washing--the results are equally temporary.”  ― Patricia Briggs

A moist, spicy, nutty bread to uplift the gloomiest winter breakfast. If you don't have a loaf tin you can always bake it as a cake and cut out slabs in the sizes you want. Try to use overripe bananas, yes the ones with the black spots and smudgy bits (not completely decomposed though obviously). Bananas that have seen better days will bake beautifully and add a lot of sweetness to your batter.  

 

 

Serves 6

 

What you’ll need:

 

3 bananas (preferably overripe)

60 ml vegetable oil

60 ml softened butter

160 gm sugar

3 eggs

225 gm flour

100 gm raisins

100 gm almonds/walnuts

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

½ tsp salt

 

How to:

 

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and grease 2 loaf tins (or one medium sized baking dish).

 

2. Mash the banana and oil together and put aside.

 

3. In a separate bowl, cream the sugar and butter till the mixture turns pale and fluffy. This might take some time so keep at it. Much easier with an electric whisk but it’s possible even by hand.

 

4. Beat the eggs into the sugar mixture, one by one. Then add your banana mush and stir gently.

 

5. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, spices and salt. I usually sift the flour mixture a couple of times to try to build as much air into it as I can.

 

6. Add flour mix to banana mush and mix everything together. Add the raisins and nuts and fold together again.

 

7. Spoon batter into loaf tins and bake for about 30 mins or till your inserted toothpick/knife/chopstick comes out clean. Let cool. Unmould.

 

8. I’d say warm them up a little every time you’re going to serve but they’re going to taste amazing anyway.

 

 

 

BREAKFAST PIZZA

“Those pizzas I ate were for medicinal purposes.” ― Amy Neftzger

Happy New Year! May our new year be as simple, satisfying and stress free as this breakfast pizza recipe. 

 

Serves 2

What you’ll need:

Pre-baked pizza base

4 tbsp tomato puree

½ cup cheese (grated)

½ cup spinach (washed and chopped)

1 egg

1 ½ tbsp oregano

1 ½ tsp red chilli powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Sundried tomatoes (optional)

 

How to:
 

1. Pop your pizza base on to your baking tray and spoon on the tomato puree evenly.

 

2. Sprinkle a layer of cheese and follow with a layer of chopped spinach in a sort of nest shape (leave a hole in the middle, genius).

3. Break an egg into abovementioned hole. Season wildly with oregano, salt, pepper, chilli and whatever else floats your boat. I managed to find a bottle of sundried tomatoes under my stove and plunked some of those on as well.

 

4. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or till egg on top is cooked. Sprinkle some more cheese and serve immediately!

 

OATMEAL BANANA SMOOTHIE

Everything we do is a choice. Oatmeal or cereal. Highway or side streets. Kiss her or keep her. - Ned from Pushing Daisies (Possibly my favourite TV show ever)

I often miss breakfast and I know that's a stupid thing to do. Sleeping for 5 more minutes, trying to find the back of a pair of earrings I want to wear that day and sheer laziness keep getting in the way though. This smoothie is really easy, tastes great and will fill you right up if you don't get the chance to sit down to breakfast.

What you’ll need:

2 bananas

½ cup instant oatmeal
1/3 cup yoghurt
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp honey

How to:

1. Pour all ingredients into blender. Blend.

2. Drink.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: THE ALL AMERICAN DINER

For when only breakfast will do.

 

 

LOOKS LIKE

 

Many online reviewers have talked about the charming décor of the All American Diner but to be perfectly honest to me it looks Minnie Mouse went wild in a diner. Bright red, plastic booths and Betty Boop posters can only be Minnie’s idea of an authentic diner experience. I’m not saying I don’t like it, it's a sweet, cheerful space but if you told me you find it cloying, I wouldn’t disagree. I imagine kids love the place.

One thing that really bothers me about the décor is the innumerable, incongruent, disorienting tin plate ads on the walls. Selling everything from knives to cars, they’re all over every wall. I would have thought the place much prettier if they just got rid of, about 25 to 40 of them.

 

TASTES LIKE

 The Diner has a pretty extensive menu but really the only thing worth eating on there is the breakfast food. And the breakfast food is good.

I alternate between the sausages and eggs or the bacon and eggs (2 eggs, your choice of breakfast bread, hash browns and 3 slices of bacon or pork/chicken sausages) and I’m never disappointed. The hot dogs, pancakes and milk shakes also all work.

Don’t bother with the miscellaneous lunch and dinner plates, any non-breakfast food you would get at the Diner would probably be better someplace else. Ditto for the burgers, the Chilli Bean Burger was just the most insipid, dilute attempt at a vegetarian burger and the Spicy Cheese Toast was ordinary masala toast served cold.

 

FEELS LIKE

 

The service really isn’t great. There’s not much more to say about it. They forget orders, they take too long, they aren’t particularly knowledgeable about the menu and pretty much all you can expect is for them to gaze at you blankly. Go when you’re feeling patient. Also check your bill, they get their numbers wrong quite often.

More Reading:

I didn’t find any very interesting review to share but here’s their official site if you want to take a look:

http://www.habitatworld.com/diner.php

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Should you go? A reliable option when you want breakfast for breakfast, lunch or dinner

Vegetarian Options – Available

Liquor license – Yes

Address – India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi

Phone – 011 41220000

 

ROSEMARY, CHEESE AND HAM OMELET

Guest Post by Vrinda Singh Oberoi!

 

Let’s start the week with a recipe for the most important meal of the day.  I love eating omelets but I hate when they end up hard and flat. Here is my very own foolproof rendition of a fluffy rosemary, cheese, mushroom and ham omelet recipe. Feel free to replace the stuffing or rosemary with any combination of ingredients you prefer. Hope you enjoy it!

What You’ll Need:

2 Eggs

A generous quantity of Cheese (grated)

2 -3 Button mushrooms (finely chopped)

Handful of Salami or Ham (finely chopped)

Rosemary to taste

Salt to taste

Olive oil

How to: 

1. Probably the most important (maybe the only important) and slightly tough thing about the omelet making process is the splitting of the egg into two bowls. Separate the egg white and the yolk and put them in different bowls.  

Note: In case you find it hard to separate the eggs, just break a tiny hole into the shell of the egg instead of doing the whole splitting and juggling of the egg yolk thing. This is much easier though it might take half a minute longer.

2. Beat the white of the egg till its almost stiff (enough to make soft speaks). Then beat the yolks in the other bowl.

Note: I prefer beating it by hand though that takes a little bit of time but electronically run beaters work just fine.

3. Once the eggs are beaten drizzle some olive oil in a non stick frying pan which has been sitting on the stove on low flame and is nice and warm.

4. Pour the beaten egg whites into the frying pan (let it settle for about 5 seconds) and then pour the egg yolks over the whites.

Note: You can choose to skip the yolks completely if you’re watching your cholesterol levels.

5. While the center is still uncooked add the grated cheese, mushrooms, salami/ ham, rosemary, salt and any damned seasoning you please.

Note: I love smoked salami and honey glazed ham so always end up using these more than any other type of cold cuts but you don’t need to limit your topping to these  - you can really play around with what you would like in your omelet.

 

6. Fold the omelet from both the sides once the base is golden and lift gently and turn over.

7. Once the inside of the omelet looks like its firm enough (should take about 2-3 minutes) gently lift the omelet and place on serving plate.

8. Serve hot with bread.

 

APPLE CORNFLAKE CUPS

“You don't get mood swings from eating cornflakes”  ― O.J. Simpson, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer

This dessert is so easy it's funny. No seriously, half way through putting it together I was giggling to myself.

It's a wonderful combination of taste, crunch and resourceful ingredient matching. Shouldn't (I will go so far as to say CAN'T) take you more than 15 minutes to put together. By dessert standards this is pretty much as low calorie as it's going to get without lying to yourself.

Sometimes I find a recipe I want to hit you on the head with and force you to make. This is one of those.

Serves about 6

Adapted from Good Food Magazine

 

 

What you’ll need:

4 apples

1 cup corn flakes

4 tbsp butter

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 carton fresh cream (200 ml)

2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

3 tbsp honey

How to:

1. Peel and then chop the apples into 1 inch cubes.

2. Put the apple, sugar and a little bit of water in a pan and heat. Cook for about 10 minutes till the apple is soft and cooked. Divide this up between 4 bowls.

3. Pop the honey and butter in a bowl. Heat till the butter is melted. Mix.

4. Tumble the cornflakes into the honey butter mix and toss till all the cornflakes are coated.

Note: Do this right before you’re going to serve the dessert to make sure your cornflakes don’t get soggy.

5. In a separate bowl whip the cream and cinnamon till the cream is a little stiff. Store in fridge till assembling the dessert.

Note: You can skip the cinnamon but I can’t bring myself to make an apple dessert without cinnamon in it. Some flavours are meant to be together.

6. For assembly take the tumblers with the apple chunks. Pour cinnamon cream. Top with honey butter cornflakes.

 



The return of Hungry Brother =)

 

LEKHA'S BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

Writing a food blog didn't turn out to be as glamourous as I initially imagined it would be. Actually if there is one lesson I've learnt in life it is nothing is as glamourous as I initially imagined it would be. So instead of breezing through champagne lunches where I sample caviar I spend most of my spare time trolling for recipes on the internet. Every day I read many,many recipes which span from so simple as to be ridiculous (hot chocolate = melt chocolate and add milk) to the completely absurd (make chips out of carrots - I tried it doesn't work. Don't bother with eggplant either).

I'm not complaining but it's wonderful sometimes to have a friend forward a recipe! This way I know it works and I get to write about friends which is always happy!

Thanks so much for sending me this recipe Lekha! Also everyone please go check out the amazing writing Lekha and Danish have been putting up at http://reviewerswithoutborders.blogspot.in/. (The whole mosaic format is so sexy by the way - you must tell me how you do that)...

Find below the wonderful Srilekha Sridhar's breakfast of champions - the way I made mine looks like crud but it tastes amazing and is so simple that you have no excuse not to try it..

 

I've dripped more jam on top of mine but I understand normal humans don't consume so much sugar

What you'll need:

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 slices bread

Sandwich filling (cream cheese, jam, whatever)

1 tbsp milk

Pinch of salt

Lemon juice

Butter

Lekha:

I love breakfast foods for dinner, so I thought you might enjoy my favourite dinnerfast recipe: it's basically a french toast, but you toast a whole sandwich instead of a single slice. I don't know how popular this is, I discovered it on a Nigella website. Her version was all fancied up with berry compote marinaded in balsamic vinegar and emu feathers and whatnot, mine's a little more lowbrow:

 

1. Grab two slices of stale bread and slather them in peanut butter, cream cheese, normal cheese spread, marmalade or literally any sandwich filling and make a sandwich.

 

You can cut off the crust, but I don't because I love how french toasted crust tastes!

 

2. Whisk an egg, 1 tbsp milk, half tsp vanilla essence and a pinch of salt together. If you are using a "salty" filling like peanut butter or cream cheese, you can afford to add a bit of sugar to your egg mixture but skip that if you are going with a sweet filling.

 

Otherwise it can get cloyingly sweet!

 

3. Soak both sides of the sandwich in the egg and allow it to soak in the eggy goodness for about 15 seconds per side.

 

4. Cook in butter on a skillet till golden brown.

 

BAM it's done! All under 15 minutes and that's if you're slow!

 

Pro-tip: A squeeze of lemon juice on french toast does miraculous things!

 

NO COOK OATS

This isn't so much a recipe as an idea. It's a great breakfast idea (I eat it everyday!), you can put it together with whatever you have in the kitchen and is super healthy!

Recipe from my dad

 

What you’ll need:

Instant Oatmeal

Milk or Yoghurt

Fruit Juice (I’ve tried apple and mixed fruit)

Chopped up dried fruits

Chopped up fresh fruit

Honey (optional)

How to:  

1. Pop the oatmeal in a bowl and add enough juice to cover it. Soak overnight.  

2. Stir in as much milk or yoghurt as you’d like and then top with chopped up dried fruits and/or fresh fruits as you like. If you want it sweeter you can add brown sugar or honey.

Eat chilled.

Foodnotes:

You can use any juice but I’m not too sure of more citrus-y fruit because I wonder if it may curdle the milk.

EGG IN A BREAD CUP

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said."              

 A.A. Milne

Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day and I often eat breakfast food for lunch, dinner or just as a snack. These are surprisingly easy to make, adorable and need just a glass of orange juice on the side to be the perfect start to a day.

 

Makes 6 cups

Recipe and photo from Martha Stewart

What you’ll need (for 6 cups):

8 slices bread (white or brown as your conscience permits)

6 bacon slices (or more if your conscience permits)

6 eggs

Unsalted butter

Salt

Pepper

How to get your breakfast in a cup:

 1. Preheat your oven to 185° Celsius.

2. Cut the corners of the slices of the bread so you have an almost circle. This doesn’t need to be perfect so don’t stress! Cut in half and flatten the semi-circles of bread with a rolling pin.

3. Pull out your grease paint brush and grease the sides of a cupcake muffin with some melted unsalted butter.

 4. Line each muffin cup with the flattened slices of bread to form a cup. Make sure the bread sticks out above the level of the muffin cups. Use extra bread to patch up any holes in your bread cup. Brush down the whole cup with some butter.

5. Fry up your bacon for about 4 minutes, flipping once. Don’t cook the bacon all the way through because it’s going to cook some more when you put it in the oven.

6. Place a strip of bacon at the base of each bread cup and crack an egg into each cup.

7. Sprinkle salt and pepper on to each cup and place in oven for 20 – 25 minutes till eggs are firm. To un-mould your bread cup, slide a knife around the edge and scoop out.

 Foodnotes:

 Bacon fan? I know I am! Go ahead and put in more than one slice, the cup will hold together.