Food glorious food!
I’m a big fan of eggs, especially for breakfast. Inspired by the photos to laden Spanish tortillas, there’s great satisfaction in having a nice frittata, loaded with potatoes, cheese and meat. baked to a crispy cheese perfection, this makes a great meal, be it brunch, lunch or even dinner.
I love avocados. I can’t get enough of their delicate nuttiness. And I keep trying to come up with different combinations for using this wonderful ingredient.
This latest recipe is so simple, I’m not sure I should even call it a ‘recipe’. Fry up a couple of rashers of streaky bacon (I prefer unsmoked), slice up and avocado and poach an egg (make sure the yolk is still molten). Arrange the ingredients on your plate and sprinkle with sea salt and togarashi (a Japanese spice powder). That’s it!
This is a great and tasty snack and so easy to make too. Pan-fry some tinned sardines in a little bit of their own oil, with a generous helping of sriracha powder (or sauce) – as much as you can handle. Lay them on some toasted sourdough and drizzle with olive oil. Garnish with some chopped chives (if you have some, I didn’t). And serve.
You should also play around with this, make it your own. Substitute sriracha with any other spicy masala mix. Use any other toasted bread, seeded, brown, multigrain, whatever takes your fancy. Butter the toast if you don’t have good quality olive oil to hand. Or do both. Add some roughly mashed avocado or finely chopped onions. Open sandwiches rule and the world’s your playground!
Another edition of the Avocado Breakfast. This wonderful ingredient can be used with so many others, the combinations are endless.
Avocado for breakfast is a continued passion for me. The creamy nuttiness of soft, ripe avocados is a taste that can be savoured again and again, and I will never tire of it. And I keep trying different combinations of what can be done with this wonderful produce, often depending on what else I have in the fridge at the time.
This morning, I remember led a box of mixed heirloom tomatoes that I had bought the other day. Different shapes, colours and sizes, these little gems are so attractive to look at. I’m the first to admit that I’m no tomato connoisseur but even I could make out some subtle differences in taste between them. And with no sundried tomatoes in the house, what better alternative on my avocado breakfast?
Sometimes it’s not about gourmet cuisine, but just about combining a few key flavours and making quick, simple but yet delicious food. And this little tidbit is a exactly that.
Slices of homemade wholewheat and spelt seeded bread. Slivers of butter and a spread of sweet, tart sun-dried fig chutney. Topped with chunks of extra-hot Mexicana cheese. No cooking, no fuss.
And the best part is that you can switch things around and try different combinations. Go for a different chutney. Use goats cheese or feta. Experiment with the flavours and use what works for you.
Sabudana Khichdi (literally meaning a ‘mishmash’) is a very popular breakfast dish, especially in Maharashtra. Growing up in Mumbai, one sees and consumes this everywhere and even now this is a firm favourite in our household, especially on weekends when one has the opportunity for a more leisurely breakfast.
Sabudana or Tapioca pearls are a processed form of the Tapioca root, and are a common ingredient in Indian kitchens. Sabudana is an accepted food during most religious fasts (vrat) and so it is used extensively on such days to make a variety of foods from breakfast dishes, fried snacks and even desserts.
My friends Rhea and Kurush have never missed an opportunity to extol the Parsi love of eggs or ‘eedu’ on and with everything. And one of their classic egg dishes is the Akuri, a delightful Parsi version of scrambled eggs, cooked in an onion-tomato masala and spices. Ever since Rhea posted a recipe for Akuri, it’s been lingering at the back of my mind. And so the other day, when I was craving eggs, but still something slightly different, I thought to dig up the recipe and give it a go. To my pleasant surprise, it’s not so different from the Punjabi version we usualy make at home… just subtle differences that you think will affect the dish subtly, but still makes for a fairly distinct dish in the end. I think the biggest difference was the use of ginger, garlic and turmeric.
The brain seems to be an organ that is woefully underutilised in British cuisine. Not many butchers will stock it, although some will provide it on special request. Growing up in Mumbai, Bheja (brain) fry was always a popular item in many restaurants there. The soft, creamy texture goes brilliantly well against the spicy onion masala and creates a wonderful dish that pleases the palate in more ways than one.
My brother and I happened to spy some fresh lamb brains at our local desi butcher’s and immediately, we knew we had to pick it up. And for breakfast today, we had an amazing bheja fry, with it’s awesome aromas and reminders of days gone by.
Continuing the theme of avocado breakfasts, here is another gem that resulted from an impromptu raid through the fridge for leftovers and things that needed fnishing up.
saffronambrosia 