Hot chocolate mix

When this world feels like a rotting dump of methane filled sewage, there are few comforts you turn to. A loving voice, a soothing touch, a reassuring moan.. and all these things are impossibly hard to come by; why else would this world have turned into a venomous pit of hate infected flies? You need something restorative, with the potential to remedy some aches and provide warm succour.

You need a cup of hot chocolate and not just any ol’ hot chocolate but a homemade version. One that’s a pre mix, which needs nothing save pouring in hot water or milk if you think you need it. But it’s a mix, which means there’s milk present already, so really just hot water is all you need.

There’s a sort of whimsical poetry, like a fluttering tune about ‘hot chocolate’. The fact that it’s chocolate in pourable form that can be drunk warm. Wisps of chocolatey fog hitting your face and thick sweetness with all the richness of terra cotta cocoa pouring into your system provides instant calmness and an upbeat feeling of general wellness.

Unlike store brought hot chocolate mixes that are doused to the teeth with chemicals that you couldn’t pronounce, this is one is fairly docile. Just sugar, vanilla pods, milk powder, cocoa powder, corn starch and salt.

Split the belly of vanilla pods to extract all the wonderful flavour of the seeds. Sometimes it’s also called vanilla caviar. hmm.

add it to the sugar. Don’t throw away these emptied out vanilla pods. Stick them in a jar of sugar to make vanilla sugar. ah, the wonderful fragrance.

also- if you do not have vanilla pods or you’d rather not bother with vanilla in this recipe, simply omit this step.

add in the corn starch to this mix

whisk it about. Though it’s not needed because the next step will take care of the mixing.

whizz it in a blender or a processor, whatever you have on hand to make this coarse sugar vanilla corn starch mixture into a powdery mix.

something like this. See how it’s flecked with vanilla beans.

add milk powder to the now powdered sugar+vanilla+corn starch

in with the cocoa powder.

and sea salt

use a whisk to mix it well. Get rid of any lumps. And it’s done.

there you have it. Your very own homemade hot chocolate mix. Store it in a jar and have fun with it.

this is how you make it. Scoop out 3 heaped spoonfuls into a mug.

add hot not boiling water.

there you have it. Hot chocolate in the comforts of your own home. Made in lesser time than it would take for you to go out and have some. This mix is not only easy but so convenient. Anytime you need a fix just scoop out and pour.

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Ingredients

Sugar: 180g (2 cups)

Vanilla pods: 2

Corn starch: 30g (1/4cup)

Powdered milk: 200g (2 cups)

Cocoa powder: 70g (1 cup)

Salt: 1/2 tsp

Recipe instructions

Split the vanilla beans and scrape out their seeds and mix with sugar. add in corn starch and blend in processor or blender to make it into a fine powdered form.

Note: if you’re using fine powdered sugar then simply whisk in these ingredients until there are no lumps present.

Into the powdered sugar mixture add in milk powder, cocoa powder and salt. Whisk well and ensure there are no lumps. Once well mixed store in a jar.

To make hot chocolate scoop 3 tablespoons into 3/4 cup of hot water. Alternatively you can even using milk and also use the mix to create many shakes or desserts of choice.

Wholewheat banana bread

Most beguiling, calling this a bread, when in essence, it actually is a cake. I guess it’s probably called a bread because it’s baked in a loaf tin. Ah, well.. ‘a rose by any other name’ and all that jazz. So indeed, this rather bashful, withdrawn looking cake/bread is exactly that. An air of polite modesty about its person, this cake doesn’t pretend to be a showstopper, or a stunner, gracing the high tables of a luxurious dinner party.

It’s in fact a quiet, simple and courteous nibble as opposed to the rich, opulent, cloying tastes of other thickly decadent cakes. This, in effect, is the anti thesis of sinful tastes, and bears such depth of resonant flavours that one slice or even two wouldn’t suffice. A perfect accompaniment for coffee, or as breakfast. This wholewheat banana cake makes up in flavours, what it lacks in appearances, and isn’t that all that really matters?

Flecked with nuts, tinged with spices encasing a positively astounding banana soul. This wholewheat banana bread is moist with a nuttier wholewheat taste that totally trumps ones with made with regular flour..and if that wasn’t enough, it’s healthier too.

The ingredients are simple enough. mashed bananas, brown sugar, coconut oil, soy milk, eggs, wholewheat flour, vanilla, ground spices and nuts.

mix baking soda and baking powder in with wholewheat flour. (these ingredients were not pictured)

In a clean mixing bowl, add in the oil and brown sugar

Mix briefly and crack in the eggs, and beat again, until the eggs are evenly combined.

add vanilla

mashed bananas and mix

once the ingredients are well combined, tip in the flour. As you can see I’ve traded my whisk for a spatula, and mix very briefly.

add in the ground spices

followed by nuts, and combine well, without over mixing the batter.

scrape into a well greased and floured tin of choice, or loaf tin if you wish to call this a bread.

and bake at 170°C for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

and Voila!!

Note: before baking I’d tasted the batter which didn’t taste as sweet as I’d have liked, so I added in two tablespoons of honey.

INGREDIENTS

Bananas: 2 large mashed (1 cup)

Coconut oil: 80 mls (1/3cup) (feel free to use any oil of choice, or even melted butter)

Brown sugar: 100g (1/2 cup)

Honey: 2 tablespoons

Milk: 60 mls ( use soy milk or any milk or even water)

Wholewheat flour: 160g (roughly 1.5 cup)

Eggs: 2

Chopped nuts: 80g (1/2 cup)

Vanilla extract: 2 tsp

Baking powder: 1 tsp

Baking soda: 1/2tsp

Spice mix:

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp crushed pepper

1/4 tsp crushed cloves

RECIPE INSTRUCTIONS

Mix the baking powder and baking soda into wholewheat flour.

In a clean mixing bowl beat together coconut oil, sugar, honey and eggs until evenly combined. Add in mashed bananas, vanilla and beat well. Stir in the flour and spice mixture and nuts and fold until just mixed.

Scrape into a baking tin and bake at 170°c for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let rest before unmoulding.

Enjoy

Awesome breakfast sandwich

There’s no reason to call this an ‘awesome breakfast sandwich’ when this can be as easily called an ‘awesome brunch sandwich’, and does in fact serve as a fantastic brunch idea. It’s fast, filling and satisfying. Monstrously heaped with all things good, it’s indulgent, comforting and a fantastic fuel for moments when your body craves a morning laden with carbs and greasy crisp bacon.

No excuse ever needed for gorging thyself with bread, or sandwich, and this gorgeous tower of kindly extravagance can help sort of fill the voids in your sad mundane life, or pep up an already exciting one. It’s very versatile this sandwich; it doesn’t discriminate.

if you were to edit bacon out of this picture, you’d have the ingredients for a a very veggie sandwich. There’s also mustard and mayonnaise but they’re working behind the scenes.

I used the same skillet that had the bacon cooking, and wiped out most its grease.

added an additional tablespoon of regular vegetable oil

and tipped in my colorful medley of vegetables.

a bit of salt to get them going

sweat them on medium heat, cook for about ten minutes, until there’s a visibly pleasant shrinkage of the caramelized and cooked kinds.

like so. The vegetables will be a bit watery at first, but as you keep cooking them low and slow, they will soften and become more flavourful.

Take this slow vegetable cooking time to lather bread with mayonnaise and mustard

and spread it about

now for the lovely assembly. I have lined a baking sheet with parchment paper, because these sandwiches will get a short burst of heat in the oven and also because there is scant cleanup in case of any drips and melts. So, top the now lathered bread with lettuce leaves

with the green leafage as a receptacle for our sandwich fillings, pile high the cooked vegetables.

followed by crispy bacon. As many pieces as your conscience would allow. I do not have a conscience at the moment.

you can grate some cheese, or tear and Jackson Pollock them about. This is sharp cheddar and I didn’t even do a good avant garde bit..let’s call it modern art , and top off with a smattering of pepper.

blitz in the hot oven at 200°c for 10 minutes, and Voila! indecently luxurious and voluptuous with a big V sandwich. Life’s answer to an overwhelming need to feed your greed.

Ingredients

sliced bread or bread loaves

Bacon crisped: 4-5 rashers

Lettuce leaves : 4

mushrooms: 5-6 chopped

bell pepper:1/2 chopped

onion: 1 small chopped

salt: 1/2 tsp

mayonnaise: 1 tablespoon

mustard: 1 tsp

cheese: 3 tbsp

pepper: 1/2 tsp

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Recipe:

Cook the chopped vegetables over medium heat. Add salt and saute for ten minutes until caramelized and well cooked.

Spread mayonnaise and mustard over bread and top with lettuce, cooked vegetables, crisped bacon and cheese.

Bake in oven at 200°c for 10 minutes, until the cheese had melted, the lettuce has slightly wilted and the bottom of the bread has crisped.

Enjoy!

Mint & tea sorbet

Since the gods are being all sorts of unkind with the sun, what with the blazing rays and scorching heat, it’s only natural to pour in copious amounts of coolants into your body, without skimping on the sugar.

This is where sorbets come into existence. Like feathery ice, kissing the insides of your mouth ever so daintily, melting softly on your tongue; sending shivers of exquisite chill to your temples. The flavours are so delicate that you’re forced to down a few dozen scoopfuls, before you realize you’re a being surreptitiously iced. Lighter than air, frozen sweets, they are like the elegant cousins to boisterous ice creams and much too easy to make.

Easier still if you have an ice cream/sorbet machine/maker, because making these sans modern contraptions takes away the chill factor from the sorbets, and you’re left churning semi frozen liquid every hour of the day, and we are not here for that. NO!

It’s about making life comfortable sometimes, and summers aren’t for survival of the self righteous. Summers are to chill, and that’s exactly what this sorbet is about. Accentuated with cool vibes of mint and earthy tones of tea, this is easier than going out to buy a frozen ice treat.

I didn’t lay out ingredients this time, because this is much too easy. This is the beginning of a simple syrup. Sugar + water that you bring to a boil till all sugar is dissolved.

like so. It’s hot, really hot so don’t go around poking your fingers in.

throw in a pinch of salt.

and fistfuls of mint, and a tea bag.

cover and let it steep for half an hour

fish out the tea bag and add in some lemon juice. Let it cool completely and transfer to a fridge for a few hours or overnight. The flavours mingle and intensify in the syrup.

I let mine stay in the fridge overnight and the next day the mint leaves were weepy and the liquid was a fabulous murky brown.

sieve into a clean bowl

bring out the heavy machinery and we are en route to making joy

turn on the machine, pour in the minty tea syrup (as per your machine instructions)

a few seconds in and you can see the early beginnings of snow

churning into polar beginnings of your personal sorbet

twelve minutes in, and the syrup was a sweet scrunched ice berg

the glacial quality of this bowl was an indication enough to stop. Took about fifteen minutes.

This sorbet right here, in its most sherbet form is good enough to eat, but not quite frozen to the point you could scoop.

transfer to a freezer safe container for a firmer consistency and freeze for a few hours. I let mine gestate for about four hours.

scoop and serve.

Ingredients

Water: 800 mls (3 cups)

Sugar: 350 g (1.1/5 cup)

Mint leaves : 1 cup

lemon juice: 90mls (5 tbsp)

1 tea bag

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Recipe

Prepare a simple syrup with water and sugar by dissolving them in a sauce pan over medium heat until sugar has dissolved into the water.

To the syrup add in mint leaves and tea bag. Cover and let steep for half an hour.

Discard the tea bag and add lemon juice into the mixture. Once its completely cooled, transfer to a fridge for a few hours or overnight.

Strain the now chilled mixture and pour into ice cream maker according to machine to instructions.

Transfer sorbet into a freezer safe container for firmer consistency.

enjoy!

Mushroom noodle soup

This isn’t the first noodle soup recipe on this blog, and most assuredly, not the last; this however is (as immodest as it may sound) the alpha and the omega of soupy noodle world. Meatless magic in all its crimson glory. The red blush that stains this fantastic broth is courtesy ‘Gochujang’; that vividly red Korean paste of hot peppers, easily available at your nearest Asian grocery store.

To stave off unwarranted hunger pangs at odd lunch hours, this soup is the way to your soul. Calm cooking, languorous eating, dangerously addictive. A big bowl of hearty sustenance and full bodied flavours , almost as piquant as you’d wish your dreams to be.

Greens of choice. I’m using Chinese lettuce here. Coriander, mushrooms, green onions, ginger and garlic, noodles, soy sauce and gochujang.

Use whatever mushrooms are handy. I’m using a mix of oysters and white beech mushrooms.

Mince or chop together ginger and garlic

as well as the white part of green onions. Save the green tails for later.

In a pan or wok of choice, heat some oil and add the chopped/minced ginger+garlic+white part of green onions.

cook until fragrant, or just about translucent

add in the mushrooms

and give it a good tossing about in the oil.

add in a bunch of coriander into the pan with mushrooms. Save the rest for later.

add water/stock to the pan.

followed by a bit of salt. Only a bit.

cover and let it come to a boil, letting it rapidly boil for 5 minutes.

Chop the green ends of the spring onions

and the coriander.

add in an unapologetically fat glob of gochujang to the boiling mushroomy broth

ah, the fierce redness. Let it come to a boil before adding in the noodles.

cook noodles in the broth until they’re done.

add the green ends of the green onions in the bottom of a serving bowl and douse liberally with soy sauce.

layer on the lettuce

upend the cooked contents of the pan. Broth and noodles.

blanket the surface with chopped coriander

slurp hot!

Ingredients

stock/water: 750mls (3 cups)

mushrooms: 200g (2 cups)

green onions: 2

garlic: 1 clove

ginger: 2-3 cms piece

coriander: small bunch

gochujang: 60g (4tbsp)

soy sauce: 2tbsp

noodles: 1 nest

lettuce leaves: 3-4

salt to taste

*this recipe is a single serving big bowl. Increase or decrease as per requirement

Recipe instructions

Heat two tbsp oil in a wok/pan and add in the chopped ginger, garlic and green onions. Cook until translucent and add in the mushrooms. Saute for a minute, add a few strands of coriander and add in water/stock. Sprinkle salt if needed.

Cover and let bubble for 5 minutes. Add in the gochujang paste and let it come to a boil before adding in the noodles. Let the noodles cook in the mushroomy broth.

Add to the serving bowl the chopped green onion tails and soy sauce. Layer with lettuce leaves and tip the contents of the cooked noodles in broth into the bowl.

Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

Butter coconut cookies

This artistically stacked hillock of brown jenga pieces is in fact an artistically stacked hillock of edible jenga pieces. Alright, it’s not artistically stacked, and these aren’t pieces from a game..these are cookies squares, or rectangles, for you geometrically fastidious lot. Butter coconut cookies to be more precise..the kinds that possess the power to transform your tea time into a festivity—they don’t even need tea as an excuse to be eaten. They have looks, texture and crunch; all the makings of cookie stardom, and yet they stay humble. Modestly unadorned, on your tea table, or your dining table, or your study table, where they’ll sit in quiet obeisance, patiently waiting to be chewed on..one after another.

You didn’t think you could stop after just one, did you? No! you cannot. Not only is it against cookie eating rules, but also because you sure as all hell couldn’t resist these tan little fellas, exuding coconut fragrance and tropical desires.

And would you believe it, despite their come-hither look, they’re rather incomplex. You could tszuj up these coconutty babies in moments.

The usual suspects, only a lot lesser than usual. Butter, flour, brown sugar, desiccated coconut and coconut extract. If however you do not have coconut extract (and why should you), use vanilla extract.

There’s a picture of a blender because I felt like making life difficult for me, by putting ingredients into a blender instead of creaming them the usual way. It’s more convenient to use a food processor, but I was not disappointed with the outcome of this contraption. Let me not speak in riddles any further.

it puts the lotion into the basket, or cubed up cold butter along with flour into the blender, and whizz ’em mercilessly. Actually you gotta pulse it. a few second pulse a few times, and you’re there.

the butter and flour will get mixed, and the flour will begin to clump.

like so.. (you can also use the good old creaming method. You know, where you beat the butter and add in sugar, so on and so forth. This is just easier and less fussier and your muscles stay relaxed.

add in the sugar and pulse again, a few times

you will end up with the most fabulous sweet edible sand. But we’re yet to add a few more ingredients to the alchemy.

so, in with the coconut

a few drops of coconut extract, and a good mix.

almost there, but it’s still a bit crumbly. Not quite together.

nothing that a couple tablespoons of milk won’t rectify.

mix it a bit together.

and there you have it. Serious clumpage.

using your hands, roll it into a ball.

stick it in a cling film, and let sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. Makes it easier to handle.

generously flour your board. The point is to not let it stick when you roll. Don’t skimp on the flour.

roll the dough out. It will break on the edges but that’s not a bad thing, nor difficult to manage. Just keep putting things in place and perspective using a spatula or palette knife. and keep running it under the dough as well, to ensure that it doesn’t stick to the board.

like so.

once the dough is rolled out, sprinkle over some more desiccated coconut and white sugar. The top will retain the coconutty, sugary granules and look all the more alluring. It’s a vanity thing.

you can cut these into any shape or form. The easiest would be into squares using your knife, just slice through the dough and form easy rustic squares..but I was itching to try out these Japanese cookie cutters that I’d recently bought in a fit of idle need, and proceeded to fall in love with them.

oh so pretty did they look —their rectangular fluted edges with an air of serene uniformity.

I couldn’t help but click them in different lights and angles.

bake at 180°C for 18-20 minutes, for the desired crunch. Let them rest for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring on a cooling rack

they get crunchier every sitting moment.

Eat as many

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Ingredients

Flour: 200g (1, 1/4 cup)

Brown sugar: 100g (1cup)

Butter: 100g (1/2 cup)

desiccated coconut: 50 gm (1/2 cup)+ 2 tbsp (for sprinkling)

coconut/vanilla extract: 1 tsp

milk: 2 tbsp (if needed)

granulated white sugar: 2 tbsp ( for sprinkling)

Recipe:

Pulse together the butter, flour and sugar in a food processor until it starts clumping together. Transfer into a bowl and add in desiccated coconut and extract and mix. If the dough doesn’t come together, add in the milk and mix.

forem into a ball, wrap in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll into a neat square on a generously floured board. make sure the dough doesn’t stick to the board. sprinkle coconut and granulated white sugar on top and cut into squares.

bake at 180°C for 18-20 minutes in a pre heated oven and let cool on a cooling rack.

Serve with tea, or just as is.

stack em high and apply to face.

Date & nut cake

Oh this cake. I could sing songs, write sonnets and do a bit of dance and tell you how unbelievably heavenly this cake was. Instead I’m just going to do a bit of unhinged prose and explain with all the emphasis at my disposal about the fabulousness that is this Date & nut cake. It’s appearance as humble as it might seem is most beguiling and hides the delectable reality of this exquisite cake.

You might be tempted to write off this cake at the merest first glance as any old fruit cake, but one bite and you’d be lost. You’d be lost and in a labyrinthine maze of cake heaven realize with each chewy/crunch/crumbly/flavoursome bite that this cake is indeed one of the most tasteful, scrumptious cake ever to have floated out of your oven.

It’s the orchestra of soft sweet dates contrasting with nut crunch and underlined with a medley of sublime spice flavours that makes this cake an addictive must.

it’s a date & nut cake, so it has dates and nuts and milk, sugar, egg, flour, butter, vanilla extract, clove powder (ground cloves), orange zest, cinnamon, baking powder, crushed pepper.

start by adding baking powder to the flour and mixing it thoroughly. Keep it aside.

As with most cake recipes this one starts with creaming the butter and sugar in a bowl. Make sure the butter is at room temperature. Mine was not 😦

beat or cream the butter, add in the sugar

add the orange zest

beat until it sort of looks like this, or you can do a better job if the butter is room temperature.

crack in an egg

splash in some vanilla

and beat again until well mixed. My batter looks a bit curdled and that’s because I didn’t use room temperature butter. It’s too cold here for anything to be room temperature..but this curdling won’t matter..and you’ll see.

add in the flour

followed by spices..cinnamon, ground cloves

crushed black pepper

mix a bit and add milk

followed by chopped dates

chopped nuts

and mix until just barely mixed. Do Not overmix the batter.

scrape batter into a baking tin of choice. I’ve lined mine with some baking paper.

smoothen the top and bake at 180°C for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out completely clean

let it cool. Slice and enjoy!

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Ingredients

Dates: 170g (1 overflowing cup)

Nuts: 130g (1 cup). I used a mix of pecans and walnuts, but you can use whatever is easily available.

Sugar: 100g (1/2 cup)

Flour: 120g (1 cup)

Butter: 100g (1/2 cup)

Milk: 50 mls (1/4cup)

Eggs: 1

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

baking powder: 1.5 tsp

Orange zest: 1 tbsp

black pepper (crushed): 1/4 tsp

Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

crushed cloves: 1/4 tsp

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Recipe instructions: Chop the dates and soak in 1 cup of hot water to soften them and keep aside.

Add the baking powder into the flour and mix well and keep aside.

Cream the room temperature butter with the sugar and orange zest until light and fluffy. Crack in the egg, add vanilla extract and beat for another minute until well combined. Add in the flour, followed by spices. Mix roughly and add in the milk until just mixed.

Drain the dates and add into the batter, followed by nuts and do not over mix the batter.

Scrape the batter into a well greased baking tin and bake at 180°C for 55-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out completely clean.

Let cool before slicing.

Enjoy!

Breakfast noodles

Who on earth has noodles for breakfast? you might well ask. Well..a lot of people do..more than a billion to be exact. No kidding. Noodles are a Chinese breakfast staple and they have one too many variations. Chow mein, lo mein etc just to name a few.

During early morning hours you can see little shops dotted all around along the roads in every Chinese city, selling one or the other kind of noodle dish. Among the most popular are rice noodles immersed in pork bone soup, which you can garnish with any permutation combination of toppings that are usually lined on a table in small bowls.

These breakfast noodles are a somewhat take on Chinese lo mein, and I cook them much too often on mornings that I know I’m in no rush. These are delicious, nutritious, hearty and light at the same time. Easy to conjure with whatever vegetables you’ve languishing in the fridge, add in any meat, fish or go completely vegetarian.

Once you’ve cooked these, you’ll be hooked and you can have them cold as well as warm.

The ingredints do look like a lot to take in but they can be as many or as few as you want. For the flavour base-chopped garlic, ginger and white part of spring onions. For the sauce-soy sauce+oyster sauce+black pepper+sugar. Vegetables -lettuce, mushrooms, carrots. Cooked noodles of your choice, prawns (optional), egg. For garnishing-coriander leaves and green part of spring onions.

Yes, this does look like a lot but it really isn’t. The chopping doesn’t take as long as writing the list of these ingredients does. You can use any veggies of your choice. These are just what happened to be in my fridge.

First, lets just scramble that egg in a bit of oil and set aside.

Once that’s done..heat some more oil in a pan on medium high heat.

and add in the chopped garlic, ginger and white part of the spring onion

stir it around a bit till its fabulously fragrant, but not brown.

in with the prawns and stir them around for a minute

add in the carrots and mushrooms and saute for another minute

and finally in with the lettuce. They’ll wilt in seconds

add in a bit of salt (not pictured) and stir it around till the lettuce wilts and the vegetables are nicely coated with fragrant oil.

add in the sauce mixture

and stir around a few seconds until all’s coated with these lovely salty sweet juices

finally, tip in the noodles. I’m using potato noodles and stir them around

That’s it, nearly done. Top with chopped greens of the green onion and coriander.

oh and don’t forget to add in the scrambled eggs.

Voila. Breakfast noodles!

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Ingredients

Boiled noodles- 1-2 nests

Prawns (optional)- 100g

Egg- 1

salt- 1/2 tsp

for the sauce

Soy sauce- 1tbsp

Oyster sauce- 1 tbsp

Black pepper- 1/2 tsp

sugar-1 tsp

(in case you’re vegetarian, omit oyster sauce and increase soy sauce amount to 1.5 tbsp)

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Mushrooms- 4-5 sliced

lettuce- 5-6 leaves chopped

carrot- 1

garlic-2 cloves chopped fine

Ginger- 2 cm stem chopped fine

Spring onion-1 chopped fine

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Recipe: Heat some oil in a pan and scramble the egg and keep it aside.

Heat some more oil and once it’s hot add in the chopped garlic, ginger and white part of the spring onion and saute in the oil for a few seconds until fragrant. Add in the prawns and cook for a minute or so. Add in the chopped vegetables, salt and cook until almost done.(just a few minutes).

Tip in the sauce and stir briefly. Add the cooked noodles and stir around till they’re well coated with the sauce. Add in the scrambled egg and garnish with coriander and chopped green part of the spring onion.

Enjoy!

Breakfast doughnut French toast

That’s right my darlings..doughnuts for breakfast, except these are actually French toasts masquerading as doughnuts..but do you care? They’re hot, coated thickly with cinnamon sugar and doused with your favourite toppings to make one heck of a breakfast meal.

They may not look much like doughnuts, but looks aren’t everything, and so you’ll understand as this recipe and your life progress. The best part about these toasts is that they take no time to conjure up and are so pleasantly imbued with the seraphic aroma of vanilla and cinnamon that you wouldn’t care about Mondays anymore. You do need to coat these in vulgar amounts of sugar and really that’s the charm of this breakfast. It’s breakfast after all and you can get away with a good lot of calories every morning..and honestly these pack a fraction of calories than doughnuts do. Once you’ve wolfed down these golden chunks of doughnut toasts you’ll look for excuses to make them all week.

Eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, sugar and bread. That’s it. High rewards for such few ingredients.

This step doesn’t apply to those who live in a world of pre sliced breads. I used a stale baguette, and it does help a lot if you’ve a stale bread lying about the house dying to be used up.

Crack in the eggs and add milk

vanilla

and salt

mix, smear, whisk, besmirch the calm

and proceed to making the sugary coating with sugar

and cinnamon

and lo! cinnamon sugar. Alchemy I tell you.

melt a fat knob of butter in your pan over medium heat

and dunk the bread in eggy pool of golden promises.Let it stay in there for at least half a minute. It’ll start drinking in the eggs.

Turn them over to let the other side soak up the sun.

and whoa! all the egg’s been absorbed by these little babies

the butter should be nicely frothing

transfer the eggy toast to the pan to cook to a nice golden tan.

just a couple minutes

Mmm..golden and gorgeous.

once these are cooked on both sides, let them cool for a few seconds before transferring them or rather slathering them with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Coat all sides, roll them into the sugar if you have to. Be barbaric about it.

et voilà..we have doughnut french toast. These are fantastic to eat just as they are, but if you want to add a bit of luxury to the richness then please do not restrain yourself as you go totally berserk.

bathe it with chocolate syrup

cloak it with your favourite fruit jam/marmalade or preserve

or how about chunks of banana drowned in maple syrup?

These are just a few things you can do to make these remarkable doughnut french toast into a morning treat.

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Ingredients

Eggs: 2

Milk: 30 mls (2 tbsps)

salt: 1/4 tsp

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Sugar: 50g (1/4cup)

Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Bread: 2-4 slices

Butter: 1 tbsp

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Recipe instructions: Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla extract and salt.

In a separate plate mix together the cinnamon and sugar.

Begin melting butter in a frying pan to cook the toasts.

Dunk the bread slices in the eggy mixture on both sides until they’re well coated.

Transfer to hot frying pan and cook until both sides are golden.

Wait a few seconds before transferring into cinnamon sugar mixture and coat the toasts well on both sides.

Eat as they are or top with your favourite fruits, syrups or jams.

Enjoy!

Oven baked spinach frittata

This gorgeous piece of yellow green slab that’s seductively prying your mouth open is in fact just an omelette, with a twist. Frittata just sounds so much more deliciously exotic..probably something about the way how the T’s roll out your tongue, or maybe how the layers of yellow egg mixed with cheese and veggies beckon you to dive in face first. There’s nothing about this dish that isn’t deserving a round of applause. The sunshine glint of eggs, the golden ooze of cheese and healthy chew of vegetables is what makes this frittata a breakfast must..and I didn’t even mention how easy it is to put this baby together.

Breakfast is the most important meal of your day, and no reason why it can’t be the most pleasurable too.

You needn’t potter about the stove waiting to flip an omelette when you can just as easily bung it in the oven and get about your morning rituals while it silently cooks to breakfast perfection..and the best part about this lover is that it begs no effort or creativity.

Put it together with whatever vegetables or meats you have at disposal as result of a languorous fridge raid. It’s a very forgiving and loving recipe.

I’m calling this a spinach frittata because I realized my refrigerator needed a quick bit of deforestation. I’d bought an obscene amount of spinach a day earlier and didn’t end up using them all in a recipe. I was left with pretty hefty bunch and decided to roll with it. But you can make this into an onion, mushroom, pepper or any imaginable frittata you fancy. The premises stay the same no matter what the ingredients..so here they are. Eggs, ham (optional), boiled potato, green onion, some milk, butter, spinach, cheese and salt and pepper (not pictured)

I wanted to give the pallid potato a bit of colour and more flavour by cooking it in some melted butter, just so that it gets bronzed. So, melt a knob of butter in a pan.

Dice or cube the potato in bite sized pieces, and when the butter begins to froth, tumble them in a single layer and let cook for 3-4 minutes over medium heat.

flip on the other side and repeat treatment until both sides are nicely blushing.

like so..and that’s the end of cooking.

crack the eggs and add in the milk

season with salt and pepper

add in the chopped green onions

and whisk

until it’s…umm..whisked.

now for the grand assembly. A layer of potatoes..

followed by a layer of ham that you tore into uneven shreds because you were too lazy to chop them into equal pieces. (keep this completely meatless by adding in some other vegetables of choice)

a healthy sprinkling of cheese of choice (I used cheddar)

and a quick bit of rainforest, also torn into uneven shards of leafy green mess. (why didn’t you cook the spinach first you ask? – well, because It’s breakfast time, and quick prep and brisk efficiency isn’t exactly one of our morning hallmarks..also it really won’t matter. I promise!)

and finally a rain of sunshine bliss in the form of perfectly whisked eggs.

and (drumroll), it’ll look like this. What? you’ll wonder..where are the perfectly whisked eggs? They’ve taken root under all that greenery..but have faith my darlings. bake at 190°C for 15-20 minutes

what? where? I know you’re still wondering.. but lemme give you a sneak peak.

Look how gracefully it has puffed up, minus the bloat. The spinach has elegantly shriveled into a thin carpet of green perfection giving just a hint of its existence. The Sunlit eggs have puffed to form a thick slab of such moulting tenderness that you’d be ever so willing to pop this hot piece into your salivating mouth, be it at the expense of burning your lovely tongue. Let it rest for a couple minutes before you dive in.

and then what do you do? You cut a generous portion, slather it with ketchup and balance it on a fiercely toasted bread. It’s breakfast!

Isn’t it just lovely?

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Ingredients

Eggs: 4

Milk: 30 mls (2 tbsps)

Cheese: cheddar 70g (4-5 tbsps) – or use any you prefer

Green onion: 1 (chopped fine)

Potato: 1 (boiled)

Spinach: 1 big handful (shredded/chopped)

Ham: 1-2 slices chopped

Butter: 1 tbsp

salt and pepper to taste.

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Recipe instructions: cube the boiled potato and cook in a single layer on a hot pan with butter until golden on both sides.

Whisk the eggs, salt & pepper, chopped green onions and milk until well combined.

Layer the potato, ham, cheese and spinach in a baking pan. Pour over the eggs and bake at 190°C for 15-20 minutes until the sides have nicely puffed and the eggs have cooked through. Let rest for 5 minutes before cutting into portions.

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Note: You can use any vegetables or seasonings to make this into your favourite breakfast frittata.

Enjoy.

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