Bread Pakodas

Fried food tastes so good and is so addictive, but I limit deep-frying to just a couple of times a year since it is an unhealthy way of cooking and the whole process is such a hassle for me. When I do fry, I go all out and fry up different things so that the entire batch of oil is used up all at once. I made these pakodas to go with steaming hot cups of tea recently. 

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bread, edges trimmed and each slice cut into 4 small triangles
• 1 cup besan/chickpea flour
• 2 Tbsp rice flour
• 3 green chillies, finely chopped
• 3/4 tsp chaat masala
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tsp ajwain/carom seeds
• 3/4 tsp - 1 tsp baking soda
• Salt to taste
• Water, for preparing the batter
• Vegetable oil, for deep- frying

Method:

Mix the chickpea flour, rice flour, green chillies, chaat masala, asafoetida, carom seeds and salt in a bowl. Add enough water to make a smooth and lump-free batter. Add baking soda to the batter just before you start making the pakodas and mix well.

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat until very hot.

Drop 3-4 pieces of bread into the batter. Carefully drop the batter-coated bread pieces, one at a time, into the hot oil, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Fry in 3-4 small batches till the pakodas are crisp and golden-brown. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper-towel-lined plate. Serve hot with ketchup or chutney.

From Your Kitchen To Mine #6

I decided to use bread in two different ways for The Iron Chef edition of Nupur's Blog Bites.

The first recipe, one for Malai Toast, is now a family favorite. It's something I've been making regularly since I first came across it on Richa's blog some 3 years back.

The only change I made here was to use yogurt with a splash of buttermilk instead of the malai mentioned in the original recipe. I also smear the batter on both sides of the bread slices and cook till it gets a nice crispy crust.

We love having this for breakfast over the weekends. It's something that's really simple and tasty and can be made at a moment's notice if you have the ingredients on hand. The recipe calls for ingredients that I always have in my kitchen. I cannot think of a better way to make use of a loaf of bread, leftover or otherwise.

The second recipe is from Kanchan's blog. Kanchan, very creatively transforms stale bread into this tasty snack in her recipe.

Here's how I made this-

I ran 5 slices of bread through the food chopper to get coarse crumbs. Next, I threw in a chopped onion, a few green chillies, a small bunch of coriander leaves, some salt and pepper, and pulsed the ingredients a couple of times. Then I added one beaten egg to the whole thing and mixed well. I added a little bit of flour too since the “dough” had become a little sticky at this point. This mixture of ingredients gave me 6 balls. I flattened these balls of the mixture as much as possible and cooked them till done.

Thanks for sharing your recipes, Richa and Kanchan!

Some more ways to enjoy bread:

Baked Eggs And Vegetables In Bread Cups

Pappa al Pomodoro (Tomato And Bread Soup)

Roti John

Bombay Toast (French Toast, Indian style)

Baked Eggs And Vegetables In Bread Cups

Like one of my previous recipes, this one too is inspired by something that caught my eye on the Pepperidge Farm website. I used the basic idea from there but made my own changes to the recipe.

Ingredients:
(For 9 bread cups)
9 bread slices, crusts trimmed
5 eggs, beaten
¼ cup milk
Salt
Pepper
5 Tbsp shredded cheddar cheese

Other ingredients:
2 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
½ tsp red pepper flakes
Salt
2 cups of mixed vegetables, finely chopped (I used what I had- onions, asparagus, potatoes, radishes)


Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Grease a muffin tin.

Take a slice of bread and brush one side of it with a little bit of the beaten egg-milk mixture. Place the slice (brushed side down) in the muffin cup and press down gently. Repeat with the other slices.

Meanwhile, melt some butter in a skillet on medium heat. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and onions followed by the asparagus, potatoes and radishes. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Mix well and set aside.

Once the vegetables have cooled a bit, add to the eggs. Add salt, pepper, cheddar cheese and mix well. Distribute the vegetable-egg mixture between the cups of the muffin tin (I had enough mixture for 9 cups). Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the eggs are done.

I like how the bread, eggs, vegetables and cheese come together to make this a very simple and elegant meal. This is a nice variation on the traditional eggs-on–toast routine and would be great for breakfast, lunch, or even dinner.

Pappa al Pomodoro (Tomato And Bread Soup)

Pappa al Pomodoro is a thick and hearty tomato based Tuscan soup, thickened with bread. It makes use of the simplest of ingredients- tomatoes, bread, garlic and olive oil- yet it’s so rich and full of flavor. This is easily one of the most delicious soups I’ve tasted in a long time.

I only wish I’d had fresh basil while making the soup as it would have taken the flavors to a whole new level, but it was not too bad even without basil leaves. I did not want to use the dried basil that I had for this recipe.

This soup is the outcome of the recipes I saw here here and here, and is a great way to use up leftover bread.

Ingredients:
(For 3-4 servings)
1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes (mine also had basil, garlic and oregano)
½ onion, sliced
4-5 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 cups stale bread, cut into cubes (I used the Italian bread that I had)
4 tbsp olive oil
Red pepper flakes
Salt
Pepper
3 cups water or as required

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Spread the cherry tomatoes (no need to halve these), the sliced onions and the garlic cloves on a baking sheet lined with foil. Add 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well to coat the vegetables. Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes until vegetables are soft and caramelized.

In a large saucepan, add the can of diced tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes and then add the roasted vegetables to it. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.
Add 2 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce the heat and then simmer for 20-25 minutes.

Meanwhile, spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet lined with foil. I used the same baking sheet from above, just replaced the foil. Toss the bread cubes around in 2 tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Toast for 15-20 minutes at 250 degrees F.

Toss the toasted bread cubes into the soup and mix well. The bread absorbs all the liquid in the soup as it cooks. Add the rest of the water. Mix well and continue to cook for some more time. Adjust the seasoning as required and keep checking and stirring the soup every now and then.

I did not like having large pieces of tomatoes in my soup, so I used my immersion blender and pureed everything just a little bit. Simmer on low-medium heat for another 5-10 minutes till the soup develops a texture similar to that of a thick and creamy porridge. Add more water or stock, if necessary, to achieve desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

The soup tastes even better the next day but it becomes very thick, so you would need to add some water or stock (I used milk) to thin it out. Also adjust the salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes and serve.

This soup is my entry for No Croutons Required: The Birthday Edition, hosted this month by Holler who is celebrating her birthday the entire month.
Here’s a predominantly Italian menu to go with the soup.
Parmesan Popovers
Parmesan cups with mango salsa
Potato gratin
Cannellini beans with cheese and basil
Ricotta and Nutella phyllo shells

Happy Birthday, Holler!

Spiced Banana Bread

I don’t know why we buy bananas, without fail, during every trip to the grocery store especially since we rarely give them a second look once they get to the fruit bowl. I usually end up throwing them out, a couple of days later, when they are overly ripe. Every once in a while I make a banana bread not because I’m too crazy about it, but because I can’t think of anything better to do with a bunch of bananas (other than making the occasional smoothie, pancake or batch of muffins) that are rapidly spoiling.

I've made a couple of different versions of banana bread since I first started baking but never one that’s been spiced up like this. This is a very nice spiced bread/cake to bake especially this time of the year, it being the holiday season and all.

Wet ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well (I pureed the bananas)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup sugar (adjust according to taste and sweetness of fruit)
1 egg
3 Tbsp yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger powder
½ tsp powdered cloves
¼ tsp salt
½ cup chopped walnuts

Method:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the egg; beat well. Add the mashed bananas, sugar and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients together and combine with the wet ingredients. Add a few walnuts to the batter and sprinkle the rest on top. Pour into the greased loaf pan.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 375 degrees F, then turn off the oven and let it continue to remain inside for another 5-10 minutes.

I’ve baked a couple of different versions of this bread over time and this seems to be one version that I will keep going back to.

Roti John

I was looking for something simple to make for Sia’s Street Food edition of the Monthly Blog Patrol, and was browsing through some of my favorite blogs when I came across a recipe for Roti John on Nupur's blog. Roti John, I found out, is a popular and much-loved dish sold by hawkers on the streets of Singapore. It is basically a toasted French loaf spread with pan grilled eggs and minced meat, and served with a chilli- ketchup sauce. It sounded a lot like my version of French toast, minus the minced meat.

I followed Nupur's recipe. She uses soy granules as a substitute for the minced meat that the original version calls for.

For 2 servings
Ingredients:
A baguette or a French loaf (I used what I had- 4 thick pieces of Texas garlic toast)
2 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
4 green chillies, finely chopped
3 Tbsp rehydrated soy granules (I used Nutrela's granular TVP)
¼ cup of finely chopped onions
Salt to taste
Oil for pan frying

Method:
In a bowl, beat the eggs along with milk and add the soy granules, chillies, onions and salt. Mix well.

Heat the oil in a pan. Slather a generous amount of the egg mixture onto one side of the bread. Pan fry each side till brown and slightly crisp. Repeat for every slice. Serve hot.
We had this with some Maggi hot and sweet sauce.

I had some of the egg mixture left over at the end which I used to make something else. I'll save that for another post.

This also goes to-
Madhuram for Your Recipe Rocks
Zlamushka for Tried and Tasted

Orange Yogurt Bread

I came across this recipe on Nicole’s wonderful blog- Pinch My Salt and decided that this was something that had to be tried out immediately. It looked so very appealing. And for once I had all the required ingredients at home!

I made a couple of changes to the original recipe. I cut down on the amount of butter used, increased the amount of yogurt, substituted the granulated sugar with equal amounts of brown and regular sugar and also threw some raisins into the batter.

The results were pretty impressive, if I may say so myself. The batter turned out to be enough for almost 2 loaves so that’s what I ended up doing- baking 2 loaves.
They turned out really well. They were moist, sweet, soft and spongy- just the way I like it.

Ingredients:
Wet:
4 Tbsp butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
½ cup+ 2 Tbsp low-fat yogurt
½ cup orange juice
2 tsp orange extract

Dry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup raisins
½ tsp salt

For the glaze:
Powdered sugar
Orange juice


Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs, beat well.
Add the yogurt, orange juice and orange extract. Mix well.

Mix the dry ingredients well and combine with the wet ingredients. Add the raisins and mix into the batter. Pour into greased loaf pans.

Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. (Check after 35 minutes or so. I found that the top had started to brown while the rest of the loaf needed some more time. Cover loosely with foil at this stage.)

Cool the loaves. Poke a couple of holes on the surface of the bread. Drizzle the glaze and spread all over.


This is a really good bread/cake to have along with a hot cup of tea or even as an after-dinner treat when you are craving something sweet. We simply loved it and I am definitely going to make this again and again.

Nicole, thanks a ton for the recipe!

Bombay Toast (French Toast, Indian style)

Cooking for one is extremely boring and is not always easy to do. Not that I feel any different even when H is around sometimes!

I made French toast for brunch today. This is a great way to use up stale bread. It is very easy and takes all of 10 minutes to prepare. This is so simple that it doesn't really need a recipe, but I know that this would be really useful to my sis who is looking to add to her growing collection of simple and quick recipes.

Ingredients:
3 slices bread (it helps if you are using stale, refrigerated bread)
2 eggs
½ cup milk
2 green chillies, finely chopped
A handful of chopped spring onions/scallions
¼ small onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp semolina/rava/sooji
2 Tbsp butter
Salt and pepper

Method:
Break the eggs into a wide, shallow bowl. Add milk, salt, pepper, chopped onions, scallions and semolina and beat well with a fork.

Meanwhile, in a large non-stick frying pan, over medium heat, melt the butter.

Dip both sides of each bread slice into the egg-milk mixture till the bread soaks it all up.

Place on the hot buttered pan. Spoon a little bit of the egg mixture including the onions, scallions, green chillies, and spread over each slice. (I do this 'cos I find it does not coat the bread slices while the bread is soaking up everything else.)

Cook until both sides are browned and the eggs have cooked through.

Serve hot with some tomato ketchup. Ketchup just makes everything taste so much better!

I sometimes make a sweet version of this by adding some sugar and vanilla essence to the egg mixture and omitting the green chillies. However, I prefer my breakfast/brunch a little spicy and savory- Indian ishtyle!

This one's for you, little sis! Just to get you started in the kitchen. ;-)

Other eggscellent recipes on this blog:
Egg Muffins
Egg Curry
Potato and Egg Salad