Breakfast for Dinner

I'm a breakfast kinda gal, so breakfast, brunch or brinner, it all works for me. Sunday Brunch is a firm favourite in our household, whether it be Cecconi's in LA, Balthazar in New York, The Delaunay in London, or our local vintage tea shop, which does a mean eggs benedict. Sundays are for Mimosas, Bloody Marys, Espressos, Macchiatos and some hearty food followed by sport; whether it be football, cricket, tennis, F1 or golf. You've certainly hit the jackpot if you can watch all of the above on the same day. 

Brunch is really a feast of any-which-way eggs, pancakes, French toast and an array of fruit-inspired treats. An Indian brunch however, conjures up images of paranthas, dosas, idllis, or poha. All carb-laden, but extremely delish, yummy and definitely moreish. Enjoy my Indian eggs with my refreshing Strawberry Lassi, a slightly sweet, fruity, yoghurt-based drink.

Indian Eggs with Tomatoes and Paneer

Serves 2

• 4 Eggs, free range

• 100g Paneer, chopped into small cubes

• 1 Small Onion, finely chopped

• 1 Tomato, finely chopped 

• 1 Green Chilli, finely chopped

• 1 tbsp Coriander, finely chopped

• 2 tsp sunflower oil

• Salt to taste

• Pepper, freshly ground

Method

• In a medium frying pan heat the oil and add the chopped onions and chopped chilli. Fry on a moderate heat, until the onions are golden brown.

• Add the chopped tomatoes and the paneer and fry for a further minute. The paneer will start to brown a little.

• Crack the four eggs into the pan being careful not to break the yolks. Cook for about 3 minutes or until the egg whites are set. Place in a pre-heated moderate oven for 3-4 minutes. 

• Grind some rock salt and some freshly ground pepper over the eggs.

• Sprinkle the eggs with the chopped coriander.

• Place the eggs onto a plate. The yolks should still be slightly runny.

Tips

• As an alternative, you can beat the eggs, to make scrambled eggs. Add the beaten egg to the onion, tomato, paneer mixture and stir on a low to medium heat and then serve.

• Enjoy the eggs with my detox kale salad.

Strawberry Lassi

Serves 4

• 250g Greek fat free Yoghurt

• 250g Strawberries, hulled

• 500ml Water

• 2 tbsp sugar to taste or Stevia equivalent 

• 6 ice cubes

Method

• Use a blender to blend all the ingredients together. Make sure that your blender has the capacity to crush ice, otherwise leave this out and add ice cubes into each glass after blending.

Tips

• Use any variation of fruit that you enjoy, or leave it au naturel.

• Mango, strawberry and banana are firm favourites in our house. 

Bombay Street Food

The distinctive street food of Mumbai is renowned throughout India. As a child visiting what I affectionately call Bombay, I was prohibited from eating any actual street food, as my parents never thought that my constitution was strong enough for the 'real McCoy' and I was only permitted the feigned 'luxury hotel' version. Although, when spending a year in this flamboyant city in my late teens, I experienced everything from dosa, to papri chaat, to bhel puri to pau bhaji, to pani puri to ragda patties, and the list just goes on and on. 

Chaat and its combination of savoury, crispy papri with cool spicy yoghurt, tangy tamarind, soft potatoes, chickpeas and crunchy sev creates the most magical flavour explosion. In this post I have made a quick & easy chaat appetiser to go with drinks; great for when friends just pop over. 

Chaat Cups

Serves 4

• 24 Croustades or Canapé Cups (these are available from the supermarket)
• 2 Medium Potatoes, boiled, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 Can of Chickpeas, drained and washed well under cold water
• Salt
• 225g Natural Yoghurt
• Chaat Masala (available from Asian Grocers)
• Tamarind Sauce (available from Asian Grocers)
• 50g Sev (crispy gram flour noodles available in packets from Asian Grocers)

Method

• Cover a baking tray with baking parchment and place the canapé cups onto the tray.
• Bake at 160ºC for 3 minutes to crisp up. (Keep an eye on them and put a timer on, they burn very easily!)
• Allow to cool.
• Place the chick peas into a bowl and mash half of them with a fork, leaving the rest whole or partially whole.
• Add the potatoes to the chickpeas and mix well adding salt to taste. (I usually add about half a teaspoon).
• In a separate bowl add the yoghurt and mix in 1 dessertspoon of chaat masala.
• Take a canapé case and fill it with the potato & chickpea mixture, top with a teaspoon of the spicy yoghurt and then put half a teaspoon of the tamarind sauce on top of that. Sprinkle the canapé case with the crunchy gram flour sev noodles.
• Repeat with all the canapé cases and arrange on a platter and serve immediately.

Tips

• If you have any leftover ingredients, layer them in individual bowls in the order that I've described and devour!
• If you want to make this chaat in a bowl, you can make the papri or just buy it from the Asian Grocers as a substitute for the canapé cups and place those at the bottom of the bowl and then layer the other ingredients as described above. Everyone can just help themselves. 
• Tamarind or Imli chutney (also know as 'Saunth') can be made using a block of tightly packed seedless tamarind which is soaked and blended with added salt, sugar, red chilli powder, ground coriander and ground cumin.
• I would recommend you enjoy these with the Pomegranate & Orange Martini!