Breakfast

“Research suggests that breakfast eaters are leaner than those who skip the morning meal, with one study reporting that missing breakfast was associated with a fourfold increase in the risk of obesity, says the February issue of Harvard Men's Health Watch[1].”

Under this section I am trying to include breakfast items from around the world with focus on India. Some are easy to cook and takes relatively less time to prepare, while needs to be planned as they involve elaborate preparations. Hence this section is divided into two subsections:

a)      Quick bites and b) Wait for the best

a)      Quick Bites

Pancakes

When I started reading about pancakes, I realized that there exist hundreds of variants in most countries. Some are sweet and some salty. They can be accompanied by syrups, butter, cream, gravy, vegetables depending upon the pancake type and the place where eaten. In England pancakes takes the name of Yorkshire puddings (this is baked instead of fried), crumpets, oat cakes, Welsh pancakes also called crempog, Irish pancakes, flapjack and Scottish pancakes. They are known as crepes or Breton galette in France. Some say that Canadian pancakes are moister than American ones. German pancakes are called Pfannkuchen and it is Kaiserschmarrn in Austria. People in Netherlands eat pannenkoeken. In Russia pancakes takes the name of Blini. Africa, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines and many other countries have their own versions of delicious pancakes.

India possibly has the largest variants of pancakes with each State having dozens. Here pancakes may be sweet, spicy, tangy, plain or salty. To name a few, in West Bengal, people love malpua, jhal malpua, pati sapta etc. South India has dosas, ottapas, adhai, appam etc. Gujrat is popular for pudlas, while Rajasthan is famous for Chilas and Punjab pancakes are enjoyed as Meetha Pooda. Barring a few variants like appam Indian pancakes rarely use rising agents like baking powder etc.

Must Do’s and don’ts for making good pancakes

1. Measure correctly the ingredients

2. Check for correct consistency of the batter

3. Do not let the batter stay for more than 10 minutes

1. The Traditional American Pancake

You can make 6 medium sized pancakes with this proportion

Utensil required: A medium sized non stick fry pan

Ingredients:

• 2 tea cups fine flour (maida). Use fork to stir or sift flour before measuring so as to avoid lump formation
• 2 1/2 teaspoons fresh baking powder
• 4 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups milk (Use same type of cup in which you measured flour)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 tablespoon white oil

Preparation:

Put together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a dry bowl and use a fork to mix together these dry ingredients.  In a separate dry bowl, whisk the eggs and add 1 1/2 cups of milk and whisk again. Add this to the mixture of dry ingredients stirring continuously till a smooth batter forms. Add in melted butter. Check the consistency. If the batter appears too thick to pour, add a little more milk. Be careful so as to not make it too thin. Heat the non stick pan on medium fame. Rub some white oil on the pan surface using a paper tissue whose one corner is soaked in oil. Wait for 30 seconds. Take a small bowl and take out enough batter to make a pancake and pour the same at one go in the middle of the fry pan. Reduce the flame to minimum. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the pancakes become slightly dry around the edges. Wait till it is lightly browned on the bottom. Flip carefully and brown the other side. Now press an even plate on the side facing up so that the other side becomes brown evenly. This gives a nice look to the pancake.

Pancake is best had with maple syrup. Alternately drizzle some honey on top of the pan cake before serving. You can also have this with butter smeared and dust with sugar dust.

2. Malpua (West Bengal)

Malpua is common in many States of India including West Bengal. My mother makes a variant of Malpua which is not dipped in sugar syrup. Hence, this is less sweet and lighter. This used to make for good Sunday morning breakfast and we used to wash it down with a good cup of Darjeeling tea. I just love these malpuas which are very easy to make and takes very little time.

Easy to make malpua

You can make 8 medium sized pancakes with this proportion

Utensil required: A medium sized non stick fry pan

Ingredients:

• 3 tea cups fine flour (maida). Use fork to stir or sift flour before measuring so as to avoid lump formation
• 1 cup powdered sugar/
• 1/4^th  tablespoon fennel seed (saunf)
• 4 tablespoon semolina
• 1 and 1/2 cups milk (Use same type of cup in which you measured flour)
• 2 tablespoons melted butter/ oil
• 1 pinch salt

Preparation:

Put together flour and melted butter and mix with hand (take it in your fist and the flour should not loosely fall off.). Now to this add powdered sugar, fennel seed and milk and whisk to form a batter. It should not be too thin. Check the consistency. If the batter appears too thick to pour, add a little more milk. If the batter appears too thick to pour, add a little more milk. Be careful so as to not make it too thin. Heat the non stick pan on medium fame. Drop some white oil on the pan surface. Cut the top of the brinjal (near the stem). Use this to spread the oil evenly on the pan. Heat the pan at high flame till it is smoking hot. Now lower the flame to medium. With ladle pour out batter on the pan to form a round shape. Wait till the sides curl up a bit and becomes slightly brown. Flip the pancake and cook the other as well.

My mother sometimes served this sweet pancake with a spicy chik pea curry. Alternately drizzle some condensed milk on top of the pan cake before serving.

3. Home made cheese

Ingredients:

• 1 litre/ 1Kg milk
• ½ tablespoon salt
• ½ table spoon pepper
• 1 table spoon oregano flakes
• 1 table spoon molten butter
• Juice from 5 small size lemons

Preparation:

Boil milk. When the milk comes up put in the lemon juice and stir it. You will see it split. Boil for a 2 more minutes till the milk has split completely. Strain and squeeze out water. Now add the salt, molten butter and oregano flakes and knead with your hand. Keep kneading till it forms a paste. Knead some more. I mostly knead for around 20 minutes to reach the desired texture. Now your cheese is ready. You can store this for 3 to four days in a refrigerator and use amply with bread or parathas.

I owe this easy to make cheese recipe to my friend Ruchita. She in turn learnt it from her Peruvian friend Enith Perez.

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[1] http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/weight_loss_healthy_breakfast