Pongal

Another quintessential breakfast item of Tamil Nadu. Go to any restaurant for breakfast, and you find this. I am ecstatic that I was able to make this. Delicioso.


Ingredients

Mung/Moong dal - 1 cup
Rice (You can do this with basmasti. I used a variety called "sona masuri') - 1 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Cumin seeds - 1 tspn
Curry leaves - 8
Asafoetida (optional)- a pinch
Dried Red Chilli - 1-2
Fresh Green Chilli (Thai) -1-2 slit lengthwise
Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup
Ginger : Sliced about 2-3 thin slices
Water - 2.5-3 cups (to cook the rice and moong dal)
Oil - 1tbspn
Butter - 1/2 tbspn (optional)

Method:

1. Wash the moong dal and rice with water. then drain all of the water and let it dry as much as possible (15-20 min air dry).
2. In a saucepan, put the oil. Let it heat up. To this add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida, dried red chilli, and pepper corns. Let this pop and crackle and then add the curry leaves, ginger, green chilli, and cashews.
3. After about 1 min, add the dried rice and moong dal. Fry it for about 3-4 minutes (you basically want the raw taste to be roasted out).
4. Add water to cover this and to cook it. Add a dash of butter and salt and let it cook (I use my nifty rice cooker at this step).
5. Eat hot with butter melting at the top. Can pair plantains boiled in salt water alongside this or just regular ripe bananas.

Sourdough Pancakes

I found another use for my sourdough starter: supermodel! And it makes a darn good pancake too. It's very important to serve these rugged Alaskan pancakes with really good jam, fresh fruit, and real maple syrup. And a little whipped cream. --AnglophileLV

Sourdough Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 large egg, well beaten
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar

1. The night before: Mix 1 cup starter with the flour and milk in a large bowl (not metal). Place the bowl in a warm place, cover and let it stand until morning.

2. The next day: add beaten egg, oil, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar to sour dough mixture; mix well.

3. Heat a lightly greased skillet over medium heat. The pan is ready when a few drops of water bubble and skitter rapidly around.

4. Cook pancakes until surface is covered with bubbles. Turn and cook other side until golden brown.
Makes about 7 to 14 pancakes.

Sourdough Scones

Meet Beauregard. Originally from San Francisco, Beauregard ventured to Alaska in 1905 with the J.P. Morgan Company when the company cook (also named Beauregard – confusing in a British novel sort of way, I know) brought it with him to help feed the men building the railroad into the Kennicott copper mine.

Beauregard is a 104 year old sour dough starter.

It has been passed down through miners and restaurant owners to the owners of Sourdough Sunrise Bed & Breakfast in Seward, Alaska. And now, thanks to my boyfriend’s mother who stayed at the B&B and brought some of old Beau back with her, Beauregard has reached the sunny shores of Southern California.

I'll go into the Care and Feeding of sourdough starters later, but for now, check out this scone recipe for the best scones any of us have ever tasted - as stated this morning by everyone at the breakfast table. --AnglophileLV

Sourdough Scones (from Simply Sourdough - The Alaska Way - by Kathy Doogan)

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 Tb sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4th tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup currants or dried cranberries
1 egg
3/4 cup sourdough starter
1 Tb milk
2 Tb raw sugar (for topping)

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Cut in the butter with 2 knives (or a pastry blender- so much easier) until the mix looks like coarse meal. Stir in currants (or cranberries).

Break egg into a 1-cup measure, beat lightly with a fork, then fill the cup with sourdough starter until all of it measures 1 cup. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix lightly until just combined (do NOT overmix). Turn out onto lightly floured board and gently knead 8-10 times. Dough should be very soft. You can use more flour - but use as little as possible since it's better for the dough to be too wet than too dry (too much flour creates a brick).

Gently pat dough into an 8" diameter circle and cut into 8 wedges. Brush the tops wtih milk and sprinkle with the raw sugar. Transfer wedges to a lightly greased baking sheet - seperating them from eachother by at least 2 inches.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes until golden.

Yellow Pohvu / Seasoned Flattened Rice Flakes

I went to little India in Artesia for (what felt like) the first time with my friend, LV. I picked up two versions of flattened rice : a "thin" one and a "thick" one. I enjoyed the WTH-is-that-look on LV's face and I hope this recipe will clear up some of that look.


Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
thick poha - 2 cups
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
salt to taste
mustard seeds - 1tspn
thai green chilli - 1 sliced roughly
Curry leaves - about 7
Vegetable oil - 1 tbspn or tspn
Dried Red chilli - 1
Shredded Coconut - 1 tbspn

Method

1. Wash the rice flakes with water and squeeze out the excess water and let it dry a bit in a bowl. To this add the coconut, turmeric, and salt. Mix.

2. On the stove in a wok, heat up the oil. Time to temper it!Add the mustard seeds and red chilli and wait for the popping to begin, once this happens, add the curry leaves and green chillies (enjoy the hissing sound). Saute for about 30 or so seconds and then add the poha.

3. stir until the turmeric is evenly distributed and the mustard seeds are spread out evenly. Takes about 3 minutes.

4. Serve Hot!

there are various versions of this: some people add some sugar and finely chopped potatoes. some add onions. some add carrots and peas...I like it simple.

Maida-Peetaché Bakri / All-purpose Flour Pancake

My go-to breakfast. Actually a lot of the Konkani breakfast recipes that I will be posting shortly are going to be my go-to recipes soon. I love breakfast. I don't usually eat breakfast except when my mom makes it and that's only if I visit India or if she visits here. Time has come to rectify that, so here is my konkani breakfast recipe #1 : maida (all purpose)peet (flour) bakris (dosa/bread/pancake/whatever; everyone should pick up konkani words anyway).

Makes about 4 bakris
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water (give or take, the batter should be fluid but not liquidy)
10 torn up Curry leaves
1 Serrano or about 3 thai chillies (fresh green chillies) roughly chopped
1/2 cup of fresh shredded coconut (can find this frozen in Indian stores)
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn sugar (give or take)
Vegetable oil to cook the batter in a pan.


Method

1. Mix the flour and water until there are absolutely no lumps. To this add the salt, sugar, curry leaves, shredded coconut, and green chillies.

2. The batter should be relatively thick but not too thick that it doesn't fall off a spoon.

3. In a non-stick pan, add some oil and let it heat up at medium-low heat. then using your hand or a ladle, ladle out some of the batter and slowly spread it around until its about the same thickness all over.. a little thinner than a pancake. I just used my hands to spread out the batter.

4. Cover it and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. then uncover, the top should be as in the picture. Turn the heat up just a little and let it brown up on the other side. Flip and let the cooked side brown up.

5. Serve with some butter! that's how I like it, but you could use any leftover curry or eat as it!

Breakfast Martini

This recipe was given to me by a Cocktail Classicist I was interviewing for an article. I gave it a try, and it is pretty tasty! My kind of breakfast. --AnglophileLV

1 1/2 oz Bombay Sapphire gin
3/4 oz fresh lemon juice
3/4 oz Cointreau
1 tsp light marmalade

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a piece of a slice of mini-toast.