Kesari Bath

When we lived in South India, this was a favorite treat at tea shops for breakfast or as a sweet served after a spicy meal at large gatherings. It is super easy to make in under 20 minutes. Sooji is sold in the same section with flours in local shops and comes in small packets. It is very similar to cream of wheat. 

 

Kesari Bath

1/2 cup sooji
1 Tablespoon ghee (for frying)
Palmful of cashews
1 1/2 cups water
1/3 cup sugar
1 saffron thread or a pinch of turmeric*
Palmful of golden raisins
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1-2 Tablespoons ghee

Begin with a hot dry pan. Add sooji and switch heat to low. Stirring frequently over 5-6 minutes of low heat, you should begin to smell the toasted smell of the sooji. Remove from heat onto a plate. In the same pan, heat 1 Tbs ghee over low heat and fry cashews until golden. If you use the fruit variation below, you can fry the fruit here as well. Remove from heat into a small bowl. Into the pan add 1+1/2 cups water, sugar, saffron or the turmeric for color, and raisins. Once the sugar is dissolved, begin adding the toasted sooji into the water in batches, stirring while you pour to prevent lumps forming. Keeping the heat low, add the cashews, cardamom powder, and ghee. Stir well and cover on low for 2-3 minutes. You will know it is cooked when the sooji begins to look translucent. Serve warm. 

Fruit variation: This recipe tastes even better with finely chopped pineapple pieces. You can caramelize the pieces a little when you are frying the cashews, and then add them back into the mixture at the end. You can even use pineapple juice from canned pineapple in place of the water. 

*The turmeric is just for color and will not give the same taste as saffron. It is such a small amount that it does not impart any flavor. I don't have saffron in my pantry so this works just fine. 

Gingerbread Pancakes with Sauteed Apples

I love gingerbread! I'm not talking about gingerbread cookies or biscuits, but soft cakey gingerbread. I think it started in Girl Scouts with my first box of cheap Martha Washington gingerbread topped with a dollop of Cool Whip. I was hooked. This recipe, which is a melding of this one (which is vegan and gluten-free if you need that) from Jessica in the Kitchen and this one from Genius Kitchen has all the right flavors and then some. I think we might have a new pre-Christmas breakfast tradition!

Using our weekend plates. :)

Gingerbread Pancakes with Sauteed Apples

For the apples:
Apples, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 Tablespoons butter
Pinch of salt

Peel and chop enough apples to fill a pan for your family. Add the butter, cinnamon, and a 3-fingered pinch of salt to the pan. Cook over medium heat until apples start to turn a caramel color. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the apples are softened to your liking.

For the pancakes:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup molasses
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil*

Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the wet to the dry and stir until just combined. Don't over mix or you'll get flat pancakes. Cook over a griddle heated to medium heat and just brushed lightly with oil on a paper towel. Flip once bubbles have formed and outer edges are set.

Top pancakes with sauteed apples, butter, and any other toppings your family loves!

*I accidentally omitted the oil, and our pancakes still tasted awesome so you could completely leave that out.

Breakfast So Easy a 5-Year-Old Can Do It!

The title of this post is not an exaggeration, and this recipe has become one of my 5-year-old's weeknight chores a couple days a week. He loves that he can contribute a meal all by himself.

Both of my kids love oatmeal, but this time of year it just feels wrong to eat hot cereal for breakfast. Enter this easy, cold oatmeal breakfast that you can make in under 5 minutes. I have been using the Finish rolled oats that are being packaged locally, and they work great for this recipe. The quantity here is enough to feed my two kids breakfast for two mornings.

Overnight Oatmeal
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup milk
1 cup yogurt (sweetened variety)
2 mashed bananas
Other flavorings to taste: 1 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp cinnamon, or 1-2 Tbs chocolate milk powder

Pour all the ingredients into a plastic tub and mix together. Add optional flavorings according to what you like. Refrigerate overnight and serve cold in the morning.

Now enjoy a little less stress in your morning!

I'm Back with Boiled Eggs!

Well....it's been a while (insert sheepish grin here). Life happens, doesn't it? Like a whole year of life! It's time for me to get back on the horse and begin sharing recipes that work well or adapt well for the kitchen here. I'll set the bar low with a couple recipes a month, and if I do more, then bravo!

Let's start with something so simple that I have found to be a game changer--boiled eggs! I like boiled eggs. I find them to be an easy breakfast if I've precooked some and stashed them in the fridge. One of my children also likes them, but those darn yolks can be so dry that you feel like you're choking them down. We've discovered that boiling them just under hard boiled (no jiggly stuff for me!) is the perfect happy medium. Now, I'm going to throw you a curve ball. Enter the pressure cooker. Perfectly boiled eggs that are easy to peel no matter how fresh the egg. What more could you want? Did I mention that perfectly cooked boiled eggs don't have that sulfury smell either? Yeah...that's a bonus.

Pressure Cooker Boiled Eggs

You'll need:
Eggs
1 cup water
Pressure Cooker
Steamer basket, rack, or folded tea towel
Timer

First, you'll need to put your steamer basket, rack, or folded tea towel into the bottom of your pressure cooker. This is to keep the eggs off the direct heat. I'm not sure what would happen if you didn't, but I saw this somewhere so I use one of those collapsible steamer baskets. Place your eggs on top of the rack. Avoid any eggs with fine cracks as pressure cooking tends to break those open. Pour 1 cup water into the bottom of the cooker. If you're using a tea towel, add enough so that you've got at least 1-2 inches of water standing once the towel absorbs some. Lock down the cooker lid.

Turn on the heat to high. Once you reach full pressure (indicated by the big whistle here), switch the heat to low and set your timer as follows:

3 minutes - soft boiled
5 minutes - medium boiled (ideal, in my opinion)
6 minutes - hard boiled

When the timer rings, for soft or medium boiled you want to do the quick release method by running the pressure cooker under cold water and getting the eggs out immediately. For hard boiled, remove the cooker from the heat and allow the pressure to release naturally over 5 minutes then open. Rinse eggs under cold water or place in a bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process.

Enjoy your perfectly cooked eggs! I like to mark mine with an X when I put them in the fridge so there's no mixing them up with raw eggs.

Morning Sanity Saver: Oatmeal/Porridge Cakes

My kids (and I) love these things. I found them while perusing Eating Well’s quick, healthy breakfast round up. Trying to get off to school in the morning with no major hiccups is an obstacle in our house. It can often make or break our day. I think breakfast can also be an indicator of how the day will go for homeschooling families. If things start off well, it can set a positive tone for the day. We all know what can happen if the day starts off rotten… These are a great change from boxed cereals and work well for children who aren’t into traditional oatmeal/porridge breakfasts. I make 2 batches of these to keep in the freezer. On school mornings when I have power, I pop them in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. When I don’t have power, I take them out the night before and then heat them up in the Miracle Oven on the stove top in morning.

Oatmeal/Porridge Cakes

2½ cups oats

1½ cups milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup honey, maple syrup, or brown sugar

2 Tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup fresh fruit, chopped (apples, bananas, strawberries, blueberries)

Combine the oats and milk in a large bowl. Once mixed, allow to rest 20-30 minutes so the oats can soak up the milk. After the milk has mostly soaked into the oats, add the remaining ingredients and gently stir to combine. You could also opt to put a tablespoon of the fruit on top if you don’t want to mix it in. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with papers if you’re lazy like me. Pour ¼ cup of mixture into each muffin cup. Bake in a 190C oven for 25 to 30 minutes until they spring back like a cake when you poke them. Cool and freeze or refrigerate for future use.

Note: Use porridge specifically labeled as "gluten free" if you need that option. Regular oats cannot be assumed to be gluten-free.

Monkey Breakfast Cookies

I don't know what these cookies should be called, but being loaded with bananas for my little monkeys made me think they should be called Monkey Cookies. These are seriously some of the easiest cookies to make ever! Only 4 ingredients. These are something I can feel good about giving to my kids for breakfast or any other time of day for that matter. Use up those ugly bananas sitting on your counter to make these cookies from The Sweet Life. These are completely safe to eat raw, too, if you're starving while you're making them!

Monkey Breakfast Cookies
1 cup ripe mashed bananas
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1/3 cup peanut butter (try them with crunchy!)
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Combine the bananas, oats, and peanut butter in a bowl. Once the batter is roughly uniform, fold in the chocolate chips. Preheat oven to 170C/350F. Drop cookies by the tablespoon onto the pan, flattening just slightly to help the centers cook more evenly. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Note: If you are gluten-free, you should buy oats specifically marked as "gluten free" and not assume that locally packaged oats are. 

Rolled Biscuits

This will be a quick post because this recipe is so ridiculously easy. In a hurry? Need a bread for the breakfast or dinner table? Biscuits to the rescue! Pull out your homemade baking mix, and get going.

Fancied up with a sausage patty and cheddar cheese!

Rolled Biscuits
2 1/4 cups baking mix
1 cup cold milk

Mix the two ingredients together, pat into a large lump with your hands. Try not to get the mixture too warm with your hands, or you'll get flat biscuits. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until they are about the thickness of the first joint of your pointer finger (3/4 - 1 inch). Using a drinking glass, cut out circles from the dough and place them on a baking sheet. Continue to re-roll the scraps until you get as many biscuits as you can out of the dough. Bake in a 220C/425F oven for 12-15 minutes or until tops are golden. Eat while they're warm!

To make scones, the process is the same, but you might want to apply an egg wash or some milk to the tops to allow for more browning.

Kitchen Staples: Bisquick

I am generally not a fan of boxed mixed for baked goods since I've learned out of necessity how to make many of those from scratch, but this one from Kitchen Simplicity...what a time saver! For our non-American readers, Bisquick is an all purpose baking mix that already has butter, salt, and baking powder mixed in. You can use it to make pancakes, a flaky topping for a pot pie, dumplings for soups, American-style breakfast biscuits (similar to scones), crescent rolls, and more. On a crazy weeknight when I had guests coming over and just needed one extra item, I had hot biscuits in under 20 minutes. I make a large batch of the mix, place it in a ziptop bag, and keep it in my freezer with my favorite recipes written on the bag.

Bisquick Baking Mix
5 cups flour
1/4 cup baking powder
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup/~260g butter, straight from the fridge

Food Processor Method:
Sift all the dry ingredients together and pour into the bowl of the food processor. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and add to the processor. Pulse until you have something that resembles corn meal. Pour into an airtight container and store either in the fridge or freezer.

Hand Method: 
Start by making sure your butter is frozen or you have a hand pastry blender. Sift all the dry ingredients together. Cut the butter into the mixture. If you're using it from the fridge, cut it in using two forks or a pastry blender. If it's from the freezer, you can use a cheese grater to accomplish this quite easily. When it has reached cornmeal consistency, pop into an airtight container and store the same as you would in the food processor method.

To turn these into fluffy pancakes, take 2 cups of mix, add 1 cup of milk and 2 eggs. Mix just until it comes together (lumps are okay!). Cook pancakes on a hot griddle.

For drop biscuits, 1 cup of mix needs about 1/3 cup of milk. Stir until it comes together then drop by spoonfuls onto a pan. Bake in a 230C/450F oven for 10-12 minutes.

For rolled biscuits, see my next post! Get creative. Look up Bisquick online, and you can probably find hundreds of recipes that call for this mix.

Best. Granola. Ever.

Okay, seriously. I've tried different granola recipes over the years for breakfast cereal, but sometimes they're hit or miss. I like mine a bit chunky and crunchy, and sometimes homemade granola comes out more crumbly than the boxed varieties. I started my quest for this recipe when I was packing for an extended family trip to an area where cereal can be quite expensive and was looking for a low sugar variety for me. When this was baking, I knew I had found a winner. The smell was DIVINE--just like banana bread! And the taste...wham bam, thank you, ma'am! No joke. I hope you enjoy my slight twist on this fabulous recipe from Minimalist Baker.

Banana Bread Granola
3 cups oats (GF if you need it)
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
1 1/2 sachets stevia (or 3 Tbsp raw sugar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 Tablespoon flax or chia seed
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (use those black ones!)

In a large mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir until they are uniformly combined. In a small sauce pan over low heat, combine the coconut oil, honey, and vanilla just until the coconut oil and honey have melted to a liquid. Turn off the heat and add the mashed bananas. Slowly pour the banana liquid over the dry ingredients, stirring with a wooden spoon until all the dry ingredients look moistened with the banana mixture. If it looks too dry, mix a little more or add a little more oil. Spread the granola over two baking sheets and place in an oven preheated to 170C/350F. Bake for 20 to 28 minutes, stirring once or twice halfway through baking to get even browning. In the last 10 minutes, watch carefully to ensure it doesn't burn. When it's done, allow to cool and then place in an airtight container.

Now seriously, after smelling that divine goodness, you need to sit down and enjoy a bowl or few handfuls at least! With cold milk, warm milk, plain, or on yogurt, this will be a treat any way you enjoy it.

Greek Style Yogurt

So this is the sound of silence, huh? I so apologize for being so long without posting anything. Thanks to Rachel for not making January a totally quiet month! The good news is that I have been cooking and taking pictures all along. I just have not been able to get posts written and put up. Anyway, let's get this ball rolling again.

Looks like an egg, doesn't it?

If you’ve lived in a developing country for any length of time, you may have at least once considered how people make yogurt. I’m a weirdo so I’ve researched and dabbled in yogurt making with varying degrees of success for years. Sometimes it’s easier to settle for just okay yogurt rather than doing it yourself. Recently, my body has been in a rebellion against sugar and sweets so I have been on a quest to find a yogurt that is somewhere between the super sweet local yogurt and its super sour watery counterpart. Over the years, I’ve also tried a number of different incubation methods, but think I finally found one that is pretty brilliant—the hot case for tortillas and roti! Easy yogurt that only takes about 10 minutes of hands on time and won’t give you diabetes or a sour puss face. Make this about midday or in the morning so you can pop it in the fridge before bed to have it cold for breakfast. Just pick up a little cup of sweetened or unsweetened yogurt from your local dairy to get you started.
 

Greek Style Yogurt
1 liter milk

1 heaping Tablespoon yogurt

2 heaping Tablespoons powdered milk

Heat milk to a boil. Switch the heat to low and let it boil for about 5 minutes. This ensures the milk reaches at least 200F so the proteins in the milk begin to denature. You don’t want to drink milk that has been pasteurized like that, but it is perfect for yogurt. Allow the milk to cool, stirring to avoid hot spots, until you can stick your pinky in and still feel it warm, but not too hot. Try to keep it in for about 10 seconds without it burning you, and that is the right temp. So technical! Place the scoop of yogurt and powdered milk into the hot case. Pour in the warm milk and stir to dissolve the milk powder. Cover the mixture and place in a warm area where it will not get jostled. I then put a hot water bottle on top of the hot case. Give the yogurt a taste test around the 4-6 hour mark, looking for coagulation and how tart you like it. 

Yogurt Making Tips: An oven or microwave is a good spot to park your yogurt during incubation because they are less drafty than the counter. Less time incubating equals sweeter yogurt, but you need enough time for it to solidify. This time of year it takes about 6 hours to reach the flavor I like. Drain the yogurt for several hours over cheesecloth or a towel in the fridge to enjoy a nice thick yogurt. Use a whisk to whip the yogurt to a smooth consistency, and dump off any whey that comes to the top. Flavor your yogurt with a drizzle of honey or maple syrup and some fruit.

Catching Up and Chocolate Syrup

Hello again! Yes, it has been a ridiculous long break since my last post, but here's what's been going on since then. At the end of June, I bid adieu to my days a student. Whoo hoo! I am officially, as in on paper, an educator. I decided that after 6 years of nearly non-stop studying I deserved the whole month of July to do whatever I wanted. Obviously, that ended up not including blogging. When August hit, we took the plunge into homeschooling our kindergartener and sort of mom schooling my little man. He mostly just does a little bit then wanders around pretending to be this or that. Anyway, September is literally days away so it's time to get back on the horse.

So, on to the chocolate syrup. My kids drink milk every morning and most afternoons. For a while, they insisted on always having warm milk with chocolate malt powder. When I finally convinced them that it just wasn’t right to drink warm milk in summer, we had the problem of chocolate powder not mixing into cold milk. Yes, it’s possible, but far more work than I like to manage in my foggy morning state...and yes, I realize I could just say no to chocolate, but I think I'm okay with giving in to this one. Chocolate syrup to the rescue, except it comes with a pretty hefty price tag. Then, I remembered seeing years ago how to make syrup yourself on Good Eats. I tried Alton Brown’s recipe, and it totally works to the point that my kids don’t know the difference. I’ve adapted his recipe to be the perfect amount to fit into a recycled chocolate syrup bottle. Now, this does require the addition of corn syrup or Golden syrup to keep things smooth and flowy. I doubt it would work very well without that so keep that in mind if you experiment.

Chocolate Syrup

3/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Put all the ingredients into a heavy bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil and just boil until all the solids like the sugar and cocoa have melted (use a whisk to keep it smooth). It only takes about 1 minute of rolling boil. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature then pour it into your airtight container or bottle. Keep it in the fridge where it will thicken, and it will last for several months.

Eggs, eggs, eggs!

One of our Easter traditions that we rarely miss is dying eggs. We even did them when the kids were babies who took naps during egg dying! We have been fortunate in recent years to receive egg decorating kits from America, but unfortunately, today's fancy kits tend to not work very well on brown eggs. In the U.S. you have to pay more to get brown eggs, and the white ones work really nicely with the metallic, pearlescent, and foily type kits. Our work-around is to still dye the eggs the old-fashioned way because brown eggs dye as beautiful jewel tones much brighter than the pastels you get with the white eggs.

Eggs dyed and pearlized

In case you're not sure how to do this, all you need is 1/2 cup hot water, 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar, and 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the local food coloring (10-20 drops of American-style). Drop the boiled eggs down into the dye for about 5 minutes. Send your kids off to do something else during this process or give them a light colored crayon to doodle on the other eggs with. Pull them out, and let them dry. If you happen to have one of those fancy kits, this would be the time to use it as they will definitely show up now!

Banana Brûlée Oatmeal

Oatmeal is one of those comforting breakfast foods that says winter to me. We've been eating a lot of it lately, but I'm still working on a way to get my daughter to love something other than instant oatmeal packets, which are pretty pricey here. I've dabbled in the Make Your Own Instant Oatmeal as is explained at Simple Dollar and have been moderately successful at something close to packaged oatmeal. For a special Sunday morning breakfast, though, I wanted something closer to a hearty baked oatmeal. When I was in the States over Christmas, my nanny had some food magazines for me, and a number of them had versions of baked oatmeal with a brûlée topping. Here's a tweaked version that works well for us. The oats that come from India don't stand up to soaking overnight as well as steel cut oats so I skip that, but the end product is still pretty tasty. If you use steel cut oats, follow the recommended liquid to oats ratio on the package, soak overnight in the boiled water, cook the oats until tender in the morning, and follow the rest of the recipe.

Can you tell I have only one good location for photos?

Banana Brulee Oatmeal

1 1/2 cups oats
3 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 regular sized ripe bananas or 3-4 smaller local ones
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup toasted nuts (walnuts, almonds, or pecans if you're in the US)

Bring the water to a boil and add the oats. Cook over low heat until the oats are done. This usually takes about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the salt, vanilla, and milk, stirring to combine. Pour into a baking dish. Turn on the broiler. My oven has a knob you can turn for just the top heating element, and you just crank the heat. Slice bananas on a diagonal into thin slices. Spread them over the top of the oatmeal. Sprinkle with the brown sugar. Place the dish under the broiler for about 4 minutes or until the brown sugar looks caramely and melted. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the toasted nuts.

No electricity morning version: Toast the nuts in a pan over low heat until fragrant. After the oatmeal is cooked, add all the other ingredients and mix together. Top with the nuts. This method tastes slightly different, but it's still really good.

The verdict with my daughter--empty bowl. 'Nuff said.

Pork Breakfast Sausage

I had lived in South Asia for about 5 years before I ever had breakfast sausage at someone's house. The woman had been making it for years and acted as though it was a cinch to make. Turns out, it is if you have access to ground pork. Pork was hard to come by where I lived in India so I guess that's why I never even looked into it. If you make sausage in America, you need to grind in extra fat because pigs are engineered to be more lean these days. In the less developed world where fat is not on everyone's radar, most ground pork comes with a hefty portion of fat, more than enough to make a good sausage. One ingredient, sage, is not so easy to find in South Asia, but some organic herb growers do sell it. That's one that I definitely bring from the States for holidays anyway, but it also grows really well here if you can get your hands on it. This is my adaptation of Alton Brown's Breakfast Sausage to make it a little more practical for every day use.

Pork Breakfast Sausage
500g pork mince (choose a pack with lots of fat)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp red chili powder, optional
1/4 tsp red chili flakes (thank you, Pizza Hut packets!), optional

Combine all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Mix until everything is thoroughly incorporated. Add the pork and mix by hand until the spices have been evenly distributed through the meat. Cover the bowl and pop in the refrigerator for about an hour or up to over night. At this point, you can either form into patties or use it as crumbled sausage and fry as you would any other breakfast sausage. If making patties, I like to make a small "test patty" first and adjust the seasoning for the whole batch based on that one.

I find that the red chili powder (not American chili powder) and the flakes really boost the sausage flavor to another level so I sometimes add a little more. Enjoy!

Breakfast Casserole

I love breakfast--all the time. One of my favorite breakfasts is the kind of casserole people make for holiday mornings. Why they only make them for those occasions, I totally don't get so I make them whenever. Since I only needed half a pack of ground pork last night, I mixed the rest up to make sausage. This made a large round casserole dish worth, more than enough for our small family for dinner and breakfast leftovers.

Sausage Breakfast Casserole
1/2 pound sausage
2 cups bread, cubed
1 cup cheese
5 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon mustard powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Brown the sausage in a frying pan and drain. Preheat over to 160C. Butter the bottom of your baking dish. Add the bread cubes. Personally, I prefer a heartier bread for this so it doesn't get soggy and has some bite to it. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk, mustard powder, salt, onion powder, and cheese. Pour over the bread. Top the dish with the sausage. Place in a hot oven and bake for about 1 hour. If the top begins to brown too fast, you can cover it with foil.

I do have a confession after making this tonight though. I just don't have the patience to wait one hour for eggs. So... if you're at all like me, considering electricity/gas consumption and not just being impatient (not!), bump up the heat to 180/200. Check it after 30 minutes to see if the eggs have set. If not, give it another 10-15 minutes. That's how I always do quiche so I assume it should work here as well.