Bread Kai Pola - Malabar Iftar recipe

It is simply amazing how simple ingredients come together to form a perfect cuisine. This Pola recipe combines egg with bread and plantain to form a delectable snack. It was only recently that I was introduced to Malabar cuisines and I am loving them. I definitely intend to try more of the Malabar flavors.

Quite co-incidentally, during my recent visit to India, my aunt, in order to save overripe plantains from rotting away introduced me to this recipe. I liked the combination and ventured to add bread also into the recipe to make it a wholesome dish.

Here is the recipe - a simple quick win snack.

Ingredients

1. Eggs - 5 no.s
2. Plantain - 4 medium size
3. Bread - 6 slices
4. Sugar - 2 tbsp
5. Milk - 1/4 cup
6. Salt - 1 pinch
7. Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
8. Ghee - 2 - 3 tbsp
9. Cashewnuts - 2 tbsp chopped
10. Raisins - 2 tbsp

Method

Cut the plantain into cubes and shallow fry them in ghee until the yellow color of the plantain begins to turn brown. Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in the same ghee and keep aside.

Chop the bread into small squares. I used brown bread as the healthier option, you could substitute with white bread as well.

Break open the eggs and beat it well along with the milk, salt, sugar and cinnamon powder.

Add the fried plantains and the bread squares into the beaten eggs.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet and grease it with ghee. Pour in the mixture to the pan, top it with raisins and cashew and heat on low flame covered for 5 minutes. 

Pre-heat the oven for ten minutes at 180 degree centigrade and transfer the skillet to the oven at the same temperature.

Bake it uncovered until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Remove it from the oven and keep it covered with a aluminium foil for ten minutes before slicing and serving it.

You may also note - 

1. The riper the plantains you use, the better the taste
2. You could try a combination of fried and fresh plantains for better flavors
3. Once you add the bread squares, transfer to skillet immediately in order to prevent the bread from absorbing the entire mixture.

Creamy Peanut Butter

It is hard to find anyone who wouldn't love gorging a toast slathered with peanut butter - be it creamy or chunky! A cup of coffee and peanut butter toast forms my ideal breakfast on a weekday.

I had my first taste of peanut butter during my hostel days when a friend's father got it from Dubai. Back then peanut butter had not gained the current popularity in India. Peanut butter slathered on Marie biscuit was a hot favorite snack in college. And on those nostalgic days we still do it. 

For those of you who love peanut butter and never gave a thought of making it at home - here is how you make it. It doesn't take you more than 30 minutes and even lesser if you already have roasted peanuts handy. Give it a thought. It is any day better than the store bought peanut butter which we inadvertently put into our shopping cart at the supermarket. It can be easily stored for almost a month in an airtight container.

For the ones who would love to lick on peanut butter, here is the recipe - 

Ingredients

Peanuts- 1/2 kg

Honey - 2 tbsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Method

Dry roast the peanuts in a pan for around 10 minutes on medium flame.

Let it cool and remove the skin of the peanuts, alternatively you also get to buy skinned roasted peanuts which saves you the job of roasting and peeling.

In a blender, process together the peanuts and salt for a minute. Scrape the edges of the blender and drizzle in the oil and honey. Process for 2 minutes until smooth. The oil helps in getting the desired creamy consistency. I added honey for the sweetness, you may replace honey with sugar if you like your peanut butter sweet.

Transfer to an air tight container and store for up to a month without refrigerating. Even more refrigerating.