Who Loves Breakfast

I love breakfast. The first meal of the day. Most days I eat oatmeal, just because I love it. Weekends, we have eggs. But sometimes, you know, I just have to make other things. One weekend favorite is scones. My husband has come to love scones, where once he wouldn't touch them. So now, he looks forward to them, whenever I do make them. Another thing I sometimes make of a weekend is a sauce I use to go over our eggs. It is something I came up with long ago, while living in Guatemala, though it is not a Guatemalan recipe at all. Biscuits used to be my favorite of breakfast breads, but now the scones have supplanted them as "favorite." I do still make biscuits, on occasion. 

I have written about the grain mill my husband got for me. I use it so often, it takes no thought at all to come up with new grain mixtures for breads of any kind, including scones or muffins. Recently, I have made a recipe three times, altering it slightly each time, but I believe the third time was the charm. All of the tests were great. However, the first time, I used maple flavoring plus some leftover "Maple Flav'r'Bites that once upon a time King Arthur Flour carried. Sadly, those and the Cinnamon Flav'r'Bites have been discontinued, though they were some of my most favorite things to put in my scones. So, now that they don't exist anymore, obviously I couldn't put a recipe out that calls for them, so I went on to round two. This time, I made a mistake in which seed I was grinding for the flour, so while they were great, I had really wanted to have teff and amaranth, some of the tiniest seeds available. So, on to round three, and this time, I used some tried and true additions to the scones (white chocolate chips and craisins) and they were perfect. 

I did use rye as part of the mixture. Teff and amaranth are certainly not on everyone's pantry shelves either, I realize. This recipe is going to appeal only to those ad diversified in their tastes as I am. So, if rye flour is not in your pantry either, well..... 

Teff Amaranth Scones 

Teff Amaranth Scones

Makes 8 scones

• 2 tablespoons whole teff, ground (or ¼ cup ground teff / 0.9 oz / 24 grams)
• 2 tablespoons whole amaranth, ground (or ¼ cup ground teff / 0.9 oz / 24 grams) 
• 2 tablespoons whole rye grains, ground (or ¼ cup ground teff / 0.9 oz / 24 grams)
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour (6.2 ounces / 175 grams)
• ¼ cup brown sugar (1.45 ounces / 42 grams)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder (0.4 ounces / 11 grams)
• 1 teaspoon salt (0.2 ounces / 6 grams)
• 5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter (2.1 ounces / 60 grams)
• ½ cup white baking chips
• ½ cup dried cranberries/craisins
• ¾ cup heavy cream (6 ounces / 180 ml)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment, set aside.

In a bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients. Cut in the butter as for pie dough, or (if your hands are cool, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until no large pieces remain. Add in the white baking chips and stir. Pour in the cream and with a fork, quickly toss the wet into the dry until it begins to come together. With hands, bring the mixture to a ball. If too dry, add a little more cream, one tablespoon at a time, until all the dry ingredients come together. If it is too wet, add 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour at a time, until the mixture will hold together.

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface (no more flour should be needed) and pat into an 8-inch diameter round. Cut across the dough 4 times, to make 8 wedge-shaped scones. Set them, at least an inch apart, on the parchment lined sheet. Bake the scones for approximately 16 minutes, or until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed. 

NOTES: The photo shows my second attempt, where I used caramel bits in the scones. I do not advise this, unless you have strong teeth! Caramel chips, would be better, if going for that flavor. The white baking chips and craisins can be substituted with nuts of your choice and whatever you like in your scones. Just keep the amounts of flavor additions to a cup, or less.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

That sauce to go over eggs that I mentioned? While I haven't made it in a while, when I do, we both love it so much. I have been making this for going on 50 years now. It is a tomato and bacon mixture, and goes together fairly quickly - while getting other things ready for breakfast, I let it simmer to the side. The photo I am showing here shows my omelet. I happen to be one of those people who love cilantro. I generally make my omelet with as much cilantro chopped into the eggs as the eggs can hold! One might say that I use the eggs as a binder to my cilantro. So, don't be shocked at my omelet, okay?

Tomato Bacon Salsa for Eggs

Makes enough for 4  servings

Tomato Bacon Salsa for Eggs

• 2 slices thick-sliced bacon (or 3 - 4 slices of thin sliced), cut into ¼-inch wide strips
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• 1 - 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced finely
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 4 Roma tomatoes, cut into small bits
• ½ cup tomato ketchup
• a few grinds of fresh black pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste

Place the bacon into a cold skillet and turn heat to medium. Cook the bacon to your taste, then drain on paper toweling and set aside. Drain off all but 1 - 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat in the pan, then add in the onion, sauteeing until tender and light golden. Add in the garlic and green pepper and cook about 10 minutes more, until soft. Add in the tomatoes and simmer until the tomatoes have broken down. Return the bacon to the skillet with the ketchup, salt and pepper and simmer just meld flavors. Serve over eggs, any style.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Biscuits are so good. I have always loved biscuits. My husband is not so keen on them though, so I do not make them so often.  These are made based similarly to the basic recipe for scones, and they come out just beautifully. They can be made either cut out or patted into a rectangle and simply cut into squares.

Perfect Biscuits

Makes about twelve 2½-inch diameter biscuits

Perfect Biscuits

• 2¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold, unsalted butter
• ¾ cup (6-ounces) heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons sour cream

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Have ready a baking sheet. Line with parchment for easy cleanup, though this is not necessary.

In a mixing bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients and stir. Cut in the butter, as for pie dough, until only very small bits can be seen. In a small bowl, stir together the cream and sour cream, then pour into the mixing bowl and with a fork, toss the mixture until it comes together. Turn out onto a clean surface and pat out to about ½ - ⅝-inch thickness. If cutting with a biscuit cutter, cut out as many as possible, setting them onto the baking sheet, at least ½-inch apart. Gather the scraps without working them and pat out once more, cutting more biscuits as possible. Bake the biscuits for about 15 minutes, or until puffed and beautifully golden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, as I love my scones, I am going to put one more recipe here! These are some oldies. I haven't made these for years now, but they were certainly delicious, and worthy of a place on the breakfast table!

Brown Sugar & Oat Bran Scones

Brown Sugar & Oat Bran Scones

Makes 8 scones

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup cake flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons oat bran
• 2½ teaspoons baking powder 
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground mahlab, optional
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter
• ¾ cup chopped walnuts
• ¾ cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment, to save on cleanup afterwards.

Place the first 8 ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir. Add in the butter and cut in with a pastry cutter or hands, if they are cool. Once butter is incorporated, stir in the walnuts, then add the buttermilk and stir with a fork until the mixture begins to come together in a single mass.

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and pat together into an 8-inch diameter round. With a long knife, slice the dough across four separate times, to form 8 scone wedges. Set the wedges onto the lined baking sheet at least one-inch apart, then bake on a middle rack for about 16 minutes. Watch carefully; ovens vary.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Continuing on an Indian Theme

I guess there are likely many readers who do not have my interest in Indian cuisine, and if so, I apologize. I, however, believe I could exist happily on Indian foods almost exclusively. And so, I continue happily experimenting almost weekly.

For a long time, I had been reading about idli. Idli are little steamed dumplings that are made with (usually) rice and urad dal / black gram, skinned and split. They can be made including other things, such as millet and likely other things that I am not aware of. Yet. The rice should be a parboiled type of rice, preferably a short grain but other parboiled rice is fine. Additional rice often used is either "poha," a parboiled and flattened rice (there are white and red rice varieties - I have the red rice type, hence the color of my Idli), or leftover cooked rice. The urad dal is often soaked with fenugreek seeds said to aid in the fermentation process.
 

Idli - Coconut Chutney - Idli Podi

The process for making idli is a little complicated, due to the need for a long pre-soak of the dal and rice, then grinding them and mixing together to ferment overnight, then using this resultant batter to make the idli, which requires an idli steamer or at the very least some rounded small bowls and a rack for a skillet large enough to hold them with a lid on. This last is part of why I hadn't made them sooner, and as now I am the proud owner of an Idli steamer - problem solved. 

I was highly curious about these little dumplings, and intrigued about the flavor profile. Intrigued also about the fermentation process (which, to date, has not actually happened for me - more about that later). Curious about whether they would actually come out? And even with all that, I went years and years with idli on my "to-do" list, yet only first tried them last year. I was also intrigued by the fact that these are considered breakfast food in south India.

When I first tried to make idli, and after having read about them extensively, I set about the soaking, the grinding, and then waiting for the fermentation, which supposedly has the batter growing to about twice its volume. This last did not happen. In this case, I have read, one simply adds baking soda to the mixture before pouring into the steamer molds. But, why didn't my batter ferment? I thought maybe I needed better rice? Maybe I needed fresher dal? So I ordered both, and set about trying again. Still no fermentation. It has been very cold up here in the north, and cold can certainly inhibit or significantly slow fermentation. We are planning to move out to Arizona soon, and I will have to try once out there. It will certainly be warmer!

I had made Sambar (a soup-like dish consisting of a pureed lentil base with tamarind and vegetables and also a breakfast dish) previously, to see what those flavors were all about, and absolutely love, love, loved it! Once I made the idli, despite the lack of fermentation, I truly loved eating them with the sambar. And, if you have batter left over, you can add a little water to it and use it to make Dosa, which are large crepes that are cooked golden on one side. These crepes can be eaten with the same things that idli are eaten with: any chutney of choice, but commonly coconut chutney, idli podi, sambar.

Often one sees photos online and in blogs of lovely white idli. Mine have so far been this light tan color, likely because of using red poha rice and possibly a higher than usual amount of fenugreek seeds. This in no way changes the flavor, though I might try making them with leftover rice some time, just to see how they come out. 

Idli

Idli

Makes about 24 small (3-inch) dumplings 

½ cup Poha rice or leftover cooked rice
1 cup parboiled rice or idli rice
⅓ cup urad dal
1½ teaspoons fenugreek seed
¾ teaspoon salt
(½ teaspoon baking soda, if needed)

Early in the day: In one mixing bowl, place the Poha or leftover cooked rice and short grain rice and cover with water by at least an inch. In a separate bowl, place the urad dal and fenugreek seeds and cover these with water by at least an inch. Set the bowls aside for at least 5 hours.

Drain the rice, reserving the water aside. Place rice into a blender container and blend, adding only the minimum amount of the soaking liquid needed to make a cake-batter-like texture. Pour this batter into a large bowl and set aside.

Drain the urad dal mixture, again reserving the soaking water. Place the soaked dal into the blender container and blend, only adding in enough of the soaking water needed to make a cake-batter-like consistency, then pour this into the bowl with the rice batter. Cover the bowl lightly and let set on the counter to ferment overnight (to date, my batter has not risen), or at least 8 hours.

If the batter has not risen, add in ½ teaspoon baking soda before making the idli. Stir in the salt, mixing well to combine.

Grease 3½-inch idli molds lightly. Spoon in the mixture just barely filling the molds. Stack the molds and set the rack into a pot large enough to accommodate the idli rack with simmering water that does not reach to the bottom of the lowest idli. Cover and steam the idli for about 8 or 9 minutes, or until they are puffed and spring back when pressed. Or, check as for cake, inserting a toothpick in the center; they are done when the toothpick comes out clean.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In all the restaurants I have been to try Indian foods, coconut chutney is always there. To date, it has not impressed me at all. Still, it is so often mentioned as an accompaniment to idli, dosa and so many other Indian foods, I had to try it. Still, fresh coconut is not always available this far north, so I did use desiccated coconut shreds. Coconut is called Nariyal, in Hindi and has lots of other names in the many other Indian languages and dialects. I made my own version of coconut chutney and it tastes good. Not great, at least to me - though I truly love coconut. I have been eating it, and enjoying it with idli, dosa and with another pancake-like bread called Adai, recipe coming soon. It is very nice. But I just can't get truly excited with it. It has been the same, no matter where I have tasted it, so it isn't just my recipe. I thought, all things considered, that my recipe was really good, in comparison to some I have tasted in restaurants.

My coconut chutney was green-tinged, due to using a fresh green jalapeno pepper in the mixture. This can be avoided by adding a thinner skinned hot pepper such as Thai chilies or Serrano peppers.  

Coconut Chutney - Nariyal Chatni

Coconut Chutney or Nariyal Chatni

Made 1¾ cups

1 cup desiccated, unsweetened coconut
½ cup water for soaking
1 teaspoon coconut oil
2 teaspoons channa dal / desi chickpeas
2 thin slices fresh ginger
1 green hot chili, more optional
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon tamarind paste

TEMPERING:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 dried red chili
8 - 10 curry leaves, lightly chopped
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1 pinch asafetida

Soak the desiccated coconut in the half-cup of water in the blender container while assembling the remaining ingredients. Heat a skillet to medium and add the 1 teaspoon coconut oil, then the channa dal. Stir constantly until the dal has turned a deep golden color. Add this to the blender container, along with the slices of ginger, the green chili (remove seeds for less heat), salt and tamarind paste. Blend finely and check for liquid. It should be slightly runny. Pour into a bowl. (For a whiter chutney, skip the green chili and add another 1 or two red chilies to the tempering mixture below.)

"Tempering" is nothing more than frying together some ingredients that will add lots of flavor, then pouring them into the dish. Heat a skillet and add in the tablespoon of coconut oil. Add in the asafetida, dried chili, curry leaves and mustard seeds and cook, stirring until the seeds begin to pop, then immediately pour this over the chutney in the bowl and serve.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Another accompaniment for idli is called Idli Podi ("podi" meaning powder, as far as I can ascertain). It is also called Milagai Podi ("milagai" means red chilies), if adding plenty of red chilies to the mixture. This powdered spice is used with oil. dipping the idli or other kind of bread-like item into the oil, then the powder and this acts as a replacement for a liquid chutney, especially if using these for lunch boxes. Or the powder can be used alongside other chutneys and condiments. It is quite delicious and really jazzes up the idli dumplings. 

Making this powder requires toasting a lot of different seeds, lentils and other items to a nice toasty color. The amount of chili to add is completely up to the individual making it.  

Idli Podi or Milagai Podi

Makes about ¾ cup

Idli Podi or Milagai Podi

¼ cup urad/urid dal
¼ cup channa dal/bengal gram
¼ cup dried, unsweetened coconut
¼ cup packed curry leaves
2 tablespoons white sesame seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds  
2 - 10 dried red chilies, to taste
½ teaspoon asafetida
1 - 1½ teaspoons salt, to taste
2 teaspoons palm sugar, optional

Heat a dry skillet over medium to medium low heat. Add in the urad dal and roast them, stirring constantly, until they are a deep golden color. Turn out onto a plate to cool. Repeat this same process with the channa dal and roast until golden brown; this may take a little longer. Turn out to cool with the urad dal. Repeat the process with the coconut, stirring constantly till golden, not burnt (this will happen quickly - be alert), then turn out to cool. Add the curry leaves and stir until they are crisp, then turn out to cool. Add in the sesame seeds and cook, stirring until lightly golden. Add to the plate of cooling spices. Repeat with the coriander seeds until very fragrant and add these to the plate to cool. If you want the extra heat, keep the seeds with the chili peppers, otherwise, crack them open and discard seeds. Toast the chilies until they start to change color, then turn out to cool. Briefly toast the asafetida until it smells of onions, then add to the plate.

Place the spices and dals by batches, as needed, into a spice grinder and grind to preference, from quite coarse to very fine, then add in the salt and sugar and mix well. 

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.