Spicy Tava Fried Besan- Egg- Bread Toast.

“Spicy Tava Fried Besan- Egg- Bread Toast” … me and bread dishes come a long way; from childhood to now with little changes on journey … while everybody wished to eat dosa, idly, oondi, shevai etc. I sheepishly looked around for some bread slices so that I could savour them dunked in any available gravy dish/ bhaji/ chutney and munch on and my fondness still continues … these days almost everything we relished on growing days are considered unhealthy and the confusion builds up every few months with increasing number of food items … to me, anything consumed in limits is good, so I went ahead and enjoyed these for breakfast after a long time … Yummilicious …

** If I choose to write about my fondness for bread dishes which I have often mentioned on my old posts, I am sure to run into reams of pages, so I will just refrain myself from doing so. Let me just say I love my loaf of bread very much and I am thankful for it, for standing by me on my down days, providing me the strength to bounce back. So have eggs been my companion and in unison they are a wonderful teammate that can be trusted upon to provide the right amount of proteins, fat and carbohydrates. I am not an nutritionist, so I can’t vouch for it, but I speak only on my own experience.

** As for besan- egg- bread toast, it’s a very old recipe that dates back to 1990’s, to be precise its from my college days when I prepared these for a quick fix of meal when amma needed to attend functions and I was more than game to skip lunch so that she need not bother about preparing the same. Those days, I enjoyed preparing omelette, toast/ sandwich, maggi and a few other dishes that were quick and easy one’s. Well, the journey has been a long one and its almost 6 decades now and I still miss those fun filled days, luckily hubby too loves sandwiches and we happily have them for breakfast.

** Here is my simple recipe for “Spicy Tava Fried Besan- Egg- Bread Toast” … my style … tastes awesome, do try it ...

** In a glass/ ceramic bowl add 2 eggs (motto/ andey) and beat them well with an electric/ manual egg beater and keep it aside.

** Add to the above : One finely chopped large sized onion (piyavu/ kanda), 4-5 green chillies (tarni mirsanga/ hari mirchi), 8-10 curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbevu) and handful of coriander leaves (kottambari pallo/ dhania). Add in a pinch of turmeric (haldi) powder, ½ tsp of ginger (alle’/ adrak) grated or paste, ½ tsp of garlic (losun/ lehsun) grated or paste, a large pinch of crushed ajwain (vonvo/ carrom seeds), salt (namak/ meeta) to taste and mix evenly until smooth.

** In a another bowl add 2-3 tblsp of besan (chane peeta/ bengal gram flour) with ½ cup of water and beat well to bring it to a smooth paste without any lumps. Add this to the above egg mixture and mix all together to a thick batter until smooth. If the batter is too thick then you can add required amount of water (I did not) and mix well.

** Heat a large sized iron/ non stick tava, when hot, lower the heat to minimum and apply some ghee/ toop all over liberally and place 3-4 slices of fresh bread slices depending upon the size of the tava. Fry the bread on hot tava for 2-3 minutes only. Now apply ghee on the top side of the bread slices and flip them over.

** Now on the lightly fried slice of bread that’s facing upwards gently add 2 large tablespoons of prepared besan- egg mixture on the center and spread evenly to cover the bread slice. Let cook on medium heat until bottom side of the bread slice turns crispy and the top side looks done. This will take about 3-4 minutes in all.

** Now add a tsp of melted ghee on top, spread it a little bit and then carefully flip the bread so that the applied besan- egg mixture is now on bottom side touching tava. Gently press the bread a little bit with help of spatula for proper frying of the mixture. Let cook until done, say for about another 2-3 minutes. If you want that roasted texture then raise the heat to high and let cook for 1-2 minutes and it will be done.

** When besan- egg mixture has cooked well, flip it back and check to make sure, if need be, flip back and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Do not hurry the process as the bread absorbs egg mixture, so its needs proper cooker lest it remains mushy and unpleasant. When done remove from tava and immediately place it on a serving tray and continue with remaining bread slices following the same method once again.

** In all, I got 7 bread slices toasted with the above mention quantity of besan- egg mixture. You may prepare the batter as required depending upon the quantity you need as per your family requirement and need.

** “Spicy Tava Fried Besan- Egg- Bread Toast” is done and ready to be served. Always serve bread toast freshly prepared- hot during breakfast or anytime you want to serve them as once they turn cold they somewhat limp out and loose out on taste. The addition of besan makes the toast crispier giving it the taste of bajia/ bajo/ fritters which will definitely appeal to young and old alike. Tastes best served simple with tomato ketchup, though you may serve it with some coriander coconut chutney for extra taste, if desired too. In all a tasty toast with the goodness of double protein ie besan and egg which makes it a must to be tried out if like us, you and your family too loves eggs.

** You can serve the toast as it is or cut into 2 triangles or 4 squares, they do look lovely when served in bite sized pieces. I was in a hurry as I was already late to office, so did not bother, it is only much later when I check on the pictures clicked that I realized I should have cut them to triangles for better visuals. Nevertheless, its's the taste that matters, Isn’t it? so its fine, maybe next time you will see squares or triangles. Remember to adjust the spices according to your family preference. I will be sharing more delicious sandwich, toast and other bread recipes, until then try this out and enjoy with your family and friends.