Veg Malai Toasties (or Rava French Toast) by Trisha Rudra

There are days, when I’m bouncy and enthusiastic, and there are days when I am just feeling like a big old sack of potatoes. But food has to be eaten, and food has to be cooked to be eaten…especially breakfast, because that’s how you start the day. I won’t go into a tirade about how we shouldn’t skip breakfast, because we all know that. So whatever the rest of the day entails, we usually try to eat a full brekkie 🙂

And because today I was bored and didn’t want to slave behind the kitchen counter, I made a quick pick-me-up breakfast, pure veg and no compromise on taste 😉

Trisha Rudra is a foodie fanatic, self-taught baker and home chef, ardent reader, photographer and enthusiastic traveler. In her words — “Armed with a Bachelor’s in Advertising and a Master’s degree in English Literature, I began working with content right from college, and spent over a decade in the field, until I quit the corporate world to pursue my passion. What began as simple cooking, turned into full-fledged blogging, and soon, a small home entrepreneurship, that is now my bread and butter. I currently run a confectionery and food business from home called Trisha’s Kitchen Alchemy, and work every day with one of my biggest passions, food!

These toasties are an innovation of the French Toast (that is neither French, nor a toast), and is made with Semolina or Cream of wheat, also known as Rava and Sooji. This is also quite a common recipe, made across India for and by veg-loving people who cannot eat eggs or want to avoid eggs.

It’s a simple recipe and one that you can even make ahead of time; make the topping, or simply apply them on the bread pieces and refrigerate, ready to fry before serving. I have skipped onion and garlic in this, but you can use them for the added flavour.

Ingredients:

Bread slices (Brown, white, wheat, your choice) – 10 (I cut them into little roundels, optional)
Semolina/Rava/Sooji – 1/2 cup
Carrots – 1/2 cup, grated
French beans – about 1/2 cup, chopped finely
Tomato – 1, diced finely
Capsicum – 1/2 cup, chopped finely
Coriander – finely chopped, also 1 cup
Malai (or use cream if you don’t have malai) – 4 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Turmeric – a pinch
Chili powder – 1/2 tsp
Oil or ghee – for toasting/shallow frying

Method:

Mix the chopped veggies, malai and seasonings together to form a tight batter, almost like a thick paste.
Coat each bread slice liberally with the semolina mixture and keep aside.
Heat a non-stick tawa or pan and rub some ghee or oil on it.
Lay the bread slices sooji-side down on the pan and lightly roast/toast/shallow fry them for about 3 mins, flipping over and frying them on the other side for a minute or so, or until the bread have been well-toasted.
Take out the toasties on to a plate, and serve hot with ketchup or chutney of choice.

Note:

You can add onion and garlic if you want, gives a nice flavour.
substitute the malai with curd if you are feeling health-conscious.
You may even grill the toasties in the oven.
You can saute the veggies before adding them to the sooji, if you feel like doing so.