Baked Bean and Egg Toasties

When Nandita's (of Saffron Trail) WBB#7 theme was Baking, I scratched my head. Because I like baking and have a few muffins, breads and cakes up my sleeve but I didn't think I would eat any of it for breakfast. Even the savoury ones I couldn't really see myself getting up in the morning and baking (and of course eating!).

Then I remembered! I had come across this recipe ages and ages ago (from an unremembered source) but I had modified it to suit my indian snacking needs. Instead of the baked beans and egg, I would make them with whatever curry was leftover in the fridge for unexpected guests. This was impressive enough for my guests! :)

So I thought I shall come back to the original authentic Aussie recipe. Baked beans is a true Aussie icon. So much so that when Shane Warne went to India in 1998 for World tour he couldn't live just plain old Indian food (please note the sarcasm!) that he had to get a pallet of baked beans to keep him happy. It is a typical Aussie breakfast to have this with toast. Baked beans is nothing much more than cooked navy beans in tomato sauce. So I guess this a twist to the average baked bean breakfast. Enjoy! :)

The recipe below is for one toasty so just make as many as you need. I used a muffin tray for this, but hindsight is a beautiful thing, and I think you are better off using small souffle bowls or a texan muffin pan.

Baked Bean and Egg Toasties

Ingredients
1 bread slice- a day old is preferable and crusts are to be removed.
2 tbsp baked beans- from the can or cooked navy beans mixed in tomato sauce.
1 egg
salt and pepper- to taste.

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius.
2. Wet the bread and squeeze out excess water. You may want to roll it out lightly othewise just pat with your hand.
3. Now carefully line the souffle dish or muffin tray with the bread.
   
4. Put in oven for about 15 mins or until the bread has started to regain its original texture.
5. In each shell (still in muffin tray or dish), place about two spoons of baked beans and then crack an egg on top. Alternatively you can put some left over curry.
6. Place in the oven for another 15 mins or until the egg has cooked. Or the curry has warmed up or crispy on top.
7. Remove from dishes/muffin tray and serve with salt and pepper.

Semiya Upma

Living in a foreign country, most people refer to breakfast as being toast, cereal and orange juice. I had a traditional Indian mum and a hard core Andhra husband (I think mentioned this already!). This means that my breakfasts was far from the typical Aussie breakfast. When people ask me what I had for breakfast I struggle to answer. This is because I don't know how to explain what idli, dosas, attukulu, uggani (and the list goes on) even on weekdays. So when I came across Nandita's Breakfast blogging I thought this was good opportunity to explain my typical breakfast.

Due to demanding time constraints on weekday morning, my mum used to try and do breakfast that will only take 20 minutes from start to finish. One of these breakfasts was upma (can loosely to be considered a semolina porridge). And I used to hate it. She was either forced to make an alternative (well really give me the leftovers) or I resorted to 2 minute noodles. Now that I have my own place and I am doing the cooking, we have upma about once a week. And I eat it. But my standard upma stories later.

Semiya upma is a good alternative to me as I like it and it is quick. Semiya is a rice vermicelli that is more like thin spagheti rather than the thin chinese vermicelli. It is quick fix in the morning and good start to the day.

Semiya Upma

Ingredients
2 cups Semiya - you find this in all indian grocery stores
1 medium onion - sliced
1 cup mixed vegetables - I use frozen, you can use fresh but note the time will drastically increase!
2 green chillies - finely chopped
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp pulao masala - MTR brand is good
a few curry leaves
1/4 tsp hing
salt to taste

Method

1. Toast the semiya until golden brown.
2. In a little oil, splutter the mustard seeds. Add cumin, curry leaves and hing.
3. Set the flame to a high - medium. Add the onion and chillies. Fry until onion is golden brown.
4. Add vegetables and fry until almost tender.
5. Add masala powder, salt and the semiya.
6. Mix for a few seconds and boiling water to just cover the whole mix.
7. Reduce the flame to a medium low.
8. Cook until semiya is cooked. Will take about 3 to 5 minutes.

I guess this my first submission to Nandita's Breakfast blogging.
Just realised it has been moved to Pavani's Cook's Hideout so I guess it'll be there!