Masala French toast

Masala French toast is a savory bread breakfast recipe that has Indian flavours seamlessly incorporated with the French bread technique. Try this easy fusion recipe for your impressive breakfast mornings.

What does your Mother’s day treat look like?

I love to call it breakfast on bed, but in reality, I would just like to come down and ask what’s for breakfast today like the rest of my family and then be served something simple like a masala toast and a cup of tea. This will be a happy treat for the day. Here is the plate I envision, hope you like it.

What is masala French toast?

French toast is a bread-based breakfast where bread is dipped and roasted in an egg-based batter. However, it is popularly sweet breakfast. When you feel like having a savoury, not a sweet one that too a desi-flavoured one you must try this masala french toast. The masala profile comes from the spice mix, turmeric and the chillies added to the mix. In a Indian version, it is also called a besan toast.

Ingredients to make masala French toast

Bread: for most French toasts the thicker cuts of a day or two old bread is perfect. This ensures that the bread is not too soft, but just right to have a quick coat of batter. You can use white, rye or wholewheat. Personally, I don’t prefer sourdough for this as it absorbs a lot more batter, hence harder to get cooked evenly.

Batter ingredients: the batter is a mix of an egg with chickpea flour, salt and spices. You can make it just with egg, but then it tastes of eggy bread, not the desi toast. As for the masala, use a bit of cumin powder, red chilli powder and garam masala. You can add ginger garlic paste if you desire.

For cooking the toast: butter is smeared on the pan to roast the bread. You can use ghee or oil too. You are not frying the bread, but just roasting it.

Let’s make masala French toast

Mix the batter: crack up the egg, add the spices, salt and chickpea flour and mix well into a lump-free batter with milk added a little at a time. Chop the scallions and add them along.

Keep the pan ready: brush the pan with a bit of butter it oil and keep it on low heat.

Dip and roast: once the pan has warmed up, dip one slice of bread into the batter. The bread should not soak well in the batter but be coated on both sides. If the bread is coated well, it will roast evenly. If it soaks through it is pretty hard to cook evenly and the centre has the raw batter remaining. Flip and roast on both sides. The toast will get ready when there is gentle browning on both sides.

Variations to the toast batter

• The base batter is a really simple mix and offers a lot of varieties possible. I like adding grated carrots, cabbage and onions to the mix.
• You could change the garam masala mix into sambhar powder or pav bhaji mix to create new flavour variations.
• Here is another thing you can do. Place cheese or paneer in between the slices then dip them in the batter and make a savoury sandwich toast.

Can we make it vegan?

Yes, please. To make a vegan version, you must change the batter slightly. Use chickpea flour, spices and plant-based milk to make the batter and keep it thicker than the usual dip-style batters. Keep it in more of a spoonable consistency. To roast the bread dipped in this batter, use coconut oil or any other neutral oil.

Meal prep and lunch boxes

The French toast stays good for a few days in the fridge and are perfect for a snack or a quick breakfast. They can be heated up in the microwave or a pan and served with salad for lunch. if making a lunch box, add a good portion of salad along with this bread. Alternatively, you can cut it up into pieces and add it to a Panzanella. I am sure the recipe should freeze well, however I have not tried it. Please do let us know when you have.

Stay connected

Hope you enjoy your Mother’s Day. It is a privilege being a mum and that’s one I am very proud of. When the kids made me a chia pot a few years back, I was over the moon. Given that their cooking skills have improved will be good to put them through this test too
Hope you will enjoy making this easy savory breakfast or making it for you. Do let us know if you have loved this recipe in the comments below and rate it with a 5 star if you love the flavour.
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