Strawberry Blueberry Bread

I only recently started eating breakfast regularly. In the past, I stumbled out of bed, rushed to the subway, and was lucky if I could grab a cup of coffee at work. These days, I try to get up a little earlier to have a somewhat leisurely breakfast with my husband, which I find makes the impending work day seem the slightest bit more bearable. Lately, however, I have become very bored with my usual bowl of cereal or toast. This strawberry/blueberry bread was the perfect thing to break up my routine. Given the amount of sugar and butter in this recipe, calling this bread may strain the definition of "bread," but it is perfect toasted and slathered with a dab of butter. It reminds me of a Spring version of the Pumpkin bread I made in the winter. I used some leftover strawberries and blueberries but other berries, such as raspberries would be just as good.

Strawberry Blueberry Bread

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 eggs
2 Tbsp sour cream (I used fat free sour cream)
1 cup crushed fresh strawberries, blueberries, and/or raspberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Spray or grease a loaf pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after the addition of each egg. Mix in the flour and sour cream. Fold in the crushed berries and lemon zest.

4. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 55 to 60 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

5. Cool the bread for 20 minutes in the pan. Invert the loaf onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Indian Brunch

I have always wondered why Indian restaurants do not offer brunch on weekends instead of those all-you-can-eat buffets that are rarely good. There are so many brunch-worthy foods eaten for breakfast on the Subcontinent that it seems like an obvious business strategy to me. My husband often begs me to make him an Indian brunch on the weekends. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned before, I am still not very good at a lot of basic Indian dishes and so, I am usually at a loss. I still have not tried to make many of the Indian breads that are often eaten for breakfast, such as roti, paratha, and luchi (or puri). And, despite the photograph, I still have not learned how to make these breads. The paratha in this picture is courtesy of my mother-in-law, who actually gave me prepared balls of dough. All I did was roll them out and fry them in some olive oil (cooking oil or ghee is more traditional). And, despite all the help, they still came out only . . . ok. I did, however, make some great accompaniments -- aloo bhaja (or fried potatoes) and an Indian-style omelet.

Practically every region of India has a recipe for aloo bhaja. I made the Bengali version, which is very simple and requires only 4 ingredients. My only caveat is to watch how much turmeric you use -- I always use less than called for in any given recipe as I find that too much makes a dish too bitter (I also had trouble keeping the potatoes from flying out of the frying pan, resulting in a yellow-spattered stove top). There is also not much to the Indian-style omelet. What makes the omelet "Indian-style" is less the ingredients than the style of cooking the eggs. Indian omelets are usually made with oil, rather than butter, at a higher temperature, and are usually cooked through (not at all runny). Below are very loose "recipes" for the aloo bhaja and omelet

Aloo Bhaja

Ingredients

1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into matchsticks
a pinch of turmeric
salt & pepper
1 dried red chili pepper (optional)
oil

1. Heat oil over medium high heat. Add the dried red chili pepper, if using, and stir until it turns an even deeper red.

2. Add the potatoes and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and turmeric. Stir and fry until the potatoes are cooked through.

Makes 2 servings

Indian-style Omelet

Ingredients

3 large eggs
1/2 small onion, diced
2 small green chilies, diced (can also be seeded)
a few sprigs cilantro, finely chopped (optional)
salt & pepper
oil

Directions

1. Whisk together all the ingredients except the oil.

2. Heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the egg mixture. Let it set for a second (it should start cooking immediately). Then, fold the egg over itself and flip until cooked through.

Makes 2 servings.