Wily Breakfasts

For months at a time my Son would demand Mini-Idlis and Sambhar for breakfast; Despite the boredom of having the same thing everyday I happily acquiesced - after all it is a very healthy, nutritionally complete breakfast; Especially when I make the Sambhar out of lots of vegetables and a different Daal everyday.
After his last bout of stomach flu he has changed course again. He only wants Bread for breakfast with Dana brand Cherry jam. I started adding a fruit or two, usually banana and apple to his breakfast, I switched to multi-grain bread from Leo Fortune or Wheatberry bread from Nilgiris. Now I am only struggling to get more protein into his breakfast. Peanutbutter Jelly goes down OK. Today I made Tofu Burji with "Cotton Tofu" from nilgiris. He gawked at the quaggy mess on his plate and declared he wanted no part of it. We sneaked quite a bit into his sandwich and he gulped it down happily. And I have met my soybean quota for this week :)

Tofu Burji

1. 1 large onion chopped fine
2. 1 large bellpepper chopped fine
3. 1 tsp jeera
4. 1 tsp mustard
5. 1 tsp red chili powder
6. 1 large tomato chopped coarsely
7. 1 packet tofu, washed and crumbled

• Heat oil, add the mustard and jeera.
• When the mustard pops add the onion and fry
• When the onion turns translucent add the bellpepper and fry
• Add the tomatoes as the onions brown and add salt to taste
• Cook covered until tomato disintegrates
• Add the tofu and chili powder
• Saute for a few minutes to bring together all the flavours.
• Serve with bread or rotis.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt some lentil-vegetable patties to go along with the bread.

For lunch we had yet another variation of the spice is right's Methi Chana. This time I soaked chana the previous night, pressure cooked it with tea leaves and turmeric powder. For the methi part, I used a bunch of fresh Ponnanganni Keerai lying in my fridge, wrapped in a newspaper for almost a week! This wrapping in newspaper draws out the extra moisture and keeps the greens from rotting and IMHO works out a lot better than the plastic bag idea most people follow. The greens were 95% fresh, I threw out the remaining 5%. According to most local lore, these greens are good for one's eyesight but are just a tad bitter. I also increased the besan used to 1/3 cup, dissolving it in a whole cup of water to get a nice creamy sauce with the chana and greens. Went down reasonably well with both DH and DS.