Warm up to toast

Children are sure to love this square pizza. And with vitamin-loaded vegetables added to the whole wheat bread, parents don’t have to worry about empty calories

IF food lore is to be given credence, it was the Portuguese, who brought bread — the pav — to India. Of course, there has never been any dearth of unleavened freshly made rotis, which are the desi breads from the subcontinent: chapatti, roomali roti that served as staple, along with myriad specialty breads like sheermal, baqarkhani, roghani to name just a few.

In the rice-eating regions, chapatti is prepared with rice flour. But there is something about ‘double roti’, as the pav came to be known as, which has become part of the pan-Indian menu.

It is encountered in different avatars — milk bread, brown bread, jumbo-sandwich bread, pav and mini-pav and is put to innovative uses. Nowhere else can you take delight in a bread pakora or tickle the sweet tooth with the elegant shahi tukra. We still recall after a lapse of years how a friend once quelled our pangs of hunger in a jiffy with a bread upma that seemed to put in shade the traditional suji version.

It has carved out for itself a niche as a quintessential breakfast item. At home or in canteens, hotels and restaurants, trains and wherever you can imagine, butter toast or slice are paired with ‘non-veg’ omelettes or vegetarian cutlets. Chidren love it with jam.

Recent health concerns regarding ‘villainous’ carbs, particularly maida, have given the bread a jolt. Butter, too, is a big ‘no, no’ and even the kids have started doing nakhras. More often than not, the excuse is that bread is so boring!

Though we adults feel that there is nothing to match the convenience and goodness of whole wheat bread. The body needs carbohydrates and, excluding doctor’s prescriptions, diet fads shouldn’t be allowed to interfere with what is tried, tested and loved. The problem remains of breaking the monotony, and this is where sabz toast stole our heart. Kids don’t complain about vitamin-loaded vegetables and love the square pizza and the parents don’t have to worry about the useless calories.

Sabz  toast

Ingredients
 Jumbo-sized slices of brown two bread (or 4 normal-sized)

Button mushrooms 3-4 large (wiped clean, sliced)

Carrot (medium-sized, washed, one scraped, sliced thin)

Sweet green peas (shelled, fresh or frozen) 100 gm

Cauliflower 1 small floret

Cumin seeds ½ tsp

Butter 1 tbsp

Cheese spread or eggless 1 tbsp mayonnaise (optional)

A pinch of haldi powder

A pinch of red chilli powder

A large pinch of dried mixed herbs of choice

Method
Heat butter in a pan. When hot, add cumin seeds in it. When the seeds begin to crackle, put in the vegetables, cauliflower and carrot first, then add the mushrooms and peas, along with the powdered spices and salt. Sprinkle dried herbs. Cook on medium heat for four to five minutes. Meanwhile, toast the slices of bread. Spread the mayo or cheesespread, if using. Top with the veg mixture. Add salt to taste.





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