Pondicherry is a charming former French town on India’s east coast, and that is my model of India’s tackle to French toast – as a result, the name Pondicherry toast. Chickpea flour is blended with yogurt, coriander, chili, and cumin and then pan-fried to create a delicious large bread pakora. Many Indians consume this as an after-school or work snack; I adore it for Sunday breakfast, chai, ketchup, and Lata Mangeshkar’s syrupy music inside the heritage.
Pondicherry toast
If you’re reducing your bread, reduce it as thinly as keep-bought sliced bread because it makes for a higher batter ratio to bread. Beware: a few “simple” soya yogurts have sugar in them, so check the label. I use Sojade’s ‘So Soya!’
- Prep 10 min
- Cook sixteen min
- Makes four toasts to serve 2-four
- 100g chickpea flour (aka gram flour or besan)
- 120g soy yogurt
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- One huge handful of coriander leaves, finely shredded
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- One green finger chili, very finely chopped
- ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
- ½ tsp salt
- Four thin slices of bread
- Rapeseed oil for frying
In a bowl, whisk the chickpea flour with the yogurt until there are no lumps; add all the other ingredients besides the bread and oil and mix thoroughly.
Heat a teaspoon of oil in a nonstick frying pan till warm. Meanwhile, dunk one slice of bread in the batter and coat each facet (however, don’t deliver it a bath). Carefully lay the bread in the hot pan and prepare dinner for a minute and a half to two minutes, till golden brown on the underside, then turn over with a fish slice and cook for the same time on the alternative side.
Slide or raise the toast directly to a serving plate and hold heat simultaneously as you repeat with the other three slices of bread, making sure you get enough of the herbs and spices inside the backside of the batter bowl on every facet. Serve warm with ketchup.
