Pondicherry is a very beautiful former French town on India’s east coast, and that is my model of India’s tackle French toast – as a result the name, Pondicherry toast. Chickpea flour is blended with yoghurt, coriander, chilli and cumin, then pan-fried to create a scrumptious large bread pakora. Many Indians consume this as an after-school or work snack; I adore it for Sunday breakfast, with chai, ketchup and Lata Mangeshkar’s syrupy music on inside the heritage.
Pondicherry toast
If you’re reducing your own bread, reduce it as thinly as keep-bought sliced bread, due to the fact that makes for a higher ratio of batter to bread. Beware: a few “simple” soya yoghurts have sugar in them, so do check the label. I use Sojade’s ‘So Soya!’
Prep 10 min
Cook sixteen min
Makes 4 toasts, to serve 2-four
100g chickpea flour (aka gram flour or besan)
120g soya yoghurt
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 huge handful coriander leaves, finely shredded
1 tsp cumin powder
1 green finger chilli, very finely chopped
½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
½ tsp salt
4 thin slices bread
Rapeseed oil, for frying
In a bowl, whisk the chickpea flour with the yoghurt until there are not any lumps, then 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, making sure to coat each facets (however don’t deliver it a bath). Carefully lay the bread in the hot pan and prepare dinner for a minute and a half of 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 at the same time as you repeat with the other 3 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.
