It is a truth universally acknowledged that on Sundays, we skip breakfast. Perhaps we are recovering from a hangover the size of Jharkhand, or we are sleeping in hard, or perhaps because we are in anticipation of that most delicious of portmanteaus – brunch. When does the brunch hour begin? When does it end? What makes a brunch a brunch and not just a late breakfast or an early lunch? Well. Valid questions that also have well-thought-out answers but that’s not what we are trying to do in this piece. This is a piece to give you ideas for what you can make for your own brunch this Sunday. The perfect go-to brunch ideas for your Sunday that also make the perfect go-with combinations to the Mimosas and Bloody Marys that all Sundays should be about. Drumroll (and bread rolls), please. These are our best brunch recipes:
1. Hummus Avocado Toast
Right off the bat: avocado toast. Not just any, but hummus and avocado toast. Boomers around the world may pillory millennials and GenZ all they want about our obsession with avocado toast, but we do not see this craze dying down any time soon. Here, make one at home yourself. Plus, it’s vegan! And it’d done in under 5 minutes.
Ingredients:
• Sliced whole grain bread, preferably sourdough, toasted
• 2 tablespoons of hummus
• 6 cucumber slices
• 1 radish, sliced thin
• 1 avocado, sliced thin
• crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• Salt to taste
• black pepper, to taste
• ½ cup roquette
• Lemon juice to squeeze, according to taste
Steps:
Spread the toast with hummus, top with cucumber, radish, and avocado, and sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Top with arugula and lemon juice! Et voila, you’re done!
2. Baked Tomato Brunch
We love this delicious and deliciously simple recipe. Comes together soon and is wholesome in every way.
Ingredients:
• 4 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• About 8 fresh basil leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 60g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 level tsp cumin seeds
• 8 slices of ciabatta
Steps:
1. Set the oven to 200 °C. Put the tomato halves, cut-side up, on a baking tray. Spoon over half of the oil. Snip the basil leaves, season, and sprinkle with the cheese and cumin seeds. Place in the oven and bake for 5 mins.
2. Drizzle the rest of the oil over one side of the ciabatta slices. Put them, oiled-side up, in the oven on the tray with the tomatoes. Bake for a further 10-15 mins, turning the bread halfway through cooking.
3. Place the tomato halves on the toasted ciabatta slices and serve.
3. Ridiculously Cheddar Chive Biscuits
Now, these biscuits are not what we know as biscuits. This is the American version of it, which is more like a savory scone. Does not mean you can’t rustle them up in your Indian kitchen though. Scott and Chris of The Café have this recipe, and it is to die for.
Ingredients:
• 1 cup cold buttermilk
• 8 tablespoons of butter plus one more for brushing
• 2 cups all-purpose flour more for counter
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 ¼ cups finely shredded cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup finely sliced fresh chives extra for garnish, if desired
Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 425. Line a sheet pan with cooking spray.
2. Measure 1 cup of buttermilk and place the cup in the freezer while prepping other ingredients.
3. Place butter in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper towel over the top, and heat on high for 30 seconds until melted.
4. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add cheese and chives. Stir to combine.
5. After the buttermilk has been chilled in the freezer for 10 minutes, combine it with the melted butter. Stir with a fork until the butter forms small clumps or globules.
6. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir with a sturdy spatula just until all flour is incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of the bowl. The dough should be stiff, not super wet.
7. Dump the biscuit dough from the bowl onto a prepared work surface and cut as many biscuits as you can with a biscuit cutter.
8. Place in oven and bake until tops are a medium golden brown and crisp, 10 to 15 minutes.
9. Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter and brush the tops of the hot biscuits with melted butter. Sprinkle with more finely sliced fresh chives. And enjoy your fine Sunday brunch!
4. Radish Toasts
A simple and easy breakfast option. All you need to do is get some pumpernickel bread (or any home-baked bread) and cut the bread into slices and toast it. Thinly slice the radishes; red radishes work better. Chop the chives. Spread each piece of toast liberally with labneh or cream cheese. Top with sliced radishes and chives, a bit of sea salt, and fresh ground pepper. Add some chili flakes if you seek some heat, and you’re done!
5. Peas on toast
This deceptively easy dish is delicious to boot. In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic with a large pinch of sea salt, the zest from half a lemon, the chopped mint, and a good glug of olive oil until the garlic is broken down. Slowly add the fresh or frozen and thawed peas, crushing them to break them up with the pestle but not to the point where they are a paste. Mix in the mozzarella, still taking care to break it up but not create a paste, and season to taste with lemon juice, more sea salt, and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Pile on the toast and enjoy!
6. Paneer Soya Chinese Tikka
Boil and then grate or mash potatoes. Add salt, a Manchow soup packet (raw), and the green stems of garlic. Mix and grate in the potatoes until smooth. Make small balls of the mixture. Keep aside. Next, take soya chunks soaked in water, squeeze the water out, and keep them aside with the diced paneer. Add Schezwan sauce to the soya and paneer. For the batter, take two tablespoons of besan, add ajwain, salt, ginger-garlic paste, red chilli powder, kasoori methi, aamchoor, and curd, and mix. Next, take toothpicks and skew on the soya, paneer, and potato balls. Dip the toothpicks in the batter and deep fry!
7. Sourdough Starter
And finally, the big daddy of all pandemic dishes: sourdough bread.
Supplies
• 3/4 L jar
Ingredients
To create the starter:
• 60 g (1/2 cup) whole wheat flour
• 60 g (1/4 cup) water
To feed the starter each day (Day 3-7):
• 60 g (1/2 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour
• 60 g (1/4 cup) water
And let the magic begin!