Nadan Bread Coconut Milk Toast Recipe

In Malayalam, nadan means “lords of the soil”. The nadans are a small group of aristocrats from the south side of the Thamirabarani River. They served as lords under the poligars, who were subordinate feudal chiefs in South India, and owned vast stretches of land. This recipe is a nadan take on French toast. It is usually eaten at tea time in the evening. It is believed that French toast existed during the Roman Empire. To make the dish, Romans soaked bread in a mixture of milk and egg, and fried it in oil or butter. Another story goes that medieval European cooks created French toast as they wanted to use up every bit of food they could find to feed their families. And so, they revived old bread by adding eggs and heating it. French toast is also called eggy bread, German toast, French-fried bread, Poor Knights of Windsor, Spanish toast, nun’s toast, gypsy toast and also pain perdu which translates to “lost bread” in French.