Culinary Tour of the World: Episode 4: Andorra - Torrijas

 Welcome to our fourth episode of the Culinary Tour of the World. This post takes us to Andorra. Andorra is a very small country, described as a tiny independent principality, in Europe. It is between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains. I had not heard about it till I started this project. So far, this has proven to be the a difficult one to choose a recipe from, because there are just a handful of recipes that are called out as traditional Andorran foods. Of those, the majority of them are meat dishes and include delicacies like snails. Also, I really wasn't able to find a blog which was written by a person from Andorra. As I researched vegetarian recipes, I kept coming across just 2-3 recipes which were common across travel sites, blogs and even books. One of them was Pa amb Tomaquet, which is bread rubbed with garlic and tomatoes, and another was spinach with pine nuts and raisins. There was a third once called Trinxat which is potato and cabbage cake or like hash  browns which is topped with bacon. I thought I could make all these (skipping the bacon) and make a small meal. However, they were all sides and given how meat heavy the entrees were, taking the meat away would not give the same experience.

So, I asked a friend who lives in France who suggested that I look for Catalan recipes. That was a great suggestion and that took me to menu cards of Andorran restaurants. Since I couldn't find a vegetarian entree, I started looking for desserts and breads. I found a mention of a bread called Coca de Massegada which was listed as a very traditional bread but I was unable to find an authentic recipe for it. I found a list of ingredient, but there were no measurements and I did not want to experiment a lot. Finally, I settled on two choices Bunyols de vent which sounded like doughnuts made from a pate choux dough and Torrijas which is a dessert French toast which has a Catalan/Spanish influence. 

The plan was to make the Bunyols de vent, but I was inspired to make Torrijas for breakfast and the family absolutely loved it. So this is a delicious french toast, where the difference is that the bread is not soaked in an eggy batter like the traditional French toast. Instead the bread is soaked in milk and then dipped in whisked egg and pan fried. Then it is coated with cinnamon sugar and served with syrup. The milk can be boiled with fragrant spices to add more flavor. The end result is similar to churros. The outside gets crispy and the inside is soft and delicious. While this is meant to be a dessert, it is delicious as a brunch too and we have enjoyed this so much, that it has been added to the weekend brunch repertoire. This is a very simple and delicious recipe. Do give it a try!

Here is the video link to the Torrijas recipe

Ingredients

6 slices of Italian bread, stale (any type of bread which is cut into thicker slices than sandwich bread. Can also use sandwich bread bread but make sure it is a little stale and dry)

1 cup milk

4 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste)

1.5 tsp cinnamon powder

2 tbsp oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

Mix the cinnamon and sugar together to create the cinnamon sugar. 

Whisk the eggs and vanilla essence together. Warm up the milk till it is lukewarm. If you want to add more fragrant spices to the milk, boil them with the milk and then let the milk cool for a few mins till lukewarm. Add 2 tbsp of sugar to the milk. Pour the milk into a tray and lay the bread slices in the milk. Let it stay till the milk is absorbed, up to 30 mins. Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and then dip the bread slices in the whisked egg and then place it in the pan. Fry the bread on both sides till golden brown at medium heat. Then place it in the cinnamon sugar and coat it on both sides with the cinnamon sugar. Add more oil and fry the rest of the breads. 

Serve with syrup. It was delicious warm as well as cold. As a dessert, it is eaten cold per what I have been able to determine. 

Tips

I add vanilla essence to the eggs so that there is no eggy smell. You can skip this or add the essence to the warm milk. Fragrant spices which can be added to the milk are cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, and lemon rind/zest.

Roselle Hibiscus Curry - Ambadi chi bhaaji

Ambadichi chi bhaaji is one of my favorite greens. The English name of the plant is called Roselle Hibiscus and in Marathi it is called Ambadi and in Telugu it is known as Gongura. It is found in Asian/Indian stores as gongura leaves usually. The leaves are very sour and are great in curries, stir fries and chutneys or dips. As a child this was a rarity as it is not an easily available vegetable. And we usually only cooked it when we grew it ourselves. It goes great with jowar bhakri/jwarichi bhakri (sorghum unleavened flat bread). 

Now that I am growing this in our yard, I am excited to cook this again and love that I can cook it whenever I want to.  The fruit of roselle hibiscus can also be used for making jams and jellies. I will share the recipe of the jelly when we get fruit in a couple more months.

Here is the video link to the Roselle Hibiscus curry recipe

Ingredients 

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

30-40 roselle hibiscus leaves (4 cup of cooked leaves) 

1/2 cup yellow or orange lentils or split pigeon peas (split masoor or tur dal)

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

dry red chilli, to taste (optional)

salt to taste 

2 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste)

1/2 tbsp molasses

Seasoned oil

3 tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

chilli powder, to taste (optional)

Method

In a large pot bring water to boil. There should enough water to submerge all the leaves. Then add the leaves to the water and boil them till they are wilted and soft. This will take about 5 mins. Drain the leaves, remove the stems and chop into bite sized pieces.  Boil water and add the lentils to it. Boil the lentils till they start getting transparent. Drain and keep aside. 

In a saucepan, heat the oil. Add the cumin and mustard seeds. Once they crackle, add the chilli and then add the onions and garlic. Stir these and cook for a few mins. Then add the cooked lentils and stir and cook for a minute or so. Then add the turmeric. Then add the cooked, chopped leaves and stir them with the rest of the ingredients. Next add the spices and the seasonings. Add the sugar, salt, molasses, cumin powder and coriander powder. Cook these together for a few minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed. 

Seasoned oil

Heat the oil and once hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds. Once they crackle turn the heat off. This is your seasoned oil. If you like you can add chilli powder and salt to it as well or dried chillies too. 

To serve, pour a couple of tsps of oil over the curry and serve hot with bread or rice. 

Tips

You can replace the sugar and molasses with brown sugar or jaggery.