French toast is such a great way to reuse any ingredient you find at home. The stale, slightly-hard bread will soak up more egg mixture without falling apart. The traditional way is to pan-fry the bread slices in butter, dusted with powdered sugar & served with jam. Hong Kong is a small city with many hidden gems. Cha Chan Teng (茶餐廳) is definitely one of them. The word literally means tea restaurant and it’s my favourite place for comfort food. It’s a very unique cultural heritage. I love the vintage interior designs. I love the affordable, special dishes like pineapple bun, egg tart, yuanyang, lemon w/ coffee. I love the cute abbreviations used by waiters & customers when ordering. Say like OT = lemon tea, 茶走 (literally translates as ‘tea goes’) = having condensed milk instead of sugar + milk in your HK style milk tea. The HK style french toast is a perfect tea time treat. They are deep-fried stacked bread served with a thick slab of butter & golden syrup. Sometimes I prefer a more light-weighted version. Simple fried egg toast with something sweet to serve with. The best Sunday-brunch, breakfast-in-bed option. How can you resist such a golden, syrupy start to the day? EGGPLANT CHRYSANTHEMUM INGREDIENTS : 1-2 slices of Bread 1 Egg 1/2 egg shell of Milk / Single cream Butter Sugar (optional) Salt (optional) Spices e.g. cinnamon, vanilla, orange or lemon zest (optional) Maple syrup / Honey METHOD : Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon, salt in a bowl; set aside. Place bread in a shallow baking dish large enough to hold bread slices in a single layer. Pour egg mixture over bread; Turn slices over; Poke the bread with a fork to let it soak through. Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat. Coat pan with melted butter. Fry the bread slices until golden brown, 2-3 mins per side. Serve with maple syrup / honey. TIPS : I always prefer using brioche ’cause I adore its eggy, sweet scent. But there are so many other options like white bread, brown bread, baguettes, etc. Basically whatever bread you can find at home on a lazy-to-go-outdoor weekend morning. Make sure the egg is whisked in thoroughly. Or else you’ll end up having lumps of white or yolk on your beautiful french toast. If you happen to have some leftover cream in fridge you can add that into the egg mixture too. It gives a more custardy texture. You could also add in orange/lemon zest/ or liquor you like e.g. brandy,bailey’s, amaretto…The options are endless. French toasts can also be served savory. Simply add in ham & cheese in between two slices of bread before soaking the whole thing into the egg mixture.
