Recipe - Masala French toast

Think of the yummy French toast and you picture golden toasted slices of egg-milk-cinnamon soaked bread dusted with powdered sugar or drenched in maple syrup. Of course, the Malayalee (or is it Indian?) within my mom shrieks against this sweet heaven, even as I try to defend it.
"We need some spices mixed in!"  she cries out, holding a bucket of chilly powder menacingly.
"But... but that's not french toast." I try to reason with her.
"We will call it Indian toast!"
"But everyone will know you stole the basics from the French recipe."
"Fine. So we will call it an improvement! We will name it *pauses for effect* Masala French toast!"

I imagine that is the true history behind this spiced up version of french toast, though I maybe mistaken. My memory is not what it used to be.

Unlike the original version, the Masala French Toast is a lot more spicier thanks to the generous mix of masalas. And while I am a big fan of the traditional version, I must confess I loved this one just as much if not a tad more. But I guess it comes down to individual taste and your craving at that moment in time, doesn't it? Some days you enjoy the sweet, some days you want a bit of heat.

The basic rules while making french toast apply here too:

• Use thick slices of bread. 
• The firmer the better (Don't think dirty thoughts! I am talking about the bread!) If they are soft, they may fall apart when you soak them in the mixture.
• Whisk your eggs really well. It gets that egg white sulphur-y feel out.

Click the image to convert to its full size and download it for your own use

As you can imagine, this variation goes better with sauces than maple syrup.
It still makes for a very easy, filling and tasty breakfast and even a tea-time snack.

Over the course of the rest of this month, expect to see many more such dishes (ranging from seafood, desserts, starters and tea time snacks) - all prepared by my mother from recipes she has collected as far back as the 1980's - with some unique to Kerala cuisine and some variations of international dishes. 

Since the goal is to share, I will be looking to make all the recipes into easy downloadable single images so that you can save them on to your mobile/device and use them offline. Of course, if you do try them out, it would be awesome if you gave me (and her) feedback here on what you thought of the dish.

For the list of all the recipes so far (including seafood, egg dishes, sweets, twists on traditional dishes et al), click here:

For more food posts,  click here.

Authors note:

I am participating in NaBloPoMo. You can read more about it here and join in the fun yourself, adding your posts here.

I am also participating in EverydayGyaan's September Blogging Challenge.