Lately,
I have been posting quite a bit about bread, haven’t I? What can I do when I
have an artisanal bakery in the neighbourhood?! I
had written about The Baker’s Dozen earlier in TimeOut Mumbai as well as posted about it on the blog. The bakery
has now added another bread to its basket – the Jewish Challah. Challah (pronounced "hall-ah") is braided,
egg bread, traditionally eaten on Shabbat, the Jewish rest day. Shabbat is
observed from Friday sundown to Saturday night; candles are lit to mark the
beginning and three festive meals are eaten – the first one on Friday evening beginning
with breaking bread i.e. the challah.
The good folks at The Baker's Dozen sent across a loaf for me to try out over this past weekend. The challah
arrived, golden and plump and I couldn’t wait to devour it. One bite and I was
sold! A sweet, eggy bread with a gleaming crust; it is definitely going on my
favourites list. The bread is priced at Rs. 120 for a loaf.
You
can do a lot with challah; just cut a thick slice and eat it as it is, while it’s fresh. I also lightly toasted one slice and drizzled over some honey I had picked up in Coorg. A day-old challah will lend itself beautifully to pain perdu a.k.a. French toast. Even
though the bread is slightly sweet, you can make savoury sandwiches as well.
That’s exactly what I did on Sunday with the leftover challah – Honey Mustard Open-face Sandwiches.
This
recipe serves 2. You can change the honey and mustard quantities as per your taste.
You’ll
need:
- 6 slices of challah
- 1 chicken breast, skinless & boneless
- 20ml Honey
- 20gm Mustard
- Salt & Pepper
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- Cheese
- Additional Mustard for serving
- Cut the chicken into small pieces. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add honey, mustard and paprika. Cover all the pieces well with the mixture and allow to marinate for 10-15 minutes.
- Heat some olive oil in a pan. Toss in the chicken pieces and cook till done.
- Arrange the challah slices on a wire rack. Top with the cooked chicken. Grate some cheese on top.
- Place the rack under a hot grill (in an oven preheated to 200 C) for 8-10 minutes or till the cheese has melted.
- Remove and drizzle some more mustard over the sandwiches.