Matcha French Toast, Hong Kong Style

After reading this WSJ article on why fruits and vegetables in Chinatown are so cheap, I decided to head over to Chinatown to buy some fruits. I was going to just buy one pound of rainier cherries but the lady said I should buy two and she showed me how much one pound was. Good thing I listened to her cause these cherries were crazy delicious and sweet. I probably ate a whole pound that night while Netflix binging.

So the idea for a matcha French toast came to me when I was attending Valentina's food styling and photo workshop few weeks ago. She made a matcha crepe cake during the workshop and that got me thinking because I have a tiny bit of matcha powder left and I should really use it up. Of course being the lazy me, I was not going to make a crepe cake. Instead I decided to make French toast, Hong Kong style.

I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you......the way I tried to incorporate the matcha powder into the eggs totally failed. Haha

I guess in my head, I imagined to somehow smoothly mix the matcha into the scrambled eggs, turning them into green scrambled eggs. But all I did was tiny clumps of matcha powder in scrambled eggs. Maybe I could've blended it with the hand blender.....hm......next time.

Anyways, Hong Kong style French toast is quite easy to make. All you need is bread, oil or butter, and eggs. It's typically slices of bread soaked with the scrambled eggs and fried in butter or oil. Served with a slab of butter.

Things you'll need:

• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon matcha powder
• 3 slices of bread
• Creme fraiche (or whipped cream if you like)
• Rainier cherry and strawberry compote (or jam or just fresh fruits)
• Butter or oil
• Extra matcha powder for dusting afterwards

Rainier cherry and strawberry compote

• 1 cup of rainier cherries (or regular cherries)
• 1 cup of strawberries
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• Sugar (about 1/4 cup to start)

To make the compote, remove the pits from the cherries and cut all the strawberries in half.

Add the fruits into a pot with lemon zest, lemon juice, and add about 1/4 cup of sugar to start.

Let the fruits slowly cook over low flames. Stir to mix and keep an eye on it. I nearly burnt the whole thing.

Cook the compote till the fruits are soft and has thicken. Taste to see if it needs more sugar.

Let compote cool in the fridge. Good to make the night before.

Matcha French Toasts

Combine matcha powder and eggs together. Try and get the matcha incorporated into the eggs as good as possible.

Get a pan hot on medium flames. Add enough oil or melt enough butter to cover the bottom of the pan.

Dip a slice of bread into the eggs, coat both sides and fry it in the pan until golden on both sides. Repeat for the other two slices of bread.

Place a slice of French toast on a plate, add a layer of creme fraiche, and a layer of compote.

Repeat last step.

To finish, dust some matcha powder on top and add fresh strawberries.

Panko Crusted Brioche French Toast Grilled Cheese

A grilled cheese and French toast (well more Hong Kong style French toast), yes yes. So this is what happens when you go and buy a bag of panko and would like to finish it by panko crusting everything.

This is a pretty easy thing to make. I bought a loaf of brioche from Caputo's Bake Shop in Carroll Gardens. They supply bread to a lot of the restaurants in the neighborhood. Super old school bakery. If Trader Joe wasn't so crazy on a Saturday, would've gone there and gotten their Texas toast. I love thick toast. But look at this loaf of bread. It's so beautiful. Smells amazing too.

Things you'll need: Bread (Any thick toast) Cheese (Any cheese you like for grilled cheese) 2 eggs Avocado Prosciutto (Or any cured meats) Butter Hot honey (Or any spicy condiment) Panko Salt + pepper

Steps: Use whatever bread you like but something thick and sturdy enough that will not break apart while being soaked in the egg.

Scramble 2 eggs and pour it onto a plate or anything flat. Lay the 2 pieces of bread on the egg and let it absorb the egg (just one side though). While the slices of bread are soaking, cut open an avocado, remove pit, and cut into slices.

Sprinkle a tray with panko and grate some parmesan cheese onto it. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Then lay the slices of bread (egg soaked side) onto the panko, press down gently.

On one slice, drizzle hot honey (I used Mike's Hot Honey) or sriracha or sambal or whatever spicy thing you like.

On the other slice, grate copious amount of parmesan cheese (or use Kraft singles or whatever cheese you like) then lay slices of avocado (season with salt + pepper) and prosciutto. Top with more parmesan cheese.

Get a pan hot and add a lot of butter (or oil). Hong Kong style French toast is basically bread soak in egg and fried. Lets say 2 tablespoon of butter. Once the butter melts, place the slice of bread with the avocado and prosciutto into the pan. Then place the other slice of bread (with the panko side facing up) on top of the other slice.

Get another pan or a spatula and put it on top of the sandwich. Press down.

Flip the sandwich once the bottom is golden brown. Then with the pan or spatula, press the sandwich down again. It's ready to consume once the other side is golden brown.