Breakfast is a combination of two words ‘break’ and ‘fast’ and it simply means to break the night’s fast and get your body ready for the day ahead. It is the first meal after night’s sleep and is consumed in the morning before resuming the other chores of the day. Breakfast varies from place to place but usually contains carbohydrates like cereals, fruits, vegetables, proteins like egg, fish, sausage, bacon and beverages like tea, coffee, milk, juice etc.
Nutritionists around the world have a common statement of breakfast being the “most important meal of the day” and it is directly linked to the overall wellbeing of the individual.
There are a few reasons people don’t eat breakfast in the morning such as not feeling hungry or to try and limit calories or lack of time.
If you are trying to achieve or maintain a healthy weight, consider the following reasons. Eating breakfast regularly revs up your metabolism after fasting for the whole night. It also keeps you in a good mood as feeding yourself in the morning will keep your spirits up throughout the day.
Theobroma
Theobroma derived from Greek words — theos meaning god — and — broma meaning food. It is a flowering plant native to hot, rainy tropical forests of central and South America. Several species of Theobroma produce edible seeds notably cacao. Cacao is commercially valued as the source of cocoa and chocolate. Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia are the top three producers of cacao in the world which later translates to chocolate.
In general cacao and chocolate are considered to be rich source of antioxidants which impart anti-ageing properties and is also linked to cardiovascular health. A cocoa pod has a rough rind and is filled with sweet pulp enclosing 20-50 seeds — around 400 dried seeds/beans are required to make one pound of chocolate. Seeds are usually white and become brown with the drying process but in some rare varieties of white cacao the seeds remain white.
In a factory cacao beans are roasted, next they are cracked and deshelled. The resulting pieces of beans are called nibs. They are usually sold in small packages at specialty stores and markets to be used for cooking, snacking and chocolate dishes. Since nibs are directly from the cocoa tree as they contain high amount of theobromine. Most nibs are ground, using various methods into a thick creamy paste known as chocolate liquor or cocoa paste.
This liquor is further processed into chocolate by mixing in more cocoa butter and sugar, and then refined and tempered. Alternatively it can be separated into cocoa powder and cocoa butter using a hydraulic press. This process produces 50% cocoa powder and 50% cocoa butter. Standard cocoa powder has a fat content of approximately 10-12 %. Cocoa butter is widely used in chocolate bar manufacture and adds smoothness to the chocolate bars we relish everyday. The recipe below is a simple way to play around with your chocolate and savour this great ‘foods of the god’ with your friends and family.
Theobroma mousse
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
For mousse
Cream whipping 250ml
Castor sugar 3tbsp
Cocoa powder 65g
Dark chocolate 150g
For crunchy base
Biscuits 150g
Butter 2tbsp
Cherry to garnish
Method
Whip the cream and castor sugar till light and fluffy.
Gradually add cocoa powder and continue to whip to avoid lumps.
Melt dark chocolate separately and divide into two parts.
Mix one part with the mixture using cut a fold method.
Keep the other half separate to use later.
Crumble the biscuit with cold butter and mix evenly.
Layer a cake ring with the biscuit crumble and press the crumble to get even layer.
Pour the mixture into a mould and refrigerate for 3 hours.
Remove from mould and cut into desired shape and pour the remaining dark chocolate on the mousse and garnish with cherry and chocolate.
Cream-n-corn toast
(Serves 1)
Ingredients
Bread slices 2nos
Cream 4tbsp
Sugar grain 2tbsp
Banana 1no
Corn flakes 2tbsp
Method
Toast the bread slices in a toaster.
Top up the bread slices with whipped cream.
Arrange banana slices on top.
Sprinkle some corn flakes followed by grain sugar.
Serve any time of the day or enjoy with tea, coffee or juice for breakfast.
* Tarun Kapoor is executive chef at Doha’s Horizon Manor Hotel. Send your feedback to:
[email protected]
Theobroma mousse
