Malai Toast

In Kolkata, Mother Dairy is the sole supplier of milk. It comes in a medium square plastic pouch and in different variations, like skimmed, semi skimmed, and whole. As for the Amul Milk that comes in cartons, we are not so familiar with that stuff. We know mainly about Amul Ice Cream, Butter, Cadbury and Paneer. Luscious stuffs....I tell you that. But if you are not happy with the Mother Dairy Products as well...then there are lots of local milk vendors who supplies whole cow milk at your doorstep in the morning. And if the milkman is a trusted one, then you will get thick pure cow milk without any water diluted in it. Those milks are best for making payesh, kheer and rabri.

We Bengalis are large consumers of milk because of our addictions towards the milky tea, which we consume almost 5-6 times a day, so buying milk almost every day is fine for any family. We also have a habit of simmering the milk at least twice or thrice every day, because otherwise the milk tends to spoil quickly. When cooled down after boiling on the stovetop, it develops a thick, creamy layer of milk solid on top of it. My mother used to scoop out that layer from the milk and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. Each time the milk was boiled for some purpose and then cooled down, it formed this layer, but with time, the layer gets only thinner. So after 2-3 days, when almost all the milk solids have been scooped out of it, Ma used to make Malai Toast for us in the breakfast.

It’s nothing but a more malaidar (i.e. creamier) version of the butter toast. Bread slices are toasted with some butter and the served with some of that chilled malai and granulated sugar on top of it. Malai Toast is a popular breakfast option, along with the butter toast and egg toast, in the street side tea stalls who also sell toasts and ghughnis side by side.

Malai Toast

Serves 2

Ingredients:

4 slices of bread

½ cup of thick homemade malai (chilled) (for making malai see the note at the end of the post)

2 tbsp granulated sugar

Some broken cashew, pistachio, and raisins

Some saffron strands to garnish

2-3 tbsp butter

Method:

Spread butter on both the sides of the bread slices and lightly toast them until golden and crispy.

Arrange the breads on a plate.

Spread the malai on each of the bread slices in equal portions.

Sprinkle 1 tsp of the granulated sugar on each of the bread.

Top the malai with with some broken cashew nuts, raisins, pistachios and saffron strands.

Serve immediately.

P.S: To make the Malai: Simmer whole milk on the stovetop until it comes to a boil. Let it cool down to room temperature and then pop inside the fridge until it gets chilled. It will take around 2-3 hours. After that you will see that it has formed a thick layer of milk solid on top it. Gently scoop it out, and simmer the milk again until it comes to a boil. Chill again and scoop out the milk solid. Repeat this process once more and you will have almost ¾ of a cup of solid malai / homemade cream. Keep it in an airtight container until chilled and then use.

Always use whole cow milk to make the malai. Skimmed or semi skimmed milks are of no use in this case, because they don’t have that required fat content.