Welcome to Cook With Lerato! A newsletter with recipes & stories for sunshine on your plate. If you aren’t subscribed, what are you waiting for?! Do consider becoming a paid member, as this helps to support the small village needed to keep this community alive and thriving. Join us as we travel the world one dish at a time! In this newsletter, we devour a toast or two, with a recipe & video to whet your appetite!
Watch, Read, Cook
Thank you for being here and a warm welcome to our new subscribers! Before we bite into today’s toast, here are a few hot updates you may have missed. I Wrote a Cookbook and did a little dance about it. I also shared a sneak peek of the cover with you before anyone else. Isn’t she a beauty? Now that I still pinch myself when I wake up. Thank you for your support, to everyone who has pre-ordered a copy, shared the news and for all the love you have shared since the big announcement. I am glad to have our community here to share this exciting journey with me.
It’s Time For Toast!
I love toast, I always have. Eggs on toast, sardines with chillies on toast, cheese on toast, beans on toast, the list goes on. As a child, who didn’t eat much at all, one of my favourite lunchbox meals was a buttered sandwiched toast. Stuffed with fried eggs, sometimes with chopped sausage or sardines and sealed in a sandwich maker for the crispiest edges. I’d first eat around the edges before tucking into the fluffy main toast. What a weird thing to do. Did you have any interesting childhood eating habits or do you have any now???
For someone who loves toast so much, one would think I was an avid baker. Writing my cookbook, Africana forced me to bake and test everything from cakes and puddings to bread. But after joining my friend, chef and baker, Laura Scott’s sourdough classes during the pandemic of 2020/2021, I gave up at the last minute after a week of growing my starter. Unfortunately, the whole thing just started to bore me. Why couldn't I just enjoy bread when I wanted it?! And so off to the deli I went for an extremely seeded sourdough (as seen in my video) from the chicest local deli in Eastbourne called Barley & Sugar. Fresh bread is delivered daily from Coburn & Baker, an artisan bakery in Hove and I am lucky to live only a few minutes away from the deli. What makes this toast magical is the combination of toasted sourdough, sunny side up eggs cooked in Extra Virgin avocado oil, moringa whipped into cream cheese with roasted garlic, avocado oil and sea salt flakes and a light shower of Japanese furikake and chilli flakes.
Have you ever had moringa?
I adore this superfood & staple green leaf that is predominant in Africa and the Asian subcontinent, with 7 times more vitamin C than oranges and 15 times more potassium than bananas. Rich in nutrients and antioxidants. It’s an absolute powerhouse. Its trees are dotted around our homes in West Africa, we eat it fresh or dried, cooked in soups and stews, brewed in tisanes. Its versatility is endless.
With the explosion of social media and channels such as TikTok, the food world is increasingly becoming more about what people like you and I eat at home (well…and concoctions on TikTok), what celebrities (on TikTok) eat (those secret potions we imagine they eat/drink that make them glow brighter than ‘us’) and less about what ‘top chefs’ tell us to eat. I find this shift fascinating and it caused me to look inward, asking myself, '“how much of what I love to eat do I really share with you? ”Before now, I wouldn't have contemplated sharing a recipe for toast. Who needs a recipe for toast?
Courtney who is one of our members, sent this to me on Instagram when I teased this recipe.
“Oh! Toast is a daily thing for me. I need more inspiration. I love to add jelly or hot sauce on my toast, not exactly nutrient dense or exciting. I also love to add hot sauce, and alfalfa sprouts, radish sprouts or mixed micro-greens to my toast. I think toast should have its own dedicated meal time. Its so underrated!”
I couldn’t agree more about toast having its own mealtime, but I probably wouldn’t stick to it. I’ll eat it whenever I want like I do all other meals. Breakfast for dinner anyone or is Courtney on to something?
It may be shocking for you to read that Hailey Beiber’s (Justin Beiber’s wife - FYI) viral Pizza Toast inspired me to share my own ‘magical’ moringa toast and oh boy!!! it got tongues wagging on Instagram. In our Substack Food Writers Fellowship, where I have been convening with a ridiculously talented pool of writers from across the world, we had been discussing what fuels our writing and what our communities enjoy. We can only really gauge what you enjoy by measuring how many of you open the newsletters and how many of you ♥️ and comment on them. And the general consensus is that ultimately, ‘you’ just want finger-licking good food that is often simple to put together. It got me thinking about how much I love toast, how easy it is to put together and how easily indulgent it can become. My toast is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten, simple in its own way, yet sumptuous, like Hailey’s viral toast, with its array of ingredients. (except truffle oil which I think is bordering on fraudulent)
And so feeling inspired to share one of the best toasts I have ever eaten, I thought I’d check my tiktok to see if my magical toast had gone viral since I posted it. You will never believe this! I never even posted it on tiktok! There goes that dream.
Could your toast rival Hailey’s viral pizza toast, or my magical moringa toast? (which didn’t even get a fair chance at going viral)
Tell me, how do you like your toast?
~ Lerato x
Eggs on Sourdough Toast with Moringa Cream Cheese
*See video above*
Your new favourite breakfast, brunch or dinner is inspired by age old African beauty & health secrets. One of my favourite ways to enjoy moringa is simply mixed into cream cheese or Greek yoghurt to eat with whatever my heart desires, like this quick recipe that is so easy. You will absolutely love it.
Eyeballed recipe to adapt to your hunger level
Time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
Extra virgin organic avocado oil
Sea salt flakes
Seeded sourdough bread
3 heaped tbsp cream cheese or Greek yoghurt
2 tsp Moringa
1 fat clove of roasted garlic, smooshed
1 roasted red pepper, torn
Furikake (Japanese sesame seed & shiso & nori (seaweed) seasoning)
Nigella seeds
Chilli flakes
Let’s get cooking
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the eggs sunny side up, seasoned with a pinch of sea salt flakes.
In a small bowl, mix cream cheese or Greek yoghurt, the moringa, sea salt flakes, avocado oil and roasted garlic. In the video above, although I said yoghurt, I actually used cream cheese. (oops!) Taste and season to perfection.
Toast the bread in the frying pan with the residual oil and once slightly cooled, spread the green goodness onto it. Top with the roasted pepper, a flourish of furikake which I adore ~ (a Japanese mix of white & black sesame seeds, dried nori (seaweed) & dried shiso), some Nigella seeds and chilli flakes for a tease of heat. Finish with a drizzle of avocado oil and devour.
Cook’s Tips
Here are some of my recipe tips & swaps If you have any questions, or swap ideas, please share with us in the comments section. It will be so helpful for us all.
Moringa Swap: There is no swap for moringa’s magic, even avocados don’t come close. You can find good quality moringa in health food stores or online.
Egg-free: Don’t eat eggs, swap them for meaty mushrooms, grilled of sautéed. Or a slice of halloumi or tofu per toast.
Plant based Swaps: Choose your favourite plant based cream cheese or yoghurt
You made it this far! If you have enjoyed this newsletter it would mean the world to me if you share it with those who will enjoy it too. If you try the recipe, don’t forget to tag #cookwithlerato & @leratofoods on Instagram, as I love to see your creations, and with your permission, I will share them on my Instagram and here for others to enjoy.
For my daily adventures, follow me on @Leratofoods on all socials & drop me a line to say hello!
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