Spanish Breakfast Foods

When we think of Spain, the images that come to our mind are of bullfights, dancing, flamenco music, breathtaking beaches and sunshine. Spaniards are also known the world over for their laid back and carefree attitude. The same thing is reflected in their eating style as well.

While most of the people in other countries believe in the adage, "Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper", Spaniards follow their own rules. In Spain, people like to sleep till late, and when they wake up, they have minimal breakfast.

Their heaviest meal is their midday lunch. Spanish breakfast, known as "El Desayuno" is very light and is just a means for them to get started for the day.

Since Spaniards believe in having a very small meal in the morning, the typical breakfast menu consists of nothing but a cup of coffee, to which lots of frothy milk has been added, a slice of toast and a sweet pastry known as churros. With toast, Spaniards prefer to take peach jam or sometimes some mild cheese, while churros is served with chocolate.

"Bollos", the Spanish sweet rolls and "Magdalenas", the lemon flavored cupcakes, are consumed for breakfast by many Spaniards. "Torrijas" - a sweet dish prepared with bread, milk and eggs is very popular and is served in most of the eateries in Spain, in the mornings.

A person visiting the country can have freshly squeezed orange juice, along with Torrijas, in his morning meal. A typical list of Spanish foods which are cosumed during breakfast would consist of coffee, toast, magdalenas, bollos, churros, torrijas, chocolate milk and orange juice.

Ingredients Required

• Five slices of white bread
• One egg
• One cup of milk
• Vegetable oil
• Sugar, honey and cinnamon

Method
Take a bowl and pour the milk in it. Add raw egg to the milk and beat them together. Now, in a frying pan, put the vegetable oil and heat it on medium. The oil should be sufficient for frying. Next, take one slice of bread and put it in the egg-milk mixture. Make sure to cover the bread from all sides with the mixture.

Now, lift the bread, either with your hands or with a fork and place it in the oil for frying. When one side of the bread turns golden brown, turn the side. When it's golden brown on both sides, remove it from the oil. In the end, when all the slices have been made, serve them in a plate and sprinkle cinnamon, sugar and honey on top.

Ingredients Required

• Freshly ground coffee beans (Use a strong variety)
• Bottled water
• Full milk

Method
In a coffee pot, put enough water to fill the entire bottom portion. Next, in the metal portion, put the finely grounded coffee and later fasten both the portions together. Place the pot on stove and heat till the water boils and fills up the upper chamber of the coffee pot.

Let the water boil for about two minutes and then remove the coffee pot from the stove. When the coffee is getting made, simultaneously, heat full milk in a pan. While pouring coffee and milk in a cup remember to keep the ratio as two-thirds full milk and one-third coffee, to make it Spanish style.

Spanish breakfast is light, still the Spaniards are able to sustain themselves till lunch as prior to lunch, they have a midday meal known as "tapas". In fact, this is the secret behind a Spaniard's good health, that in spite of having so many sugary foods, they are healthy because they spread their meals throughout the day instead of having large meals thrice a day, as people in most other countries do. So grab hold of a few recipes from Spain, and eat and live healthy.