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Kid-friendly breakfasts

Breakfasts children actually want to eat before school. (79 recipes)

Pan-gayu (bread porridge)

Pan-gayu is a staple of the early rinyushoku (weaning) stage in Japan, the second grain after rice porridge, and it fills the 'first foods' pages of every baby magazine sold in Tokyo convenience stores. Crustless white bread is torn into a pan of water, breast milk or formula and simmered until it collapses, then mashed smooth for a soft, milky, faintly sweet porridge. Bread already contains a little salt, so this is an occasional porridge rather than an everyday one, and no extra salt, sugar or honey goes in. It contains wheat (gluten) and milk if made with milk. Chef's tip: choose the softest, plainest white sandwich loaf with the lowest salt on the label, and cut away every bit of crust.

8 minJapaneseBreakfast & Brunch
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Bun maska

Bun maska belongs to Mumbai's old Irani cafés, the bentwood-chair rooms such as Kyani & Co near Dhobi Talao, where office workers and students start the day with a split, generously buttered sweet bun and a glass of strong milky chai. The bun is pillowy and faintly sweet, the salted butter is spread so thick you see teeth marks, and the whole point is to dip it into the hot tea. Children love it as a weekend breakfast. Chef's tip: let the butter soften at room temperature; cold butter tears the delicate crumb.

10 minIndianBreakfast & Brunch
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Koova kurukku (arrowroot porridge)

Koova, the arrowroot that grows in Kerala's backyards, is dug, washed, grated and dried into a snow-white powder that many families in Thrissur and Kottayam still make themselves. Stirred with water over a low flame, it turns from chalky to clear and glossy in a few minutes, and this kurukku is a classic first spoonful at six months, often given in the hot months because it is thought to be cooling. It is very mild and smooth. No salt, sugar, jaggery or honey goes in for babies. It is free of the major allergens. Chef's tip: buy pure koova or arrowroot powder, not a cornflour blend, and stop cooking the moment the whole pan turns translucent.

10 minIndianBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Ogi (pap, fermented maize porridge)

Early mornings across Nigeria smell of akara frying and ogi being stirred: the smooth, pourable porridge that Yoruba homes call ogi and Igbo homes call akamu. It is made from maize soaked for two or three days, ground, sieved and left to settle into a soft white paste, which is sold fresh in markets wrapped in leaves or plastic. Boiling water turns the paste glossy and thick, with a clean sourness that is often softened with sugar and milk. Water that is merely hot rather than boiling is the usual mistake, leaving the pap thin and chalky; if that happens, stir it over a low flame for a minute. Chef's tip: sorghum ogi (ogi baba) is redder and earthier, and millet ogi is lighter; all three cook the same way.

15 minNigerianBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Malawax (Somali cardamom crepes)

Fragrant with cardamom and just sweet enough, malawax are the thin, soft pancakes Somali families make on weekend mornings and for guests, stacked high and eaten with honey, sugar or a smear of ghee beside a pot of shaah. They are thinner than canjeero and contain egg and milk, so they cook in a minute and stay tender rather than spongy. Children roll them up and eat them in their hands; adults tend to tear them and dip them in tea. The batter should be as thin as single cream, and the classic mistake is a pan that is not hot enough, which gives pale, rubbery crepes that stick. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for 10 minutes so the flour hydrates; the first crepe is always a tester, so adjust the heat after it.

30 minSomaliBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pani pol pancakes

In Sri Lankan bakeries and tea kiosks, pani pol pancakes sit next to the savoury short eats, neat little rolls of thin, faintly yellow pancake wrapped around a dark, sticky filling, and at home they are a favourite Sunday breakfast and tiffin-box treat. The pani pol, literally treacle coconut, is grated coconut cooked with kithul treacle, cardamom and cinnamon until glossy and sweet, and the pancakes are thin crêpes made with egg and milk, often tinted with a pinch of turmeric. They are eaten warm or at room temperature with a cup of milk tea. The mistake most cooks make is cooking the filling dry, which makes it gritty and hard to roll; it should be moist and just holding together. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 20 minutes while you cook the filling, so the pancakes come out thin, soft and free of holes.

45 minSri LankanBreakfast & Brunch
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Tvorozhnaya zapekanka

Anyone who went to a Soviet kindergarten remembers the warm yellow square of curd bake handed out at breakfast, and Russian parents still make it on weekend mornings because children eat it without a fuss. Tvorog is beaten with eggs, sugar and sour cream, thickened with semolina and dotted with raisins, then baked into a soft, gently sweet pudding somewhere between a cheesecake and a soufflé. Serve it warm or cold with sour cream, jam or condensed milk. Tvorog is usually made without rennet, but check the label if that matters to you. A common mistake is baking straight after mixing: give the semolina 15 minutes to swell, or the bake turns out gritty and loose. Chef's tip: brush a thin layer of sour cream over the top before baking for a glossy, deep golden crust.

65 minRussianBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Cheeni paratha

Every Punjabi grandmother has a version of this, usually made from the last ball of dough after the family's parathas are done: sugar sprinkled over ghee, folded inside and rolled out, then cooked until the sugar melts into sticky, caramelised seams. In villages around Sargodha and Faisalabad it is the treat a child gets dunked into a mug of sweet milky tea before school, and in winter it is sometimes made with jaggery instead. The outside should be crisp and blistered, the inside layered and chewy with pockets of melted sugar. The trap is too hot a tawa: the sugar bursts through and burns before the dough has cooked. Chef's tip: seal the edges well when you fold, keep the heat medium, and wipe the tawa between parathas so any escaped sugar does not scorch the next one.

20 minPakistaniBreakfast & Brunch
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Nigerian pancakes

Somewhere between a crêpe and a Western pancake, the Nigerian version is thin, slightly chewy and folded into quarters, often cooked for children before school or on a slow Saturday. Savoury ones get chopped onion and a bit of fresh chilli in the batter; sweet ones simply have more sugar and a pinch of nutmeg. They need nothing alongside except tea or a cup of hot chocolate. A pan that isn't hot enough is the classic mistake and gives pale, greasy pancakes, so heat it until a drop of batter sets at once. Chef's tip: rest the batter for 10 minutes while the pan heats; it gives a smoother, chewier pancake.

30 minNigerianBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Gwaramari

Early on a cold morning in the old lanes of Asan, Patan or Bhaktapur, small tea shops fry gwaramari in big iron pans, and office workers and schoolchildren stop for a paper twist of them with a glass of sweet milky chiya. They are round, golden puffs of wheat dough, about the size of a ping-pong ball, with a thin shattering crust and a soft, slightly chewy, airy centre lightly seasoned with turmeric, black pepper and a pinch of sugar. Newars also make them for bhoj feasts and to send to relatives after a festival. They fail most often when the dough is too stiff or not rested, which gives dense, oily lumps instead of light puffs. Chef's tip: the batter-like dough should be sticky enough to need wet fingers; pinch off pieces with oiled hands and drop them straight into oil that is hot but not smoking.

60 minNepaliBreakfast & BrunchVegan
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Rikikur

Potatoes are the backbone of Sherpa cooking in Solukhumbu, and in the kitchens of Namche Bazaar, Khumjung and Phaplu, rikikur is the treat: raw potatoes grated on a flat stone, seasoned with salt and cooked as thick, crisp-edged pancakes on a hot griddle or a heated slab of slate by the fire. They arrive smeared with yak butter and served with a crumble of tangy cheese and a fiery chilli paste, and trekking lodges now offer them for breakfast with tea. The outside is crunchy and golden, the inside soft and slightly chewy. Traditional Himalayan cheeses, and many hard cheeses sold elsewhere, are made with animal rennet, so choose one labelled vegetarian. Mushy, grey pancakes are what you get if you skip squeezing out the potato liquid. Chef's tip: let the squeezed liquid settle for a few minutes, pour off the water and stir the white starch at the bottom back into the potato, which binds the pancakes without any flour.

35 minNepaliBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pumpkin millet porridge

Autumn in central Ukraine means piles of grey-skinned pumpkins in every yard, and the first thing many grandmothers make with them is this golden breakfast porridge. Diced pumpkin is simmered until it collapses, then millet and milk are added and the pot is left to cook down into something thick, creamy and faintly sweet, finished with butter and a spoon of honey. In villages around Cherkasy and Vinnytsia it was once baked for hours in the clay stove; a heavy pan on a low heat gives a very similar result. Serve it hot in deep bowls, with extra honey and a few raisins for children. The usual slip is skipping the rinse: millet carries a bitter dust, and only washing it in several changes of hot water takes it away. Chef's tip: choose a dense, deep-orange pumpkin such as butternut or a Ukrainian 'muscat' type; watery Halloween pumpkins make a thin, pale kasha.

50 minUkrainianBreakfast & BrunchGluten free
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Chura gerte (Gambian rice and peanut porridge)

Groundnuts are The Gambia's great crop, and chura gerte, rice porridge cooked with ground roasted peanuts, is how many families in Banjul and Serekunda start the day. Broken rice is simmered until soft and creamy, then the peanut paste goes in with sugar, a pinch of salt and sometimes vanilla or nutmeg. It is thick, comforting and nutty, a bowl that keeps children going until lunch. Some households pour sour milk over the top; leave it out, as here, and the porridge is vegan. Avoid adding the peanut paste in one lump; whisk it in loosened with hot liquid or it clumps. Chef's tip: stir the peanut paste into the rice only once the grains are completely soft, because rice cooked in peanut from the start catches on the base and stays chalky.

40 minAfricanBreakfast & BrunchVeganGluten free
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Taiwanese breakfast toast with egg

Walk past any Taiwanese breakfast shop between six and ten in the morning and the griddle will be covered in eggs and slices of white bread, being turned into these sandwiches for commuters and schoolchildren to carry off with a cup of milk tea or soy milk. Pillowy, lightly toasted bread is spread with a sweet, creamy mayonnaise and layered with a flat griddled egg, a slice of pork ham (or pork floss) and crisp cucumber, then cut into triangles. The mistake is toasting the bread hard and dry: breakfast shops only warm it on the griddle so it stays soft, with a faint crisp on the outside. Chef's tip: break the yolk and flatten the egg on the griddle so it is the same size as the bread and cooked right through, which keeps it neat and ideal for kids.

10 minTaiwaneseBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Jamaican fried dumplings

A Jamaican Sunday breakfast plate nearly always has fried dumplings on it, golden rounds with a crisp shell and a soft, slightly chewy centre, served beside ackee and saltfish, callaloo, or simply split with butter and a cup of cocoa tea. Many families still call them johnny cakes. The dough is just flour, a little baking powder, salt and water, and the mistake people make is overworking it, which gives tough, heavy dumplings; knead only until smooth. Fry them over medium heat, not high, so the middle cooks before the outside browns. Chef's tip: press a thumb into the centre of each ball before frying, which helps it cook evenly and stops it puffing into a hollow ball.

30 minJamaicanBreakfast & BrunchVegan
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Trini fry bake

On Saturday and Sunday mornings across Port of Spain, a bowl of dough becomes a pile of golden, hollow-bellied bakes that get split open and stuffed with buljol, smoked herring, cheese or a fried egg. They are soft and slightly chewy inside with a thin, blistered crust, nothing like the dense coconut bake baked in the oven. The usual mistake is frying in oil that is not hot enough: the bakes soak up fat and stay flat instead of ballooning. A short rest for the dough helps them puff. Chef's tip: roll the rounds no thicker than 5 mm and spoon hot oil over the top as they fry, and almost every one will inflate like a pillow.

30 minTrinidadianBreakfast & Brunch
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Arepa di pampuna

Curaçao and Aruba use the word arepa differently from their South American neighbours: arepa di pampuna are not corn arepas but small, sweet pumpkin pancakes, fried in a little oil and eaten warm for breakfast, or alongside a bowl of soup or stoba at lunch. The mashed pumpkin makes them tender and bright orange, with cinnamon and a little sugar. The mistake is too much flour, which makes them dense; the batter should be thick but soft. Chef's tip: cook the pumpkin the day before and drain it overnight in the fridge for the lightest pancakes.

30 minCaribbeanBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Matzo brei

During the eight days of Passover, when bread is off the table, matzo brei is what Ashkenazi households all over Israel make for breakfast, and families argue cheerfully about whether it should be sweet or salty. Sheets of matzo are broken up, briefly soaked, squeezed and stirred into beaten eggs, then fried in butter until golden in places and soft in others. Eat it with cinnamon sugar or jam, or with salt, pepper and fried onions. Matzo is wheat, so this is not gluten free. The common mistake is soaking the matzo too long, which turns it to wet paste; it only needs a quick dip. Chef's tip: let the mixture sit undisturbed in the pan for a minute before turning, to get proper golden patches.

15 minIsraeliBreakfast & Brunch
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Chebab

Chebab are the thick, spongy pancakes that Emirati families make for breakfast in Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Al Ain, especially on Fridays and through Ramadan for suhoor. The batter is yeasted, so the pancakes rise in the pan and come out holey and soft like a crumpet, tinted yellow with saffron and scented with cardamom. They are served stacked with date syrup poured over and a spoonful of fresh chami or cream cheese on the side. Flipping too early is the classic error: wait until the top is covered in bubbles and looks dry at the edges, or the pancake tears. Chef's tip: leave the batter to rise until it is properly bubbly; a lazy batter gives flat, heavy chebab.

65 minGulf ArabianBreakfast & Brunch
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Masoub

Masoub is a rich breakfast from Aden and the Tihama coast of Yemen, now just as loved in Saudi Arabia, where it is served in cafés on Friday mornings in big bowls. Torn flatbread is mashed with ripe bananas and ghee into a warm, sweet, slightly chewy pudding, then topped with thick cream, honey and sometimes dates or cheese. It is soft, sticky and very filling, a good use for bread that is a day old. The usual mistake is using bananas that are not ripe enough: they need brown-freckled skins to mash smoothly and give sweetness without much honey. Chef's tip: toast the bread pieces in the dry pan first until they are crisp at the edges; they take up the ghee better and give the mash a nutty taste.

20 minGulf ArabianBreakfast & Brunch
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Cheese blintzes

Cheese blintzes are the star of Shavuot breakfasts in Ashkenazi homes across Israel, and Jerusalem dairy cafés have served them for generations with soured cream and berry sauce. Thin crêpes, cooked on one side only, are wrapped around sweetened farmer cheese with lemon and vanilla, then fried in butter until crisp and golden outside and creamy within. Serve two per person with soured cream and a spoon of cherry or blueberry compote. Farmer cheese is usually rennet-free, but check the label and choose a vegetarian one. A common mistake is a wet filling: drain the cheese well or it leaks and the blintzes burst in the pan. Chef's tip: fill on the cooked side, so the pale raw side ends up outside and browns properly in the final fry.

55 minIsraeliBreakfast & Brunch
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Bolos lêvedos

In the steamy valley of Furnas, on São Miguel, bakers have been cooking these slightly sweet, lemon-scented muffins on flat griddles for generations, and visitors queue for them warm on the way to the hot springs. Thick, soft and pale with golden tops and bottoms, they are split and toasted for breakfast with butter, or used as buns for a sandwich. Chef's tip: the dough is very soft and sticky, so use oiled hands rather than more flour when shaping, or they turn dense.

70 minPortugueseBreakfast & Brunch
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Kaygana

In Trabzon and Rize homes, kaygana is what appears when breakfast needs stretching: eggs beaten with a little flour and milk and a big handful of spring onion, dill and parsley, then poured thin into a buttered pan. It sits halfway between an omelette and a crêpe, soft in the middle with lacy, browned edges. Fold it onto a plate with cheese, olives, tomatoes and tea, or roll it up for a packed lunch. Common mistake: a pan that isn't hot enough, so the batter soaks up butter and turns leathery instead of puffing. Chef's tip: let the batter rest for 10 minutes; the flour hydrates and the kaygana flips without tearing.

27 minTurkishBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

Pão na chapa

Stand at the counter of any São Paulo padaria at seven in the morning and you will hear the order a hundred times: 'um pão na chapa e um pingado'. A pão francês, the city's crusty little roll, is split, spread generously with salted butter and pressed cut-side down on the griddle until the crumb turns golden, crisp at the edges and soaked with butter, while the crust stays crackly. It comes with a café com leite and nothing else. At home a heavy frying pan and a second pan to press it do the job. The trap is a pan that is too hot, so the butter burns before the bread toasts; use a medium heat. Chef's tip: butter right to the edges and press the roll down firmly with a spatula or small pan, so the whole surface touches the metal and browns evenly.

8 minBrazilianBreakfast & Brunch
by KrazyBadal 0 views

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