Croissant stack: This one. From the Hantam Huis in Calvinia, Northern Cape, is filled with curried mince, fried eggs and cheese. (Photo: Tony Jackman)
Taking a break from the madly moreish Hantam Breakfast at the Hantam Huis in Calvinia, Northern Cape, my eye fell on croissants with options. Like building your own pizza, this is a fun way to approach breakfast.
They call it a toast or croissant ‘stack’ but don’t worry that it might be a daunting pile of croissants. It’s one, halved and toasted, with your choice of fillings ‘stacked’ inside it.
The choices were cheese, tomato, onion, eggs (2), bacon, ham, curried mince, and tuna mayo. How you pair any of those is up to you, but err on the side of what goes with what. I wouldn’t put eggs with tuna mayo, but ham (or bacon) goes with cheese and eggs winningly.
If you’re staying in a place for more than one day, you can vary your choices — ham and cheese one day, all melted and gooey, and toasted croissant halves with curried mince, cheese and eggs the next. Which is exactly what I did.
If that combination doesn’t immediately grab you, consider the Mexican penchant for meat with cheese, and adding eggs isn’t much of a stretch.
(Serves 2)
Ingredients
2 croissants
Butter
500 g curried mince
Slices of cheese of your choice (Cheddar, Edam, Gouda, etc)
4 eggs, fried in butter
For the curried mince:
400g lean beef mince (200g per croissant)
Butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 or 2 garlic cloves, chopped (optional — it’s breakfast)
1 x 400 g can chopped tomatoes
1 heaped tsp masala
1 heaped tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground fennel
½ tsp ground coriander
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
For the curried mince: heat a little butter in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic and cook on a low heat until the onions are softened, while stirring.
Stir in all the spices and cook for 2 or 3 minutes more.
Add the tomato, season with salt, stir, and cook on a low heat for a minute or two.
Add the mince and work it in with a wooden spoon so that it does not form clumps.
Simmer gently on a low heat for about 30 minutes. You need most of the liquid to cook away but don’t let it get too dry. You also don’t want the mince to catch at the bottom of the pan. Keep to one side.
Fry the eggs in more butter , leaving them a little underdone on top — they will continue cooking under the grill, while the cheese melts into them. Slice or grate the quantity of cheese you would like in each croissant; entirely up to you.
Slice the croissants in half through the middle and toast them lightly.
Butter the insides and spoon some of the curried mince on.
Place the eggs on the mince. Season the eggs with salt and pepper. Lay slices of cheese, or piles of grated cheese., on top of the eggs.
Put the bottom halves of the croissants, with their fillings, under a grill for the cheese to melt.
Take them out and top with the other halves of the croissants. DM
Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023
Order Tony’s book, foodSTUFF, here.
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