Brunch Anyone? A Delicious Kumara & Kale Cake with Poached Eggs

Emma Galloway, author of My Darling Lemon Thyme: Recipes From My Real Food Kitchen, shares a delicious recipe, straight from her new recipe book.

“When I was cooking in cafés, the breakfast shift was always my favourite,” Emma says.

“This is the most ‘café-style’ breakfast recipe I have included and one that I simply couldn’t leave out.

“Lots of people freak out at the idea of poaching eggs, but there’s really no need: simmering water, a touch of vinegar to help congeal the whites, a swirl of water to centralise the yolk, gentle heat and a good drain afterwards and, as Gordon Ramsay would say, ‘done’.”

Kumara + Kale Latkes with Poached Eggs 

Ingredients:

600g orange (Beauregard) kumara (sweet potato), peeled + grated (see NOTE)

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 large kale leaves, stems removed + leaves finely chopped

1 spring onion, thinly sliced

2 large free-range eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Olive oil or ghee

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

4–8 large free-range eggs (so one or two per person, depending on how hungry you are)

Your favourite tomato chutney, to serve

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 120°C (250°F). Place kumara and salt in a bowl and mix well. Set aside for 10 minutes. Pick up handfuls of kumara and squeeze as hard as you can to remove all the excess liquid, then transfer to a clean bowl. Add kale, spring onion, eggs and parsley and season with a few turns of your pepper mill.

2. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil or ghee in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add little handfuls (approx. ¼ cup) of mixture to the pan. I tend to squeeze them together as much as I can before placing them into the pan and then flatten them with a metal fish slice, but they don’t need to be perfect circles. Cook for 2–3 minutes or until golden on the underside, before flipping over and cooking for a further minute or two. Transfer to a paper-towel lined plate and pop into the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining mixture. You should get 12 medium latkes

(3 per serve).

3. Fill a medium saucepan with at least 5cm of water, add the cider vinegar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, create a whirlpool in the water with a large metal spoon and crack 2–4 eggs into the pan at a time. Simmer for 3–4 minutes, depending on how well done you like your eggs. Lift out with a large metal slotted spoon. Drain on a clean tea towel or paper towel.

4. To serve place three latkes on each plate and top with one or two poached eggs. Season with a sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and serve with a generous dollop of tomato chutney on the side.

NOTE: Regular red (Owairaka) or golden (Toka toka) kumara can be used in place of orange, but I just love the colour and sweetness the Beauregard brings.