Be hangover ready: Recipes for the first day of the new year

You might know that you want to skip a hangover, but let's face it, nobody sticks to just one drink an hour and chances are that you or your friends will wake up with a hangover. Can you imagine waking up with a throbbing head, looking for a hangover remedy? Well, don't! Here's a list of things you might want to stock up on today before you head out to party. Let's get you hangover ready, baby.

Hangovers are mainly the result of dehydration and a mix of toxins in your body. So, it isn't rocket science to figure out that you need loads of fluids. The toxins and the dehydration lead to a drop in your blood-sugar level, which causes you to feel nauseous. What your body needs at this point is something rich in antioxidants to detoxify your body, something that will rehydrate your body and something that will fix the drop in your blood-sugar level. "Fruit juices and nimbu-paani are highly recommended," says nutritionist Ami Doshi. That's sorted then. Now that you've filled up the fridge with fruits and juices, what next?

"You need a high-fat breakfast to absorb all the alcohol in your system," says Vijay Pandey, executive chef, Oakwood Premier, Mumbai. Most people will tell you that a wholewheat toast with butter and honey would be the ideal breakfast when you're battling a hangover. "The honey gives you sugar, the toast gives you carbs, and the butter gives you the fat to help your body fight the aftermath of the previous evening," explains Doshi, "Eggs are excellent too as they absorb the excess alcohol in the system and replenish the body with nutrients."

Yes, you might be better off eating a simple breakfast of scrambled egg on toast with a big glass of juice on the side, but it's the first breakfast of a brand new year. Let's make it grand. Chef Pandey gives us a simple recipe for Eggs Florentine to start 2011 on a nutritious note. "The recipe is rich in fats, antioxidants and carbs to help you get rid of that hangover," says Pandey.

Eggs Florentine (serves two)
Ingredients:
4 eggs, poached
4 slices of wholewheat bread, toasted
100gm spinach, finely chopped
150-200gm grated cheese
60ml cream
A dash of chopped garlic
½ onion chopped

Method:
For the Florentine sauce, lightly sauté the onion and garlic in butter. Add spinach and continue to sauté for a few minutes before adding cream. Bring the sauce to a boil. Set aside.
To poach the eggs, simmer some water with vinegar and salt. Lightly break the egg in the simmering water and voila, you should have a poached egg in a couple of minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to about 180º. Spread the creamy spinach sauce on the toasts, top with some grated cheese, poached egg and some more cheese. Place the toasts on a baking tray. Salamander (bake with heat primarily coming from the top) until the cheese melts. Your Eggs Florentine breakfast is ready!
 

Pad Thai noodles (Serves four)

For those of you who hope to wake up just in time for lunch and don't really want to go out, investment banker turned chef, Nikhil Chib tells you how to make Chicken Pad Thai from scratch at home.

Ingredients:
400g pad ka noodles
50g carrots
50g bean sprouts
50g chicken breast sliced
5g garlic, finely chopped
5g fresh red chilli
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
50ml chilli sauce
20g spinach
1 tsp peanuts
10g spring onion chopped

Method:
Blanch noodles and set aside. Blanch carrots and spinach. Heat some oil in a wok and add garlic and chilli. Stir for three to four minutes, until it's fried. Add the chicken, salt, sugar, chilli sauce, onion and all the vegetables (carrots, bean sprouts and spinach). Now, add the blanched noodles and stir-fry for two minutes. Transfer to a serving plate and garnish with crushed peanuts.
There it is! Pad Thai noodles ready to serve!