Written by: Christie Wong

Featuring: Mobina Ghadyani

Ever heard of the saying ‘Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper’? 

Mobina’s butter croissants

For Mobina, she is not the type of person who sits down to eat a 5-dish breakfast like the ones you see in movies. She usually breezes through her breakfast, grabbing a croissant, popping it into the microwave, opening a box of fruits and when the ‘Ding!’ of the microwave blares through the kitchen, her breakfast is done in a simple 3 step and 10 minutes routine. 

When we hear ‘croissants’, we automatically associate them with the French. But a little bird named Google actually said it originated from Austria. It only became French when people started making it with puff pastry. Another fun fact? A baker in the 17th century was working through the night at the time when his city was under siege when he heard a faint sound underground that upon investigation, was caused by enemies attempting to invade his city by tunnelling the walls! The baker asked for no reward other than the exclusive right to bake crescent-shaped pastries which is what we know now as the croissant. 

(Editor’s fun fact: Crescent-shaped croissants are made with margarine, while straight croissants are made with butter. In case anyone wants to go to France.)

Enough history lessons! On to the interview! 

Do you make your own breakfast every day? Or was this just a one-time thing? (laughs)

Oh no, I do not make every breakfast on my own. My mom owns a bakery here in Iran so while I don’t have much time to bake and cook, my mom steps in to be the chef of the house. 

Ah, so your mom was your inspiration to bake these fluffy croissants?

Yes, my mom inspires me to bake. She wasn’t a baker from the start. When I was younger, she wasn’t always at home but once she stopped working, she took professional baking classes. I would sometimes follow her to baking classes back then to learn together. Something like a bonding activity. Now, she has been baking professionally for over 10 years. 

That is so sweet! I love how you bond with your mom over baking. So, I can safely assume that croissants are your favorite breakfast food? 

Definitely! I really like croissants because it has so many layers of dough and butter. The buttery taste is to die for, and did you know that the croissant dough is known to have 100 layers? 

The layers in croissants.

Woah! That takes a lot of skill and way more dedication to make croissants then. How long did it take you to make these? Was it a lot of practice? 

All in all, it took 3 whole days to make the croissants as I had to let the dough rest hour by hour, day by day. It takes a while since the dough needs to rise. To be honest, it is all thanks to my mom. I didn’t have to practice much because she was always there guiding me throughout the whole process. Usually, it would be very time consuming, but I am very lucky the croissants came out perfect. 

Guess we can say you got your talents from your mom then? (laughs) So, do you enjoy baking?

I enjoy it, sometimes it can be frustrating but it’s a good way to take your mind off stressful things. I once took a psychology course that said baking can cause anger issues but I honestly don’t feel any anger. If I fail, I just laugh it off. Even if I made a mess, it’s okay because you can learn from the mess. Of course, it won’t be Instagrammable but you can still eat your failures as long as it’s not burnt. 

Any food is good food as long as it’s edible, am I right? (laughs) Any fun facts that come along with your dish?

Actually, from the plating, you can see some berries. At first glance, those look like blueberries, but they are grapes! Blueberries are rarely found in Iran and if they’re available, it’s usually very expensive. 

You really fooled me with that one! I was thinking about how juicy the blueberries would have been too. Lastly, what will you be doing with the money you’ve won?

I actually joined this challenge in hopes of winning the voucher so I can order Ben & Jerry’s ice cream! (laughs) 

I must say, no one can resist a good pint of ice cream. Thank you! 

A recent cease and desist order has prevented MONGA from using any catchphrases at the end of our articles...

sorry