Pandemic Parathas: Carbs in the age of social distancing
Friends, I have started this blog as an outlet to write about two of the things I care about most — food and politics.
Today, we begin with something that anyone can take meaningful action on from home (the place where most action can / should happen right now): food.
As family and friends (est 99.9% of readers of this first post, and probably most of my posts for the foreseeable future) know, I am married to an incredibly handsome and wonderful man from India, Mudit Jain. Since getting married, I have started to dip my toe into Indian home cooking. This has been helped a great deal by an excellent cookbook, Made in India by Meera Sodha given to me by a dear friend, Shruti Mathure! The recipes in this book are not only delicious, but very approachable, including this recipe for parathas.
A moment for me to talk about Indian breads. I had not realized until I went to India that the breads I knew (naan, rotis, pooris) were kind of like the three pack of Crayolas they give you at restaurants with kids menus — good as a way to say, “Did you know that great colors exist?” Bad as a way to say, “Did you know how many great colors there are??!?! (Fact: Crayola has 120 DIFFERENT COLORS OF CRAYONS). India has an insane number of breads. They are pretty much all great. And for me, until recently, they had all seemed pretty intimidating to cook at home. I don’t have a tandoor oven for naans. I don’t even have a Tava pan for cooking rotis. I’m a bit intimidated by the deep frying required for pooris. But I do have a small frying pan, and that, friend, is all you need to cook parathas.
Parathas are a flaky flatbread. Need I say more? Ok, I will. I’ll tell you how to make them, and I’ll show them with some channa masala, cumin pomegranate and mint raita, and basmati rice, which is how we ate them. There are some small joys to be had in this pandemic.
RECIPE - From Made in India by Meera Sodha with small tweaks
INGREDIENTS - There are only 4!
3/4 Cup water
2 Cups plus 2 tablespoons chapati flour (plus extra to dust the dough). This flour is often called “atta flour.” If needed substitute with all purpose flour.
2 Tablespoons Canola oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 teaspoon salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Put water in microwave for 30 seconds to warm it up. Fill one small bowl with flour to dust the dough with, and one small bowl with canola oil.
Put the chapati flour into a big bowl, add 2 tablespoons of oil and the salt, and rub through the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the middle and pour in 2/3 cup of the water, then add the rest little by little - you may not need all of it - and knead into a nice soft dough. It should take 6 to 8 minutes.
Lightly flour a clean surface or your chapati board. Divide the dough into 10 pieces, then take one of the pieces, roll it into a ball between your palms, and flatten it.
Ok, this recipe is a little “hands on,” so to speak both in making and eating, so wash your hands a lot to practice safe parathas.
Dip the ball into the flour to generously coat it on both sides, then roll out it out with the rolling pin into a small circle, 5 to 6 inches in diameter, stopping to gently dip the round in flour again if it starts to stick. Use a teaspoon to sparingly drizzle some oil over the surface of the paratha.
Sprinkle it with a light dusting of flour and fold in half; this will help to create the flaky layers. Drizzle with a little more oil, sprinkle with some more flour, and fold the crescent in half again, so that you’re left with a quarter of your original round (a pie wedge shape).
Lightly dust both sides with flour and gently start to roll your paratha out, up and down, so that the quarter-circle shape begins to turn into an elongated triangle, like a large pizza slice.
In Chicago, everything looks like a large pizza slice.
You can start to cook this one at the same time as you’re rolling the next. To cook, place a frying pan on a medium heat with a small amount of oil and when it’s hot, lay the paratha in the pan. Leave to cook for up to a minute, then turn over and cook for another minute. Flip it over again for another 30 seconds. Continue until the color and texture looks like one you’d like to eat!
I’d like to eat this one! Also look how that paratha is all alone on the pan. Safe social distancing.
I feel I am creating paratha magic!
I couldn’t resist!
Check for any uncooked (dark) spots of dough, then take off the heat and transfer to a plate. Eat the first one right away because you’ve earned it, and parathas taste amazing literally right out of the pan. Stack your parathas to keep them warm or wrap them in some foil. Then repeat with the rest of the dough. Enjoy!
