Category Archives: Food

Move Over Toast

Indian Foods Part 2 — Breads

February 27, 2008

My bland diet has inspired me to write about different types of Indian breads. Daniel and I went to a swanky wedding at City Palace with Giri, Sadan and some of their friends. With long buffet tables of catered food from local hot spots, I kept to mild dishes and fresh breads from the tandoori. When it was time for dessert, each person at our table inspected each other’s picks from the assortment of jalebi, fruit salad, kulfi, caramel custard and ice cream. They laughed at me when they saw my joy in eating naan and fruit salad for dessert instead of the other more desirable options. But, hey, naan is not as common in Indian cuisine as Naan n’ Curry in Berkeley (now House of Curries), or the countless other Indian restaurants in the States led me to believe.

Breads are an essential part of meals in Northern India. For breakfast, lunch or dinner they serve as both eating utensil and source of carbohydrates. For some families, breads are a vital source of calories if they cannot afford vegetables or proteins for at every sitting. Therefore many variations on this Indian staple exist. To quote my favorite Indian recipe website, making bread is only limited by “one’s taste and imagination.”

Naan
Naan will always be my favorite type of Indian bread. It’s fluffy and can be seasoned with everything from garlic and onion to something simple like butter. I may be condemning myself as a tourist for loving this simple fare, but it’s delicious, what can I say? Traditionally, cooks prepare naan in a tandoori oven. At a party I once watched a man in a turban knead the wheat and yeast dough into balls as music played and women in saris danced. It was hot near the oven, but he stayed close as each naan cooked. When one was done, he’d flatten another into an oblong gob. Then he’d reach inside the round, pit-like tandoor and smear it on the side. The bread bubbled slightly as it rose and colored from the flames. He made enough naan to feed about fifty guests. But you don’t need a tandoori oven. You can make it for yourself on a baking sheet. I’d recommend wearing a turban though, it looks cool.

Recipe: www.indianfoodforever.com/indian-breads/naan.html
Video:

Roti (Chapati)
At the home-stay we eat rotis more than any other type of bread. A roti or chapati is typically made of wheat flour and ghee. The dough can be combined with different greens or types of herbs to create flavor. I love to eat wheat rotis with guava jelly. Sometimes I add peanut butter, making a classic favorite I grew up eating on bread or a tortilla.

Recipe: www.indianfoodforever.com/indian-breads/besan-ki-roti.html

Video:

Puri and Battura
A puri is flat bread that puffs up from frying. It reminds me of the way corn tortillas puff up when you fry them at too high of a heat. The difference between the corn tortilla and a puri, the puri stays puffed and you can put food in it like pita bread. Sometimes we have puris made with yogurt called batturas. Battura is traditionally eaten with a gravy bean dish. I like the garbanzo bean dish flavored with ginger, called Chole.

Puri Recipe: www.indianfoodforever.com/indian-breads/puri.html

Video:

Battura Recipe: See About Video Blurb

Video:

Paratha
Paratha Stuffed parathas are a great snack. They are sort of like a quesadilla with potato or spinach in place of cheese. And instead of salsa or guacamole, we have chutneys and sauces to add flavor. When I eat parathas, I enjoy dipping them in tomato chutney or mint sauce (both of which are in season right now). I’ve had aloo (potato) parathas most often, but I would like to try a palak (spinach) paratha sometime.

Recipe: www.indianfoodforever.com/indian-breads/aloo-parantha-tandoori.html

Video:

The First Bite

Indian Food & Recipes – Part 1
January 21, 2008

During the week Daniel goes to work and I stay at the home-stay with Sadan and Giri Singh, the owners.  At the home-stay there is a full service staff who clean, cook and basically wait to do anything the Singhs or their guests ask.  It’s very different to have people take care of the things I am used to doing.  Although I will say, I do not miss doing laundry.  Giri and Sadan have said I can cook whenever I want, which is nice.
 
The food I’ve eaten in Jaipur has been good.  Atul, the cook, makes three big meals a day for everyone.  Most of the dishes are made with vegetables of different types.  We eat a lot of potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, cauliflower and eggplant.  The Singhs aren’t vegetarians, they just don’t eat beef like everyone else in India.  We’ve had chicken, fish, and goat (mutton). 

During each meal I feel pressured to eat a lot, but I know having a stomach ache isn’t worth eating too much food just to be polite.  While I know that Giri is being generous and of course I am grateful, I was happy to learn that leftovers are always eaten by the staff.  Once I learned this fact, I felt much better about saying, “No thank you, I’ve had enough.”

I’ve liked the taste of most things here.  Occassionally there will be one dish I don’t like (out of the five that are served per meal), but for the most part I like what they serve at the home-stay.  The fruits and vegetables are very fresh here.  Bananas are always a sunny yellow shade and they taste like banana flavored honey.  I love eating these bananas because you never have to wait for them to become yellow after buying them.  In Atul’s dishes, everything is made from scratch and the ingredients are fresh.  Even the simplest of foods, like bread, are more flavorful. 

If cauliflower were to ever be the most tasty vegetable, it would win the award here.  For such a bland tasting veggie, it is made with the most exotic and tongue tickling spices in India.  One night I had yummy tomato soup that tasted like I was biting into a fresh tomato off the vine.  With each bite it seemed like I was devouring a tomato still warm from the sun.  I think the soups are my favorite so far.  Since it has been cold (cold by California standards, not New York), we’ve had mushroom soup, spinach soup, tomato, veggie, sweet potato and corn soup. 

This weekend we had freshly made guava jelly.  Since many jellies and jams I’ve tasted in Jaipur are too sweet, it was a surprise when I first tried guava jelly and loved it.  The taste is as hearty as a guava Kern’s juice, but it is sweeter with a more crisp flavor.
 
After every dinner (and sometimes lunch) there is also dessert.  I’m not a big dessert eater, but I know Daniel enjoys it.  Since it is guava season, Atul serves slices of baked guava and offers guests fresh cream or ice cream.  Some nights we have something simple like roasted cinnamon apples or sesame candies.  The more elaborate Indian desserts are too rich for my taste.  Here are a few of the after dinner sweets:

Ras Malai

This dessert is made from ricotta cheese, milk, sugar, pistachios and spices like saffron and cardamon seeds.  The texture is smoother than Gulab Jamun.  This dish is served by itself as it is pictured below:

For the recipe: http://www.indianfoodforever.com/desserts/rasmalai.html

Or you can visit Manjula’s kitchen on YouTube to see how it’s done:

Gulab Jamun

This dessert tastes like donuts saturated in sugar syrup.  The milkballs are deep fried and then soaked in syrup.  They are soft and have a texture similar to cream of wheat when you bite into them.  Gulab Jamin is served in a dish by itself also.

You can look at a recipe here: http://www.indianfoodforever.com/desserts/gulab-jamun.html

Or you can have Manjula on YouTube show you:

Jalebi

If you like donuts or funnel cake, this is the “sweet,” as Giri says, for you.  These little fried treats remind me of funnel cake without the powdered sugar.  Don’t worry, you won’t need it, they are sweet enough on their own.  I like this dessert more than other two I’ve mentioned.  It is light, but satisfies a sugar craving.

Recipe: http://www.indianfoodforever.com/desserts/jalebi.html

I really like Manjula’s Kitchen.  If you want to see her cook other Indian recipes you can find her on YouTube.  I’ll be sure to post her videos in future blogs about food.

I’d like to close this first post about Indain food by saying how much I like all of the Indian spices and different cooking methods used on foods I’ve tried.  It’s very different from Indian food in America, but I like it the same.  Some of the food in America tends to be made with more cream, whereas the Indian dishes here are made with oils.  Speaking of cream, the Singhs have fresh milk delivered every day.  While I don’t drink milk, I do enjoy yogurt.  At the home-stay yogurt is homemade and probably the best I’ve ever had.  I eat it almost every day.  But that’s another post. 

I’m looking forward to learning how to make these delicious dishes and sharing them when I return to the States.