A Recipe for Disaster
As foreigners, we always thought of Indian food as predominately rich, creamy curries infused with various exotic spices. In actual fact, the daily diet of the vast Indian population differs from this substantially. Firstly, as I’ve previously noted, meat is often seen as a luxury and not a staple. Kerryn and I have been greatly curious to explore the Indian diet even further and what better way to unlock the buried secrets of an ancient and colourful cuisine than to learn this culinary art first hand from an Indian lady in her own home? That’s exactly what we did one warm morning in Udaipur, India’s romantic capital.
Our lesson was with a highly recommended cooking maestro, Mrs. Rajni Arora from Noble Indian Cooking Classes. Her house was to be found a few minutes’ walk from our guesthouse near the famed Lake Pichola (home to the Lake Palace). A series of narrow winding roads then revealed a typical, tightly packed, Indian home. We were both welcomed with open arms as the family were introduced to us. Mrs Arora preceded to explain to us that we would learn how to concoct some of the Indian basics, such as; a delightful coriander chutney, a special Jeera rice, a sweet aromatic chai tea, a customary lentil dish commonly known and dhal, a mixed-vegetable smothered in a vast array of local Indian spices as well as the familiar flat-bread wheat pancakes known as chapatti and its variance, paratha.
A personal favourite component of Indian food that I have found myself ordering with virtually every meal I have is the chapatti and I would therefore like to share the recipe with you.
CHAPATTI
(serves approximately 18-20x 15cm chapatti)
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups wheat flour
½ cup extra wheat flour for rolling chapatti
½ tspn salt
¾ cup water
¼ tspn vegetable oil
½ cup ghee (or butter)
Method:
1. Sift flour and salt into a large (15”) flat pan and form a well.
2. Slowly add water to the mixture and hand mix.
3. Knead the dough until a large ball forms and dough is consistent and soft. It should feel similar to the flesh on your palm below the thumb.
4. Add vegetable oil to the dough to ensure it becomes non-stick
5. Melt the ghee over low heat
6. Create a small pile of flour on a clean surface
7. Take a golf-ball sized pinch of dough and cover in dry flour
8. Roll into a small, even, round piece with a rolling pin.
9. When the dough starts sticking to the rolling surface, cover in dry flour again.
10. Continue until chapatti is about 15cm in diameter
11. Cook on a VERY HOT fry pan surface
12. As soon a small discolouration appears, flip the chapatti
13. As air bubbles start to appear check the underside of the chapatti for consistent cooking
14. Place the chapatti over an open flame until it fully expands like a balloon. The duration will determine how crispy the chapatti will become
15. Generously spread ghee over one side of the cooked chapatti and store in an insulated container so that it can be served hot
2nd March, 2012
Vegetarians are we.
It’s strange really, I always thought becoming a vegetarian was more of a personal choice and was not forced upon a person. For some reason, this is not quite true here in India’s southern state of Kerala. Is it religious reasons? An abundance of fertile land laden with fresh produce? A populace disdain for the consumption for all that once walked or swam on this earth? Whatever the reason neither I nor the rest of South India have any complaints. When there’s a minimum of twenty different exotic spices used in each traditional Keralan dish, the flavours usually offered by meat go right out of the window.
I think Kerryn and I were sitting at the dining table on our luxurious house boat when a strange thought struck me. “It must have been three days since I last ate meat”, I blurted out with a mouthful of lentils, jeera rice and an assortment of flavoursome potatoes mixed with desiccated coconut. I could not tell you the last time it had been since I abstained from the sumptuous delicacy that is meat. Maybe it was when I was a little boy staying with my grandparents in Khardi.
To be honest, there is in fact an abundance of seafood available in South India, whether it’s fished from the fresh water canals or harvested from the open Arabian Sea. However, the smell and sight of fly-infested fish sold in little un-frozen boxes in stores and trolleys on the side of the road is enough to turn away even the sturdiest of stomachs. So Kerryn and I persevered with tropical fruit and vegetables doused in exotic herbs and spices common to the region.
As we headed away from the sea, up into the lush dense jungles of eastern Kerala, we started seeing numerous spice plantations etched into the sides of steep hills and deep gully’s. Our fascination for the spicier things in life led us onto a voyage of discovery into the origins and production processes of the little packets that we so easily pick off our local grocery store shelves. Tree-climbing pepper vines and bay leaf and cinnamon trees engulfed our enthusiasm leading us onto local Indian herbal medicine known as Ayurveda.
Pushing slightly further North towards the hill station of Munnar revealed the most pleasant of surprises. The picturesque rolling hills were ensconced in tightly packed fields of tea plantations for as far as the eye could see. Apparently some 17 000 local workers derive their livelihoods from the cultivation of this simple bush and export their produce globally. Truly some of the most amazing tea, or Chai as it is known in India, that I have ever had the opportunity to sample was sourced from the regions tea plantations. Add a pinch of locally grown cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and other spices to create an unforgettable aromatic tea called masala chai.
Just a short week or two ago, I was chowing down on a generously portioned slab of cow hide back in Australia, now, here some thousands of kilometres away in India my palatable desires could not be further away.
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14th February, 2012
What Bombay Belly?
It has only been a week or so but already my taste buds have been spoilt by the vast array of aromatic flavours on offer in India. It’s a curious experience, after every meal I find myself reflecting over what I believe to be the greatest meal of my life; just one better than the previous.
It came as a bit of a shock to the system, my very first meal. It was my first breakfast dish called “Utappa”, a flat chapatti-like dish that was made of thinly sliced onions in a flour batter. Accompanying this was a spicy Samba (a South Indian flavoursome dhal) and a chilli-laden coconut chutney that didn’t see too much of my tastebuds, to be honest. This early morning spice assault conjured up memories of staying with my mums-side family when I was a small child and eating the local Indian cuisine 3 squares a day. As a born and bred westerner, this dietary practise is unsustainable. We’ll have to find an alternative for breakfast in the future.
One of the great pleasures of travelling throughout India is letting ones nose select the next restaurant on the basis of the sumptuous smells emitted from its kitchen. One should never let the décor of the restaurant to be the sole deciding factor of possible patronage for it is often the most derelict highway-side truckies restaurants that can dish up the finest tantalising gastronomy.
Take for instance, our lunch with my Uncle Mahindra and my cousins Anuja, Raju and Manish at the local highway-side Hotel on the outskirts of the small village Khardi, where my mother is originally from. We collectively selected a range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals accompanied by roti and nan. This included a delightful tandoori chicken tikka, succulent portions of chicken marinated in local spices and baked in a wood-fired tandoori oven and served gravy-less. We also ordered my absolute favourite Indian dish, the infamous butter chicken, which failed to disappoint. I can’t exactly put my finger on it, but NO Indian restaurant in Australia has ever come remotely close to reproducing the amazing butter chicken on offer at any restaurant within India. Maybe it’s a lack of local understanding or access to the freshest spices, but I forever look forward to the juicy delectable butter chicken in India.
One thing that I quickly learn is to always listen to the locals when it comes to trying food in India. This has already become apparent on numerous occasions within the short timeframe that we’ve been here. Firstly, my uncle suggested chowing down on some red onions (sliced) that was provided before our lunch was served. He was adamant that it was both delicious and worked wonders for the digestion of spicy and oily Indian food. I was a bit apprehensive at first but Kerryn, ever the forerunner in leaping into the unknown, took a thick slice onto her plate, squeezed a tiny lime-quarter generously over it and topped it with lots of salt and pepper. I took a small bit out of here preparation and was gleefully surprised at what I tasted. The onion was completely overawed by the tanginess of the lime, something that always impresses my taste buds. I then proceeded to consume 3-4 of these little onion preparations throughout my subsequent meal.
Another instance where listening to local knowledge trumps foreign ignorance occurred when Kerryn and I sat at lovely upstairs alfresco of a beachside restaurant in Alleppey. I thought it might be nice to accompany my Pallak Paneer (unfermented white cheese and a soft spinach sauce) with some dhal fry, a choice that was met with uncompromising disgust by the gentlemen waiting on us that evening. He claimed that the dhal fry in this region was horrible in this region and that a far better choice would be a mixed vegetable dish served in a thick gravy (in India gravy refers to any sauce and not the roast-accompaniment that we are familiar with in the west).
We were absolutely gobsmacked at how scrumptious this recommendation turned out to be! The selection of local spices proved to be in perfect harmony with the cauliflower, beans, potato and other vegetables that were used. As it turned out, my idolised butter chicken just might have a contender as my favoured dish.
Given the negligible time we’ve spent in India and the astounding food that we’ve already had the pleasure to wrap our tastebuds around, I am truly excited by what food India still has in store for us.
