Ana and I made a sort of Indian dinner today 
while Ken worked on my computer. We had curried split pea soup and these little cilantro flatbreads (Bengali Partha), along with roasted beets and green salad – the latter two not so Indian. When gauging our time, Ana said, “These little breads are going to take a long time. The recipe looks pretty complicated.” “Laxmi says they take 20 minutes to prepare,” I confidently replied, pointing out the prep time in the cookbook. Ana looked 
skeptical, and well she might have. Working together, with me rolling them out and Ana frying them, they took an hour at least. I suppose Laxmi can make them in twenty minutes, but I can’t imagine how. However, they were yummy and worth the effort.
The recipe is from “Laxmi’s Vegetarian Kitchen.” Here is a brief version.
Take 2 cups of self-rising flour, stir in ½ teaspoon salt and ¾ cup water. Stir it till it forms a ball, cover it and let it stand at least two hours, and then divide it into eight blobs. Chop up a bunch of cilantro, add some pepper. Roll out each
blob, brush it with butter or ghee, sprinkle on some or the cilantro mixtu
re. Then follow the pictures, cutting it into five strips, piling the strips up and then rolling them up into a jelly roll, and then rolling them flat. Fry each bread in a a bit of oil for a minute on each side. Squash it down midway so it will cook more thoroughly.
4 comments:
बहुत अच्छा! अच्छा काम! That's really cool! I actually have two Laxmi cookbooks, so I'll have to try this at least once! Yummy! :-)
Poor Ken! Was there anything for him to eat?
He liked the soup, the bread, and the potatoes. Did I mention that the beets were really half potatoes for him? Also, he brought his own tunafish sandwich, just in case. He liked the dessert too, so Ken wise, it was petty successful.
I used to love Indian food, still do of course, just my choice is more limited now. Love spinach aloo or mixed veg minus potato aloo.
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