Travel Entry: Homemade Tandoori Paranthas

This is not exactly a travel entry, but it is something I learnt on my trip to India. After eating the tandoori breads, naans, kulchas, paranthas (also kind of bread) in India, I really wanted to get a tandoor for home. The problem is that they are big and bulky and are not favored to be transported all the way to the US. There are some available in the US but the costs are very high.
In this trip my Mom taught me how I can make the naans and paranthas at home in my pressure cooker. I tried this out at home and you can see they came out very good.
Below are the step my step instructions with lots of pictures.
Basic ingredients are wheat flour dough made from two parts flour and a little less than one part water. It shouldn't be on the very soft side and refrigerating for an hour helps. Also we need some ghee (clarified butter), but I use margarine instead. And some dry flour to assist in rolling.

Apply a little butter on hands and roll the dough in small 2 inch flat balls. I can fit four of these in the pressure cooker, but here Iam showing three.

After dusting with some flour, roll these into approximately 5 inch round with the rolling pin and smear a tablespoon of the clarified butter and sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour. Sprinkle some salt as well. You can put in minced garlic or herbs at this stage too if you want to add more flavor.

Then fold this in pleats till you get a long narrowstrip of folded dough and butter

Then roll this from one end and you will get the following ball of dough.

Again with some flour roll it into a 5 inch round. You can see the layers and these will crisp up similar to puff pastry.

Now for the tandoor, I use my big aluminum pressure cooker. The main thing about tandoors is that they need to get really hot and retain that heat. This has thick walls which help in retaining the heat and the aluminum helps in getting it real hot. So place it on the big burner on high and let it heat real good.

Now place the pressure cooker on the side and slap the bread on the side. To make it stick first apply a little water on the back side of the bread before slapping it on. Turn the pressure cooker and apply all the breads.

Now we invert the pressure cooker over the heat and keep the heat on medium now. If the bread close to flame is browning first then you need to reduce the flame.

This takes approximately 2 minutes for the bread to cook and there you have it. Remove it with tongs. It comes off very easily if the pressure cook was very hot to start with and if it is cooked all the way. Serve hot with butter. :)

I am so grateful to my Mom for teaching me this. Happy Mother's Day! Now I just need to watch my waist line. :)

Do give this a shot and let me know how it works out. If you have more suggestions or ideas for tandoors, feel free to comment.

Travel Entry: Punjabi Food

I had to dedicate one entry regarding my trip to India just for the food we ate in Punjab. Mostly vegetarian and very very delicious. The flavor of the vegetables in the North of India is really not found anywhere else in India.

First, breakfast! Nothing like stuffed Kulchas in the morning. These are made of wheat dough and stuffed with cauliflower or tangy potatoes or panner (cottage cheese) and then cooked in a tandoor oven slapped against the walls of the hot tandoor. Served with spicy cholas (garbanzo beans) and pickle. Oh and how can I forget.. That IS a big chuck of butter! Have two of these in the morning and you are all set!

The best thing that goes after the kulchas is a hot cup of tea. And yes, the young couple next to me are my Mom and Dad. :)

For snaking during the day, nothing like hot pakoras (vegetable fritters) with chutney. To get them extra crisp these are fried twice! Sinful!
After mentioning Pakoras, talking about samosas is the right thing to do. Check out these busy bees stuffing dough with a spicy potato mixture for samosas and see the picture following it. Do you blame me for overeating?

Another favorite snack.. Pani Puri. These are hollow and crisp, filled with a small quantity of potato and then filled with a spicy chilled beverage. They are hard to resist, but due to the unknown source of water used, I would recommened having these only in reputable resturants and not on the streets.

Not an uncommon site to see people cooking on the street in the early mornings. Here puris are being made. Puris are made from wheat flour and then deep fried. Check out the size of the wok!

And it is almost impossible to go to Punjab and not try some tandoori chicken. This is where you can eat "real" tandoori chicken and this is how it looks like. I am so tired of trying every Indian resturant in the US trying to find a decent place that serves tandoori chicken with isn't floroscent pink.

Next week, I hope to share some techniques of how I make tandoori naan at home.