Compulsory Blog Entry #11

Chapathi, Jalebi and Roti Prata. Do these sound familiar to you. Let me guess... you have not heard of Chapati and Jalebi but you definitely heard of Roti Prata before.
Well, let me enlighten you about this.

Firstly, what is Chapathi? It is Indian Flatbread which is a staple meal of Northen South Asia. This is how it looks like.


Now this is how you prepare it. You need :
3 cups of fine wholemeal flour or roti flour
1 1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of Ghee or oil (optional)
1 cup of lukewarm water
Steps
Step 1) Mix salt through the flour in the bowl, then rub in ghee or oil, if used.

Step 2) Add water all at once and mix to a firm but not stiff dough.

Step 3) Knead dough for at least 10 minutes (the more it is kneaded, the lighter the bread will be).

Step 4) Form dough into a ball, cover with clear plastic wrap and stand for 1 hour or longer (if left overnight, the chapatis will be very light and tender).

Step 5) Shape dough into balls about the size of a large walnut.

Step 6) Roll out each one on a lightly floured board (using reserved flour) to a circular shape as thin as a French crepe.

Step 7) After rolling out chapatis, heat a griddle plate or heavy-based frying pan until very hot, and cook the chapatis, starting with those that were rolled first.

Step 8) Put chapathi on griddle and leave for about 1 minute.

Step 9) Turn and cook other side a further minute, pressing lightly around the edges of the chapathi with a folded tea towel or an egg slice.

Step 10) This encourages bubble to form and make the chapatis light.

Step 11) As each one is cooked, wrap in a clean tea towel until all are read.

Step 12) Serve immediately with butter, dry curries or vegetable dishes.


Now, what is jalebi? It is an Indian dessert which is sweet and chewy. This is a picture of it:


Now this is how you prepare it. To begin, you need:
2 cups of self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 cup of yogurt
Vegetable/canola/sunflower cooking oil for deep frying
1 cup of sugar
Few strands of saffron
1/4 teaspoon of cardamom powder
2 drops of orange food colour
2 tablespoons of rose water.

Steps
Step 1) Mix the flour, baking powder and yogurt into a batter and keep aside for 24 hours to ferment.
Step 2) Pour batter into a ketchup dispensing bottle.
Step 3) To make sugar syrup: Melt the sugar with the rose water and boil to get a one thread consistency. To check for one thread consistency, carefully dip the tip of your index finger into the syrup, touch your finger and thumb together and genly tease apart. If one thread is formed between your finger and thumb the syrup is done.
Step 4) Turn off fire, add the saffron strands and cardamom and stir well.
Step 5) Heat the oil in a deep wok-like dish. To test for the right temperature, drop a small amount of batter into the oil. If it sizzles and rises to the top of the oil, the oil is hot enough. Keep the flame on medium at all times to ensure all round cooking of the jalebis.
Step 6) Now hold the ketchup dispenser over the hot oil and squeeze the batter into the oil into a wiggly, randomly coiled circle. Squeeze out several at a time.
Step 7) Fry till light golden and then remove and put directly into the sugar syrup.
Step 8) Allow to soak for 2-3 minutes and then remove.
Step 9) Serve warm.


Now, you may ask what is the difference between Chapathi and Roti Prata.
These two dishes have a lot of similarities. They look the same, they taste the same... But some of the major differnces are : Chapathi is a flat bread while Roti Prata is stuffed bread. Traditionally, Chapathi is usually served with lentil soup or curry but Roti prata is served with yoghurt.

Jalebi and You Tiao, a Chinese fried bread stick are very similar. However, jalebi is sweet as it is covered with sugar but you tiao is generally salty and oily.