The Best Parathas East of the Missippi

And they are! If you are in the North American continent make a trek to Alfred NY to eat these delicious babies. Of course it would also mean that you would need an invitation to my aunt and uncle's house but that could be worked out. I had the pleasure of enjoying various kinds of parathas while I stayed with my aunt and uncle, Varshneyas while recovering from my broken foot. What a treat- the Aloo Paratha, Gobi Paratha, Mooli Paratha are all wonderful. I documented the step by step preparation of the Aloo paratha. Give it a shot or just try to make a trip to Alfred NY!

Ingredients:

To prepare the dough:

3 cups of flour (whole wheat)

water (atleast a cup rest you can eyeball the consistency of the dough)

pinch of salt

Filling:

4-5 Boiled potatoes

1 large onion, finely diced

1 green chili

handful of cilantro finely diced

dry spices: corriander powder, cumen powder, salt, red chili, turmeric, rock salt

Oil to cook with

Salt according to taste.

To knead the dough:

Gosh I wish I could describe this. I have attempted many a complex recipes but I dont think I have ever got my dough to the right consistency.  All I know it takes a whole lot of upper body strength to roll the dough. Take the flour in a big bowl. Add some salt. Start by adding water and mixing it in - like making clay. Keep adding water and gathering the flour into a ball of dough.

For the stuffing:
Even though any different types of vegetables and meat can be stuffed in the paratha, the most popular stuffing is potato or Aloo.
Boil the potato and peal them. Mash the potato using a masher or your hands (freshly boiled potatoes are very hot so be careful).
Add the green chili, fresh cilantro and spices such as coriander, cumin and red chili powder. Also toss in the finely chopped onions in the mashed potato mixture.
Yup and the best way to make the mix is to get your hands in there and mash it to the right consistency. Any large chunks of potato will be hard to roll into the paratha.

To make an aloo (potato) ka paratha:

1. Take a palm full piece of the dough and roll it into a ball.
2. Flatten the ball into a palm-sized circle.

3. Take some the coriander pwd, cumin pwd, red chili, rocksalt, salt and oil and apply it on the flattened piece of dough.

4. Place a generous helping of the potato mix and place it on the center of the dough.

5. Now carefully enclose the potato by folding and pulling the dough over it creating a big ball of dough stuffed with potatoes.

6. Time to roll out the paratha. Dip the ball in flour and gently flatten it with your hands. As you flatten it pull along the edges so that the size is increasing.

 That by the way is beautiful to get it to look like that. Almost impossible task!

 

7. Dust some flour on a flat surface and place the dough on the surface and start to roll the dough into a flat plane evenly.

8. When the paratha is around 1/4 of inch thick. Place it on a flat pan (tawa) and spoon the oil evenly along its edges. The oil seeps below the paratha slowly cooking it. Make sure the tawa is hot before placing the paratha on it. Also keep the heat low to cook slowly.

9. Flip the paratha and allow cooking on the other side at least 3-4 minutes. Apply oil on the partially cooked top surface before you flip the paratha again. Press with a spatula so that the surface is evenly cooking. Repeat till both sides are cooked to a lovely golden brown.

10. Serve the paratha with fresh plain yogurt and a variety of pickles - mango, chili, lime, sweet pickle. Cut the paratha in half to allow steam to escape and enjoy this delicious treat!

More Paratha recipes at Foodista.com

Aloo Paratha

Sushi Night!

So this post has been long overdue. Infact many have been. But I have been traveling a whole lot and was unable to get myself to complete these. So now I am home and completely jet lagged and unable to sleep so I thought I would catch up on some writing.
Sushi night at Janu and Christian's place in Salt Lake City. I heard these were quite famous and involved copious amounts of Sushi and wine. Needless to say I was very excited. Christian, Janu and I were joined by their friends Kian, Krista and Cyrus. Kian is the sushi expert and it was definitely a blast to watch him roll the sushi. All in all it is not very hard to roll sushi at home, however many ingredients are needed to make Sushi night work.

Im not sure if I captured the recipe precisely as this was my first time rolling sushi at home. But Sushi rolling, followed by several rounds of Saboteur (an excellent strategy card game), followed by a very special Persian Tea ceremony with seemingly endless glasses of wine did make for an excellent night.

Im going to attempt to list all the ingredients:
1. Sushi grade rice
2. Rice vinegar
3. Salt
4. Sugar
5 Wasabi- hot
6. Siriacha
7. Eel Sauce
8. Pickled ginger
9. Japanese mayonaisse
10. Assorted vegetables such as sprouts, cucumber, peppers, mango, spring onions, carrots, avacado
11. Dried seaweed sheets
12. Seseame seeds
13. Fresh Sushi grade fish- salmon, tuna, eel. (Kian bought fresh sushi fish from the aquarium)
14. Soya Sauce

Equipment:
15. Bamboo Sushi Mat
16. Paddle for rice
17. Rice cooker
18. A clean cutting board

The prep:

Above is the slice of fresh sushi grade tuna and spicy tuna- made with siriacha sauce and mayonnaise mixed with the raw tuna. Delicious!

To make the Sushi rice:
This is the part I missed on but found a nice recipe online to follow:
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-sushi-rice
Keep in mind- Sushi fish should be fresh and sushi rice should be sticky and not the other way around. Kian has prepped the rice for us and he is about to roll the sushi rolls. Can't wait!

To roll a Sushi Roll:
1. Lay the bamboo mat flat on a cutting board. Place a sheet of seaweed on the bamboo mat. Place a generous scoop of sushi prepped rice on the seaweed.

 
2. Press the rice down on 2/3 of the sea weed and spread the rice as evenly possible on that area.

3. Now place the ingredients in single rows evenly on half the rice. Including the slivers of fresh fish.

4. Start by rolling with the bamboo mat and press into a circular tubular form. Make sure that it is a tight fold and all the ingredients are held together.

5. As the roll is about to be complete use apply some water along the edge of the seaweed and close the roll completely.

6. Cut into 1.5" slices and serve on a platter. Sprinkle sesame seeds, squeeze some eel sauce and serve with soya sauce, wasabi and ginger.

Some more expert sushi rolling. I think this is called the outside roll. I was very impressed with Kian's skill to roll these professional rolls. It involved plastic wrap.

Followed by some crazy Persian wedding dance! Vigorously performed by Cyrus and Kian.

Watch the video right here.

For other Sushi recipes check out Foodista:

Tuna Sushi Roll