Bread from India

While looking for smoked paprika today, I discovered four Indian markets that I'd never been to before. I've since found out that smoked paprika is Spanish, so that's another quest. However, I bought some foods I recognized, plus a vacuum packed round bread-looking thing called Mangroli Khakhra. I didn't ask the owner about it because I thought sure I could find all about it on the Internet. Nope. Not listed on several Indian food sites I found. Anyone recognize it??

Here is a recipe link for Khakhra as well as some links to other types of khakhra sites

http://www.alephinc.net/desikitchen/html/bread-rice/bread2.htmhttp://www.riddhiexports.com/snack.htm
http://www.mofpi.nic.in/technologies/rural/cereals/cereal_khakra.htm

hope it helps :)

Just use Google, and ask "What is khakhra?" Don't take their suggestion to correct the spelling.

I'm still exploring Indian food myself actually....my first experience with it wasn't very positive..I got food poisoning..but I'm not giving up.. Right now our current passion is Indian movies and music videos.. The ones I've found are pretty cool in that there's no swearing, little violence and no sex.. and they seem to focus on good vs evil.... great for the kids!

Indian music videos and music numbers in movies are cool. . . they run at about 175% real time. So do the. . . um. . . innards, if they get bad Indian food. Don't stick to just Indian. Pakistani and Bengali food, IMHO, are just as good, if not better.

quote:

Originally posted by Jennifer_4

Here is a recipe link for Khakhra as well as some links to other types of khakhra sites

http://www.alephinc.net/desikitchen/html/bread-rice/bread2.htmhttp://www.riddhiexports.com/snack.htm
http://www.mofpi.nic.in/technologies/rural/cereals/cereal_khakra.htm

hope it helps :)

Well, that's interesting. Earlier today I put both words in Google and it only came up with references to "Mangroli". I didn't thnk about rephrasing the search. Thanks for the info.

quote:

Originally posted by GordonW

Indian music videos and music numbers in movies are cool. . . they run at about 175% real time. So do the. . . um. . . innards, if they get bad Indian food. Don't stick to just Indian. Pakistani and Bengali food, IMHO, are just as good, if not better.

We are a little limited in the types of Indian food we have here..so it's all just lumped together in one genre.. What I'd really like to get here is either an Ethiopian restaurant or a full scale churrascaria.. all that meat...yum.

When we lived in Kuwait, I was always fascinated with the previews they would show for the upcoming Indian movies. Every emotion fathomable, battles of strength and of the heart with dramatic costume changes and lots of singing included in every movie. I always marveled and wondered at how they could work that much pathos, drama, intrigue, love, fashion and music into every 2 hour movie.

quote:

Originally posted by Lone Star

When we lived in Kuwait, I was always fascinated with the previews they would show for the upcoming Indian movies. Every emotion fathomable, battles of strength and of the heart with dramatic costume changes and lots of singing included in every movie. I always marveled and wondered at how they could work that much pathos, drama, intrigue, love, fashion and music into every 2 hour movie.

What tickles me is how there is at least one musical number in every film, no matter what the genre.. I watched a psychological thriller with at least 2 musical numbers! I think it's a law or something..hehe..but it's a nice change from Hollywood.

The Indian movie industry is based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay). They call it "Bollywood."

The food is great; the actors and actresses in Indian films are exotically good-looking...Good luck on your quest exploring this fascinating culture...

well well well..

Look where I have come!

yes I registered for you all!

As I love cooking and .. hold your breath.. Im Indian!

Khakra is prepared mostly by 'Gujrathi' people in India. Its not a bread! Its a type of snack.... but yes its prepared from a bread called Chapati. It is crisp when u prepare it, so it does not go well as a bread.

Note its 'khakra'. It is made in diff flavours like Methi (fennugreek), tomato, masala etc.

Now this will give you some results in google for sure! ;)

Let me share a site with you. Bawarchi.com
Bawarchi means a cook in Hindi. Try this site for Indian recipes. If u have a doubt about some recipe.. I will try my best to help you!

Hm.. something is smelling good.. Let me go and check!

Cheers
Leena

quote:

Originally posted by cindycat

While looking for smoked paprika today, I discovered four Indian markets that I'd never been to before. I've since found out that smoked paprika is Spanish, so that's another quest. However, I bought some foods I recognized, plus a vacuum packed round bread-looking thing called Mangroli Khakhra. I didn't ask the owner about it because I thought sure I could find all about it on the Internet. Nope. Not listed on several Indian food sites I found. Anyone recognize it??

I always thought that Paprika was a mainstay of Hungarian food? I guess I got a lot to learn.

quote:

Originally posted by leenadiwan

Let me share a site with you. Bawarchi.com

Welcome, Leena!

I tried http://www.bawarchi.com, and it automatically re-routed me to http://food.sify.com/. Is it supposed to? Looks good at any rate.

My husband is from England, and makes fabulous Indian food. I only wish we had a tandoor. His naan bread never comes out like it does in the restaurant. Using Madhur Jaffrey's recipe, it comes out as a flattish bread, about 1/2" thick. It's good, but it's . . . not what I think of when I think of naan bread. Is there a way to make more authentic naan without a tandoor? Have you got a good recipe?

Thanks,
Jennie

While we are at it..are there any indian breads made without wheat flour? the use of lentil rice and besan flours in everything from little nibbles to great desserts like ladu make me think there must be a decent naan style bread that does not use wheat. Papdums, idlis and dosas are grweat for this, but its the naan style I am looking to create without wheat. Anyone?

Welcome to you Leena!

I have a question for you...I have tried several brands of mixes for various Indian dishes from the aisles of our local Indian food market. I also bought a brand of frozen Chapati, but I must not have prepared it correctly as it did not turn out too well.

Do you have any suggestions as to the best brands of these items to buy?

Welcome! You will be a great addition to our roadfood family

yeaaah! Thanks for the welcome! Thanks! Thanks!

bawarchi.com has started going to sify.com Yes! Sify bought the site. But it is so famous they had to forward the hits for the older name.

We do prepare breads from a lots of other flours. Parathas can have mixed flours - like missi roti. We prepare bread from rice flour and sorghum (Indian name - Jawar) flour. NO roti is made only with gram flour, you see. It gives great taste but its not easy to digest.

Im from central India where wheat flour and sorghum flour rotis are eaten mostly. The pecularity of central Indian people is that they also eat North Indian and South Indian dishes very often.

We too eat naan in the hotel itself! :)
As you see its made from all purpose flour and its not as good for digestion as the other once are!

I myself have not prepared naan. Its prepared mostly in Northern India. I can surely give you some tips though.
I checked on recipe on the net and can find some points where it might be failing -
1. Check for the amount of time its asked to keep the dough aside before preparing it. Does it need to get a bit fermented? Putting yeast means we need to ferment it! In cold countries like yours, keep the dough aside for a lil more time.
2. If not in Tandoor, how does your hubby prepare the naan? On Tava (flat metal pan)? Is it getting cooked properly?
We prepare a bread called 'phulke'. We slightly bake it on a Tava and then directly on the gas flame! Be careful though. You guys are not used to this kind of cookery circus!
3. Its not necessary to make it exactly 1/2" in thickness, or is it? we must be sure it is cooked properly. If thickness is preventing it get cooked without a tandoor, make it a 'lil' thinner.

The kind of wheat floor we get in India is so different!! It looks browinish when a dough is made out of it. Im in UK with my husband for sometime and I am wrestling with the wheat flour as it gets too sticky! And it is pale white when I make the dough!

Did I answer most of your questions? Shoot a question if you still havent understood it.

Cheers
Leena

One more thing-

Check the kind of dough you prepare. A thick one or a loose one? Should it be spread easily or should it need some strength (like calling your hubby for help) to spread it?

The consistency does matter a lot in breads.. you should know this if you have experience preparing your breads!

Here I contribute a summer drink recipe for you guys -
Half lemon juice
Half tp black salt powder (you must get it in Indian stores)
1 tp sugar
half tp cummin powder.

Add all this in a glass of water (3/4th pint). Add 1/2 ice cubes and serve.

If you see, lemon and black salt and cummin are all good for health. And as we are adding only a tp of sugar, it makes it further good!

You can also increase the amount of any ingredient you like more!

Let me know how you like it!

Cheers
Leena

Sounds interesting, Leena. Thanks. I presume when you say 3/4 pint, you mean a 20-oz British pint. In the U.S., we have 16-oz pints. Don't ask why we skimp. I don't know! lol But it was a source of disappointment to my husband when he first came over here from Eastbourne. "You call that a pint!?" hee hee

I may try taking over the baking from my husband. He does all the cooking, but I bake. Usually tea cakes and tea breads and such (we call little tea cakes "muffins", but they're nothing like English Muffins). I've only worked with yeast a couple of times, though. I might try taking over the Indian bread from him. I might have better luck rolling them out thinly. (And yes, he bakes them on a metal tray in the oven.)

Jennie

quote:

Originally posted by Jennie

quote:

Originally posted by leenadiwan

Let me share a site with you. Bawarchi.com

Welcome, Leena!

I tried http://www.bawarchi.com, and it automatically re-routed me to http://food.sify.com/. Is it supposed to? Looks good at any rate.

My husband is from England, and makes fabulous Indian food. I only wish we had a tandoor. His naan bread never comes out like it does in the restaurant. Using Madhur Jaffrey's recipe, it comes out as a flattish bread, about 1/2" thick. It's good, but it's . . . not what I think of when I think of naan bread. Is there a way to make more authentic naan without a tandoor? Have you got a good recipe?

Thanks,
Jennie

When I was in Pakistan it seemed that the breads were made in "brick" ovens. The cook would literally bend down, slap the dough on the side of the oven, and then at some point take them out. I don't know how one would go about making a naan or chapati at home.
I prefer Pakistani food to Indian, though both are good. I have to go to Chicago to get authentic Pakistani food for the most part, from a restaurant.

carl reitz

quote:

Originally posted by carlton pierre

I prefer Pakistani food to Indian, though both are good. I have to go to Chicago to get authentic Pakistani food for the most part, from a restaurant.

carl reitz

Maybe if you mentioned your preference for Pakistani food in your local Indian restaurant--admittedly, that will require tact--you might discover that the owners are, in fact pakistani and might whip you up something. At least here in San Francisco, I've long suspected a number of the "Indian" places are owned by Pakistanis who, for some reason, think they have to market their cooking as Indian.

quote:

Originally posted by BT

quote:

Originally posted by carlton pierre

I prefer Pakistani food to Indian, though both are good. I have to go to Chicago to get authentic Pakistani food for the most part, from a restaurant.

carl reitz

Maybe if you mentioned your preference for Pakistani food in your local Indian restaurant--admittedly, that will require tact--you might discover that the owners are, in fact pakistani and might whip you up something. At least here in San Francisco, I've long suspected a number of the "Indian" places are owned by Pakistanis who, for some reason, think they have to market their cooking as Indian.

BT, you have a point, though I don't want to be "banned" from coming back. Kidding. I usually make a point of asking the staff where they are from since I have been to the region.

carl reitz

quote:

Originally posted by leenadiwan

well well well..

Look where I have come!

yes I registered for you all!

As I love cooking and .. hold your breath.. Im Indian!

Khakra is prepared mostly by 'Gujrathi' people in India. Its not a bread! Its a type of snack.... but yes its prepared from a bread called Chapati. It is crisp when u prepare it, so it does not go well as a bread.

Note its 'khakra'. It is made in diff flavours like Methi (fennugreek), tomato, masala etc.

Now this will give you some results in google for sure! ;)

Let me share a site with you. Bawarchi.com
Bawarchi means a cook in Hindi. Try this site for Indian recipes. If u have a doubt about some recipe.. I will try my best to help you!

Hm.. something is smelling good.. Let me go and check!

Cheers
Leena

I got a GREAT Chicken Tikka Masala recipe from Bawarchi. I've been making it for years- my kids love it! I love the stuffed Indian breads- Onion Kulchas and the like and of course, a well blistered naan, My son went to a local Indian restaurant with his fourth grade class- the place is owned by one of the kids parents and they took them on a tour of the kitchen.

He now tells me that when we remodel our kitchen, he wants me to have a tandoor installed so he can make naan!

:) When I saw Tandoor first, I was so happy that my kitchen is much safer than that! LOL.

We like to talk about it or not, India and Pakistan were 'one' once upon a time and we know each others cooking. Many Bangladesh people also run Indian restaurants abroad.

Leena

Danmel, it's so wonderful your son is interested in cooking. My five-year-old daughter loves to help us cook, and I'm sure my son will, as well. I hope to instill a love of cooking in them from an early age. My mother did all the cooking and never really attempted to instil a love of it in my brother and me. As a result, I bake (because she did let me help her bake), but my husband does all the cooking. I look at it as an unfamiliar chore. Hubby's a natural at it.

His mother took in foreign students in her home in Eastbourne, in southern England. My husband learned to cook from the Thais living there. Being from England, of course, he's a big fan of Indian food. So he deliberately makes some of his curries mild now, so the kids will eat them. Even my 18-month-old son.

If we ever have a custom house built, we'll probably have an Aga stove, but a tandoor would be so nice! I wonder if they make a modern, safe versoin for modern homes. lol

Jennie

Danmel, I'd love it if you would share your Chicken Tikka Masala recipe with us. It's one of my favorite foods and would love to see how you make it.

carl reitz

quote:

Originally posted by carlton pierre

Danmel, I'd love it if you would share your Chicken Tikka Masala recipe with us. It's one of my favorite foods and would love to see how you make it.

carl reitz

I'd be delighted to. I modified the Bawarchi recipe a bit to make it a little less incindiery for my son.

First take one cup of plain yogurt and mix it with i tsp grated ginger nad i tsp crushed garlic. (If you are near an Indian market, you can but jarred ginger paste and garlic paste). Add 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chili powder (not the kind for mexican food- you can also get this at an Indian grocery store- if you can't find this, substitute a little less cayenne)
I tsp coriander powder
I tsp Garam Masala and 1/2 tsp ground cumin
mix together. Cut boneless chicken breasts into cubes, Marinate in yogurt mixutre for a few hours in the fridge.

For the gravy:

Chop one onion
Saute the onion in oil and then add 1/2 tsp grated ginger (or ginger paste) 1/2 tsp crushed garlic (or garlic paste) 1/4 tsp turmeric, 2 tsps ground coriander, , 1/2 tsp garam masala, and 1/2 tsp chili powder (sthe same as you used in the marinade) (You can add more chili powder- I like it to have just a little heat.

Saute the onions and spices together then add one 15 oz can tomate suace.

Meanwhile, skewer the chicken and grill until almost cooke dthrough. If you can't grill you can broil the skewers. When almost cooked through, remove form skewers and add to sauce. Cook about 5-8 minutes then lower heat and add about 1/4 cup of half and half. Cook on low heat just a minute or two. Seve with hot basmati rice.

If you like, you can garnish this with chopped fresh cilantro.

I like to make Palak Paneer with this, or if you can't get paneer, you can make spinach with chick peas.

It is easier to make than it sounds! Enjoy!

Danmel, What a great recipe! The gravy sounds great. Paneer is easy to make at home. Just bring 1/2 gallon of milk to simmering and add 4 TBL. lemon juice. Stir until the curds and whey separate, then drain in rinsed cheesecloth. Twist the cheesecloth to compress the curds, put on a plate with a couple of cans of tomatoes to weigh it down and drain for about an hour. Cut it into cubes and use in Palak Paneer. It's too easy to be true!

quote:

Originally posted by BT

quote:

Originally posted by carlton pierre

I prefer Pakistani food to Indian, though both are good. I have to go to Chicago to get authentic Pakistani food for the most part, from a restaurant.

carl reitz

Maybe if you mentioned your preference for Pakistani food in your local Indian restaurant--admittedly, that will require tact--you might discover that the owners are, in fact pakistani and might whip you up something. At least here in San Francisco, I've long suspected a number of the "Indian" places are owned by Pakistanis who, for some reason, think they have to market their cooking as Indian.

Essentially Indian (North Indian) and Pakistani is similar. However pakistani resturants tend to make better food than Indian Resturants. One of the diffrence is development of resturant business in India and Pakistan.

Subcontinental cusine is usually requires quite a bit of prepration and is quite lenghty to cook. Indian resturants(North Indian) developed earlier in India and tried to adopt european style of process to the business which requires dishes to be cooked on order. It is not feasible to do this with most Indian dishes. So they developed sauces and shortcuts which took them away quite a bit from the actual cusine of India. In fact most Indian dishes cooked in Indian resturants(North Indian)both in India as well as abroad barely resembles any dishes traditonally cooked in India.

Eating out in the subcontinent is a recent phenomenon. Traditonally among hindus due to caste and untouchability and due to religous restrictions on meat and some other ingridents in diffrent communites eating out was not a feasible option. However muslims did not have such hangups. However even muslim eateries would cater to mostly poor people usually consisting of a an extremely limited menu to cater to those who were on the move for reasons of work. With independence and more wealth coming in eating out in pakistan has aquired more respctability however the method of cooking has remained same ie cook large quantites of curries and have some grilled stuff made on order and of course have fresh bread on order.

Indian resturants however have taken a diffrent route where even complex recipes have been reduced to a permutation and combination of a 2-3 of sauces, milk, cream and seasoning to make as much as 20-30 dishes. The result can be seen in the pathetic quality of food avaialble both in India as well as US. I dont have much knowledge of UK but then the resutrants there are mostly owned by Bangladeshis or the cooks are predominantly Bangladeshis.