Text 9912, 133 rader
Skriven 2014-02-14 03:10:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JIM WELLER
Ärende: brea'fus 207
====================
 ML> Qdoba / The tortilla was horrible - tough and
 ML> chewy and doughy and soggy all at the same time, with no
 ML> discernible flavor.
 JW> Commercially made tortillas are but half cooked and need to be fried
 JW> briefly and never microwaved to be palatable and most places don't
 JW> get that. That's why I avoid wraps at places like McDonald's and
 JW> KFC.

I avoid wraps at all. I do eat roti sometimes, especially
not at breakfast, though I was really a bit put out at the
Concorde breakfast buffet when the chafing dish marked
"roti canai" was empty.

 But I'm surprised that a place that holds itself out as
 JW> Mexican style wouldn't do better.

Well, it's owned by Jack in the Box and was in an airport,
so that's two strikes right there. I had my doubts, but the
sight and not unobjectionable odor of a hundred chicken
breasts slowly grilling in the back of the store was kind of
reassuring. And I do like chorizo. Later I discovered that
it is possible to get a naked burrito, i.e., a pile of
protein on a plate. I probably should have done that.

 JW> Weird breakfast: this next recipe is in the hopper just cause its
 JW> unusual not because I think it would be tasty.
 JW> Title: Danish Rye, Rhubarb & Beer Porridge

That would be an eye-opener of sorts. Most of these
hotels offer Birchermuesli at breakfast, which is
no less objectionable. I took a taste of it on the
airplane once: I think the rye porridge might be
at least chokedownable, which this wasn't.

Roti - or how to make Flat Flatbread by Ana
cat: mughal, mogul, bread, rajasthan, indian
Serves: 1 man or 3 women
Difficulty: You'll find out

3 c atta (flour)
1/2 c aqua (pani)
1/2 Tb asli ghee (NO, not the country crock margarine)
1 pn salt
h - Requires (in this order)
Chef's Hat
Apron
Gloves
Drinking glasses
8" round steel plate
Assortment of spoons
Paper napkins
Rolling pin
Saucer
Sifter (channi)
Frying pan (Tawa) 

First, wash your hands. Then put on the apron, gloves and hat.
Then, get out the flour. Then fish around for drinking glasses,
find some cracked cups and revise above requirements list.

Measure out 3 c of flour. Stand 3 cups on the table. Then,
get the ghee. No ghee? Chop off a lobe of frozen butter
and heat it in the frying pan until it melts. Remove the
paper packaging from the liquid and drain ghee into another
empty cup. Discard paper bit. Range cup 4 beside the other
three. Clean the table with paper napkins, nicely. Take the
channi and sift the flour thru it directly onto the table.
Transfer residue in the channi into another empty glass/cup
for later use in making gulab jamun. Wash channi, wipe clean
and stow away. Wipe gloves dry.

Gather up sifted atta in your palms and transfer into plate.
Clean table with paper napkins. Get water in another cup.
Make a volcano-like depression in the atta in the plate and
add the water to this. Knead/goond/kalaa/mix/nichoad the
atta-pani to make a paste. Get out the flour again, and pour
unsifted atta directly onto the paste, s-l-o-w-l-y, mixing it
all the time, until you get it to resemble a solidified
volcanic rock. Scrape whatever mix you got on your hands
(aren't you glad you wore gloves?) onto edges of plate and
mix into the Rock. Get some more water and slowly drizzle
from 5" above, all the while mixing the rock till it feels
softer and stop drizzling just before it gets any more mushy. 
Shape into a long ball, and make small round balls out of the
big one. Resist urge to make pretzel shapes.

Now you have gonda-huwa atta ready.

Wipe the tawa with paper napkin, smudging the ghee residue
everywhere. Return tawa to stove. Wipe gloves. Get ready
to make roti!

Take small ball of atta in palm. Look at it. Roll it about
between palms. Now its stuck all over your gloves. Get flour
packet out again, and drizzle over gloves. Rub palms together
to get the stuck atta unstuck. Re-make ball. Put it on table
and flatten it with palm. Now its stuck to table. Drizzle atta
onto table, and making circular motions with palm of hand,
remove stuck atta. Re-make ball. Drizzle table with more atta
just to make sure. Now you can safely flatten ball without
fear of sticking it anywhere. Use roller pin to make
peninsular shape, all the while drizzling atta from above to
make sure nothing sticks. Pick up peninsula, er, kachi roti. 

Turn on the stove and put kachi roti back on table. Put ghee
on the tawa, pick up roti again, and place it carefully on to
tawa. Add ghee from tawa sides, and pat a bit from above. Fish
for frying spatula and add to requirements list above. Flip
adhi-kachi-adhi-pakki roti to other side, making sure it does
not break. Use spatula to scrape black stuff off the first
side while the other side gets done. Add more ghee to tawa.
Roti should have bloated and then gone back down by now,
meaning it's cooked. If not, flip-flop a few times until it
looks done. If any spots remain lighter or whiter than other
areas, just add some more ghee and fry again, pressing roti
slightly on tawa to get to just the right color. Remove from
tawa using spatula not fingers, and place onto saucer. Hunt
for another nicer plate to eat it in. 

Make 5 - 6 rotis in the same way. Remember to stay as far
away from tawa as possible while frying the rotis, to avoid
unsightly burns. Wash all dishes, table tops, unused spoons,
etc.., dry on apron and stow away.

When you have completed kitchen adventure and can now gaze
lovingly at the dishevelled rotis artistically adorning your
wife's/mom's best rice platter, remember that you forgot to
add the salt.

ragistan.com
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