On Now
Weekdays 15:00 - 18:00
The Joyride Nico, Nikki, Kayla and JayBee
NEXT: 18:00 - 19:00 OFM Business Hour with Olebogeng
Listen Live Streams

News Talk

COLUMN: Ilse Cooks the Books (Parathas)

───   08:00 Fri, 08 Dec 2017

COLUMN: Ilse Cooks the Books (Parathas) | News Article
Ilse Smalberger

I don't like messy food. No, let me rephrase, I adore messy food in all its sauce-dripping, finger-licking, lip-smacking goodness.


What I don't like, is cooking food that requires me to make a big mess and results in me spending more time cleaning than I actually did cooking. That is also why I'm not a big baker. There's the flour that goes everywhere and the mixer and bowls and bowls of stuff that needs to be mixed and whipped and creamed... not to mention the washing up afterwards!

That is why I like pretty straight-forward recipes where you only need a knife, a chopping board and a pot or pan. However, if that was my set-in-stone cooking requirements, my culinary repertoire would be severely limited. 

Besides, once in a while a recipe catches your eye that you absolutely HAVE to make.  You read through the list of the ingredients and it's not too bad, mostly pantry staples. Then you read through the instructions and you realise that this is going to be a "messy" recipe. You think to yourself, can I be bothered to make this? And the answer is a resounding YES!

I found a recipe just like this in Gary Mehigan's cookbook, Comfort Food. Let me share it with you.

 

GARY MEHIGAN - COMFORT FOOD

Keen viewers of Masterchef Australia need no introduction to Gary Mehigan. He has been a judge on the show since the beginning (he's the cute one!) and is also an award-winning chef with two decades of experience.

Comfort Food is a wonderful cookbook full of recipes that beg to be tried.  One might struggle to find some of the ingredients in some of the recipes, but all recipes have side notes on suggesting substitutions or variations of the recipe.  Most of them have a couple of steps, but I wouldn't expect any less of a Masterchef judge. 

The recipe I share with you was also my first attempt. Because I hadn't tried it before, I didn't add my own twists as I normally would. Well, maybe one or two here and there. It wasn't perfect, but it was so delicious that I will definitely try it again and again until I get it absolutely right. The recipe is for parathas, something I'm not particularly familiar with, but it looked so good on the page, I just had to try it.  Think of it as a filled roti, or some such.  If you love Indian food, this will be right up your street.

CRISPY PARATHAS WITH POTATO, CHILLI AND CORIANDER

2 potatoes, quartered (I used large potatoes, which I peeled after cooking)

2 fresh, long thin red chillies (or to taste, depending on how much heat you like)

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

? cup roughly chopped coriander

vegetable oil, for cooking

1 cucumber, diced

250 g cherry tomatoes, halved

salt and freshly ground black pepper

pinch of black sesame seeds (I didn't have this so I left it out)

thick natural yoghurt and lime wedges to serve

Paratha Bread

450 g plain (cake) flour, plus extra for dusting

table salt

375 milk

80 g unsalted butter, melted

30 ml olive oil

For the paratha bread, sift the flour and a pinch of salt into a bowl.  Pour the milk into the flour, then add the melted butter and mix until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough.  Tip the dough out onto a floured work surface, then knead until smooth, adding a little more flour if necessary to stop the dough from sticking.  Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with clingwrap and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into eight small balls and roll each one out with a rolling pin to form 22cm round, then set aside. (The discs need to be really thin, otherwise it won't cook through and the parathas will be doughy. Mine was a bit too thick and needed more rolling out.)

Meanwhile, place the potato in a small saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender. Drain the potato and roughly crush with the back of a fork. Set aside to cool.  Add the chilli, ground cumin and coriander and half of the chopped fresh coriander to the potato and mix in. 

Spread the mixture between four of the pastry rounds.  Cover each one with the remaining pastry rounds, then press down firmly with your fingers to seal the edges. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Gently place one paratha at a time in the pan and cook for three minutes on each side, or until golden and crisp. Remove from the pan and repeat with the remaining parathas. 

Combine the cucumber, cherry tomatoes, pinch of salt and black sesame seeds.  Blob some yoghurt over the parathas and scatter with the cucumber mixture and remaining coriander leaves.  Serve with lime wedges.  (I added a bit of feta cheese - not strictly Indian, I know - and seasoned the yoghurt with a squeeze of lime juice.)

 

                                                                    ***

@ 2024 OFM - All rights reserved Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | We Use Cookies - OFM is a division of Central Media Group (PTY) LTD.