Category Archives: Eat This Page
Eat this Page: Aloo Paratha (whole wheat Indian flatbread)
Parathas are whole-wheat Indian flatbread that can be as healthy as you want them to be. You ca eat them plain, or stuffed, for breakfast or lunch. This recipe uses our favorite filling – aloo (potato) – with a much healthier adaptation from expert paratha maker, Binder Bhua, Navdeep’s aunt in Punjab. She is very Punjabi, so doesn’t understand the concept of “no ghee” and finds the idea of a dry parantha unfathomable, hence the glistening parantha in the photo above.
PREP COOK SERVES
30 minutes 20 minutes 6 parathas
POTATO STUFFING
2-3 medium potatoes (1 lb or so)
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced
1 or 2 cloves of smashed garlic, if desired
1 teaspoon ajwain (caroway seeds)
½ to 1 teaspoon lal mirch (cayenne powder)
½ teaspoon salt
1 or more green chillies, to taste
½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera), ground
½ teaspoon dhania (cilantro/coriander), ground
½ teaspoon anar dana, ground
DOUGH
4 cups of wheat flour, sifted
additional flour for dusting
water, as needed, to knead flour into a firm, but pliable dough
rolling pin
flat floured surface
EQUIPMENT
tava or griddle pan
ghee (clarified butter) for frying and topping; for a healthier option, use olive oil. You can also use butter.
Thick Indian style plain yogurt for dipping
aam ka achar (mango pickle)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a large bowl, mix sifted flour with water, adding a few drops at a time and kneading the mixture until a firm but pliable dough forms. When you have a large, smooth round, cover bowl with plastic and refrigerate for at least half an hour. This process can be done ahead of time as long as the dough is covered and refrigerated.
2. Peel and boil one pound of potatoes (2-3 medium sized) until soft but not mushy. Let cool.
3. Finely dice onion, chilies, and ginger. Add garlic if desired.
4. In a small pan, dry roast jeera (cumin seeds) until it turns black. Grind jeera, anar dana and dhania (cilantro/coriander) into a fine powder.
5. In a medium-sized bowl, mix pototoes, onions, chilies, ginger, garlic, salt, lal mirch (cayenne), jeera (cumin), anar dana, and dhania (cilantro/coriander) until well-blended and of smooth consistency.
6. Remove dough from fridge. Form pedas, which are small, two-inch rounds. Lightly flour each peda.
7. Take a peda and flatten edges with the palm of your hand, until a three-inch disc is formed. Flour both sides of disc, then lay on flat, floured surface. Roll out peda into a four-inch round disc.
8. Add two heaping teaspoons of potato stuffing to the center of the disc. Fold in edges to close around potato mixture, ensuring there are no leaks.
9. Using the rolling pin, carefully roll the stuffed peda out into a six inch round, dusting with flour on both sides to prevent sticking.
10. Heat tava or griddle pan to medium heat. Carefully flipped rolled six-inch parantha on to the hot pan. Cook for one minute, then flip and cook for one minute on the other side. Add a dollop of ghee or butter to the top of paranta, spreading over the surface of the bread. Flip again. Enjoy the sizzle as it browns. Add ghee or butter to the other side, spreading over surface. Flip and brown this side. When both sides are crispy and golden with brown spots, your parantha is ready.
Repeat process for each peda until you a have a hearty stack.
Serve hot off the tava with dahi (thick Indian yogurt) and aam ka achar (mango pickle) for dipping and wash it all down with Sona’s special adraki chai.
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Eat This Page: Spicy Kickin’ Kaju (cashews)
Sona’s mum makes these spicy kaju (cashews) as an occasional indulgence—but they’re perfect on a dreary day with chai or a mellow whisky (depending on your mood). She fries the cashews till they’re golden brown, then seasons them up with a red-hot masala. This version is pretty spicy, so feel free to adjust the mix for less adventurous palates (zzzzz).
PREP COOK SERVES
2 minutes 7 minutes 6 for snacking
INGREDIENTS
1 lb raw white cashews—not roasted and not salted
2 to 3 cups oil for deep frying (canola works well)
MASALA:
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon kala namak
2 teaspoons jeera (cumin seeds), dry roasted and ground into powder
2 pinches hing (Asafetida)
2 teaspoons chaat masala
1 teaspoon lal mirch
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a small pan, dry roast jeera until it turns black. Grind into a fine powder. In a medium-sized bowl, mix salt, kala namak, jeera, hing, chaat masala and lal mirch.
2. Heat oil on medium-heat in a deep frying pan or walk. Oil should be hot (around 400 degrees Fahrenheit) but not smoky.
3. Drop in one cashew to test oil. When hot, add cashews and fry two to four minutes, until the pale cashews go a light golden brown. Drain cashews on a few layers of paper towels, then toss while hot with the masala mixture, coating thoroughly. Add additional salt and lal mirch to taste.
Serve warm with Sona’s special adraki chai, or if you’re a real man, whiskey.
Eat This Page: Sona’s Special Adraki Chai Recipe
Everyone’s chai recipe is different—but I like to think mine is special. So here, without further ado, is my super-secret, much-coveted recipe. My Kadak Adraki Chai combines the kick of ginger with the mellow flavors of fennel and cardamom. And I like my tea strong (or kadak in Hindi)—so add more milk and less tea for a milder chai.
PREP COOK SERVES
2 minutes 5 minutes Makes two big mugs
INGREDIENTS
1 heaping teaspoon loose black Darjeeling tea
2 tea bags (Sona recommends Tetley)
1 two-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and smashed
½ teaspoon fresh cardamom seeds, gently smashed
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lighted smashed
2 cups water
1 cup milk, at least 1 percent (for a creamy texture)
Optional: Cinnamon or cloves add a nice touch
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Peel and smash ginger, and light bruise fennel and cardamom seeds to release oils and bring out flavor.
2. Add ginger, fennel, and cardamom to saucepan with two cups water, loose black tea and tea bags. Bring to a rapid boil on medium-high heat.
While boiling, add one cup cold milk. Bring the liquid to second boil.
3. Strain the now-golden liquid into two large mugs, carefully keeping loose tea and other ingredients out of the cups.
Enjoy hot, preferably with pakoras or cookies.
Eat This Page: Tibetan Momos in Mcleod Ganj, Dharmsala
McLeod Ganj, known as Little Lhasa or Dhasa by Tibetans, has one of the largest population of Tibetan refugees, and is the headquarters of the Tibetan government in exile. So we thought a lovely way to spend our morning and getting to understand the culture of Tibetans in Exile would be through the food.
We went down a little side street and found Lhamo’s Kitchen run by (who else) Lhamo, a very laid back and funny cooking maestro, who wears an apron over a wife-beater. You can’t get more authentic than that. Actually you can: his cooking school is in his living room. An interesting thing we learned about momos – stuffed dumplings - is that in Tibetan, “Mo” means ”tasty.” So, in effect, momo means “tasty tasty.” Very fitting if you ask us!
We learned to make traditional Tibetan momos with veggie fillings, but the momos can be stuffed with anything you like. To prove this point, Lhamo told us we could even put chocolate in it! Traditional fillings are mutton, potatoes, and Tibetan veggies. The fillings we used in our course were vegetable, cheese, and spinach.
To make a spinach and cheese version, simply substitute one cup of finely chopped spinach and one-eighth cup cheese for the cabbage. Once you have the basics down, you can experiment with different fillings.
PREP COOK SERVES
40 minutes 15 minutes 6
VEGGIE STUFFING
1 cup finely chopped cabbage, green or red
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon green onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon green pepper, finely diced
1 tablespoon cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons mild oil, such as canola or soy bean
DOUGH
1 and 1/2 cups fine white flour, sifted
additional flour for dusting
2 tablespoons baking powder
about 3/4 cups water, as needed, to knead flour into a firm but pliable dough
EQUIPMENT
rolling pin
flat floured surface
steamer
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a large bowl, mix sifted flour with water, adding a few drops at a time and kneading the mixture until a firm but pliable dough forms.
2. When you have a large, smooth round, cover bowl with plastic and let the dough rise for about 10 minutes.
3. Wash and finely chop cabbage, green pepper, green onion, onion, and cilantro.
4. Mince ginger and garlic, grate carrot.
5. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together all the diced veggies, salt, black pepper, ginger, garlic and oil. Let marinate for five minutes.
6. Take dough, which should have risen, and roll into a two-inch thick tube.
7. Slice tube into one-inch pieces, rolling each piece into a ball and then flattening the ball slightly.
8. Lightly flour each disc of dough. Then roll out each piece into a thin four-inch round. (For more perfect rounds, use a cookie cutter or jar lid.)
9. Place about 1 teaspoon of the vegetable filling at the center of each round.
10. Fold and pinch the dough together, almost forming layers, so it has a uniquely twisted shape when you’re done. Here’s a short Youtube video we made of Lhamo’s demonstration on how to get the correct shape for the momos:
11. Repeat the process for each momo until you a have a large batch.
12. Steam momos over boiling water for 15 minutes, until dough has a chewy texture and glossy sheen. You can also pan-fry the steamed momos for
two-minutes over medium heat for a crisper texture.
Serve freshly steamed with chili sauce, soy sauce or even ketchup, although we can’t vouch for the authenticity of that last condiment.
Neither of us are strangers to travel, but we are very different travelers. Navdeep can brush aside a cockroach from his food and continue eating. Sona flies into hysterics at any creepy-crawlies (real or imagined) within a ten mile radius. 
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