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How strange to be putting an end to this chapter tomorrow only to begin a far scarier one alone. I can hardly believe that it's been a month since I arrived in a panic from Rome to Singapore.
With only hours left to my stay here in Singapore I have once again traveled to my favorite place, Little India. I feel so natural here, comfortable in the alien parallel universe that it is. I love the people here. Shop keepers are sweet and care about who you are, not how deep your pockets are. I love how genuine and dirt-under-their-fingernails it feels in this cubicle of the city. I just can't get enough of the smell here. I know that it seems like all I talk about is the smell here, but it's just that this sensation overwhelms your body and imprints a memo
ry that covers you like a blanket every time you get a whiff of it.
Tonight I spent the whole evening walking up and down the shadowy streets with friends. Stopping of course to eat at our favorite place Anjappar. This small Indian restaurant is where the best food is. If you go to Singapore you must stop to eat here.
On the menu for us:
Filled flatbreads
Chicken tikka
Biryani
Curried vegetables
Idli
Paratha
Yogurt sauce
Lime juice
These are all favorites of mine. The warm rice pilaf of poultry, spices, herbs, fruits, and nuts that is biryani can calm all my nerves in a second. But beyond the dense curries and refreshing yogurt raita, the most amazing array of Indian foods that are the base to the meal, literally, the bread.
Paratha
My favorite is called Roti Paratha, what I like to say is the baby of a croissant and a tortilla. (See Recipe Below) This flatbread has buttery thin layers just like puffed pastry, yet is cooked flat in a pan like a tortilla. I can't seem to get enough of this stuff and plan on making for myself at home and school.
This bread makes the perfect edible utensil to eat pretty much anything. I love sopping up my curry sauce with it hehehehe. This bread is sold all over and can be made so that the little air pockets are filled with cheese, cinnamon and sugar, or even egg. It's pretty amazing. TRUTH- i actually smuggled in parata to this restaurant from a street vender that makes it just as good but for half the price- eek shhhhhhhh.
Idli
My second favorite is called idli. This is like a pancake made from a sourdough-like, fermented rice and lentil batter. The batter is steamed and comes out with a cake-like texture. Perfect for sopping up anything. I love the flavor of this, it's very similar to a sourdough pancake. . .but better and goes perfectly with juicy curries.
Lime Juice
Lime juice is actually a kind of "lemonade" drink made with these little dark green limes that are not nearly as harsh as the limes we are used to. So imagine lime-ade with none of that acidic harshness in the back of one's throat... that's a "lime juice."
After stuffing ourselves with more Indian food than we ever should have co
nsumed, I tried to slowly walk it off as we hobbled home. Seeing this place at night is like seeing behind the scenes of a magic show. Steam and smoke waft out of the market as they toast spices and prepare for the next day. The music plays louder, people in temple sing and twang their instruments, the incense hang in the cooling air and shops change shape.
I will miss this place like a friend.
Paratha
31/2 cups All purpose flour
11/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Granulated sugar
3/4 cup Ghee, room temperature
(divided)
1 lg. Egg, beaten
3/4 cup Whole milk
1/2 cup Water
- In a bowl or heavy-duty stand mixer with a paddle attachment, ombine flour, salt, sugar
- Add 1/4 cup of the ghee and rub together with fingertips (or run on low with dough hook)until mixture looks mealy.
- Add egg, milk, and water. Using one hand, mix until a cohesive dough forms. (Continue to mix
- with paddle until a smooth elastic dough is formed.
- Knead into a smooth, soft, elastic dough, about 8 to 10 minutes if or longer if your kneading is not so strong
- It should be a bit moist and soft, but not wet. Cut into eight equal pieces, about 4 oz. each
- Coat a 12” round of the table with about 2 Tbsp of ghee. Coat hands liberally with ghee.
- Stretch the dough into a sheet by flattening and pulling dough
- Be sure that dough is coated in ghee on all surfaces
- Taking one edge of the round pull dough up into a rope letting the sides ripple into each other as the hang
- Swirl the rope into a rosette and let rest 10 minutes
- Roll out rosette into ¼ inch round
- Using a hot pan, preferably non-stick, add a bit of ghee to the pan and brown dough on both sides
- Once cooked and golden brown remove from pan and squish flatbread towards itself to exaggerate the air bubbles
- EAT IMMEDIATELY
*** Oil may be substituted for the ghee used in the cooking process and partially within the dough- ghee gives flavor so try to use as much clarified butter/ghee as possible
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