Up to now I’ve only ever reheated the plain or vegetable frozen paratha you can get in Tesco’s (can’t beat it for fast food with salad). I suppose I’ll have to be more advanturous I try making my own. How easy is the dough to make ?

Dough is pretty easy to make. Just take some powdered wheat, add watter (not too much - we want a thick clayey mixture) and keep pressing it with your had, until it achieves an amorphous clayey shape. And add some salt while you are at it.
Nice work putting all the food items into one category. But it is mostly Indian food, how about something English, like a Shepherds pie

Sat: Indian Food is England’s most popular food! :-) (Really it is.)

But I sure will try out some more traditionally English/British/Irish dishes sometime too. Actually - I like shepherd’s pie - but I’ve only ever bought these from Marks & Spencer. Now you’ve ust given me an idea to try making one …

Nice one Jag.. Stuffed paratha is certainly something to die for! Thanks for putting up these.. earlier we used to look up ammas.com, now think we can look up route79.com! Good job mate!!

Cheers Chakra! If you have any “special requests” you would help me build up a collection of more recipes and methods …

Ah. I see that Indian Cuisine has spread everywhere.
If only the net could transfer the flavor and the aroma to the person viewing it.
Hey - it would be good if each page in the Cooking Category has a link to other pages and the Home page.

Sat - re Indian food being UK’s favourite dish, check out the following articles:

Chicken Tikka masala:
http://www.sonzyskitchen.com/chickentikka.htm

Even more popular than fish and chips:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/02/99/e-cyclopedia/1285804.stm

Britian’s most popular food:
http://www.cuisinecuisine.com/Link-HartfordCourant.htm

I’ll work on the all the links at some point. I need some time to fiddle with Movable Type.

Hey Stroppycow: I know Sat has provided some guidance as to how to make the dough - but I found this excellent summary as well at:

http://www.infolanka.com/recipes/mess1/34.html

We make it without the ghee or oil - and without the salt. So - it’s rather simple to make.

The flour you use MUST be “atta flour” - the most popular brand is Elephant:

http://www.rankhovis.co.uk/products/index.html

We buy the “brown” variant - not the white (nor the wholemeal).

Whilst researching I happened across a couple of interesting articles on Elephant and ready-made rotis at:
http://www.clickwalla.com/article.php?cid=30&aid=1620
http://www.netasia.co.uk/food&drink/food_e_about.htm

Once I had samosas with a mint sauce, but nowhere I’ve been recently serves them with the sauce. Is it not common or have I been unlucky? I’d love to be able to make those!

Yay food! It’s my favourite thing to write about these days. :-)

Do you know if it was a “thick” (more like a relish) mint sauce - or a very liquidy mint sauce? You might be unlucky - every shop that sells samosas round my way does complimentary accompanying sauces - but since I live in predominantly Gujurati area - the mint sauces are more sweet than they are minty. So - we usually make our own. (The “thick” one that is) Making it is real easy - watch this space!

Yum, a foody section :) I’m in heaven :)

Waitrose website has some nice shepherds pie recipes in there, if a bit more “exotic” and fiddly than your basic meat, gravy and tattie dish. Can recommend thoroughly.

Am road testing chocolate fondant puddings out of the Sainsburys magazine tonight. Says it contains only partially cooked eggs but what the hell… they’re all lion-marked and fresh - it has LOTS of dark chocolate in it :)

This is going to sound really boring, but it is one of my favourites - would love to know how to make a good chicken korma from scratch, so that’s my special request.

Hi Pewari - thx for reference to the Waitrose stuff - made a note to try it sometime. Yes - I almost forgot that you have to try to avoid certain foods now - e.g. pate, raw egg etc. Just be careful and don’t get too carried away!
Chicken korma - no problem - added to my to-do list. Not boring at all - in fact ideal for the kids - a very mild dish popular with young and older - great with fresh basmati rice.

Spotted some atta flour on the way home today. Bag seemed rather large though. Will probably ask a colleague if I can buy a canister full of her bag instead. Have you noticed how Tescoes now stocks most ingredients for Indian food (frozen lumps of ginger, garlic and chilli), frozen parathas, 4 different sorts of Kulfis, gram flour, those really bitter gourds etc. Are they trying to put the local corner shops out of business ?

Hiya Strop: yes I have noticed that many of the major supermarkets stock “ethnic” foods - mostly in the “world foods” aisle. This is usually the case in areas of London where there is a sizable Asian population. But in my experience - the prices are usually a lot higher than can be found on the High Street Asian stores. So I don’t think the corner shops will go out of business - as many Asians make a “daytrip thing” about shopping on the High Street - for more than just grocieries - but also clothes, odds and ends etc. And so the prices will always be lower there. It’s only for “convenience” at convenience premiums will Asians shop for ethnic stuff at Tesco or Asda. I have done so - but only if I don’t want to shop for anything else - and only as a last resort! Very handy I must say.

Lisa/Pewari: I knocked up some mint chutney tonight to have with some “chole” (otherwise known as “channa masala” or spicy chickpeas) - but I didn’t have time tonight to post method of the latter - so I put up the mint chutney instructions instead! If you check it out you will know how easy it is - and how to make the mint sauce for having with poppadums and samosas etc. Thanks for reminding me - I am now sorted for chutney for the rest of the week!

ah. Well, I think I was remembering something different. It was an almost creamy sauce - it might even have been slightly yellow in colour. Mint chutney sounds fab though and I will have to admit to korma being my favourite as well. :-) I just love anything with coconut milk!

Your mint chutney sounds great, i’m gonna give it a try with some Fish pakoras. 1 ? do i have to use a apple?

Hi Veena: thanks! No: you don;t have to use apple - but you should really use something “tangy/sweet” to temper the starkness of the mint - e.g. imli (tamarind). Well I think so anyway - I always add some sugar too - or tomato ketchup. But - it’s really up to you - try it however you like - and modify accordingly!

Fish pakoras are my favourite!

Thanks 79`s what a taste of the punjab. It brought back memories of our freinds from next door who moved no. Thanks again

Thanks for your comment Ian! In my opionion (and I guess I’m biased) Punjabi food is simply the best!

This recipe looks great. I’ve really been interested in Indian food lately and plant to try it soon. Do you have a good recipe for Naan? Have been trying to perfect it, but not quite right yet.

I shall be trying the mint sauce recipe this weekend. sounds good.

I am desperately trying to find the recipe for the brown minty garlic chilli dip/sauce for poppadums you get in some restaurants but can’t seem to finf it anywhere.….can you help?
I would be very appreciative if you could.

Regards Tim.

Looked up your page via google when we ran out of parathas prior to a meal. Too cold to get out. Thanks a million, it was a tummy saver!