An Anglo-Indian feast

So tonight was an odd one. Tonight was my effort to convince Stephen to eat Indian food. I cooked the one thing off an Indian menu that he is sure to love; Pappadums (from a patacks packet)

For the main part of the dish I was thinking that if I combined Stephen’s favourite ingredient with the worlds most harmless one I would crack it. Potato and flour. Aloo Paratha. I took the inspiration from India's Vegetarian Cooking but messed around with the spices to make it Stephen palatable.

Not So Spicy Aloo Paratha
(Works as well from scratch as it will for leftovers so if any American readers have leftover thanksgiving potatoes without a home…)

Two people, four paratha

Ingredients

Filling:
1 large potato mashed (or leftover mash)
1 tablespoon of olive oil (or not if using leftovers)
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 pinch of cumin powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Bread:
2 cups of flour (we used wholewheat)
3 tablespoons of olive oil
Water (about 2 cups but add a little at a time as much as you need to)

• Combine the filling ingredients until you have a nice silky mash.

• Make a well in the flour and add the oil

• Begin to mix (with your hands!) and add the water a little at a time until you get a dough. The flour should all come together without sticking to the bowl.

• Split the mixture into 8 and roll out into disks just a bit bigger than your palm

• Place the mixture into the centre of four of the disks. Try not to overstuff as it will make cooking more difficult. A table spoon or so should do it.

• Put the second disc over the top and smush the edges together, trapping the potato inside.

• Fry in a lightly oiled pan until brown spots appear on the side. Flip and cook the other side.

I served mine with Massala Ketchup (yep, just ketchup with added spices) from Cooking Like Mummyji Stephen had his plain. I liked mine but Stephen thought even the low-spice version was too much for him. Next time he’ll get plain mash and mine will get the chilli and coriander! But hay, the pappadums went down well.