It's funny that my last post before my long blogging sabbatical, and my first post after my rebound, are both about Chandigarh... Well. I do eat there. A lot. And every time I come back, my clothes are a bit tighter. Even my post pregnancy jeans, which I wear from playschool to a night out with friends... Sigh... But that's another topic altogether.
This Diwali holiday in Chandigarh was all about... parathas. For breakfast, lunch and dinner. Plain, stuffed, in every possible delicious form... That's all the kids wanted for each of their meals, and that's all I wanted to indulge in. How could something so simple taste so heavenly warm, crumbly, soft and comforting??
First of all, the wheat flour (atta) which is not your ordinary packaged variety. My mother-in-law buys it freshly ground from the chakki (mill). And believe me, the difference is huge, to say the least. Absolutely nothing to do with the commercial variety I get at the local supermarket. Well, I had, for a second, nightmarish visions of what the chakki would be like - like, infested with mice for example... But I quickly dismissed all negative thoughts and... ate.
We had plain parathas, with a brush of butter.
We had spinach stuffed parathas (which reminded me of spinach bjorek, a Bulgarian layered pastry delicacy that my grandmother used to make).
We had paneer stuffed parathas - OH... MY... GOD... with tomato and onion salad and yogurt.
We had paneer and broccoli stuffed parathas with loads of butter - but hey, there WAS broccoli inside for a healthy touch, right??
My feeble attempts to recreate these parathas here have been a complete flop in terms of flavour. Luckilly, I can still fool the kids with the local variety and they still love it...
Other things that we indulged in in Chandigarh:
* Chinese takeout - chicken & lemongrass soup!
* Chicken biryani made by Babli Massi, Gurtaj's delightful aunt
* Chocolate slice from Nik Baker's (the local IN bakery) with loads of vanilla ice cream
* Mutton curry maison
* Fresh & tender lettuce leaves
* KFC takeout!!
No comments:
Post a Comment