Thursday 23 May 2013

Christine & Christian: Episode 8 - It's all about Bread

Are you a bread lover? Then for sure you won't mind that it's all about bread today. I am a bread lover! Some fresh bread can make me happy ... at least until I have eaten it all up. Right this very minute while I am writing these words I have some experimental bread baking going on ... wait the next stage is calling ...
...
I'm back. However, that bread experiment was not what I was going to talk about today. Maybe another time. It just depends on the outcome. So far things are looking fine, but you never know.
After all we are still with India and Tasting India. Fine then! What Indian breads do you know?
Naan. Very good. That would have been the first one coming to my mind before I started this Christine & Christian project. I already had some homemade naan bread in the course of this.
In case you have read this series regularly you might have read something about puffed puri breads already. So, puri is another one.
Next, chapati may come to your mind. According to Tasting India it is "The staple flatbread of India, this is served with every meal just about everywhere." So far I didn't have it with every Indian meal I tried in my project. Then it's about time I have it at least once.


Here I had it with a Ladhaki chicken curry. For the bread you just need wholemeal flour, a bit of salt and water. You easily can see why it is the staple flatbread of India. The only downside, when you compare it with naan, is that you have to cook each bread separately. So it takes considerably more time to make more than a few of them. Anyway, if you are doing it for just one or two persons, it's absolutely alright.


A closer look at the Ladhaki chicken curry. I could have used a tiny bit more of spices, but otherwise it was fine. I enjoyed it very much with the chapati. From now on I'm going to have chapati more often with my Indian meals. Now I also remember chapati from when I was a bit younger ... eh ... yes, more than a decade ... I had chapatis a few times at the place of my friends from Kenya. So, everytime I'm going to have some chapatis it will bring up good memories and ... sad ones, too. However, you can't change the past!
There is another wonderful flatbread I had a go at and that you wouldn't want to miss: roti. It's similar to chapati, but it's a little  softer and richer than it. You don't use water for it, but milk and it contains also egg and ghee. You already see what this will do?
Since it is so lovely, there is no harm in having it with just a simple tomato chutney.


I was satisfied with that meal. Well, flatbreads don't look so spectacular on it's own, but have a closer look at the tomato chutney. By the way, it is a Nepalese flatbread.


It doesn't look spectacular on it's own either. So, no worries. I only can say, it tasted very delicious anyway. Apart from that, now it makes me think again about the past, since I know also quite a few people from Nepal. That was a good time, too. It's good to have some nice memories.
Well then, do you know any other Indian breads?
There are many more: Parathas, Luchi, Bhatura, Rumali, Kulcha, Dosa, Idli, Pathiri, Pappad and who knows what more. You see, there is still much more to learn and to try.
The breads I tried to do so far where not so complicated or difficult, especially when you compare it with the French bread I have been trying ... or my current experiment.
Since it is all about bread today, what is you favourite bread? How do you like to eat your bread? 
At least for me it would be even more difficult to go without bread than having a life without cheese. Now, I don't want to have this post turn again into a sad occasion. I'll better keep those things to myself.

4 comments:

  1. I only just saw the chapati flour in Sainsbury's today, and was wondering whether I should try to make the chapati from scratch. I love the naans too, but never baked my own.

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    1. You really should have a go. It's always to have made things at least once from scratch.

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  2. I don't think I've ever even tried a chapati before, I usually always go for naan bread with my curries, never made my own though. I did make some dosas recently and eventually I'll have a go at making other Indian breads as well.

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    1. To go with curries, I would vote as well for naan as my favourite, although roti is also quite nice. I have it with something else.

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