One of my favorite snacks is mas paan (buns stuffed with beef and potato curry) and malu paan (buns stuffed with fish curry). It is very comforting, having a few dozen in the freezer, knowing that you can pull one out whenever you’re having a curry craving, and just toast it up in the toaster oven and enjoy with a nice hot cup of sweet milky tea. Perfection.
I did develop a dough recipe for the cookbooks, but the truth is that I never actually make it from scratch. I just buy frozen bake-and-serve dinner rolls at the grocery store and use those.
I recently had both beef curry and cabbage varai on hand, and I thought they might go well together — Dear Reader, they are DELICIOUS in a roll, and now you’ve got entire meal in there, with a veg. as well as the bread and meat. Perfection. I also tried cooking some carrot in with the beef and potato, and that worked great too. (I recommend at least two rolls for lunch. Three or four if you have a hearty appetite.
If using the frozen rolls, follow the instructions on the package to let them thaw and rise. Then tear them open and stuff them with curry and shape it into a ball again, with the seam on the bottom. It’ll look lumpy, but don’t worry about it, and don’t feel like you need to let it rise again — just pop those in the oven for 15-20 minutes, and they’re good
Hmm…I think I need some breakfast.
Chai-spiced pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips. They are very delicious, and my kids have been devouring them, but I forgot the baking soda, oops! So they didn’t rise properly.
I’m going to make another batch soon, I think, so will post photos & recipe then – the next batch will go in the autumn treat boxes, which I’m hoping to ship out next week. Lots of sweets-making in the days to come. Watch this space.
(Autumn treat boxes are closed, sign up now for winter! A great holiday gift….)
Someone asked me what my signature dish was last night, and I was totally stumped. I don’t actually have one! But I do like all of these.
I wanted to keep this event vegetarian for the South Asia Institute, so I skipped some of the classic Sri Lankan short-eats – if it weren’t vegetarian, maybe mutton rolls would be the signature dish. I don’t like the typical vegetarian version nearly as well, though. Maybe I should try making it with jackfruit…hmm.
This layout worked pretty well for an event, so noting for the future:
• three kinds of frozen samosas – these I just baked / fried as instructed. Pumpkin samosas from TJ’s (which I haven’t tasted yet, so not sure if they’re any good), paneer-chili samosas (don’t remember the brand, but spicy, good), and potato & pea Punjabi samosas (Swad). I’m really glad I got a deep fryer, because it makes this kind of thing SO MUCH easier.
Set the temp. to 350F (or whatever is appropriate), and then it’s just popping them in, waiting five minutes, popping them out to a paper-towel-lined plate. Transfer to foil pans, pop in warm (low) oven to keep warm until ready to transport / serve. Easy-peasy. Would’ve been nice to serve hot, but they work fine at room temperature, served with tamarind chutney and coriander chutney (decanted from store-bought jars).
• ribbon sandwiches (beet / carrot / spinach) — Pepperidge Farm Very Thin bread is key
• mini naan rounds (quartered) from the grocery store, with four dipping spreads: jackfruit curry, potato curry, eggplant pickle, mango-ginger chutney
I forgot to bring cheddar cheese cubes, which go great with the mango-ginger chutney and naan, but otherwise, happy with the savory options.
SAI provided beverages, which made my life simpler!
Ready to up your roti game? Try making it with millet flour (you can buy whole grain millet and quickly grind it to flour yourself in a blender), mixed with coconut and jaggery; the sweetness pairs beautifully with a spicy curry or earthy dal. Finger millet is traditional, but other common varieties of millet will also work well for this; I use proso millet, which is easily found at my local grocery.
For a gluten-free version, you can make this entirely with millet flour (as was typical in ancient Sri Lanka), but it will be more brittle; white wheat flour adds softness.
1 c. millet flour
1/2 c. white flour
1/2 t. fine salt
1 c. grated coconut
1/2 c. jaggery (or brown sugar)
hot water (as required, around 1/2 – 3/4 c.)
1 c. vegetable oil (enough to submerge rotis)
1. Combine first five ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add hot water slowly, mixing to make smooth dough.
3. Turn onto a board, oil your hands, and knead about 10 minutes (the dough will likely be a little sticky). Divide into sixteen portions and form little balls with the dough.
4. Pour oil into a flat tray; submerge balls in oil. (It’s a lot of oil, but if you make roti regularly, you can save it and re-use it time after time.)
5. Heat a frying pan (either nonstick, or plan to drizzle a little oil in the pan as needed to prevent sticking). Take a ball of dough, flatten into a circle, and roll out (or use the heel of your hand to flatten) until fairly thin — as thin as you can get it without tearing. This requires a gentle touch, as millet dough is more prone to tearing than wheat dough.
6. Cook each roti separately on high, turning over after about thirty seconds to cook the other side. They will brown slightly. Remove to a plate, covering them each time with a clean dishtowel, to keep warm. Serve either warm or at room temperature.
Anand came downstairs saying, “I came down because it smells so good!” Another round of chai-spiced banana bread, with dried cranberries stirred in. I’ve finally cleared the rather immense backlog of overripe bananas, which is good, because we are about to have some more to toss in the freezer. The kids go through phases of banana eating — sometimes we can’t keep up with the demand, and sometimes, they’ll just stop, for no real reason, for a few weeks. Thank god for banana bread.
(for gluten-free option, use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free 1 to 1 baking flour; used for snowflake-shaped breads below)
We are perpetually throwing overripe bananas in the freezer around here, and when they start squeezing out the other items, we know it’s time to spend a Saturday morning baking banana bread. This is based on a Cook’s Illustrated recipe. Adding in the spices we’d use for chai, along with dried fruit / ginger, makes for a festive and hearty holiday loaf. Makes 1 loaf, or several mini loaves (nice for gifting).
2 c. flour
3/4 t. baking soda
3 very ripe bananas, mashed well
1/4 c. plain yogurt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
3/4 c. sugar
6 T butter, melted and cooled
1 t. vanilla extract
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/4 t. cloves
1/4 t. cardamom
1/4 t. black pepper
2. Mix flour and baking soda in a large bowl; set aside.
3. Combine remaining ingredients (except for optional add-ins) in medium bowl with a wooden spoon.
4. Fold banana mixture into flour mixture with a spatula until just combined. If adding in dried fruit, ginger, chocolate chips or nuts, fold in now.
5. Scrape batter into prepared pan(s) until loaf is golden brown and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hr for a loaf, 25-35 minutes for mini loaves.
Mission accomplished. 🙂 Chai spice banana bread; the kids said it was better than all the banana bread I’ve made before (from standard recipes), which was very satisfying. Will post recipe shortly.
I’m going to freeze a few loaves to sell at the Colorful Holiday fair on the 21st, and I think make another batch soon, because we have just THAT MANY frozen bananas in the freezer, and I am going to clear space, dammit.
Current favorite sandwich (‘favorite’ changes regularly, but I’m a little stuck on these right now) — open faced on multigrain toast, with Harry & David sesame honey mustard, beautiful tomatoes on the vine, and aged white cheddar. Mmm….I’m going to go make another one right now.
What’s your current favorite sandwich? (Is a wrap a sandwich? What about a lettuce wrap? Is some form of bread a necessary component? Hmm….)
