Papri1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp lukewarm water
Gabe here. As the official pastry roller, the job of making the actual papri crackers/chips fell to me. First, I mixed the flour, salt and oil until all the oil was incorporated (I eyeballed the salt) - this stage will be lumpy, there's nothing for it, but it's no problem. Next, I added the water slowly while mixing constantly with a fork until all the water was taken up into the dough and it formed a ball that rolled around my mixing bowl as I stirred. I covered the dough with a cloth and let it sit for 15 minutes, just like Manjula told me.
After the dough had rested, I divided it into three equal sections and then rolled them out thinly, to about the thickness of a quarter (Manjula says flour won't be necessary but I found it was). Then, to prevent the crackers from puffing too much in the fryer, I stuck the rolled-out dough with a fork at about half inch intervals. The crackers should be about 1 1/2 inch squares, and they cut pretty easy.
To cook them, just fry in about an inch of oil over medium heat for about four or five minutes. Don't let them get too dark, though. Drain them on a paper (or not paper) towel and then arrange them in a single layer on a plate to await toppings. Let them cool to room temperature.
J here. The papri get topped with sliced boiled potatoes, coriander chutney mashed with cooked chickpeas, yogurt, and tamarind chutney. Make sure all of the ingredients are room temperature by the time you serve them. We used canned chickpeas and store-bought tamarind chutney, but we made our own coriander chutney. Here's approximately the recipe, though I improvised to taste:
Coriander Chutney
1 hot green chili, roughly chopped
1 tbs ginger, roughly chopped
1 tsp salt
3 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oil
1 tsp sugar
Pinch hing (optional)
1 big bunch coriander (a.k.a. cilantro) - I froze mine ahead of time, which made it easier to puree
2 tbs water (hot if you're using frozen coriander)
Puree everything except the coriander and water. Add the coriander and water in a few chunks. A great way to store the chutney is to freeze it in an icecube tray immediately after making it, which will preserve the color and make it last forever.
The main dish was Gobi Muttar Paneer, a variation on one of Gabe's favorites that I've been trying to improve so that I can enjoy it more. The one thing I dislike about it is the very strong, acidic tomato taste - this time I tried to balance it out a little by using more spices, and I think using fresh instead of canned tomatoes and more paneer would also help to balance it out next time. We can't seem to sucessfully make enough paneer for Muttar Paneer, so we added caulifowers this time for bulk. I'm going to reccomend that if you make it, yu buy the paneer pre-made (or tell us how you make it).
(Gobi) Muttar Paneer
1 cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, minced
2 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped cashews
1 tbsp ghee or butter
1 tbsp oil 2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 cups fresh or 1 1/2 c canned tomato, pureed
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tbsp curry masala
2 tbsp cream
1 tbsp sugar
2 cup cubed paneer, fried to golden brown
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup cauliflower, chopped (optional)
Drop the onions in boiling water and cook for a minute. Puree this with the ginger, garlic and cashews without adding water.
Heat the oil and butter in a deep pan. Add the onion puree and a pinch of salt. Fry it on medium heat until the paste turns light brown and starts drying out a bit, about 7 minutes.
Add the cayenne, turmeric and tomato puree. Cook for five minutes on medium heat.
Add the cumin and curry powders. Add salt to taste and cook to thicken.
Add the cream, sugar. Adjust seasoning, then add the paneer cubes, peas, and cauliflower and heat through. Remove from the heat and let sit, covered, for 15 minutes.
Tomorrow: Ginger-Wasabi Avocado Salad for lunch, Indian leftovers for dinner, 5-Minutes-a-Day Bread for Friday dinner
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