The cookery thread

[deathrey]

It's likely to be butter @Carbomb. Keep the layers really thin and add butter whilst on the heat, add butter each time you flip it. Your heart will love it!

 

Edit: and the type of flour you use will usually make a difference too

Edited December 2, 2022 by deathrey

[stumobir]

I’ve only tried parathas a few times so I’m far from an expert but to get the crispy outside and cooked all the way through I found I had to fiddle with the temp quite a bit. Too low and they ended up chewy, too high and they were burning on the outside before cooked through. I’d recommend a thick based cast iron pan as they maintain an even cooking temp a lot better than your Teflon’s etc, trial two or three till you find the right setting. And as deathrey says, lots and lots of butter (I use ghee as you can take it to higher temps without it browning).

Edited December 2, 2022 by stumobir

[Carbomb]

52 minutes ago, deathrey said:

It's likely to be butter @Carbomb. Keep the layers really thin and add butter whilst on the heat, add butter each time you flip it. Your heart will love it!

 

Edit: and the type fo flour you use will usually make a difference too

 

10 minutes ago, stumobir said:

I’ve only tried parathas a few times so I’m far from an expert but to get the crispy outside and cooked all the way through I found I had to fiddle with the temp quite a bit. Too low and they ended up chewy, too high and they were burning on the outside before cooked through. I’d recommend a thick based cast iron pan as they maintain an even cooking temp a lot better than your Teflon’s etc, trial two or three till you find the right setting. And as deathrey says, lots and lots of butter (I use ghee as you can take it to higher temps without it browning).

Thanks for these, guys, really appreciated! 

@deathrey What kind of flour? Wheat or gram?

[deathrey]

44 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

 

Thanks for these, guys, really appreciated! 

@deathrey What kind of flour? Wheat or gram?

Gram flour is rarely used for chappati's (prantha dough is essentially the same). The only time Punjabi's use gram flour is to make chappati's that go with saag and they are very different beast to regular chappati's. They are made with boiling water instead of cold and the dough has to be used immediately and is very fragile. 

Wheat flour is used for chappatis/pranthas but you can use white, brown or a mix of the two. The video there looked like pure white flour to me but my mum is the prantha expert so I'll ask her what makes the crispiest prantha's next time I speak to her and will report back.

Edit: as @stumobirmentioned, what you use to make a prantha/chappati is important and I would pop to your nearest Asian supermarket and grab a thava, they cost about £15 - 20 but I would say are essential.

Edited December 2, 2022 by deathrey

[Carbomb]

34 minutes ago, deathrey said:

Gram flour is rarely used for chappati's (prantha dough is essentially the same). The only time Punjabi's use gram flour is to make chappati's that go with saag and they are very different beast to regular chappati's. They are made with boiling water instead of cold and the dough has to be used immediately and is very fragile. 

Wheat flour is used for chappatis/pranthas but you can use white, brown or a mix of the two. The video there looked like pure white flour to me but my mum is the prantha expert so I'll ask her what makes the crispiest prantha's next time I speak to her and will report back.

Edit: as @stumobirmentioned, what you use to make a prantha/chappati is important and I would pop to your nearest Asian supermarket and grab a thava, they cost about £15 - 20 but I would say are essential.

That's brilliant, thanks so much for that. My aunt makes farata, so she probably has a thava or something similar - might borrow hers for when I first give it a go, and then, if I haven't poisoned everyone, I'll buy one!

[Onyx2]

@CarbombI asked a Gujarati chef I trust. Note I haven't tried it myself.

Spoiler

Foolproof:
Put flour into a bowl, add ghee, egg (optional), milk, sugar, salt, sufficient lukewarm water and knead into a hard dough. Cover it with a damp cloth (muslin or lightweight) and rest for 15-30 minutes.

Divide into equal portions and roll into balls. Oil a plate, place the balls on them and cover again with damp muslin cloth for some time.

Spread a little oil on table top, place each ball on it and spread with your fingers to a roti. Apply little ghee over it. Make small pleats and roll into a round ball.

Heat a non stick tawa (ideally stoneware). Spread the balls into parathas with your fingers, and place on the tawa. Drizzle little oil on the paratha. Cook turning sides till light brown and crisp on both sides.

Refined Flour 2.5 cups
Ghee 1 tbsp
Egg 1
Milk 1/2 cup
Sugar 1 tbsp
Oil 1 tbsp

 

[Carbomb]

Thanks for all this help, guys. Gonna look forward to making these.

[Onyx2]

On 12/2/2022 at 3:12 PM, Onyx2 said:

@CarbombI asked a Gujarati chef I trust. Note I haven't tried it myself.

  Reveal hidden contents

Foolproof:
Put flour into a bowl, add ghee, egg (optional), milk, sugar, salt, sufficient lukewarm water and knead into a hard dough. Cover it with a damp cloth (muslin or lightweight) and rest for 15-30 minutes.

Divide into equal portions and roll into balls. Oil a plate, place the balls on them and cover again with damp muslin cloth for some time.

Spread a little oil on table top, place each ball on it and spread with your fingers to a roti. Apply little ghee over it. Make small pleats and roll into a round ball.

Heat a non stick tawa (ideally stoneware). Spread the balls into parathas with your fingers, and place on the tawa. Drizzle little oil on the paratha. Cook turning sides till light brown and crisp on both sides.

Refined Flour 2.5 cups
Ghee 1 tbsp
Egg 1
Milk 1/2 cup
Sugar 1 tbsp
Oil 1 tbsp

 

Made according to this recipe tonight @Carbomb.

Not bad but nowhere near flaky enough. Sent to my friend who said to be more generous with the ghee! And start with a lower heat. I'll try again in the week. 

More advice from experts on the board welcome! 

[BigJag]

I'm an expert at eating them. I would say you need to be a lot more liberal with the ghee. Just enough to stop the paratha from sticking. Lots of flipping and pushing the paratha around the surface of the tava. You may want to lower the temp a bit. It wants to be hot enough to sizzle. But not burn. Don't forget to open the windows and have the extractor at full suck. It will get smoky in the kitchen.

[Gus Mears]

My favourite meal, a Big Roast Chicken.

Edited December 4, 2022 by Gus Mears

[Onyx2]

Saturday roast. All a bit last minute. 

[mim731]

Made chicken breasts stuffed with garlic and olive cream and topped with roasted tomatoes. Served with rosemary roasted baby potatoes and green beans. Absolutely lovely and dead simple to make. 

[Gus Mears]

Dismal out, so did a roast pork leg, cabbage with chestnuts, meat juice gravy, roast carrots and baked potatoes. Finally found a method to consistently get good crackling, three times in  row it's been on the money.

[Gus Mears]

Chicken in a bacon and mushroom sauce with some green beans and a sort of caramelised onion gratin. Based loosely on the below recipes but added a few things (brandy in the sauce gave it a nice kick). Getting in full not leaving the house mode at the mo with the weather and just cooking.

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/french-style-chicken-peas-bacon

https://www.cleaneatingmag.com/recipes/potato-gratin-with-lemon-rosemary-topping/

Edited December 17, 2022 by Gus Mears

[Frankie Crisp]

Dragged the slow cooker out of its hole to knock up a lovely seasonal dish. 

Diced beef, duck and carrots, plenty of pepper and about two thirds of a jar of cranberry sauce. It’s better with actual cranberries, but I couldn’t be arsed walking to the big shop. Throw in loads of parsley and mixed herbs. Erbs, if you’re American.

Add in two big mugs of beef stock, two tablespoons of gravy powder and half a tablespoon of tomato purée.

Four hours in the big lad on high, so you can have a big sit down for a bit.

With about half an hour to go, peel a few sweet potatoes, cook and mash them with a couple of spring onions and a load of black pepper. 

Then put it all on a plate with a bit of fresh parsley on top to make it look like you don’t usually live off crisps.

Dead nice. Just lovely.