Mom borrowed a recipe of an old Parsi favourite from my aunt, who got it from her mom. Papras are like crispy flat pancakes, sweetish, but not over the top. Nice to snack on, but yes, a lot of oil; they need to be deep-fried. They came out rather good, we’d devoured half before dinner.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PAPRA
Makes about 30
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
INGREDIENTS
3 cups wheat flour
1 cup ground sugar
1 tbsp ghee
1 tsp sesame seeds (til)
1/2 tsp Cardamom ( Elaichi ) powder
1/2 tsp Nutmeg (jaiphal) powder
1 tsp Salt or to taste

PREPARATION
Adding water, make a firm dough. Knead it well but dont make it too soft

Make small 1 inch diameter balls between your hands.

Roll them as thin as possible on a grease proof sheet. About 5 inches diameter. Prick lightly with a fork so they don’t swell up while roasting or frying.

Roast them lightly on a tawa or skillet. First one side then the other, one by one and then lay them out on a sheet of paper to cool.

Heat oil in a wok till smoking and deep fry the papras till golden brown. Lay them out to drain and cool.

Seal them into an air-tight box only when absolutely cool.

Came across this blog, The Doctor Cooks. Everyone who has any interest in food or health should go visit every now and then. Cheers Doc.

And another…
The Health Blog, A blog dedicated to revealing the truth about proper health and nutrition.

Had dinner with good friends at a new place in Koregaon Park, Stir – Oriental Kitchen. Good food, interesting ambience which could have been much improved with better ventilation; we were rubbing our stinging eyes half way through. But they did say they’re just waiting for the Diwali lethargy-week to be done, to get it sorted out, so don’t let my comment put you off.

The menu was limited and rather temporary looking, but I presume that’s because they plan to grow.
We had a prawn laksa soup, milder than one would expect, but good nevertheless, and as good as a mini meal, with chicken dim-sums.
Followed it up with Chicken in Plum sauce, and an interesting wok preparation, where you go to the counter, point out the things you want and have them sizzle it up for you in your choice of sauce, – ours was Black Bean sauce. Good choices, nice food.

Because they didn’t have much choice in dessert, we went round the corner to Arthur’s Theme, the French restaurant, with the exquisitely laid out food and the Excaliber Sword and well thought-out decor, but the weirdly half-hearted and badly written Devnagari sign scrawled on chart paper. ( For those not in the know, our esteemed local government has decreed that the Marathi sign should be at least as big as if not larger and as visible as the original English. ) I digress. The dessert list there is long and mouth-watering, and stuffed as we were, we shamelessly spent 20 minutes deciding what to order. The winners, – Crepes Suzette – wow!, Lemon Souffle – totally divine, and a Chocolate Truffle something which was just about ok.

I’m planning to dig out some recipes to experiment with, but meanwhile, an interesting article on the origin of the Crepes Suzette.

More Desserts

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
SPINACH & EGG SALAD Serves 6
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup mayonnaise, store-bought or make your own
1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce (1 tsp if you can stand it)
1 large apple
Juice from half a lemon
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 eggs
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
4 cups fresh spinach leaves, stems trimmed and torn into pieces before measuring
1/2 tsp salt

PREPARATION
In a small bowl of water, boil the eggs for about 20 minutes till hard. Remove from heat, and let stand in cold water.

Shell and chop the eggs up.

Mix thoroughly the mayonnaise, salt, hot pepper sauce, celery, onion, and eggs. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours if possible.

Just before serving slice the apple as thin as possible and squeeze with lemon juice.

Put the spinach into a large bowl and toss with the chilled dressing. Mix in the cheese. Serve.

More Salads

This salad makes for a really filling side. And it’s vegetarian except for the egg in the mayo

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MIXED VEGETABLE SALAD Serves 5
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
INGREDIENTS
3 carrots, chopped small
2 medium sized potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup peas
1 cup french beans, chopped to 1 inch long pieces
1 medium tomato
1 cup spring onions or white onions
3/4 cup cabbage, sliced fine
3/4 cup mayonnaise, store bought, or make your own
Juice of 2 lemons
2 tsp Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano

PREPARATION
Put a large pan of water to boil. Add a teaspoon of salt.

First put in the potatoes. Boil for 5 minutes.

Add the carrots and peas. Boil for another 7-10 minutes.

Add the french beans. Boil for another 7 minutes. Check all the vegetables individually, if they’re done to the tenderness you like, remove, drain and set aside to cool.

Mix together the mayonnaise, Tabasco, lemon juice, cummin and oregano. Add the finely chopped onion and tomato. Sprinkle with a little pepper.

Mix in the boiled vegetables. Chill for 30 minutes at least before serving. Makes for a really filling side.

Tip : You can use this mix to make really delicious sandwiches too, but it might be a good idea to add onions and slices of tomatoes only before eating.

More Salads