A fried, puffed up yogurt flatbread treat…

This was one of the flatbreads my mom used to make as a special treat when I was young. Also, when I had visited my cousin last year this was served along with the Spicy Chicken curry and thus caught my special attention. Since then making this was on my “must to do in my kitchen” list. I added fresh and thick yogurt to knead the dough. The fried bhatura came out puffed up and tasted really rich and delish. It was easy to prepare and the dough can be made ahead of time. The warm homemade bhaturas will become the center of attraction of all foodies at any party.

Bhatura or Fried Yogurt Flatbread

Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour or Maida- 2 1/4 cups
• Thick yogurt- 1 cup
• Egg- 1
• Baking soda- a pinch
• Salt- to taste
• Sesame seeds, black or white (optional)- 1 tbsp
• Vegetable oil- enough for frying

Preparation:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt
• Break an egg to this and mix well.

• Now, add thick yogurt little by little and knead the flour for few minutes until soft.

• The dough is supposed to be sticky, so avoid adding more flour while kneading to make it a hard tough dough.
• Cover the dough with a wet paper towel and keep aside for 2-3 hrs.
• After 2-3 hrs, add sesame seeds to the dough and combine well.
• Make medium sized balls out of the dough.
• The dough will be sticky, while rolling the dough we will add flour to make it easy to roll.
• Sprinkle flour on a wooden board or on a clean counter top for rolling the dough, place a dough ball on it.
• Sprinkle little flour on the dough and roll the dough using a rolling pin.

• This dough cannot be rolled thin just like chapatis, so roll to an inch thick small round shape or oval shape.

• Roll all the dough balls and keep aside for frying them.

• Heat a deep fryer or a skillet over medium heat, add oil.
• When the oil has turned hot, place the rolled dough into the oil and fry both sides until golden brown and puffed up.

• Transfer the fried bhatura to a platter lined with paper towel.
• Fry all the bhaturas and serve hot with chicken curry or lamb curry or vegetable korma.

Tips:

• Bhatura should be served hot, cold bhaturas will turn hard and tough.
• You could knead the dough ahead of time, but fry the bhaturas just before serving them.

Crispy, crunchy Jack fruit chips fried by my mom in a different continent, packed well and saw off at the Trivandrum airport, waited in many lines to go through the security clearance in couple of airports, after 24 hours of flying, finally it reached me safe and sound in another continent…

I lack words to describe how much pleasure I had while devouring each one of these chips. None of the food I had in the past 4 years can stand face to face with this jackfruit chips fried by my mom. While having each fries I felt the love and care with which my mom had fried it. There wasn’t even a single burned or limp chips. All of the chips were fried to perfection and tasted way better than the store bought ones. That’s what happens when you do with love and care, you’ll never go wrong.

Jack Fruit chips is my favorite fried snack. If you are in Kerala and if you get the craving for jackfruit chips, you don’t have to rush to any nearby store to get it. You could pluck the raw fruit from the tree, which is found in almost every backyard and then fry it in your kitchen. In less than an hour, you will be seen sitting among the jackfruit chips and the melodious sound of chewing the crispy chips will break any silence in the house and brings a festive mood.

During jackfruit season, home made jack fruit chips are found in almost every house, stored in an airtight container. Knowing this is my favorite snack, my grandma used to fry whenever she finds the right jackfruit for frying. It never lasted even for a day, I would snatch the bags and will devour it even after my tongue gets stiff by over chewing. And I turn into a selfish eater when jackfruit chips are in front of me. Homemade chips always tasted well than the store bought ones. So, in my house we never bought these from the store, all you get in my house is home made fresh and crispy jack fruit chips fried by my mom:)

More about Jack Fruits: an excellent vegetarian substitute for meat. In fact, canned jackfruit (in brine) is sometimes referred to as “vegetable meat”.

For frying, you need to have the right raw jackfruit, especially raw firm ones which are suitable for frying. There are many varieties of jackfruit, two general types are soft fleshed and firm fleshed. The firm fleshed type is highly tasty, sweet and crisp. In South India, they are called Koozha chakka (the fruits of which have small, fibrous, soft, mushy, but very sweet carpels) and Koozha pazham (more important commercially, with crisp carpers of high quality known as Varika) respectively.

In Asia, jackfruits ripen principally from March to June, April to September, or June to August, depending on the climatic region, with some off-season crops from September to December, or a few fruits at other times of the year. In the West Indies, many ripen in June; in Florida, the season is late summer and fall.

This blog post is extra special to me, as these jack fruit chips are fried by my mom and I am honor-bound to share the recipe of this simple yet tasty jack fruit chips to all my dear readers and foodie friends.

Mom’s Jackfruit Chips

Ingredients:

• Raw jack fruit- 1 whole fruit or half (depending upon your needs)
• Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Water- 3 tbsp
• Vegetable oil- enough for deep frying

Preparation:

• If using fresh jackfruit, it’s a good idea to oil your knife and hands first before cutting, as the fruit has sticky latex in it.
• First cut the fruit into half and remove the central core from it.
• Pull out the flesh bulbs from the rag and remove the seeds from it.
• Cut the fruit into thin long wedges; make sure to cut all the fruits evenly for better frying.
• Combine the turmeric powder, salt and water in a small bowl and keep aside.
• Heat a deep fryer or a frying pan in medium-high, add enough oil for frying, wait till the oil is heated through, add the cut fruits and fry it stirring constantly.
• While frying, add about 1/2 tsp of turmeric, water, and salt mix and give it a stir.
• When adding the turmeric mix, step back as the oil will bubble up making a slight sound; don’t panic, it will settle down soon.
• Fry until the chips turn golden brown and transfer it to a platter with paper towel on it.
• When it cools down, don’t even wait for another second, grab a handful and start chewing the crispy chips.
• If you find that you are being selfish and feel like emptying the chips ASAP – it’s quite natural, it happens to me all the time : P

I have been on a blogging spree for the last couple of weeks. I am surprised to see that I have blogged on almost everyday. This is quite impressive and at the same time I sincerely wish that this dedication lasts forever, as I am the kind of person who would get distracted by some other activities pretty easily. Since I am observing fast for this month, I hardly have any energy to involve in other outdoor activities like tennis, swimming and camping which I do during summer. So this pretty much explains my indoor presence and my indulgence in blogging for the last couple of weeks.

Today, I woke up by making up my mind to dedicate some time for cleaning my computer, I saw ‘my picture’ folder in my computer flooded with the food pictures that I have clicked over the years. It’s big time I had to organize the pictures , label them to different categories and back up the pictures, there was a lot of work than I thought. After all the cleaning ceremony, I was relieved to see everything was in place in my computer. While organizing the pictures, I came across many food pictures, some of which generated  myriad of feelings in me.

One such dish that made me slip in to my childhood days was ‘spicy beefy’ which my mom used to make often. This is more of a pickle type, so it could be preserved for several days. After making this, my mom would store this in an air tight container in the refrigerator, with the sole intention of having it for few weeks. But the fun part is in our house it never lasted even for a day, me and my sister along with our dad, would empty the jar as if we were on an eating competition. For us, this was more like a snack rather than a pickle, we would open the refrigerator every now and then and would heap a spoonful of beef and would throw it into the mouth. We do this until we empty the jar. Now, when I make this in my kitchen, my hubby would take the role of emptying this as soon as he can. Today I am going to reveal the recipe of this spicy beefy goodness. You could store this in an air tight container and keep it in the fridge for few weeks, also this is a really good dish to take it with you when you are away from home, you could have it as a dry side dish. Trust me, you are also going to witness how fast this would get emptied.

Ingredients:

• Beef (cut into cubes)-1 pound

For marination:

• Chilly powder-2tsp
• Turmeric Powder – 1/2tsp
• Fennel Powder- 1tsp
• Pepper Powder- 1tsp
• Salt- as required
• Vinegar- 2tbsp
• Curry leaves- 3 sprigs

To fry:

• Garlic, chopped small- 8 cloves
• Ginger, chopped small- 4 inch slice

For sauteing:

• Chilly powder – 1tsp
• Fennel powder – 1tsp
• Pepper Powder-1/2 tsp
• Salt- 1/2 tsp
• Vinegar-1/4 cup
• Oil, used for frying the beef-3 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Marinate the beef with the above mentioned “ingredients for marination” and cook it in pressure cooker with little water. Drain off any excess water.
2. Deep fry the cooked beef in enough oil till it becomes brown.
3. Fry ginger and garlic in the same oil used for frying the beef until it turns golden brown and keep it aside.
4. In  a deep bottomed skillet, pour the oil and put all the masalas: Chilli powder, fennel powder, pepper powder, salt and fry this in the oil in low flame.
5. Be very careful while frying the masalas, saute it until it becomes light brown and avoid burning it.
6. When the masalas turn light brown, immediately add the fried beef to this and saute.
7. Now add the fried ginger/garlic to this and mix into the beef.
8. Finally add 1/4 cup vinegar and mix everything.
9. You could serve this hot or store in an air tight container and keep it in the refrigerator, have it as pickle for a few weeks.

Tips:

• While sauteing the masalas, make sure you turn on the exhaust, otherwise the smoke would build up in the kitchen and you would start sneezing.
• You could control the spice level of this dish as per your needs. Since this is more of a pickle, it is supposed to be spicy.