My Experimentation

Yesterday was an evening dedicated to my experimentation with the art of chapatti making.
It all began due to my decision to stay away from the computer after getting nothing much done in the lab. Sans computer would mean- no chatting, no vetti browsing, no emailing, no orkutting, no movies which encompass a major chunk of my time pass activities.
My enthusiasm towards cooking is a sine wave and yesterday, it was at its peak. After my recent India visit, i thought had learnt, just by observing the art of dough kneading. So, with a really positive outlook, with all my love and affection poured in the dough, I started the whole grilling process of dough kneading.

It turned out like a perfect ball binding all the flour together, but without any degree of softness. The threat of the chapatti turning out like a "Applam/Pappad" was very much looming infront of me and I decided to struggle with it more and more - putting into execution all my boxing talents. I literally exhausted all the tactics I could imagine of, to make it soft- adding sugar, milk, more water and hence more flour when it become miserably sticky....so the cycle was going on n on. It was a complete fight between the two of us- me and my dough, with me actually jumping up and down to apply enough pressure. Inspite of the active cheers of my roommate and my pampering, the dough decided to have no mercy on me. Then I used the expertise of another friend who stopped by at my place in this "Mahabharath Yudham" . With her active presence it did magically yield a bit, but as the dough was initially mixed under my expertise, it was on the border of soft-hard mass.

I was also simultaneously making "Aloo-Palak" again a new dish i was trying out, but which my intuition said would turn out good irrespective of the state of chapatti. For a change, I was making it without looking at any online recipe or cook book and just plainly using my culinary talents and few suggestions from my friends. The making process which is supposed to be simple, didn't go the way as I expected. The mixie in which I was grinding the palak just coughed up, splattering the palak on the wall and the floor and also jamming the kitchen socket. Determined to continue, telling to myself I had misjudge the closure of the mixie jar, I tried at another new socket only to get the same results. When things go bad, it grows exponentially bad. Frustrated, I ended up making the palak without grinding.

Meanwhile, after leaving the chapatti dough for half an hour I started the rolling out of chapatti, taking painstaking 5 minutes for getting a decent round shape and then making the chapatti on the tava under extreme care and supervision. In the end, I ended up making about half the chapatti's hard with the brittleness increasing exponentially once removed from the tava. As a fix, me and my roomie decided to eat them immediately. After this ordeal of 3 and 1/2 hrs, I got the chapatti's done.

But, I have decided henceforth for a really long while to refrain from getting into this madness. This grilling experience was just reminding me of all the sarcastic comments I used to pass on my amma's chapatti's and poori's. Aaahh, now i miss them so much. I wish the Indian restuarants here would have Chapatti also rather than just Naan. What ever it is, I shall never ever ..ever...ever yield to the temptation by making one by myself...but may be should consider apperentice when I want to kill time.