Retreat Weekend Indian Recipes

Parathas
Chibati flour (or whole wheat)
Water to make it pliable but not too wet (add a little at a time)
Let rest five minutes.
Oil the bread so it won't dry out.

Fillings:
Boiled potato or fresh Cauliflower or Asian Radish grated.
Mash the potatoes with your fingers
chili powder, ground chili and/or cayenne
ground cumin and cumin seends,
coriander powder
ground fresh ginger
black pepper
salt
jalapenos (ground or chopped fine) or cilantro

Directions:
Add all the spices "to taste" (If following Krishna practices - add all spices to "guess" as one cannot "taste" food while it is cooking).
Mix well.

With cauliflower or radish mixture let sit for a few minutes then squeeze it, a handful at a time to remove the moisture. It will drip from your hands.

Heat tortilla skillet or griddle or skillet.

Squeeze off dough and shape it to be two similar sized ping pong ball sized balls.

Using rolling pins make same-sized rounds out of each ball, using a little flour on the outside "side" of each "patty". Don't make them too thin yet. Add a little bit of filling to one piece. Place the other over it. Making sure the outsides are floured, Use the rolling pin again and flatten the stack. It will look like a pancake.

Add a litle oil to the pan and brown the paratas on each side.

Serve with Raita

Raita (a spiced yogurt)

Make your yogurt or use plain yogurt. Thin it with milk if you want it more like a dressing. Leave it thicker if more like a sauce. Add basically the same spices as above, just in powder form. Don't add ginger to this one. Mango powder is good. Add grated cucumber. Grated fresh, but not too ripe tomato can also be added as well as cilantro.

Vegetable dish (I missed the name)

Into ghee or oil add same basic spices as the parathas recipe. Additionally add tumeric. Seeds OK on this one. Add tomato slices. Cook to a paste. Use two parts cauliflower florettes cut medium sized, to one part raw potatoes cut a bit smaller (so they'll finish cooking at the same time. Cook together adding a little bit of water, if needed, to help the steam, until tender.

To make yogurt

Boil milk. Bring to body temperature add a spoonful or two of commercial plain yogurt. Let sit for a few hours at room temperature. Voila' more yogurt.