FAQ for uk.food+drink.indian Newsgroup
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Since very few homes in India have a tandoor oven the majority of breads prepared and eaten daily are cooked on a tawa, which is perhaps best described as a griddle with a concave surface, or fried in deep oil. To western eyes these breads resemble thick pancakes/girdle scones, or something more puffed.
Just as European breads (and British Breads) vary so much in name and character from one region to another so do Indian breads.

The Questions

Breads

• Roti (Chapatti/Phulka/Poori/Paratha)

  1. What's the difference between Rotis and Chapattis, or are they the same?
  2. And a poori is... basically a chapatti that's been deep-fried rather than cooked on a griddle or tawa?
  3. Paratha?
  4. What are phulkas?

• Nan

  Strictly speaking Nan should be included in the above list as Roti is the generic term for Bread but as there have been a number of questions it has a section to itself.
  1. What basic dough mixture do you use for Nan?
  2. Naan bread - how difficult is it to make your own?
  3. I havent had any success with Nan recipes I have tried so far, what can you recommend?.
  4. So, what I was wondering is, if I used an old fashioned girdle/griddle, would that work? Would it get hot enough?
  5. Is it possible to make Nan with a bread-maker?
     Do you both use your breadmaker to knead/mix the dough, or literally just the recipe from the book you got with it?
  6. What's the best substitute for a tandoor when making nan?

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Pancakes

• General

  1. Can I make a pancake with Besan flour?

• Appam

  1. Just caught the second half of Delhi belly on UKFood (I always forget it. But then I forget a lot of things) and they were making appam; a pancakey thing made with rice flour, coconut milk, salt & sugar. They looked and sounded nice.
     I've had a look about and there's lots of differing recipes so...anyone made them?
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• Dhosai (Dosa)

  1. But the dosai...... oh dear, the dosai. They were from a Gits packet mix. The batter seemed to go foamy, as if there was bicarb soda in, should this have happened?
  2. I've seen some recipes which ferment the batter - and add bicarb, are both really needed?
  3. I did a search on the internet, basically it calls for 3 cups of rice, 1 cup of urad dhal, 2 tsp of fenugreek and 2 tsp of salt, does that seem right?
  4. It seems to be at the back of my mind somewhere, that I have to add a bit of cooked rice during the grinding process?
  5. I use a tava but I do normally end up putting the first two or three on the side for scrap. Getting the temperature right is difficult.

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Dumplings

• Idlis

  1. I made idlis in my new idli cooker yesterday. The cooker works but the idlis were horrible. I used Gits instant idli mix and it's full of salt. Does anyone know a source of rice rava and ground urad dal that I can use instead?
  2. Do you parboil the rice? Several of the idli recipes suggest this. I've also heard it said that the idlis one makes from flour ground at 'public mills' are better because they more interesting yeasts to get the fermentation going. I've also heard it said one can add a bit of baker's yeast to help it it on its way.

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The Answers

Breads

Roti (Chapatti/Phulka/Poori/Paratha)

1. This question generated discussion and disagreements (but see the 2 final points).
   1. To me they both are the same. Here in Holland, I was once invited to eat Surinam roti, and when the dish was placed on the table, I said, hmmm chapati. Dh said, no, it's roti. Well to me it sure looks and taste just like chapati. Anyway, I found out the ingredients they use to make the roti and it is exactly the same as chapati.
   2. Not a lot. Generally both are made from wholemeal flour and chapattis are grilled or baked in a dry pan where roti are fried in a little oil. However I have seen recipes for roti using maize or corn flour.
   3. I tend to agree that there is really no difference between chapatis and rotis. At least, the recipes I have seen overlap greatly. My own fairly extensive web search, seems to indicate a tendency for chapatis to be made solely with wheat flour and rotis to contain white and sometimes cake flour. However, I don't think all recipes would agree.
   4. Around these parts a Roti is a pan fried bread circle, thicker than a chapati and a wee bit oily.
      A chapati is cooked without oil and is a dry, flexible, plate wiper
   5. Chapati's are more doughy, like bread. A roti should be soft, but also be flatter than a chapati (thinner).
   6. I thought I should butt in with a bit of general Hindi meaning of the word "Roti"! It simply means "Bread" Just like bread has many variations so has Roti, you can eat brown bread, white bread, there are loads of different kinds of breads. So roti is a word for bread I am probably right if I wanted to eat Nan Roti, or in other words, a Nan Bread.
      If somebody was offering me a roti, I would enquire for further details, was it going to be a tandoory naan, chappati, Paratha, or even ordinary bread such as you would buy in the big stores (bread and butter) type.
   7. Take a look at Camellia Panjabi's recipe for Roti Dough. (for making chapatis, pooris, or parathas)
   8. Method for making chapattis

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2. 1. The difference between a chapati and poori, aside from the frying is that, the former is made from wheat flour(atta), and the latter with refined flour(maida).
   2. 1. Basically I make mine simple.
         1. I use plain flour sifted with a pinch of baking soda, mixed with salted water.
         2. Mix till the dough leaves the hand easily.
         3. Cover the container with a damp cloth.
         4. After about half hour or one, I separate it into golf ball sized balls of dough.
         5. I flour my board and roll the dough out, flouring both sides of dough.
         6. I roll out till it is slightly bigger than a saucer.
         7. I roll out a few. I heat deep frying pan with oil.
         8. Put a poori dough in, with the back of the ladle I gently push the poori down under into the oil till it puffs up.
         9. I turn it over, fry both sides till golden brown.
      2. That's exactly how we make the poori's at the take-away. Sometimes we use the same flour as the nans though and that's a lot crisper and crumblier. Some people don't like their poori so crumbly but personally I love it like that.
   3. And another method for making pooris
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3. They're usually flaky, because you roll them out a bit like puff pastry, in layers, and then they're fried. I used to make them when I was a student and unemployed - I had time on my hands then, so used to make cheap but time-consuming meals to make up for lack of money.
   • To make parathas with the basic roti dough look at the Paratha Method page.

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4. Phulkas are a more puffed version of chapatti. to see the method of making click here.

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Nan

1. To make 6 naan breads....
   • ¼ pint hand hot milk
   • 2 tbs caster sugar
   • 1 sachet dried yeast
   • 1 lb strong white flour
   • ½ tsp salt
   • 1 tsp baking powder
   • 2 tbs sunflower oil
   • ¼ pint natural yogurt
   • 1 large egg
   
   
   (More Nan Recipes)
   
   
2. It's not difficult, but there are so many different recipes and methods; read the rest of the answers and check out these recipes.
3. I don't do bread as I have always been dissapointed with the results, but I have these on the hard drive for you to try. No promises on whether they are good or not!
4. ... as a naan is cooked in an oven, and plenty of Indian breads are cooked on a griddle and a naan isn't, I'm not sure they would come out the same.
   I suppose one answer is to give up on naans and find out if there are any leavened Indian breads that are traditionally cooked on a griddle.
5. 1. If you use a breadmaker then follow this recipe , if not just mix up all the ingredients to a smooth dough, allow it to rise for an hour or two, knock the air out, shape the naans and cook as instructed.
   2. The breadmaker does all the work, I take the credit.
   3. I use the breadmaker on its "dough basic" programme: takes 95 minutes. You miss out on the tactile pleasures of kneading, but you don't have to look for a warm cat-free cranny for the rising time, and you're not tempted to cut corners. Then just knock it back, roll it out, and slap it on the preheated stone or under a hot grill.
6. 1. If you have a pizza stone (doesn't everyone), my book says: 'To imitate a tandoori oven atmosphere, breads are initially baked in a hot (290C) oven and then toasted under a broiler. Preheated heavy iron pizza griddles yield good results, but Superstone pizza bricks, (made by Sassafras) are even better. These easy-to-handle brick slabs act much the same as gigantic ones used in old-world brick ovens - bakers have long appreciated the light crusts from stone baked breads. Superstone bricks are available in rounds and rectangle through better cookware stores and mail order sources such as William-Sonoma'. (Posting from Australia)
   2. I've found that Quarry Tiles from Wick's make great Pizza brick substitutes, and at £2.70 for a box of 10, not too much to spend if you are experimenting with bread and/or pizza making. Pre-heat the oven for at least half an hour with them in.
      You can buy 12" sq. quarry tiles . . try a builders merchant. Might be a better size
   3. I cooked my first successful naans yesterday (had tried several years ago, but ...): the dough from a recipe in my breadmaker's booklet (very similar to one posted here from a similar source), and baked on a pizza stone.
      Spectacularly good! I got the stone a few weeks ago (from John Lewis) as a birthday present for my son (who has eaten far too many real Italian pizzas in the last couple of years to be satisfied with anything from the supermarket shelves), but only thought of using it for naans yesterday.
      A quick google group search today shows that others have (unsurprisingly) done this before, but I thought I'd pass on the success story.

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Pancakes

• General

  1. Yes, pancakes can be mad with Besan (Bengal Gram flour. Click here for a recipe. Besan has the advantage, for some diets, of being gluten free.

• Appam

  1. 1. The pan for making appam has to be seasoned good in order to produce good appams.
     2. Hi, I think I am safe to say that with coconut milk used it becomes Paal appam (Paal meaning milk (coconut milk) and appam meaning pancake. I have found a few sites for appam, the first site has pictures.
        Amma's
        Skanair
        Forumhub
        
     3. Arecipe for Appam is on this page.
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• Dhosai

  1. If you make dosai batter the hard way then it does foam, the lentil and rice flours start to ferment. Whether the packet should do it or not I don't know.
  2. 1. It would seem that some do and some don't so this is a matter of personal preference regarding the texture of the dhosai.
     2. Personally I'd drop the bicarb and let the batter ferment overnight.
  3. That sounds about right, definitely more rice than dhal. Both are then soaked overnight separately, the amount of water is important because it goes into the mix.
     After soaking both are gound separately with the soaking water being added slowly (how did people do this before food processors?) Then both batters are mixed together and left to ferment overnight again.
  4. Again it's a case of some do some don't, whichever suits your personal preferences.
  5. 1. It's normal for the first ones to turn out not good. My mom would normally break an egg and spread it all over the tava and let it cook till it's overdone. And then throw the scrambled eggs away. That is her way of preparing the tava for the thosais. And for oiling the tava, she would cut a potato into half, use a square clean cloth and bundle up the half potato, tying a rubberband to the top. She would have a saucer of oil, dip the cloth wrapped potato covered in oil and spread it all over the tava.
     2. A really heavy non-stick frying pan (curved sides) is ideal for making dhosai (dosa) if you do not have a tava.
  A recipe for Dhosai (Dosa) is on this page.
  

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Dumplings

• Idlis

  1. 1. I have not tried that brand but I did use another package that I bought in an Indian grocery. The idlis were pretty blah but I suppose that might be expected since the rising was obtained by using baking soda and an acid (probably tartaric) and real idlis are raised by natural fermentation. You need to allow an overnight fermentation but it's not really difficult to grind the rice and dahl in a blender.
        It might be of interest that I don't have an idli cooker but have gotten quite good results by using a muffin tin (USA) and steaming in a wok.
     2. I mixed one cup of ondhwa with a little salt and enough water to make a fairly stiff paste. Ondwha is said to contain turmeric but it was not noticeable. I kept the covered mix on a paper pad on a hot tray overnight but nothing much happened. When the house warmed up next day, the mixture quickly rose about 60%. It flattened again when stirred and poured into my idli maker (lightly oiled muffin pan.) When the batter had risen again (an hour or so), I sprinkled a little dry roasted fenugreek on top and steamed the idlis in a wok for 15 minutes. While I'll admit there may be other breads and dumplings that I prefer, these were the best idlis I have ever had! I ate them with lime rasam.
     3. You should try the MTR brand Rava Idli mix. I have tried it and it is very good.
  2. 1. The baker's yeast might well work since it's sometimes used to get "sour dough" started. The usual recommendation is to use commercial parboiled rice for one quarter of the rice: Uncle Ben's is the commonest variety here. By the way, the recipe I have calls for grinding the rice and dahl separately after soaking for 5 hours. Some recipes add the parboiled rice to the dahl for soaking and grinding.
     2. The Indian groceries in my area (Washington, D.C.--I usually frequent the Patel chain) carry a product called idli rava but it is actually ground rice and not cream of wheat. I started using this after my Indian friends told me about it. So for idlis I only have to grind the soaked urad dal. It is a good idea to soak the rava idli for an hour or so before draining and adding to the ground dal. I use 1 part whole dal (measured before soaking) to 2 parts idli rava. When I combine the rice and dal I usually add a pinch of sugar to get the natural yeast a quicker start; this seems to help in the winter when the house is cool. A small amount of yeast is also good in cool climates.

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