Bread anyone?

I can't believe my last post was in 2013! It really has been ages. And what have we been up to? We attended a big fat Indian wedding in Bombay which was super fun and the kids really had a great time dancing, eating and taking in all the colours and sounds of an Indian wedding. Then it was back to London and the usual running around headless, dropping and picking up kids, making dinner, doing laundry and organising my classes.

Besides the usual routine, my food adventures have expanded this year. I went for a bread making class in Notting Hill. The class was 3 hours of mixing, kneading, proving, stuffing then baking and finally the best part was of course eating! I gave a go at making a plaited roll, focaccia and stuffed Italian bread with pesto, olives and basil. It was so delicious. And I am proud to add that since that class, I haven't bought a store bread (except the time the kids wanted hot dogs for a last minute picnic). So my task three times a week is to practice improving my bread.

And today I started brushing up on my Indian bread, or roti skills. I don't know about you, but I just love bread, and with Indian food I tend to resort to rice because I don't have the patience to make rotis. But I really want to persevere with making rotis, especially for the kids! I have been dreaming of making them stuffed parathas with all sorts of delicious fillings. What about cheddar and coriander or minced lamb and mint or spinach and goats cheese? The list is really endless. With the power of the iPhone, Candice a mommy of two, and I FaceTimed this morning and did a variety of breads such as rotis, plain parathas and stuffed parathas. I put cheese in mine!

So today the kids had my hot rotis with dinner tonight. I had made keema (minced lamb) and rajma (kidney bean curry). My kids were most appreciative and I hope I can keep this up!

So here is the roti recipe that Candice shared with me. The dough that resulted was soft and very malleable which made rolling out the rotis very easy.

So for 15 rotis in the shape of a side plate:
2 mugs of atta ( I used Pillsbury wholemeal)
1/2 tspn salt
2 tspn oil
1/2 mug of hot tap water

1. Mix the dry ingredients and oil in a steel bowl.
2. Now slowly pour the water in bit by bit with one hand and with the other mix with your fingers.
3. Knead the dough till it springs back. If you do have time, let it rest with a damp cloth for 30-60 mins.
4. If you don't have time then take a small piece of the dough and roll into a golf ball size. Then flatten the ball in your palms.
5. Scatter some atta on to a plate and dip both sides of the flattened dough ball into the atta. Rub some on your rolling pin as well.
6. Roll out carefully and make a circular shape and keep moving the roti with your hand. Work out the edges.
7. Now place your tava or skillet onto a high heat and when it starts to smoke place your rolled out roti. After 30 seconds flip over and cook the other side for 30 seconds.
8. Now lower the heat and flip over the roti and press down with a wooden spoon and leave for 20 seconds. Flip again for another 20 seconds.
9. Remove and serve with a smudge of butter! (the best part!)

Classes wise, I have had a lot of demand for my evening mommy classes where we cook Indian food from 830-10. This week was the first of the four class set (runs all of March) and I had 5 wonderful moms. The menu was chickpea curry, lamb koftas and cumin rice. The moms got to know each other over a bottle of wine. It still amazes me how fantastic women are. Put a few together and straight away there was sharing and opening up over many personal things. Everyone was so supportive and generous with their feelings. So all in all, a fantastic evening of cooking and relaxing with each other.

My next set of Indian cooking will be after the Easter break, April 24th for day classes 11-1230 and the evening classes April 28th at 830 pm.

My next set of baby/toddler weaning classes is April 23rd at 10 am. More updates will be on my Facebook group page, Spices for my Sweets.

I hope to expand more days for my classes. Any London moms out there pls be in touch via Facebook else email me. I love your thoughts! Spicesformysweets@gmail.com