CURRY AND SPICE: BEETROOT TAWA SHEERMAL; BEYOND RULES

It was a long time wish to try my hands on Sheermal, that sweet bread of Iranian origin. Any day I would want to do and have the original version of it. If you go through the ingredients list and the procedure, you will know that it cannot go wrong. Then, you all know that I am been robbed of the pleasure of having sugar syrup laden stuffs, moreover I always try to keep a bit of our loving island in whatever I serve on your plate. Now Sheermal cannot be salted, what to do? I added beetroot juice & milk powder to the dough of this BEETROOT TAWA SHEERMAL; BEYOND RULES. I did not bake it either, did it on stove top. The basic idea was drawn from Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's Baked Sheermal, NDTV Food's Niru Gupta's, Rida Aftab's recipes. Because I did them in a tawa / griddle atop a stove top, they were soft. The ones which are done in the oven would have a crisper top, nearer to puff pastry. Aah! my love for puff pastry could never be proved. I visit the Indian Super Store here, pat on the packets of Baqarkhani, heart shaped puff pastries; buy the baked biscuit varieties and come back home with a heavy heart. Although Sheermal is eaten for breakfast, I served it on the dinner table just as what you see in the pictures. It was a pure vegetarian meal my family enjoyed. In all these years, I have learnt about their food preferences. If I am to feed them a vegetarian meal, I have to do a bit more exercise which is always a thing of pleasure to me.

I am not willing to go with an elaborate post today. A friend lost his mother last Thursday and I got the news yesterday morning. Some of us friends were quite close to the lady / aunt / kakima and made weekly visits to her home in the early 90's. I am not there in Kolkata to meet my friend, have urged other friends to be in touch with him. Since yesterday morning I was planning to get outside food for lunch as part of our weekend ritual. The men prefer either pizza or burger meals if home delivered. They had it from Burger King. After a talk with my bereaved friend, I wished to go very simple. I had prepared "aloo sheddho bhaat" for myself; had half of it with ghee and the other half with "kanchakolar khosha bata." Let me tell you it tasted heaven to me given a green chilli and some salt has to be there.

This rice variety was given to me by a friend some two years back when she asked me to cook a pulao for her guests. She did not take back the little of the leftover. I must ask her not to buy this coloured one; neither do we have to use expensive saffron always. I keep my pulao colour free most of the time and flavour it with whole spices. I cooked this remaining before it spoils. Rice grain is magical, look at it's longevity. The men at home love "aloo sheddo dim sheddo bhaat" anytime. No, I was not willing to take out the cooked fish & meat only for myself. After the good meal, I slept with all wrong kinds of dreams in addition. It has become a part of my life, I have lost my prescriptions; unlikely to visit again the concerned doctors. "Ahetuk Ashonka" is a mental disease no medicine can cure. I do not wish to waste my husband's hard earned money. Instead, I shall pay for the electric bills trying some "bhindi moshola" in the grill mode. That was on Saturday night.

What is that covered under the veil of a red towel near my rice plate? I was setting curd which always requires the support of dry red chillies.

Thats home, my home. It gives me the safest feeling. Why should not I prepare this vegetarian bread with beetroot juice and evaporated creamer BEETROOT TAWA SHEERMAL; BEYOND RULES for my own? Try this easier recipe of sheermal and get some smiles to your family, friends, guests. I shall share the dal / lentil curry recipe in a separate post.

RECIPE COURTESY : I roughly went through the recipes of Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's Baked Sheermal, NDTV Food's Niru Gupta and Rida Aftab's recipes before trying my hands on it.

INGREDIENTS :

REFINED FLOUR : 2COFFEE MUG
BEETROOT JUICE : 1/3SMALL TEA CUP
MILK POWDER : 2 TBSP
INSTANT YEAST : 1SACHET [11 GM]
GREEN CARDAMOM POWDER : 1/2TSP
SALT : A BIT
SUGAR : 2 TSP
OIL : 1 TBSP
GHEE / CLARIFIED BUTTER : 1/2 TSP TO BRUSH EACH SHEERMAL
I DID NOT USE SAFFRON

PROCEDURE :

Add the milk powder to the warm beetroot juice, then mix the two.

Take the refined flour in a bowl and make a hole in the middle.

Add the salt, sugar, green cardamom powder and the yeast to the centre and mix well.

Add the liquid mixture little by little and keep kneading to prepare a soft dough. This may take some 7-8 minutes.

Add the oil & knead again, keep covered for an hour!