PUDINA O DHONEPATA DIYE MOIDAR POROTA

My wish at this time is to share such recipes which can be done with kitchen staples, ingredients we always have in the kitchen. I sincerely believe this is not the time to eat fancy or to show our cooking skills. I am not a skilled cook, you need me at this time of crisis who can gift you "shohoj, mukhorochok khabar". The men at home cannot have salads or vegetarian meals with rice, neither they wish to have fruits during holidays. So, what I do is or I shall be doing is say prepare a rice dish with lettuce & pineapple and serve with omelette. I am not really in the mindset to do a cutlet or chop, pakoras are happening. Our vegetarian, rice meals have to be supported by pakoras / bhajabhuji. At this home, the fruits better be transformed to desserts, they eat that way. I shall buy less of fruits this weekend. Back home, there is a family who live 30km away from the mainland Kolkata, what if any emergency occurs? There are veterans who need support for every little thing, so dependent they are. In this scenario, I can only cook what is required for the family, bare minimum. That bare minimum has to be tasty. The men cannot have otherwise. Like, last night we had a hearty meal with "mash kolai er dal, egg drop jhol, dhonepatar bora." I had them with millet, they had with rice. I think this refined flour flatbread with fresh mint & coriander, carom seeds, green chilli PUDINA O DHONEPATA DIYE MOIDAR POROTA should help you at this time. Some of you may grow these herbs, some may not have mint in store; do one thing dry roast few spices, ground them and add to the dough. This way you will need only a raita and pickle may be on the side. It is complete if we can get some "begun bhaja or aloo bhaja" on the side too.

How is this home working? Last evening, I mended a home made bread went wrong using pandan extract, orange zest. While trying to correct, the amount of batter got huge. I have sent two to the neighbours. If you  see fresh bananas, you will know the rotten, old went to that "pie cake." Actually, I cannot get this variety of banana and in such less amount for special prayers held, we require a smaller sized variety that comes in bigger bunches.

The son is getting home made cakes, breads, fruits, sweets in breakfast, mumma too needs breakfast. The man have breakfast if only he wishes to, else he is on with his cups of tea in empty stomach which is wrong. I force Cristine to eat at least something for breakfast which she tries to skip, she prefers only coffee and biscuit in the morning. For lunch, we are usually having vegetarian meals with homemade breads. At night, we are having very simple, non-vegetarian meals. What I take into note is that they cater to the taste bud of all of us in the family. I am not even trying to experiment with new or complex recipes. One has to have a mind to do them. What about the vast unknown world we are concerned about. It feels I wish to call each one of them but I am so unable to.  In this scenario, I can only connect with the world through the food I share; do them if you may and feed your family. Today, it is this PUDINA O DHONEPATA DIYE MOIDAR POROTA; flatbread done with fresh mint & coriander. The best way to get a smooth dough for a porota is to use half & half refined and whole wheat flour. Bengalis do eat only refined flour flatbreads, they should be eaten immediately after being cooked, else they tend to harden. Adding eggs while kneading the dough gives better taste but in our family we do not do it.

INGREDIENTS :

REFINED FLOUR : 2 COFFEE MUG
FRESH MINT : A HANDFUL
CHOPPED FRESH CORIANDER : A HANDFUL
MINCED GREEN CHILLI : 1TBSP
CAROM SEED / AJWAIN / JOYAN : 1TSP
SALT : 1/2 TSP
SUGAR : 1 TSP
OIL : 2 TBSP + 2 TSP FOR EACH POROTA


PROCEDURE : 

Take the refined flour, 2tbsp oil, salt & sugar in a bowl and mix well.

Add the washed fresh mint & coriander, washed minced green chillies, carom seeds, salt & sugar.

Rub the entire thing for 2-3 minutes. Remember, we need very less amount of water for kneading this dough because the herbs shall moisten it. 

So, adding water little by little we will knead it for 10 minutes. 

We will keep it covered for 15-20 minutes. Thereafter, we will open cover, knead the dough again for 2-3 minutes. We shall tear small portions of a tennis ball size and smoothen in between palms.

Now the rolling part. I use flour instead of oil to roll in case of flatbread, unlike luchi where I use oil to roll.

We will heat a griddle / tawa or a pan and place a porota. We will roast both sides well before adding 2tsp oil to finally cook each flatbread. I usually cook two porotas at a time.

We can have such flavoured flatbreads with raita / pickle / chutney alone; we can also add some "fries, veggie medley, meat curries."