BENGALI'S MOROCCAN BREAD

 READING FOOD JOURNALS EQUIP ME!

Rather I would say, pictorial food stories from different corners of the world get me some happy reads, encourages me to try them in my limited capacity! All of a sudden, without any search, I came across an article about the Moroccan Bread varieties! I do them or not, I enjoyed reading about them! Now I know some of their names and the fact the Moroccans love doing their breads with gluten laden flours! They say they do not care or accept their stomach aches, nausea, headaches can be caused by gluten intake! In fact, we were astound when in early 2000, the son's paediatrician told our child has gluten allergy! I had no idea about it, every 1 1/2 month gap he was falling sick with severe stomach upset! It is painful for the sufferer & the family members! What to cook for them? Food items get limited! In the present day, I try my hands at vegan, gluten-free recipes; but to go on this particular diet pattern on a regular basis is tough!

MY REGULAR EXERCISES & DIET REGIME DO NOT COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER!

Why do I feel hungry all the time? Why, why, why? Why cannot I resist the temptation for food? I seriously feel too low if I do not allow myself to have my choice of food! I was walking locally today, what extra pleasure I gained was the sight of the food stalls in the fair that happens every year month long before the CNY! It feels good to see the world reviving back to normalcy! For two long years we were in an abnormal situation! Trust me, I do feel for the families who lost their own in the pandemic! It feels lucky to be alive!

I do not know if this little of sweating helps or not, given I have a gigantic diet! May be because I do long hours of intermittent fasting, I cannot eat less in my first meal! These kind of calorie laden food plates do not let me slim down! I had the Moroccan breads with homemade Bengali sweet mango pickle & some store bought pakora! I had a meal from QIJI for 4:30$ recently after quite sometime!

But that smile on my face would vanish if I do not get to do what I intend to! I love stopping by those flower nurseries! These small orange plants are considered lucky here & would be sold during this time, the prices are coated as per their height, starting from 65$ to 135$, I have even seen plants worth 200$-300$! I cannot think of buying any of them! The oranges are decorative I think, each time I tried them, they tasted sour! But the small segments look so cute & juicy! I keep myself fulfilled in this manner, if only the son could get home to spend at least the weekends with us! It's too cold there & too quiet neighbourhoods!

WHAT IS THIS BENGALI'S MOROCCAN BREAD!

I never did search for a Moroccan Bread recipe, it wasn't even on my mind! I have many known recipes to blog about & many more to try! May be because we love to try different kind of breads, perhaps a related article walked into my net direct to get noticed! I learnt about the variety of their breads; Msemmen, Khobz, Batbout, Harcha, Raziza, Brioche, Medfouna, Beghrir! I read about how they are made and went ahead with mine, a vegan, gluten-free BENGALI'S MOROCCAN BREAD! I added Bengali flavours to it adding the  Nigella seeds! It was quite a challenge for me because the Moroccan generously use normal bread flours to make their enlivened breads! I found only one blog with gluten-free versions of Moroccan bread, you just type & get those recipes! But I also wished to make them vegan; so could not use milk, egg anything! Also, they mostly use ovens for their bread making, mine is done on the stovetop, it was more like Msemmen, though without layers!However, we enjoyed it, may you, please? I must mention the Jamal Family of Lahore gifted me the bread basket, later to show you all the sweet box they got us & more!

INGREDIENTS :

RICE FLOUR : 1 COFFEE MUG

CORN FLOUR : 2 TBSP

OATS : 2-3 TBSP

DRY YEAST : 30 GM, A SACHET OF

NIGELLA SEED : 1 TSP

SUGAR : 2 TBSP [I USED BROWN SUGAR]

SALT : 1/2 TSP

OLIVE OIL : 2 TBSP + 2 TSP + 1 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I was not expecting too enlivened a dough, I added the dry yeast directly to the flour mix, also I have seen yeast & brown sugar are not good friends! I used the few following ingredients for my roti bread!

I had roasted the rice flour for 4-5 minutes on the gas top in a wok, added some 1/2 coffee mugs of water to it, then a little more! 

I stir cooked for a minute or two & took it down on a wide mouthed bowl! 

I added to it the dry yeast, cornflour, brown sugar, salt, 2 tbsp oil & kneaded it to a dough!

I greased the dough with 2tsp oil, covered with a plate & kept inside the microwave for over an hour!

Thereafter, I took it out, gave a punch, added 1 tbsp oil, the nigella seeds & oats; kneaded for 2-3 minutes!

I tore off portions to make standard sized balls! Do one thing, cover them with a moist piece of cloth! I did not but felt the need to!

I lightly rolled them round, there were breakage in the edges; use your fingers to settle the breakages!

Put each carefully on the heated griddle / pan / tawa & roast both sides well until brown spots are seen on both sides!

Cooking the breads was a fun project for me!

Try to have them hot & fresh, they are chewy & may harden if refrigerated & stale! Dip them in olive oil & have; or with pickles like a South Asian or with Chicken or Mutton Stew like the West, South East & East Asia or like the true blue meat lovers among the South Asians! La Viva folks!