Dinner Rolls

Baking your own bread or rolls is a huge challenge in India, mainly because we are not used to baking in our homes and prefer to buy cakes and breads from bakeries. Most Indian homes only have a microwave oven. My first experience with baking bread was as a college student way back in 1966, where my attempt sat in the bowl like a stone. I never had the confidence to try after that, but now that my daughter is showing a lot of interest in bread making we have been experimenting with baking different types of bread. My daughter found this recipe on YouTube which we then modified slightly to suit the Indian kitchen.

Dinner Rolls

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Easy Homemade Naan (Indian Leavened Bread)

Naan is the Indian leavened bread which requires a special Tandoor oven to bake. For this reason naan is usually not made at home and only available from eateries. The method I have given here allows you to make tasty, crisp, and fresh naans at home using just an iron griddle – the kind we use to make chappatis.

Naan made at home on a griddle (tava).

Irish Soda Bread for Father’s Day

The mother toils in the kitchen all the time to place tasty victuals on the table and on time for the family to feast upon. Therefore, it’s only fair that we make a chocolate cake for her and ice it for Mother’s Day. The father, at the head of the table, is either indifferent or critical of the food placed before him; therefore Irish soda bread, the simplest of home-baked bread, is ideal for him to bake and treat the family to on Father’s Day. It is hoped that fathers take the hint and hopefully do the washing up as well after cooking 🙂

 

Irish Soda Bread

Mince on Toast

Tamil Christians most often set the date for their weddings either during the Christmas holidays or during the summer holidays. I got married on December 22d^nd, and in January, my mother-in-law decided that we should go on a picnic before I had to report for work. She chose to make mince on toast for our picnic lunch. I remember her being absolutely gleeful to hear that her daughter-in-law, a lecturer in Foods and Nutrition, had not heard of this recipe at all.

Mince on Toast

Khamiri Roti (Deep fried Yeast Bread)

This is my first foray into Urdu Muslim cooking – khamir (or khameer) is Urdu for yeast. Saira Mohseen was my student in 1988. She now lives in Melbourne. For the Eid celebrations she had prepared Khamiri roti with other dishes and had posted a photo of the meal on Facebook. I had not come across Khamiri Roti before, and so I asked her for the recipe which she readily shared, cautioning me that it was not standardized. I have standardised the recipe and presented it here with a more detailed procedure.

Khamiri Roti