Chapati is part of the Indian (among many, I guess) cuisine and is really just flat and flexible bread. In India they use them as a thing between forks and scoops to eat with and they are usually made of ground wheat flour (I have heard).
Last Thursday I was invited for dinner at my new friend Tinas’ place to haver dinner with her family. Both she and her husband are from south India and I was looking forward to experiencing ordinary Indian food made in a Norwegian environment. I wondered which ingredients you use in Norway and how real Indian food would taste.
We had lamb masala with chapati (there should have been salad as well, but I had to catch a train so there wasn’t time to make it). I learned some new things from eating with Tina and her family:
- Chapati is really just flour, oil, water and salt. Make a dough, roll it in small balls, flatten them (they use kjevle in India too) and fry it in a pan.
- Masala spices should be sent from India (Tina gets hers’ from her mother by mail). Masala mixes you get in Norway are usually sent from England.
- A pressure boiler will boil your meat in no time and give the most tender lamb.
- You never have capsicum/sweet pepper (paprika) in Indian dishes, but a lot of onion and tomatoes.
- You get “grandmother fingers” after eating your whole meal with your right hand.
- I will have to practice on my chapati eating skills.