So I'm part of the International Women's Group in town. It's made up mostly of women who're all in the country careof their husband's work, finding themselves at a loss as they try and rebuild homes in a new and alien country where most people don't speak their language or even English. The group members all help each other find their feet here and also in the process find new friends! The group's been a saviour for me and given me so much confidence in my ability to adapt to such new environs.
There are a host of things we all do together and every other month or so, one of the women will do a showcase on their country to relive some moments of their life back home and also to educate us about the different parts of the world! In recent months I've learned a lot about Mexico & Belgium. And also ate some scrumptious food from both countries! And next it will be India that gets spoken about! Currently, I'm the only Indian in the group, so I'm doing this by myself and hence the realisation on how big this can get!
In addition to all the info on my country, my plan is to have an assortment of tastes from India for people to sample. Trouble is, I cook such little Indian here (given the dire straits in the ingredients availability department) that I'm having to first do samples of everything I'm planning to make for D-day! And since I'm only just getting started in it, I've only now realised that 2 weeks is NOT enough for me to test everything and then make big batches of!
Anyways, today was my day for making Mathris. And thankfully they turned out perfect! Having trolled the web for recipes, I finally adapted one to the ingredients I have available here! Posting it here for my records.
Mathri (with ajwain)
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup semolina or sooji (fine)
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ajwain
1/4 cup warm water (plus more)
oil to fry
Mix together the flour, sooji, salt, ajwain and oil till the flour is a crumbly consistency.
Add 1/4 cup water and mix again to form a tight dough. You may need to use 1-2 tbsp more water. I did this in the mixer so it got done in a flash.
Knead the ready dough with your hands for a couple of minutes.
Divide into small equal sized balls. Should make about 15-20 depending on the size of the balls.
Roll them into smooth balls and flatten between your palms.
Roll them out with a rolling pin and prick the discs with a fork so that they don't fluff up while frying.
Heat the oil on medium high (gas mark 5 or 6). Use about 1 inch oil in the wok.
Fry in batches flipping the discs over midway through cooking process. They take about 5-7 minutes in all to get done. Make sure your heat is not too high or the mathris will not be crisp once cooled.
Once both sides have turned golden, drain on kitchen paper and box in airtight container once cool.
Serve with any pickle of your liking or do what I'm going to do tomorrow. Make Moonshine's tomato chutney pickle and have it with that! HAHAHAHAHAHAHH!! *hysterical laugh*
4 comments:
I'm glad you've found people to bond with. It can indeed get very lonely in a country where people don't even speak English.
PS: Moonshine's tomato chutney is very popular :)
So true Scarlett - on both counts! :) I spent the 1st six months talking only to an infant and calling the husband at work the minute it hit 6 in the evening! Having just quit my job to get here, it was quite a nightmare. Sheesh! Thank goodness we're past that now!
I couldn't find Moonshine's recipe on her blog and had to threaten her with dire consequences to get her to hunt up that link and send it to me! I wish she'd get a Search bar on her page! Moonshine!! R u listening??
@Mommie Why are laughing hysterically!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol. The recipe is my dad's!!! So how did the chutney turn out????
And it really is difficult to get settled in a new city.. really tough. I admire your patience and courgae. I would have moped around for days!!!!!
lol! Hysterical laugh was 'coz I can't believe I'm enjoying all this HERE!!! You don't realise how much you miss these flavours when you simply have no other option but to figure out how to make it yourself! :)
N thx for the vote of confidence! I do still have my off days when I'm wondering "what the hell" I'm doing!!! Ask the boys! :D
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