Makings of a Roti

I was obsessed with making the perfect roti — flat round of bread made from whole wheat flour.

Back home we have shops in every locality, where you can have them warm, freshly made in clay tandoors. Here the store brought, sealed as four to a packet, are mostly made from white flour (maida). The flour used is of inferior quality and doesn’t taste good.

I have a different machine back home for kneading dough. I had to learn how to get the dough right on the Kenwood here. Through trial, and error method I found out the right ratio of whole wheat flour, yeast, and water. I felt happy at watching the ball of flour getting bigger leaving the sides of bowl clean.

I burned my arm in getting the roti cooked in the oven. And I would forget to watch the roti beneath the grill. Once I forgot it altogether. There was a smell of something burning. My ever vigilant nose was working. I looked at the gas rings seeing nothing that was burning. I had totally forgotten the last roti in the oven. Then I realized what was really burning.

There was joy in watching my grandson H in munching his leftover last piece of roti while going up the stairs. Normally the left over was thrown in the disposal container. That meant it was perfectly made. Whoa! I did it.

 https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/practice-makes-perfect/

Practice Makes Perfect?

Tell us about a talent you’d love to have… but don’t.

Five a Day

You’ve being exiled to a private island, and your captors will only supply you with five foods. What do you pick?

I must have a mug full of milk with two tea-bags to begin my day. The milk has to be Lactose free, otherwise my stomach can go haywire. The captors won’t have to finish me. I will conk off within a week on my own.

Without fruit I can’t exist. My lunch consists of apple, banana, grapes, nectarine cut into bite size pieces, and sprinkled liberally with walnuts. My late husband would pepper me, “why are you so delicate?”
I had no answer. Then, one day a friend provided the answer, “tell him you are not a weed, but a rare flower in his garden who needs care”.

I eat Halal meat only. So if that’s not available, I will ask my captors to get me fish, or catch my own. I will have to learn fishing, provided there are fishes nearby.

Nuts are an important part of my food. Almonds, walnuts, pistachios are favorites, and I keep supplies handy with me at all times. In case of un-availability peanuts will do.

If there is nothing to eat except for bread made from whole wheat flour that will be a God-send. I have seen poor people whose only diet is wheat bread, and they still survive.
So maybe I will survive too.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/five-a-day/