When I was a kid I simply hated dried seafood. I never even wanted to taste it because of its smell. But now, since husband is a big fan of dried shrimp, I have also started eating it. I have not tried cooking dried fish after I had to throw the entire gravy because of bad smell, I might have brought wrong fish, don’t know. So I decided to try only dried shrimp till I will be able to recognize the dried fish :).
I brought a pack of dried shrimp from the Chinese grocery store here. I knew only kismuri with it. Few days back when I had called my husband’s grandmother- fondly called as Mamayi , who is a great cook, gave me this recipe. I prepared it the same day and absolutely loved it. Now I think I should be more open to dried fish also, who knows? I may like it :).
Following is the picture of dry shrimps that I used for this dish
Aayi’s recipe has a slight variation. She does not add potato to this gravy.
Ingredients: ½ cup dried shrimp 1 cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen) ½ cup onion 4-5 red chilies ¼ tea spn tamarind extract or 1-2 pieces of normal tamarind 3/4 tea spn coriander seeds ¾ cup potatoes cut into big pieces (optional) Oil Salt
Method: Heat oil and fry coriander seeds. Grind them with coconut, tamarind and red chilies to a smooth paste. Heat remaining oil and add onions. Fry till they turn slightly brownish. Add shrimp, potatoes and ½ cup water(while cooking shrimp some people add ¼ cup raw onion for extra taste). Cook till potatoes are tender. Now add ground paste, salt and sufficient water. Cook for another 6-7mins.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
Our friend’s mom taught me this recipe. She and her daughter came here 2 months back from Karachi. They are originally from Pakistan. We had gone to their house for a dinner and she had made these amazingly crunchy and tasty parathas . Next time I made a point to ask her the procedure. These require a bit more ghee compared to our normal chapathi/phulkas , but they taste simply superb.
I thought it is better to take picture of each step instead of trying to explain it in words. The dough is same as the normal chapathi dough and like for chapathis, this dough is prepared at least 1hr before making parathas .
Method: Make the chapathi dough and leave it for around 1hr. Take a big ball of the dough.
Roll it into a circle almost of the size of a phulka . Apply ghee to it and sprinkle some dry flour on top.
Make a cut from the center to the circumference.
Fold it to a triangle as shown.
Hold the triangle in left hand and from right hand try to seperate the layers from the bottom of the triangle (I kept it on the rolling board to take picture).
Carefully push the upper part till it becomes a ball again, take care that the top remains in the center and the bottom part makes rounds around it. This part is a bit difficult and can be mastered by practise. Do not apply too much pressure, otherwise the layers stick to each other. Roll this to a big paratha again.
Heat the tava till it is very hot. Add the paratha.
When some small bubbles appear on it, put it upside down and apply some ghee .
Fry till the paratha is done from both sides. Serve it when it is still hot. They don’t taste very good when cold.
