Cheese & Mushroom Paratha (by G)

The first thing I ever tasted in Singapore was a cheese & mushroom paratha from a dodgy 24 hour indian restaurant situated in the heart of the red light district. It cost me about $3 and it was one of the best things ever. I bought a tin of mushrooms about a week ago and have been putting off making this dinner since then.

The paratha dough is a bit of a pain in the biceps - we don't have a mixer. Flour, water, oil, sugar, salt and an egg mixed then rested for 20 minutes, then mix for 20 minutes, then rest for 5 minutes, then mix for 20 minutes, then ball it up and rest it again.  The next thing to do is stretch the dough out paper thin then fill it and fry it. It is quite a talent stretching the dough - and I don't have it. I tried the best I could but still had lumpy edges which made for doughy bits in the finished product.

The sauce was a mix of sweated onions, potato, cinnamon, star anise, clove, chilli powder, paprika, curry powder and vegetable stock (the recipe didn't call for paprika but Biggs is a bit of a softy when it comes to heat so I substituted some of the chilli out). Once the potatoes were cooked the hard spices were removed and the rest blended to a paste - then coconut milk was added. The sauce came out very well I thought - very authentic.

I was personally disappointed in the paratha themselves - it would be easier to fly to Singapore and buy them than make them from scratch... and that's what I plan to do in a few weeks.