Store Sun Jul 08 2007

Dough Boy's Little-Known Indian Talent

When you're out along Devon Avenue, take a look at the freezer sections of the international grocers (like Patel Brothers') there. You might find amusing things--like Pilsbury's Dough Boy, a.k.a. Michelin Man's Bastard Child, proudly presenting ready-made, potato-stuffed Indian flat bread.

When I found various Indian flat breads, called paratha, made by General Mills India (in India) the other day, I just had to try one. The combination of the familiar dough boy and the exotic Indian bread was irresistibly amusing. So, we picked up a package of ginger potato paratha and tried them the next morning as a breakfast.

The frozen paratha cooked beautifully on a nonstick pan sans oil. As the package instruction predicted, the dough started to puff up in a matter of minutes, and it took only about three minutes to heat up each one. As they warmed up in the pan, a faint aroma of ginger and burnt dough drifted into the dining room, and we were pretty hungry by the time they were ready. These paratha were surprisingly good for a ready-made frozen stuff. Though some might like the potato filling a bit spicier, the ginger and cilantro added nice zing to the potato, while the dough was fillingly wheaty. They might become one of our favorite quickie breakfast item--they're cheap (around $2 for four paratha breads), super-fast to cook, clean in ingredients (other than the hydrogenated oil) and pretty darn good. I'm already dreaming of our next Indian breakfast of paratha, with a side dish of cucumber raita.

— Yu Kizawa / Comments (0)