Why do you never order a paratha?

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Gavin Chipper
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Charlie Reams wrote: Wed May 17, 2017 7:44 pm I have switched to paratha since reading this topic. Never going back.
Excellent. We have a winner.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

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This evening I went out for a curry and asked if they could do me a peshwari paratha. They said yes and it was amazing. My life is complete.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Zarte Siempre »

Time for my typically unpopular opinion, but...

What's the obsession with bread with curries? I almost never have any form of bread, why do I want to fill up on bread when I could enjoy more tasty curry? And don't give me the mopping up shit, there are poppadoms, which do a decent enough job of that, OR use your damn hands, it's an Indian restaurant, it's how swathes of the nation eat, stop being so precious.

Literally the only thing I agree on in here is that crispy pizza bases are shit.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Matt Morrison »

But real Indians eat with their hands, with bread, or if not bread then you most definitely need rice (which surely fits with your "carbs sap my curry hole" point). So you can totally get down without the bread or rice if you're spooning, but bringing up how Indians eat doesn't work for you.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Matt Morrison »

I've just realised in my head I kind of count poppadoms as a bread.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Marc Meakin »

There is no mop up factor with a popadom it's just an edible utensil.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Zarte Siempre wrote: Thu Dec 20, 2018 12:56 am Time for my typically unpopular opinion, but...

What's the obsession with bread with curries? I almost never have any form of bread, why do I want to fill up on bread when I could enjoy more tasty curry? And don't give me the mopping up shit, there are poppadoms, which do a decent enough job of that, OR use your damn hands, it's an Indian restaurant, it's how swathes of the nation eat, stop being so precious.

Literally the only thing I agree on in here is that crispy pizza bases are shit.
Well, as Marc has said, there is no mop-up factor with a poppadom. Nor is there with your hands. Hands aren't exactly going to be absorbing the curry sauce are they? And even if they did, most people would be reluctant to subsequently eat their own hands.

But anyway, forget the mopping up. Parathas and naans are nothing like a Hovis loaf of bread. Yeah, they're both called "bread", but that's pretty much where the similarity ends. I only get bread in an Indian restaurant that's nice enough to eat on its own. Obviously I won't eat all of it on its own, but that's the test it has to pass. Some of it I'll eat on its own, some of it I'll eat with a bit of the curry, and some of it will be used for mopping up, but all of it will be awesome.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Matt Morrison wrote: Thu Dec 20, 2018 8:10 am I've just realised in my head I kind of count poppadoms as a bread.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Matt Morrison »

What generic group would you assign them to? Crisps?
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Matt Morrison wrote: Fri Dec 21, 2018 9:39 am What generic group would you assign them to? Crisps?
If I had to put them in such a group then that's the best fit I can think of.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Thomas Carey »

Yeah, genuinely completely agree with Gev on all this, the 'bread' has so many purposes. I have no idea how you could mop up with a poppadom cause in terms of texture it's basically a big crisp (also most of the times I go out for a curry the poppadoms are gone before they bring out the curry anyway). As Matt said you kind of need bread or rice anyway and naan bread/chapatis/parathas taste a lot better than rice (or regular bread), and also I think the fill up on bread point is kinda moot cause surely you won't overeat whether or not you eat an extra naan. Whatever just my opinion etc etc
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Zarte Siempre »

Naan bread does not taste better than rice. Rice is the god of carbs.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Never really seen the point of rice myself.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Marc Meakin »

Depends on the rice.
Mushroom Pilau then yes I would choose over most Naan apart from Keenan Naan.
Plain boiled rice is too bland so I would sit my curry on my Naan instead.
Frowned upon I know but I'm more of a takeaway kinda guy
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Thu Dec 20, 2018 12:19 am This evening I went out for a curry and asked if they could do me a peshwari paratha. They said yes and it was amazing. My life is complete.
Last night I had a dream that I was in an Indian restaurant and ordered a peshwari paratha. They brought all the breads on a single plate and I was the only one who ordered a paratha so I just took what looked like my paratha. But it was a plain paratha. And when I'd nearly finished it, I noticed that there was in fact a peshrwari paratha lower down in the pile, but I was too full to eat it all.

By the way, if enough of you are having dreams about parathas and the demand is there, I could start a thread purely about paratha dreams. Could be popular.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Callum Todd »

Don't think I've ever had a paratha before but I did see this recipe online recently and thought I'll give it a go at some point.

What exactly is the difference between a paratha and a chapati, or a naan?
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Basically a chapati is just a dry flat thin piece of bread and not something you'd want to order in a restaurant, but it's likely to be the only vegan bread option. Naans are bigger and sort of light and fluffy and quite nice to eat and can have a sort of sweetness to them. And they're certainly sweet if you have a peshwari naan (filled with sweet coconut stuff). They're also normally not round - more sort of egg-shaped. Parathas are round and they're quite thick and dense. They're cooked in butter I think and can be quite "juicy". Obviously if you're making them at home any of them can be vegan, but not at most restaurants unfortunately.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Callum Todd »

Yeah one of the things I miss is getting what I call "a big fuck off naan" at an Indian restaurant, but I still make some of my own when having curry at home, or buy a vegan one. Nice explanation of the differences between those three products, thanks for the information.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Callum Todd »

Paratha update:

I finally made the above linked paratha recipe last night. I think I did a shit job if it, yet they were still nice, so imagine how nice they'd be if made by a competent cook!

I also went to an Indian restaurant in Newcastle a few months ago that did stuffed parathas. I got a veg stuffed one and it was brilliant.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Callum Todd wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 6:03 pm Paratha update:

I finally made the above linked paratha recipe last night. I think I did a shit job if it, yet they were still nice, so imagine how nice they'd be if made by a competent cook!

I also went to an Indian restaurant in Newcastle a few months ago that did stuffed parathas. I got a veg stuffed one and it was brilliant.
Was it specified as being vegan or did you ask or other?
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Callum Todd »

Gavin Chipper wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 7:17 pm
Callum Todd wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 6:03 pm Paratha update:

I finally made the above linked paratha recipe last night. I think I did a shit job if it, yet they were still nice, so imagine how nice they'd be if made by a competent cook!

I also went to an Indian restaurant in Newcastle a few months ago that did stuffed parathas. I got a veg stuffed one and it was brilliant.
Was it specified as being vegan or did you ask or other?
Didn't specifically say "vegan" but the menu had allergen information for every item and there was no egg or dairy allergen risk so I felt confident it would be so.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Matt Morrison »

I think paratha are usually (always?) vegan by ingredients but then many places butter them to serve.
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Gavin Chipper »

Matt Morrison wrote: Sun Sep 11, 2022 11:20 pm I think paratha are usually (always?) vegan by ingredients but then many places butter them to serve.
This is good news then. I don't know why the assumption is that if you want a vegan option it has to be boring and dry (chapati/roti).
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Re: Why do you never order a paratha?

Post by Matt Morrison »

Or maybe they are more commonly fried in ghee than oil. Not done much research I must admit.
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