Suppose you went to try Indian cuisine in a restaurant, ordered Chola-Bhatura but the waiter came with Chanar-Dal and a huge size Luchi. Ordering an expensive dish, that too with an Indian name, but ending up having Chanar-Dal must be frustrating right?
When it comes to bread, India is full of diversification. In many cases, it is impossible to guess from their name whether it is similar to any Bangladeshi food we know.
So, to avoid such embarrassment in restaurants, it is recommended to know about the varieties.
Bhatura
Although it looks like a large Luchi, its ingredients are completely different. Unlike Luchi or Puri, it is made with yoghurt, ghee and yeast in maida flour.
Luchi vs Puri
In Bangladesh Puri and Luchi are differentiated based on with or without stuffing. In India, their difference is something else. Puri is made with unleavened whole-wheat dough, while Luchi is more popular in Bengal and made with refined flour.
Naan vs Tandoori Roti
Tandoori is made of whole wheat and is cooked in a clay oven at a high temperature. Naan is also cooked in tandoor but while kneading the dough, usually milk is used instead of water, to make it soft.
Parotta vs Paratha
In the menu card of Indian restaurants, can be found in Bangladesh too nowadays, many may confuse Parotta with Porota or Paratha. Parotta is actually one kind of layered flatbread, from Kerala. In terms of layers, it is midway between Laccha Paratha and normal Paratha.
Laccha Paratha
Laccha paratha is a round paratha that has several layers which are made by applying ghee or butter oil while rolling the dough.
Dosa or Thosai and Appam
Dosa or Thosai is a South-Indian food made with rice and urad dal, which is first soaked then ground and left to ferment overnight. Another South-Indian food Appam looks almost similar to Dosa without the traditional rolling, made with rice and coconut milk butter.
Chapati vs Phulka
The name came from the Hindi word ‘Chapat’ which means ‘slap,’ which gives an idea of just how this flatbread is made. It tastes just like the traditional Bangladeshi whole-wheat flour bread made on Tawa.
Phulka is another Indian bread commonly mistaken as Chapati as both are made from whole-wheat flour. Phulka is flatter and lighter in weight and swells like a balloon while baked.
Kulcha
Kulcha is a Punjabi variation of naan, which is made with a leavened dough of refined flour, both with or without stuffing and cooked in tandoor.
Baati
Baati is a Rajasthani bread-like preparation, which is round and small, looks like the usual dough ball, before flattening into bread.
Kachori or Kochuri
Kachori or Kochuri is thicker than puri and is stuffed with a variety of ingredients like peas, green peas, onion, potato etc. It is commonly sold in Bangladeshi local restaurants, called keema-puri, dal-puri or aloo-puri.
sirajummuniratuli@gmail.com