In Celebration of Flatbread

[mark_asphodel]

Some months back, I was doing my radio show (which is still a thing btw) and my husband came up to me, gestured me to hit the mute button on my mic, and handed me what I thought was the best wheat-flour tortilla I'd had in years.  It was thick and warm and puffy and just lightly touched with butter and was basically perfect.

Turns out Costco has a damn good line of frozen "roti-chapatis", which along with Greek yogurt have basically become the staple of our diet.  You can do anything with these-- they're great for leftover Indian food, of course, but they also work with Lebanese leftovers, Moroccan leftovers, Mexican leftovers, you name it.  

Things to do with roti-chapati!

Breakfast:
Nutella and sliced bananas
Clotted cream, sliced strawberries, balsamic vinegar (the real deal), cracked pepper
Sour cream or Greek yogurt, blackberries, brown or demerara sugar

Lunch:
Greek yogurt, sliced cucumbers, sliced radishes, fresh mint
Spreadable soft cheese, avocado, salsa

Dinner:
Hummus, pine nuts, lebneh or Greek yogurt, sprinkling of paprika
Chicken mole
Any sort of curry
Basically anything good and tasty that's too highly flavored/scented for the workplace

In other words, get a pack of these, and with a good supply of dairy, nut butter, and fresh fruit on hand, you're all set.

This past week we got a little more extreme with the flatbread consumption and picked up some fresh injera from a local restaurant.  Injera is on a totally different spot on the flatbread continuum from tortillas or "roti-chapati"-- it's spongy and soft and deliciously sour.  We had it topped with a fluffy sunflower/pepita spread and sliced bananas and wrapped it around chunks of American-made "lomo" pork and "manchengo" cheese.  The latter is one of the weirdest things I've eaten in a while but it sure was tasty. 

Comments

[raphiael]

I kind of lost my stomach for loaf bread almost entirely; I use flatbread or tortillas for just about everything now. I'll have to try these. Especially with chicken mole, which is definitely among the best foods ever. I've just yet to find a recipe that didn't call for things I have no chance of finding around here :\

[mark_asphodel]

Prepared mole sauces, like Dona Maria, are actually passable.

[amusetache]

Perhaps I've been spoiled by homemade chapatis/the ones we get from the local Indian stores when we're too lazy to make them ourselves, but I've never liked the Costco brand chapatis - in my opinion, they don't taste good at all when eaten as "legit" Indian food, but damn if they don't make some of the best sandwich wraps I've ever had (and quesadillas, too).

[mark_asphodel]

I'm sure most of us are biased towards the homemade goodies we're used to. I almost never get pierogi in restaurants, much less frozen, because they can't match Grandma's.

[amielleon]

I was really estatic to find a type of dumpling in the grocery store that has a similar taste profile to my mother's.

[amusetache]

One of my roommates from last year was the same way about pierogi. Coincidentally, guess what I found among the groceries when my mother got back from Costco earlier this morning. :p

[mark_asphodel]

Ha ha.

Guess what I had for dinner tonight?

One was filled with a nice Dutch cheese and the other was spread with walnut butter.

[amielleon]

I totally checked the comments on the post looking for a comment from you. :P

I've never tried chapati either way, but I've also discovered that some knock-off faux-Asian foods are fairly good when repurposed.

[queenlua]

..wait, you have a radio show?

what'sitaboutibetit'sreallycooltellmeeverythingkthxplx

[mark_asphodel]

Oh, it's an internet radio show on the channel Astronomy.fm. I have a weekly show I co-host there. My partner and I talk about space and astronomy news, what's going on in the sky, stuff like that. People listen all around the world, usually on mobile devices. It's pretty fun but I sure don't get paid for it!

[rjwalker]

I have chapatis almost everyday since it is a staple food here so they're no longer special to me.

[mark_asphodel]

Where is "here" for you at present?

[rjwalker]

I live in India. :) So yeah, staple food.