A delicious Malabar dish made easy, using bread for layering…
Since this is a month of a lot of dhikr and duas, let me share another one of my personal favorites…
رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي
“My Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance] and ease for me my task and untie the knot from my tongue that they may understand my speech.” (Surah Taha – 25:25)
This was the dua made by Prophet Musa (AS) when he was given the task of inviting Pharaoh into Islam. He was worried that he would fail since he had a problem with his speech. If we read through the supplication a few times, we realize that this is very useful in any part of our daily activities. When we have an exam coming up, or when we have an important presentation at work, or it may be even meeting new people out of our comfort zone, this dua becomes a source of calmness. It is knowing that by reciting it and keeping our trust in Allah, He will make matters easy for us, if it is meant to be.
As you know, I have been doing three back-to-back bread based recipes. The first two recipes, the Pesto Cheese Sandwich and the Baked Sausage Bread Roll-ups have been absolutely easy recipes to make. However, today’s is a little more work, though it is a simplified version of the Malabar “lasagna”, the Chattipathiri…
It is umma who taught me how to make this. I don’t know from where her inspiration came, but I remember her saying that one time she saw this way of making on the television. It reminded me that once upon a time, our TV shows during Ramadan included an Islamic quiz program and a cookery show after Tharaweeh prayers. Immediately after Iftar, we would watch half an hour of Mr Bean and then a little of Takeshi’s Castle. Do you remember those shows? They were hilarious and considered “halal” to watch by my parents, so we got that little time. Hehe… Anyway, coming back to this recipe, you can use any filling of your choice. I have made chicken filling here, but meat filling would be even more delicious.
The difference is using bread as the layer instead of making the crepes to go in between. That way, this recipe is a tad bit simpler. While making the layers, you can pinch and cut the bread to fill up the spaces in between and make it a proper circle. Once it is done, it just becomes one flat layer and all that patchwork you do wouldn’t even show. Hehe… Only one word of caution – if you are steaming or baking, make sure that the pan is greased really well, or you place a parchment paper at the bottom. Since we press down the bread while prepping the layers, the bottom tends to stick to the pan. I had made this last year and clicked it as well to post during Ramadan, but really didn’t like the shots, so redid it this time, with hopefully better looking pictures. Off to the recipe… Hope you enjoyed this simple series… 🙂
Bread Chattipathiri
Ingredients
FOR FILLING
- 350 gm cooked boneless chicken shredded
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 onion sliced
- 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp fennel powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper powder
- 1/3 tsp garam masala powder
- Handful of chopped coriander and mint leaves
- Salt to taste
FOR LAYERING
- 15 slices bread
- 6 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Ghee or coconut oil as needed
Instructions
- In a saucepan, heat oil. Saute the onions with some salt till wilted.
- Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute.
- Add turmeric, red chilli, fennel and pepper powders and give a good mix.
- Add the shredded chicken and toss to coat well. Cook for five minutes.
- Add the garam masala and chopped leaves, toss well. Adjust seasoning and set aside to cool.
- Heat an 8 inch pan and generously drizzle ghee or oil on it and the sides for not sticking. Take off.
- Whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper.
- Take off the crusts of the bread. Take one slice, dunk into the egg mixture. Layer on the below. Use five slices to complete the bottom layer without any space, you can tear and snuggle up soaked up bread to make a flat bottom.
- Spread half the chicken mixture. Prepare one more layer as above with five slices of bread.
- Spread the remaining chicken. Finish off with the remaining bread slices on the top.
- Pour the remaining egg on the side to seal. Decorate on the top, if you like, like I did the coriander leaves.
- Cook on low flame till the sides detach. Flip carefully and cook on the top side too.
- Serve warm with tea...