Roots South Asia

It may seem strange to devote a whole blog post to the humble Paratha. This skillet fried bread spans the entirety of the Subcontinent. It is a breakfast staple for a great many. Loved at any time of the day in a million humble eating establishments. Served with anything from a common egg omelette to pickles, curries or even in the form of a humble chicken roll, it is a near universal.

However, a recent experience with a Bengali Paratha at a random truck stop diner in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh has prompted us to raise our voices again in praise of the Paratha.

If you have never had the honor of eating one of these flaky, warm, tender and utterly amazing breads, they are the perfect marriage between croissant and bread. A flaky and crispy outside with a perfect crunch gives way to a layered pastry filled with warmth and goodness inside. You may find yourself forgetting to order anything else.

The revelation this time was in conversation with the wizard making them at this particular place. He carefully instructed our waiter to refrain from cutting them in any way or choosing ones that were bent or folded in the tray. He wanted us to catch a taste of the true glory of his creation.

The reason was that if the layers were broken or compressed in any way, the warm air inside would escape and allow the layers to collapse into one another. If they did, he explained, the taste was still there, but the experience of the crisp crunch on the outside giving way to the warm and fragrant air inside would be lost.

Wow! He had clearly had a lot of time to think about the experience of a Paratha. However, when we carefully followed his instructions, he was absolutely right. The best Paratha we have ever had to this day is there in a truck stop on the way to the tea plantations of Sylhet Division.