Shaikh Alaudeen and his assistants are busy laying out the ingredients in the backyard of a Tiruchi residence for two dishes that are typically prepared during Ramzan in the Tamil Muslim households of the Cauvery delta region.
Murtaba and Jaal Parotta are two iftar-time delicacies that have traversed many lands and food cultures to land in places like Aranthangi, Nagore, Koothanallur, Thanjavur and Tuticorin, where they’ve blended in with the local cuisine and even got their own localised names.
The ancient trade and migrant labour links between the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and the south-east Asian and Arab countries could be a reason for the popularity of these dishes here.
The Jaal Parotta is a Tamil version of the Malay crepe called Roti Jaala (Lattice/Lacy Bread), that requires a special mould (with funnel-shaped nozzles) and a steady hand to create on a sizzling hot iron griddle.
Thought to be of Arab origin, the murtaba (known in Arab countries as ‘mutabbaq’ – which means folded in Arabic) is a mini parcel of minced meat encased in dough.
For Shaikh Alaudeen, who has been a mass caterer based in Koothanallur for the past 25 years, Ramzan is a time to make these dishes for customers based in bigger cities like Tiruchi, when marriage orders are at a low.
“Actually Jaal Parotta is cooked by the ladies at home, in our village, and everyone has their own formula,” he says. “Getting the mould is not easy, because it is sold only during Ramzan, and only in places like Nagore.”
The basic batter that the cook uses needs one egg for one kilo of maida (refined) flour, and a paste of onions and aniseed, blended with enough water to a pourable consistency. The onions and aniseed help the pancakes to get crisp faster, says Alaudeen.
As he tempers the heavy-bottomed iron pan on a wood-fire stove, an assistant strains the batter and pours it into a large vessel.
Alaudeen carefully fills the mould with the batter and shapes out a lattice of concentric circles on the sizzling pan which has a light coating of oil on it.
Barely a minute later, the pancake is ready to be lifted off (by hand rather than with a spoon because of its delicate texture) and laid out on a platter.
Around six pancakes are consigned to the dust while the pan takes its time to get ready, but once the heat is just right, the mesmeric charm of Alaudeen’s batter ‘doodling’ is hard to resist.
The jaal parotta can be served with a savoury chicken curry or with the egg and coconut-based dessert vattalappam.
A more urbane twist is the ‘pan roll’ where four or five of these lacy pancakes are filled with pre-cooked minced meat, dipped in egg and dusted with dried breadcrumbs before being pan-fried.
Our recipe is a simplified version that allows home cooks to experiment with sweet and savoury accompaniments.
For the murtaba, Shaikh Alaudeen takes one kilo of maida and mixes it with 200 grams of vegetable shortening, a generous pinch of salt, and one egg. “You cannot make ‘veechu’ parotta (which is lifted off the work surface and spun in the air to ensure flakiness) with this dough because the shortening makes it heavy,” says Alaudeen.
“For the filling, we cook the mincemeat separately with onions, green chillies, chopped coriander and spices, and also prepare one egg per murtaba,” he adds. A kilo of maida yields 20 murtabas.
Once the dough is kneaded, it is divided into balls that are rolled out into squares.
The filling is placed in the centre, and topped with a fried egg that has been cut into small strips. A parcel is made by folding the four corners inwards to secure the filling, which is then toasted lightly on a dry griddle to ensure even cooking.
Finally, a generous amount of oil is poured into the same griddle and Alaudeen slips in the murtabas one by one, frying them until they are golden on both sides.
Ramzan, the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, is a time of dawn-to-dusk fasting. But as these two sumptuous dishes show, the feasting is never far off either.
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Jaal Parota
Ingredients
One glass of maida (around 200gm)
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Sugar – 1 teaspoon
Egg – 1
Water to blend into a liquid batter
Method
Heat a regular dosa/pancake saucepan once the batter is ready. If you don’t have a jaal parota mould, you can substitute it with a disposable plastic bottle that has been punched with two or three holes at the bottom. Brush lightly with oil. Fill the mould to three-quarter level with batter. Take care to hold the mould/bottle close to the hot pan while pouring it out in concentric circles.
For a sweet variation, omit the salt and add an extra teaspoon of sugar instead. Mixing the batter with coconut milk will result in a creamier and richer-tasting pancake. Serve with vattalappam.
