Indian Chickpea Fritters and Multitasking Michele Video!

Hi everyone. As I stared in awe at my friend Patti’s muscular thighs in a bathing suit yesterday, I thought I would touch on the subject of multitasking. You see, she told me she does squats while she is preparing dinner for her kids. An excellent example of multitasking.

Most of us have very little time so it is very important that we make the most of it. Some of us, however, have a hard time focusing on more than one thing at a time, like checking email while cutting vegetables or measuring out spices while we listen to our kids telling us about their day.

I can assure you that the more you cook and the more cooking becomes a part of your everyday life, cooking will become more natural and you won’t even have to think about it. I am just now remembering how cool I felt the day I caught myself eating a sandwich AND listening to the radio WHILE I was driving! It was a great feeling! I had practiced driving enough that I didn’t need to be hyper-focused on the speed limit, the location of the breaks, the car right in front or back of me, etc. I just did it automatically.

Some of us, however, will always have to struggle a bit more with multitasking so for those of us who are in that boat, we need to make a point of setting aside alone, quiet time to do our cooking prep and it IS possible! How about those 10 minutes when we usually make those kid lunches in the morning? Make those lunches at night. I myself have become obsessed with facebook and waste a LOT of time on the site (Wouldn’t you be obsessed if you found yourself reunited with Victor Fischbarg and Julie Pomerantz from P.S. 59???) Or those few minutes when we bathe our kids? Keep them dirty for a day or two more-nobody cares and, besides, cleanliness is overrated.

So, here is a recipe and video demonstrating how my friend Michele and I multitasked by combining some quality socializing time with preparing some tasty Indian chick pea flour breads. I got this recipe from an Indian Cookbook. You can get chick pea flour at any Indian store and I even got it today at an Italian butcher! They told me they make a Sicilian dough with it-who knew! Enjoy! P.S. Michele is the awesome lady who watched my kids when I took my son to get his cast put on. Needless to say, she rocks.

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Chick Pea Fritters:

1 cup whole wheat flour (or whole grain flour)
1 cup chick pea flour (also called gram flour)
1 red onion, finely chopped
1 red or green chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 TBS fresh cilantro leaves, chopped fine
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds (I ran out of these so didn’t use them)
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water
salt to taste
sunflower or canola oil for brushing

Step one:

Sift both of the flours into a large mixing bowl and add the onion, red chile, chopped cilantro, cumin and onion seeds. Season and mix together. Gradually pour in the water and knead for 2-3 minutes on a lightly floured surface, to make a soft dough. Let rest for 5 minutes and then divide the dough into 8 pieces. Shape each one into a ball.

Step two:

Roll the balls out on a lightly floured surface to a 5 inch diameter disc.

Step three:

Heat a large, flat griddle or non-stick pan until it is hot. Cook the rolled-out discs of dough, one at a time, for 30 seconds on one side; brush with a little oil, flip over, and cook for one minute, moving the bread around. Then flip the dough over again to cook on the other side for one minute or until the bread is lightly browned on both sides. Remove and keep warm, wrapped in aluminum foil while you cook the rest. Serve warm.

Holli, it makes 8 servings!