Prata 
From Singapore Hotels & Singapore Lifestyle
|
Prata is an Indian "pancake" of sorts. Made from wheat flour and water, the prata dough has an elastic texture and is flipped repeatedly until it becomes wafer thin, tearing if badly handled. The thinned-out dough is then stretched onto a flat surface and the ends are folded in to create a roughly square shape. This is then thrown onto the griddle, basted with oil and fried. The cook will flip it with a spatula repeatedly so the dough turns a golden brown but does not burn. Once cooked, it is taken off the griddle and served.
At some places, the cook with "crush" the fried prata, a few times, between the palms of his hands before serving it to you. This is supposed to help the prata stay fluffy.
Prata is normally eaten with a curry gravy, although some people opt for sugar. As you tear off a piece, it should separate easily. When eaten, the texture of the prata should not be too heavy, clumpy or taste like it is full of flour. The fragrant taste should be brought forth by the curry which should not be so spicy that it overpowers the taste of everything else.
Plain prata, what the locals call Prata Kosong ("prata empty"), is as popular as Prata Telur ("prata egg"), where an egg is cracked onto the thin sheet when it is placed on the griddle. Nowadays, vendors have started adding other ingredients such as cheese and chocolate, and some people even treat it as a basic crepe and eat it with ice-cream or sugar and honey.
Watching the Cook
If you have the opportunity to watch a prata man in action, it can be a treat. The prata dough is always prepared in advance, made into balls and placed in a large container ready to be fried. As soon as an order comes in, the cook will take one ball of dough and being his show. First he kneads the dough a little then flattens it. Crossing his hands and holding the two ends closest to him, he will flip the dough over and over again, putting it back down on the surface for a split second after each throw. With each flip, he ensures that the dough gets thinner and thinner. When the entire piece is about three times its original size and paper thin, it is folded and fried.

![Back to previous page [backspace]](/skins/monobook/back.jpg)



