Indian Eats

Always feeling blessed to have Enaq and their crispy prata to be a stone’s throw away from home! After so many years, I find myself returning every time I crave for prata, despite their price hike and sometimes the inconsistent prata quality. Despite so, I can’t resist their extremely crispy prata which sometimes feel biscuity with its exterior, but some might find the dough a little too buttery. The pratas here are mostly shaped rectangular and I personally find them thicker than many out there. Although I usually pair my pratas with sugar, I would also recommend their special sambal chilli which is served together with the pratas and fish curry, as it is not overly spicy. In fact, it brings a hint of sweetness and you might find some ikan bilis in it at times. While I enjoy the plain and the egg pratas, I wasn’t quite a fan of the cheese prata because it reminds me strongly of the sliced processed cheddar cheese.

Spending the deepavali holiday aptly at The Roti Prata House. Seems like this place has quite a significant split reviews. Personally, on a return visit, it still failed to impress me.

For the standard of a crispy prata, I don’t think it’s sufficiently crispy. Instead, it’s rather doughy and oily, and I am certain that you can get better crispy pratas elsewhere. As for the egg prata, it got a little too soggy with the fried egg within. The dhal curry tasted a lil too sweet, that made an odd pairing.

The murtabak comes in S or L sizes, significantly filled with shredded chicken and onion slices.

My first encounter with a hand-made garlic naan that’s cut into quarters with a crisp biscuity exterior! Hollow in the middle and fragrantly charred portions, hear the naan crackle with each bite. Enjoy it with the chopped garlic for a wonderful finish. It’s probably where I will head to for a different type of naan if I am lazy to travel to Tekka.
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The overdone tandoori chicken, although adequately marinated with tandoori masala spice blend, was too dry. I liked the smokiness but not its hard texture. Fortunately the mint chutney adds dimension to the overall taste with the freshness of mint and coriander leaves. Given the portion, the price of this tandoori chicken was unjustifiable.

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I think I have found the best naan so far, in a sea of Indian Muslim food stalls at Tekka Market & Food Centre. The plain naans, even bigger than 2 of my palms, were freshly baked in a traditional tandoor oven right in front of the stall as each was stuck firmly on the oven's inner walls. I read that by baking naans this way will produce naans with crispier base apparently, because only tandoor ovens can achieve the right temperature. Tasted and proven, these huge-assed naans had biscuity-crisp exterior, slightly burnt on some parts yet still fragrant, while the interior was fluffy, airy and moist.
The butter chicken wasn't the usual thick creamy ones that I have always eaten. Instead, it was heavier on the butter (which I prefer!) and heat spicy that packed a punch. Chicken was tender, but honestly, I could just eat the naan with the gravy because it's this good.

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A characteristic of indian cuisine as we all know is the usage of spices. Even in light snacks like the poori.

Served in a pair, poori is a deep-fried bread made using wheat flour which I could really taste its coarseness. During the deep frying process, steam is trapped within and therefore giving rise to the puffy snack here, and a hollow interior.

I tried 2 ways of eating; first tear and dip into the yellow potato curry and Chenna masala (chickpeas), or second, wrap the curry and chickpeas with the torn poori before sending everything into your mouth in a bite. Both worked, but if you would like a more fulfilling experience, then the second method. The Chenna masala, with its chickpeas cooked till really soft, was more heavily spiced than the potato curry but rest assured that both were not heat spicy. In fact, they were really fragrant with spices like cloves and star anise.

A concoction of black tea and a mixture of spices such as cardamom and cinnamon, the masala tea is something I would crave during cold weather. Smells pretty spicy but taste, like the sweetness and milkiness, was just right. Delighted to see that it's still served very traditionally in a Davara Tumbler!

The ultimate murtabak is one of the featured creations at Springleaf and I can see why it's one of the highly reviewed items.

Even the mini version is not the mini really, as the murtabak is cut into the 15 big pieces for convenience. Stuffed within a thin prata, the fillings made each bite so satisfying. From the tandoori chicken that was so well spiced and roasted to smoky and slightly charred, to the earthiness of the chewy portobello mushrooms and the melted mozzarella cheese that pulls in the mouth as you chew.

Such savoriness would seem to be overwhelming but surprisingly, everything was in harmony especially with the sharp pungent red onions.

There's also a station where you can help yourself to the fish and chicken curries. I got curious about the difference in colour and smell of the curries, and I found out that the fish curry had a darker colour probably because more chili was used in the cooking while more spices were used for the chicken curry, which also had a stronger coconut milk taste.

There's mee goreng, beehoon goreng, maggi goreng but prata goreng? It must be a unique creation by Springleaf. I love how they come up with interesting creations to spice up the traditional Indian food that we know.

Prata goreng is literally just swapping your noodles for prata. The other ingredients that come along remain the same; such as vegetables, egg, chili, and even the cucumber slice with chili sauce on top. It's definitely more filling than a noodle version, because of all the large pieces of prata hidden. I would think that the prata did not absorb the flavour enough. One thing to note though is that this dish should be enjoyed when hot because when it turns cold, it just felt like eating pieces of dough with oil. The spiciness was manageable. Kinda wondered how many pieces of prata made up this dish.