When Kiran Kataria, 57 years, first landed in Dubai, she couldn’t even roll out a chapatti. Today, the Indian homemaker can whip up to a 100 dishes using just a waffle iron.
You read that right, just a humble waffle maker.
Kataria stumbled upon the wonders of this garden-variety breakfast gadget during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, when she was bored and isolated. Deprived of social gatherings and outings, stress and ennui drove the self-confessed social butterfly to keep busy in the kitchen. “I got nervous and decided to see what I could make with a waffle iron, since I’d already been using our sandwich maker to grill food since 2014.”
Her sandwich maker-turned-grill discovery comes with a fascinating anecdote too. One fine day, when the JLT-resident Kataria’s stove gave up the ghost mid-cooking, she decided to complete grilling her half-done vegetables on a sandwich maker. She’s never looked back since and continues to grill okras, capsicums and aubergines stuffed or marinated in dry spices.
Realising the potential of her kitchen appliances to function over and beyond what they were originally intended for has also helped Kataria lose weight.
Oil-free cooking cut to the top of Kataria’s priority list when she dropped 7kg in 2017, after participating in the inaugural Dubai Fitness Challenge. “Day and night, I participated in every event they hosted around the JLT area and won vouchers worth Dh1000. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum [Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai] is my fitness inspiration.”
But the true challenge was to keep off all that weight while continuing to eat an Indian diet. “When I lost weight, I wanted to change my diet and started researching oil-free and fat-free food.
We have a lot of young couples and families living here [JLT] who have thanked me for sharing these quick and easy recipes and shortcut cooking methods with them. Some of them were clueless about cooking but can now eat entire meals with just a sandwich maker or a waffle iron.
“Now I’m an expert in making healthy food that’s delicious too. I don’t have to compromise on taste and these gadgets make it a speedy process.”
On the day Food by Gulfnews.com visited Kataria’s JLT apartment, the savvy home cook had two waffle irons and sandwich makers each plugged in and in a matter of an hour four different dishes were prepared!
Which qualifies this crafty cooking method as a blessing for time-pressed professionals. It’s also a boon for single or two-person households, where cooking huge batches of food that then yo-yo between the fridge and the microwave.
Waffle irons and sandwich makers dole out hot meals instantly.
Home cooks and chefs around the world have long recognised that waffle irons are no one-dish wonders. A quick Google search will ring up hundreds of recipes for waffle iron pizzas, omlettes, frittatas, hash browns, French toast and even polenta.
What gives Kataria’s recipes an edge over those scattered across the internet are that she’s simplified tedious Indian dishes (both savoury and sweet) by cooking them on the waffle iron.
“Gurari, a crepe-like Sindhi dish made of jaggery and wheat is so difficult to make on a tawa (griddle), because it doesn’t hold shape and keeps breaking.
“In a sandwich maker, the metal encasing holds the delicate mixture in places and gives it a shape. Even if it doesn’t look like a roti, it’s the same taste,” explains Kataria when asked about straying from the traditional cooking style.
A waffle iron’s honeycombed imprints on a dal-and-rice waffle might be jarring to onlookers used to scooping up the Indian comfort food from a bowl or plate.
But once the strangeness wears off, the fascination kicks in and forces even picky eaters like young kids try the dish. That’s why she thinks her innovative cooking method is a genius hack.
She’s made palak patra, a spinach leaf street food from the Indian state of Gujarat in her sandwich maker, but it’s oil-free. An achievement impossible when you buy them hot off street vendors.
Today, I can carve a peacock on an apple and serve you mithai [sweets] that’s as tasty as those made by halwais [cooks] in Indian bazaars. If you enjoy something, especially cooking, just keep practising.
Her waffles made of jowar (millet) flour is also a huge hit in the resident community of her apartment towers. As have her suji (semolina) upma waffles and brown poha (rice flakes) waffles.
“We have a lot of young couples and families living here who have thanked me for sharing these quick and easy recipes and shortcut cooking methods with them,” Kataria gushes. “Some of them were clueless about cooking but can now eat entire meals with just a sandwich maker or a waffle iron.”
To those new to cooking, Katarias advice is to just jump right in and let the interest flourish. “I learnt cooking by watching Indian Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s cookery shows and reading lots of cookery books. In my house, the TV is always switched on to a food channel. I could make nothing when I started out and today, I’m creating my own recipes and cooking styles. I figure out the ratios of ingredients on my own.
“Today, I can carve a peacock on an apple and serve you mithai that’s as tasty as those made by halwais in Indian bazaars. If you enjoy something, especially cooking, just keep practising.”
Kiran Kataria’s recipes
Sindhi koki
Serves 1
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
1 medium size onion, chopped
½ cup wheat flour
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander leaves
1 tsp chopped green chilli
Method
1. Take wheat flour in a bowl, add salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander, onions and chopped green chilli with some water.
2. Pour the batter into a well-greased sandwich maker. Sprinkle some chilli flakes over the batter. Then close the lid and let the waffle cook.
Sprouted mung waffles
Serves 1
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbsp sprouted mung
2 tbsp roasted besan
1 green chili
Coriander, one sprig
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp water, if needed
A pinch of asofoteida
½ tsp of jeera
Method
1. Mix the sprouted mung, onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and all the dry spices with 1 tbsp of water.
2. Grease the waffle maker on both sides and pour the mixture into it.
3. Cook for 10 minutes. Then leave the lid closed for an additional 2-3 minutes, so the waffle roasts in its own residual heat.
4. Then enjoy with green mint chutney.
Brown Poha Waffles
Serves 1
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Ingredients
2 tbsp (50gm) Brown poha, washed
2 tbsp roasted besan (gram flour)
1 small onion, chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
Coriander, a stem
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp coriander powder
Method
1. Mix all the ingredients. Grease the waffle maker and then spoon in the mixture.
2. Let it cook for 10 minutes, but only open the waffle maker’s lid 3 minutes after cooking.
Puran poli
Serves: 4 triangles
Serves 1
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Dough
1 cup wheat flour
1 tbsp of ghee
Filling
½ cup of chana dal, soaked for 3 hours
½ cup of jaggery
1 tbsp of grated coconut, fresh or desiccated
4 cardamoms, crushed
½ tsp nutmeg powder
Method
1. Mix flour and ghee to knead into dough, then leave it to rest.
2. Cook the dal in a cooker for three whistles.
3. Drain, the water, then add the jaggery, grated coconut, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder to the dal. Mix it well and mash it while the dal is still hot.
4. After the mixture cools down, make small balls with the palms of your hand.
5. Meanwhile, also roll out the dough into a small circle. Place the filling ball in the centre and spread out on the dough stopping short an inch before the edges of the dough.
6. Then fold and form a half moon, use a fork to press the edges to seal.
