Frankly, frankie’s on a wrap & roll!

A perfect snack, Frankie rolls are the best thing to have happened to the grab-and-go generation of ours, writes Anu Abraham

Our brain often equates food with love and it also has a unique place in every relationship. If we dig deep into history, we will learn about how our ancestors, the hunter-gatherers, could not find food easily but when they did, they began sharing it with small groups paving the way for socialisation. Soon, the brain, the most intelligent part of the human body, started associating food with people and events. The digestive system produces hormones like insulin, leptin and ghrelin that act on a part of the brain that plays an important role in holding on to memories. Our ancestors had to constantly search for food as it was not easily available. Their need for food always encouraged their brain to recollect the last good meal they relished. Our dopamine levels too get a boost when our eyes and mouth dig into our favourite dish or when we meet our favourite person!

(The writer is the author of the cookbook Manna: Your Guide to Indian & Continental Cooking which is a result of her culinary journey during which she documented some of the most sought-after heritage recipes of
India and elsewhere.)

A filling treat

Leftover chapatis have a special place in my heart. It instantly brings back memories of me and my sister trickling into the kitchen to make our special Aloo Frankie. While making these scrumptious rolls, we siblings would get transported into a different world. From gossip, laughter and our future plans, chapati surely rolls in cherished memories in its layers.

Aloo Frankie

For the potato filling
Ginger & garlic paste
Boiled potatoes, vegetables of your choice preferably capsicum, boiled corn, boiled peas and onions
Coriander powder
Cumin powder
Amchur or dry mango powder
Red chilli powder.
For the mint mayo spread
Mix mint chutney with mayonnaise.

Method
In a pan add some oil. Once the oil is heated add some onions and ginger, garlic paste. After onions turn translucent add in the other vegetables and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the masalas and dry roast them. Make sure you don’t burn the masalas. Add the boiled potato and salt to taste. Mix everything well.
Turn off the flame and add some fresh coriander leaves. The potato masala can be shaped into cylindrical shaped sticks or even used as a spread depending on your preference. Take a leftover chapati and heat on a tawa for a minute or so with some butter. Spread the potato mixture in the centre of the chapati. Drizzle some mint mayo over the potato mixture. You may grate some cheese. Roll the chapati tightly from one end to the other. Ta-da! Enjoy your Frankie!

(Recipe courtesy Srushthi Deshpande.)

One ingredient, one recipe

This column celebrates food and explores the possibility of forming an invisible chain that will bind us together as a family. Picking the most important ingredient of ‘love,’ we would want readers to send us a unique recipe that has either a childhood memory attached to it, an interesting fact, or even a food philosophy they learned from their ancestors. We will hand-pick one unique recipe and publish it along with this column the following month. Please share your heritage recipe and story in 300 words with “Food Family: Love” mentioned in the subject line to [e-mail] by June 6.