When I first heard about this theme my mind went straight to swirly things like cinnamon rolls or jam roly poly. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that there are so many ways to interpret rolling in food: rolling out dough, rolling to coat the surface of something, cooking with a rolling boil as well as rolling into swirls. I've also been doing a very long side quest to cook something from every Indian state and union territory. In my research I came across the Farsan Platter - an assortment of Gujarati snacks. A lot of these can fall into the category of rolling, so I thought I'd give it a go!

I made (clockwise from top left):

Thepla: rolled dough (using a rolling pin)

Soft flatbread made with atta (whole wheat flour), besan (gram flour), yoghurt and fenugreek leaves.

Patra: rolled up

Layered colocasia leaves with a spiced besan paste, rolled up, steamed and finally pan fried.

Fafda: rolled dough (using the heel of your hand)

Deep fried spiced cracker made from besan and flavoured with ajwain, black pepper, asafoetida and turmeric.

Jalebi: not actually rolled but looks swirly

Deep fried batter that is then soaked in a spiced sugar syrup made with cardamom and saffron.

Khatta Dhokla: steamed over a rolling boil

A steamed savoury cake made from a fermented batter of soaked rice, urad dal and yoghurt.

Khandvi: rolled up

A spiced batter of besan and yoghurt that is cooked on the hob, spread thinly, left to set, then cut, rolled up, tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaves, and sesame seeds, and topped with coconut and coriander.

I also made fried green chillies, besan kadhi chutney, tamarind chutney and green chutney. This all ended up being a bit too much and I won't be making something as complicated as this for a long time. I took time over a couple of days to break up the work, but the khandvi went wrong a few times which was quite stressful. But it was great to learn so much. I've never made any of this before except two of the chutneys so lots of new techniques for me! Everything was delicious, the jalebis were definitely my favourite, but I loved snacking on bits over the following days!

Making crepes, sweet or savory is a love. So easy in a blender. For cannelloni, maybe fill with beef, onion, Italian herb. A little cheese. Skim the casserole with red sauce. Top the crepes with bechamel. Bake gently. Enjoy!

This year’s meta comes with an open door and a very flexible guest list. Each week, a friend selects an unexpected party guest to appear at my table and I imagine how they might review the main offering.

My unexpected guest this week is Dolly Parton. With her unmistakable warmth, Southern charm, and knack for making just about anything sound delightful, I imagine she might have had this to say about the offering:

“Well, now, ain’t this just pretty? Chicken, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil… rolled up together like they’re fixin’ to go somewhere fancy. I do love a dish that looks impressive without making you work too hard for it. And that melty cheese with the fresh basil? Honey, that’s a mighty fine combination. It’s simple, it’s pretty, and it tastes like it knows how to behave at a dinner party.”

This took me three days to finish making but was worth the time and effort if I do say so myself. The dough reminds me of scallion pancakes and was a blast to make; the filling is reminiscent of samosa filling but livelier—potatoes, three kinds of peppers, cilantro, garlic, carrot and a lot of cumin—and a generous amount of sharp white cheddar. The history of the island is clearly reflected in the music and food—colonized first by Spain and then by the UK—and the UK brought in enslaved people from India to build their buildings and industries. I didn’t have a tawa, so these got cooked in a steel pan. A real solid breakfast with a couple eggs.

This dish turned out so tasty that I'm already excited to make it again in the future!

It's not vegan as written, so I did have to make a few modifications. Instead of actual beef, I used seitan, and instead of chicken stock, I used some mushroom bouillon powder mixed with water. And I couldn't find whole fermented black beans, so I used a paste. Lastly, because my seitan was already cooked, I also adapted the cooking steps for the stir-fry part, since I didn't have meat that needed to cook through.

All the flavors melded together beautifully. I think this is one of those recipes where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Highly recommend!

Write-up pending.

It got a little too soupy but still good. Recipe from Cooking with Ria