Many of you lucky readers live in the US where you can have a decent bagel whenever you like. Now, did I just provide all of you with an opening to vent?!! Well, anyway, the rest of us in India and similar places don’t have any kind, as can be expected. But those of us who have spent some extended time in the US are aware of the bagel and its place at breakfast.
And we get nostalgic about them. I used to like mine especially smothered with cream cheese. Part of the nostalgia was because it reminded me of the taelwor (this is the best I can do spelling a Kashmiri word), a small sesame covered bread baked by the neighbourhood kandur (baker), available all over Srinagar. These are ‘evening’ breads, meaning they are available later in the afternoon, in time for the afternoon tea. The taelwor is especially good with sheerchai, the salty milky tea that is topped with malai (cream) and considered a digestive after a heavy meal! It is dense and chewy like a bagel - a good bagel is supposed to be chewy, right?
And Nandita’s invitation to bake for WBB#7 was the perfect excuse to make them again. But I couldn’t find the recipe I had used a couple of years ago. It had been simple enough but I didn’t want to just wing it. After a quick Google check and a review of a couple of recipes, I decided Carolina’s was almost like the one I had used. And she assures us it’s the real McCoy. So ladies (and the few gents out there) get ready to bake yourselves the perfect Jewish bagels and show them New Yorkers that we are right up there with them.
