prata: life-altering experience at holland v.

So, Holland Village. Where we're staying right now-- in temp housing subsidized by the uni (Pandan Valley Condos ... yes, I had to look up 'pandan'. It's a type of tree)-- is about a 20 minute walk from Holland V., a somewhat well-known destination for nightlife and good food. There are three hawker centers there, a ton of restuarants, a couple of good bars ( Wala Wala for good music and plentious Aussie expats), a wet market during the day and a bunch of shops, including two pet supply stores. There's also a windmill...
... 'cause, you know, HOLLAND.

Anyway, this story is not about Holland Village. This story is about PRATA. This story is about TRUE LOVE. Follow me...



Yes! This! The heavenly stuff on the right on the orange plate. Praaaaaataaaaa! T_______T

What is it? It's only the most delicious thing I've had in... I don't know when. And I've eaten some great food since I've gotten here, believeit. Roti prata is a type of Indian bread that's been PERFECTED by the Singaporeans. I've eaten it twice since I've been here. And annoyed the prata man by hovering over his stall to see how he makes it. It's fascinating.

Tangent but not Rly: The other day we were wandering through a market/hawker center on the ground floor of an extensive HDB when I passed a guy filling up a vast container with little balls of something pale and smooth. Round and round he went, piling the little handfuls of stuff on top of one another in a big spiral. 'Hmm', I said to myself. But I've been saying that non-stop since I got here, so I simply filed the experience away under WTH, I'll figure this out later. Now, later, I know what that was. It was prata dough, hundreds of balls of prata dough, in prep for the next days sales.

Anyway: What you do is this: you get your little ball of dough, which is silky smooth and perfectly elastic-- which means that the prata man must have kneaded the CRAP out of it, talk about hard work-- and you take it and you throw it down on a smooth metal surface and you STREEETCH it. You pull it with your hands till it's thin as tissue, then push it back together, and do this a few times. Then you fold it over on itself into a circle and sort of pat it down. Oh wait, I left out the good part, while you're stretching and folding, between layers, you dip your hand in a big container of ghee and liberally apply-- keeping the layers distinct, incorporating the glorious fat. Then you fling the dough down on a hot griddle. Cook one side, flip it to the other. Then you take it off, hot, then you SQUASH it, breaking the surface, revealing the layers.

Then you serve it up hot with a side of bowl of curry gravy for dippage and maybe a chicken thigh and give it to Dee who is now, like, your biggest fangirl, PrataMan!!!!1!1!!1#@!