My Favorite Recipes By Linda Marler

Meet Dorothy D’Souza, Charlotte, NC, formerly Whitman County

Dorothy D’Souza first came to Whitman County from India to attend Washington State University, and she met Al and Corriene Liotta through the International Club. The extended Liotta clan, which has also hosted exchange students attending Colfax High School, made Dottie a member of the Byrd-Liotta-Thompson family, and she returns to visit from her home in Charlotte, NC.

Mr. Liotta’s death and funeral brought her back again.

The Byrd-Liotta-Thompson family has 18 children and 55 grandchildren, not counting the cousins, so there was a lot of visiting to do. Corriene Liotta is her American “mama,” and Dottie keeps in frequent contact.

During a recent visit, she attended Athenaeum Club as a guest, and Cary Cammack brought Erica Eng and Katie Largent to sing musical numbers from “The Sound of Music.”

While in the area, Dottie also visits friends and professors from her days at WSU. Her major professor and his wife are good friends, and they stay in touch. She became a citizen of the United States a couple of years ago.

Born in the area near Goa, India, Dottie lived in a colony founded by Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama. People here are frequently surprised to find that India has a large Roman Catholic presence in this area. Her name demonstrates her Portuguese heritage, and Portuguese is frequently spoken in her home area.

Dottie attended all Catholic schools. She is the youngest of eight children. Her father, a retired civil engineer, is deceased, but her mother is still living.

Both parents visited Dottie in the United States that also included Colfax. Dottie plans to visit India early next year after a six-year absence. Flying directly to India is expensive, and flying or taking the train to her hometown adds considerable time and expense.

Dottie’s area of study at WSU was food science. She studied for a master’s degree, but has since changed fields.

In New York, she worked as a food scientist and developed a coffee and milk drink for a convenience store chain that would be familiar to Northwest folks. Farmers were drinking lattes in Colfax before people in upstate New York discovered the tasty drinks. In addition to upstate New York, she has lived in Texas and Florida.

Currently employed by URS Corporation, she works in the power industry in the marketing department. The company built Hoover Dam, and it has been busy designing and constructing power production facilities since then. The company works in all areas of power production, including hydro and nuclear, and works all over the globe. The happy coincidence for her, living in a fairly large city, is that her office is about a mile and a half from her home. Working long hours when major projects are due is much easier with the short commute. Dottie considers her office to be small compared to some of the URS offices; 250 people work there.

Dottie enjoys playing piano. She collects china and is embarrassed to admit that she owns three china cupboards.

When she is with friends and family from India, she enjoys preparing Indian food, but her American friends aren’t neglected. If they feel adventurous, she prepares Indian dishes for them, too. She travels across the country to weddings and other events to enjoy time with friends and family.

Christmas is especially festive in her home, and a number of Indian expatriates gather to celebrate the season. She uses both American-style decorations and those from her native country. Among the beautiful objects from India are amazing fabrics, silks with gold thread and gorgeous Indian cottons.

Dottie demonstrated making Indian flatbread in the author’s kitchen.

The approximate recipe is:

1 cup flour

Dash of salt

Cold water

Vegetable oil or olive oil

She used a cup of flour, your choice of white or whole wheat, mixed it with a dash of salt, and added enough cold water to make a soft dough, mixing with her fingers. She kneaded the dough a little, until the gluten developed a bit. The dough should feel a little springy.

Let the dough rest for five minutes or so. Form small balls of the dough, and roll out each one on a lightly floured board. After the dough is rolled thin, rub a few drops of vegetable oil over the surface of the dough. Fold each long side toward the center, so that there is a long piece of dough one-third the width as after it was rolled out. Then fold each end toward the center, so the dough is one-third the length as after it was rolled out. This makes a small square nine layers deep. This helps form a fine, flaky texture.

Preheat a sauté pan to medium high. Roll each square of dough to about 8x8 inches. Fry one side until the flatbread puffs up and turns golden brown. Turn over and cook until the top puffs up again. Spread a few drops of oil, either vegetable or olive oil, on the surface, turn over again, and cook until golden.

Serve flatbread with a dipping sauce, with a curry dish, use in place of tortillas for fajitas or tacos, or spread a little honey on top and enjoy with a cup of tea. Flatbread is also delicious made fresh and served with scrambled eggs and a spicy meat for breakfast.

Tandoon Chicken

This dish is marinated six to 24 hours and it is spicy but not terribly “hot.” If you are just now trying Indian foods, this is a great one to start with.

Ingredients:

2 pounds chicken, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon salt

1 lemon, juiced

1 1/4 cups plain yogurt

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root

2 teaspoons garam masala

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon yellow food coloring (optional)

1 teaspoon red food coloring

2 teaspoons finely chopped cilantro

1 lemon, cut into wedges

(If spices are not available in the local supermarket, they probably can be found in Pullman or at the Moscow Food Cooperative.)

Remove skin from chicken pieces and cut slits into them lengthwise.

Place in a shallow dish. Spinkle both sides of chicken with salt and lemon juice. Set aside 20 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, onion, garlic, ginger, gara masala and cayenne pepper. Cover and refrigerate for six to 24 hours (the longer the better).

Preheat an outdoor grill to medium high heat and lightly oil the grate.

Cook chicken on grill until no longer pink and juices run clear. Garnish with cilantro and lemon wedges.