This paratha pop-up at Wychwood Barns is serving nostalgia with a twist for brunch

Metro Morning food guide Suresh Doss joins the program every week to discuss one of the many great GTA eateries he's discovered.

This week, he's bringing us to Paratha Begum's pop-up at the Wychwood Barns Farmers Market. 

Below is a lightly edited transcript of Doss's conversation with guest host Eli Glasner.

Suresh Doss: Do you have a fond, childhood weekend brunch memory to share with me?

Eli Glasner: Sometimes my mother would make fresh challah and there's nothing greater than egg bread ... peanut butter and honey and lightly toasted. Heaven. 

Suresh Doss: So, my favourite memory to this day is whenever my mom would make dosas for brunch — the fermented savoury pancake which you can eat with chutneys or curries. She would make these pancakes one at a time for the four of us, and we would wait patiently for each one. Sometimes we would even fight for them, it was a precious thing. Noreen Ahmed, the co-owner of Paratha Begum, has a similar story from growing up in her Pakistani household. Noreen and her parents (who are also co-owners) run a pop-up at the Saturday market at Wychwood Barns. They offer a very modest and humble menu that highlights nostalgic Pakistani brunch by way of paratha. Have you had parathas?

Eli Glasner: I have not. 

Suresh Doss: So, it's this idea of taking Atta flour and making a dough from it. You then you stuff the dough with a few different fillings. There's the Aloo version, which is cooked potatoes accented by chili, cumin and cilantro. It's crimped, rolled out and then cooked on a Tawa griddle and blistered by the spreading butter. It's typically served with some chutney and achar, which is usually pickled carrots or cabbage. It's so comforting and really the perfect kind of street food.

Eli Glasner: What's the story behind this family?

Suresh Doss: Noreen is a second-generation Pakistani Canadian. She grew up in Ottawa but moved to Toronto a few years ago and has settled into the St. Clair West neighbourhood. She's really inspired by her mom's cooking and a year ago she decided to start this pop-up, which pays homage to her family's cooking — particularly her mom's. Begum is a term of endearment in Pakistani Muslim culture. The pop-up is at the market every Saturday. 

Eli Glasner: So is there just one type of paratha? 

Suresh Doss: Actually, there are typically three and are very vegetarian and vegan friendly. So you have the Aloo paratha, but there is also a green paratha, which features kale and leeks mixed with red onion and a formidable amount of garlic and is served with a wonderful chutney as well. The pop-up also offers a crowd favourite: chili cheese paratha. 

Eli Glasner: What's that?

Suresh Doss: This is not traditional but it's one of my favourite. Picture this: dark red chili garlic spread that is stuffed into a paratha and then brushed with a chili garlic oil. It becomes this really bright orange, spicy paratha with a wonderful, cheesy pull. My preferred way to eat it is to tear a piece and to wrap some carrot achar with it, which gives you a nice acidic contrast to the spice. But if paratha is not your jam, I would get the daal. They make this wonderful cooked lentil — almost porridge-like — daal, which people eat by the spoonful.