- I'm back at Bhanu, my fave local Indian spot in San Gabriel, California.

And today, we're doing a deep dive into Desi bread.

This is "Spice Road".

Let's go.

Of course, I couldn't come back to Bhanu without my Bhanu bestie, Kiran Deol.

- That's me.

- Say hi.

Kiran Deol is an incredibly talented actor, writer, comedian, and director who's been my dear friend ever since college when we did the freshman theater program together.

And I'm glad to say that the collabs kept going ever after.

I'm going to witness you facing your biggest challenge yet to name that Desi bread.

(game show music) Blindfolded she's going to have to taste five different breads and identify them.

But before we do that, I got my man here Paramveer Bedi.

- Nice to meet you, guys.

- Co-owner of Bhanu.

Tell us, what are we looking at?

- So today, we have puri, which is deep fried, made of whole wheat.

Next up we have bajra, which is pearl millet.

It's similar shape, pan made.

Naan, which is the most popular known bread in the Western world.

Ours is garlic, the one we're using today.

So, that might be a little bit of a tell.

Chapati, which is whole wheat flatbread, pan made.

Little buttery, very similar to the puri.

Cause same contents, different preparation.

Might be a little hard to tell.

And last but not least, we have papad, which is lentil based.

Very easy to tell, very thin cracker-like.

- It's your greatest challenge yet, as I said.

(Kiran laughing) - This is my Everest.

(upbeat music) - And what's at stake, if she passes this roti riddle?

"Spice Road" roti rockstar T-shirt.

(imitating electric guitar) - All right.

- You definitely, you need a sound effect for that part.

(metal guitar strum) - How do you think you're going to do?

- I just can't believe you invited me here to eat bread.

This is like the one thing you're not allowed to do in Los Angeles as a woman, is eat bread.

So, this is the ultimate cheat day.

What my grandfather say, if I don't get 100% on this?

- Okay, the moment of truth.

I'm nervous for you.

First challenge to even find the roti on the brown table.

Oh, very good.

- This feels maybe a little more like, maybe puri to me.

Let's see.

(upbeat music) - Really contemplating.

This is good.

- Yeah, I'm going to go with puri.

- It is not puri.

(boo-boo music) - No.

- It’s not – you’re disagreeing with me?

- My grandfather is rolling in his grave right now.

Devastated.

(gentle upbeat music) This one is harder.

This one's drier.

My choices are chapati, puri, bajra, and... - This is not going well.

Already off the bat.

(Kiran laughing) - This one doesn't really taste like anything I know.

So... - That tells you something.

- Yeah.

So maybe it's the - Maybe it's the bajra.

- Is that your final answer?

- Let's go final answer.

- Yes!

- Oh, thank God.

- You got it.

One for two.

Very good.

Kinda of more... - It's so funny how quickly you become empathetic.

(upbeat music) This is a puri.

I feel like this is a puri from the texture alone.

Oh, and wait, it smells kind of like a garlic naan though.

That's garlic naan.

This delicious.

(game show music) (Rupak laughing) - [Rupak] Number four.

- I though that the naan was a puri.

This one's the puri.

I'm going to be honest.

I've been thinking about puris for weeks.

It's got that same flakiness that you were describing that the last one has.

You can smell the grease a little more than you could in the chapati, which was the first one, which was coming off as like more plain.

I said puri, final answer.

Just do what I said at the top.

- Let's quit, while we're ahead.

It is in fact puri.

(Kiran laughing) Congratulations.

Final one here.

- Okay.

- I think, you're going to slam this one home.

- This one's got to be the papad then, because it's just, yes.

And then we can tell, because it's got that thin bumpy texture- - Right.

- that we love.

And it's super thin and it's kind of crisp.

(sharp snap) Ah, that's the sound.

That's the sound.

This is papad.

- Yes!

- Four out of five ain't bad.

I don't have anyone else to give this to, so, take it.

- The war of attrition.

- She's a "Spice Road" roti rockstar.

- If I wear this like a cape, I'm just like a, you know, like a Madonna.

- Yeah, I love it.

- I wear it over the shirt I have.

So, sorry, Granddad.

- If you're watching.

-Sorry, Papaji.

So sorry.

- Forgive.

So, we just saw that Desi bread is not so easy to pin down as you think, but I got one more question for you.

What is your favorite Desi bread and what do you pair it with?

(bell pinging) (world music) (world music continues)