Unleavened dough folded with layers and fried on a flat iron pan. Plain (sada), stuffed with spiced potato (aloo), egg (anda), cheese (paneer), or minced meat. Eaten at breakfast with pickle and yogurt, rolled around a filling for lunch, or ordered at 2am because the cafeteria is still open and nothing else is.

Dubai's South Asian cafeterias serve paratha from 6am. The best places have a queue before 8am. The smell — warm, slightly greasy, with a note of ghee — is the smell of a lot of working Dubai mornings.