Doodhi Thepla

Thepla is  spiced paratha from the state of Gujarat. Curd is used in the preparation of the dough. Adding curd makes the parathas soft. This is also a good travel food too. The popular thepla is methi. Another one is Doodhi. And it satisfies my theme for the blogging marathon. 

Recipe adapted from Tarla Dalal
Yields - Around 12 nos, depending on the size


You need

• Wheat flour - 1 cup
• Grated Lauki/BottleGourd - 1/2 cup
• Curd - 1/4 cup
• Salt -1/4 tspn
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Turmeric - a big pinch
• Oil to cook the theplas

Method

Mix all the ingredients, except oil in a bowl. Make a soft dough by adding very little water. You will need not more than a tablespoon of water to make the dough. Curd and the juice from lauki is almost enough.  Rest the dough for 15 minutes. Pinch lemon sized dough and roll like paratha.

Heat tawa and cook the parathas, both sides till you find brown spots. Smear little oil while you flip the thepla.   The theplas remain soft even on cooling. I served with a simple aloo-gobi curry. 

Check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked for the day.

Missi Roti

Today is last day of the Blogging Marathon. I thoroughly enjoyed blogging various rotis. Hope you readers also liked the various rotis I posted here. So here comes the last  recipe in the seven day series of Indian bread. I chose to blog missi roti. Missi roti is a combination of besan/chana dal flour and wheat flour/atta. Unlike other rotis where atta is not the main ingredient, this missi roti is very easy to roll. It can be rolled very thin too to make khakhras. With slight dusting with wheat flour, rotis doesn't break/stick to the board while rolling.

You need

• Besan - 1 cup
• Wheat - 1/3 cup
• Salt - 1/4 tspn
• Oil - 2 tspn
• Water to make soft dough

 Method

  

Take all the ingredients except water in a bowl. Add water to make a soft dough. Add water in parts else you will end up with a sticky dough due to besan. Rest the dough for 15 minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 parts. Roll out each portion into circle using wheat flour for dusting.  Heat a tawa. Place the roti. Flip and cook on both sides. Drizzle oil lightly. Enjoy the aroma of  besan while cooking the roti.

I served hot rotis with baingan ka bartha.

 

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Pathiri / Rice Roti ~ Malabar Special

Today is day 5 of the blogging marathon. I am posting a recipe from my home state of Kerala. Pathiri/rice roti is mainly popular among the Muslims of Kerala especially to the north of Kerala. It is generally served with non-veg dishes. There are some more varieties of pathiri of which I'm not much familiar with. For many years. I did not have much idea of what Pathiri is. And I had thought it of as some thing non-veg since it was part of Muslim cuisine. And then much later, I saw the preparation in one of the cooker shows. After that I tasted it in a restaurant. The preparation as similar to the preparation of the outer cover for modakam.

I make it once in a while and I'm yet to get  it perfect circle while rolling. Though I need to improve in the looks department, I am able to get soft rotis. Probably, if I make it often, then I could improve myself. Here is how I make it

You need

• Rice flour - 1 cup
• Hot water - 1 cup
• Salt - 1/4 tspn
• Rice flour for dusting

 Method

 Take water in a vessel and add salt to it. Heat the water and bring it to rolling boil. Switch off the heat. Add the rice flour to it. Mix with a ladle so that the flour and water gets mixed well. Cover and keep it aside. When the dough is warm enough for you to handle with your hand, knead it to a soft dough. 

Pinch of lime sized balls. Roll it into thin rotis using rice flour to dust while rolling.

Heat a tawa. When it is medium hot, place the rotis. Keep flipping and make sure brown spots don't appear on the rotis. Usually pathiris are white in color. When you make thin rotis, the rotis will get cooked quickly. The flour is already half cooked when the dough is made using boiling water.

Serve hot pathiris with some spicy curry and I served with black chana masala.

 
Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

 

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

 

Cauliflower/Gobi Paratha

This is day 4 of the blogging marathon. I chose to blog a stuffed paratha for today. When it comes to stuffed paratha, its aloo paratha that tops the list. Cauliflower is another versatile veggie which can be used according to one's taste. It absorbs the flavor very well. I find too many people get intimidated when to comes to making stuffed parathas. I think with some practise, its easy and you are guaranteed soft, delicious parathas.

You need

For the dough

• Wheat flour - 1.5 cups
• Salt - a pinch
• Gingerly oil/Nallenai - 2 tspn
• Warm water to make the dough

 For Filling

•  Blanched and grated cauliflower - 1 cup

 To grind

•  Coriander leaves - a handful
•  Ginger - 1 " wedge
•  Green chilly - 1 no
•  Cumin seeds -1 tspn
•  Red chilly powder -1/2 tspn
•  Salt - 1/2 tspn
•  Garam masala - 1 tspn. (I used kitchen  king)

 Method

Blanch the cauliflower in hot water with little turmeric and salt in it. Grate the flower. I used my veggie chopper to mince it.

Take all the ingredients under To grind in the mixer jar and pulse it till its a coarse powder. Mix the ground masala to the grated cauliflower. Leave it for 15 minutes for the flavors to blend in. Squeeze excess water after the resting time.

Divide the dough and the filling into five equal portions.

Take one portion of the dough. Roll into a small circle. While rolling keep the centre slightly thicker than the edges.

So when you keep the filling and gather the edges, that side will be slightly thicker too.

Keep the sealed side down and roll out the paratha dabbing with the flour to avoid sticking it to the board.

Heat a tawa and smear oil on it. Cook the parathas both side by flipping now and drizzle oil on the sides too.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)

Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

 

Paneer Peas Rajgira Paratha

Rajgira/Amaranth flour is completely new to me.  I might have come across this flour in any of the food blogs and I'm sure I haven't bothered to find out more since I knew I would not able to find it in my area. Now that I am in a new city, I happened to see the packet of flour in a nearby provision store.  Telling myself that I can google and find out what could be done with it, I bought a packet.

Amaranth flour is made from the seeds and its gluten free. And its mostly considered as upvaas/fasting food when one abstains from eating any cereals. Since it is gluten free and cooked on fasting days, potatoes are invariably added while making tikkis/parathas. I was impressed with the nutritional information found here

Amaranth flour contains more fiber and iron than wheat and it is a good source of calcium. Amaranth flour is high in protein and when it is used in combination with other flours (such as wheat), the protein value is as beneficial as fish or poultry.

You can read about more about it from here, here and here

I did not add potatoes to my parathas and instead used wheat flour for gluten.

You need

• Rajgira/Amaranth flour - 1 cup
• Wheat flour - 2 tblspn
• Salt- 1/4 tspn
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Wheat flour for dusting

For Filling

• Grated paneer - 1/2 cup
• Fresh peas - 1/2 cup
• Green chilly - 2nos
• Lemon juice - 1/2 tspn
• Salt to taste

Method

Microwave peas for 5 minutes or blanch in hot water for 10 minutes. You can use fresh peas as it  is. But I don't like the raw smell of peas. Grind the peas and green chilly together. Don't add water. It need not be very smooth. The peas should be crushed enough that it doesn't stick out while rolling.  Mix the grated paneer, ground peas+chilly paste, lemon juice and salt in a bowl. Divide into 6 portions.

Take the ingredients for the paratha in a bowl. Add enough water to get a smooth dough. Divide the dough into 6 balls.

Take one ball and roll into a small circle. Place the filling.

Gather the ends and close it. Keep the closed end down and roll out into paratha. Dust with wheat flour as you roll. Since the rajgira flour doesn't have any gluten, be gentle while you roll.

Heat a griddle and smear oil on it. Cook the parathas on both sides. Drizzle oil around the paratha while cooking. Enjoy these delicious, soft parathas with a side of a cup  of curd and your favorite pickle.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)

Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Pyaaz Makki Ki Roti

Srivalli has been organising blogging marathon for some time. This is the fourth edition, where the marathoners are divided into 3 groups and I decided to join the third group and this is my first in running a marathon. I opted to run along since the duration was 7 days only. My attempt to post continuously on my own for a week has never been successful. So wanted to test the waters and when you have a group to motivate you, I'm sure I will cross the finishing line. I will be blogging recipes on the theme- Indian Bread. So for the next seven days you will see varieties of Indian breads here.

The first on the series is Makki ki roti with the addition of onions added to the dough.

You need

• Makki ki atta- 1.5 cups
• Medium sized onion - 1, grated
• Green chilly - 1 no
• Hot water - about 1 cup
• Salt -1/2 tspn
• Wheat flour/atta for dabbing

  

You need

Mix all the ingredients except water, in a bowl.  Add hot water in parts to the flour mixture. Mix with a spatula. When the dough is warm to handle with your hand, knead it to a smooth dough. Add more water if required. The dough should be smooth and soft.

  

I used wheat flour to dab the rotis while rolling. Pinch a lemon sized dough.  Oil the rolling board or use a zip lock cover to roll the rotis. Pat the rotis using your fingers. Optionally can give a gentle roll with the rolling pin towards the end, for making it even.

Heat a cast iron tawa. Smear the tawa with little oil. When the tawa is moderately hot, place a roti.  When one side is cooked. Drizzle oil along the sides, flip and cook other side too. Serve hot. Usually its served along side with Sarson ka saag. I have served with fresh beans in palak gravy. Shall blog that recipe later.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)

Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Chapathi Ladoo ~ Leftover magic

With the onset of monsoon, most of the days, we have roti for dinner. Earlier, roti wasn't a favorite with my husband for dinner. He doesn't have problem eating it for breakfast, but when it comes to dinner, I will have to make parathas with various stuffing. Of late, he has started liking roti for dinner. I always count and make. But when guests are there, I tend to make more, just in case it falls short. Some days, I do have one or two as leftovers, which will be used up during lunch. Once I had four rotis from previous day's dinner and I made ladoos. I have been wanting to try this for a long time, after seeing the same in many blogs. It was enough to satisfy the sweet cravings during the day.

There isn't much of a recipe here. The rotis are to be made crisp so that it can be powdered. The roti powder is mixed in melted jaggery and cooked till it gets together. Its then shaped into balls while warm. The measurements are approximate and take it as cue. You can add some roasted cashews or raisins or some roasted coconut too.  Next time, I wanted to try it with dates in place of jaggery.

You need

• Roti - 4 nos, preferably a day old
• Jaggery powdered  - 2 tablespoons
• Ghee -1 teaspoon

Method

Heat a tawa. Roat the roti one by one till it is crisp. Alternatively, you can MW it for a minute and give another minute of standing time. It will turn crisp, like papad. Break the crisp rotis into pieces and pulse in the mixer grinder to powder. The consistency of the powder is up to you. If you want you can powder it fine or coarsely, as I did.

Heat a kadai.Add a teaspoon of ghee. When ghee is hot, add the powdered jaggery. When the jaggery melts and starts bubbling, tip the roti powder. Mix so that it comes together. Remove from fire. When it is warm, shape into lemon sized balls. If it doesn't hold, add few drops of milk.

You can serve this as after school snack for kids.

This goes to PJ's  scrumptious delights from left overs

Vegetable Stuffed Wheat Naan

First let me say a BIG THANK YOU, to all my readers and friends who took time to watch the cookery show on TV or the  video I shared through face book/mail. I was overwhelmed seeing the comments. These are moments which I will always cherish. Now on to the recipe. I have made Naan with all purpose flour/maida before. Later I have tried with half and half of maida and wheat flour. This time I made with whole purpose flour only. I could not feel any difference in taste. It was very soft. To make it a complete meal on its own, tried stuffing some sauteed and slightly spiced veggies too. With a cup of home made curd and a dash of pickle, a sumptuous meal is ready.  

You need

For the dough

• Wheat flour - 2 cups
•  Oil - 1 tblspn
• Salt- 1/2 tspn
• Instant yeast - 1 tspn
• Lukewarm water to prepare the dough

For the stuffing

• Crumbled paneer-1/2 cup
• Onion- 1 nos, finely chopped
• Carrot - 1 nos, grated
• Green chilly - 1 no, finely chopped
• Kasuri methi - 1 tblspn
• Chili powder - 1/2 tspn
• Salt to taste
• Kitchen king masala - 1 tspn
• Oil - 1 tblspn

 Method

Dough

Mix all the ingredients mentioned for dough, except water. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Leave the dough to double. Punch down and leave for a second rise. If you are not using instant yeast, prove the yeast in warm water and sugar and then add.

For stuffing

  

Heat oil in a kadai. Add green chilly and chopped onions. Saute till onion is transparent.
Add grated carrot, crumbled paneer, red chilly powder and salt. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
Add kasuri methi and garam masala. Mix well and leave it to cool.

Adjust the green chilli and red chilli powder to suit your spice levels. You can omit the green chilly altogether if you don't want to bite into the chllies, especially if you will be serving the kids.  I like it, so have added.

To prepare naan

   

Divide the dough into five portions. Shape each portions into balls. Take one and roll it into a 2 inch circle. Place 2 tablespoons of the filling on the centre. Gather the edges and shape into a ball again. Carefully roll into oval shaped rotis. Pull the naan on one side to get a tear shape.

   

Heat a tawa. Apply water on one side of the naan, preferable the down side, while you rolled it. Stick the naan on to the hot tawa. Show the tawa upside down over the flame. Keep moving it to ensure even cooking. When it is fully cooked, the naan will fall off easily. Alternatively you can cook directly on the tawa as we do with rotis.  With the 2 cups of flour, I got 5 naans.

This will make a good lunch box option, since it stays soft for a long time. This can be baked in an oven too. But I haven't tried it, since I find the stove top method easy.

 Note: Make sure the tawa is hot while sticking the naan.

Plantation Style Rice Roti ~ Sptolightblog#2 Recipe

The last recipe from Asha's Foodies Hope is Coffee plantation style rice roti. I had planned to try the baingan masala too but did not have brinjals in hand. I had bookmarked few brinjal dishes and very much wanted to post atleast one eggplant recipe since its one of her favorite veggie. I will try it soon and shall post it then. For now, its just the akki roti. She says this kind of roti is familiar only to people around Hassan, Sakaleshpura and Coorg coffee Plantations. I found this version of roti very useful to use up left over cooked rice. Roti comes out soft and I know I have to go long way to get the super soft kind. I tried with half the measure of her orginal recipe and got 4 rotis. By the time I made the last one, I got the hang of it and promised myself that I make it often and master the technique.

You need

Cooked rice  - 1 cup


Rice flour - less than 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/2 tspn


Method.

If you are using freshly cooked rice, spread it on a plate and leave it to cool. Mash the rice with salt in it. Add rice flour to it to get a firm non stick dough. Try not to add too much of rice flour since it will result in tough rotis. Divide roti into tennis ball size rounds. I got 4.

Since I used left over rice from lunch, I pulsed the cooked rice in the mixer and added rice flour to it. I got a homogenous dough. Pat the dough on a greased plastic sheet or on a banana leaf. Heat a tawa and when hot peel and place the roti on it. Cook till you see light brown specs on it. Flip and cook the other side too.

Ashakka had written that it can be half cooked on the tawa and then it can be cooked using a stove top grill which is used for phulkas. I followed this method. Else you can do the entire cooking on the tawa. No oil required. These rotis ideally should puff up. Serve the soft and hot rotis along with any spicy side dish.

Paalak Roti and Mirchi Ka Salan

I make it a point to cook leafy veggies at least once in a week. Making roti with spinach puree is one way of using them apart from preparing gravies. This roti is very soft and flavorful with chilly and ginger in the puree. You can do away with one cup of fresh curds as side.

Wheat flour - 2 cup
Oil - 1 tspn
Curd - 2 tblspn
Salt

Water to knead

For palak/spinach puree

Washed and chopped palak - 2 cups
Green chilly - 3 nos
Chopped ginger - 1 tspn

Blanch the chopped palak in hot water for 5 minutes and drain. Alternatively MW the leaves for a minute.
Make a puree of chopped spinach, green chilly and ginger in a mixer. It need not be very smooth. Mix in the puree to the wheat flour. Add oil,salt and curds. Mix well. You will not require water to make the dough. Add water only if needed. Keep it aside for 30 minutes.

Prepare rotis the usual way.

Yummy flavorful rotis are ready. As I said, simpe yogurt dip is enough to go with the rotis. I served with Mirchi ka salan. I had prepared salaan the day before as side for fried rice. But was unable to click then. Next day i served the left over with chapathis. It did make an yummy combo. So they both are here together.

Mirchi Ka Salan

On googling for RCI-Hyderabadi Cuisine, I zeroed in on this dish. When I searched for the recipe of the same, I came across many versions. Needless to say, I adopted the easiest one (that too from a Hyderabadi kitchen!!) and referred Zaiqa's too and did some minor additions.. I haven't tasted salan before and I can't say if it had the authentic taste. We liked this spicy, tangy mirchi. So here is my version

Long green chilly - 12 nos
Fairly big Onion - 1
Ginger garlic paste -1 tblspn
Mustard seeds - 1 tspn
Cloves - 5 nos
Curry leaves
Tamarind - lemon size
Oil - 4 tblspn
Salt

For the Salan paste
Grated coconut - 4 tblspn
Peanuts - 3 tblspn
coriander seeds - 1 tblspn
sesame seeds - 1 tspn
cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn
pepper corn - 5 nos
red chilly - 3 nos

Medium spice chillies are recommended for this gravy. I have used a local variety which is very much on the milder side.

Chop and grind the onion to a smooth paste.
Dry roast the ingredients for the salan paste and grind them together.
Slit the green chillies.
Soak the tamarind in warm water and extract the juice.

Heat 4 tblspn of oil in a pan and shallow fry the chillies in batches. Keep it aside.
In the same pan, splutter mustard seeds and cloves and curry leaves. Add the onion paste and saute till the raw smell disappears. Stir in the salan paste and saute for a minute. Add extracted tamarind juice along with water to get the required consistency. Let it simmer for 5 minutes or till the gravy starts thickening. Add salt and the fried green chillies to the gray and cook for a minute. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Palak roti is going to Sunshinemom's Food in Colours -Green and

Sangeeth's Eat Healthy-Calcium Rich event

Mirchi Ka Salan joins RCI -Authentic Hyderabadi Cuisine at Zaiqa's

Chawal ka Parantha

For the last few days, daily, atleast one post in TOI is on roti with varied stuffings and ingredients, thanks to Srivally and her Roti Mela. I had planned to try some new varieties as part of the on going Roti Mela. Ever since she announced the mela, I was too busy that routine cooking itself was too tedious. Now, things are falling back to routine.

This recipe is from Sanjeev Kapoor's Dal-Roti cook book. An easy one to make and can make good use of the left over rice too. Here is the recipe.



Cooked rice - 1 cup

wheat flour - 1 1/2 cups

salt - 1 tspn


curds/yogurt - 1/4 cup


ghee - 2 tblspn


red chilli powder - 1/2 tspn


cumin powder - 1/2 tspn


green chillies - 2 nos, chopped


medium sized onion - 1, chopped


oil for frying

Sift wheat flour and one teaspoon of salt. Add yogurt, 2 tablespoons of ghee and half cup of water. Mix together to form a soft dough.Cover with a damp cloth for half an hour.

Meanwhile prepare the stuffing. You can make use of left over cooked rice for this paranthas. Mix cooked rice, red chilli powder, cumin powder, chopped green chillies , chopped onion and salt to taste.

Knead the dough and divide into equal sized balls. Roll out each ball to a three-inch round. Keep a portion of the rice mixture in the centre and gather the edges together and shape into a thick round pedha. Roll out into a 7 inch circle.

Heat a tawa. Place a parantha on it. Turn over once and sprinkle some oil on it. Flip and spread some oil on the other side. Cook till both sides are well.

Paranthas were very soft and spicy too. Since these paranthas remain soft for a longer time, it is suitable for lunchbox too. Serve with some plain curds and pickle or any side of your choice.

This is my entry to Vally's Roti Mela.

Naan, Char Dal ka Dacha and more

Last week, we had invited a cousin of S and his family for dinner. K and his wife are absolute
foodies, that they love to taste new recipes and try them at home too. K also cooks well and plans with his wife to try new ones.

This was the menu I planned for the dinner. It was a weekday. Still I could manage to make as per the menu decided.



Naan
Jeera Rice
Char Dal ka Dalcha
Aloo Paneer -96
Curd Rice
and dates-banana milk shake to finish it off.



I am giving the recipes for Naan and the dal here. Already posted milkshake recipe.

Naan
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Yeast - 1 tspn
Oil - 2 tblspn
Salt to taste
Add yeast with little sugar to 1/2 cup warm water and milk together. Leave it to prove.
Take the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre. Add yeast, salt and oil and mix
well and add more water to make a stiff dough.
Leave the dough in a bowl and cover it. Allow it to rise. Punch down the risen dough and knead it for sometime and leave for a second rise. Repeat the steps. And finally leave it aside till you prepare the naan. I prepared the dough in the morning and left it till evening. I got very soft naans.

Take a lemon sized ball and roll it in oval shape. Dust it with wheat flour if required.
Heat a kadai. I prefer a iron griddle.
Wet one side of the naan with water and stick that side on to the hot tawa.
Cook for a minute and turn the tawa upside down.
Keep moving the tawa over fire so that the whole naan gets cooked.
You can see brown spots appearing. When it is cooked, it will fall off the tawa.
Smear some homemade butter on to it if you wish.

Char Dal Ka Dalcha
This is a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe. I have been making this many times after my first attempt. It
goes well with both rotis and rice. I change the vegetable added as per the availability.
As the name suggests it calls for combination of 4 dals

Chana dal - 1/4 cup
Tuvar dal - 1/4 cup
Masoor dal - 2 tbl spn
Moong dal - 2 tblspn
Turmeric pwdr - 1tspn
Chilly powder - 1 tspn
salt to taste
Ginger paste - 1 tspn
Ash gourd - 400 gms
Tamarind - lemon sized
Oil - 3 tblspn
Medium sized onions - 2 nos
Slit green chillies - 5


Seasoning
Ghee - 1 tspn
Cumin seed -1
Broken red chillies - 5
Curry leaves


Method

Wash and Pressure cook all the dals together with half tspn of turmeric and half tspn of chilly
powder and enough water to cook the dals.
Chop ash gourd into one inch pieces. The original calls for lauki. Thats one vegetable which I
haven't cooked till now. Somehow I don't have inclination towards that. I have tried this dal with chow chow (Bangalore katthrikkai).

Soak tamarind in warm water and extract the pulp and keep it aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced onions and saute till light brown.

Add ginger paste, remaining turmeric and chilly powder and green chillies. Saute for a minute.

Add ash gourd pieces. Saute for five minutes and add the cooked dals. Cover and cook for ten minutes or till the ash gourd is tender.


Add tamarind extract and add water to adjust the consistency. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Heat ghee in another pan and do the seasoning with cumin seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.Pour the spices over the dal. Serve hot.

Rest of the recipes will follow in the next post.

Corn flour roti with Sprouts kurma

I had a packet of corn flour lying in my pantry for some days, waiting to be used. I bought it with the idea of making roti. This is the first time I was going to lay my hands on corn flour. So I was not sure of the end result. Thats one of the reasons I kept postponing. Finally decided to take the plunge. Since corn flour is not elastic like our regular roti atta or maida, I decided to add some atta along with the corn flour for making rotis.

Corn flour roti /Makki ka atta ki roti
Corn flour - 1 cup

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

salt to taste

Warm water to knead
Butter/Oil

Method

Mix cornflour, wheat flour and salt in a bowl. Knead to a medium soft dough using warm water.
It is not elastic enough to be flattened with a rolling pin directly. Grease a plastic sheet with oil. Take a lemon sized dough and shape into a ball. Flatten it with your hand. Alternatively, you can roll out each ball between the folds of two greased plastic sheets.
Heat a tawa and place a roti on it.

Cook on medium heat till one side is half done. Turn over and spread some butter/oil. Again tuurn over and spread some butter/oil on the other side . Cook both sides till golden brown.
Serve hot with a dollop of butter on it.

I served with sprouted green gram kurma.

Green Gram Sprouts Kurma

This is adapted from a recipe of Mallika Badrinath.

Making Sprouts

Wash and soak 1 cup of whole green gram for 3 hours.

Drain the water and tie soaked grams in a muslin cloth and hang on a hook in your kitchen. Sprinkle water occassionaly, never leaving the gram dry. On the next you can see some shoots coming out. By the third day it must have fully sprouted. This is the general method.

I usually transfer the soaked gram to a casserole (hot pack). It starts sprouting the next day. This is the sprout on the third day.

Sprouted green gram - 2 cups

Onion - 2 nos

Tomatoes - 2 nos

Tamarind - marble sized

Grated coconut - 2 tblspn

Salt to taste

Jaggery - little (optional)

For roasting

Dried Red chillies- 4 nos

Coriander seeds (dhania)- 1 tblspn

Chana dal - 1 tblspn

Poppy seeds - 1 tspn

Method
Steam cook the sprouts in a pressure cooker for 5 minutes or in a Microwave

Soak tamarind in hot water and take a thick extract. Alternatively can use tamarind paste.
Dry roast poppy seeds.

Roast red chillies,coriander seeds and chana dal in a tspn of oil
Dry frind the fried spices, poppy seeds and coconut. Add little water and grind it to a smooth paste.
Heat litle oil in a kadai. Add chopped onion and fry till golden.

Add chopped tomatoes and cook till they turn mushy and the moisture is fully absorbed.

Mix ground paste, salt and jaggery?(if you are adding).

Keep stirring till nice aroma comes.

Pour the tamarind extract and steam cooked sprouts. Cook till gravy thickens.

I have used ingredients from 3 out of the 4 groups mentioned by Mansi of Fun and Food, who is hosting the WBB for this month, which is started byNandita of SaffronTrail. Mansi has chosen 'Balanced Breakfast Meal' as the theme. She has made it easy by giving the groups to make the meal balanced.