Sri Lankan Pol Roti

Hello Friends,


Another hectic week, but glad that I am here to post about this today. I love trying new cuisine and new varieties. As you all may know I am guest hosting Flavors of Sri Lanka on my blog this whole month which is a brain child of Nayna.


I started looking for Sri Lankan recipes and found this one easy and something I could relate with. It is called Pol Roti in Sri Lanka. I have used the recipe from who else but Amy. She has an amazing blog which mainly features Sri Lankan Food, so go visit her for the details. It tastes even better than it looks. Made with Whole Wheat or All Purpose Flour and that nice coconut flavor mixed with some normal spices, it was wonderful. Thanks Amy :)

This goes to Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday (Volume 72) event hosted by Aipi and I

That's all for now. Take care till the next post.

Pudina Roti - पुदीना रोटी (Minty Flat Bread)

Hello Friends,

I had planted 2 mint plants last year in my small garden while everyone else was at the verge of dying (fall). But, guess what, I couldn't have believed it, the mint survived and kept spreading . It is not a big tree, but it is somehow creeping on the ground and has grown a bit. 


I have been plucking it once in a while to flavor my food, but this time I decided to try something "pudina (mint)" special. Now, what better way then to make pudina roti or rice. Everyone in my house is a roti fan, so thought of going with that. Before this, I had never made or eaten minty flat bread. So, googled and found quite a few different recipes. I took all the tips from everywhere, and here is the version that I liked and went for and boy am I glad I did, as we all loved it :)

Pudina Roti - पुदीना रोटी (Minty Flat Bread)

Ingredients
Whole Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Pudina (Mint leaves) - 2 cups (Fully packed)
Onion - 1 cup, finely chopped
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Green chili - 2, finely chopped or you can use red chili powder, whichever you prefer
Amchur (Mango Powder) - 1 tsp
Dhaniya (Coriander) Powder - 1 tsp
Jeera (Cumin) Powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Preparation

• Take a wide non-stick pan and add oil to it.
• Add onion and fry till they are translucent.
• Add all other ingredients except flour and mix well and let them cook/fry for 2-3 min.
• Don't let pudina leaves wilt, we just want them nicely mixed and flavored with spices and oil.
• Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down.
• Add the pudina mix in the flour and mix well, don't add any water right now.
• After flour is completely mixed with pudina leaves, add warm water little by little and make into a smooth dough, just like any other flat bread dough.
• Heat a griddle on medium heat.
• Pinch a lemon size ball from the pudina roti dough and roll it into a desired sized circle of usual flat bread thickness.
• Place the roti on the griddle and by brushing very little oil or ghee, cook on both sides till nice golden spots appear, which means they are ready to be eaten.

Serving
Serve warm with your favorite chutney/pickle (you see sweet lime pickle made by my SIL in the pic) or gravy curry and yogurt or any other way you like. My son loved it just as it is, with nothing to go by.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Plain Naan from US Masala

Hello friends,


So, now it is my turn to post some of the recipes that I tried from my wonderful blogger friend Aipi. Do I need to tell again how much I love her blog and specially her mouth watering and mind-blowing pics she posts, which make the food taste and sound that much better.

My recent try is her Naan recipe. I had never tried before and my pic here is nothing compared to hers. But, sure it was super delicious, so there you go :) Please visit her blog for complete recipe and process as I used it as it is. I made it last night and we enjoyed it a lot and ate it with chhole, as you can see in the picture.


I don't have to say but this along with the following go to Tried & Tasted event which was originally started by Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen and now is owned by Lakshmi of Kitchen Chronicles.

Kesar Phirni

Paneer Tikka

Nutella Cold Coffee

Paneer Butter Masala

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Methi Paratha - Fenugreek Leaves Flat Bread

Hello Friends.


Today, I am sharing a very frequently and commonly made paratha in my household. Love that it is full of green leaves and of course can be eaten just like that with some yogurt or chutney/pickle.


Methi Paratha - मेथी पराठा (Fenugreek Leaves Flat Bread)

Ingredients
Whole Wheat Flour - 2.5 cups
Fresh or frozen Methi (Fenugreek Leaves) - 1 cup, in case of frozen, thaw it properly before adding and reduce the water quantity as it will be pretty wet itself
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Olive Oil (or any other oil) - 1 tbsp
Water - 1 - 1.25 cups (add only little at a time)
Preparation

• Mix all the ingredients first and then add water little by little to form a dough (not too firm, not too soft).
• Heat a griddle (tava) on heat.
• Dust your countertop or cutting board with some wheat flour and take a lemon size ball and roll it into a comparatively thicker flat bread than usual tortilla (roti/chapati) by applying some flour whenever needed.
• Roast/Grill it on the griddle on both sides by applying little butter or ghee (clarified butter) till it is golden brown.

Serving
Serve it warm with some plain yogurt, raita (veggies in yogurt) and/or some chutney/pickle. Yum, yum, yum !!!


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Missi Roti - मिस्सी रोटी (Chickpea Flour Flat Bread)

Hello Friends,


Here is another delicious Rajasthani recipe that you may be familiar with or even had as this is one of the recipes which has come out of Rajasthan and become famous in the culinary as otherwise most of the delicious recipes of Rajasthan are still very unknown.


It is one recipe that has Rajasthan written all over it. Now, like many other recipes, this too gets made slightly differently in every house hold. But, here is the recipe followed in our house.


Missi Roti - मिस्सी रोटी (Chickpea Flour Flat Bread)

Ingredients
Besan (Chickpea Flour) - 1 cup
Aata (Whole Wheat Flour) - 1 cup
Salt - as per taste
Lal Mirch (Red Chili) Powder - 1 tsp
Haldi (Turmeric) Powder - 1/2 tsp
Ajwain (Bishops Weed) - 1 tbsp
Heeng (Asafoetida) -  1 pinch
Preparation

• Mix everything first dry and then form into a soft dough by adding little water. (Add small water, mix it then add more and continue this process till all forms into a dough). Always remember one thing while mixing besan that add water very little at a time as besan (chick pea flour) tends to get very sticky very easily.
• Take a large tennis size ball, dust with flour on a flat surface and roll this ball into a flat circle of about 5-6 inches in diameter.
• Keep a non-stick griddle on heat and grill this roti (flatbread) without any oil on both sides till they are nice golden brown.
• Take it off in a serving place or individual plate and apply some butter (Makkhan) on the top side and serve.

Serving
Serve this with some kadhi (yogurt based side dish) or pickle or some plain yogurt as you may like.

I am sending this to my own MLLA # 30 which was started by Susan. This is also going to Cooking with Seeds - Ajwain Seeds event hosted by Seasoned and Dressed started by Priya.

 

This also goes to Anyone Can Cook : Series 9 (With Less Ingredients- WLI) hosted by Umm.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Layer Paratha - Layered Indian Flat Bread

Hello Friends,


Firstly, I would like to remind all my readers (bloggers and non bloggers) about the event going on in my blog and to participate in it :)


Cooking with Whole Foods (CWF) - Quinoa, it ends on December 10th 2010.

Feels so nice to write another recipe after a long break. Last post was a tried and tasted one, so wasn't a recipe from me :)


This is one of my dear Manju didi's (my oldest SIL) recipe and everyone in my family just drools over it and want to eat it all the time, if available. My older son is I guess the biggest fan of her bua (atta) and so is this paratha of hers. He cannot do without both of these.


Anyways, this time I tried and mastered it (I guess) :) A very simple recipe actually.


Layer Masala Paratha - Layer मसाला पराठा (Indian Spiced Layered Flat Bread)

Ingredients
Whole Wheat Flour - 2 cups (this will usually make 4 parathas, depending on which size you want)
Water - to mix the dough
Ghee (Clarified Butter) or Butter - to help spread the masala on the paratha
Masala Spread
Lal Mirch (Red Chili) Powder - 1 tbsp
Chat Masala (This is a masala you get in Indian store) - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Preparation

• Add water slowly to the wheat flour and knead it to a nice flat bread kind of dough. Keep it covered for couple of minutes before making parathas.
• Mix Masala Spread in a cup. I usually mix a big batch so that I don't have to mix it every time. Though it hardly takes 30 seconds, but lazy that I am :)
• Now, take a nice big ball from the prepared dough and roll it with the help of rolling pin into a circular shape of desired size (Usually parathas are about anywhere from 5-7 inches in diameter, but you can always make the size that you want). Another note here is that you don't have to roll them out very thin, if you cannot or if you don't want to.
• Now, spread about 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of ghee on your rolled out paratha (like in the picture).
• Sprinkle mixed masala (as much or as little as you want) on the ghee spread paratha.
• Now, slowly with the help of one finger, mix masala with ghee and spread it across the paratha (like in the picture).
• Now, cut the paratha in as many pieces as you want. Remember, more pieces, means more layers, but then more pieces also mean more work... lol
• Once cutting them in pieces, start stacking pieces of parathas on top of each other (as shows in picture).
• Once all the pieces are in one stack, press them together into a flat piece and then dust it with little wheat flour and roll it out in desired shape. Now, here as I cut my pieces in square shape, my end result paratha was in square shapre. But, go with your imagination here.
• Now, place the paratha on a hot griddle and cook (roast) both sides with liberal amount of ghee or butter till they are nice golden.
• As I serve it to kids, I like to cut them in triangles, but just server as it is.

Note: Masala spread can have more masalas if you want and feel free to change their proportions as you like. Feel free to cut as many pieces to make as many layers. My SIL sometimes goes to as many as 32 or even more layers, but she really has lot of patience...lol. This can be a total customizable paratha based on how you like it. 
Serving
My family just loves it hot out of tawa with a dollop of butter and a bowl of plain yogurt. But, eat it any way you like your parathas, but honestly, there is no need of any curries or anything with it. My son, loves to separate layers while eating and love those crispy pieces. 


I am sending this to Joy of cooking's Complete my thali: Roti-Bhakhri-Poli-Thepla-Puri-Rotla event which is guest hosted this month by Akheela.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Spinach 2 ways - Palak Ki Chutney and in Palak aur Hari Mirch Ki Poori

Hello friends,


When Nupur announced this edition of Blog Bites # 7, I really felt like I could be the Iron Chef...lol. So, no need to say, these recipes go to this Iron Chef event.


I am a die hard fan of the food network show "Iron Chef", so I was excited to try it out. So, the ingredient, I chose was Palak (Spinach), which I know not gets used much sometimes in our regular food. But, I am a big leaf eater (can't you say, because I am a vegetarian), anyways. I wanted to try something that I had not tried before or I wanted to badly. Of course, as you all know I have lots (when I say lots, I literally mean lots) of bookmarked recipes, so I wanted to give this a try.

The first one is from my dearest blogger friend Kiran of Sumadhura called Palak Ki Chutney (Spicy Spinach Chutney). My mom makes it really well, but I had never tried it myself. So, it was a treat for myself and what a delicious chutney. I could not stop eating it. I think I ate about 1/4 cup of chutney just by itself.... lol and then some more in warm rice with little oil and I was on ninth cloud. Thank you so much Kiran for such wonderful and mouth watering recipe.

The second one is from a really young blogger Sanjana (I admire as she juggles her studies and cooking both) of KO Rasoi called Palak aur Hari Mirch Ki Poori (Spinach and Green Chili Pooris or Fried Bread). My son loved these green pooris and guess what Sanjana, I did make chhole to go along with it.  Loved the combo, thanks for such a delicious recipe.


Please enjoy the pictures on my blog, but visit their blogs for delicious recipes as I have used it as it is.


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Bajre Ki Roti - बाजरे की रोटी (Millet Flour Flatbread)

Hello friends,


This is how a typical Rajasthani Village Thali looks. It has bajre ki roti, methi ki kadhi (i will post the recipe soon), lahsan ki chutney and some pieces of onion. In villages and towns, even now, they use bajre ki roti more than whole wheat.


Bajre Ki Roti - बाजरे की रोटी (Millet Flour Flatbread)

Ingredients
Bajre Ka Aata (Millet Flour) - 1 cup
Gehun Ka Aata (Whole Wheat Flour) - 1/4 cup
Ajwain (Carom Seeds) - 1 tsp
Ghee (Clarified Butter) or Oil - 2 tbsp (I used olive oil)
Salt - as per taste
Preparation

• Mix all the ingredients first in a crumbly mixture.
• Add warm water little by little and mix it in a soft dough.
• Pinch a lemon size ball from the dough, dust it with some bajra flour and roll it into a desired sized circle. Remember, you won't be able to make a perfect circle because this dough is just of that nature.
• Now, put this rolled roti on a hot griddle and let it cook on both sides till golden brown. 
• There are 2 options here, you can either put some ghee while cooking the roti or add it on top while serving. (My son doesn't like to see ghee on top of his roti, so I prefer adding it while cooking itself so that he doesn't notice it :), sneaky mom)
• Make remaining rotis, just like the above. You should be able to make about 3-4 rotis with this dough.

Serving
Serve it topped with some fresh salt less butter or ghee along with some kadhi gravy curry and some lahsan chutney and onion slices.


Note: Traditionally these are made very thick, but, I tried my best to make them thinner. Rest is your liking. Traditionally, wheat flour is not mixed in it, but that is just because in villages, ladies make circles with hand, so no issues in making roti. But, as we use rolling pin and if you don't add wheat flour, the roti just won't hold the shape together. The end product is usually crispier than regular whole wheat roti.


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Avocado Poori - अवोकेडो पूरी (Avocado Fried Bed)

Hello friends,


When looking for Avocado recipes, I stumbled upon this wonderful recipe of Avocado Poori at my blogger friend's blog. I made slight changes to it to suite my taste.


Avocado Poori - अवोकेडो पूरी (Avocado Fried Bed)

Ingredients
Avocado - 1, Ripe
Whole Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Ajwain (Carom Seeds) - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 2 tbsp (to mix in pooris)
Oil - to deep fry
Preparation

• Scoop out the flesh of the avocado and mash it lightly with a fork. I did not paste it all the way, but left very very small pieces which you can kind of see in my dough.
• Take the rest of the ingredients (except oil to deep fry) and mix well.
• Add avocado pulp and mix it well (don't start adding water at this step).
• Now, add warm water little by little and mix it into a smooth dough.
• Keep it aside for few minutes, covered.
• Once the oil for pooris is hot, pinch a small lemon size ball and roll it into a small circle of 3 inches in diameter or per your liking.
• Slowly add it in the hot oil and press it lightly with the ladle at the top, the poori should puff up.
• Cook it till both sides are golden brown about 15 seconds each side (usually).
• Drain on paper towel.

Serving
Serve it with any kind of gravy curry. Yum, yum, yum !!! I am sure you can prepare avocado roti also this way, have to try it out. 


One thing to mention here is that if you eat poori, it had no indication of avocado, so good thing to sneak it into your kids' food, as usually kids love pooris :)


I am sending this to my own event Veggie/Fruit A Month - Avocado.


That's all for now. Take care till next post.

Kuttu Ke Aate Ki Poori - कुट्टू के आटे की पूरी (Fried Bread of Buckwheat Flour)

Hello friends,


Hope you are all having or had a wonderful weekend. Was missing for 2 days, just got too lazy to prepare anything. 


Here is something we had for lunch. My son was not very happy to have "black" poori or so he calls it...lol


Kuttu Ke Aate Ki Poori - कुट्टू के आटे की पूरी (Fried Bread of Buckwheat Flour)

Ingredients
Kuttu Ka Aata (Buckwheat Flour) - 1 cup
Ubla Aloo (Boiled Potatoes) - 3 medium sized, mashed well
Kali Mirch (Black Pepper) Powder - 1 tbsp
Kasoori Methi (Dry Fenugreek Leaves) - 1 tbsp, crushed between palms
Sendha Namak (Black Salt) - as per taste
Salt - as per taste (balance black salt and this per your liking)
Preparation

• Mix all ingredients together into a chapati/roti dough. Please do not add any water as boiled potatoes are more than enough to mix the flour.
• Pinch a lemon size ball from the dough and roll it into a small 2-3 inch diameter circle (remember you won't be able to make them really thin and the dough may start breaking, so keep them thick).
• Fry them in hot oil (about 30 seconds) both the sides.
• Drain on paper towel.

Serving
Serve them hot with either just plain curd or any curry of your choice. 


Sending this recipe to Cooking With Seeds - Pepper event of Padma, an event started by Priya.

Paneer and Pyaaz Paratha

Hello friends,


Stuffed parathas are always a favorite in my family. Here is something that is loved by all alike. It can be made in a jiffy, like 30 min. total and of  course is a complete meal with nothing else needed. And, who doesn't like paneer :)


Paneer and Pyaaz Paratha - पनीर एंड प्याज पराठा (Cottage Cheese and Onion Stuffed Bread)

Ingredients
For Parathas
Whole Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1/4 cup
Warm water - 1/4
Salt - as per taste
For Stuffing
Onions - 2 cups finely chopped
Paneer - 1 cup nicely crumbled
Green Chillies - 2-3 finely chopped
Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Amchur (Mango Powder) - 1 tsp
Chat masala - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Cilantro - 1/4 cup
Oil - 1 tsp
Preparation
For Stuffing

• Mix all the ingredients for stuffing together in a bowl and let it sit for 30 min. so that they are all well coated and spiced.

For Parathas

• Mix all ingredients of paratha into a nice paratha/roti dough and keep it aside for 30 minutes before preparing parathas.
• Pinch a lemon sized ball from the dough and roll it into a small poori sized circle.
• Take about 2 tsp mixture and keep it in the middle of the circle and close the poori from all sides and make it into a nice round ball again.
• Now roll this into a circular shape as much as you can.
• Make sure you roll it slowly so that the stuffing doesn't come out and if you feel after a certain point that stuffing may come out, don't make the paratha any bigger. Anyways, usually these parathas are thick.
• Now, fry the parathas nicely on a hot griddle with little butter till both sides are well cooked.

Serving
Serve it with a dollop of butter on top, a cup of plain yogurt and some pickle on the side.


Note: If you are in hurry, you don't have to rest the dough for 30 min. or keep the mix rest for 30 min and the results won't be any different.


That's all for now. Till next post, take care.

Indian Flavored Burrito for Global Kadai Event

When I thought of making this for "Global Kadai - Indian Flavored Burritos or Wraps" event, I could think of nothing but to recreate 7-Layer Bean Burrito (my favorite from Taco Bell) in Indian flavors.


So, here are the layers of this Mexican burrito and their substitutes that I added.


Indian Flavored BurritoPublish Post
Ingredients

Beans - Black Beans Rajma Style (Black beans cooked in MDH rajma masala - I didn't add anything extra, just used canned black beans with rajma masala)
Sour Cream - Chilled and Whipped Yogurt
Lettuce - Cucumer (Finely Chopped)
Tomato - Tomato (Finely Chopped and mixed with little lemon juice, cucumber, salt and black pepper)
Guacamole - Hari Dhaniya (Cilantro) Chutney (Deep Brand that I usually use and get it from Indian store)
Cheese - Mexican 4 Cheese blend from Kraft
Hot Sauce - Tamarind and Date Chutney (Deep Brand that I usually use and get it from Indian store)
Mexican Rice - Nimbu Chawal (Cooked Rice with simple tempering - mustard, cumin seeds, lemon juice, salt, turmeric and very little chilli powder)
Extra Layer - Veggies with Crumbled Paneer (Basically Paneer Bhurjee made with Crumbled Paneer, finely chopped onion and green peppers with spices - chopped green chillies, coriander powder, cumin powder and salt)
Preparation
Pretty easy preparation. Have all ingredients ready in bowls or cups. Cook a roti well and add the ingredients one by one in this order - beans, rice, cucumber, tomato, paneer bhurjee, both the chutneys and yogurt. You may have to make a larger size roti than usual (Try to make it about torilla size that you get in the market). Finally sprinkle some chat masala on it (totally optional). Add the ingredients in the quantities that you prefer, so I won't really give you any measurements for that. first wrap up the 1/8 part of the roti from the bottom and then wrap it from both the sides. 

Serving
This can be served as it is because this one has everything in it. If you still feel like it, serve it some ketchup or hot sauce of your choice.


Hope you all like it. This obviously being a burrito can be made with any igredients that you like or love. It doesn't have to be the ones I mentioned.


So, as I mentioned above, this is going to "Global Kadai - Indian Flavored Burritos or Wraps" event hosted by Divya Vikram and started by Cilantro.

Till next post, take care and have a wonderful weekend.