Lapsi/ Broken Wheat Veggie Upma

Upma is a complete meal in itself. When you make upma with vegetables, groundnut, coconut it comfortably gets into the "healthy food" bracket. As a kid I used to hate upma from the bottom of my heart, and the days amma made upma for breakfast, I would ask her for bread and jam or something else...but wouldn't eat upma. This continued during college days too! but then after getting married I surprised myself as the dislike for upma gradually dissappeared. Now, this is dish is a regular at home. I like having it with ketchup, murabba, pickle, sambar, jam.... :) Talking about upma variations...one cannot ignore the lapsi/broken wheat upma for it's health benifits. For more information on broken wheat/bulgar wheat check here http://www.coolhealthtips.com/recipes/broken-wheat-or-bulgar-wheat-adds-to-your-daily-fiber-intake.html

I follow Tarla Dalal's recipe for making broken wheat upma but with slight changes made by me. You can click here for the original recipe http://www.tarladalal.com/Recipe.asp?id=4650

Ingredients:
1/2 cup broken wheat (dalia/bulgar wheat/lapsi)

1 1/4 cup water

1 green chillie, chopped finely

1/2 cup onions, chopped

1 sprig curry leaves

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup carrots, chopped

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1/2 tsp lime juice

2 tsp oil

salt to taste

grated coconut for garnish

Method:

• Clean the broken wheat thorougly in water ( 2-3 changes of water) drain it well and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add mustard. When it splutters add curry leaves, once it starts to pop add the grated ginger, green chillie,onion and saute till the onions become translucent.
• Add the green peas, carrot, broken wheat and saute for sometime. Next add water, salt and mix well. Close the lid of the cooker and cook it for 1-2 whistles.
• Once the pressure cooker cools, open the lid and let it cool and set for a few seconds then add lime juice and mix well.
• Tranfer the contents of the cooker to the serving vessel and garnish it with grated coconut.
• The broken wheat veggie upma is ready to be served :)
  
  

Super Soft Rotis with Potato Curry

I have always enjoyed the super soft rotis that my Amma makes with rice flour. But I never tried making them myself because it seemed complicated. Then while surfing one day, I saw Maya's blog - Konkan World and came across an easier way of making the soft, melts-in-your-mouth rotis with wheat flour. I didn't know I could get the same soft rotis using wheat flour! I decided to try her recipe and must say, the result was great to say the least. And for accompaniment, I made a different variation of the common potato curry, my Amma's recipe. And served a simple and heavenly meal thanks to Maya and Amma.

For the Super Soft Rotis

Ingredients:

• 1 cup wheat flour (atta)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

Take water in a kadhai and heat it. When the water comes to a boil, add salt and oil and switch off the flame.

Add the wheat flour (atta) to the water and keep stirring to ensure that no lumps are formed. As you keep stirring, after a while, you will get a dough which is neither too sticky nor too dry.

Now keep the dough in a covered vessel and wait for it to cool down just a bit so you can manage to hold it. But ensure it does not cool down completely as then you will not get the softness in your rotis.

Dip your hand lightly in water and divide the dough into small round portions. Flatten each round portion, smear both sides with wheat flour and roll like normal rotis.

Then cook them on a tawa without any oil and your soft rotis are ready. Serve them hot.

For the Potato Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 cup potatoes (boiled and cubed)
• 1 cup onion (rougly chopped)
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 cup grated coconut
• 2-3 dry red chillies
• A small ball of tamarind
• 2-3 tsp oil
• Salt to taste
• Pinch of sugar

Method:

Grind the coriander seeds, grated coconut, tamarind and red chillies with enough water to make a fine paste. Keep it aside.

Heat oil in a kadhai, add the onions and fry till they turn golden brown.

Next pour the ground masala into the kadhai, add 1/2 cup water and saute. Cook on a medium flame till the rawness of the masala is gone, stirring occasionaly.

Add the potatoes, sugar and salt and mix well. Cook it till bubbles start appearing in and around the gravy.

GUJARATHI KADHI

Ingredients:

2 tblsps gram flour ( besan)

2 teacups fresh curds

1 tsp chilli-ginger paste

1 tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

a pinch of cinnamon powder (optional)

5-6 curry leaves

2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped

salt to taste

Seasoning:

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

a pinch of hing (asafoetida)

2 dry red chillies, broken into pieces

1-2 tsp ghee ( I used refined oil)

Method:

Mix the besan (gram flour), curd in 2 teacups of water and beat, so that no lumps are formed

Add the greenchillie-ginger paste,turmeric powder,cinnamon powder(optional) sugar, salt and mix well and put it to boil on low heat and keep stirring while it boils. Next step is the seasoning.

For the seasoning you have to :

Heat ghee in a seasoning pan. Add cumin seeds and mustard seeds,curry leaves to it, as it starts to splutter add the red chillies and hing. Add the tempering to the kadhi and boil for a few minutes. Add the tempering to the kadhi and let it boil( people who prefer the kadhi a little spicy can add 1-2 slit green chillies) for a few minutes.

Take it off the flame. Garnish the Gujrathi kadhi with chopped coriander leaves. Serve it hot with rice.

BAIGAN KA BHARTA ( Roasted Brinjal dish)

Ingredients:

1 large brinjal

1 medium sized onion finely chopped

1 green chillie

1/4 tsp red chilli powder

2-3 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves

1 sprig curry leaves

oil for tempering

salt to taste

1 tsp mustard oil (optional)

Method:

Wash and wipe dry the brinjal.

Prick holes in the brinjal on all the sides using a fork, brush a coating of oil on it.

Roast the brinjal in hot oven or on an open fire.

Once it gets roasted evenly, dip it in cold water.

Remove the charred skin of the brinjal.

Mash it thoroughly, such that there are no lumps of brinjal left.

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard, once it starts to splutter add curry leaves and wait till it splutters.

Add the chopped onions fry lightly...let the crispyness remain.

Add the mashed brinjal, green chilli,red chilli powder, salt and mix well.

Cook for sometime. Take off the flame.

Add chopped coriander leaves, mustard oil (optional) and mix well.

Serve with chapaties or phulkas.

TOMATO SWEET CHUTNEY (dip)

Ingredients:

4-5 Tomatoes washed and roughly chopped
2-3 dry red chillies
1 tbsp panchporan, which is a mix of fenugreek, cumin, fennel, black mustard, black onion seeds (kalonji).
3-4 tsp sugar/ or dates syrup/finely chopped dates 3-4 tsp
2 tsp raisins (optional)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 -3 tsp oil

Method:

Chop the tomatoes roughly and keep them aside.
Heat oil in a saucepan and add panchporan to it. Once it starts to splutter, add the red chillies and sauté till it slightly blackens. Now add the chopped tomatoes and sauté for a few minutes. Next add turmeric and sauté for a few seconds. Add sugar/dates, raisins, salt and mix well. Add ½ a cup of water into the saucepan and again mix well. Cover and cook on medium flame till the mixture turns maroon.
The tomato sweet chutney is ready to be served. It tastes good when cooled to room temperature. It is even better when chilled. The taste is at its best the next day of it’s preparation, as the hot and sweet spices would be perfectly soaked in by the tomatoes and the gravy. This dip goes well with almost everything from bread, chapatti, dosa to rice.

Odd combos:

1. Try the chutney with….cheese crackers, digestive biscuits. Put a tea spoon of the tomato chutney on a cracker/biscuit and spread evenly till the rim, place another cracker/digestive biscuit on top, your mid -morning snack is ready.
2. Cut apples/guavas/pears into bite sized pieces and putthem in a bowl, pour a few spoonfuls of tomato sweet chutney and it’ll take care of your evening snack

*These are just 2 of the many crazy combinations that you do with the tomato sweet chutney.

Carrot n cabbage paratha with Tomato Sweet Chutney

Parathas are a great discovery, Many food enthusiasts take great pride in experimenting
With the stuffing that goes in to make the delicious paratha. The huge chunk of cabbage that is giving me company from a long time :) struck me with the idea of using it as paratha filling. As cabbage alone would be a boring taste ….I used carrot to divert the flavour and taste to some extend. I had to struggle a bit to get the right consistency for the dough. The out come was rewarding. At first I was in …to make the dough with wheat alone.The dough became a little watery, So I used besan (gram flour) for binding and crispyness. Parathas usually go well with pickles and/curds. Tomato sweet chutney is a favourite of my husband, So I decided to make it(the recipe follows in the next post) .

To make Carrot and cabbage paratha :

Ingredients:
Cabbage 2 cups ( finely chopped)
Carrot 1 large ( grated)
Wheat flour 3 cups
Besan ( gram flour) ½ a cup
Cumin powder 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Green chilli 1 (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves 2-3 tsp (finely chopped)
Aamchur powder 1 tsp (juice of half a lemon)
Oil – 2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:
Wash the chopped cabbage and grated carrot , squeeze out all the water from it and put it in a deep bottomed vessel.
Add the cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, aamchur powder/lemon juice, green chillies, coriander leaves and mix well.
Next put the wheat flour, besan and salt into the above mixture add water accordingly and knead well, half way through the kneading add oil to get rid of the stickiness and bring the dough to a stiff yet soft consistency.
Divide the dough into equal portions and make perfect balls out of each portion.
Roll them like regular chapati’s , you can make the parathas
thick or thin according to your liking.
Serve it hot with pickle, curd, or tomato sweet chutney.

Cabbage spicy Dosa - Meal accompaniment

The cabbage which was made to rest in my fridge used to haunt me even in my dreams ;) So asked some recipes from amma. One of the few recipes that I noted down from her is the spicy cabbage dosa. This is made in Konkani house holds as an accompaniment with the full fledged meals. This dish easily will give the papad a run for it's money :) it's damn easy and tastes good with the regular meal. I made it at home for the first time, it was good. For people who like to try crazy combinations...the spicy cabbage dosa tastes good with ketchup, and can be savoured as a tea time snack also. As a kid I loved to spread mixed fruit jam on the spicy dosa, roll it and freak out on the taste :)Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups grated cabbage

1 chana dal

1 cup dosa rice

1/4 cup grated coconut ( you can use coconut cut into small pieces)

3-4 dry red chillies

salt to taste

1/2 tsp sugar

Method:

Keep the grated cabbage in a wide mouthed vessel and keep it aside.

Soak chana dal and rice for about 2 hours.

Grind the chana dal, rice, coconut, red chillies by adding water ( do not make it watery).

The batter should be a little thick. Pour this ground mixture into the vessel which contains grated cabbage. Add salt (as per taste) sugar and mix all the ingredients .

Heat the tava putting 1/2 tsp oil . Once the tava gets heated pour about 1/2 a bowl of batter on the tava, spread it evenly in circular motion to make a medium sized circle. Put a few drops of oil and fry with lid closed till it turns golden brown. Now flip on the other side and fry till it is done.

Serve the spicy cabbage dosa hot with rice and dal.