Paratha Series

Paratha’s are a wonder food. They not only filling but also flavourful and a convenient way of consuming nutritional veggies and protein rich dals. 2 weeks back I was in a paratha crazy phase. It happens so many a times …I get over obsessed with something and go on and on with it till I've had had enough of it. During this paratha obsession I went through many sites, blogs and dug into my recipe collection. I mixed and matched many recipes and made changes to suit my taste.

Paratha’s are actually a sinful indulgence, if it’s over eaten, it leaves you feeling guity. The main reason behind the guilt is the oil/ghee which is used quite generously to fry the paratha’s . We had a family friend who visited us a few days back. I had made aloo paratha and some side dish for him . A told me that he was dieting and so had cut down oil to the maximum. He told me to make parathas without oil; I looked heavenwards for help, as I hadn’t tried zero oil parathas :( I offered a liitle prayer and got started…lol They turned out just brilliant. I am so glad I tried it. It was a total hit with S. After that I made a series of zero oil parathas and had it with zero guilt :)

Today’s post is dedicated to A coz if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have dared to try oil free parathas. My blah blah….is becoming a bit too lengthy, cutting it short and moving on to the recipe of the day. I came across this recipe in on of the Tarala Dalal’s Cook book. As mentioned earlier, there are slight changes done to the basic recipe. Read on...

OATS AND SPRING ONION PARATHA
don't go by the way it looks :) it tastes amazing

For the Dough:
1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
¼ cup quick cooking rolledoats
2 tbsp low fat curds
Salt to taste

Spring Onion Filling:
½ cup spring onion whites, chopped finely
½ cup greens of the spring onions, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp ginger- green chilli, minced
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
½ tsp oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Dough
Combine the ingredients for the dough and knead it with sufficient water to get a soft and hand friendly dough :)
Divide the dough into equal portions and set it aside.

Filling:
Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds after it crackles add the whites of the spring onion, ginger-chilli mince, ginger garlic paste and cook it till translucent.
Next add greens of the spring onion, salt cover and cook till all the water evaporates. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Making Parathas:

Roll one portion of the dough into a small circle
Spoon some spring onion mixture in the centre of the dough circle.
Fold together all the sides and converge to one point and seal it.
Flatten and roll gently into a circle considerably thick, dip in flour while rolling if necessary.
Dust off extra flour from the paratha.
Cook the paratha on a non-stick pan, use a clean folded kitchen cloth to press the edges and centre of the paratha to get it well cooked inside out, flip over to the other side and cook till done
Serve hot.

Pages From My Travel Book and a Summer Cooler

Hi all of you am back after a short break! We had been to Shirdi last week, it was a long pending visit that we had to do from our side. We had planned a 3 days trip in all plus 2 days to spent with my parents :)

About Shirdi:

Shirdi town is situated in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra State (India)

The temple premises of Shri Saibaba is situated in the heart of Shirdi village and is a major center of pilgrimage for people from all over the world. It is estimated that around 20,000 devotees visit Shirdi on a daily basis.

The temple premises is a small town in itself, it consists of residence (small home) of baba's devotees who had served him during his time,museum which showcases articles used by Saibaba, It also houses samadhis of close followers of baba. A few steps away is the mosque 'Dwaarkamaai' where Saibaba spent most of his time, the mosque also has a 'Akhandjyothi' (fire lit by Baba, which is kept burning till date) from which the udi (vibhooti) is distributed to the devotees.There are plenty of flower stalls and sweet stalls around this area.

Further there is Samadhi mandir and Gurusthan where Baba's mortal remains rest. There is a divine looking marble statue of Baba close to that. Different kinds of pooja's are performed at different times of the day. There is a queue system to reach the samadhi mandir, it took us 2 and 1/2 hours for darshan , but it was worth the wait :)

Cameras were prohibited in the temple premises, so couldn't click snaps of Shirdi.

Since we had time we went site seeing to many temples around Shirdi and also to the world heritage site Ellora which is in Aurangabaad, famous for it's single rock cut caves and gigantic sculptures, Replica of Taj Mahal which is called the Taj of Deccan, this is the tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb's wife, it was built by the prince in the memory of his mother . Here are some snaps.

Recipe for the day is Melon Smoothie :) I came across this superb tasting under 4 minutes recipe in the latest edition of Prevention Magazine. I've changed the recipe slightly.

The combination of milk with melon gives a different taste to the smoothie altogether, the cardamom powder has a major roll in enhancing the flavour of the drink. Am sure You'll love it here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups Watermelon

1/2 cup Fat-free milk

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder

1-2 tsp sugar/honey (optinal)

1 cup crushed ice

Method:

Combine Watermelon, milk, cardamom powder, sugar in a blender and blend until smooth.

Put the crushed ice into a tall glass and pour the blended melon smoothied over it. Enjoy the smoothie at any time of the day :) Cheers!