Zero Oil Series- Onion Paratha

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)

1 cup heaped finely chopped onion

1 tsp Kasoori Methi

1 tsp Mixed herbs (dried)

1/4th Cup finely chopped coriander leaves

1 Green chillie, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

Warm water for kneading

Method:

In a large mixing bowl put all the ingredients.Knead it into a soft dough with just sufficient water.

Divide the dough into equal portions.

Roll each portions into circles of desired thickness.

Dust off the extra flour on both the sides of the parathas with a clean kitchen cloth.

Cook the parathas on a non-stick pan, until both the sides are golden brown.

Enjoy the parathas with pickle/curd/side dish of your choice.

P.S: Another alternative to prepare this is you could mix the stuffing separately and prepare a regular dough separately. Roll out small circles of the dough and spoon the onion filling in the centre and fold the edges and seal it then roll out the parathas of desired thickness.

Ivy Gourd cooked in Sweet and Spicy Masala

Ingredients:

10-12 Ivy Gourds,Cut into thick circles

2 tbsp Coriander seeds

1tsp Urad dal

2-3 Red chillies

1/4th tsp Fenugreek seeds (methi)

1/2 cup Coconut, grated

1 Onion, finely chopped

1/2-1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Thick tamarind pulp

Oil

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

Method:

In a kadhai/wok heat 2 tbsp of oil throw in onions and fry till they are slightly golden brown.

Add the chopped ivy gourds and fry throughlyon medium -low flame. While this is getting cooked prepare for the masala.

In a small skillet heat a little oil and put in the coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chillies, urad dal and fry till it changes colour slightly and it gives out a nice roasted smell.Take it off the flame and cool it thoroughly.

Grind it into a coarse paste by adding very little water.Set it aside.

When the onions and ivy gourds are nearing doneness add the ground masala paste andmix thoroughly.

Let it cook till the rawness of the masala fades off and oil starts appearing on the edges of the masala paste.

Add salt, sugar, tamarind pulp and sprinkle little water and stir thoroughly once.

Cover and cook till done.

Tofu Paratha -Zero oil series

Ingredients

Tofu filling:
2 cups Tofu, crumbled
1/4th cup coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
½ tsp Kasoori methi
1tsp ginger- garlic paste
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp kitchen king masala
½ tsp cumin powder
1 tsp dry mango powder/ lemon juice
Salt to taste

Dough:
2 cups whole wheat flour (Atta)
Salt to taste (optional)

Water to knead

Step 1:
Put the wheat flour and salt in a wide mouthed vessel and add just enough water and knead it into soft and manageable dough. Set it aside

Step 2: Tofu filling
Take all the ingredients mentioned for the tofu filling in a bowl/plate and mix thoroughly and set it aside.

Step 3: Making Parathas Make equal portions of the dough

Take one portion and roll it into a small disk like circle and spoon about 2-3 tbsp of the tofu filling and fold the sides and bring them together and seal it lightly.

Flatten the dough ball and dip it in dry flour on either sides and roll it gently into a medium sized paratha.

Cook it on a medium-low flame by pressing gently on the edges and centre, flip it and cook on the other side in the same manner.

Place it on a plate and dust off the extra flour from the parathas (it's essential to to this as we do not use oil in cooking/frying the parathas, so they tend hold flour on it's surface, and look extra fair ;))

Repeat the same method with the remaining dough.

Serve the parathas hot with pickle, curd, raita or sabzi of your choice.

P.S: Another alternative for tofu parathas is that you could mix the tofu filling ingredients with the wheat flour and knead it into a soft dough using just enough water. And roll them like regular chapattis.

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!

Cardamom Flavoured Shreekhand with Mango bites

S had a craving for shreekhand, upon his request I was all set to make the good old shreekhand, the way my mom makes it. I was a bit tempted to make aamkhand but stuck to usual plain shreekhand but added a zing to it by serving it with ripe mango chopped finely.

Ingredients:

1 litre milk
1-2 tsp curd/buttermilk/juice of half a lemon
4-5 tbsp sugar

3/4th tsp cardamom powder
1 small ripe mango, peeled and finely chopped
A generous pinch of saffron soaked in 1-2 tbsp milk
2-3 tbsp chopped nuts ( I used almonds)

Method:
Boil the milk and set it aside to cool.
Add 1-2 tsp curd/buttermilk/lemon juice to the milk when it is tepid, stir gently cover and leave it for 5-6 hours undisturbed.
After the milk has curdled, pour it on to a muslin cloth, tie it up and hang it for 6-7 hours. By doing this all the whey from the curdled milk drips down and you are left with thick cheesy residue.
Transfer the cheesy curd to a bowl add sugar, saffron infused milk, cardamom powder, and mix thoroughly (you could use a hand blender) to get a smooth texture.
Check for the sweetness and adjust the sugar according to your taste.
If the shreekhand is very thick add a spoon or two of cold milk mix well.
Refrigerate and serve chilled garnished with nuts and mango pieces.

P.S: Friends I’m taking a short break of about a week. Wouldn’t be able to visit your blogs and leave a comment during the break. I will surely try to catch up with all the lovely recipe posts that I’ve missed. Enjoy and Happy Blogging :)

Doi Potol and something to share...

Bengali’s love potol, English name for which is Pointed gourd. Since the potol aloo combination is a common sight in most of the Bengali households, I guess Bengali’s favourite side dish is aloo potoler tarkari ;)(potato and pointed gourd stir fry) Being a non-Bengali I wasn’t knowing about the existence of this adorable vegetable, I was familiarized with this member of the gourd family by S.
Last evening I picked up a packet of fresh Potol and wanted to make something different from the usual. Upon googling I came across this fantastic webpage created by Sutupa Ray, All Bengali’s and non-Bengali would love this :) coz it’s an ocean of Bengali recipes and much more. A big hug and even bigger Thanks to Sutapa for this wonderful one stop web page. Here’s the link check it out.

http://sutapa.com/

I got the recipe for Doi Potol from one of the sited blogs at Sutapa’s page. I have made very negligible changes in the original recipe. The original recipe calls for ground ginger, I used ginger garlic paste and the powders and spices a wee..bit more than the actual measures.
Next the peeling method, it calls for fully peeled Potols with a slit on either edge. Instead I peeled each potol half inch apart and then slit the edges. I came across this peeling tip at Indranis blog Appayan, to get a clear picture here’s the link
http://indranid.blogspot.com/2009/04/aloo-potoler-tarkaripotato-parwal-curry.html
Thanks for the tip Indrani I was dying to try it out :)
Now for the recipe:

Ingredients: 250 Gms Potol/ Pointed gourd
¾ cup curd, whisked
½ tsp red chilli powder (I used Kashmiri mirch powder)
½ tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin leaves
Salt and sugar to taste
Pinch of asafoetida
2 tbsp ghee (I skipped this one)
4 tbsp oil

Dry Grinding:
4 green cardamoms
4 sticks of cinnamon
*Grind these two ingredients to a fine powder and set it aside

Method:
Wash and clean the potol
Peel it and make ½” slit at both ends (do not cut them into halves).
Rinse them in running water and drain.
Heat 2and ½ tbsp oil in a Kadhai and fry the potol one by one and set it aside. (DO NOT USE THE SAME OIL) discard the used oil; wipe the Kadhai with a kitchen towel/tissue.
Heat 1 and 1/2 tbsp oil in the Kadhai add 1 tbsp ghee (I gave it a miss) bay leaf, asafoetida, cumin seeds sauté for a minute.
Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder. Fry the spices.
Keeping the flame low add curd,potol, sugar and sprinkle some water cook uncovered for 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally.
Taste and adjust the salt and sugar accordingly.
Add ghee(I gave it a miss) and ground dry garam masala, mix so that the masala coats the vegetable evenly.
Cook till done.
Serve hot with rice or roti.

P.S: This dish comes very close to Doi Mach (fish in yogurt gravy) in taste, so I loved every bite and morsel of it :)

Wheat Flour Veggie Dosa

Wheatflour dosas usually have a mix of one or two other kinds of flours which goes in to make the batter. Here is the recipe with a difference. This dosa is made with just plain wheat flour (atta) and some veggies thrown in here and there. I was a bit doubtful, whether the batter would be too thin and would get stuck to the tava/ dosa pan. It worked out just perfect. S and I loved the taste of it. One thing that has to be taken care while pouring the batter on to the tava is DO NOT Spread the batter like the regular dosas, instead pour it like u do the pan cake batter, and spread it just a little ..
Here’s the recipe for Wheat dosa.

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1 medium carrot, grated
2-3 tbsp spinach, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, deseeded, finely chopped
1 green chilli, minced
½” piece ginger, grated
2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

pinch of sugar (optional)
Oil for frying

Method:

In a mixing bowl mix all the ingredients with just enough water to make the batter a little more liquidy (thinner) than the normal dosa batter.

Heat a tava/dosa pan preferably non-stick pan, using your finger tips sprinkle some water on it, once the water begins to evaporate pour a ladle of batter and slightly and lightly spread in circular motion in the centre of the poured batter.

Dot the dosa with oil around its rim close and cook it for a few minutes. Check for the doneness by lifting the dosa slightly with the spatula.

Once it is nicely browned, flip it over to the other side and cook it in the same manner.
Repeat the same method for the remaining batter.
Serve the wheat flour dosa with chutney,pickle or side dish of your choice. It tastes brilliant with plain curd too :)