Palak(Spinach) Roti Wednesday, December, 13, 2006

                                                  About 2 months back we went for  an outing with some of our family friends. Those friends(a Gujarati couple) are strict vegetarians and being in tokyo, finding strict vegetarian food is little difficult and on that day we travelled 2 hrs away from tokyo by train. So, finding the veg food there is almost impossible. So, we planned about carrying the lunch ahead. I carried mushroom  pulao with raita and they brought thepla and aloo curry. That was the first time I had thepla. Bhabi (I love calling them bhayya and bhabi)  was explaining that thepla is a very famous picnic recipe in Gujarat and also explained the method of preparation. We simply loved it. So, from that day I was planning to prepare thepla in the house.
                                                  One day I was reading about the methi thepla here. I liked it a lot, but I didn’t had methi leaves then.So, thought of trying with palak(Spinach), which I bought in sale and have to finish at any cost. I prepared and had with Aloo Palak.. a nice combination .

                  

                                                       Palak (Spinach) Roti

Source: Net

Ingredients:
Spinach – a bunch
Wheat Flour – 2 cups
Besan – 2 tbspn
cumin powder – 2 tbspn
Chilli Powder – 1-2 tspn
Turmeric – 2 tspn
Ajwain – 1 tspn
Curd – 1/2 cup
Salt acc to taste
Oil enough for roasting.

Method:
1.Take a vessel, add wheat flour, besan, cumin powder, chilli powder, salt, ajwain, turmeric, and finely chopped spinach and knead well using curd and little water to make soft dough.
2.Set aside for 1 hr.
3.Make lemon size ball and roll it as you do for chapathi.
4.Heat the griddle and roast the rolled stuff.
 Roasting:
 1.First roast one side, turn it upside down.
 2.Put 1/2 tspn of oil on the turned side and again turn it upside down.
 3.Repeat the same with the other side.
 4.When evenly roasted remove it from griddle.
5.Serve with any raita, plain curd. We had with Aloo palak curry.

                   

                                                    Palak Roti with Aloo Palak

Notes:
1.I mixed the curd with water and used for kneading.
2.The source for ‘Roasting’ script is here

Garlic Toast Saturday, December, 9, 2006

                                                  I always used garlic butter from the store to prepare this. But this time I didn’t had garlic butter in stock, but garlic and butter were there. So, here comes my recipe.

                    
                                                           Garlic Toast         

 Ingredients:
Garlic pods 2-3
Butter – 2 Tbspn
Bread slices – 6no.
Olive oil – 1 tbspn (optional)
Dry basil powder (optional)
Salt to taste

Method:
1.Chop the garlic and add to mixie along with the butter.
2.Add salt and olive oil(optional). Run the mixie untill u get the smooth consistency.
3.Take the bread slices, remove the brown sides. cut each bread diagonally.
4.Apply the just made garlic butter, sprinkle dry basil powder and toast it.
5.Serve with any hot soup.    

See my version of tomato soup here               

                   
                                                           Garlic Toast 

Notes:
1.I have used 2 medium sized garlic pods.
2.I have used unsalted butter.
3.When I was doing the garlic butter, the butter was very hard and I was running out of time. So,to make the mixie run smoothly, I had to add some oil, so I chose oilve oil.
4.Used basil powder for just to have a nice and yummy look.

Roti Telur Monday, September, 11, 2006

                                 Couple of days back I was surfing the net for some new recipes, I  found ROTI TELUR from http://www.malaysianfood.net/ It looked somewhat similar to our Chapathi omelet. Here’s my modified recipe.

Ingredients :

All purpose flour
Salt to taste
Milk
Eggs – 2
red chillie powder – 2 Teaspoons
Jeera – 1 -2 Teaspoons
Oil

  
             

Method :

1.Add 1 teaspoon of salt to the flour, make a well in the center and add milk (as required).Knead well to make soft dough. Set aside for 2 hours.
2.In the mean while beat the eggs in a bowl, add salt, red chillie powder. Keep aside
3.Take a small ball of dough, oil the work top with oiland work each ball into a very thin sheet – first  flatten with your oiled palms, then thin it further by pulling the edges.
4.Preheat the pan, when hot put roti dough on.
5.Now gently pour the egg mixture(from step 2) over the roti dough and carefully spread over the dough.
6.After 2 min, fold the edges of the roti dough over, just enough to seal the egg mixture in.
7.Cook 2-3 mins till golden brown. Lift Roti with a spatula, grease the griddle with a tsp of oil, cook the other side.
8.Serve with any spiced curry…..We had with Malai Kofta curry….It was too good!!
 

Aloo Paratha Tuesday, September, 5, 2006

                              

                               Aloo paratha, Masala Dahi, Baby onions

Paratha is a Indian flatbread,which is usually made with whole-wheat flour,fried in ghee.Parathas are often stuffed with vegetables like boiled potatoes, cauliflower, radish , etc.. Though North India is the origin of PARATHA,it soon became famous all over India.

I recently heard that the variations of PARATHA ‘Rotiprata’ and ‘Roticanai’are famous in Singapore,Malaysia respectively( The immigrants from India took paratha to Singapore and Malaysia).

Paratha when compared with daily ROTI is usually prepared as a special item or for special guests.

Types of PARATHA :

Aloo Paratha ( Stuffed with boiled potatoes)
Gobi paratha (Stuffed with boiled cauliflower)
Lacha Paratha
Pudina Paratha (Using mint)
Paneer Paratha (Using cottage cheese)
.
.
.
.
.The list goes on…….

Parathas are generally eaten with curd,pickles.

Aloo Paratha :

This was our Friday dinner. I usually prepare aloo paratha in 2 ways,….one is mixng the dough by adding boiled potatoes to the whole wheat flour and the other one is stuffing the spiced potato mix . We both like stuffed aloo paratha though both versions are pleasant-tasting.

Ingredients :

Whole-Wheat flour – 2 cups
Salt – 1 teaspoon
Water

For stuffing :
Boiled potatoes
Finely chopped onions – 2 table spoons
Finely chopped green chillies (as per your taste buds)
Garam masala (Depends on how spicy we want)
Coriander powder(I prefer fresh coriander leaves…though optional)
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method :
1.Add 1 teaspoon of salt to theflour, make a well in the center and add water (as required).Knead well to make soft dough.
Set aside for 30 min.
2.Remove the skin on the boiled potato andmash them nicely.
3.Add salt,garam masala, coriander powder,finely chopped onions,finely chopped green chillies (red chillie powder can also be added instead of green chillies. This time I added redchillie powder )
4.After adding mix them well. This is used for filling/stuffing
5.Take a small ball of dough and roll ,a thick roti about 4″ diameter.
6.Place a handful of filling at the center. Brings the ends to the center from 4 or 5 points.Overlap ends so they do not  leave an opening. Press gently, dust with dry flour, and proceed to roll.
7.Heat the griddle , Place the paratha cook for one minute. Turn over and cook the other side for another minute.
8.Brush oil on the cooked Paratha and all around and shallow fry both sides over low heat until both sides are lightly toasted and golden brown.
9.Remove and serve hot with plain yoghurt or masala dahi.

I like the combination of hot hot aloo paratha with cool masala dahi.Hmmmm mouth watering…… =P~ ;;)

Masala Dahi :
Dry roast the jeera and black pepper separately and make them into fine powder( I do it separately). Add salt and these powders to curd (dahi) . Add them according to your taste.
I heard from one my friends that instead of normal salt if you add black salt then it is more palatable.