Mixed veg kurma in nutty gravy with Beetroot paratha

Yesterday was one of those low energy days. Frequent trips to attend nature's call might be a common side effect of pregnancy, it also is a sure shot way to mess up a good night's sleep! Since hubby had an early meeting to attend, there was no way I could sleep on hoping someone would cook for me. Made this as lunch and also dinner.

For kurmaMixed vegetables - 2 cups (I used beans,carrot,cauliflower,peas,potato,capsicum)
Onion - 1 medium sized
Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - 1/4 teaspoon
Cilantro (coriander leaves) - a small bunch (10 sprigs)

To grindGarlic - 4 cloves
Ginger - 1" piece
Green chillies - 5 Nos (use less for lesser heat)

Dry masalaCinnamon - 1" stick
Cloves - 2 Nos
Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Kitchen king masala - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)

For gravy
Almonds - 10 Nos
Cashews - 10 Nos
Low-fat milk - 1 cup (150 ml)
Low-fat paneer (Indian cottage cheese) - 1/2 cup (crumbled)

Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a skillet, add the cinnamon and cloves followed by finely chopped onion. When the onions are sauted till translucent, add the ground garlic-ginger-green chilli paste. Saute well. Add the carrot and potato pieces in along with 1/2 cup of water. Cover and simmer till almost done, add the rest of the vegetables, coriander powder, turmeric powder, kitchen king masala, kasuri methi, crumbled paneer and half the milk. Cook covered till vegetables are soft.

Boil another cup of water seperately, add the nuts in and cook well. Drain and grind to fine paste adding the rest of the milk.

Add to the cooked vegetables along with finely chopped coriander leaves and salt to taste. Simmer cook stirring occasionally till the gravy thickens. Add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. Cover and let stay for about 15 minutes before transferring to a serving dish.

For Beetroot paratha
Wholewheat flour - 2 cups
Wheat bran - 1/4 cup (optional)
Oat flour - 1/4 cup (optional)
Beetroot - 1 large
Salt to taste

Pressure cook beetroot with the jacket on. Peel and blend to smooth puree. Mix the flours and bran in a deep bowl. Add in salt and the beetroot puree. Rub the flours well and adding water little by little knead to dough. Cover and let stay for 1/2 hour. Shape lemon sized balls out of the dough and roll out (leaven) into chappathis (tortillas). Heat a flat pan and cook the chappathi with or without a little drizzle of oil. Turn over and cook other side. When done small golden brown blisters appear over the tortillas.

If paneer (Indian cottage cheese) is not commercially available in your area, you can easily make it at home. For the method, http://thefootloosechef.blogspot.com/2008/06/learn-how-to-make-paneer-cottage.html

Paneer Tikka Kaatti Rolls

Never imagined I would ever go through a period when the very thought (don't even mention the smell!!) of food would revolt me !!Well, I did... all for a good cause...the stork is on its way to our home. This is also why I haven't been updating this blog for such a loong time. Now you know...

Now that I'm back to 'eating' (dreaming about food takes top priority, however!)I've got back to 'cooking' too. Energy levels are not always at peak so I try to make up one dish options that can provide adequate, wholesome nutrition. The following has been adapted from Tarla Dalal's "Cooking with one teaspoon oil" with very minor tweaks.

Ingredients for Paneer Tikka filling
Paneer (indian cottage cheese) - 1 cup (cut into cubes)
Potato - 1 large (boiled and cubed)
Tomato - 1 large (diced)
Capsicum - 1 (deseeded and diced)

For the marinade
Hung curd - 1 cup (pour thick yoghurt through a muslin cloth, let the liquid part drain away)
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Ginger & garlic paste - 1 teaspoon
Bengal gram flour (besan/chick pea flour/kadalai maavu)- 2 teaspoons
Chaat masala - 1/2 teaspoon
Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - 1 teaspoon
Garam masala - 1/4 teaspoon
Lemon juice - 2 teaspoons
Olive oil - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Mix together the ingredients for the marinade into a smooth batter. Add in the ingredients for the filling and let marinate for atleast an hour. Heat a couple of teaspoons of oil in a pan and add the marinated pieces in. Saute on medium flame for a few minutes. Let cool.

For the roll
Whole wheat flour - 200 gms
Warm milk - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste
Water for kneading

Knead everything into a chappathi (roti/tortilla) kind of dough. Cover and let stay for an hour. Shape into large lemon sized balls and roll (leaven) out into chappathis. Place each chappathi on a hot gridle (flat tava) and cook till light brown spots appear, turn and cook other side. Place a portion of the filling on one side of the chappathi and roll up tightly. If required secure with a tooth pick. Place in a greased baking tray and warm in an oven at 150 degrees for 5 minutes. Alternatively brown the rolls on a hot girdle with a light sprinkling of oil.

Serve hot with green chutney and salad.

Spinach (palak) parathas with Green gram masala

Parathas in combination with green gram masala and chopped onions was a dinner favourite at home when I was a kid. This time, I'm just giving my mom's old recipe an extra dose of nutrition with spinach. I generally shred the spinach (palak) that I put into the dough for this recipe but this time decided to liquidise it along with the green chillies and ginger.

For the Palak (spinach)paratha
Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Spinach (palak) - 1 medium sized bunch
Green chillies - 3 Nos
Ginger - 1" piece
Fennel (saunf/perumjeerakam)- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Rinse the spinach leaves well. Together with the green chillies, ginger, and fennel grind the spinach leaves to a smooth paste. Add to the wheat flour, along with salt to taste and knead to a firm yet pliable dough. Add a drizzle of oil. Let stay covered for atleast half an hour.

Make golf ball sized shapes out of the dough. Dust with loose flour and roll (leaven) out into chappathis (tortillas). Heat a flat pan and rub on a little oil to temper it. Place the leavened paratha on it and cook till done. Turn over and repeat procedure on the other side.

For green gram (moong) masala (cherupayar kari)
Whole green gram - 150 gms
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Small onions (shallots/scallions) - 4 Nos
Cumin (jeera) - 1 teaspoon
Green chillies - 5 Nos
Garlic - 4 cloves
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Chilli powder (cayenne pepper) - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

For tempering
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves - 4 sprigs

Soak the green gram overnight. Drain and cook till very soft. Grind together the coconut, onions, garlic, green chillies, cumin, chilli powder, and turmeric powder into a paste. Heat a teaspoon of oil and crackle mustard seeds. Add the curry leaves and the cooked gram. Add in the masala and salt to taste. Sprinkle some water if the mixture is too dry. Saute everything together for a minute or two. Take off flame and squirt in some freshly squeezed lemon juice.

Sending this over to Tongue Ticklers' FIC - Green event. The event is on till the 30th of September at http://tumyumtreats.blogspot.com/2008/09/round-up-of-food-in-colours-red.html

Mixed veggie paratha with dates chutney

To me, a wholesome mixed veggie stuffed paratha is a meal in itself. And when in combo with a yummy sweet, tangy, and spicy dates chutney, it's 'heaven on earth' for breakfast/dinner !!!

For the paratha dough
Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Vegetable oil - 1 teaspoon
Warm water - to knead
Salt to taste
Knead everything together to form dough. Cover with soft muslin cloth and let stay atleast for half an hour.





For the mixed veggie filling
Potato - 1 large
Carrot - 1 large
French beans - 150 gms
Onions - 1
Ginger - 1" piece
Green chillies - 5 nos
Garlic - 3 cloves
Cook the potato in jacket. Cool, peel, and use a fork to crumble. Finely mince the carrots and beans. Chop the onions. Grind the ginger, garlic, and green chillies. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a skillet and saute the ground paste. Add the onions and saute till traslucent. Add the carrots and beans, and stir fry till 3/4th done. Add the crumbled potato and salt to taste. Take off flame and cool.
For making stuffed parathas
Shape large lemon sized balls out of the dough. Roll (leaven) them out as ordinary chappthis/tortillas. Keep one chappathi on a plate and place a liberal quantity of filling over it, leaving the sides clean. Place another chappathi over this and press down well to seal sides and remove air. Heat a girdle (dosa pan/tava) and rub on a little oil. Place the stuffed paratha on and cover with a conical shaped lid. Allow to simer cook for a minute. Turn over and repeat with other side. Ocassionally,press down using a flat ladle to allow even cooking. Remove from girdle and using a sharp knife cut the paratha into halves.

For dates chutney
Deseeded and chopped dates - 1 cup
Tamarind - about 5 gms
Ginger - a short piece
Vinegar - 1 teaspoon
Red chilli powder (cayenne pepper) - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Water - 1/4 cup

Put everything together in a mixer/processor and grind to paste. Presto! your yummy chutney is ready.

Serve with hot mixed veggie paratha!

This is my entry to Latha's WBB - Combi Breakfast event series. The event is on at http://masalamagic.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/announcing-wbb-combi-breakfasts/. Hurry all you fellow bloggers, the deadline is August 31st.

My dear blogger friend, Lubna of kitchenflavours has passed me the 'Wylde Woman Award'. The purpose of this award is to send love and acknowledgement to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

The rules of this award are:
1.You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post
2. Link back to this blog site http://tammyvitale.typepad.com/ so that Tammy, the originator of this award, can go visit all these wonderful women.

I in turn would be delighted to pass this onto:
Purva of purvasdaawat
Usha of veginspirations
Vidya of iyercooks
Meera of enjoyindianfood
Suma of vegetableplatter
Rashmi of delhibelle
Seeema of myrandap




Vidya (iyercooks) has tagged me with a lovely poem on friendship.

We need friends for many reasons,all throughout the season.

We need friends to comfort uswhen we are sad,and to have fun with us when we are glad.

We need friends to give us good advice,

We need someone we can count on,and treat us nice.

We need friends to remember us once we have passed ;sharing memories that will always last.

Spread the poem of friendship.1. Everyday Life 2. Words of Love 3. Sheng's Simple Thoughts . . . 4 My Wonderful Life ....5. Can of Thoughts 6. Designs By Vhiel 7. Vhiel's Corner 8. Anything and Everything in Between 9. A Mother's Stuff 10. http://housewifeatwork.blogspot.com/ 11. My Receipes 12. Vblogger 13. thefootloosechef 14. You next

I would like to pass this to:

Sunshinemom of Tongue Ticklers (tumyumtreats); Nidhi of sizzlingbites; and Srilekha of srishkitchen; and Lubna of kitchenflavours.

Donate for a Heart Campaign

Srivalli of cooking4allseasons has launched a fund raiser to save Lakshmi, a coronory disease patient. Lakshmi is a 28 year old with two young children to support and only her aged parents to help her. She requires a major operation costing Rs. 5-6 lakhs ($15,000).

You can chip in to save Lakshmi by making a contribution securely through PayPal (click the widget below) or by directly making your contribution through Srivalli's blog http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2008/08/donate-for-heart-campaign-to-heal.html

If you have any questions on this fundraiser, email lakshmi.fundraising@gmail.com

Masala chappathi with a 'twist' :-)

I made stir fried green brinjal, green gram sprouts, and dhal (lentils) for lunch yesterday. After we ate, just a teeny weeny bit of each dish remained. Did not feel like transfering them into tiny katoris and stoving into the fridge, felt even more bad chucking them out.
Voila! idea struck! mixed them along with wheat flour to make a different kinda 'masala chappathi'!
Left over veggies
Wheat flour
Yoghurt - 2 teaspoons
Chilli powder (cayenne pepper)
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt to taste

Knead everything together. Add water only if required (i found the moisture from the veggies sufficient).

Keep aside covered by a soft muslin cloth for about an hour. make chappathis (tortillas) as usual!
Serve with achar (pickle) and thick yoghurt.

Batura

Wheat flour - 250 gms

Sour curd (yoghurt) - 1/2 cup

Bread slices - 2 (trim off the crust)

Egg - 1

Sugar - 1 teaspoon

Warm milk - 1/2 cup

Cooking Soda - a pinch

Oil - 1 teaspoon (5 ml)

Salt to taste

Soak the bread in milk for a few minutes. Sift the wheat flour and cooking soda together so that they blend well. Add all the ingredients into the wheat flour and knead to a soft dough. The dough should be softer than the regular chappathi dough. Add some water if required. Cover with a muslin cloth and let stand for an hour.

Shape big lemon sized balls outof the dough and gently roll them out into flat, thick chappathis. Heat 1/2 litre of any vegetable oil with a high heating point and deep fry each batura. Gently press them with the ladle when they are in the oil so that they fluff up like pooris. Turn over and fry the other side.

Place on kitchen tissues to absorb excess oil. Serve with hot channa masala.

Aloo (potato) chappathi

For the chappathis
Wheat flour - 250 gms
Curd (yoghurt) - 2 teaspoons (10gms)
Salt to taste
Add warm water and knead the wheat flour and curd into a dough like for regular chappathis. Let stand for half an hour.
For the filling
Potatoes - 3 big ones
Ginger - 10gms
Jeera (cumin) - powdered 1 teaspoon
Green chillies - 4
Salt to taste
Boil and crumble the potatoes. Grind the green chillies and ginger and add to potatoes. Add in the jeera powder and salt to taste.
For the stuffed chappathis
Shape big leamon sized balls out of the wheat dough. Take each ball and use your fingers to create a depression in the middle. Now place a little of the filling into the depression and then reshape it back into a ball. Now the stuffing is fully inside. Gently roll out balls into chappathis sprinkling loose wheat flour to prevent sticking.
Heat a flat pan and use a paper napkin or cloth to rub on a little oil on it. Place the chappathi on and cook both sides.
Serve hot with yoghurt and mint chutney.