Stuffed Chapathi

Stuffed chapathi is kind of similar to aloo paratha but still different. The chapathi is stuffed with a vegetable masala of your choice and the chapathi is cooked along with the stuffed vegetable. This is my next recipe from the list of Bookmarked recipes. The basic idea is from here but I do it in my own terms. I love this to snack on an evening. I generally stuff this with aloo masala since I make it often. But i guess any vegetable of your choice should do.

Ingredients:

For Chapathi 

Whole wheat Flour - 2 cups and more for dusting
Water - 3/4 cup Approx
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp

Ingredients for Aloo Masala:

Potatoes - 2 no's boiled and cooked nicely.
Onion - 1/2 medium size onion chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves finely chopped
Ginger - 1 table spoon finely chopped
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Red chili Powder - 1 tsp or use green chili's 2 to 3 no's (I used powder to get that red color)
Asafoetida/hing - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Cilantro/Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup chopped
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:

•  Mix flour with salt , pour water little at a time and mix to make a dough , work with your hands to make it soft and smooth dough or else use a stand mixer (if you have ) , when the dough is firm but soft , coat'em with oil and cover with a damp kitchen towel and keep aside.
• Boil the potatoes in a cooker, peel them and keep it aside.
• Heat oil in a pan , add Cumin/Jeera and hing (Asafoetida) , followed by finely chopped ginger and garlic.Add in the finely chopped onion and continue to saute'em till the onion looks golden brown.
• Add then the Turmeric powder and Red chili Powder and mix well
• Add the well cooked and lightly mashed potatoes and salt to taste and combine all ingredients well
• Add cilantro/coriander leaves and switch  off the heat and let them cool completely. 
• Make equal sized balls from the dough ( 6 to 8 no's) and roll'em to make chapathi's , since the chapathi has to hold the sabzi , it shouldn't be very thin. 
• On one half of the chapathi, place the filling, fold it and seal it. We can make nice patterns of our choice. I made a pattern with the back of a fork on the sealed part.
•  place these Stuffed chapathi on a heated Tava/ Iron skillet to cook them , drizzle few drops of oil/ghee on each sides.

And its ready , serve'em hot with curd or pickle if you like. I like to have them as such.

Notes:

• The filling shouldn't be hot or else the chapathi may become  soggy and it will be difficult to roll'em.
• A good lunch box Idea too as there is no side dish needed for the same.

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Ragi semiya upma

For the final week in this month's Blogging Marathon I have chosen for book marked recipes. I was kind of waiting for this theme. I have lot many recipes bookmarked but somehow never find time or opportunity to make these. So this week I purposefully selected recipes from my bookmarked list which are not usual recipes. 

I am starting this week with a millet based upma. Oflate I find this ragi semiya available in stores. Once I bought this packet but didn't find time and the right recipe to make this. Finally threw the semiya packet - this was some 2 years back. Later I found the recipe in Rak's kitchen and bookmarked it. I added vegetables in addition to the bookmarked recipe. Do try this out. Its easy to make and very healthy too.

Ingredients

Ragi semiya (Anil) - 2 cups

Onion - 1

*Mixed cut vegetables - 1/2 cup

Green chilli - 2

Salt - As needed

To temper

Oil - 1 tsp

Mustard - 3/4 tsp

Urad dal - 1 tsp

Chana dal - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Coriander leaves - few

* I used cauliflower, carrot, beans, peas as cut vegetables.

Method:

• Soak the ragi in a liter of water just for 3 minutes. Drain water completely.
• In a steamer (Idli pot), steam for 4-5 minutes.  Once done, fluff to separate the cooked ragi semiya. 
• Cook the cut vegetables in microwave for about 5-6 minutes.
• In a kadai, heat oil and temper with the items given under 'To temper' table. Follow by sliced onion, slit green chilli and fry till onion turn transparent.
• Add the cooked vegetables and salt. Mix well
• Add half the cooked ragi semiya and mix well. Cook for another 1 or 2 minutes.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Notes:

• Do not soak the ragi semiya for more than 3 minutes or else the semiya will dissolve in water.
• Ragi semiya will not take much salt or oil so add carefully.

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Wheat dosa

I am posting another dosa recipe that can be packed for kids lunch box. I have already posted a recipe of stuffed wheat dosa but this cannot be packed for kids lunch box since it needs to be eaten little hot. Often when I get up late or in case of days wherein we have just returned from a long journey, I pack this wheat dosa along with onion-tomato chutney for lunchbox. This recipe is also easy to make.

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 1 cup - 125 grams

Water - 3/4 cup

Curd - 1 tbsp

salt - to taste

To temper:

Oil - 1 tspn - 5 grams

Mustard - 1 tspn - 5 grams

urad dal - 1/2 t spn - 3 grams

Ginger (finely chopped) - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Method:

• Mix the wheat flour and salt. Add curd first and then water and make it into a batter similar to that of dosa batter consistency.
• In a kadai, pour oil, add the mustard seeds. Once mustard splutters, add the urad dal and chopped ginger. Fry until urad dal turns light pink and finally add the curry leaves - add this to the batter and mix well.
• Heat a dosa pan. Make a thin dosa of the batter. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Serve with an interesting chutney of your choice.

Some chutney accompaniments to this dosa is given below.

ulli chammandhi

kunjulli thenga chammandhi

onion tomato coconut chutney

garlic chutney

Notes:

• Instead of curd, a pinch of baking soda can be added.
• Cover and cook to make the dosas soft.

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Sponge Dosa | Lunchbox ideas

Kids definitely look for varieties in their lunch boxes. So I keep trying newer ideas in our day-to-day traditional dishes. I found this different recipe for dosa in a cook book first and later in many blogs. I wanted to try this for a long time and somehow didn't find an opportunity. Last week I tried this and it was fabulous. The dosa was very soft and spongy and stayed the same way after packing it for llunch box too. Just pack this with attractive side dishes. I packed with groundnut chutney. 

Ingredients:

Idly rice(parboiled rice) - 2 cups

Rice flakes/aval/poha - 1/4 cup

Sour butter milk - 3 – 4 cups

Cooking soda - 1/4 tsp

Oil & salt - As needed

Method:

• Soak washed rice and aval  together in buttermilk overnight.
• Morning,drain the excess buttermilk if any and grind to a smooth batter like our idly dosa batter(bit watery than that)
• Mix salt(I added 2 tsp) and cooking soda and mix well.
• Heat the tawa (I used a nonstick one) and pour a ladle full of batter and drizzle oil and don’t spread the batter,cook covered in medium flame for a minute.
• Now super soft spongy dosa is ready to enjoy!

Notes:

If there are no holes formed in the dosa, Check the consistency of the batter, too thick batter or even too thin batter wont give you porous dosa. Try adding more cooking soda and mix well and try again.

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Tomato Rice | Easy lunchbox recipes

For the third week in this Blogging Marathon, I have chosen to blog about lunch box dishes for kids. I have heard from many mothers that packing lunch boxes for children is a very big challenge. Kids these days love variety and they want to feel surprised when they open their lunch boxes.

The biggest challenge in packing lunch boxes is that the recipe should be something the kid likes. And the next one is that it should be easy to make during the morning rush hour. In this post I have posted photos of how I packed tomato rice for the lunch box. Generally kids hate tomatoes. I have seen this in a lot of kids. But they enjoy the taste. So I grind tomatoes and onions to make this rice. 

I packed the tomato rice with gobi manchurian, papads and curd. I also added a boiled egg to make the lunch more interesting. The other option would be to pack this rice with lots of fryums and fried potatoes.

The recipe of gobi manchurian is given here.

Ingredients:

Jeera rice - 2 cups (200 grams)

Tomato - 150 grams

Onions - 100 grams

Ginger - 5 grams

Garlic - 5 grams

Green chillies - 2 nos (small)

Salt - to taste

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - few

Method:

• Wash the rice and keep aside.
• Grind the onions, tomatoes, green chillies, ginger, garlic into a coarse paste.
• In a pressure cooker, add the oil. Add the ground paste and fry until the water is completely evaporated and the ground mixture becomes a thick paste.
• Add the washed rice and throw in all the powders including salt.
• Fry for another one or two minutes.
• Add the required amount of water (1:2 ratio).
• Mix well. Check for salt. Close the pressure cooker.
• Cook for one pressure. Then bring doen the heat to minimum. Cook for another minute and switch off the stove.
• Open the pressure cooker as soon as the pressure is released and transfer the contents to a wide mouthed bowl.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Notes:

• The tomato rice will be more flavorful if made with basmati rice.
• To make it more attractive to kids, garnish it with fried cashewnuts.

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Paal Arisi Kanji | Dessert

Paal Arisi Kanji - This is one dessert which I make very often. This is very easy to make. This recipe comes in hand when we have unannounced guests at home.

I say this to be an easy recipe because all the ingredients - milk, cooked rice and sugar are always available at home. This tastes little different to pal payasam since the rice is not cooked in milk. And with little less sugar this recipe would be a very good appetizer.

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 litre

Cooked rice - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Saffron - few strands

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method:

• In a wide mouthed vessel, boil the milk.
• Once the milk starts boiling, lower the flame and add the cooked rice and sugar.
• Stir well and boil the milk for another 10 minutes. 
• Keep stirring so that the milk doesn't burn at the bottom of the vessel.
• After 10-12 minutes, add the cardamom powder, ghee and saffron strands.
• Mix well, switch off stove.

Dhideer payasam ready!!

Notes:

• This sweet can also be garnished with cashew nuts, raisins and other nuts.

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Layered Custard

The second recipe in line for "No bake recipes" is this layered custard. Custard preparation these days is no big deal. We get ready-made custard powder packets. We just have to boil milk with this custard powder and in minutes custard is ready. This would be a very good dessert for kids and also can be made quickly. I just made a little twist to this by adding some coloring agent and layering it.

Ingredients:

Custard powder ( Vanilla flavor) - 100 grams

Milk - 1 litre

Sugar - 350 grams

Coloring agent - Green, red

Decorative sugar crystals - few

Method:

• Mix the custard powder in about one glass of milk and keep it aside.
• Boil the remaining milk in a thick bottomed vessel.
• Once the milk starts to raise in the vessel, lower the flame. Add sugar and mix well.
• Now add the custard mixture and mix well. Keep stirring till the mixture thickens for about 5 minutes and then switch off the stove.
• Divide the custard into 3 portions. In one portion add a little green color and in another portion add a bit of red color.
• Now in glass cups, layer this custard and refrigerate it for about an hour.
• Decorate it with sugar crystals just before serving.

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Panna Cotta Shooters

Well last month I couldn't blog my recipes due to personal problems. I had opted for 4th of July dishes in the last marathon and had prepared some recipes for the same. But unfortunately could not post it. So I am making use of some of the recipes for this week's theme - No Bake Desserts!

On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies claimed their independence from England, an event which eventually led to the formation of the United States. So basically the way we make tri-color dishes for our independence or republic day, we have to make dishes which represents the colors in the US flag. Now the US flag has many stars, and the prominent colors are white, red and blue. In our cuisine, we can easily make recipes with natural colors for red and white. But its very difficult to find a natural color source for blue. So the recipe here I have is with artificial coloring agent.

I adapted the recipe from here.

Ingredients:

Coconut Milk - 1 cup

Sugar - 6 tbsp

Powdered gelatin - 2 tsp

Water - 6 cups

Coloring agent - Red, blue

Method:

• In a small cup sprinkle powdered gelatin over the cold water and let it stand until absorbed.
• Combine the coconut milk and 2 tbsp sugar in a saucepan. Heat the mixture until just boiling.
• Combine the remaining water and the remaining sugar. Heat the mixture until just boiling.
• Split the water mixture into 2. Add red color in one half and blue color in the other half. Mix well and keep aside.
• Microwave the gelatin mixture for 10-15 seconds, until melted and liquid.
• Add this melted gelatin in all the 3 liquids - red water mixture, blue water mixture and coconut milk mixture. Allow the mixtures to cool to room temperature.
• Arrange 6 glasses. Add 1/4th with the blue mixture. Freeze this for about 1 hour.
• After 1 hour, remove the glasses. Now add the coconut milk mixture until the glass is filled 3/4th.
• Refrigerate the glasses until the panna cotta mixture is set (another 1 hour).
• Now add the red water mixture as the top layer. 

Easy and interesting dessert is ready.

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Basundi

Starting with the next blogging marathon this week. I have opted for festival dishes for this week. Guru poornima is just around the corner and I Thought of posting some recipes connected to this festival.

I have never celebrated this festival and honestly I don't know the importance of festival. A Guru is a person who removes darkness (ignorance), holds our hand and shows us the light (knowledge) at the end of the tunnel. It is a blessing to get the grace of a guru, who guides us through the ups and downs in life.

I am starting this guru poornima celebration with a sweet - Basundi. It is a very delicious milk based dessert very popular in the north of India and is the closest cousin to condensed milk. Very rich and flavorful with the addition of elegant spices like saffron and cardamom. It will take you about an hour, but the end product would be something worth the effort.

Ingredients:

Whole Milk or 2% -  3 liters
Sugar - 3/4 to 1 cup sugar ( add more if you like it sweeter)
Saffron - a few threads
Cardamom - 5 pods powdered finely
Cashew nut or Pistachios or Almonds - a few sliced

Method:

• Place the wide mouth pan on medium high. Add the milk and allow it to come to a boil. Turn to low and allow for the cream layer ( pal aadai) to form.
• When it starts to form remove it and place in a bowl.  Remember to stir so that the milk does not scotch.
• Keep adding more of the cream to the bowl and soon the bowl will be filled with thick cream.
• The milk would have reduced, thickened and the color of the thickened milk will appear to be an ivory color with a pinkish ting.
• Then add the collected cream to the reduced milk. Add sugar, cardamom and saffron. Garnish with nuts of your choice. Allow to cool, place in the fridge until it is chilled and serve it cold on a hot summers day.

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