Cauliflower panner stuffed paratha (Indian flat bread)

I love paratha's for two reasons easy to make, of-course !! that would be the first reason to love :) and you can be as creative as you can when it come to its stuffing's :) I just blindly go make paratha's if i have any left over's of veggies :)



Few idea's : Palak (Spinach) Paneer, Potato cauliflower, multi veggies, even with cheese , anything you name it, you can make it! Its TOTALLY up to your wish. You just need to know the correct seasoning and the flavor which matches your preference

One of the reader mailed me and asked to give tip & tricks on to make paratha's without spilling.Please read the note for that :)

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves : 5-6 paratha's

Ingredients:

• whole Wheat flour - to make dough
• Shredded Cauliflower - 1 cup
• Shredded Paneer - 1 cup
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• salt - to taste
• minced coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• crushes coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp (optional)
• Oil - to make paratha's

Direction

Except for oil mix all the other ingredients together and make a dough. The water in the cauliflower and the glutinous paneer would help to bind and make the ingredients stick together.

Unlike I mentioned in my Gobi Paratha recipe, i wanted to try this without cooking the stuffing's first. I wanted the inside of the paratha to look all white :) Though cauliflower and paneer doesn't need cooking , it is recommended to cook the cauliflower because it would have lots of pesticides while growing it unless you buy an organic version.

After mixing and binding them together make five or six dollop out of it.

Now take a piece of the whole wheat flour and spread it to a at least a small phulka size and then add the stuffing's cover and lock all the corners and spread it again carefully. Add a tsp of Ghee (Clarified butter) or Oil and cook the paratha's !

Note:

• For making paratha take twice as much dough as you would take for phulka / chapati
• Make sure you spread across the phulka dough at least well enough to cover the stuffing (It is best to spread atleast a small phulka size)
• Make sure to get all the corners to the center and spread from the center to the corner without giving any pressure to the roller.
• The most important is the stuffing should not have water content then it would make the outer dough soggy . Never add water while preparing the stuffings.

 Hope you like it. Enjoy and Happy Cooking !! :)

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Tomato Tarka Dal (Spiced and Seasoned Lentil)

I don't know why Dal tadka always makes me feel warm and cozy. Sometime when i am super tired this gives me hand. This is so delicious that i always make one extra serving :) 

It is a delight when had with rice, roasted potato and Mango pickle . Not to forget GHEE :) Love when ghee is drizzled and melts over the hot dal. It also goes great with phulka's

One of the best things about this recipe is with each variety of  dal you get new taste :) I Used Moong (Yellow split pea) and Masoor (Red lentil) you can go ahead and use your favorite lentil.

Preparation time: 5 mins

Cooking time : 20 mins with pressure cooker/ 40 mins with microwave & 1 1/2 hr on stove top.

Serves : 2-3

Ingredients:

For Seasoning:

•  Ghee - 1 tbsp + 1/2 tbsp
• Minced Garlic -1 tsp (about 2- 3 cloves)
• Cumin Seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida / Hing - Very generous pinch
• Green chilli - 1 slited
• Dried red chilli - 1 

 Other Ingredients:

•  Tomato - 1 (roughly chopped)
• Onion - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
• Salt - to taste
• Moong Dal (Yellow split pea lentil) - 1/2 cup
• Masoor Dal (Red Lentil) - 1/2 cup
• Turmeric powder - generous pinch
• Lemon Juice - 1 - 2 tbsp's
• Tamarind pulp - 2 tbsp's (Optional)

Directions:

Before you start of with anything. Soak the Lentil (dal) in 3 cups of water. If you have time soak it for about 20 mins (its totally optional). If soaked the lentil will get cooked easily

Add turmeric and salt to lentil and Cook it in a pressure cooker / microwave or on stove top until its mashable

Meanwhile In a heavy botttom pan, melt ghee and season it with chilli's , hing, cumin seeds and garlic cloves. Then to that add onions and sautee until it turns pink. To that add the tomato chunks and saute for couple of mins until its are mushy. Now add salt to the gravy so that the moisture will come out quickly. Keep in mind that the lentil is salted too and adjust accordingly

Once the lentil is cooked mash and add it to the cooked tomato gravy and mix well. To that add tamarind pulp and cook it again until the gravy and the lentil blends well together.

Finally garnish with fresh lemon juice and coriander leaves. 

Notes:

• Ghee truly gives rich flavor. If you are not a ghee person can use any oil of your choice.
• Adding tamarind pulp and lemon juice bring a nice tingling flavor to the dish.

Serve hot with Rice and Ghee :)

Enjoy and Happy Cooking !!

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Bread Halwa (Roasted Bread Pudding)

Bread Halwa is super simple and super Delicious. Since we both are not fans of breads, Usually we don't buy bread's at home. But I got a whole big loaf of bread from market to make Homemade croutons for our everyday soups :) But all in a sudden on a lazy sunday afternoon got this sudden urge for sweets, since we dint want to stock up junk food at home we were left with only veggies and fruits in our pantry:( Poor ME.. Nothing stopped me and ended up making this sweet. Is Knowing to cook bad for health????  :P Trying to find a perfect excuse. But I am glad I made this.. It was YUMMM !!

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins
Serves - 2 serving

Ingredients:

• Bread - 4 slices (cut into smaller pieces)
• Sugar - 4 - 6 tbsp (Or to taste)
• Milk - 1 - 1 1/2 cups
• Nuts - Almonds and cashews ( 2 tbsp)
• Cardamom and saffron - a pinch
• Ghee - 3 - 4 tbsp to roast the bread

 Direction:

TO make Nut paste:

In a blender, add nuts and blend them into fine paste using milk.

To Roast Bread slices:

Melt Ghee in a pan and roast all the bread slices until they turn crispy. For better results roast few pieces at once. Make sure they are crispy at the same time do not let it brown.

To Make Halwa:

Heat milk in a pan and once boiled add saffron and sugar and simmer it to medium heat. To that add the blended nutty milk, roasted bread pieces and stir and mash well.

Add more milk if necessary. Keep stirring in the same direction until all the bread pieces absorb milk and get together and turn brown color.

Finally add cardamom powder and garnish with few nuts

Note:

• If the bread is not roasted and just toasted, you will feel the raw bread flavor in the halwa and still would taste well.
• Blending the nuts instead of adding them directly enhances the flavour of the halwa.
• Roasting in ghee gives the perfect taste, and since Ghee has the highest smoke point than oil, you dont get the smell of burnt oil while eating halwa. But its totally optional.

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Instant Oats Dosa

Usual my mom makes instant dosa's using just rice flour and all purpose (Maida) flour. But I had a big box of instant oats, and most of the versions online where asked to soak and grind the oats. You guys know I am not a big fan of soaking and waiting ;)

So I decided to just replace Oats instead of Rice in place of  normal dosa recipe and make Oats Dosa. And also I did not soak them I directly made a fine powder out of it and used it to make dosa batter :)

Say No to instant dosa batter from shop and try this one. You will not be disappointed :) It just took me 15 mins to prepare dinner for both of us :)

The Good part about this recipe is you can make them in batches and store the powder. It has great shelf life !!

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 2 mins for each dosa's
Serves : 7 - 8 Dosa's

Ingredients:

• Instant (Quaker's) Oats - 3/4 cup
• Urad dal (Skinned Black lentil) - 1/4 cup
• Salt - to taste (While making batter)
• Oil - to prepare Dosa's (Crepe's )

 Direction:

To Make Instant Dosa Powder:

Grind the Oats and Lentil separately in a grinder / Mixer and make a fine powder.  :) and That's it !!! Heyyyyy

To Make Dosa:

When ever you need to make Dosa, take the desirable amount of powder and make a lump free batter (Just like any normal Dosa batter consistency) and salt to taste.

Because of the properties of Oats and Urad dal, the soft would be super soft. It usually take equal amount of powder and water to make the batter, but again it depends. It doesn't taste weird , tastes just like normal Dosa :)

Serve it with you favorite chutney / podi or Sambhar :)

Enjoy and Happy Cooking !!

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Orange Magic (Carrot Ginger and Orange Soup)

This is one of the craziest thing i have ever tried. I would never have thought of trying carrot with ginger or orange. It is unbelievably delicious. I would like to hug the person who first made this recipe :D

To be honest I had some leftover carrots and Orange and I was wondering if I can make a smoothie out of it. But for dinner i want some new soup to taste. Then ended up trying this recipe. Only after making this i realized I have carrot recipes for soups, accomplishments,  main course and desserts :) Yayyyy !! :)

This is such a wonderful combination . It has sweetness from carrots, Little spice from ginger, and a wonderful citrus tart flavor from orange :) I really recommend to try this recipe.

It is very simple to make. This goes into my under 30 mins page :)

Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 20 - 25 mins
Serves - 2

Ingredients:

• Oil / Butter - 1 tbsp
• Ginger - 1 inch piece 
• Carrots - 3 large
• Chopped Onions - 1 cup
• Orange - 1 
• Sour cream / Cultured Yogurt - for dressing (Optional)
• Coriander leaves - for garnishing
• salt and black pepper/ Cayenne pepper - to taste
• Milk - 1/4 cup

Direction:

In a pan, melt butter and saute ginger and onions until it turns color.

Then to that roughly chopped big chunks of carrots and again saute it for a minute, then to that add water, salt, pepper and mix then bring it to boil and let it cook until the carrots are tender.

Once the carrots are cooked let it cool down little bit and blend it in a mixture to that squeeze the Orange juice and give it a mix and strain the soup using a filter. Finally garnish it with minced coriander leaves, cultured yogurt or sour cream.

Note:

1. You can add more orange juice if you like, choose an orange which is juicy
2. Before adding pepper give a taste test as ginger gives some spice to the soup and add pepper accordingly.
3. I did not peel the carrot skin I dint want to waste the fiber in its skin. If you wish to you can

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