Palak Paratha/ Spinach Flatbread

I often make spinach paste the day I get it from grocers. This paste comes handy when making palak paneer or any parathas or any cutlets/patties. Just gives the extra health factor for the mom in me. My kids are usually good eaters. By this I mean, they do not willingly try new foods, but anything old and trusted goes well down their throats. These parathas make  a quick breakfast/travel food or wrap for veggies or simple school lunch with ketchup. They make my morning easy and I am relaxed sending these as lunch for busy days. I do make another paste/pesto or green chutney with cilantro and green chili, This is basically a chutney you would make for any chat item. I religiously make these every weekend to make my week easy. These chutneys form the base for any wraps, pizza's or spread it on a buttered toast for  a quick breakfast on the days you run late.

Prep time; 15 mins

Dough resting time; 20 mins 

Serves 4, makes about 15- 6-7 inch parathas.

 You will need;

To make Palak Paste;

1 Bunch spinach leaves or one bag cleaned spinach

4 cups water to blanch the spinach

Salt to taste

Boil water on high heat with salt. Once it comes to a boil, Add the washed, cleaned spinach leaves (. Do not bother to chop the leaves as we will grind them in a grinder to make a fine paste), let them wilt for 2 minutes and take them out. You can dip them in ice water to stop their cooking process or grind it immediately in the grinder. Doing this helps the spinach retain their vibrant green color. You have the paste ready to use.

To make the Parathas;

2 cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 cup palak paste

2 tbspn green chutney- Optional but highly recommended

Salt to taste

1 tsp Red chili/cayenne powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 Amchur or dry mango powder

1tsp Sugar

1 tsp Garam masala

2 tbspn oil to knead the dough

Water as needed to make the dough soft.

In a wide bowl, take the palak paste, green chutney and the dry powders and add salt and sugar, add oil and mix well, now start adding the flour and start mixing in the flour. Add teaspoon by tea spoon water till you have a soft pliable dough. Do not add water initially, as the green chutney and palak paste will have water and will help in binding the flour. Once  the dough is soft enough, cover  and let rest for 15-20 mins.

After the dough is rested, roll out the parathas like you would make roti's( make small balls  of the dough and roll out thin rounds tortillas dusting flour if the tortillas stick to the surface). Heat a griddle or tawa on medium heat and cook the partahas on one side. Flip the parathas and spray oil and cook the other side. Repeat on side one and cook both sides. Serve hot with some ketchup. or green chutney or any curry of your choice.

 

Beetroot Raita/Beetroot in Yogurt Dip/Beetachi Koshimbir

Welcome to the wonderful world of beets. I am sorry my dear beet, that I did not like your shabby appearance and poor tail when I was growing up. I am also sorry that when stared at you for long I thought of you as a small mouse waiting to be thrown out of the window. I also did not like the stains you gave my shirt with your brilliant magenta color. I disliked you so much that I vowed that the day I have my own kitchen and liberty to make my rules you would be exiled from my land. I apologize for the thoughts, but I was immature then.Now that I have grown up, I am much more mature than I was. I took time to  listen to you, look beyond the appearance and appreciate the goodness in your little body. Now that I have come to love you, promise me to be with me and not leave my land and be a friend foreever.

I use beets in pavbahji, cutlets, parathas and now even will make a  cake with it. I am in love with you, Mr. Beet. ( also Mr. Ash and my munchkins.) But my affair with beets is totally on a separate page. I try to eat beets at least twice  a week, to get nice color to my blood and also my cheeks, well..that's what my momma told me. How do you eat your beets??

Prep time; 5 mins if you have boiled  OR canned beets
Serves 2

You will need;
1/2 cup boiled beet- diced
1 cup yogurt beaten well
salt to taste
Cilantro to garnish

Tempering;
1 tsp ghee/clarified butter
1 medium hot green chili
pinch of hing/Aesafodita

In a bowl, take the diced boiled beets, and add yogurt. mix and keep aside. In a small pot, heat the ghee and add the chili and hing. Let it splutter for 2 secs and aroma fill the air. Pour this over the beet-yogurt mix. Add salt and mix well. Garnish with cilantro. This is an easy raita and dip that goes well with rice/phulka/ roti or just as is.

YAY..Runner up on Master Chef India 2 Contest on Indiblogger

This is some news or what.. Thanks all for the support and love you have showered on me.

Stuffed Karela/Bitter Melon/Gourd-- Guest post for Chef Kavi and her CWK Series

I am guest posting for Chef Kavi and her CWK Series. It is my great honor to do this post for her. When I first started reading her blog, I imagined Kavi to be older and much closer to my age, but when I spoke with her, I realized that she is still in college and already cooking so much that I at her age could only have even imagined in my wildest dreams. So when she asked me to do a guest post for her, I was lost as to what I should do for her. Then I realized that no one goes the karela way..so here I go where no one goes. Kavi's blog is full of bakes, treats and goodies. May be my post will balance the sweetness on her blog. Thanks Kavi for giving me this opportunity to do this for you. It has been a pleasure doing this for you.

This is yet another Karela recipe. I know I know, I hear the Groans, and see the faces, but believe me guys, this is as good as any karela can get. The bitter groud/melon is bitter before it gets cooked, but once you get to the stuffing and the skin, the bitterness gets sweet.  Try it guys, you will like it... For me..please..... The stuffing is sweet/tangy and spicy all at the same time.

Prep time 

10-15 mins

Cook Time

 20 mins

Servings:

This recipe is for four small to medium Bitter gourds and if served a s a side dish, will be enough for 4 adults or if served as a main vegetable, could do for 2 adults.

For the Stuffing;

1/2 medium onion finely chopped and roasted in 2 tsp oil.

1/2 cup roasted peanuts powder

1 tbspn Jaggery or Gul-- substitute with brown sugar if Jaggery is not found

1 tbspn Juice of Tamarind
2 tbspn Fresh chopped Cilantro
salt to taste
1 tsp Red Chili powder

1 tsp Goda Masala- This is a typical Brahman masala...also called as Black Masala-- substitite with Garam Masala--Famous INdian spice easily found in Indian Grocerys tores

1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder

4 Bittergourds/Bitter Melon/ Karela-- slit the center and remove all the seeds from the inside, taking care of not ripping the ends.

Twine or Toothpicks top keep the stuffed Karela together and avoid the stuffing form coming out while cooking.

  

Tadka/Tempering
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 tsp oil or coat the pan well to cook the Karela's

Mix all the stuffing ingredients, if the tamarind juice is not enough, use very little water to bind the mixture. The mixture should be sticky, not wet and easy to hold itself inside the veggie. Now take the slit open bitter melons/ karelas and stuff each one with the above mixture. Seal the open cut with toothpicks or tie them together with cooking twine. I did not have any twine, so used tooth picks. Now in a heated pan, take little oil, heat it well and add the jeera/cumin seeds (the tadka Ingredients) and add the stuffed karela's/veggies... Cover and cook on low heat...Note that the lid should not be removed, if needed slightly shake the pan, so as to ensure nothing sticks to the pan. On a low flame, cook the veggies. Steam them well and cook till done.

Enjoy as a side dish or a vegetable on its own.

Ragda Pattice Street food of Amchi Mumbai

Ragda Pattice is yet another street food that is very versatile. In Mumbai, we find many chat vendors selling pani puri/gol gappas with hot ragda as filling, The usal/ragda if served with garnish and shev and farsan/namkeen and a pav/bread becomes usal pav, which is another popular fast food lunch item. I am not aware about the prices now, but when I was practicing and working in Mumbai, this heavenly meal was less than Rs.20. The court canteen used to serve misal/usal for Rs 5 and that with a cup of chai/T was our mid morning fix on most days.

Ragda pattice was something we had on Saturday evenings when we had company or Mom decided to make something different than everyday dal/roti/rice. When I made ragda pattice, it surely brought back many memories and stories of my childhood. I at times wonder if my kids would also associate memories with the food we eat and places we visit. We had less toys, less outings, no eating out unless it was a special occasion or someone was promoted and celebrating in our family. Everything was pre-decided as per the guests and holidays and seasons. In summer we had our yearly pani puri with mango ice cream party, then was our pav bahji with chickoo milkshake and vanilla ice cream birthday parties. Life was simple and no time was kept for menu plannings, meal plannings. Yet there was less food wastage and no one was disappointed with the choice of food that day; except us kids who were made to eat their veggies and some salads that were prepared in less pleasing ways. I for one have no fights with food, except when my aaji/garndma mushed and mashed the banana in milk and made a sloppy mess and making us eat that shikran or when she mashed the boiled red pumpkin with her hands and mixed in the yogurt with her fingers...I mean we could afford spoons in all sizes and shapes, then why play with the food you are serving to innocent kids? Even now I get a yucky feeling when I try to picture my grandma doing all that with her fingers and stuffing our baby mouths with that. This is real torture. We have been through some touch times. My kids are really lucky to escape that. Enough of my stories about childhood days, please make this ragda pattice and bring some of the street flavor in your clean home today.

To make Ragda 

Use pre sokaed White peas( soaked for 5-6 hours)

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cooking time : 15-20 mins

Serves :4

You will need; 

1 cup dried white peas - soaked in hot water for 5-6 hours and boiled with 2 cups water in a pressure cooker for 2-3 whistles.

1 onion diced small

1 tomato diced small

1 inch ginger grated

3 cloves garlic mashed

1 tspn Usal Masala- Substitute with 1/2 tspn Garam masala + 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt to taste

Tempering

2 tbspn oil

1 tsppn Jeera/cumin seeds

1 tsp rai/mustard seeds

pinch of hing/asafodita

1tsp turmeric/haldi

5-6 curry leaves

Heat a wok on medium heat and add oil, add the tempering ingredients, rai/mustard seeds and jeera/cumin seeds, let it sizzle and then add the onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic, then add the turmeric/haldi and hing and curry leaves and fry till the onion and tomatoes get cooked and oil starts separating from the sides. Then add the boiled peas with the water in which it was cooked.Then add the usal masala, salt and lemon juice and cover and cook for 5-7 mins. The ragda is ready. Discard the curry leaves from the ragda.

** The Usal masala I have is very spicy, so adjust the heat levels as per your liking. Generally it is wiser to start with less amounts and increase to you liking.

To make Pattice/Patties

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 5 mins

Makes about 10-12, 1 inch patties

You will need:

2 -3 medium boiled  potatoes

1 small boiled and grated beet root

1 Tbspn Green chutney

salt to taste

 In a bowl, mash the boiled potatoes and add the grated boiled beetrot, add the salt and the green chutney and mix well, make small coins/patties and shallow fry in on a tawa/griddle using non stick oil spray to cut the oil intake.

They will look like this once they are shallow fried.

Assembling the Ragda Pattice; to make individual servings

Garnish with Shev/Onions/Cilantro and chat chutneys( Tamarind and green mint chutney)--Optional, use any or all or none.

In an individual serving bowl take 3 patties and arrange them as a lower base, pour ragda over that, garnish with cilantro and onions and serve hot. You can use regular chat chutneys like tamarind/green chutney and shev over this or enjoy it as is.

 Sending this to Anusha's Street Food event

Happy Valentines Day- Celebrating with some Starburst candy roses

Happy Valentines Day to you all my dearest friends. I am cutting things short and going ahead with what my munchkins planned for me. I woke up to these beautiful 3 roses, one from each of my boy and I in turn surprised them with my banana almond cake. There were demands to keep the frosting out this time, so I dusted the cake with confectioners sugar and colored sugar and thought it would make the cut. But Mr. Ash felt that the cake was not appropriate for V day. I was stuck with no fondant on hand and a very tiring day at work, to make the whole icing for just decoration. The lazy unromantic me, was plain lazy to go shopping for ready made icing, also that it is not loved by them, I only needed to make roses. So I put my brain to work, something I could probably have on hand at home and use to make the roses. I raided my kids V day loot and found snickers, Hershey's kisses, lollipops and fruit roll ups. I tried fruit roll roses like we would make ribbon roses a school project from my childhood, which mainly my mom completed for me. Yes, I was that kid, whose art and craft projects their moms or aunts or anyone other than they did.

I also had some starburst candy on hand. They are so helpful. I could only find a couple of pink and one red in the whole pack. One in hand is worth two in bush, comes true in such situations. I simply zapped the candy in a glass dish for 7-10 secs in microwave, kneaded it into a small ball and rolled it flat out and cut ribbons on that and made roses and inserted them on the cake...how easy can it get....there you have the secret to the roses that not only looked cute but amazed Mr. Ash. He commented that he liked this new fondant roses better than the one I made before.

The real roses were so pretty, that I  cannot help showing them to you. Enjoy the natural beauty and appreciate the blessings however small they may be.

Have a V day everyday and spend time appreciating your loved ones.

Amarendra of Amu's kitchen shared this awesome award with me. Thanks Amarendra. He is an awesome chef and an enthusiatic person. Please visist his blog and drop him a hello, get introduced to the treasures in his kitchen. This V day could not have been better for me. I am humbled with your love and care for me.

A little about the award..

'Liebster' means favourite or dearest in German. Rules for accepting the award :

• Copy and paste the award on your blog. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.
• Pick your five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers who deserve to be noticed and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.
• Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.

Since it's V day and I really cannot make the choice of only 5 Blogs, I am sharing it with all of you. Just drop me your email and I will inbox the award to you.

Sharing this at Anajana's Cake, Cookies and Desert event

Pav Bhaji--Populr Indian Street food- Back to the Roots

Pav Bhaji is very popular Bombay Street food. It actually needs no introduction. The one meal that takes little time and woks well with anything and everything you have on hand. The one party food that can work with kids as well as elders and all in presence. I had blogged about Pav Bhaji before. But since The post and pictures were not good enough, it's a repeat performance here. The recipe has the potential to stretch the buck in case of an Emergency....like for a party, all u need is to add boiled veggies and potato and extra pav bhaji masala. I will not rant much about my love for Pav Bhaji...but will give you the recipe instead.

Prep time;  approx 20 mins to chop the veggies
Boiling veggies; 10 minutes
Cooking the bhaji; 10 -15 mins
**Do not get overwhelmed with the longer prep time, its all very easy as it all gets mashed up finally.
Serves 4

 You will need;

Store brought double roti/pav or sandwich rolls

For the bhaji/vegetable

1 no. Tomato(chopped)
3 medium Onion(chopped)
1 no. Bell pepper(chopped)

Cook in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles
1 cup Potato(chopped)
1 and 1/2 cup Vegetables(cauliflower, cabbage, carrots mixed-- chopped)
1/2 cup Peas
1/2 beetroot-grated

Tempering;
2 tbspn oil/butter
2 tsps. Pav Bhaji Masala
1 tsp. Red chili powder/cayeene pepper powder
1/2 tsp. Ginger(grated)
1/2tsp. Garlic(crushed)

½ tspn. Lemon juice and Cilantro(to garnish)
Salt to taste
Note** use 2 tbspn Butter/Vegetable Oil(to shallow fry)-- Use butter for a unique taste.. but Oil works well.

Keep aside 1/2 chopped onion for garnishing. Cook mixed vegetables, potatoes and peas in a pressure cooker. Don't add too much water while cooking. After the vegetables are done, drain and mash them coarsely. Keep the water and use as stock later on....run the boiled veggies through a stick blender to mash them. On medium heat, in a wider wok/pan, heat butter/ oil in a pan and fry onion and ginger/garlic. When onions turn translucent, add bell peppers and tomatoes. Continue frying till it turns soft. Now add Pav Bhaji Masala, chili/cayenne powder, salt and fry for another couple of minutes. Now you can add the mashed vegetables. Turn up the heat and continue stirring till everything is well incorporated. use the reserved stock if the mixture starts sticking to the bottom.
Cut Pavs/sandwich rolls in half horizontally and lightly coat it with butter. Roast them on hot pan or griddle just before serving. Garnish Bhaji with chopped coriander leaves, chopped onions, little butter and 1/2 tsp lemon juice.

Enjoyyyy and if you have any leftovers spread it on the pav and roast it with butter and have masala pav next day!!!!!!!!

 Sending this to Anusha Street Food event

Milk Fudge- Milk Burfi/ Indian Sweet

Recipe Source: Authentic Vegetarian Recipes

I saw the chocolate burfi/ Indian Sweet on Minaji's blog and ever since I drooled every-time I thought about them. When such things start happening often, you simply go ahead and make some for yourself. Minaji's recipe was simple and her explanation was easy to follow if you heard her well. But if you are like me and always have a pint of heavy cream nearing its expiration date, in your fridge, you kind of over hear the master and do your own act. result is either you get applauded or fall flat on your face. Something similar happened with this recipe in my kitchen. I goofed up on the milk proportion and above that I used heavy cream. So applaud or flat on face, I will leave the decision to you.

My munchkins do NOT love chocolate on anything. They like to eat their candies as is. So chocolate cake is only for Black forest cakes in my home. When I showed the chocolate burfi picture to my elder munchkin, he made  a sad face as to why anyone would spoil the bar of chocolate and spread it over the sweet. Hint taken that chocolate burfi would not go well in Ashland.

When I was a kid, there was  a sweet shop named Brijwasi very close to moms home, now it is  a big building, but then it was  a small shop where he made all sweets fresh on the same day. My mom used to take me there and we used to get goodies like malai peda, kalakand and sometimes chocolate burfi. My mom disliked chocolate burfi and it was only after  a lot of bargaining that she let me get it. The seller always witnessed this and gave me a piece every time I visited, just so as he did not like to see my sad face when my mom said NO. Years later when I visited his store, he did not recognize me, but when he saw my son do the same drama for Kaju Katli's, he told him about a girl, apparently his Mom, i.e yours truly...GOSH..things people in small towns do!!!! I counted my blessings as my son did not understand Hindi and the conversation we had when I told him that I was the girl he was telling my son about. We exchanged pleasantries after that and we left the sweet shop.

Minaji's post brought back a flood of memories from back home, a part of life with no worries and true sense of Hakuna Matata for us. I feel bad for kids today, ruining from one activity to other without enjoying what being a kid is all about. We never let them make mistakes and allow them the liberty to learn form them.Are we weird parents or just the world has changed so much???

The answer may never be found, so lets hop skip and run to the recipe. Minaji's recipe can be found on her blog, Do visit for some really traditional recipe she has on her space. This is how it happened in my home , after I goofed up on the milk proportion.

Preparation time, 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 mins plus 2 hours for setting
Servings; I could get 35 one inch squares plus some shavings for tasting


You will need:
1 cup Heavy cream
4.5 cups mava powder/ dry Milk powder
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tspn cardamom powder/ Elaichi

1 tbspn Everest Milk Masala- Optional--** Substitute with almond and pistachio powder--Optional

1 Tsp Clarified butter or Ghee to grease the plate--
** Note that no oil should be used to grease the plate when cooking with Indian sweets, and the heat should always be set at low to medium.

In a wok, heat the water and sugar till it comes to  a small boil, then add the milk/mava powder and the cream and stir well and cook on low heat till the mixture gets well incorporated, add the milk masala, cardamom/dry almond pista powder and stir well and cook till the mixture starts collecting on the spoon. cooking this in anon stick would work well. Once the mixture gets cooked, spread it on  a pre-greased plate/or low rim bowl. Allow it to set and cool for about 2 hours. Once the fudge looks set and has cooled down, cut the diamond or make a grid with horizontal and vertical lines and cut the pieces. I arranged half a pistachio on each square as one munchkin is nuts about nuts and younger one stays far away from them.


I am sending this to Kavi's Kids delight event and
Gayathri's Walk down the Memory Lane event.

 

Sizzling Tastebuds Valentine event

Srav's Culinary Concpets event.

Kanda Pohe

In most Maharashtrian homes, Kanda Pohe signifies a different meaning rather than a good old breakfast staple. It was essentially prepared in a arranged marriage setting, where the groom's family visited the girls family to check out the girl, family and the other statistics. Even now, when we hear anyone's marriage being fixed back home, the second natural question is; is it a Kanda pohe marriage? I am still not sure of why only kanda pohe is related to this ladki dekho and dikhao program for fixing marriages. It will a mystery to me, same as how couples joined in holy matrimony by arranged marriages live a successful life.  Yours truly was also married into holy matrimony via such program, only difference being that I went to see Mr. Ash and his home and there were no Kanda Pohe...sadly, I miss teasing him that he was selected in my Swayamvar as he made the best Kanda pohe amidst the lot of eligible grooms for Ms. Ash... hee hee. no such thing ever happened.. ours was/is a boring story and guess we still are very old fashioned in many ways.

Kanda pohe is a staple breakfast in my mom's home, when there are sudden guests, or you run out of energies or had a bad night, or simple your plan A failed and you fell on your face. This is enjoyed by one and all and it fills you up to run a  mini-marathon after eating this.

You will need;
1 small cup/ fistful of flat rice/ Thick Poha per person- I take 3 cups for 2 adults and 2 kids-- That's our lunch at times
** You get Thin poha also, do not use that for this.

1 Onion- diced small
1/2 cup peas-- we use frozen, so soaked in warm water.
5-6 curry leaves
1 tspn haldi/ Turmeric
1 tspn Lemon Juice
Salt and Sugar to taste

1 Potato-(Optional to make kanda batata poha)
1 Tbspn Peanuts-Roasted--Optional
Vegetables like carrots/cauliflower-diced small--Optional
Fresh Grated coconut and Chopped cilantro to garnish

Tadka/Tempering;
2 Tbspn Oil
1 tspn Jeera/Cumin seeds
1 Tspn Mustard./Rai seeds
2 Medium Green Chilies- Cut in small pieces
Pinch of Hing/Aesafodita


In a colander wash the thick poha and soak in cold water for 5 mins and drain and keep aside. In a wok, heat the oil and add the tempering rai, jeera and chilies and curry leaves and let that splutter and then add the onions, potatoes, peas and vegetables if any, cover and let that cook till peas get soft and veggies get cooked partially. Then add the turmeric, lemon juice and hing and stir once. Than add the pre soaked and drained Poha/ flat rice to the mixture and stir well till the oil mixture incorporates the poha, then add salt and sugar and cover and let cook on low heat for 5 mins, stirring and not letting the poha stick to the wok.

Garnish with fresh coconut and cilantro and roasted peanuts if using any. Eat hot and enjoy with a cup of Tea or coffee.

Happy 3rd Birthday!!! Celebrating with Milk and Choclate Layer cupcake

WISHING INDULGE-ASHSCORNER A VERY HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!

Today, February 4th, my blog turns 3 years old. I cannot believe it that I have been blogging for 3 years now. The first two years were bit slow, but steady posting and love from all you dearies, kept me going. I gifted myself these silicon cupcake liners, so I needed a recipe, and Prathibha of THE CHEF and Her Kitchen posted a egg less marble cake recipe. I twisted and tweaked the recipe but kept her basic cake measures the same. I used little of milkmaid/condensed milk and little of almond powder. The recipe did not call for any almond powder, but since I had some, I used that. My mom gifted me these plates as a Blog Birthday Gift. It feels very good when your near one's appreciate that you are  a food blogger. For the exact recipe follow the link to Prathibhas blog.

I am copying and pasting Prathibhas recipe
 

Rec Source--  http://thechefandherkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/02/eggless-marble-cake.html

Eggless Marble Cake Recipe:

(yields one 7" cake)
Recipe Source : Easy Cooking
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups Maida/All purpose flour
3 tbsp Milk powder(I substituted with 3 tbsp condensed milk)
1/2 cup Butter
3/4 cup Powdered sugar
3/4 cup Milk
2 tbsp Cocoa powder
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Vanilla essence
2 tbsp Hot water

Method:Preheat oven to 170 deg Centigrade.Grease a regular 7' round/square or ring tin.

• Sift together flour with milk powder,baking powder and baking soda a couple of times until everything is well incorporated.keep it aside.If you are using milk powder ignore it at this stage.
• Pour hot water on cocoa powder and mix well to form a paste and let it come to the room temperature.
• Cream the butter and sugar using a hand blender until light and fluffy .
• Add half the flour mix and half the quantity of milk to the butter mixture and beat well.
• Add the remaining milk and condensed milk(if using instead of milk powder) and beat well and finally add the flour and beat to a smooth batter.
• Take one third of the batter into another bowl and add the cocoa paste to it and mix well.
• Add vanilla essence to the remaining white batter.
• Pour all of the white batter into the prepared greased tin.Now top it with the cocoa flavored batter in patches.
• Swirl the batter using a clean table knife or spoon.Do not mix it long otherwise you will end up not getting that beautiful marble effect.
• Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.
• Run the knife around the cake and then un-mould the cake on to a cooling rack.
• Cool the completely over night or at least for 4-5 hrs.As the cake is extremely moist it will break up while cutting it,so handle it with care.

Cut into thick slices and serve it warm or at room temperature.

**Some changes I did to the recipe. I had saffron and milk mixture, so used that instead of Vanilla essence. And used Almond powder in the Maida and 1/4th Wheat flour to Maida. And I used oil instead of butter and I used ENO, Fruit Salt instead of baking powder and soda.

I did not get a lot of success with the swirl part as my elder son was my assistant in making this cake and we did what he wanted to do,, i.e. layers, he is all into patterns; so we used the basic milk cake as the lower base and poured a chocolate layer over that and baked in the new liners...

Sending these to Kavi's Kids Delight event. Originally Started by Srivalli and Srav's Culinary Concpets event.

Gul Polya/Jaggery Flatbread-- Back to my roots

I make these gul polya every January during the sankrant festival. After making tilachya mau wadya or soft sesame fudge, I make these gul/jaggery roti/polya. They can be made using poppy seeds also, but I make them using roasted sesame seeds. As promised I am trying to include  a pictorial with such traditional recipes, but I do miss a step here and there, so will be careful and plan on perfecting my work. The title is moving back to roots, as this is already on my blog, but I was very new to blogging then and had no clue about how to take pictures and posting ethics and even using good props/blogware as it is called now. I have invested in a few dishes and pans to make the dish look as appetizing as it's taste. Store coupons like Kohls and JC Penny have helped me much in that. 

Gul Poli is a very traditional recipes and require a lot of prep work. The actual working time is very less and the end result is very satisfying. I make it only once a year. Since this year started with a doctors note to eat low fat and cut down on sweets, I was skeptical on making any goodies bang after I got the note in mail. But Mr. Ash who loves these advised me instead of going down on the supply completely, to reduce it and not cutting it off completely. In short to make them last only for one meal, instead of storing them for a week. Yes, he is a Sales Guy and often I am explained the terms in this language. Thanks much for understanding my State. 

Now without much ranting, I will move ahead to the recipe. There are tons of recipes and ways of making these, but I feel comfortable doing it this way and have tweaked 2-3 recipes to suit my need, so this is a keeper for me. The amount of sweetness and stickiness is always an issue with the jaggery/gul I get here in NJ, so I have started making the fudge or wadi first to see how the Gul will act then proceed to make these Roti/poli.

You will Need;
Makes 16 Polya

For the  cover;
 4 cups Whole wheat flour
4 tbspn Fine sooji
1/2 cup oil-- smoking hotttt
Salt and little water to knead a hard dough

For the stuffing;
1/2 cup Besan or Gram Flour
1/4 cup oil
3 cups Gul or Jaggery preferably mashed
1 cup roasted sesame seeds/poppy seeds powder
Elaichi- 1tspn
Milk if needed

For cover;In a pan, heat  the oil, till it smokes, Add it to the flour and sooji mixture, add the salt and water and knead into a hard dough. Keep it covered for 2 hours.

For Stuffing;
In a pan on low heat, heat the oil and roast the gram flour till it turns slight brown. Cool the mixture. When at room temperature add the mashed gul and dry sesame powder and elaichi and mix well, try to remove all lumps. Add the milk, only if needed and knead into a soft dough.

Now that u have both the the cover and stuffing ready, it time to roll the roti's.

Divide the cover into 16 smaller balls and the stuffing into 16 equal parts. Now like you would make stuffed parathas, make a round bowl of the cover and stuff the stuffing and bring the ends together of the cover and roll out the roti. Using flour, roll it to nearly 7-8 inches in diameter. Heat the frying pan and roast the gulpoli on the frying pan on both sides till it turns brownish. Serve hot with ghee or eat crispy gulpoli after 4-5 hours. To store, cool completely and store in a air tight box.

Pictorial is as follows;

Mix the Besan and oil and roast till the color changes

Mix the sesame powder+jaggery+elaichi powder with the room temperature roasted besan oil mixture

This is how the mashed stuffing will look like.

Knead the cover ingredients and make small balls

Step by Step of the whole process.

Enjoy these gul poli  with a dallop of ghee.

Making these every year has been a tradition for the last 9 years in Ashland and one that I want my kids to grow up with. I am sending these to Kavi's Kid Delight event.and
Gayathri's event, Walk Through the Memory Lane.

Also sending this to Radhika's Lets cook-Sweet event.

Also sending this ti the Cooking With Whole foods event -Sesame Seeds