Muli Paratha/Radish Paratha/Flatbread

This week seems like a paratha week for me. Back today with another paratha recipe. Mr. Ash and Ms. Ash love muli/radish parathas or flat bread. The idea for any stuffed paratha is basically making a filling and stuffing it in the regular chapati/phulka dough. Some families make it whole wheat, or half wheat flour, half all purpose flour. Since I make this for my munchkins in hopes they will eat it and love it, I make any parathas with whole wheat flour.

You will need;

makes about  5-6 small parathas.

For the stuffing;

2 cups grated radish

1 tbspn oil

1 tspn cumin seeds

pinch of  hing/aesafodita

1/2 tspn turmeric

1/2 tspn garam masala

Salt and sugar to taste

In a bowl grate the radish and squeeze as much of the water out as much as possible. In a wok, heat the oil on medium, then add in the cumin seeds, grated squeezed radish, then add in the hing and turmeric and salt and sugar if you like. Cook it till the mixture is dry and gets cooked. Drying all water in this way ensures that the parathas will not break when you roll the parathas.

For cover;
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tspn salt
1 tbspn oil
water as needed to knead into a soft dough

In a bowl, mix the oil and salt and water and knead into a soft pliable dough.

Making the parathas,

1. Make equal size balls of the cover and stuffing

2. Roll a small round of the cover and put the stuffing in it and fold from all sides and roll that in some flour, dust the rolling surface with some flour and

3. Roll into a small round roti or paratha

4. Heat a pan on medium heat and roast the paratha on both sides. After it gets cooked, grease with some oil/butter and let fry for a minute. serve hot with yogurt, pickle or any side of your choice. MY kids enjoyy with some ketchup.

Tofu Aloo Paratha- Tofu Potato Flat bread

Hello dearies, I am back today with another new find that my family has started liking. My kids love love aloo parathas which I am struggling to make using real potatoes. So I use substitute like the mashed potato powder which is glutten free and safe for kids with allergies. Although we have no such allergies, glutten free is what attracted me towards it and I brought the box home. Ever since I found this powder, my aloo parathas are a quick and breeze. But again my guilt kept haunting me of using a short cut and using potatoes only. Then I brought tofu thinking since everyone says so many good things about it, it might be as easy as 1 2 3 to get my kids to like it. HA HA..if only things were this easy, my kids refused to even look at it... I then garted the tofu and added it to the dry potato powder, used a bit of my green chutney to wet the mixture and made small balls of the mixture and stuffed in the parathas. They did not even realize that they are actually eating tofu and ate way too many parathas. Happy mom was I that day!!!

You will need;
Makes 3-4 smalll parathas/flatbread
for stuffing
1 cup potato powder
1/4th cup grated tofu
green chutney-- approx 2 tbspn
water if needed to mix/bind the potato powder
salt to taste
1tspn Garam masala

Mix the dry potato powder and grated tofu, garam masala and salt, then add the green chutney and water if needed to make it into a soft pliable dough. Keep aside.

For cover;
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tspn salt
1 tbspn oil
water as needed to knead into a soft dough

In a bowl, mix the oil and salt and water and knead into a soft pliable dough.

Making the parathas,
Follow the pictorial;
1. Make equal size balls of the cover and stuffing

2. Roll a small round of the cover and put the stuffing in it and fold from all sides and roll that in some flour, dust the rolling surface with some flour and

3. Roll into a small round roti or paratha or

4. Heat a pan on medium heat and roast the paratha on both sides. After it gets cooked, grease with some oil/butter and let fry for a minute. serve hot with yogurt, pickle or any side of your choice. MY kids enjoyy with some ketchup.

My kids love everything and anything with ketchup, but then its another story and another post.

Oats + Lauki ki Kofta Curry-- Oats + Bottle Gaurd Kofta curry

No Meal was complete with the authentic creamy Kofta curry when we ate out. Traditionally koftas were made with potato and paneer/cottage cheese and then dipped in a curry of cashew paste and cream. Ideally it would have been the case had I kept in sync with the recipe. But with my promise to eat healthy and live well, I could not bring myself to use the paneer, cream and cashew nuts in this dish. So I tweaked the recipe. Some time back, my very sweet and darling friend R had invited me for dinner and she had made this kofta curry. She explained to me in detail her recipe, but I kind of forgot the recipe and knew her use of lauki/bottlegaurd in the recipe and that she baked the kofta in the muffin tray. This is so far as I could remember of her recipe. The lauki I had grated that day, left out so much water that I was amused that such a small vegetable can hold so much water. Then came into picture some oats to absorb the ridiculous water left by the lauki. I had the option of choosing bread crumbs and oats; oats was the way to go being super healthy and wayy too much to finish.( still have  a huge box leftover from my enthusiastic shopping.

You will need;
For Kofta's
 1/2 medium sized lauki grated--around 2 cups
1 cup oats-- This would depend on how much water the grated lauki gives away.
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 tspn cayenne pepper powder
1 tspn Garam masala powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
2-3 crushed cloves of garlic
1/2 inch ginger grated
salt to taste
oil or spray to shallow fry the kofta's

In a bowl, mix in the grated lauki, oats and wheat flour, add all the spices and mix well, the mixture will be slightly sticky. Heat a skillet and grease the base with oil and drop little dumplings  of this mixture and spray them with an oil spray and fry till they get cooked. I use an ice cream scoop to drop them. Cover and cook to ensure an evenly cooked kofta. once fried, remove and keep aside. Alternatively cook it in an Appe pan.

For the curry;
 1 medium sized onion
1/2 cup tomato puree
1 tbspn ginger garlic paste
1/2 tspn haldi/turmeric
1 tspn cayenne pepper powder
1 tspn Garam masala powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn coriander powder
1 cup water
Salt to taste
Garnish with Cilantro

Tempering;
2 tbspn oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tspn shahjeera/Caraway seeds-Optional

In a deep wok, heat the oil on medium. Once the oil is hot add the seeds and let them sizzle for 2-3 seconds, then add the ginger-garlic paste and onions, then add in the tomato puree and cook till the oil leaves the sides of the onion and tomato mixture, then add in the haldi, and the spices and add water and salt and cover and let it boil. Garnish with cilantro.

While serving,

 Take the kofts in a bowl and pour the curry on the koftas. and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with phulka or flat bread of your choice or rice. Remember to assemble the dish when you are about to eat it. Keeping the koftas in the curry for long will result in the koftas absorbing the curry and losing the shape and everything will turn into  a mess. This will certainly not interfere with the taste, but it will not look very pleasing.

Enjoy with your family and update me on how you are eating healthy.

Sabudana/Sago Shingada/Waterchestntu Wade/Nuggets-Low fat in an Appe/Danish pan.

Traditionally Sabudana wada is deep fried and irresistible Fast food. By Fast food, I mean that it is eaten when one is fasting. But people in Ashland demand it on any occasion and since Ms, Ash is on  a diet, (YES I am Die-eating. Have to.. or else will have to board an express exit from earth train, as my Dr says) I am going slow towards my weight loss and have one complete year to lose about 30 lbs. I lost 09 so far, still beter than nothing, I say to myself.

What  a girl to do!!! If you have ever tasted sabudana wade that are made the good old way, your diet days will be thrown in the GB and any resolutions that you have ever made will be forgotten, most promises to stay away from fried food will be 100% broken. I am not exaggerating, this is all truth and nothing but the truth.

So I found a mid way in all this sabudana wada drama. This is one way I get to eat them and yet not feel bad about myself. I replaced the proportions of boiled potato and peanut powder with water-chestnut flour, which is easily available in any Indian grocery store also known as Singada Atta. And Shallow fried it in my brand new Danish Pan which Mr. Ash ordered on Amazon for me for just $11. He is very cute that way, All I need to do is browse through few pictures of what I want and keep saying.oh I must get it I must get it, and the next time he orders stuff from Amazon, I get lucky. Guess you get the whole point of what I am saying, so now will give you the details without further boring you.

You will need;
1 Cup Soaked Sago--Soak the sago in water for 10 mins and drain all water out and keep covered for good 5-6 hours.
Approx 1 cup Water-chestnut flour-Singada Atta
The proportion will depend on how soggy the sago is, if its less you will require less flour
1 small boiled potato-Optional
2 tbspn roasted peanut powder
1 tbspn Cayenne powder
1 tspn cumin powder
1 tspn Cumin seeds
1 tbspn Chopped Cilantro
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste.
Water if needed to knead into  a pliable dough

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and mix well. Use little water if needed to bind it into a ball. heat the appe/danish pan and spray it with a non stick spray or use oil whichever you prefer. Cover with a lid and cook it for about 2-3 minutes. Flip the nuggets and repeat the process of covering and cooking.  Enjoy as is or with any sauce/ketchup or traditional coconut chutney.

The same mixture can also be used to make thalipeeth/pancake. but My kids loved the idea of nuggets, so nuggets we made.This is a small change from my side to eat healthy and live life better without compromising much on the taste and food I grew up eating. Hope you all will also join me in my journey to eat well, enjoy taste and live better.

Thai Macaroni

" Life happens when you are busy making other plans" is what kept me away from posting all of last week. I am really sorry for my MIA, but will definitely make up for my absence. I am a foodie and I love to experiment with different cuisines. We grew up on Indochinese food, so anything with soy sauce and chili paste strings a different chord in my taste buds. After coming to US, I was introduced to Thai food by Mr. Ash. Thai food is one of my weak points. I do not like using  a lot of coconut in my food, but there is something about the soft and silky coconut milk that steals my heart. This macaroni was an accident. I intended to make  a nice red sauce but it got way too hot and spicy for our taste buds. The time was ticking and I had no plans of making another dinner, so had to find  away to bring down the spice level. I remembered I had a can of coconut milk, my problem was solved. This macaroni turned out to be lip smacking good even on a busy work night. I usually boil any pasta and keep in the fridge for such busy nights or early mornings when I snooze the clock way too many times than I really should. I am not  a morning person and waking up with the cock is just not my thing. I am a true Gemini and can sleep any time of the day or night even after having coffee I sleep like a baby. My doctor even commented that I am truly blessed in all ways, be it sleep or be it pounds I got more than I need. Jokes apart, but always keep a serving of boiled pasta ready to make it into a cold salad, add it to any soup or simple any sauce, even ketchup if you like it.

You will need;
2 cups boiled macaroni
1/2 cup mixed frozen peas and corn

1 tbspn red thai sauce- I use the chili garlic sauce from the grocery store.
1 inch ginger grated
1 tbspn tomato ketchup
1 tsp soya sauce
1 tsp sugar
3 tbspn coconut milk thick
2-3 strings Lemon grass-Optional
little water, approx 1/2 cup and salt to taste, soya sauce has salt

In a wok, take the water, lemon grass and the peas and corn and heat it on medium, this will soften the peas. Meanwhile take  a small bowl, mix in the sauces, sugar and salt and mix well, add this to the peas and corn mixture. then add the macaroni and stir well. Lastly add the coconut milk and cover and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the lemon grass strings The Thai Macaroni is ready to be served.

Masale Bhat-- Spiced Rice- maharashtrian delight.

Masale bhat or spiced rice is  a true Marathi delight. No traditional meal is complete without inclusion of this rice. Every house has its own way and style of making this recipe. My younger munchkin loves this rice, but dislikes any veggies so I did not put any of the veggies, as I wanted him to enjoy the rice the way he likes. I guess its OK sometimes to relax the Eat your veggies rule for them also.

You will need;
1 cup rice-- ideally basmati is used, but I have used Sona Masoori
2 cups water-boiling
1 tbspn goda masala-- Maharashtrian black masala. it is important as it gives it it's distinctive taste.
1tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp haldi/turmeric
1 tsp red Cayenne powder for medium heat
1 bay leaf
2-3 cloves
8-10 peppercorns
8-10 cashews
Salt for taste
2 tbspn oil

Veggies-optional
Tindora-cut into long strips
Carrots, peas and potato, arnd 3/4 cup mixture of all

Garnish;
 Fresh grated coconut and cilantro
dallop of clarified butter/ghee

Wash and drain the rice for 30-45 mins.
In a wok, heat oil, then add the cloves, bay leaf, peppercorns and stir well till the oil gets the flavor of the cloves, then add the veggies and fry it well.then add the rice and roast it well. Then add the turmeric, red cayenne powder, cumin and coriander powder, cashews, salt and the goda masala. let the masala fry well, then add the boiling water to the rice. Cover and let cook the rice for 10-15 mins. Take care that the rice does not stick to the pan, so keep a close eye on the rice. take off the heat, and garnish with cilantro and freshly grated coconut. I did not add cilantro as the head chef was my younger munchkin who decided what would go on the rice for that day!!

Hope you make this marathi delight very soon and update me on how your family likes it.

Sedning this to Gayathri's WTML event  guest hosted by Vegetarian Food and Me.