Minty Palak Panner Aloo Puri-- School Lunch/Leftover magic

Hello Sweeties!! What do you do with leftovers??? Do you keep eating them till they are done with or transform them into something the whole family will love. I try and transform things around my menu so as to reuse them keeping the interest factor alive.

Indian food and recipes are  full of such leftover magic mingles, we use leftover rice and bread in number of ways, curries get transformed into poori's or parathas and rice into different types of tadkas or pulav's.

I make aloo parathas and palak paneer roughly once in 10 days. These dishes are my kids favorites and they have no complaints and eat these with no grins or groans. There is no nagging required to eat faster or finish whats on the plate. Happy kids equals Happy moms. 

But these dishes are not so favorite with me and Mr. Ash anymore with our dietary restrictions, I end up with few leftovers. So I combined these two dishes and added some mint to freshen up the taste and made puri's for kids lunch boxes. 

My kids are like chalk and cheese, one likes slightly less fired puri's while other likes slightly burnt and browned puris. so the picture has both in respective choices.

Aloo Paratha.

Palak Paneer Recipe.

You will need;
1 to 1.5 cups leftover palak paneer
** Mash and break the paneer cubes as fine as possible
3 cups Wheat Flour 

3/4th cup potato stuffing leftover from Aloo Parathas. 

2 tbspn Dry mint powder

1 tspn red chili powder

1 tspn turmeric powder

1 tspn cumin and coriander powder

1 tsp salt or as per taste

1/2 tspn sugar-optional

2 cups Oil for deep frying--Approx

water to knead the dough

**this dough is slightly hard and not like chapati so use less water to knead the dough, only if needed as the palak paneer will also be wet enough.

In a bowl, take the flour and add the dry powders, salt and sugar, add the palak paneer paste, aloo stuffing, mint powder and knead into a hard dough . Keep aside for 10 mins.

In a wok, take oil for frying, take only as much as the pooris will immerse, I would say about 2 cups of oil, and heat it till it smokes once and then reduce the heat to medium.

Make small round balls of the dough and roll each one out (try rolling like thin cookies). 

If making for school lunches I like rolling and saving the rolled puri's in a ziplock bag in a fridge, so my mornings are better managed. Store these packs in a fridge not the freezer.

Fry each one of them in the hot oil, one at a time. Do not rush and be extremely careful when frying. The ideal way to fry poori's is to slide the poori from one side of the wok. Do Not throw the poori's in the hot oil, the oil will splutter and splash and burn your hands.

Once you slide in the poori in the hot oil, let it puff up from one side, once it puffs up, turn it and let the other side puff up.. once both sides are puffed , drain them on some paper towels to remove excess oil and enjoyy them hot or cold, either ways they are delish.

 

These make for a quick kids lunch box or picnic food item along the way.

Mexican Rice Lettuce Wrap--HB We turn Six!!!

Hello Sweeties!!!! Today is a big day for us. We turn 5 today. Wow.. time just flies. 6 years, I am still going on slowly and not so steadily. I so badly wish that I could post like a recipe a day, but growing kids and growing commitment have slowed down my pace with posting. I am still happy to not have totally abandoned my baby who turns 6 today. It was a snowy day when I started this blog and it has kept me warm and fuzzy with your love and wishes.

This is the time when I want to thank all my well wishers, readers, family and friends who have been the spine behind Indulge. Their time, efforts and constant words of encouragement is what is adding fuel to my passion of blogging.

Keeping up with my resolve to eat clean and healthy, we have been regular at Chipotle. The kids eat well and that makes me a happy mom. They don't fancy sour cream, and avocado so half the things that make the burrito interesting are missing from their plates. So to please them and add the spice to the otherwise bland Chipotle, we spiced it up at home.

You will need;
Fresh washed Lettuce leaves
1 cup boiled corn
1/4 cup small diced red pepper
1 cup Black beans
1 tbspn Taco seasoning 
Hot Sauce-as per taste
Store Brought Salsa
2 cups Lime Cilantro rice
* Take warm boiled rice, add 1tbsp butter, salt to taste,  2tbspn chopped cilantro and  juice of 1 lime., mix well and lime cilantro rice is ready.

Mix the boiled corn kernels and the peppers and add in the taco seasoning, salt and hot sauce and keep aside. Empty the can of black beans and drain and wash the liquids, add some salt to it and keep it aside. I add some Taco seasoning to the beans as well.

In a bowl take the corn salad, add in the rice, black beans and the hot sauce, mix well. On a lettuce leaf take some of this rice mixture and fold the leaf to form a bowl and munch on. No plates required to set up, wash and dry. This is PFChang meets Chipotle kind of a dish, makes my kids and tummy equally happy.

Phodnichi Bread and Poli/Poli ani bread cha Khuskara/Tadka Roti-bread/

Hello Sweeties!!!! Ever Faced a situation when you have leftovers that no one wants to eat in its original form. I usually don't have any roti's as leftovers, but this was one such day, that I had few roti's and no subji.

This recipe is made in most maharshtrians homes. My mom made it often to send as school snack or on Sunday mornings. This was an easy way to finish leftover roti's or bread at times. We all loved it so much that at times, she even made fresh roti's to make this khuskara or phodnichi poli.

You will need;  
2 Cups Leftover Phulka/Roti/ Crumbs
1/2 Cup bread-- crumbed (Do not use bread crumbs)
** powdered using a food processor or use your hands to crumb.
 1/2 cup Roasted Peanut powder
1 Small Onion-Diced  
1/2 big Tomato-Diced
Salt and Sugar to taste  
Cilantro to garnish

Tempering;  
1 tbspn Oil 1 tspn Ghee/Clarified Butter
1 heaped tspn jeera/cumin seeds
1 tspn Mustard seeds
2 small chillies- chopped
5-6 Curry leaves
1/2 Tsp Hing/Aesofodita
1 tspn Haldi/Turmeric
1 tspn Red Chilli Powder

In a wok, take the oil and ghee and add rest of the items from the tempering list. Let it sizzle. Then add the onion and tomato,  and fry till oil separates the sides. 

Then add little water( Only if needed) and cook the onion-tomato masala  for about 1 minute, add the salt and sugar, lastly add the roti and bread crumbs and the peanut powder;  stir well, reduce heat to low and cover and let cook for 2-3 mins. Take care that the crumbs do not stick to the pan. Garnish with Cilantro before serving.

I am sending this to Gayatri's WTML event.

Mango Kalakand- Mango Cheese Fudge bites

Hello Sweeties!!!! Last weekend we were all under a kind of house arrest due to gusty winds and cold wave. The temperatures in single digits in the evenings made me stay at home. Winters are finally here.

Downside of being at home home with kids, constant song that plays is, "I am Bored". So we made Mango kalakand.  Like always I had some mango pulp to be used up.

You will need;

1 can condensed milk-14 oz** I used the milkmaid brand

1 can Ricotta cheese-15 oz

1/2 cup Mango pulp

a Microwave safe deep glass bowl

1Tsp elaichi or cardamom-Optional

1tbspn Pista Powder-Optional

In a  safe Microvabe-able deep glass bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, mango pulp and the condensed milk and stir till it is well incorporated. then;

Microwave it on high for 5 minutes. Remove and stir.

Then again microwave it for 3 minutes, remove and stir. 

Microwave it for 2 minutes covered.. remove and stir

Keep doing this, i .e microwaving the mixture in batches of 2 minutes; till you get a reasonable crumbling mixture.. I had to do this for about 18 minutes in total..

When you have a crumbly mixture, add the elaichi, mix well and keep aside..When it reaches room temperature, keep it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours. Sprinkle the pista powder and then cut into squares.

Enjoy the Mango Kalakand with some family or friends this holiday season.

Drumstick Sambar

 Hello Sweeties!!!!

 Today Sambar is one such thing, that uses up most of the veggies even squash/pumpkin to corn and peas. the basic recipe for sambar is same, you can feel free to substitute any veggie in the sambar.


You will need;
1 Cup Toor dal, Boiled with little Turmeric and Hing and mashed well
1 Onion
2-3 Cloves Garlic
1 Tomato chopped
1 tspn Tamarind Pulp
1/2 Poato Boiled
6-8 2-3 Inch long sticks of Drumstick
* I used Frozen, since we do not get them fresh easily
1 tbspn(heaped) MTR Sambar Powder
Salt to taste
Little Jaggery/Gur-Optional
1 tspn Oil
In a pot heat some oil, add the onions and the drumsticks and the tomato and saute for a minute. Then add the crushed garlic and  potatoes and enough water to cover the veggies. 

After the veggies are fully cooked; add the Sambar Powder and salt and the Tamarind Paste. Lastly add the cooked dal and Gur and bring it to a boil. Let it boil a few minutes and the Sambar is ready. 

Since I made it for dinner to go along with rice, I did not use any garnishing and even Curry Leaves, as I had none on hand. But feel free to jazz it with curry leaves and cilantro. I drink sambar in bowl fulls, so any lentil with sambar powder will work for me.

Kadhi Pakora- Fritters in yogurt base gravy

 Hello Sweeties!!!! Life is getting busy with the heat and lazy weekends. Such times you want to spend minimum time in the kitchen and  go for simple easy meals. 

Rain has been a regular feature in NJ this summer, so we are making a lot of khekda bhaji's to keep up with the rains. It is an uncompromisable ritual in Ashland, that when it rains we make bhaji. 

But we do face leftover bhaji issues. Once cold and limp, these once hard to land on the plate fritters lie around like unwanted pieces of furniture. Not to go anything to waste, Ms. Ash transforms them into Kadhi Pakodas, The menu teams well and its surely a hit, make bhaji for snacking with tea and then simple rice and kadhi meal for dinner.

You will need;
1 cup thick Yogurt
1 tbspn Besan
2 Cups water
leftover Khekda Bhaji
Few Curry leaves
1 tsbpn grated ginger
2 cloves,
1 tspn sugar
small lump of Jaggery
salt to taste
and pinch of black pepper powder

Tempering; 
1 tbspn Ghee/ Clarified Butter
1 tspn jeera/Cumin Seeds
1/s tspn hing/Aesafodita
1 tspn Corriander seeds
1 tspn Fenugreek Seeds
1 Green Chili-Slit

Take yogurt in a bowl add water and besan.. and mix well, as no lumps should be formed...heat this mix in a pot.. to this add the jaggery, salt, sugar, cloves and pinch of black pepper powder and grated ginger....Simultaneously make the Tempering in a diff pan.

For tempering;
In a pan heat some Ghee.. add  cumin seeds, Coriander and Fenugreek seeds, hing, curry leaves and green chilies.. let them splutter.. then add this to the yogurt mix...and boil the whole thing for 5-6 mins on low to medium heat.. garnish with cilantro and enjoii this with the khichadi or plain rice.

Katachi Amti- Puran Poli Chi Sobatin

Hello Dearies!! Today we Celebrate The Marathi new Year i.e. Gudi Padwa. Although Shrikhand is the  sweet many homes prepare today, lack of time and energy at times compels us to either outsource the sweet or make something else. Planning, prepping, sourcing the materials and then actually preparing takes some time.

There is no hard and fast rule that certain sweets only should be made and others cannot, however general practice prevails and people do tend to follow the age old customs.  

However, today I bring to you the most famous combo, Puran Poli and Katachi Amti. I have posted Puran Poli recipe not once but twice before. So now I will link you to Puran Poli and post the amti recipe today. Gear up as the process may look long if making the amti alone, but if making with puran poli, it's a breeze.



You will need;
2-3 cups Kat-water from the dal
** Drain the water from the cooked chana dal ( we call this water as "Kat" in Marathi; see puran recipe below)
1 tbspn Jaggery
1 tbspn Tamarind Juice/paste
**If using Tamicon Concentrate 1 Tspn is enough 
1 Tspn Red chili powder
** Adjust to your spice level. This is Medium hot 
Salt to taste

1 Tennis Ball Size Puran
** See Recipe after Masala.

Tempering; 
1 Tbspn oil
1 Tspn Mustard Seeds 
1 Tspn Cumin/Jeera
1/2 tspn hing/Aesafodita 
 5-6 Curry leaves
  
Masala;
1 Tbspn Dry Coconut powder
1 tspn Cumin seeds
1 inch Cinnamon stick
5-6 Cloves
5-6 Peppercorn

** For the Puran;
This is a Measure for making approx 20 Puran Poli, for amti you need only one tennis size ball of Puran. 
3 cups Chana Dal
2 cups Gul or Jaggery
1 cup sugar
Or Use 3.5 cups Jaggery alone

In a pressure cooker, add the washed dal and 7-8 cups water. Pressure cook for abt 7 whistles. let cool. once cool, strain the dal so that all water is separated and the dal is dry. This Water is Called KAT, and we make the katachi amti from this. Once again take the dal in a cooker and add gul /jaggery and sugar. On low heat, cook this till the mixture starts leaving sides and starts sticking to the spoon. Keep stirring this from the time you put it on heat. You will reach a point when your arms will talk to you. The mixture will look dry and The spoon if made to stand will stand on it's own....your puran is done...

Now Back to Amti;
 Take a deep pot, Add the Kat/Drained water from the cooked dal,  to this add one big tennis ball size of puran, little jaggery, little tamarind paste, red chili powder, salt and keep aside. 

In a pan, roast  the Masala Ingredients-Cumin seeds and dry coconut with cloves, peppercorns, Cinnamon stick. after the mix turns brown, grind it into powder. add this to the dal mix set aside.

In a separate wok, take the oil, when its hot, add the tempering ingredients one after the other in the same order, when the tempering is ready, add this to the dal mix, and heat till it comes to a rolling boil. Katachi Amti is done. Add water to either thin it out or leave it thick. We like it thick.

This amti/dal goes with Puran Poli as well as Plain Rice with a dollop of ghee.

Experiments with a new toy in Kitchen. Slow cooker Rice Porridge/kheer

Hello Sweeties!!! As you know November and December are birthday months in Ashland. Munchkin had his 5th Birthday this week, so as usual there was excitement in the air and lots of cake and gifting. We had a very small party at home, but the main party was in school, where I baked 30 cupcakes with angry bird cake topper rings one each. the kids were super excited. In the general net-browsing I found a cool interactive way an angry bird cake could be enjoyed, but that will be another post. Each happy occasion needs to be made extra special with some traditional sweet. So I made kheer for my munchkin on the following weekend.

During the mad Thanksgiving shopping, I adopted a slow cooker, poor thing was calling for help, that I could not turn my back o him. and besides it was for only $8 in Target. Mr. Ash could not see my point of view, but he has given up on the gadget battle long ago. so we got the baby home. I was in search of the recipe and few calls to my dearest friends who have been using slow cooker, gave me a general idea about what I need to expect and what care I need to take for effective results. Only Thing I will do is next time put it on at night, I started the kheer in the morning and it was really difficult to keep my hands away from it. I fiddled with it way too many times than the cooker would have liked, but hey get used to it; I am the BOSS here. It does take forever to cook, this took like 10 hours for 2 cans of evaporated milk and half cup of rice. But I am all for lazy ssslow cooking. Add, stir and cover and forget, its easy and You can do it too. I have a small 1.5 Q slow cooker, but with a small family, I guess it would be enough for us.

You will need;
2- 8 oz cans Evaporated milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cooked rice(I used leftover)
1 tbspn milk masala.( Almond/walnut/cashew powder with Elaichi/Cardamom)

In the stoneware that comes with the cooker, add the milk, rice and sugar, stir once and set on high for the 1st hour. When you see a small boil, reduce to low and cook for 8-9 hours unattended. Its done when it changes its color and rice becomes transparent. Add in the milk masala and let cool.

Notes/Observations;

There was  a film of malai/cream that was dark brown which solidified after cooling, I saved it a s Mr. Ash likes such food savings. This cream actually tasted like malai peda in a liquid form.

The kheer tasted divine after chilling.

I guess it would have been done at 7 hrs, next time will try for 7 hrs and update.

Watch out this space for more of slow cooked recipes. The kheer won a thumbs up from the birthday boy, and he sort of kept coming back for more. Next on the list is dal makhnai which I have heard people rave about after being cooked sslowlyyyyyyy.

Pav Bhaji Pulav

Hello Dearies!!! Hope you all are safe and bathing in the glory of your loved ones. Life  is something we all take for  granted and forget to admire simple necessities which seem like luxury when they are all of a sudden taken away from us. Yes, Nearly 80% of New Jersey had no heat, no electric or even gas when it was affected by Hurricane Sandy. The houses went from cold to coldest with temperatures dropping to negative. Such times makes you wonder of how you take such simple pleasures for granted. They sure seem like a right, but in reality they are your privileges. Hope this never comes our way or anyone's way for that matter. What matters now is how fast and how soon can we pick the pieces and make a life out the devastation. Diwali is undoubtedly a low key in Ashland as we are still recovering mentally from the huge loss this Frankenstorm left us with. We all are making an emergency wishlist that needs to be updated and stocked for any such future emergencies. that list will now also include with food and water,  hand and feet warmers along with shawls/throws for cold months, and some backup toys for kids.

In preparation for this storm, I had precooked batches of Pavbhaji, which can be eaten with bread, roti or rice. Adding twist to the leftover pavbhaji, I made this rice for our lunch one day. We were lucky to get the power back within few hours, but god forbid days without heat/power or gas, we need to be prepared. Some smart people made the fire in fireplace work double duty by cooking roots and potatoes in them. Such ideas take me back to my Girl Guide days when we were trained to survive on minimum. The Need taking first place and defeating Want. The battle between need and want makes us selfish and asking for more, at times grabbing what is not rightfully ours.

What is your emergency lit and how do you prepare for such emergencies?? Do you panic or stay relaxed and let nature take its toll? I like to be prepared especially when the experts keep buzzing about the severity of the situation, stocking basics like drinking water, some medicines and even stored water never hurt anyone. Some good news in this is that we got leave form work as offices were in blackout, schools closed for more than a week, so with no work, no TV and no light, we  were transported to a age where families sat and chatted together and connected in a unique way.

Having grown up in Bombay which is a coastal city, hurricanes and storms with rains and heavy winds is not new for us, but munchkin and donut being brought up in US are new to the blackouts and no power worlds. We used to gather all kids together whenever we had power outage and sing songs, make spooky sounds and shadows in candle light and scare younger and timid kids around us. It was fairly regular to hear such spooky noises when power went off. It brought back tons of fond memories and images of my childhood that I could see each of them clearly in the dim candle light to feel blessed and find strength to overcome the storm and hard situation we were facing.  So When the power came back, I was reminded of yet another childhood favorite breakfast item, Phodnicha bhat which can be glamorized as Tadka rice. Since we were dealing with leftovers, I combined the pavbhaji and rice and Bingo, we had pavbhaji rice that day.


You will need;
2 cups cooked rice/ vegetable pulav or jeera rice
2 cups  leftover Pav Bhaji
1/2 onion chopped
1 Tsp pav bhaji Masala

Tempering
 1 tbspn Oil
1 tspn Panchporan, tempering mix blend of mustard, fennel, cumin, onion seeds/kalonji, fenugreek seeds/methi.

Water as needed
Salt to taste

In a pan over medium heat, heat oil, add the onions,  fry for 2 mins , then add the panchporan mix, add in the pavbhaji,, add little water if needed and let cook for  1 minute, then add the pav bhaji masala, mix well, add salt, mix well and lastly add rice with little water. Stir well and cover. Cook for abt 3 mins.  The rice should not be liquid but slightly sticky. once you get to this stage, the rice is done...garnish with Cilantro or Spring Onion, add a dash of lime if needed and Njoii Pav Bhaji Pulav.

Sheeryachi Poli-Sooji Halwa Paratha

Hello Dearies!! Have you seen something new on Indulge!! Hint hint!!!

The new Recipe Index Page. Took a lot of time and energies for me to finally do the index and have it up and running. I did it once, only to accidentally click on delete instead of save. All the work was blown away by a mere click. How frustrating was that? Adding insult to injury, I lost some of the drafts I had done for the index on my email message. So playing the blame game, I concluded that it was just not my day!! Some days are good where unexpected things happen and some days are so bad that all expected things go the wrong way! Life is very big to remember such sour days and live by many sweet days. So I went home and made this for dinner ending my day on a much sweeter note. Actually it was not what happened. I had a tiring day at work, so was in no mood for cooking regular dinner. Mr. Ash being out of town helps me on such days as my Munchkins have serious sweet tooth and anything with hint of sugar works for them.


Sheera Recipe

 For the cover:
2 cups Flour/Atta
Salt to taste
Oil..and water..
Knead the dough like regular roti.



Making the poli,
1. Make equal size balls of the cover and sheera
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. cook on both sides flipping every 20-30 second so both sides get cooked. serve hot with achar/pickle or ghee.

Enjoy these sheera poli or sooji halwa paratha whenever you have any leftover halwa or if you want to send some healthy and nutritious parathas in the kids lunch at school. My munchkins love these parathas, am sure yours will too.

Sending this to Jagruti's I'M Stuffed event

Ras Wale Aloo- Potato Gravy

Today's recipe is  a very simple and staple recipe in most Indian homes. Potatoes being the most versatile vegetable is made in different forms, make into chips, deep fried, used in gravy dishes, make a Pattie, cutlet, it can be broiled, roasted, boiled or simply stir fired. We love potatoes and all the carb stories that we are told about it. Mr. Potato is offended big time and I apologize on everyone's behalf. I was invited to one dear friends home M a few days back. She had specially invited us for a Delhi style brunch of Aloo poori and kheer. At first I thought Alooporri would be like a stuffed puri with aloo mixture. I had to fight hard with the urge to search the net and do a quick Google search,  but I did not search the net and see other recipes, I wanted to be surprised. I asked her if she could finish the preparation after I reached there so I could really see what and how she did. This is not even remotely close to what she made, yet This is my take on her Aloo ki subji. My kids loved it and Mr. Ash approved it instantly. The doughnut and the munchkin have now gotten into a habit, if they like some thing they ate at some one's home, they kind of ask me to get the recipe and make it in larger portions at home.  My friend always cook more an we always get the goodie bags of the same food form them, Yet the concept of make more so we can enjoy it for many many days is stuck with them. Mr. Munchkin is fascinated with the term," For One whole Month", it's really cute when he says, I will be upset for one whole month, or I will not talk to anyone for one whole month, like it stays with him for the next five minutes before the focus or subject changes. I did not make any poori for this time, we had it with regular phulka or roti, but the Poori recipe can be found here.

You will need;
3 Medium Tomatoes
1 Medium Onion Finely chopped
5-6 boiled Potatoes, skinned and cubed
1 Tspn Ginger paste
1 TSpn Garlic Paste
 Salt to taste
1Tspn Garam Masala
Water as required

 Tempering
2 Tbspn opil
1 Tspn jeera/Sumin Seeeds
1 Tspn Shah jeera/Caraway Seeds

In a wok, heat the oil on medium heat add in the tempering, and then the onions and tomatoes, then the ginger and garlic paste, fry for few minutes, add a dash of salt and fry till the oil separates the onion tomato mixture. Then add in the boiled cubed potatoes and mix well then add the water and mash it well. Cover with the lid and let cook for few minutes. Finally add in the garam masala and adjust salt to taste. Granish with a rosemary leaf or cilantro and serve with some hot hot poori.

Herbed Croutons

Hello dearies... how is the summer heat and sun treating you all. Our summer has been the usual kind so far, weekends getting busier than the regular weekdays. June was a birthday month where I had been to a minimum of 3 birthdays so far...June is again special for me as My birthday and wedding anniversary is also in this month.

I am trying to get my kids in the kitchen to learn the basics of food and getting used to the idea that even if something fails, it need not see the garbage can, you can still try to save it and make something new from it. Since my idea of making home made pav/rools failed and flopped big time, I had a full batch of rolls/pav on hand which had baked well and tasted even better, but the whole softness and  the melt in your mouth was missing. I followed the recipe to the T, yet it sank my ship. so out of that disaster, these croutons were born. Here in Ashland , we enjoy croutons like  a snack, topped with melted cheese, on salads, or in soups. The recipe as such is very simple, either use store brought bread slices, stale or day old bread works better than soft fresh ones. I made these croutons with  my failed recipe of whole wheat pav/rolls.
 
You will need;
any amount of leftover bread, diced into big cubes
oil enough to coat them
Herbs like black pepper, rosemary, sage and Salt to taste

** YAY!!. the herbs are from my kitchen garden.

***You can  use the garlic rolls, instead of the bread.

I went ahead with simple, dicing the bread, coating with oil, salt and herbs. Spread it on a cookie sheet. Crank the oven to a good 400 degree F, and roast the croutons. Watch them like a hawk as they burn so easily. Turn off the oven just when they change color to a pale brown( I used wheat flour for my bread). IF using any white bread, turn off when it starts getting toasted. Let it stay in the oven for 2-3 mins more and then remove and cool on a wire rack. Once cooled enjoy them in salads, or soups. or if are like us, snack on them.

Egg Curry- Homestyle

Hello Dearies. Hope the sun and the sand are calling your name. It's been an exceptionally  busy start of summer for us in Ashland. We kick started the summer by taking  a mini vacation to Seattle to visit the Boeing factory and visiting my cousin. IT felt really nice seeing and meeting my cousin and bhabhi/SIL after 15 years. Vacations are always good for the mind and the soul. I wish the vacation part never ends. I however dread the post vacation work, like unpacking, laundry and sorting through the giant mess which I kind of accumulate in short 4 days. But memories of Seattle will help me pass through this phase. I will do an individual post on our Seattle trip. I am in love with that city. Everything was so laid back and relaxed. The scenic beauty of the city stole my heart. When my good friend moved there, she told me that she always wanted to have a home her roots in Seattle. I now kind of understand what she truly meant.

Coming back to routine, work and the long list of chores kind of made coking a decent meal unimaginable. But there are so many fast and nutritious meals in our menu for such days, that I really cannot say I cannot cook anything simple. Egg curry is one such dish that appeals to everyone in Ashland and makes dinner a breeze. This curry goes well with rice, bread or parathas. I make curry in 2 ways, either with boiled eggs or with poached eggs. Poached egg curry is yet anr family favorite.
This time I made with boiled eggs, as we were having it with bread, I preferred a thick gravy.

For the eggs
3 hard boiled eggs
After boiling shell and cut the eggs in half.

For the curry;
1 medium sized onion-diced small
1 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
1 tsp dry Kasuri methi for garnish

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 turmeric/haldi, and the spices and add water and salt and cover and let it boil.Garnish with dry kasuri methi leaves.

This is a fairly easy gravy based egg curry. The basic gravy can be used for making paneer masala by adding fried bits of paneer, or adding boiled sprouts for sprout gravy or even boiling few potatoes. How do you celebrate the long weekends, do you prefer a vacation or a stay-a-cation. Either ways find time to spend such moments with loved ones and building memories for your kids to grow on.

Have a safe summer!

Spring Onion Paratha- Guest post for Jagruti's Cooking Odyssey

I am back again with  a quick lunch or  an easy lunch box menu.item. Also, I am asked to do a guest post for JCO. JagsBen as I call her is a dear blogger(Jagruti's Cooking Odyssey), who I came to know recently through FB. I was drawn to her b log due to its screen presence, awesome food and easy to make gujarati recipes. I was super thrilled when she asked me to do a a guest post for her. Being new in this game, I was lost, as to what I would do that she has not yet done ..so I came across this. As this is  A Moms day Week, I am posting a recipe that My dear mom always made. She made this Subji a lot.. But being a MOM today, I am always in search of extra time and less efforts recipes. I turned  the leftover bhaji/subji into parathas.

Peeth perun bhaji  was posted last week. Today's post is an innovation that I did when I had some leftover subji and needed some stuffing for kids lunch parathas. I have seen most kids make faces, wiggle noses when you ask them to eat roti-subji, but give them parathas with the same subji stuffed in the roti with KETCHUP and down their throats the food slides. The reason for making ketchup go bold is that all kids love ketchup, I have seen eat kids ketchup with rice too. I know weird kids, maybe they all in my family alone. But we as kdis loved varan-bhat tup mith limbu and ketchup. it was like the salt on our plate.  Must have kind of go to food.


You will need;

For the stuffing/Subji

2 bunches spring onions, after you clean them and chop them, they should fill approx 2 cups.
We get 3-4 spring onions in one bunch.
2-3 tbspn besan/chickpea flour
Again this will depend on how much water the onions give out.

Tempering;
2 tbspn Oil
1 tspn mustard/rai seeds
1/2 tspn Cumin/jeera
1/2 tspn carrom/ajwain seeds
1tspn Turmeric
1 pinch hing/aesofodita
Salt to taste
Sugar a pinch, Optional

In a wok, heat the oil till hot, then add the mustard seeds, let them splutter then add the jeera, ajwain and let that sizzle for one second, then add the turmeric, hing and the chopped onion springs, cover and let it wilt and sweat the water out, reduce the heat to low. Add in the salt, sugar and let it sweat a bit. You will need to add a bit more salt than regular as we will be adding besan. Once the salt is incorporated and the onions are wilted well, add in the besan spoon by spoon. The quantity of the besan will depend on how much water the onions have given out. Adding spoon by spoon helps in judging how much flour would be needed. Once the mixture looks wet and the onions get covered with the flour, stir it well and cover and let cook for 5 minutes, on low heat. After 5 mins, stir once and see if the flour is cooked, if not let it cook covered for anr 2 minutes. The subji will stick to the pan, use more oil if needed, or use non stick pan to cook. I like the burnt scrapping so I let it stick before scrapping it into a serving bowl. The peeth perun bhaji is ready for your loved ones.

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

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.

Make equal size balls of the dough and stuffing. Roll a small ball/poori and stuff the stuffing and close the ends, dust some flour and roll into  a roti/paratha of about 5-7 inches in diameter.

Heat  a skillet/tawa and roast it while applying some oil/ghee/butter on both sides. Enjoy with some ketchup/yogourt/pickle or chutney of your choice.

Sending this to Gayathris WTML event hosted by Sizzlingveggie

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.