Radish-Carrot-Methi Parathas

If you have been following this blog for a while, you would be aware of my love for parathas. I just love putting together different varieties of ingredients together to make simple and wholesome parathas. It is so much easier making parathas than making chapathis and serve-along, as these deliciously flavoursome parathas can simply be paired with curd, raita or just some pickle.

So, in my journey to create more fun varieties of parathas, I stumbled upon this creation. This one has a combination of goodness from carrots, radish and fenugreek leaves. Each one bringing with it some unique flavour and health benefits.

I just shaped them into pretty ovals instead of the usual rounds. Variety is the spice of life, isn't it? so, why not make some fancy shaped parathas? :) These were easy to put together as the core ingredients need very less cooking time and since these are kneaded in along with the flour, the prep time is very short!

Have fun making these and enjoy eating them for breakfast, lunch or dinner! :)

Colour-splash Parathas!

I love being organised. I always have to have a plan in my head to get going. Chaos makes me dysfunctional. I like to be prepared and hate being caught by surprise. This applies to everyday chores too.  I like to schedule a mental checklist and timeline for every chore and go by my plan. That helps me get things done.

And for busy work days, I plan up things over the holidays. Making chapathi dough, chopping some vegetables, grating coconut over the weekend, and stocking up the fridge with these essential for at least the first few work days makes it easier for me to get through the hectic weekdays.

So, the last weekend I had made two types of doughs. One to make Methi Parathas and another to make Beetroot Alu Parathas. As planned I made the two parathas one on Monday and the other on Tuesday. 

Recently the husband has also started taking lunch to work. I find it quite interesting to pack lunch for someone. The early morning scrambling to pack up our lunch boxes, making sure everything is neatly packed and then seasoning it with love :) Then later in the day await the feedback and check if he enjoyed his meal. It is satisfying.

I was particularly curious on what his reaction would be after the second day's pretty pink parathas! :D He actually liked it! Since there was some more dough left of both, I asked him what coloured paratha he preferred for the third day of the week? He jokingly replied, both combined! 

Well well well... you should never joke about food with a food blogger! :P This morning, much to his surprise, this is what he woke up to!! Haha! It was so much fun creating these :D 

Are they not a pretty sight?!! :) They were quite an attraction at my work place too :)

Celery Parathas - Guest Post by Pooja Rao

Its always a pleasure to hear back from readers about how some my posts here, helped them in their experiment in the kitchen. And when they send back pictures of their creations, I am simply delighted! :) Yes, these reader-feedback is like fuel to me as  food blogger and I am thankful to all of you who have written back to me with your food stories :)

So, one day when I got an email from Pooja with a picture of the Mushroom Fried Rice that she tried and loved from my blog, i was truly delighted to hear from her. Its wonderful how Internet can bring together two strangers based on common interest. And the common interest here being food! Oh yes, Pooja is one of the most ardent followers of my little space that she has tried and tested more than 15 recipes from my blog. On one occasion, she shared a picture of Capsicum Burji that she had tried and more than the delicious looking burji, my attention was on the very interesting celery parathas that she had made to team up the burji with. Being a huge fan of parathas, I asked if she could do a guest post for me, and she graciously obliged :) Thanks Pooja! :) 

Over to her now....

“Oh my god, sounds so exciting” was my reaction when Nandita asked me to do a guest post. An ardent fan of Nan’s yum-yums, I agreed immediately!!!!! This is such an amazing blog, I have tried most of her recipes & have loved all of them.

Recently, I had been reading a lot about health benefits of celery, so when I saw it at a supermarket, just picked it up without knowing what to cook from it!!!! After a lot of thinking, the idea of making celery parathas hit me. It is a very simple recipe & I’m glad I tried it as it turned out to be very tasty!!! And now, celery is a frequent guest visiting my kitchen.

Pooja paired up the Celery parathas with tri-coloured Capsicum Burji. Healthy wholesome meal! And, isn't that a pretty sight :)

Pumpkin and Spring Onion Paratha

Pumpkin in a paratha? Really? I understand your bewilderment. I was equally apprehensive, when the idea came into my head! 

But, then I just had to try it! Oh, I can be quite persuasive. Even with myself!! :D

So, there I was pressure cooking the yellow pumpkin to make my parathas and it was then that I got the idea of adding in some spring onions as well, to give it a splash of green colour. The combination worked well.

The parathas have a lovely yellow tinge but you get no hint of what is in there! Yes, you do not get a strong pumpkin flavour (if that is a problem for you), you are just left with pretty looking, soft parathas. I guess the puree gives these parathas an extra soft texture, making it a wee bit sticky to knead as well. 

But when you can disguise pumpkin into something appetizing like this, it definitely feels worth it! :) 

Beetroot and Alu Paratha | Beetroot and Potato Indian Bread

 

 

Beetroots are one of the most nutritious vegetables. They have been named ‘super food’ by numerous experts. Oh yes, I have been educated loads about this veggie and have without a fuss, eaten it during my growing up days. But when it comes to the present day in my own kitchen, I have somehow been unable to include it into our regular diet. I love the taste of beetroot, I have no issues there. In fact, there is no particular reason for me to ignore the veggie except the fact that I found its runny colour a little messy to deal with. Bah, lame excuse... I know! :(

 

So apparently, Beets weren't going to let me do away with them. Recently we figured, I was low on haemoglobin and needed to pump it up with just some wholesome healthy nutritious food and upon medical advice, Beetroots were perfect for doing just that! I was forced to feed myself beets everyday.

 

 

 

 

Hence, I am back to being friends with Beets and am looking out for options to feed myself this wonder veggie in various forms. While I am yet to experiment the other options, how can I not make myself some parathas out of beetroot?! My love for parathas is obvious and after having made Spinach Potato Parathas, I used the same recipe to make Beetroot Parathas. The inclusion of potatoes contributed to the softness of the parathas and the colour of the dough was so appealing I felt like I was playing with modelling clay :P

 

Beetroot lovers, oh well... you are sure to love this no doubt!! And for those who are not too fond of beets, this is one of the best ways to include them in your diet as the flavour of beets isn't strong at all and if not for the lovely red colour, you wouldn't even know these were made of beets!! Go for them and treat yourself to some good health :)

Pan-fried Paneer Wraps

There those days when you are really hungry and feel like gobbling up something yum, but at the same time you are too hungry to cook.... Sigh! Such a familiar situation! Well, I have some simple recipes up my sleeves to cater to such situations. This pan-fried paneer wrap is one such recipe.

We prefer chapathis over rice owing to the health benefits that wheat has over rice. And since chapathis are a regular at home, I sometimes make a few extra while cooking a meal so as to be able to grab them up later in the day when I return home really tired an hungry. Just a simple side would do and we are set for a meal in a hurry.

At times to make it more fun, instead of having chapathis and a side, we have them as wraps! Just spread the side on the chapathis and roll them up and munch on them. This way it is more fun to eat and easier to handle. So here is a very simple recipe for those times when you have very little or no mood to spend time in the kitchen cooking while your tummy grumbles away in hunger :)

Rajma Paratha | Kidney Beans stuffed Indian Bread

Presenting to you... yet another paratha variation :) This time around its an absolute experiment and a successful one at that. I love kidney beans or rajma as it is called in India. If perfectly cooked, these beans are soft in texture and have an interesting flavour of their own. I have made rajma as a side dish several times and love it with rotis or rice.

These days, to help me manage my work and home schedules, I plan my meals a little better. I pre-cook some basic items before hand at my convenience and store them in the fridge for later, when I need to make a meal in a hurry. For instance, when I have time on my hand, I pressure cook channa/chickpea, rajma/kidney beans, potatoes and store them in the fridge and they come so much in handy when I am in a rush to get to work, as I can dish out a meal like Channa Pulav or Spiced Baby Potato Roast in minutes with the pressure-cooked ingredients ready for use :) Well, this pre-cooking plan lasts for about 2-3 days and it really helps! :)

So, I had this lot of pressure cooked kidney beans in my fridge and I also had a small ball of dough... voila! I could just visualize my meal in front of me... and in another half hour, it was really in front of me :D With a very easy stuffing, which doesn't not need any stove top cooking... I prepared these extremely healthy parathas :)

Rajma is a very paratha-friendly ingredient, by which i mean its its easy to make parathas with it as it gets mashed up and shapes easily into rounds, like boiled potatoes. Try them out :)

Leafy Parathas | a medley of Spring Onions, Fenugreek Leaves & Spinach

Well, by now you know about my love affair with parathas! It is no secret anymore :P The main reason I love parathas is that the meal is ready with just one dish!! Parathas do not need an elaborate side dish and then you can get really creative with the kind of parathas you want to make and make them as healthy and wholesome as you like.

This is one such paratha am very proud of! Its made of wholewheat flour and 3 green veggies. Do I need to say more? :) Well, trust me the flavours were simply super, I was pleased to bits with this combination.

Like most of my parathas, I served this with just a cup of yogurt and a dollop of pickle. You could dish out a simple side if you like... but am sure... it wouldn't be needed! :) With each bite you get a feeling of goodness inside you as everything about this is absolutely healthy! :) Now who said healthy food isn't tasty!!? 

Methi Paratha | Fenugreek Leaves Indian Bread

Ever since I made parathas out of kasuri methi/dried fenugreek leaves, I have been wanting to make methi parathas with fresh methi leaves! I have no clue what was stopping me till now!! Walking the healthy diet route for a while now and learning of the health benefits of greens,... I have a sudden desire to include a lot of it in my diet, and so have been dishing out dishes that are wholesome and healthy.

So methi leaves made their way home a few days back and now there was no reason why I shouldn't make parathas out of them! :D

The process of pulling out each leaf out of the bunch and cleaning them was the only time consuming part of the dish.  But the end result was delightful.

Verdict: The parathas made out of fresh methi leaves is by far more flavourful than the ones made out of kasuri methi! :)

Palak Alu Paratha | Spinach Potato Indian Bread

I am very fond of paratha varieties, be it stuffed or just flavoured. I look out for different combos that I can use as filling or flavouring agent for my parathas.

I had this bunch of spinach in the fridge and they looked so green and fresh, I just had to use them up. Spinach, just as is I felt wouldn't lend too much taste to my parathas, so I looked for something else that I could team it up with. Boiled potatoes! I had read somewhere, that adding boiled potatoes to chapathi dough, makes it real soft and gives it a different and delightful texture. I thought... why not?!

Spinach and potatoes got along really well in this recipe. I used a puree of spinach and boiled, mashed potatoes, which I added along with the dough. So basically this isn't a stuffed paratha, it is a Spinach and Potato flavoured paratha with a lovely olive green colour! :)

Try it out, am sure you would love it! :) 

Whole Wheat Naan

These healthy whole wheat naans had caught my attention the instant Farah had posted them on her space (adapted from KurryLeaves). They looked so professional and so well made! I am a huge fans of Indian Breads and am all the time trying out new ones, in restaurants and back at home. Naans are known to be softer than Rotis, as the former is made of All purpose flour while the latter of Whole wheat flour. But, here is an interesting recipe which uses Whole Wheat flour to make soft rotis! 

These are wholesome for health and yummy for the tummy :) They go scrumptiously well with Paneer Butter Masala. Go creative over the topping and filling and try different Naans each time... Methi, Stuffed, Kulchas... oh I can't wait to try them all out! :)

Methi Pooris | Dried Fenugreek Leaves Pooris

Kasuri Methi or dried Fenugreek has a rich flavour of its own, that helps enhancing the taste of any dish that it is being added to. Mostly added to side dishes and parathas, I wanted to explore more with this flavoursome ingredient. 

Pooris though liked by everyone at home, are not made too often, due to the oil factor. Any deep fried item for that matter, are not frequented. Anyway, since its been quite a while since I last made it, felt like dishing it out and this time with a few alterations to the usual humble pooris. I added in some extra spices and flavours, including kasuri methi. 

These pooris turned out great and every time they puffed up into a mini football in my frying pan, I gleefully looked on and just couldn't wait to munch on these beauties :)

Stir-fry Veggie Wraps

Yay! My healthy-cooking mood is going good... here you go, I have manged to pull off another dish that is healthicious! :)

After a good start with Sprouted Moong and Mayo Sandwich I dished out this simple veggie wrap that is wholesome and filling. Recently I have taken a fancy for mayo and mustard sauce, and try to bring in some new flavours to regular ingredients, by adding in these two. And yes, it works quite well!

These wraps can be whisked up in half an hour and are very filling and nutricious. I chose a very simple filling here and since I like my veggies with a bit of crunch, I just stir fried them with a little olive oil. You can go creative with the filling and try different combinations.

Laccha Paratha

Last week, when we visited my in-laws, my ma-in-law was preparing parathas for a guest, and it caught my attention as they were no ordinary parathas, they were layered! Yeah, laccha parathas. The process intrigued me and I stood there observing her make them. I have always fancied layered parathas but had this thing in my head that the process must be too complicated and have just not thought of making them ever.

However, as I watched her, I figured there was nothing complicated in the process and the ease with which she was making them made me want to try them out too. And to add on to the motivation, she explained to me, if I could make these Phenoris, I should not find making layered parathas to be a big deal.

She was right, though the layering technique is a little different in the two, the idea and experience did help. I made these laccha parathas with whole wheat and added in some coriander for added flavor and to make them look pretty :) I am guessing the same process if made with all purpose flour could turn out to be the South Indian parothas! Its on my list, and would try that out sometime.

Green Peas and Sweet Corn Parathas

There are some days, when I just don't feel like preparing elaborate meals, but am still looking for something wholesome and filling. Parathas are my perfect answer to such moments. With a stuffing of your choice, the humble paratha can be personalised and made fancy to suit your liking. Though Alu Paratha has been an all time favorite at home, every other Parathas that have been tried till date, have been a success. Here is my latest experiment with the Paratha family with green peas and sweet corn. Takes only half an hour to prepare and even less to devour :)

Paneer Paratha

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 1 cup

Paneer - 1 cup (crushed)

Onion - 1 small (very finely chopped)

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Ghee

Method:

• Make the roti dough with wheat flour and water and keep aside. 
• Heat oil in a pan and add in cumin seeds. Once they splatter add the finely chopped onions and ginger-garlic paste and then let it roast till it turns golden brown.
• Add in the chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder and salt. Stir well.
• Now add in the crushed paneer into the pan and mix well. Take it off the stove and keep aside.
• Once cooled, make equal portions of this masala and make balls out of them. Keep aside. 
• Make medium sized balls out of the roti dough that has been prepared. (tip: let the dough balls be double the size, compared to the masala balls)
• Flatten out the roti dough to about 3 inches in diameter and place one masala roll in the centre. Fold the dough from four sides, flatten it with your hands, dip it in flour and gently roll out the stuffed roti evenly.
• Make similar such stuffed rotis and roast them on a pan over medium flame. Apply ghee and serve hot with Raitha.

Alu Methi Paratha

 

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 1 cup

Potato - 4 big sized (boiled and mashed)

Kasuri Methi - 2 tblsp

Ginger-Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Ghee

Method:

• Make the roti dough with wheat flour and water and keep aside. 
• Heat oil in a pan and add in cumin seeds. Once they splatter add kasuri methi leaves and ginger-garlic paste. Let it roast for a while.
• Add in the chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder and salt. Stir well.
• Now add in the mashed potatoes into the pan and mix well. Take it off the stove and keep aside.
• Once cooled, make equal portions of this masala and make balls out of them. Keep aside. 
• Make medium sized balls out of the roti dough that has been prepared. (tip: let the dough balls be double the size, compared to the masala balls)
• Flatten out the roti dough to about 3 inches in diameter and place one masala roll in the centre. Fold the dough from four sides, flatten it with your hands, dip it in flour and gently roll out the stuffed roti evenly.
• Make similar such stuffed rotis and roast them on a pan over medium flame. Apply ghee and serve hot with Raitha.

Alu Gobi and Alu Gobi Wraps

This dish is an example of what i call remixed-leftovers! :) Quite often we face the familiar situation when a little bit of the day's food may go into the fridge as left overs, and the next day the same would be re-heated and consumed. 

Here I have tried to give in some dash of colour to the left over items to present a brand new dish on to the table! :)

Original Items : Alu Gobi & Triangle Rotis

Remixed Item : Alu Gobi Wraps!

Alu Gobi:

Ingredients:

Potato - 2 big sized (boiled and cut into medium sized pieces)

Gobi - 2 cups of florets
Onion - 1 big (sliced length-wise)
Tomato - 1 big sized (cut into medium size pieces)

Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste

Oil 

Method:

• Par boil the cauliflower florets in a dash of turmeric powder, a pinch of salt and water. Keep aside. 
• Heat oil in a pan and add cumins and let it to splatter. Now add in the sliced onions and fry till a golden brown.
• Add in the tomatoes and let it cook for 2 mins. Now, add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and salt and mix well.
• Add in the par boiled cauliflower florets. Mix once again.
• Keep it covered and reduce the flame to minimum and let it cook for 10 mins. Serve hot with rotis.

Triangle Rotis:

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 2 cups 
Salt - a pinch
Water
Oil

Method:

• Add the salt to the wheat flour and knead the dough along with  as you would for chapathis. 
• Add a little bit of oil and keep aside the dough for a few minutes. 
• Make equal portions of the dough and make them into fine rounds with your hands.
• Now take one ball, roll it out into a small roti of about 2 inch diameter. Apply a bit of oil all over it, fold it into half and then another half (a shape of a triangle).
• Now gently roll it out evenly into a bigger triangle and roast it on a tava.
• Repeat for each dough ball.

Alu Gobi Wrap: Now, for remixing the left overs! Place the Roti with one of the flat sides facing down. Put some Alu Gobi in the middle of the roti and fold from either sides into a wrap. (as in the picture). Now, put it in a griller/sandwicher for 5 mins. Alu Gobi Wraps are ready! Serve with Cucumber Raita.