Potato Parathas with a Healthy Twist

And the healthy twist is..i added oatmeal to wheat flour. Didn't make much difference at all.
Parathas tasted great. I just needed to apply few more drops of oil to keep them soft.

Now to the recipe :

Ingredients for stuffing :

Potatos - 6
Red chilli powder -3/4th of a spoon
Masala of your choice - 1/2 spoon ( i used pav bhaji masala and it was very good)
Salt to taste
Cilantro - 1/2 bunch finely minced
Mustard seeds, urad daal and hing for seasoning


Method :

Pressure cook the potatos and mash them with a fork. Once it has cooled down, add chilli powder, minced cilantro and salt and mix well. This way you get the spices and salt evenly mixed.
Heat little oil in a non stick pan and pop mustard seeds. Add urad daal, hing and the masala and fry till the daal is golden brown. Reduce heat to sim and add the mashed potato and saute for a minute or two. Let it cool. Divide into equal sized balls and keep aside.


Ingredients for the dough :

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Toasted oatmeal - 0.75 cup
Salt to taste
Water


Method :

Mix everything and add water little by little till you get a pliable dough. Wrap it in saran wrap and let it sit for an hour. Divide the dough into equal sized balls and stuff the potatos and roll it and make it into parathas. The trick to get round parathas is to roll it without applying too much pressure and ofcourse with some experience you will get the hang of it. I used to make different continents when i started cooking and now i get them in decent shapes, mostly. You can refer to this post on how to make parathas (Good luck with that! :D)



I am sending this to :
1. Srivalli's MM-Kid's lunches
2. Roma's JFI : Wheat
3. Lakshmi's Meals on Wheels

Tofu Paratha and Sandwich

I used to take tofu because it's nutritious not because i liked it. It was okay for me, but not a favourite. I saw a tofu omelet recipe and i wanted to try it. It was a flop and it turned into scramble, but the taste was very good. Addition of milk blended well with the tofu and gave a nice taste. Sort of like ricotta cheese minus the sweet taste. I started making it frequently and one fine day it occured to me to make it as parathas since my kids prefer parathas to rice. It was an instant hit! My toddler literally snatched each piece from my hand and gobbled it :) My 6 year old asked me what i put in the paratha and when i said Tofu, his jaws dropped to the floor. Hehe..Sometimes, it helps not to tell what's in there before they have their food :)

Ingredients :

Wheat flour - 2 cups

Salt to taste

For the tofu scramble :

Tofu - 14oz

Onions - 1 (i used onions instead of spring onions)

green chillies - 6 (increased it for the parathas)

Milk - 3/4cup

Mustard seeds, hing and urad daal

Method :

You can find the Tofu scramble recipe here.

For Parathas :

Add water to the wheat flour, little by little and keep kneading till you get a pliable dough.

Cover with Saran wrap and keep it aside for atleast an hour. This really helps you in getting soft parathas. My parathas used to be hard as a plate if you didn't eat them as soon as they were made. I tried so many tips i got from different people and this is the best that worked for me.

Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Take each ball and make a cup out of it and stuff the tofu scramble. Close it and roll it into paratha. Cook it in a hot tawa for 30 seconds. Flip and apply few drops of oil. Cook for another 45 secs to 1 min and flip again and apply oil on the other side. Both sides should be golden brown. (Phew! It's so tough to explain in writing :D)

The same filling can be used to make sandwiches. Here are the yummy sandwiches :)



I am sending this to

1) Srivalli's MM-Kid's lunches
2) PJ's Tasty bytes for toddlers
3 )Roma's JFI : Wheat

Poori Masala

Today is my toddler's birthday and i first thought of posting a sweet recipe, but i changed my mind to post this. This is his favorite. Not just his, his big brother's too. We all love it, but i hardly make it, as it is deep fried. Infact, i didn't make it at all after my toddler was born. We had it at our friend's place and at my mom's place when i went to india and i noticed that both my kids really enjoyed it. So, i made it recently and they loved it.

Poori :
Ingredients :
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Salt to taste
Water
Oil for deep frying
Method :
Add little water at a time to the wheat flour and make a pliable dough. Cover and keep aside for 1/2 - 1 hour. Divide into equal sized balls and roll them. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry them. To get fluffy pooris, make sure the oil is not too hot. It should be between medium and medium high. The dough should also be thicker than chappati dough and when you roll them, it should be thicker than for chappatis
I didn't take the pictures immediately, so they all got flattened by the time i took the camera out :(

In south india, when you say poori, potato masala is what comes to one's mind. It's a very popular breakfast entry(yes! Breakfast!! ) in restaurents. When i saw the Made for each other event announcement, this is what came to my mind and that's one of the reasons why i picked this. Another reason is that i didn't prepare anything else this month that would suit this event :) I could've put in some efforts and prepared something healthy, but it's too late now :(

Coming back to masala, here is the recipe :

Potato Masala:
Potatos - 6 medium
Onions - 2
Green chillies - 6
Urad daal - 1 spoon
Channa daal - 1 spoon
Salt to taste
Minced cilantro - for garnishing.

Method :
Heat some oil and add mustard seeds and hing. When the mustard seeds pop, add curry leaves, green chillies, urad daal and channa daal and fry till the daals are golden brown. Add chopped onions and saute till they are translucent. Add boiled and cut potatos and salt and cook for sometime. Add 1/2 - 1 cup of water and cook till the potatos look kind of mashed. Garnish with cilantro. Tastes so good with Pooris. It made me forget all my resolutions about eating healthy and made me feel guilty after i pigged out on the pooris. Sigh!

I am sending this to Asvadha's wonderful MFEO :)
My toddler is into shapes now..So he gets all his dosas, rotis and pooris in different shapes and he loves it. Here's my toddler's special - Shapes Pooris :) I took these immediately so they are still puffed up unlike my flat pooris in the above picture!

Simple Veg. Pulao

My husband likes this pulao since it doesn't use too many spices and is mild.

Ingredients :

Rice - 1 Cup.

Mixed Vegetables (cut) - 2 - 3 cups

Pulao masala - 1 spoon

Green chillies - 3

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Cilantro for garnishing

Roasted Cashew pieces - few (optional)

Method :

Wash and add 2 cups of water and soak rice for 10 mins. Pressure cook the rice and keep it aside. Add few drops of oil and mix and let it cool. This is to prevent the rice from becoming sticky and mushy.

In a pan, heat a spoon of oil and add green chillies, curry leaves, turmeric powder and hing and fry for a minute. Add the mixed vegetables and pulao masala and cook till the vegetables are soft. Add this mixture to the rice and add salt and mix well. Garnish with cilantro and nuts.

Goes well with Raita.

I am sending this to Sapadu Ready event

Spicy Macaroni

It's a spicy Macaroni. When i came to u.s., i had a hard time adjusting to any cuisine other than indian. It took me 2,3 years to try other cuisine. I used to indianize everything before that and i ended up with this recipe one day. It's simple and good.

I dont measure and cook. I am giving the quantities approximately.

Ingredients :

2 cups cooked macaroni
Water
Salt to taste
Green chillies - 4 or 5 - finely chopped
1 onion - chopped
1/2 cup of peas

1/2 cup of chopped capsicum

1/2 cup of grated carrots
mustard seeds, hing, urad daal and turmeric powder for seasoning

Method :

Add salt to the water and boil the water.
When it starts bubbling, add the macaroni.
Keep stirring once in a while as it will stick to the bottom otherwise.
Once it's cooked, pour it in a colander and drain the water.
Rinse it in cold water.
Meanwhile steam the peas, capsicum and carrots and keep it ready.
Heat some oil in the pan and pop mustard seeds. Add urad daal, hing, turmeric powder and fry for couple of minutes. Add green chillies and fry for some more time. Add the onions and saute till it is translucent and add the steamed vegetables and some salt and saute for some more time. Add the pasta and some more salt if required and cook for 2, 3 minutes. Garnish with cilantro.

This took approximately 30 minutes and will serve 2 persons.

The picture does not have carrots and capsicum as i didnt have them, but i usually add them too.

I am going to send this and Veggie Quesadilla to Archana's 'Monthly One Dish Event'