Avocado-Palak Roti

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 3/ Day 1

Theme: Kid's Delight -- Lunch Box Recipes

Dish: Bean Burrito with Potatoes
For the final day of this week's marathon, I have a healthy roti for the kids lunchbox. I was planning to make Nalini's Avocado roti but then had some baby spinach in the fridge that needed to be used up, so that's how these avocado-spinach rotis were born.

Avocados are very healthy and provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, vitamin E and folic acids. I like it quite a bit but my husband is allergic to it, so I usually eat it by myself but never make it for the family. But I wanted to at least see how the kids like it.

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Rotlis (Gujarati Rotis)

Rotlis are nothing but Gujarati paper thin phulkas. Being from the south, I knew only about phulka (puffed up roti), chapathi (pan fried roti) while growing up. But after coming to the US, I came to know about rotli, bhakri, thepla and so on, thanks to my North Indian friends.

The first time I had rotlis were at one of my Gujarati friend's cousins house while in Graduate school. The lovely couple invited us over for dinner and bhabhi (my friend's SIL) made a huge spread of delicious Gujarati dishes. But all I can remember from that day were her super soft freshly made rotlis. She even used to send a pack of rotlis with our friend for all of us. So whenever I think of rotlis, I think of bhabhi and her amazing hospitality.

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Khoba Roti (Rajasthani Moti Roti)

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 2: Rajasthani Cuisine 

Day 11: K for Khoba Roti
Today's Rajasthani dish showcases the artistic side of the desert state. Rajasthan is famous for all its handicrafts and colorful fabrics. This Khoba roti looks like a work of art and the good thing about it is that the technique is not too hard to do.

I saw this roti for the very first time on Valli's blog for one of the previous BMs. It looked so appealing and sounded so interesting that it went into my to-make list. It took all this time (actually 2 years) for me make these. Khoba means deep indentation in Rajasthani, hence the name for the roti.

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Spelt Sweet Potato Paratha for #BreadBakers

It's time for this month's BreadBakers' and the theme for this edition is Ancient Grains and is being hosted by Robin at A Shaggy Dough Story. Ancient grains are generally accepted to mean grains that have remained largely unchanged/un-hybridized over the last several hundred years, which means NO MODERN WHEAT. 

I have to say this was probably the most challenging theme I have done for the BreadBakers. Finding ancient grains or even their flour was not the hard part, but finding a bread recipe with just ancient grains was hard. Also my family is not much into rustic breads, so my search for soft sandwich bread without any wheat flour turned up nothing.

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Navratan Paratha

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Stuffed Dishes

Dish: Navratan Paratha

After a stuffed curry and stuffed paratha, I was wondering what to make for the 3rd day in this series. I had some stuffed desserts and pasta dishes bookmarked but nothing really wanted me to get up and cook. Then I watched the recipe for this Navratan paratha on a cooking show and I knew that the 3rd dish was set.

As the name suggests this paratha recipe is stuffed with 9 gems or Nav-ratan or 9 different veggies and dry fruit. All the 9 ingredients are boiled and mashed along with spices and then stuffed inside the dough to make the parathas.

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Spinach & Paneer Stuffed Paratha

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: Stuffed Dishes

Dish: Spinach & Paneer Stuffed Paratha

Today's Stuffed dish is a simple paratha that is stuffed with spinach and grated paneer. I call it a simple dish because the filling is not really stuffed into the dough, it is put on the roti and folded while cooking making this a perfect recipe for anyone who thinks making stuffed rotis is difficult.

There are about 3~4 versions for palak paneer parathas on Tarla Dalal's site and this was probably the easiest one to make, perfect even for the most novice cook.

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Khamiri Roti with Shahi Mixed Vegetable and Paneer Curry

Buffet on Table: Week 2 -- Indian States

Day 10: Uttar Pradesh -- Khamiri Roti

After yesterday's simple Karnataka meal, I've 2 delicious Mughalai dishes from Uttar Pradesh today. Uttar Pradesh cuisine is influenced greatly by Mughal cooking techniques. In the Mughal era, Uttar Pradesh became the heartland of the empire.
Mughlai cuisine is rich with the use of spices and different cooking techniques. I decided to make a simple flatbread and a creamy vegetable & paneer curry.

Khamiri roti is a Mughlai leavened bread. Khamir means 'yeast' and it is used in this roti to make it thick and spongy. I thought it is similar to naan, but these are made with wholewheat flour and are not made as thick as naans.

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Kashmiri Mini Thali - Roti, Dum Aloo, Apple Chutney and Saffron Rice

Buffet on Table: Week 2 -- Indian States

Day 8: Kashmir -- Kashmiri Roti with Dum Aloo, Doon Chetin & Kashmiri Yellow Rice

After seeing my marathon buddies make amazing thalis, I made a mini Kashmiri thali for today's mega marathon. Thanks to Valli's and Vaishali's Kashmiri posts for the inspiration. I picked the recipes from their thalis to make mine. Here's what I made:

• Kashmiri Roti (recipe follows)
• Kashmiri Dum Aloo
• Kashmiri Kesari Rice
• Doon Chetin (Apple Chutney)

Kashmiri roti is a very flavorful recipe with spices that are added right into the dough. It is kneaded with milk instead of water to make soft and delicious rotis. Served with Kashmiri Dum Aloo, these rotis tasted simply amazing.

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Thalipeeth (Maharashtrian flat bread)

Buffet on Table: Week 2 -- Indian States

Day 1: Maharashtra -- Thalipeeth

After a week of combo meals from around the world, our theme for the second week of our mega marathon, Buffet on Table, is Indian States. So each day of this week, I will be sharing a dish from different states in India.

With the amount of time we had to plan for this marathon, I should have made elaborate dishes and meals for this week. Though I had plans to make it 'mega', when reality really hit me it was a little too late in the game. I stuck to very simple dishes, but I have to say I enjoyed them all very much and I will be making them often in the future.

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Poori with Besan Aloo Curry

Blogging Marathon# 52: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: Weekend Special Dinners

Dish: Poori with Aloo Curry
Poori with aloo curry is a classic combination that I crave once in a while but rarely make at home. First thing I'm reluctant to deep fry anything and second I'm scared that my pooris won't puff up and will turn hard. So I decided to give pooris another try one weekend.

I watched Vah Chef making pooris and gained some confidence. My pooris turned pretty good -- they were puffy, soft and didn't absorb too much oil. I made smallish pooris because I only have a small poori press :-) (The green contraption in the pic below).

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Mangalore Banana Buns

For this month's 'Indian Cooking Challenge', we are trying out a sweet & savory banana buns from Mangalore (in Karnataka). But these are not the typical yeast based banana buns or rolls, instead they are deep fried pooris made with a banana base dough.

The dough is quite sticky compared to regular poori dough and then dough is set aside to rest for at least 3~4 hours or even overnight. I was initially skeptical how these pooris would taste with the banana in it. I thought they would have a very sweet banana flavor, but I was wrong. The banana flavor is very mild and with the addition of cumin seeds, they taste more savory than sweet. Banana makes the pooris soft and fluffy.

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Zucchini Paratha

Blogging Marathon# 49: Week 3/ Day 3

Theme: One Vegetable - 3 Dishes

Dish: Bread - Zucchini Paratha

For the third day of this week's blogging marathon, I wanted to make a bread with Zucchini. I have tried quite a few bread recipes with zucchini, like this sweet carrot-zucchini bread, this everyday sourdough bread and this double chocolate bread. I wasn't in a mood to bake anything or make any sweet dish, so tried making parathas with zucchini.

I kept the paratha recipe simple with just grated zucchini and few spices because I was serving them with a spicy side dish. But you can add more spices and serve it with some yogurt and pickle.

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Garlic Naan

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Recipes from Menu Card
Dish: Garlic Naan

For the final day of this week's marathon, I have a delicious 'Garlic Naan' recipe that would go great with any Indian gravy curry especially with this Amritsari Chole. Ordering breads at a restaurant is quite a task because there are so many varieties to choose from. But there's also a problem with restaurant naans, sometimes they get too hard and chewy making it difficult to eat.

I have found that homemade naans when made with a combination of all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour gives a nice soft texture to the naans. My mom loves my naans and always compares them with the restaurant ones, saying mine are so much better (yay!!)

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Bajra Methi na Thepla (Pearl Millet/ Sajjala Thepla)

I'm sticking with the theme of the week, All about Millets and made these theplas with bajra flour (pearl millet flour) and methi. This year I planted only a few greens in my backyard because with the India trip I didn't want the plants to suffer while we were away. I harvested most of them and gave some away to family and friends.

I had half a pot of methi leaves that needed to be used up. I bookmarked this recipe from 'India: The  Cookbook' by Pushpesh Pant. I borrowed this book from the library, but had to return it since ran out of my renewals. I think I renewed it about 6 times, but finally had to return the book before they snatch my library card permanently from me. Even with all the renewals, I couldn't get through most of my bookmarked recipes. So I took pictures of the recipes on my phone, this way I can get to them whenever I want to.

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Amritsari Aloo Kulcha (Potato Stuffed Indian Bread) for ICC

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC), Valli wanted us to make an Indian bread, Amritsari Aloo Kulcha. After the April mega marathon where explored the dishes from all the Indian states, I've decided not to skip any ICC editions because it is a good opportunity to learn regional dishes from different parts of India. Also Valli always makes it a point to challenge us to try dishes that are unique and tries to get authentic recipes of the same.

This month's challenge fit right into our meal plan. While my in-laws were here we ate rotis at least 3~4 times a week, so these stuffed parathas fit right in. If it's just us, I make rotis may be once a week, since my husband travels almost weekly. 

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A Vegetarian Indian Thali

Blogging Marathon# 40: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Bookmarked recipes from BM# 39
Dish: Indian Thali

So for the last day of the marathon, I created a thali with some of the recipes that I bookmarked from last month's mega marathon. Indian thali usually consists of a Bread, Rice dish, a dry curry, a gravy curry, chutney and something sweet to end the meal. 

Most of the dishes in this thali are from the North Eastern states of India. To be honest, I had no idea about the eating habits or the popular dishes from any of the North Eastern states. Thanks to the research that all of the marathoners have done last month, I know a lot more about these cuisines now. I also wanted to make this black rice pudding from Nagaland for dessert, but I made this thali for myself and I wasn't motivated enough to make a dessert and also I was tooooo full after eating this meal. buuurp!!

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Uttarakhand -- Mandua ki Roti with Aloo-Tamatar ki Jhol

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 29
State: Uttarakhand
Dish: Mandua ki Roti with Aloo-Tamatar ki Jhol

Today we are going to Uttarakhand, formerly known as Uttaranchal, that was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in November 2000. It is often referred to as the 'Land of the Gods (Dev-bhumi)' due to the many holy Hindu temples and prigrim centers throughout the state. Uttarakand is also known for its natural beauty.
The natives of the state are generally called either Garhwali or Kumaoni depending on their place of origin. A large portion of the population of Rajputs and Brahmins. Uttarakand is the only state in India that has Sanskrit as one of its official languages.
Cuisine: People in Uttarakand prefer vegetarian food with lots of vegetables and wheat & rice being the staples, but non-vegetarian food is also served. Coarse grain with high fiber content is very common in Uttarakand due to the harsh terrain. Cuisine from Kumouni region is interesting because they rarely use milk or milk related ingredients in cooking owing to the fact that the topological features of the area do not permit cows to produce fine quality milk.
Specialties: Gahath Soup (horsegram soup), Gahath ki dal, Jhangore ki kheer, Jholi, Phaanu, Chainsoo, Rus, Gulgula etc.

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Punjab -- Makki di Roti & Sarson ka Saag

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 23
State: Punjab
Dish: Makki di Roti & Sarson ka Saag

We are going all the way northwest of India to Punjab today. Punjab means five (punj) and ab (water), thus the land of five rivers. It has the most fertile land. Agriculture is the largest industry in Punjab and it is the single largest producer of wheat in India.
I lived in Punjab the first few months of my life -- so naturally I don't remember anything. My mom went to Chandigarh (Captial of Punjab and Haryana) as a young bride and lived there for couple of years. She said the Punjabi neighbors there were very friendly and used to share homemade food with her. I asked her if she remembers any dishes or recipes, but she couldn't recollect any specifics (understandably so since it has been 30+ years). But she does remember the hearty sarson ka saag and makki di roti that the neighbor used to send over.
Punjabi dishes are probably the most famous Indian dishes all over the world with every Indian restaurant across the globe serving Naan, Mutter-Paneer and Lassi. Punjabi cuisine, however varies significantly between home cooked, restaurant style or the dhabas (roadside restaurants in India serving authentic Punjabi food). Punjabi cuisine is wholesome and is full of rustic flavors. Homemade ghee and masalas (spices) form the center of Punjabi dishes.
Today Dish(es): I decided to make this hearty, homey and very popular Punjabi dishes: Makki di roti & Sarson ka Saag. Makki di roti is made gluten free corn flour and it takes quite a bit of practice to get them right. This is my first attempt making them and might I say, it wasn't easy and there was a lot of stomach grumbling and mumbling from the rest of family for the delay in serving lunch. After struggling for some time, I was able to make a few good enough for the pictures, the rest were just eaten -- ahem without looking at the shape -- 'cos they were too hungry.

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Haryana -- Bajre ki Roti & Paneer Do Pyaza

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 9
State: Haryana
Dish: Bajre ki Roti & Paneer Do Pyaza

Haryana is a state in North India. It came into existence on 1 November 1966 as a newly created state carved out of Punjab state on the basis of language. Haryana is a leading contributor to the country's production of foodgrain and milk. Agriculture is the leading occupation for the residents of the state.

Cuisine: Haryana's cuisine is very similar to that of Punjab, since it was a part of Punjab. With the availability of milk in abundance, milk products like paneer and ghee are used extensively in cooking. Wheat, jowar (millet) are also widely used.
Staple Food: Wheat, Jowar, Barley, Gram etc.
Specialties: Kadhi, Besan masala roti, Bathua raita, Methi gajar, lassi.

Today's Dish(es): I made rotis with bajra flour. I have seen roti recipes using just bajra flour and some times potato, but I have limited skill making rotis without gluten, so I picked this recipe on Sanjeev Kapoor's site with wheat flour. To serve with the rotis, I made a paneer curry with 2 onions -- paneer do pyaza. Onions are added at 2 different times during the cooking, which makes the curry so delicious and also gives a nice texture to the curry.

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Bihar -- Litti Chokha

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 4
State:Bihar
Dish: Litti Chokha

Bihar is a state in northern state. The name 'Bihar' means 'abode' in Sanskrit. Bihar plain is divided into two by the river Ganges that flows through the middle from west to east. This endowed Bihar with fertile Gangetic alluvial soil with abundant water resources. This makes Bihar's agriculture rich and diverse. Rice, wheat and maize are the major crops of Bihar, while toor, urad, moong are some of the pulses cultivated in Bihar. Bihar is the largest producer of vegetables, especially potatoes, onions, brinjal and cauliflower.

Cuisine: Bihari cuisine is predominantly vegetarian because traditional Bihar society, influenced by Buddhist & Hindu values of non -violence, did not eat animal products. But there is also a tradition of meat-eating, especially fish because of the number of rivers in Bihar. Bihari cuisine has many similarities to other North Indian cuisines but is also influenced by the other East Indian states like West Bengal.
Staple Food: Roti, dal, Rice, Vegetables etc.,
Specialties: Kadhi Bari (soft dumplings made of besan cooked in a spicy yogurt based gravy), Ghughni (boiled black chickpeas cooked in mustard oil with spices), Sattu (powdered roasted gram -- a high energy food), Litti etc.

Today's Dish: I decided to make a very traditional Bihari dish today, Litti-Chokha. These can be served for breakfast or snack. Littis are baked balls of wheat and are stuffed with spiced sattu flour (called pitthi) and served with lots of ghee. They are served with Chokha or spiced mashed eggplant or potatoes.

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