Aloo-Methi Paratha (Paratha stuffed with Potato and Fenugreek leaves)

Valli, Wish you a very very Happy Birthday!!!
It's our BM Commander-in-Chief, Valli's birthday today and to celebrate the day the BM group decided to cook any dish from her blogs and post it. Valli is our organizer, our motivator and our inspiration. Without her Blogging marathon event, I don't even know if I would be blogging so regularly or not. So big thanks to her for creating this group and leading it so efficiently for more than 5 years now.

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Sev Khamani

Time sure is flying right by, can't believe it is the middle of May already. It almost slipped my mind that it's time to post for this month's 'Indian Cooking Challenge' and I haven't even looked at the ingredients. I immediately looked at the recipe and my pantry & fridge to see if I had all the ingredients. I was only missing the pomegranate, I went shopping and bought it right away.
So the dish that Valli picked is this Gujarati snack called Sev Khamani. Recipe is from Vaishali's friend, so big thanks to Vaishali & Valli for picking this recipe.

Gujaratis have a knack of making delicious snacks & dishes with just about any ingredient. It's mind boggling the number of snacks and desserts they make. This is one such recipe where the dish uses crumbled up khaman dhoklas. I think it is a genius idea because my dhoklas end up crumbled most of the time anyway and this is a delicious way of reusing them into a completely new dish.

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Cheela (Vegan Omelette) & Vegetable Upma

It is Spring break time for my son this week and making interesting meals for him has been a challenge for me. So I referred to the cookbook 'India: The Cookbook' by Pushpesh Pant and found this quick and easy Cheelas. I've always wanted to make these vegan omelettes, but never got around to make them. My son really liked them and gobbled up a couple with some ketchup. They taste the best when served hot out of the pan.

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Gujarati Lauki Muthiya (Doodhi Muthia)

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 4/ Day2
Theme: Member's Choice
Dish: Gujarati Muthiya with Lauki (Bottle gourd)

For the second day of BM# 37 under member's choice theme I picked Gujarati Muthiya. This healthy & filling snack from Gujarat has been on my to-make list for quite some time. So when I saw it on the members choice list, I knew I had to try it for this week.
I wanted to make Palak (spinach) muthiya and mentioned it to my blogging friends. Vaishali came back saying that the traditional muthiyas are made with methi leaves (fenugreek) or lauki (bottle gourd) and all the other versions are not very authentic. So I changed my mind and made the lauki muthiyas.

'Muthi' means fist in Gujarati and the dish is named 'muthiya' because they are made into a cylindrical shape using the fist. They are first steamed and then pan fried until crisp. They are great when served hot as tea time snack.

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Raj Kachori ~ Rajasthani Chaat Recipe

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, Valli & Vaishali wanted us to make Raj Kachori, a Rajathani chaat item. When Valli announced the challenge, I read the recipe and thought it was really elaborate with quite a few components to be prepared and then completely forgot about it. Then suddenly this past weekend I realized it was almost time to post for ICC and I didn't make the dish. I knew I had no sooji in the pantry and gave up on the challenge. But when I checked again I found a small container of sooji (!!), I'm not even sure where that came from. Anyway that meant I was going to make this delicious chaat for this month's challenge.

It is definitely an elaborate dish and cannot be made in a rush. So make sure that you read the recipe completely and plan to make the components ahead of time or plan to give yourself enough time to complete them.

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Upma-Pesarattu

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter U
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes of Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Upma-Pesarattu

The final 6 letters were quite challenging to find dishes for. I had to play around with the names a little bit to come up with dishes to match.

Letter U stands for Ullipaya (onion), Uppudu rawa (idli rawa). I was kind of stuck for a long time on what to make for letter U. Then I thought of Upma, but upma is not Andhra special, pair it with Pesarattu, it definitely is Andhra special. So I finally settled with Upma-Pesarattu (hopefully the purists will forgive me for reversing the order in the name).

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Carrot Ravva Laddu

Recipe Courtesy: My dear friend Yagna Jyothy

I reached out to my cousins and friends to contribute to Valli's Kid's Delight: 5 Ingredient fix event that I'm hosting here this month. I'm so happy that they took time from their busy schedules to make some of their kids favorite dishes and send them over to the event. 

First recipe comes from my friend Jyothy, who lives in Portland, Oregon and has a most lovable little daughter, Raaga. Though I haven't seen Jyothy in over 12 years, I've been in virtual contact with her on Facebook. Thanks to the world wide web and to Facebook for connecting people together and making the world much smaller (virtually). Here's the recipe for Ravva Laddoo from Jyothy that she made healthier with the addition of grated carrot. She says these are Raaga's favorite and she enjoys them for breakfast and dinner.

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Carrot Kheer

As I was thinking of dishes to make with carrots, I realized that carrots are probably one of the very few vegetables that I eat in a dessert. I've seen a number of other vegetables being made into desserts like halwas with bottle gourd, green peas, etc, but I've never made them myself. May I should give them a try in the near future.

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Vegetable Bhath & Vegan Sooji Halwa

VeganMofo Day 22: Happy Durgashtami for Everyone. We (my mom & I) made Vegetable bhath and Rava Kesari for the 8th day of Navarathri. 

Vegetable bhath is something my mom always made at home and I make it too when I have some time on hand and want to serve something other than fried rice or biryani. I posted vegetable bhath recipe way back in 2008 and coincidentally that was also during the month of October for Veganmofo. I'm updating the post with a better picture.

I made some Vegan Sooji Halwa as offering to Durga.

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Mixed Vegetable Upma

For Day 3 of BM# 16 under "breakfast" theme, I made a super simple and comforting upma. Growing up, I was not a big upma fan. But now that I'm older and wiser, I realized how quick and easy making upma is and the dish can be dressed up or down as per the occasion.

As I was looking for breakfast recipes in Mallika Bhadrinath's "100 Tiffin Varieties", I found this vegetable upma variation. I thought the addition of tamarind with mixed vegetables was interesting and decided to give it a try. This upma is slightly spicy and tangy and a great variation to regular plain upma. Definitely worth a try!!

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Grilled Pizza

So after having Burgers with home-made buns for our first veggie bbq, the next logical dish to make seemed to be Grilled pizzas. I found an awesome recipe for perfect grilled pizza on King Arthur’s site. This is my go-to website for all things baking, they have so many different recipes, some of which are guaranteed by KAF and I absolutely love their blog as they have step-by-step recipes of some very yummy bakes. If you don’t know about KAF, do check them out here.

Coming to the recipe, I made this recipe twice already and it’s been a big hit both times. Recipe is very easy to put together and the dough is very easy to handle as well. We made both thin & thick crust pizzas with the dough and both of them were excellent. My only addition is 2tbsp Extra virgin Olive oil to the dough.

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour
Ingredients:
All purpose Flour – 2½ cups
Semolina flour – ¼ cup (I used fine Sooji from Indian store)
Whole-wheat flour – ¼ cup
Yeast – 1tbsp Salt – ¾tsp
Water – 1cup, luke warm @ 110ºF
EVOO – 2tbsp
Method:

• In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Stir in the salt, EVOO, semolina & whole wheat flour.
  
• Gradually add in all-purpose flour until it forms a ball.
  
• Remove from the bowl and knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, for about 10 minutes.
  
• Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
• Degas the dough after 2 hours and let rise again for another 40 minutes. Now, punch it down and divide into smaller pieces and roll into pizzas: We made 6 individual thin crust pizzas the first time and for our second attempt, we made 5 individual thick crust pizzas.
  
• Heat the grill to medium hot; gently drape the rolled dough on the grill grate (either directly on the grill or you can buy a pizza grill topper) and grill for 1-2 minutes. This should be long enough to make it stiffer; brush EVOO on the grilled side and top with your favorite toppings. Grill for another 4-5 minutes until the toppings are hot and cheese is melted. Enjoy right away.
  

I think grilled pizzas are quick and easy to EAT and have an awesome smoky taste. My choice of toppings (pick all for a supreme loaded pizza or pick 1 or 2 toppings): Caramelized onions, Sautéed mushrooms, tomatoes, grilled veggies (like eggplant, red onion, peppers etc), tandoori paneer (paneer marinated in tandoor spices and grilled) and lots of cheese (of course). Enjoy!!

Pani Puri (Gol Gappe) For ICC-May

This month’s Indian Cooking Challenge (ICC) was so much fun, making poori was only the first part of the fun, dipping them in pani and competing with your hubby to finish them off forms the rest of the fun. Thanks Valli for choosing these fun filled gol gappes for this month’s challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed making them (albeit my biceps started aching from trying to roll the pooris too thin) and eating them.

My pooris were not as crisp as I wanted them to be, but they puffed up OK and tasted yummy. So I have no regrets. But the best part was the Red tamarind chutney that was sooo yummy and I’m sure going to be using that in other chaat recipes.

Here’s the recipe:
Puri Ingredients:
Sooji (Semolina) – ½ cup (make sure that you use fine sooji)
All-purpose Flour – ½ tbsp
Cooking soda – ½ tsp (I forgot to add this—maybe that’s why puris where not crispy?????)
Salt - to taste

Method:

• In a bowl, mix sooji, salt and AP flour. Add couple of tablespoons of water at a time and form into stiff dough. Knead well for at least 5-6 minutes. Add ½ tsp oil and knead again for 2 minutes.
  
• Cover with damp kitchen towel and let rest for at least 15 minutes.
  
• Roll the dough out as thin as possible. Take a small cookie cutter or a bottle lid and cut into circles. Cover the circles with damp towel at all times to avoid drying out.
  
• Deep fry them in hot oil and watch them puff up like magic. Remove on to a paper lined plate and enjoy them with dip and fillings.
  

Pani (Flavored Tamarind water) Ingredients:
Chopped Mint leaves – 1½ cups
Coriander leaves – 1tbsp
Tamarind pulp – ¼ cup
Ginger – 1”
Green chilies – 4 to 5
Roasted ground cumin – 1 tsp
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Blend all the ingredients with some water into a smooth paste. Add more water to make dilute it. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
  

Fillings:

• Boil and slightly mash 1 small potato. Season with salt and red chili powder.
• Boil chickpeas and cook with some salt, red chili powder & garam masala.
  

Red Tamarind Chutney
Ingredients:
Tamarind pulp – ½ cup
Jaggery – ½ cup
Sugar –2 tbsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Roasted Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Roasted clove powder – 1/8 tsp
Black pepper – ¼tsp
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Add jaggery, sugar, red chili powder, ground cumin and cloves to tamarind pulp. Season with salt; heat the mixture on medium heat for 5 minutes. Keep aside until ready to serve.
  

To Serve: Poke a small hole in the center of the puri. Add all or any of the fillings in the center. Add a little red tamarind chutney. Then dip it in the spicy flavored water and gulp it down in one bite.

New Year Wishes with Carrot-Sooji Halwa

Wish you all a very Happy & Prosperous New Year 2010. Hope the new year brings you lots of happiness & luck in all ways always.

I want to end this year on a sweet note. This recipe is from my mom. It is quick and simple to make, but looks rich and tastes awesome.

Ingredients:
Sooji – ¼ cup
Carrot – 2 small, grated
Dry fruits & nuts – ¼ cup all together ( I used cashews, almonds & raisins)
Sugar – 1/3 cup (or more as per taste)
Milk – 2 cups (I used 1 cup each of whole & 1%)
Ground Cardamom – ¼ tsp
Saffron – pinch, mixed in 2tbsp warm milk

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp ghee in a pan; fry the nuts & raisins until golden and keep aside.
  
• In the same pan; add 1tbsp ghee and sooji; cook till sooji changes color and smells fragrant. Remove and set aside.
  
• In the same pan; sauté carrot till it doesn’t smell raw anymore. Set aside.
  
• Bring milk to a simmer and add sugar. After sugar dissolves, add sooji & carrot and cook on low flame until slightly thick, about 5-7 minutes. Finally add elaichi & saffron. Serve hot, cold or at room temp.

This recipe is off to Nupur's Recipe Marathon - Day 7 series. I thoroughly enjoyed posting everyday for the past one week and going through the yummy dishes fellow marathoners have been making. Thanks Nupur for coming up with this idea and doing a fantastic job of compiling the recipes everyday.
I've bookmarked a ton of them already, I made Sheetal's Vangi-Pohe for lunch and I absolutely loved it. Thanks Sheetal for sharing such a yummy dish.

Navarathri Subhakankshalu

Wish you all a very Happy Navrathri.

For the first day of navrathri, I made Badam Halwa as prasad. Both my mom and mom-in-law make a different sweet everyday during the nine day celebrations. I'm not sure I can continue the tradition, but will try.
This is a easier version of "badam halwa". I added MTR badam feast mix to regular sooji halwa.

Ingredients:
Sooji (semolina) - 1 cup
Milk (1% low fat) - 2 cups
Sugar - 1/2 cup
MTR badam feast mix - 4tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Heat 1 tbsp of ghee, fry sooji till it changes color to golden and loses its raw smell. Remove and keep aside. When cool, add sugar and mix well.
  
• Meanwhile bring milk to a boil and add the badam mix and cardamom powder.
• Add the sooji and sugar mixture to milk and mix well.
  
• Let it simmer until the whole halwa comes together for about 10-15 minutes.
• Garnish with fried cashews and raisins. Serve warm or cold.