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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Saag Pizza (Indian Style Spinach Pizza)

Blogging Marathon# 66: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Pizza

Dish: Indian Style Saag Pizza

We are into 2nd week of blogging marathon and my theme for this week is 'Pizza'. With the kids home on summer vacation, I knew they would be very happy if I made some pizza at home, so picked the theme. First up is a Indian style pizza topping on an Instant pizza crust.

I have quite a few pizza recipes on the blog and most of them are traditional crusts that need at least 3 hours to up to 18 hours of rise time. So I wanted to try a crust recipe that doesn't need too much time to make. This recipe from Mel's Kitchen worked out perfectly. It needs just 10 minutes of rise time and then you are ready to make pizzas.

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Beet and Quinoa Salad

Blogging Marathon# 65: Week 3/ Day 2

Theme: 1 Vegetable -- 3 Dishes

Dish: Beet and Quinoa Salad with Spinach

I have another salad with beets today. This one's with quinoa, carrot, edamame and other delicious and nutritious super foods.

Recipe is from Cookie & Kate. Original recipe suggests using spiralized beets and carrots. Spiralized vegetables are quite a craze these days. I have one, but I haven't figured out how to use it yet. But grating the vegetables give the same salad almost same texture.

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Palak Methi Nu Muthiya (Gujarati Steamed Spinach Dumplings)

Here's a recipe for steamed Palak-Methi muthiyas. These are great as an evening snack or stirred into curries. Muthiyas are first steamed and then shallow-fried until crispy on the outside.

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Cheese and Potato Gözleme for #BreadBakers

I almost forgot that today's the posting day for #BreadBakers. I'm glad that I checked Facebook to see our lovely Host, Anshie's post about the event, otherwise I would have totally forgotten about it. So thank you Anshie for reminding and also for being such a gracious host.

Our theme for this month is 'Griddle breads' and I almost wanted to make an Indian bread. But then as I was looking through my Pinterest boards, I found these Turkish Gözleme that I had pinned a while back.

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Spanakopita Triangles (using Frozen spinach)

Blogging Marathon# 60: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Take-Away dishes from Metropulos, Santa Barbara

Dish: Spanakopita Triangles (with frozen spinach and no egg)

For the final day of this week's BM, I made these addictive Spanakopita. It is a very popular savory baked Greek pastry. Filling made with spinach, onion & feta is enclosed in a flaky filo/ phyllo pastry and then baked till golden. This has been on my to-try list for a very long time and I'm glad I can now strike it off of my list :-)

Filo sheets are a little difficult to work with. They are temperamental and if not treated properly they tend to tear apart. So make sure to keep them covered with a damp kitchen towel or paper towels to avoid that. My filo sheets came out of the box with rips, but once I buttered, layered and folded them, they looked just fine. So don't worry if your sheets start ripping, just keep going and all will be well in the end, you just have to trust me on this :-)

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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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Shaam Savera (Spinach-Paneer balls in Tomato sauce)

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Side Dishes for Rice/ Roti

Dish: Shaam Savera

I have a rich and decadent restaurant style curry today. It is called 'Shaam-Savera' aka Spinach-paneer koftas in tomato sauce. I ate it once in an Indian restaurant and absolutely loved the dish. I have been looking for the recipe and an opportunity to make it ever since.

We had my mom and sister's family come over for my son's birthday last month and I made this curry along with yesterday's post Aloo-Gobhi, Mughlai parathas and Jeera rice for dinner. It was a restaurant style meal without going to the restaurant :-)

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Eggplant with Yogurt sauce (Dahi Baingan)

Blogging Marathon# 57: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Eggplant Dishes from here

Dish: Dahi Baingan

After 2 International eggplant dishes (Imam Biyildi and Eggplant Parmesan), I made an Indian dish for the final day. It was really tough picking dishes from Valli's list because I have already posted some of them on the blog and there are quite a few that I really wanted to try.

This is supposed to be Dahi Baingan from the list. This dish is made in Orissa and West Bengal. But this recipe is not the traditional way of preparing it. From what I have seen, traditionally eggplants are marinated in spices and deep fried, then cooked in a yogurt sauce.

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Asparagus & Spinach Pasta with Checca Sauce

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 1/ Day 2

Theme: Vegetarian Italian dishes

Dish: Asparagus & Spinach Pasta with Checca Sauce

Today's dish is a simple pasta with sauteed asparagus and spinach that is then mixed with a no-cook checca sauce. We had this dish at California Pizza kitchen couple of months back and I wanted to try it at home ever since.

The first time I made it, I wasn't sure if the kids would like it. But both the kids came back for seconds. This dish will be in my meal rotation now.

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Eggplant Parmesan with Creamed Spinach

Blogging Marathon# 54: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Vegetarian Italian dishes

Dish: Eggplant Parmesan with Creamed Spinach

We are starting a new edition of blogging marathon today and my theme for the week is 'Vegetarian Italian Dishes'. With my son thinking that he is half Italian, it is only obvious that I take up this theme to try some new Italian dishes.

I already have a lot of Italian dishes on my blog and I wanted to try something new and different for this week. First up is a spin on classic eggplant parmesan. The traditional way of making this dish involves frying eggplant and then burying it under piles of gooey cheese and tomato sauce. It's very delicious, but it has enough calories for the whole day.

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Vegetarian Sincronizada (Quesadillas)

Blogging Marathon# 53: Week 1/ Day 1

Theme: Tortilla based Dishes

Dish: Sincronizada

We are starting a brand new edition of Blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Tortilla based dishes'. Valli gave us a list of tortilla dishes to choose from to make our lives easy. Tortilla is nothing but the Spanish version of Indian rotis. They are soft and made with finely ground wheat flour or corn flour.

So for the first day, I picked Sincronizada. The name seemed very complicated but making it is not complicated at all. Sincronizada is usually confused with Quesadilla, but they are considered are completely different dishes. Quesadilla is traditionally made with corn flour and is single folded. Whereas sincronizada is made with flour tortilla, has 'ham' as a mandatory ingredient and is usually made as a sandwich.

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Spinach Fatayer

Continuing with the baking theme, I have a delicious savory stuffed pastry from the Middle East. This one is again from 'Veggiestan: A Vegetable Lover's Tour of the Middle East' cookbook by Sally Butcher. I had initially planned on posting this dish for the baking marathon, but had to move to the weekend because of other dishes.

These savory pastries are Turkish version of our samosas though there are quite a few differences. First off the pastry is yeast based unlike samosas (which is similar to pie crust) and these are baked and not fried like the samosas. Filling has spinach and onions along with walnuts and is flavored with tangy sumac, lemon juice and pomegranate puree.

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Palak Badam Shorba (Spinach Almond Soup)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 3/ Day 1
Theme: Recipes from Menu Card
Dish: Palak Badam Shorba

We are starting 3rd week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Recipes from Menu Card'. Valli gave us a few menu cards to choose from and I picked the menu from Puranmal restaurant. We are supposed to pick dishes from 3 different courses, so I have 3 yummy restaurant style dishes coming up this week.

I love reading menu cards and even though in a non-Indian restaurant here in the US, there are probably just 3~4 vegetarian dishes that I might be interested, I still make sure to look at all the pages for good measure :-)

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Zimbabwe -- Dobi (Spinach & Tomato with Peanut Butter sauce)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: Z for Zimbabwe

Dish: Dobi (Spinach & Tomato with Peanut Butter sauce)

We are moving on to the last and final letter Z and we are going to Zimbabwe today. Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in southern Africa, between Zambezi & Limpopo rivers.
Zimbabwean cuisine is much like the other African countries. They rely on a few staple foods. Cornmeal is used to make porridge called sadza or isitshwala and is usually served with meat and vegetables. Rice, pasta and potato based foods also make up part of Zimbabwean cuisine. A local favorite is rice cooked with peanut butter that is served with thick gravy, mixed vegetables and meat.

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Uganda -- G-Nut Sauce (Ugandan Peanut Sauce with Chickpeas)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days

Country: U for Uganda

Dish: G-Nut Sauce
We are going to Uganda today. It is a landlocked country in East Africa. Ugandan cuisine is influenced by English, Arab, Asian and especially Indian cuisines. Main dishes are usually centered on a sauce or stew of groundnuts/ peanuts, beans or meat.The starch traditionally comes from Ugali (maize meal) in the North and East or Matoke (boiled and mashed green banana) in Central, or a Millet Ugali in the west.
Many tribes in Uganda have their own specialty dish or delicacy. Many dishes include starchy vegetables like Cassava, yam and African sweet potato. Various leafy greens are grown in Uganda.Fruits such as pineapple and bananas are plentiful.

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Nepali Curried Spinach (Saag)

This is probably the simplest recipe. Sauteed spinach with garlic cloves and curry powder.

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Nepal -- Simple Vegetarian Thali (Recipes)

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: N for Nepal

Dish: Vegetarian Thali (Recipes)

We are exactly half way through the marathon, 13 done -- 13 more to go. Our next stop is Nepal and this was the very first country that I cooked for. I knew it was going to be Nepal for N from the very beginning. Ever since I saw Sandhya's Nepali dishes for one of the previous BMs, I wanted to try them and this was the best opportunity I got. Also when I was planning the dishes, we were freshly done with the Indian states mega BM and all the thalis that were posted really inspired me to plan a thali for Nepal too.
The Nepalese are mostly immigrants from India, Tibet, North Burma and the Chinese province of Yunnan via Assam. So the culture and the cuisine is mostly influenced by all these countries. Much of Nepalese dishes are made in India too, especially in the North eastern Indian states.

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Palak Paneer (Curried Spinach & Cottage Cheese)

Palak Paneer is probably one dish that is on ALL Indian restaurant menu cards around the world. Restaurant can be South Indian, North Indian or any Indian cuisine at all, I'm sure all of them have Saag Paneer or Palak Paneer on their menu. It is that famous and if you are an Indian food aficionado, you probably tasted it at least once. 

There are quite a few recipes on the internet for palak paneer. Each one using different spice blends and some blend the spinach to a paste and some use it just as is. I like my palak paneer creamy and smooth. 

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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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