Cheese Stuffed puris with Mulakushyam

Cheese can make any dish tasty and yummy and is more popular among kids. I just thought of stuffing cheese and paneer in puris so that my little one (she is a fussy eater) will love this and to my surprise, she ended up eating more puris than what she eats normally. This tasted yummy and easy to prepare.  Nowadays I make these regularly for her and also send it with her to the play school as a snack.

Mulakushyam is a type of chutney. I made it as a side dish for rice and tried the same with puris, and they tasted delicious. So I am posting this recipe along with stuffed puris and would go well with the puris.

This can be prepared in so many different ways and with different vegetables and mostly with dal. But this method I learnt from my aunt who lives in Palakkad. I tasted it once and I loved it. Actually I don’t know whether it is called mulakushyam or not, if I am wrong please correct me. Whenever I feel like eating this I make it quickly due to the ease of preparation.

Ingredients for puris:

1. Wheat flour- 2cups
2. Ghee- 2tbsp
3. Ajwain- ½ tbsp
4. Salt- as per taste
5. Water- to knead the dough

Ingredients for filling:

1. Cheese (grated)- 3tbsp 
2. Paneer (grated) -2tbsp
3. Green chillies- 3-4 nos
4. Garam masala powder- 1tsp
5. Cumin powder- 1tsp

Method:

1. Take wheat flour, ghee, salt and ajwain in a bowl. Mix it with water till it forms dough. Divide this dough into 10 small sections, make them into balls.
2. Mix the filling ingredients with hand nicely.
3. Take each ball and fill it with the above filling, roll each dough ball in to puris and deep fry them in hot oil or ghee till done.
4. This can be served with pickle / curd, but I made mulakushyam, which as I mentioned above is a type of chutney which can be eaten with dosa, idli and also rice.

Recipe for mulakushyam:

Ingredients:

1. Onions (chopped) – 2no
2. Tamarind- a small ball
3. Chilli powder- 1tbsp
4. Asafoetida- pinch
5. Mustard seeds- 1tsp
6. Red chillies- 2nos
7. Curry leaves- few
8. Salt- as per taste
9. Oil- 1tbsp
10. Jaggery- 1tbsp (optional)

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and fry onions till it turns light brown. Cool it and grind it in hand blender along with tamarind, red chilli powder and salt.
   
2. Heat a little oil for tempering and add mustard seeds, asafoetida, red chillies and curry leaves. Into this, add the above onion paste and mix well. Switch off the flame and if you feel tamarind taste is too much, then add a dash of jaggery, I didn’t as I like the tangy flavor :-)