Lentils Stuffed Sweet Flatbreads/ Puran Poli/ Bobbatlu

These classic lentil stuffed flatbreads are popular Indian sweet which is made during festivals. They have different names in different parts of India, like the Puran Poli, bobbatlu, obbattu, holige, boli, poli and so on.

In this, the stuffing is filled with jaggery and gram dal which is boiled and then blended well till it thickens. The outer layer is either a wheat dough or a plain flour dough or we can mix both the wheat flour and plain flour and make dough out of it.

stuffed and rolled puran poli 

This is liked by my kids which are also very healthy and nutritious. This will be a good after school snack. You can roll and freeze them. When required thaw and cook.

I remember as a kid, when we were in Andhra, my neighbor's used to share us the festive dishes which were very delicious. Among them, I liked this Puran Poli a lot as it looked like a chapati and it tasted sweet. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1. Wheat flour- 2 Cups
2. Homemade Ghee- 1 tbsp+ 3 tbsp for smearing while cooking
3. Salt- a pinch
4. Water- required to knead the dough
5. For the stuffing:
6. Chana Dal/ Bengal Gram- 1 cup
7. Jaggery- 1 Cup
8. Cardamom powder- 1 tsp
9. Ghee- 1tbsp

Method:

1. Mix 1 tbsp of ghee, water, salt and the whole wheat flour together till it forms a soft, bouncy dough. Keep this aside till the stuffing is ready by covering the dough with a damp cloth.
2. Meanwhile, for the stuffing, cook the washed and drained chana dal in a pressure cooker till it becomes soft and mushy.
3. Strain the dal and let this cool for some time. Grind the cooled dal along with powdered jaggery and cardamom powder to a smooth consistency.
4. Heat the ghee in a pan, add the ground dal- jaggery mixture. Stir well continuously on low flame, till the mixture starts leaving the edges of the pan and slowly it thickens.
5. Switch off the pan and let this mixture cool. Make some medium sized balls from the mixture and keep this aside.
6. Make balls out of the wheat dough and take a ball flatten it with your fingers and place dal- jaggery balls in the middle and close the dough to cover the stuffing.
7. Gently roll this using a rolling pin, do not use pressure while rolling, or else the stuffing will come out.
8. Heat a tawa and cook the above made Puran Poli y smearing little ghee in between. Flip on both the sides and when they are equally cooked and golden brown in color remove from stove and repeat with the remaining dough and the stuffing. Serve hot.

Quinoa Adai Dosa/ Quinoa and Lentil Crepes

Quinoa is a seed, not a grain. Nutritionally this seed is healthy, complete protein-packed seed, which has a good source of fiber, iron rich in phosphorous, magnesium and zinc. Quinoa is gluten free. It contains more protein than brown rice, potatoes or barley.

Quinoa is very quick and easy to prepare. This is cooked the same way as rice and can be used in wide range of dishes.

Adai dosa is an authentic south Indian breakfast. Adai consists of lentils and rice. This is a very healthy and nutritious too. The perfect combination with this dosa is said to be avial or jaggery. I first ate this when I visited a friend’s place and liked it so much that the next day itself I tried at home and from then on this adai dosa has taken place in our breakfast list. This time I  tried adding quinoa, which is very nourishing, wholesome and delicious.

Try this fiber-rich quinoa adai dosa and let me know...

Adapted from Padhu's kitchen:

Ingredients:

1. Quinoa- ½ Cup
2. Toor dal- ¼ Cup
3. Green Gram Dal- ¼ Cup
4. Chana Dal- ¼ Cup
5. Urad Dal- ¼ Cup
6. Moong dal- ¼ Cup
7. Dried Red Chillies- 6- 7 nos
8. Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
9. Hing- a pinch
10. Salt- as required
11. Green Chillies- 3 nos

Method;

1. Wash and soak the quinoa, too dal, chana dal, urad dal, moong dal, green gram dal for about 3- 5 hours.
2. Grind it coarsely along with green chilies, high, red chilies, cumin seeds with the required amount of water. The batter should resemble that of dosa batter.
3. Add required amount of salt. Heat a Tawa, when it is hot, spread a ladle full of batter in a circular motion. Drizzle a tsp of oil on the adai dosa, cook on a low flame till done. Flip to the other side and enjoy a delicious and nutritious dosa along with coconut chutney.

Kootu Curry/ Mixed Vegetables and chana dal in coconut gravy

This is one of the delicacies served along with the Onam sadhya. Its basically a combination of mixed vegetables along with cooked chana dal, blended in coconut gravy. In this we can add as many vegetables as we like. For eg: yam, carrots and so on.. Instead of chana dal we can also add chana.

During my school vacation time, my grandmother used to make all such traditional kerala dishes for us. Among them, I always liked mampazha pulisserry (mango in yogurt) and this kootu curry the most. So few days back, I thought of making this myself.

If you haven’t tasted this before, I would recommend you to try this delicious preparation of veggies. This is prepared in different styles in different parts of Kerala. Just try this out and I am sure that you will fall in love with this.

Ingredients:

1. Chana Dal- ¼ Cup
2. Pumpkin (diced)- ¼ Cup
3. White Pumpkin (diced)- ¼ Cup
4. Snake Gourd (diced)- ¼ Cup
5. Ash Gourd (diced)- ¼ Cup
6. Raw Banana (diced)- ¼ Cup
7. String Beans- ¼ Cup
8. Coconut- ½ Cup
9. Green Chillies- 3 nos
10. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
11. Salt- as per taste
12. Oil- 1 tbsp
13. Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
14. Red Chillies- 1 no
15. Curry Leaves- few

Method:

1. Cook the chana dal along with salt and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. Keep this aside.
2. Cook all the diced vegetables with required amount of salt. Grind the coconut along with green chillies to a fine paste.
3. Add the cooked vegetables and ground coconut to the cooked chana dal and mix well.
4. For seasoning add oil in a small kadai, splutter the mustard seeds, red chillies and curry leaves.
5. Pour this over the above curry mixture, mix well and enjoy this delicious magic of vegetables with hot steaming rice.

Mixed Sprouts Curry

I usually soak moong dal to sprout, so that we can consume it raw in a salad or in cooked form. My kid loves cooked sprouts and my husband likes it raw. This came to my mind when one day I soaked all the pulses to sprout and so instead of adding this in salad, I made a curry out of it which was not only delicious but full of fibres, vitamins, nutrients and it goes on.... (of course you all already know about its benefits)

With all the mixed sprouts, this dish tastes excellent and this has become a regular dish whenever somebody comes over for lunch or dinner. This is so easy to make, just that we should be ready with the sprouts.

In this curry, I have ground tomatoes along with coriander leaves and so it tasted yumm..Sprouts are readily available in the market but freshly sprout it at home and you can see the difference.

Ingredients:

1. Moong Sprouts- ½ Cup
2. Chana dal Sprouts- ½ Cup
3. Horse Gram Sprouts- ½ Cup
4. Green Peas Sprouts- ½ Cup
5. Onions (sliced)- 2 nos
6. Tomatoes- 2 nos
7. Coriander Leaves (chopped)- 3 tbsp
8. Green Chillies (slited)- 2 nos
9. Ginger and garlic paste- 1 tbsp
10. Garam Masala Powder- 1tsp
11. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tsp
12. Turmeric Powder- 1tsp
13. Coriander Powder- 1 tsp
14. Oil- 2 tbsp
15. Mustard seeds- 1tsp

Method:

1. Mix all the sprouts in a bowl and pressure cook for upto 3 whistles.
2. In a kadai heat oil and splutter mustard seeds, in this add the sliced onions and green chillies.
3. When the onions turn translucent add the ginger and garlic paste and stir well till the raw smell disappears.
4. Meanwhile put the tomatoes in hot water for 5 minutes and peel the skin. Grind the tomatoes and coriander leaves to a fine paste.
5. Add this tomato- coriander leaves paste in the above onion mixture and stir well.
6. Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and garam masala powder and mix till everything is well blended.
7. Add the cooked sprouts, salt and little water for the gravy. Let it boil for few minutes and switch off the flame. Serve hot.

Spicy and Saucy Chole with deep fried Soft Bature / Spicy chickpeas with deep fried Bread

This is a combination of spicy Chickpea curry and fried bread called batura. This is a heavy breakfast item and  a popular street food which is very popular in northern parts of India. This is also called as chole poori as the batura resembles a poori. This has been my all time favorite restaurant food. When ever we go out for dinner, I order these without thinking about the calories :-) Though it is a  heavy junk food item, this is so yummy. 

After my marriage when I came to Banglore I tried this in a restaurant and from then on I haven't stopped ordering this whenever we go out. My Husband gives a big NO to this as this is very rich and highly fattening. Now  a days I make this at home but very very rarely. This time I thought of making this for iftar as this will be  a whole meal for dinner. 

In restaurants we will be getting big baturas, I made small ones so that I can fry them easily. Everyone will be having their own variations in making this chole bature. This is my version of making the batura and for curry I followed “Aayi’s Recipes” blog, which has so many collection of recipes.

Please excuse the poor photo quality of the batura snap, as I took that in low light i.e at the time of iftar.

Ingredients:
For Batura:

1. Maida / All purpose flour- 1cup
2. Ghee- 1tsp
3. Yeast- 1/2tsp
4. Sugar- ½ tsp
5. Hot water- ½ cup
6. Egg- 1no
7. Salt- to taste
8. Water- enough for kneading
9. Oil- for deep frying

Method

For batura:

1. Crumble the ghee into the flour. Mix well till the mixture resembles sand. Keep it aside fro 10 minutes.
2. Mix yeast, sugar and warm water together in a cup and keep it aside for rising. The yeast will rise and get frothy within 15minutes.
3. Pour this yeast mixture into the prepared  flour and mixture into the prepared flour and mix well.
4. Add the egg and salt to taste. Knead the dough well. Sprinkle water in between till the dough becomes soft and pliable. Keep it aside for rising for about ½ an hour.
5. Make small balls and roll them like pooris (but slightly thicker).
6. Heat the oil in a frying pan . When it is sufficiently hot, deep fry the baturas.
7. Serve hot with chole curry.

For Chole curry: Adapted from Aayi’s Recipes

1. Chana / chickpea- 1 ½ cups
2. Tomatoes- 2nos
3. Cardamom- 1no
4. Cloves- 3nos
5. Cinnamon- 1 small stick
6. Coriander seeds- ½ tsp
7. Jeera seeds- ½ tsp
8. Fenugreek seeds- ¼ tsp
9. Pepper seeds- ¾ tsp
10. Onions- 2nos
11. Ginger and Garlic paste- 1tbsp
12. Red chilli powder- 1tsp
13. Salt- as per taste

Method:
For  chole curry:

1. Soak the chickpeas in water overnight and cook them in pressure cooker till soft.
2. Grind the tomatoes and keep it a side.
3. Dry roast cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds, jeera seeds, fenugreek seeds, pepper seeds and powder them.
4. Heat oil in a kadai and fry the chopped onions till golden brown in colour. Add the ginger and garlic paste and stir well.
5. Add the ground tomatoes, ground masala, red chilli powder and salt. Cook for sometime and add the cooked chickpeas and cook for some time.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve this hot with bature.

I am sending this to Serve it fried which is co hosted by Krithi’s Kitchen, Joy from fasting to feasting and Iftar nights.