Aloo Parata/ Potato Stuffed Indian Bread

Aloo paratha is a popular Indian stuffed bread, which is very filling and will be loved by all. This can be prepared very easily, as all the ingredients added to the stuffing are very easily available in our kitchen pantries.

This is a flatbread made of whole wheat flour, which is stuffed with a potato filling and cooked until golden brown. This aloo paratha is a delicious and versatile dish, which we can have any time of the day. This is a complete meal in itself. this tastes great when served with raita or pickle. This is a perfect lunch box meal for kids. Potato is very filling as it is high in carbs.

I make this often as my daughter likes it a lot. Street vendors in India sell these aloo parathas along with a big chunk of butter or curd on the side. We can add mint, coriander leaves, ginger- garlic paste in the stuffing but I made it simple. Hope you may like this. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

1. Whole Wheat Flour- 2 Cups
2. Oil- 2 tbsp
3. salt- as required
4. Water - to knead

For the stuffing:

1. Potatoes (boiled and peeled)- 3 nos
2. Carom Seeds/ Ajwain- 1 tbsp
3. Red Chili Powder- 1 tbsp
4. Salt- as required
5. Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves(optional)- 2-3 tbsp

Method:

1. Knead the whole wheat flour along with oil, salt and required amount of water till it forms a soft, smooth dough. Keep this aside.
2. Meanwhile make the stuffing by mashing the boiled potatoes along with carom seeds, red chili powder, chopped coriander leaves and salt in a mixing bowl.
3. Make small balls out of the dough and roll them with a rolling pin into circular discs.
4. Place a 2 tbsp of the potato filling in the center of the disc and wrap the stuffing by lifting all the sides of the dough into a ball and roll them again using a rolling pin slowly or else the stuffing will come out.
5. Place it on a hot tawa or a nonstick pan and cook on medium flame. Spread a tbsp of oil on both sides of the paratha and cook till both the sides turn golden brown.
6. Enjoy hot aloo parathas with curd.

Nalli Nihari/ Slow cooked Mutton in Spices

EID MUBARAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eid ul Adha or Bakrid is also called as “feast of sacrifice. Bakrid is one of the most important Muslim festivals. Eid began with we all getting ready to go to the eidgah for the eid prayers. This is the first time, I went to the mosque to offer festive prayer. I was pretty much excited and after finishing the prayers, there was a small breakfast session and kids enjoyed a lot as many games were there for them. After spending some time, we came back and my lunch work started.

This time I wanted to make it simple, so instead of biryani, I planned to make ghee rice, mutton curry and Kerala style parippu payasam.  For the mutton curry, I thought of making something different, which I never made before and so I finalised on “nalli nihari”, which from so long I was thinking of preparing.

Nihari is a stew made of meat in which traditionally the meat is slow cooked for hours. The spices and the taste will make this dish unique.

The word “Nihari” is originated from Arabic “Nahar” which means “day”, this is cooked overnight for 6- 8 hours. This is served to the emperors after the morning prayers. If the Nihari masala is made and stored prior to cooking, it will make easier to prepare. This is prepared with the leg pieces of goat. Hope you all like this. Try this out and let me know.

Ingredients:

Nihari Masala:

1. Fennel Seeds- 2 tsp
2. Cumin Seeds- 2 tsp
3. Cloves- 4 nos
4. Cinnamon- 1 small stick
5. Cardamom- 3 nos
6. Big Cardamom- 2 nos (optional)
7. Nutmeg- 1 tsp
8. Mace- 1 Tsp
9. Black Pepper- 1 tbsp

For the Curry:

1. Mutton- 2 Pounds
2. Onions- 4 nos
3. Green Chillies- 3 nos
4. Oil- 2 tbsp
5. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
6. Red Chilli Powder- 2 tbsp
7. Coriander Powder- 2 tbsp
8. Salt- as required
9. Nihari Masala- 3 tbsp
10. Whole wheat Flour- 4 tbsp
11. Water- 1 Cup
12. Lemon Juice- 2 tbsp

Method:

For masala:

• Dry roast the ingredients in the masala till nice aroma comes. Switch off and grind to a fine powder when cooled.

For the Curry:

1. Slice the onions and green chillies and wash and drain mutton. Keep this aside.
2. Heat a pan with oil, add the sliced onions and green chillies.
3. When the raw smell disappears and when they turn light brown in colour add the ginger- garlic paste. Stir well.
4. Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Add the cleaned mutton pieces and stir for about 5- 6 minutes on a medium flame.
5. Add the Nihari masala. Mix, add little water and cook on low flame with a lid, till the spices all get blended well with the mutton pieces.
6. Meanwhile, add the whole wheat flour to a cup of water and stir well and make sure that lumps are not formed.
7. After some about 45- 50 minutes, take off the lid and add the whole wheat flour mixture in the mutton gravy and mix well.
8. When the gravy thickens, switch off the flame and add the lemon juice on top.
9. Garnish this using julienned ginger and serve along roti, chapatis, naan, biryani, pulao. I served along with ghee rice.

Leftover Chapati and Vegetable Cutlets

As the Ramadan fasting is going on, there will be many dishes which will be left over and so one among these are the chapatis which we almost always end up wasting. Last couple of days we have been wasting the leftover chapatis, but I felt bad doing that. So I decided to do something and googled many sites and hit upon this recipe, which can be made easily within minutes.

Many recipes can be made with leftover chapatis, but I liked this as I didn’t have much time left before the Iftar time( breaking the fast). Believe me I made this dish within half an hour including the pics.

This is a very nutritious preparation with all the veggies stuffed in the cutlets.

Instead of egg, we can roll them in semolina or else dip them in egg and roll them in breadcrumbs or corn flakes. As I didn’t have any of these I simply dipped them in eggs and shallow fried them. This turned out to be a yummy iftar dish which I am sure I will repeat for sure. You can freeze the uncooked cutlets and can be made any other day.

Adapted From Foodsand flavorsbyshilpi

Ingredients:

1. Left Over Chapatis- 5 nos
2. Onions- 2 nos
3. Cabbage- ½ Cup
4. Carrots- 2 nos
5. Green Chillies- 2 nos
6. potatoes- 2 nos
7. Red Chilli powder- 2 tsp
8. Semolina- 2 tbsp
9. Salt- as required
10. Egg- 1 no
11. Lemon Juice- 1 no
12. Oil- for shallow frying

Method:

1. Blend the left over chapatis in a hand blender coarsely.
2. Chop the vegetables (cabbage, carrot, onions and green chillies) in the blender and keep this aside. Boil, peel and mash the potatoes.
3. Mix the powdered chapatis, vegetables, mashed potatoes, red chilli powder, semolina, lemon juice and required amount of salt well.
4. Divide this into round balls and spread it on your palm in the shape of tikkis. Meanwhile beat the egg along with salt in a bowl.
5. Heat oil for shallow frying. Dip these tikkis in the egg mixture and fry this slowly in a pan. Serve hot along with tomato ketchup and enjoy.

Aloo Paratha / Potato stuffed Parathas

I dont know why I have become so lazy these days.I have noticed that its been long that I have posted some recipe in my little space. I have seen many of my fellow bloggers are posting almost every alternate day, which is not possible for me at all !!

Whenever I think of posting something, my mind will be interested in something else and so it goes on. So today I have decided that come what may, I have to post 5- 6 recipes in a month (even though there are readers or not… :) )

Today’s yummy recipe is a breakfast dish which will be loved by all and I think is most frequently made dish. Aloo paratha is one of our favorite breakfast thingy, but not made very frequently because of all the calorie worries !! We can also add chat masala, coriander leaves and little aam chur powder for a slight tangy taste. I didn’t add all these as we like it this way. Initially when I tried making this, all the stuffing used to come out, but later on slowly I managed to make it perfectly. I hope you will enjoy this…

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1. Whole wheat flour- 2 Cups
2. Salt- as required
3. Oil- 1 tbsp
4. Water- to knead

For the stuffing:

1. Potatoes (boiled)- 3 nos
2. Red Chilli Powder- 1 tbsp
3. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
4. Ajwain- 1 tbsp
5. Cumin Powder- 1 tsp
6. Salt- as per taste

Method:

1. Mash the boiled potatoes and add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, ajwain, cumin powder and salt. Mix well and keep this aside.
2. Take the whole wheat flour, salt, oil and water in a bowl. Knead well till it forms a dough.
3. Divide the dough into 8 parts. Dust the working area with wheat flour. Roll the divided dough little and place the potato mixture in the center and seal by pulling the edges together into a ball.
4. Roll it out carefully with the sealed part on top.
5. Heat a tawa and place the rolled dough. Apply little oil on top and flip it over to the other side.
6. Cook both sides well. Apply oil if needed.
7. Serve this hot along with curd and pickle. Enjoy this amazing dish any time of the day….

Erachi Pathiri / Chicken Stuffed Rotis

These days I am a little busy with my personal stuff and I know I am not spending too much time at my little space. I really miss my friends, my fellow bloggers comments and their new recipes and so on. I will try my best to keep in touch with you folks.

Holy Ramadan is coming to an end and fasting and feasting for iftar is going in full swing. In between, I have tested and tried many different dishes. Some were tasty and repeated and some weren’t. Today I am going to take you through one of those recipes which worked well for me. I made this for the first time and was successful.

As fasting is going on, by evening I will be excited to prepare some new dish and so I will be searching on the net or calling my mom to help me out. One day I came across this pathiri and I felt this is perfect for Iftar.

There are different varieties of pathiris, which are steamed, pan fried or deep fried. This is a deep fried one. As many of you might be already aware, this dish comes from the Malabar cuisine and their dishes are usually quite rich and flamboyant. This erachi pathiri is a meat stuffed bread, that is deep fried and then roasted in an egg mixture. I didn’t do the roasting part i just finished it with deep frying. This is a very popular Ramadan dish and can also be made for special occasions.

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour- 2 cups
2. Salt- as per taste
3. Oil- 2 tbsp
4. Water- required to knead

For the filling:

1. Boneless Chicken- 250gms
2. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
3. Red chilli powder- 2 tsp
4. Salt- as required
5. Onions (chopped)- 2 cups
6. Ginger and garlic paste- 1tbsp
7. Green Chillies (chopped)- 2 nos
8. Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
9. Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
10. Coriander powder- 1 tsp
11. Garam masala powder- 1 tsp

Method:
For the dough:

1. Mix the wheat flour, salt, oil and water well, till it forms a perfect chapathi dough. Keep this aside till we prepare the filling.
2. Pressure cook the boneless chicken along with red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and little water. Once it is cool, the cooked chicken is grinded in a hand mixer and keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan and fry onions till translucent. Add the ginger and garlic paste, chopped green chillies. When the raw smell disappears, add all the powders, ground chicken and required amount of salt. Mix well till the chicken is coated well with masalas and switch off the flame.

For assembling:

1. Make small balls from the prepared chapathi dough and roll two lemon sized balls in the shape of chapatis.

1. Spread the filling on one rolled out chapathi and over that keep the other rolled chapathi and press the edges using your fingers and roll the edges with fingers to form a nice design and also that the filling won't come out when it is deep fried.

1. Heat some oil in a deep frying pan and fry the above made pathiri till golden brown on both sides. Repeat the process till all the pathiris are made. Serve the hot steaming pathiris as it is.

Stuffed Wheat pancakes / Gothambu Ada

Mom used to serve the hot steaming adas as we (me and my bros) get back home from school. This used to be one of our favorite breakfast/snack item. My Mom makes this often and now I miss this a lot. This is a traditional and popular snack of Kerala. This is usually made with dough made of rice flour, stuffed with coconut and jaggery mixture and steaming them in banana leaf, as it gives a special and unique flavor to the dish.

Being the lazy person I am, I think that making with rice flour is a long process so I made this with wheat flour and roasted them on tawa just like how we make chapatis. This is a perfect dish for iftar as we will be full after eating two adas.

The stuffings can be varied according to one's taste and preference. So, here is the recipe. I hope you will try this mouth watering, easy dish.

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour- 1 cup
2. Salt- as required
3. water- as required to knead
4. Coconut (scraped)- ½ Cup
5. Jaggery (grated)- ½ cup

Method:

1. Mix the grated jaggery and coconut and keep it aside.
2. Mix wheat flour, salt and water and make a dough. Make lemon sized balls out of the dough.
3. Roll the lemon sized balls in the form of chapati and spread the coconut- jaggery mixture in this and fold the chapati ada into half and seal the edges by making design or with a fork.
4. Heat a dosa pan and add little oil. Place this ada in the pan and let it roast well on both sides.
5. Yummy and delicious ada is ready.