Gobi Paratha

I love gobi Parathas and paneer parathas. I am reserving panner parathas for some other time.It is absolutely out of bounds for me right now.I made some for mom one of the week nights when she abstains from rice. It is simpler to use frozen cauliflower but fresh ones taste much better. I had the best gobi paratha of my life in Parathewali gali in Chandni Chowk, New Delhi. Back in those days it never quite mattered to how dirty the eatery looked as long as they served great tasting food. Now a days I might not be so comfortable eating there, right next to drains. But the parathas were simply heavenly. I also had some panner parathas the same day. Boy o Boy I never got to eat such heavenly tasting parathas ever. Well it was called the Mecca of Parathas for a reason.



We will need,

Cauliflower frozen 1/2 lb
Chilly powder 1 tsp
Dhania powder 1 tsp
Amchoor powder ½ tsp or lemon juice
Coriander fresh chopped 2 tbsp
Salt
Garam masala a generous pinch
Whole wheat flour
Water
Oil
Salt

Method

• Mix whole wheat flour with water and a pinch of salt to form a soft dough. Set it aside.
• Thaw frozen cauliflower overnight. Sqeeze the thawed cauliflower and drain very well.Mix in the chilly powder, Dhania powder, Amchoor powder, Garam Masala and coriander.
• Preheat a skillet.
• To make the parathas, pinch lemon sized dough and rolls it out slightly. Place the lime sized cauliflower mixture in the center of the rolled out dough. Bring together the edges of the rolled out dough.
  
• Roll out the stuffed dough into 6 inch circles.
  
• Transfer the paratha on to the hot skillet.
• Cook for a few minutes till small bubbles appear on the edges. Flip the paratha. Drizzle oil or ghee generously over the parathas. Flip once more and drizzle oil/ghee once more and cook till the parathas are golden brown.
• Serve hot with ghee, pickles and thick tangy yogurt.

Belladanna, Rice Pudding

Wishing you all a very happy sankranti. Sankranti, the harvest festival usually means sweet and savory 'pongal',cooked sweet potato, Avarekai and groundnuts. But back in the days of my granny, it was not sweet pongal but belladanna that used to occupy the center stage during Sankranti. Sankranti was also about exchanging Ellu-bella, a mixture of toasted sesame seeds, jaggery, coconut, roasted channa dal and peanuts.Me and my sister used to wear our silk-langa (reshme langa) and go about the neighbourhood exchanging Ellu-bella, sugar cane, banana, sakkare acchu and elchi hannu (ziziphus as it says in Wikipedia).Very typical of me, I had once mixed up Ellu-bella packs to-be-taken-home and to-be-given-away and mom had the surprise of the day to find all our Ellu-bella packs cozily still in my basket. This year should have been a 'bombe-Ellu' for me because of my new born. It is a tradition of distributing a small toy/doll the year a new baby is born. Sadly this is not home and I miss the tradition so much. Memories and traditions apart, these foods are rich in fat and are good during the cooler season. In fact it is surprising that people celebrating Lordhi in Punjab too consume chikkis-sesame seed chikki as well as peanut chikki. That is probably what holds India together despite the diversity...a common thread running inconspicuously.
Apart from Ellu-bella, Sankrati also mean Sakkare Acchhu, moulded sugar candy.
I love the soft ones that mom makes, in all shapes, fruits, animals,tulasi-katte, Mantapa etc. Both my grandmothers are good at making Sakkare acchu but mom is the best. I will reserve the recipe for some other day.
Another tradition associated with Sankranti is 'Kitch haisodu'. It is the 'fire-jumping' cattle. A small fire is lit and domestic cattle are prodded to jump over the fire. The cattle participating in the event are decorated with bells, colours and other trinkets. It is fun to see all the cattle so festive and colourful, though I did rather not see the fire part of it.

For now it is all about Belladanna. It is actually a very rustic and ancient family recipe. Somehow it was forgotten in between. recently mom and Doddamma retrieved the recipe for this dish and have started making it. So me and Honey had it for the first time, courtesy mom. We both liked it. It is not as heavy as sweet pongal but equally satisfying. Best of all, it is good for new mothers as well :)



Rice 1 C
Jaggery 1/3 to 1/2 C
Nutmeg a pinch
Cardamon 1 whole
Coconut grated 1/2 C (optional)
Raisin a handful
Cashew nuts a handful
Ghee 1/4 C

Method:

• Cook rice in 2 cups of water till soft.
  
• Bring the jaggery and very little water to a boil and simmer till it attains one thread consistency. (When the syrup is easily stretched into a single thread between two wet fingers. Requires care, the syrup being hot can scald)
• Mix grated coconut into the syrup.
• Heat ghee in a thick bottomed pot. Drop the cashew nuts and raisins, fry till light golden in colour. Throw in the whole cardamom. Pour it over the syrup and coconut mixture.Grate a dash of nutmeg into the syrup.
• Gently fold in the rice while still warm. Serve warm.
  

Goes to the SHF hosted by a merrier world..

Hesarunde/ Moong Ladoo

his year our Festival season stretched well into the holiday season and the new year because Mom is here :) She made some delectable Hesarunde last week, we gobbled it up in no time. Yes!! the good news is that I was able to eat it. It is very much allowed during post partum period.
I will ask mom to make an extra batch next week.. I am craving for good food like never before, not even during my pregnancy.


We will need,

Split moon dal powder 1 C
Sugar 3/4 C to 1 C coarsely ground (Burra Sugar)
Almond roasted and chopped
Saffron
Ghee (melted) as needed

Method

• Toast split moong dal on low flame till fragrant and golden in colour. Set it aside to cool.
• Grind it into a smooth powder. Back home they do it on "Beso Kallu" or a stone mill (Two hefty stones sandwiched and used to crush grains etc) which adds to the flavor of the moong. (The heat generate by the blenders/grinders motors causes the essential oils to evaporate and therefore reduces taste) But then all of us do not have the "Beso Kallu"and therefore got to do with coffee grinders etc.
  
• Mix sugar and the roasted moong powder, crushed saffron, roasted and chopped almonds (substitute cashew nuts if you like).
• Pour a tablespoon of ghee at the edge of the mixture, work it into lime sized balls. Continue with the ghee a table spoon at a time and work the remaining mixture into balls/ ladoos.
  

Enjoy!!
This is my entry to the MLLA 19th helping hosted at simple Indian food, started by Susan .

Pineapple Gojju/ Pineapple Chutney

Though not a native fruit, Pineapple has somehow integrated into Kannada culinary fabric very well. So much so that it is an integral part of a Kannadiga wedding. One of the most popular way to use pineapple is to convert it into Gojju. Gojju is a thick accompaniment to rice that generically falls somewhere between curry and chutney. I would not serve it as a main course or a stand alone curry, instead use it to make a dowdy meal interesting.



We will need,

Pineapple (fresh) 1 c chopped
Red chillies 2-3
Jaggery 1 tbsp crushed
Oil 3 tbsp
Bisibele bath powder 2 tsp
Copra 3 tbsp roasted and powdered
Curry leaves 8-10
Hing a dash
Mustard seeds 1/4 tsp
Salt

Method

• Heat oil in a thick bottomed pot. Throw in the mustard seeds, hing, curry leaves and red chillies.
  
• Once the spluttering stops drop the chopped pineapple. Sprinkle some salt cover and cook till the pineapple is tender. Alternately if you like your pineapple softer than al-dente you can cook the pineapple separately and add cooked pineapple once the mustard et al stops spluttering.
• Mix in the remaining ingredients and a few tbsps of water, cover and cook till it attains a chutney like consistency.
• Enjoy it while it is hot.

I used a home made blend for Bisibele bath powder, MTR should work fine though. Also canned pineapple can be used. Since canned version is softer than fresh pineapples, reduce the cooking time and avoid adding too much of water.

Jelly Cream

Mom loves jelly. So we had a great time with jelly this summer. There was a time when the instant jelly mix in the box contained gelatin therefore unsuitable for our consumption. And then there was vegetarian agar-agar that tasted more like figments of cardboard than jelly. But these days they have great tasting vegetarian instant jelly mix. I had a great time this fall with these jelly mixes. We also tried various combination and had great tasting desserts. This particular combination is something we all loved and enjoyed. Looks great on a holiday table as well.



We will need,

Instant jelly (strawberry flavour) 1 package
Heavy whipping cream ½ cup
Sugar 2-3 tbsp
Dates chopped
Raisins
Cashew chopped
Almonds chopped as desired

Method:

• Prepared jelly according to the package instruction. Once set cut it into1 cm*1cm*1cm cubes.
• To prepare whipped cream, freeze whisk and a bowl for at least 30 minutes. Whip the cream over a bowl of ice till it increases in volume. Add sugar a table spoon at a time and keep whipping. Continue till all the sugar is used up and the stiff peak appears on the cream.
• To assemble the dessert, take Champagne flutes, drop a few pieces of jelly on to the bottom of the flute. Layer some whipped cream followed by some dry fruits and nuts. Start with jelly and repeat the layers topped with nuts and fruits. Serve immediately.
  

Quick Aloo Paratha

Everyone loves Aloo Paratha.. Me... I like it only if it is well made, no thick edges, sumptuous and spicy filling. It requires certain expertise to please me. I rank my own efforts in this direction quite lacking and it looks like a long way for perfection. But then expertise is all about practice, besides Honey really likes them. Aloo parathas do take a while to prepare, here is a short cut version using boxed mashed potatoes.
This particular dish is out of bounds for me right now, i did suggest other breast feeding mothers to refrain from this dish as well. Boy o boy my son did not stop crying the day I had just half a paratha despite stiff objection from mom :(



Serves 4 ||  Calories per serving  229 Kcl || Protein 3.8 gm ||  fat 12.7 gm || Fiber 1 gm

For the filling,
Packaged mash potatoes mix -1
Chilly powder 1 tsp
Dhania powder 1 tsp
Amchoor powder ½ tsp or lemon juice
Coriander fresh chopped 2 tbsp
Garam masala a generous pinch
Salt

For the dough,

Whole wheat flour
Water
Oil
Salt

Method:
Mix whole wheat flour with water and a pinch of salt to form a soft dough. Set it aside.
Prepare the mashed potatoes according to package instruction substituting water for cream/milk called for in the instruction on the box. Mix in the chilly powder, Dhania powder, Amchoor powder, Garam Masala and coriander. Sit the prepared mixture on the counter for a few minutes till it is cool and firm. Pinch lime sized balls from the potato mixture.

Preheat a skillet. To make the parathas, pinch lemon sized dough and rolls it out slightly. Place the lime sized potato mixture in the center of the rolled out dough. Bring together the edges of the rolled out dough. Roll out the stuffed dough into 6 inch circles. Transfer the paratha on to the hot skillet. Cook for a few minutes till small bubbles appear on the edges. Flip the paratha. Drizzle oil or ghee generously over the parathas. Flip once more and drizzle oil/ghee once more and cook till the parathas are golden brown.
Serve hot with ghee, pickles and thick tangy yogurt.

Sending it out to think spice- think Amchoor event hosted by Bhagyasri started by Sunita .