Stuffed Carrot and Coriander Paratha.

Chapathis or Parathas are must in the Indian food. Without chapathi for me food is not complete. And chapatis are health food as well.

Stuffed carrot and coriander parathas are healthy, colourful and very tasty, easy to prepare parathas.

Makes about 6 Paratha.

Ingredients for Dough:

·         1 cup wheat flour

·       1/2 cup water (Use more or less as needed)

·       Pinch of salt

·       Pinch of sugar

·       1 tablespoon of oil

Ingredients for carrot stuffing:

·         6 medium grated carrots

·       1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (Jeera)

·       2 medium finely chopped green chillies

·       4 tablespoons finely chopped coriander

·       1/2 dhaniya powder( coriander powder)

·       1/2 teaspoon amchoor powder (optional)

·       1/4 teaspoon jeera powder

·       1/4 teaspoon red chilli powder

·       Pinch of asafoetida

·       Pinch of haldi

·       1/2 teaspoon of ginger(grated)

·       1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

Other ingredients for rolling and cooking:

·         1/4 cup wheat flour for rolling

·      Oil or butter for applying on parathas

Method:

Making Dough:

1.      Mix flour, salt, sugar, oil and water together to make soft dough.

2.   Knead the dough for a few minutes on a lightly greased surface to make smooth and pliable dough.

3.   Set the dough aside and cover. Let the dough rest for at least ten minutes.

Filling(stuffing):

1.     Heat a pan and put 1/2 tablespoon of oil to it.

2.   When oil is hot add jeera and let it sizzle. Now add asafoetida and haldi give a stir.

3.   Add grated ginger cook it for 2 seconds than add green chillies.

4.   Now add grated carrot and mix it all. Cook grated carrots for 3 mins(till all the water is evaporated)

5.   Now add the masalas(dhaniya powder, jeera powder, amchur, red chilli powder and salt)

6.   Mix all the masals well and turn off the heat.

7.   Now add finely chopped coriander to the carrot mixture.

8.   Let the mixture cool for 5-10 mins.

Making paratha:

1.      Divide the dough and carrot, coriander mixture into 6 equal parts.

2.    Roll the dough into 3 inch diameter circles. Place the carrot balls in the center. Seal by pulling the edges of the rolled dough        together to make a ball. Proceed to make all six balls.

3.    Let them settle for 3 to 4 minutes before rolling them.

4.    Heat the skillet on medium high.

5.   To make it easier to roll the balls, first roll them in dry wheat flour.

6.    Lightly press the ball on the sealed side and keep it on the topside when rolling. Roll the ball without putting much pressure in to 6-inch circles. Whenever the dough sticks to the rolling pin or rolling surface, lightly sprinkle dry whole-wheat flour on both sides of the semi-rolled paratha.

7.    Place the paratha over the skillet. After a few seconds you will see the paratha change color and puff in different  places.

8.    Then flip the paratha over. You should see some golden-brown spots on the topside. After a few seconds, spread 1 teaspoon of oil or butter  on the paratha. Again, flip the paratha and lightly press the puffed areas with a spatula.

9.    Flip again and press with the spatula making sure the paratha is golden-brown on both sides.

10.  Cool the parathas on a wire rack so they don’t get soggy.

Serving Suggestions

1.      Parathas can be served with plain yogurt, spicy mango pickle or just with little butter on top.

2.    Best dish for kids lunch box. As its colourful kids love it.

    Enjoy the delicious carrot and coriander parathas.

Dry Jamun and Kala Jamun Recipe

Myself and my husband are big fan of gulab Jamun. Specially my husband can have gulab jamun any time of the day.  I use to prepare gulab jamun with the ready mix we get in the Indian stores, but after searching on the web I came to know we can even prepare jamuns from milk powder and maida(all purpose flour). I tried it and it was big hit. Gulab Jamun’s were very soft and delicious in taste.

  

We both like Dry Jamun and Kala Jamun. I took basic recipe of Gulab Jamun and tried to prepare Kala Jamun and Dry jamun. the taste was soooo good. they got over in seconds.. Here I am sharing the delicious Dry jamun and Kala Jamun recipe..

Basic Jamun recipe:-                                          

·         1 cup non-fat milk powder

·         1/4 cup All Purpose flour (plain flour, maida)

·         3 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter

·         1/4 cup room temperature whole milk

·         Pinch of baking soda

·         1 3/4 cup sugar

·         1 1/2 cup water

·         4 coarsely grounded cardamom seeds

·         1 tablespoon sliced almonds and pistachio

·         Oil for deep-frying

Preparing sugar Syrup:-

1.        In a large pan, add water, sugar, and ground cardamom seeds and bring it to a boil.

2.        Let the syrup boil for a minute then remove it from the heat.

3.        Stir the syrup until the sugar is dissolved.

4.        Set the syrup aside.

My variation for the above recipe:-

Extra ingredients used for the variation:-

·  Pinch of any food colour of your choice

·  ¼ tsp of sugar

·  Desiccated coconut-1/2 cup                                                                                                                                                       

 Method:-

·      Divide the dough in two parts(separate ¼ of the dough)

·      For the small portion of the dough add¼ tsp of sugar, pinch of any food colour mix it and keep it aside for       some time. Sugar added will caramelise and give nice colour to the jamun.

·      Now make the small balls of colured dough.

·      Take a little bigger ball form the other portion of the dough, and put the small coloured ball inside bigger one.

·      Repeat the process for the remaining dough.

·      Fry those balls in a oil/ghee with medium temperature.

·      Keep the fried balls to cool for some time and fry them again to get the dark colour.

·      Once you get the dark brown colour remove them from the oil and allow them to sit outside for 5 minutes.

·      After 5 mins add them to the sugar syrup which should be hot.

·      Soak them for 5-6 hours to absorb the syrup.

·      Once they have absorbed the syrup they will be very soft and dark brown in colour.

·      Take them out of the sugar syrup and roll them in desiccated coconut, so that the Kala Jamun’s will be coated all over the surface.

·      This will make very nice presentation.

Purpose of adding colour is for good presentation. Which is optional. It looks very pretty  in the centre of the jamun. I added orange colour because its my husbands favourite colour, you can add your choice of colour. 

Hara-Bhara Palak Papadi Chat

Every Indian will be big fan of Chats and street foods. I am also very big fan of chat. So I thought as my first post I will post the delicious Papadi chat with my kind of variation. I created this variation for the contest in Manjulaskitchen.com. and this was the first prize winning recipe.

Recipe serves 4

Colour full and delicious Papadi Chat with Palak Pakoras, spicy Potato mix, sprouted moong and pomegranate seeds.

Ingredients for Making Papdi:

·         1 cup all purpose flour (Maida or plain flour)

·         1/4 cup semolina flour (sooji)

·         2 tablespoons oil

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         Finely chopped onions(optional)

·         1/4 teaspoon Red chilli powder

Ingredients for Making Palak Pakoras:

·         1 cup chick pea flour(Besan)

·         1/4 slat

·         1/4  red chilli powder

·         Pinch of baking soda

·         Pinch of Ajvain

·         Palak(spinach) small leaves

·         Oil for frying

·         Water as required

For Garnishing the Papadi:

·        1 Boiled potato, mashed

·        Palak Pakoras

·        Hari cilantro chutney (recipe from http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/02/04/cilantro-chutney/)

·        Tamarind chutney (recipe from http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2007/06/29/tamarind-chutney/)

·        Sprouted Moong

·        Smooth yogurt

·        Pomegranate seeds

·        Tomato slices

Method

Papdi:

Make Papadi either round or square in shape as showed in the video at manjulaskitchen.com and if you want add finely chopped onions (optional) to the dry ingredients before adding water.

Palak Pakoras:

·        Add all the dry ingredients and mix well.

·        Add water and get it to the dosa batter consistency.

·        Heat oil in a frying pan and once its hot dip palak leaf in the batter and fry it in oil.

·        Remove when it’s fried and keep the Pakoras on a paper towel to remove excess oil.

Arranging the Papadi and Garnishing:

1.   Mash the potato’s and mix with hari cilantro chutney.

2.   Arrange the papadi on the plate.

3.   Place one palak pakora on each papadi.

4.   Now place spicy potato mixture on top of each palak pakora.

5.   Put drop of yogurt and tamarind chutney as shown in the picture.

6.   Add pomegranate seeds on top.

7.   Add sprouted moong in between each papadi.

8.   Arrange tomato slices and drop of tamarind chutney on the edge of the plate to make it colour full.

          Enjoy the Hara-bhara palak papadi chat. If you want garnish with shev.