Thalipeeth (Using Wheat Flour)

After eating loads of yummy Diwali faraal/snacks everyone craves for the simple,tasty dish that will change the palate and so did I and nothing better than a thalipeeth and curd.

'Bhajaniche thalipeeth' is very famous and very tasty version. Bhajani is roasted multi-grain flour;to get or to prepare Bhajani in US is little hard. So I preapared thalipeeth with wheat flour and it's tasted almost the same.

Ingredients-

• 2 cups wheat flour
• 6 tablespoon oil + more to oil the pan(as needed)
• 1/2 cup curd
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon besan/ chickpea flour
• 1 teaspoon cumin-coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 3-4 green chilies finely chopped
• 1 medium size onion diced
• 2 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander leaves
• salt as per taste

Method-

1. Heat 6 tablespoon oil in a skillet/pan then add wheat flour and roast it until golden brown color.
2. Put the wheat flour in a bowl and add curd,lemon juice and all the other dry ingredients; adding water slowly knead it to make soft lose dough(consistency should be loose than the roti dough and thick than pakoda dough)
3. Cover and let the dough rest for 20-25 minutes.
4. Then apply some oil on skillet or tava or deep frying pan.
5. Divide the dough into 4-5 equal size portions sized around cricket ball/tennis ball.
6. Apply some water to your hands and then round up the the dough directly into the pan by pressing with your hand.water eases out the process.
7. Make 3-4 holes in the the pressed dough and then put the pan on medium high stove.
8. After 1-2 minutes put some oil into the holes we created and some on sides.
9. Cover the pan with lid and after 3-4 minutes take the lid out and put some more oil and flip on other side and cook for another 2- 3 minutes.
10. Serve hot with some pickle and curd.

PuranPoli

Happy Dasara/Dussehra/Vijaydashmi to all.

Puranpoli is a one of traditional Maharashtrian delicacies. Coking skills of a girl(especially newly wed)are always tested by how good is her puranpoli. I still remember the get-togethers we did when I was a kid; we all used gather for festivals at my grandma's place;we played,we fought and we ate what a great meals.My aaji/grandma is a very good cook and everyone calls her Anapurna. She is 80 and still want to preapre meals personally whenever we visit. I always wondered will I be able to make puranpolis like her? Gave it a try;came out pretty good but she is the BOSS!!!!

Here is the puranpoli I prepared for naivedyam on Dasara.

Ingredients-

For Puran/Stuffing

• 1 1/4 cups chana dal
• 1 cup jaggery
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
• Pinch of turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon oil

For Poli/bread/Cover

• 1/4 cup semolina/rava
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 1 cup all-pourpose flour/maida
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Method-

1. Take semolina/rava and add 1/2 cup water to it; to soak for 30-40 minutes.
2. Take the remaining dry ingredients for poli and add soaked rava along with the water(add water gradually) then add oil to a kneaded dough and once again knead to make soft and loose dough.The dough should be loose and oily to make the dough pliable.Cover the dough and set aside for 1 hour.
3. Take dal and add 3 1/2 cups of water,pinch of turmeric powder and 1 tablespoon oil to it and put it in pressure cooker/rice cooker.It's the quickest way to cook otherwise u can use pot also.
4. Take 5-6 whistles varies with size of cooker. As I don't have puran yantra/machine; I prefer to cook it for more time.Puran yantra is similar to the food mill used for mashed potatoes.
5. Once the dal is cooked drain out the excess water known as 'Kat' from it and save it to make 'Katachi Aamati' a spicy soupy dal.
6. Blend the dal with egg beater or hand blender to get smooth texture.
7. Put the blended dal in pan on stove on medium high and add jaggery,sugar and stir it till it get dissolved completely into dal. Cook this mixture till the spoon can stand straight into it without falling.
8. Then add nutmeg and cardamom powder and mix well. Turn off the stove and stir frequently to avoid burning/sticking at bottom of pan.
9. Make lemon size balls of dough and flatten the dough little with your hand and make a shape of small bowl.Take 2 tablespoons of puran/stuffing and put it into the dough bowl and close the dough.
10. Dust the rolling pin and surface with flour and start rolling out poli/bread spreading the stuffing evenly.
11. Put the tawa/skillet on stove on medium high and roast it on the both sides.
12. Serve hot with sajuk tup/ clarified butter and a bowl of milk.

Methi Paratha

Me and my husband are avid fans of Methi/ Fenugreek vegetable.It's must have item whenever we go to Indian store. He quoted once that if you cook Methi or Aloo-Baingan for 365 days a year I will not complaint at all(Will be easy for me right?). Now you get the idea how much he likes it.

Considering this I bought extra bunch in addition to the other to prepare paratha/methiche Thepale as we call it at home.Here is the recipe.

Ingredients-

• One cup roughly chopped methi/Fenugreek leaves.
• 2-3 finely chopped green chilies
• 2-3 cloves of garlic(finely chopped)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin-corriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 2 cups wheat flour
• 2 tablespoon basen/ chickpea flour
• pinch of asfodia/hing powder
• salt
• vegetable oil

Method-

1. Take wheat flour add all the dry ingredients and mix well.
2. Now add couple of tablespoons of oil and again mix.
3. Add water and knead into a soft dough.
4. Cover it and set aside for half hour.
5. Now make lemon size balls of dough. Roll it with your rolling pin.
6. Put some oil on a frying pan/ tava and fry on both sides till you get golden brown color.
7. Serve it hot with curd,pickle.

Tip- It's a good item to take it with you for traveling. Prepare it in advance and will last for 2-3 days.

Corn Paratha

Everyone eagerly waits for summer to arrive to get active outside(to shed few pounds put on during holiday season(winter) and I was hoping for the same;no harm in hoping isn't it :)

We didn't feel summer this year as it was raining outside for last couple of weeks;not continuously but most of the summer weekends were wet(I hated that most;should say we(housewives)). We love to go out on weekends and get a well deserving break from our daily chores (especially if you have a toddler at home full time then........) to get charge for the week.

On one of the rainy sunday we went for grocery shopping; to be honest with you that's not my favorite task.We saw fresh corn and remember the 'bhutta gadi' and obviously we picked few ones but when we tasted it at home it was too soft and sweet and then I had to find smart way to incorporate it in a dish and I did.So here is my Corn Paratha.

Ingredients-

• 1 cup Corn Kernels (grated or coarsely blended in food processor) or 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 2 1/2 cup wheat flour
• 3-4 finely chopped green chilies
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped coriander
• 1 teaspoon cumin- coriander powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• pinch of hing/asfodia powder
• salt(as per taste)
• oil
• cumin seeds

Method-

1. First grate the corn or take a big bowl and place another small bowl upside down in a big bowl; then cut the base of corn and place that corn on the small bowl and slice the kernels of so it will fall in a big bowl. Put the kernels in food processor and blend it till you get a coarse texture.
2. Add Kernels into wheat flour with turmeric powder,asfodia powder,cumin seeds,cumin-corriander powder, salt.
3. Take garlic,green chilies,coriander leaves and chop it finely. Then add it to flour mixture.
4. Add 2 tablespoon of vegetable oil then add water and knead it to make a soft dough.
5. Now make small balls of dough; dust some flour on rolling board and roll it to make paratha.
6. Put some oil/butter on pan and fry it then apply oil or butter on other side and fry it to golden brown color.
7. Serve hot with pickle/curd/Vegetable.