Bhindo Do Pyaza in a very different style!!

Dear All,

“So few people eat okra (more radishes are grown in this country) that it never even makes it onto the lists of Top 10 hated foods.”

- Julia Reed

Okra/Bhindi/Lady Finger's was not on my list of favorite vegetable until recently. Bhindi Do Pyaza is a famous North Indian dish where okra is cooked along with almost equal amount of onions. Okra is slit in half and cooked on slow heat with very minimum spices. This way of cooking brings out the crunchiness in okras which blends well with the taste of onions and together its an delicious combination best served with rotis or phulkas. 

I personally havent met many people who dislike bhindi well I am one of them! Its true I am not a big fan of okras. While growing up my mom tried all different ways to make okra either stuffed or with onions but somehow I never liked it. Recently while doing grocery shopping my roommate picked up 1kg of okra...dear oh dear were the only words which came out of my mouth. She loves okras in any form, I dont know why always two opposite people are forced to stay together by nature, nah dont get me wrong she is adorable but completely opposite to me! Thats the reason why she is one of my closest friend. 

Ok before I bore you guys to death, lets get back to today's special. Bhindi Do Pyaza but cooked with khoya! Exactly my reaction when i first heard it..Okra with khoya? Hmmm now thats something different isnt it? Addition of khoya or mava as we call it increases the richness and taste of this dish, it takes the dish to completely different level .If you love Bhindi Do Pyaza you got to try this recipe! I promise you will ask for more just like we did :D

Bhindi Do Pyaza with Khoya
Serves 2 to 3
Ingredients:-
1/2 kg Okra, washed, dried, chopped in 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup mava/khoya
1 big onion, finely sliced
1 big tomato, finely chopped
1 tbsp oil
2 small cinnamon sticks
3 cardamon pods
2 bay leaf
2 cloves
1 dry red chili broken
a pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste
1 tsp sugar

Procedure:-

• Heat oil in a pan, add in cloves, cinnamon, cardamon pods, bay leaf, red chilli and asafoetida.
• Now add in onion and tomatoes and saute for 5 mins until onions have become soft.
• Now add in okras and rest of spices and mix well.
• Cover and cook for 15 to 20 mins, dont forget to sprinkle some water in between if okra starts sticking to the pan.
• Finally add in mava/khoya and mix well. Cover and cook for another 5 mins.
• Serve hot with rotis or phulkas.
• Enjoy!

Gud Poli - Jaggery, Poppy Seeds, Sesame stuffed between Flat Breads

Dear Readers,

Wishing you all a very Happy Makarsankranti and Pongal. Last year when I was in Switzerland I missed most of the festivals back home; I remember how my sister used to make me jealous on phone by describing how much fun they had celebrating all the festivals :-( Kite Flying is very popular festival in India, especially in the cities of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Jaipur and Hyderabad. Kite flying usually starts a month before the actual festival. On the day of Makar Sankranti the entire sky is filled with colorful kites and you can see everyone on top of their building roofs and having a blast! I remember few years back, during makar sankranti we visited my aunt's place where we spent the whole day flying kites and lanterns. We even made a BIG kite using several kites together joining their threads and finally attaching a lantern to it. It was a beautiful sight especially as we flew the kite in the night. I wish I had my camera with me to capture the brilliant shinning star!!

Makar Sankranti is celebrated in all parts of the country with great devotion. On this day tilgud laddoos made of sesame seeds and jaggery and are given as token of love and appreciation. A very famous saying in marathi is "Til-gud ghya, god god bola" meaning accept these tilguds and speak sweet words. Another famous dish which is prepared on this day is Gud Poli. Gud Poli's are prepared for lunch on Makar Sankranti. Grated jaggery, roasted poppy seeds and sesame seeds mixture is stuffed between two flat breads. The recipe is very  popular among kids and is perfect way to celebrate sankranti.

                       Cashewnuts, Roasted Sesame seeds, Cardamon seeds, Roasted Poppy seeds

Recipe Source: My dear friend Vrushali
Gud Poli: Recipe yields 6-7 polis
Ingredients for Stuffing:
1 cup grated jaggery (Adjust as per taste)
3 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp poppy seeds
8-10 cashewnuts
seeds from 3 cardamon pods
1 tbsp roasted gram flour
1 tbsp warm sesame oil

Ingredients for Flat Bread dough:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
3/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)
2 tbsp gram flour
1 tbsp warm sesame oil
water as required

Procedure:-

• Roast the sesame and poppy seeds on a pan until light brown, keep them aside.
• In the same pan roast the gram flour for about 2 mins.
• Mix all the ingredients together in a mixer and pulse until well blended.
• You should be able to form a medium consistency dough. You dont need to add any liquid as grated jaggery will become quite soft and mouldable.Grease your hands with oil/ghee and make small balls of stuffing and keep them aside.
• For outer cover, mix everything together in a bowl. Slowly add little water and make a firm dough. The dough should not be too soft but more on a firmer side.
• Make 14 equal sized balls from the dough.
• On a floured surface, roll the ball to 3 inch diameter circle. Flatten the stuffing with your hands and place on top of the rolled dough. Roll another dough ball to similar size and place it on the stuffing.
• Using very little water pinch in the sides of the dough to join them firmly.
• Now very carefully and lightly roll the dough to spread the stuffing evenly.
• Cook these polis in a non stick pan on slow heat, applying ghee/clarified butter on both the sides while cooking. 
• Similarly make rest of the gud polis.
• Make sure you have pinched both the ends properly or else the jaggery may ooze out during cooking which can  get quite messy!
• Serve gud polis warm.

Verdict: I am not a huge fan of sweet polis/flatbreads but these were insanely tasty and i just couldnt stop eating them. I took few to office and my colleagues went crazy over these; they literally..I mean literally fought for these! I am planning to make these again this week for my family and I am sure everyone will enjoy these delicious sweet polis! I would urge you all to try these polis once TRUST ME you'll love it !!!

Gud Poli is off to Cooking with Sesame seeds event hosted by Priya