Beetroot Paratha for a healthy and glowing skin!

Hey Everyone!

Beetroot Paratha

Let me start off by saying I am not a big fan of Beetroots and my memories of having beetroot consists of having beetroot and carrot juice which my dad would make himself adding bits and pieces of tomatoes or ginger or mint leaves whichever was left in the fridge. I have had this juice every single day for 5 years of my college life! Though initially I didn't really like the taste but since the health benefits clearly out rated the taste my tongue got used to it :) One of the main reasons dad started with this routine was due to my extremely low iron and hemoglobin level which triggered n number of problems like migraine attacks and low immune level to fight diseases etc. All thanks to my dad and his routine that my hemoglobin level came back to normal and still its the same way.

Methi Na Thepla - Indian flatbread made with fenugreek leaves

Dear Foodies,

I have received so many requests and emails to share some of the famous Gujarati recipes, so i thought lets start with one of my very favorite gujarati dish Methi Na Thepla translated as Indian flatbreads made with fenugreek leaves. The moment we hear the word Gujarati some of the dishes automatically are associated with it like Theplas, Dhoklas, Khakra, Oondhiyu to name a few. Being gujarati myself I have born and brought up in a household where theplas and dhoklas are made almost every week. I cant even imagine my life without them! 

These are life savior when it comes to travelling and shelf life. I dont remember a single vacation or a trip when we didnt prepare these. When had with batata nu shaak (Potato curry) its unbeatable combo! Even when I left for swiss, my mom had prepared 200 theplas , not that I eat a lot but lot of my colleagues had requested to get these for them from india. If prepared properly and refrigerated these go on for almost a month. Due to higher shelf life people going abroad always take theplas with them to survive for the initial few weeks. I make methi na theplas every week, they are very healthy, delicious and you can have them with absolutely anything curd, pickle, potato curry or jam!

Recipe Source: My Mom
Yields 10 - 12 theplas depending upon the size
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh fenugreek leaves finely chopped
1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour (atta)
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander seeds powder
1 tsp cumin seeds powder
lemon sized ball of jaggery
Salt to taste
Water as required

Procedure:-

• In a clean bowl, mix together fenugreek leaves, salt, jaggery, coriander powder, red chili powder, cumin powder and turmeric powder. All in 2 tbsp of oil and mix well using your hands for 5 to 8 mins until jaggery has disolved. The mixture should be oily. Cover and leave for 15 mins.
• After 15 mins, add the whole wheat flour in this mixture and knead into a soft dough using water as required. The dough should have consistency similar to roti dough.
• Make lemon sized balls and using a rolling pin roll them into circles.
• Cook theplas on non stick pan using little oil on both the sides. Make sure the heat is medium, if you cook them on slow heat the theplas will become very crispy and hard, if you cook on high heat they will get browned too soon without being cooked.
• Serve them hot with curd, pickle or potato curry. 

Let me share a very funny incident with you all. Back in school days we along with my cousins family visited Rajasthan. We visited many cities along with Jaipur, Ajmer, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Udaipur. One day we were visiting a fort in Jaisalmer and below is the conversation I had

Uncle: Chalo chalo bacha log, lets get down and move towards the fort.
Me: Grrr..(We had skipped morning breakfast and it was decided to have it at the fort itself)..let me finish my thepla, i'll join u all later.
Uncle: Ok you can take it with you but I will not leave u in the car alone.
Me: Oh...pls ..I'll be fine
Uncle: NO!!!
Me: Ok fine..lets go
(Leading the way by my uncle we started walking towards the fort, I was busy enjoying my theplas which was rolled up with some lemon pickle...mmm just thinking of it got my mouth watering!! Behind my parents and aunt were following, suddenly uncle shouted)
Uncle: Be careful here, its marble flooring and someone has spilled water on it.
Me: I shouted back to my parents and aunt, be careful everyone the water is wet !!!!

Frankly even after i blurted out I still couldnt get it, my uncle came by my side and said casually "water is always wet dear". Hearing this everyone started laughing and I felt like why doesnt the earth open up and take me within :(( Till this date he teases me and I still cant forget that horrid incident!! But all in all it was one of the most memorable trip I have had, what a beautiful place rajasthan is, havent visited? What are you waiting for, plan your next trip there!!

This dish is off to Flavors Of Gujarat event by Nayna

Creamy Eggplant and Bell Pepper Stew with few rants

Dear Foodies,

I cant tell you how much i have missed blogging in last two weeks. I felt as if an important part of me was missing. I thought all my blogger friends will forget me :((( thats seriously a scary thought and gave me nightmares! Blogging started with a hobby and now has become a passion for me. This blog gave me lots of new things, a new identity, people from all over the world visit my blog and appreciate my efforts, its such a great feeling and thats what every blogger is craving for, right? I got so many new and extremely talented friends, whom i respect and love for their talent of creating marvellous dishes, this blog is also a place where i can share my views and of course my recipes and experiments!

Shifting to a new place has some serious disadvantages. I have misplaced so many things which i am not able to find, either they are taken away by JADOO (remember KMG?) or i have a ghost in my house! Every morning there is a treasure hunt going on, the only difference being there is no actual treasure to be won but only to find my misplaced things back. Boxes and bags are lying around and with working 12 to 16 hours a day I hardly find time to sleep forget cooking and unpacking. Seriously gals if you are living alone dont ever shift apartments, its bad idea. My new kitchen is quite smaller as compared to the older one, it finishes the moment i step in :( At first i thought its ok as this is only a temporary place and as i will be moving back to india in another 2 months but now it has actually started to bother me, which in turn is worrying me .....ah ....sigh....

Now in such a scenario i require something comforting to my taste buds. No traditional khichdis or rasams and rice but today i present you extremely delicious and easy "Stew". Stewing is a method of cooking meat or vegetables using small quantity of liquid at a moderate heat for a long time. This way of cooking helps in enhancing the flavors in the dish and also helps in absorbing the spices in the meats and veggies. More information on Stews here. Do read it, quite interesting! I have adapted the below recipe from Pooja's traditional Ishtu. Thanks Pooja for this wonderful recipe, its one of my favorites now :)

EC, Rekha, Sanghi Indrani and Muneeba all have passed the below wards to me, once again thank you gals, this drives me to deliver more....oooohh talking like an IT professional now, arnt i? Thank you for having faith in me. The tag i have answered in my previous post here.

Ingredients: 1 big eggplant chopped 1 bell pepper chopped (i used an orange one) 1 spring onion chopped 1 medium onion thinly sliced 1 can coconut milk (400 ml) 2 green chillies slit 1 tsp black pepper 1 tbsp olive oil 3 elaichi (cardamon seeds) 1 cinnamon stick 3 cloves 1 bay leaf 1 tsp ginger paste Salt to taste 1/2 cup of water Procedure:

• Heat olive oil in a pan, add cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamon seeds , cloves, ginger paste and green chillies.
• Temper for a min, now add in sliced onions and spring onion, keep some greens aside for garnishing.
• Cook them until soft, now add in eggplant and bell peppers chopped.
• Saute for another 2 mins and then add the coconut milk, water, salt and pepper.
• Cover and cook on slow to medium heat for 15 to 20 mins, until eggplants have absorbed the flavors and are cooked.
• Garnish with some srping onion greens.
• Serve the stew warm accompanied with a bread or enjoy it with steaming rice.

Bell Pepper and Spring Onion Parathas

Saturday is our official day for grocery shopping as on weekdays we dont get much time after office. Every week we make sure we get a big bunch of Bell peppers. Right from my childhood days I am very fascinated by bell peppers, back then red and yellow bell peppers were not that easily available in the market and hence were not very common at home. As I am very fond of Bell Peppers, i try to do lot of experiments with them, right from pastas to parathas, thats right parathas and what else would go with them other than lovely green spring onions. So here's my recipe for Bell Pepper and Spring Onions parathas. The below recipe will make around 4 -5 medium sized parathas. You can either have them with plain yogurt or with pickle, they are ideal for tiffin lunch..:) I am sending this recipe to Single Serving Recipe event hosted by Sahaja of SpicyRasam and also to Monthly Mingle - Kids Lunches hosted by Srivalli of Cooking4AllSeasons, originally started by Meeta of WhatsForLunchHoney

Ingredients:

For dough

2 cup wheat flour or chapatti flour

1 pinch salt

1 tbsp oil

warm water to knead

For Filling

1 big Red Bell Pepper cut into small pieces

1 big Yellow Bell Pepper cut into small pieces

1 bunch of spring onions finely cut

2 green chillies finely cut

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp black pepper powder(optional)

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

1/2 tsp chaat masala

1 tbsp oil

Procedure:

• Mix together wheat flour, salt and oil. Slowly add in warm water and knead into a soft dough. Cover and keep is aside for atleast half an hour.
• For the filling, heat oil in a non stick pan, add all the ingredients except spring onions.
• Cover the mixture and let it cook for around 5 to 7 mins, until bell pepers are partly cooked. Now add in the spring onions.

• Cover and cook again for another 5 mins. Remove from heat and cool it completely.
• For making parathas, make lemon sized ball, roll this dough using a rolling pin on floured surface to make a small circle of about 4 inch diameter.
• Place a spoonful of filling mixture in middle of the dough, fold in the sides and seal them together.
• Roll this dough again using flour into 1/2 cm thick rotis taking care that filling doesnt come out while rolling them.
• Cook the paratha on medium heat either using oil or ghee.
• Serve hot parathas with curd, pickle or raita.