Aloo Paratha(Stuffed potato paratha) with Tomato chutney & Grapes Juice

Ingredients:
1 cup wheat flour
2 potato boiled and peeled
½ tsp Cumin powder,
½ tsp chaat masala ,(or dry mango powder and pinch of crushed black pepper)
½ tsp redchilli powder,
Salt to taste,
½ tsp lemon juice,
Sugar to taste (optional)
Oil for shallow fry

Method:
Boil the potato until they are soft and tender. Remove sking , and mash them , mix in cumin powder ,chaat masala ,redchilli powder, lemon juice and salt in it. Keep this aside.
Knead the dough , using sufficient water and salt added to it, when done apply some oil to it, this will make it smooth. Knead it soft enough like we make for roti/paratha. Make lemon sized balls of it and roll out into a small round shape of it. Place spoonful of potato stuffing in the middle and cover it from side as shown in figure here. Now again slowly with care roll out to small sized round of about 3-4 inch diameter.

On a hot tawa place it, and let the first side cook in slow heat until it is half cooked. Turn the side and let the other side also get half cooked.
Now turn the paratha again and apply some oil from the side of Partha to the side below, this will give it chance to get puffed from side and center too. Turn the side again and do the same for another side too. Cook until golden brown on both sides and serve hot with anything you like. It goes well with a cup full of curd or green coriander chutney.

I had this in brunch this Saturday accompanied with quick Tomato chutney. Which hardly take 3-4 minutes to prepare it.
Here the method to make it.

Ingredients :
2-3 medium sized tomato finely chopped,
3-4 dry red chillies,
6-7 curry leaves,
½ tsp red chilli powder,
Salt to taste,
A pinch of asfoetida,
1 tsp oil.

Method:
In a pan heat the oil. When little hot ,add curry leaves , asafoetida powder and red chillies to it. Just in a while add chopped tomatoes too.
Cook it on a high flame, cover with lid for 1-2 minutes, then stirring occasionally cook it until all the water part of it evaporates and oil starts separating from tomato pieces, it will form a thick gravy like consistence, add red chilli powder and salt to it, serve with anything you like.

This is what we had in brunch this Saturday. Normally we take bread , toast or other light snack item with milk in the morning. I prefer to have meal on time , on week ends so normally we get lunch ready by 12.30 -1 p.m on weekends.

Just few days ago Deepak was recalling his college days when he was staying in hostel and they were getting Aloo paratha in the Sunday breakfast there , he was just telling me that it was the only reason he got up early on Sundays that time. Though I know he likes aloo paratha , I didn’t know he loves it this much ! (I made aloo paratha so many times before this , but that is for the evenings when we don’t want to have heavy dinner and for him it goes nice with plain curd. Also that time I made it different way by adding coriander leaves, green chillies and other spices to it .this time as for brunch I have added all the ready dry powdered spices ,to make it quickly. )

Now when it came to make something to make him happy I thought to make it. I know he loves spicy tomato chutney made this way, so got the perfect idea of brunch for last weekend. Accompanying this dish was fresh juice of green grapes. It was a perfect dish- tasty aloo paratha with spicy tomato chutney and soothing juice. :)

He was more than happy to see this surprise from me, as he was not aware with what’s going on in the kitchen and was busy with a phone call, when I presented the whole dish in front of him, he just stare with happiness on his face with a broad smile : )) . And still keep on reminding me that he liked my idea of brunch that day very much.
Still some more dishes from me to share with you all with some memories to cherish with that, are coming their way, till then stay tuned and keep cooking: D .
(Hubby didn’t know till then that I have announced any such theme for Valentine’s day , now when he know this, he keeps on asking me what I am going to make for surprise lunch for him : )) ) .
Check out my entries for Little chef in Kitchen and Monthly Mingle - here.

Salsa Verde with Mexican cutlets

Sharing here with You a Mexican dish - Mexican cutlets with Salsa Verde .




Ingredients :

For the cutlets
2 cup boiled and mashed potatoes
1 tsp corn flour
½ tsp pepper powder for the potatoes
1 cup kidney beans ,soaked, boiled and mashed.
¼ tsp pepper powder for the kidney beans
Chili sauce
Oil for frying
Few spring onion leaves, chopped, to garnish

For the Salsa Verde
2 medium sized green tomatoes(or tomatillos)
2 jalapeños,
2 tsp chopped coriander leaves/cilantro leaves,
1 small capsicum
1 tsp lime juice,
Pinch of vinegar,
1 tsp sugar(optional),
Salt to taste.

Recipe:

For the Salsa Verde:
Cut tomatillos/ tomatoes in to half and bake it for 5-7 mins until its skin gets lightly blacken.
Blend all the ingredients together in a mixer.
Then put on the stove to warm. Stir often till the mixture turns thick like a sauce. Remove from the stove and cool to room temperature.


For the Cutlets:

Mix together mashed potatoes, corn flour, salt and pepper. Divide into 10 equal portions.Using hands flatten each portion into 2 inch diameter circles . (Like thick puris.).
Mix together the mashed kidney beans, salt, pepper and chili sauce .Divide into 5 equal portions. Flatten them into 1 ¾ inch diameter circles.
Sandwich a kidney bean puri between 2 potato puries. Seal the edges and shallow fry in oil. Make the other cutlets the similar way.
Arrange all the cutlets in a plate sprinkle chopped spring onion and apply Salsa Verde. Serve when cutlets are hot.



(One variation to this is to sprinkle cheese over cutlets and before serving cover the cutlets with a lid and warm them for 10 minutes till he cheese melts. )
Little down with my cold , I could not get the time to post one dish with tomato yesterday . I think I need little break now ,otherwise next time I will be surfing your blogs from Hospital:)) . Well, tomorrow I will post vegetable for the next week and I might change some planning to post here , like from daily to alternate day or something else. Gotta do so many things here at the same time, Since I love to be with you all around here, I don't plan to skip this event yet. So stay tuned to this blog and Have a Happy Weekend, Happy Sankranti and Happy Pongal to all of you there ! :) .

Mughlai Dal

Hope you all had a nice weekend there, I had too :) .
I am back here with one more recipe to share with you all. its really going nice here with tomato , even in the second week of this tangy vegetable. Hope you are not getting bored of the same veggie :D .
Mughali Dal! the name itself makes me feel like princess, specially when someone else prepare this for me and serve it to me :)) . Well, this time I made it on my own, and here is the way to make it.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup Kidney beans
1/2 cup Urad dal(Black gram)
1/2 cup Chana dal (Split bengal gram)
3 tomatoes, cut in to medion sized cubes,
1 onion , chopped finely
3-4 garlic cloves, cut width wise,
1 tsp Cumin seeds,
½ tsp mustard seeds,
1-2 green chilli, chopped finely,
½ tsp turmeric powder,
1 1/2tsp red chilli powder,
1 ½ tsp cumin-coriander powder
A pinch of asafetida,
Salt to taste,
1 tsp oil,
Coriander leaves to garnish.


Method:

Soak kidney beans, urad dal and chana dal in warm water for 4-5 hours.
Pressure cook them until they are soft and mushy , using hand blender smash it and keep aside.
Chop onion and green chilli finely, cut tomato into medium sized cubes and keep it aside. In a Kadhai heat 1 tsp oil and add Mustard seeds ,when they start spluttering , add cumin seeds and asafetida to it. Next add garlic,green chilli and onion, cook until onion turns brown and then add tomatoes to it.

Cook for a while and add smashed dal mixture to it. Add little water if dal is too thick . Let it cook until it comes to boil . Then add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and cumin-coriander powder to it.(Intially when you cook this dal, you will find it liitle different in color , and I have seen people mixing in some edible color to it ,just to improve its color, here I have avoided using green chillies and used more red chilli powder to maintain taste and color both, also cumin-coriander powder will do good with that.) Mix well , add salt and turn off the heat when dal is mixed well with all other ingredients. garnish with coriander leaves and Serve hot with rice.


A bit different from regular dal /sambhar and also rich with nutrition values.
As the Name suggests it is called mughlai, and ofter served with a tsp full of butter on top of it. I just avoided it, if you are a butter lover, just try it theat way !
I sevred it along with Steamed pulao .
I learnt it from Mom. Here is my Mom's quick and nice recipe for Steamed Pulao.

Ingredients :
2 cup Basmati (long grained) rice,
1 tsp butter/Ghee,
1 tsp Cumin seeds,
3-4 cloves,(laving)
1/2 cup chopped carrot,
1/2 cup green peas,
salt to taste.

Method:
In a vessel or Pan heat the ghee, add cumin seeds and cloves to it , whe nthey start spluttering add finely washed rice to it, and water double then the quantity of rice. when rice is half cooked, add little more water , salt, green peas a nd chopped carrot to it. let is cook the usual way until rice is cooked and all water is evaporated.
serve this hot with anything you like . I had this with Mughlai Dal :)
Try it sometime and you will fall in love with these both nutritious dishes, specially when accompanied by each other. :D

Stuffed Tomato (Bharela Tameta)

Stuffed Tomato , as we call it in Gujarati "Bharel Tameta " nu shaak. :) Just the idea of making it was feeling my mind with the vision of this colorful dish. One more thing about this dis is at my place when ever I make it the stuffing of it is liked so much by Deepak that he can eat that alone too :) .
Here is my version of Barela Tameta ...

Ingredients:
8-10 medium Ripe but firm Tomatoes
2 potatoes boiled and mashed
1/4 cup chopped carrot
1/4 cup green peas
2 small sized onion,
½ tsp sesame seeds,
½ tsp poppy seeds,
½ tsp saunf ,
1/4 cup chopped green Garlic.(if not available use dried garlic cloves instead)
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli powder,
1/2 tsp turmeric Powder
1 tsp Coriander(dhania) powder
1/2 tsp each jeera, mustard seeds
1 tbsp. oil
salt to taste
To garnish:
Fresh Paneer (cottage cheese)
Chopped onion
Few coriander leaves

Method :
Boil Potatoes, peel and mash them and keep aside.
Also boil carrot cut into small pieces,and boil green peas too. Boil tem separately as green peas will be boiled soon .

Now cut the top of the tomato horizontally, (like a cap). Scoop out the seeds carefully. Remove the pulp and keep it aside to be used in stuffing material.Chop one onion finely and keep aside another for garnishing.

Heat oil in a kadhai ,add Cumin and Mustard seeds. When they splutter add sesame seeds, saunf and poppy seeds, also add chopped onion. Cook it until onion is translucent , next add the tomato pulp and fry for one minute.

Add boiled carrot and green peas along with mashed potato. Then add turmeric powder, red chili powder,
coriander powder and salt to it. Let it cook until the mixture is firm enough, add garam masala to it , mix well and cook for a minute.

When this stuffing material turns little cool ,Stuff the tomatoes with it.
Place tomatoes in a cooker container. Dot with little butter. Pressure cook for one whistle.

Before serving it garnish it with grated Paneer, chopped onion and coriander leaves. Serve hot with roti or paratha.