Multigrain Roti with Val Dhal gravy

Ingredients:

Ragi flour - 1 cup
Barley flour - 1 cup
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Mix together all the flours and salt. Add water little by little and knead it into soft dough. Divide the dough into equal sized portions and press the dough alternatively with palm of your hands. Grease any polished surface (I used acrylic board) and stretch the dough further by using your palm of your hands slowly and steadily without breaking the circle. Remove the circle carefully and place it on a
hot tava. Cook both sides on a slow fire until brown spots appear on the surface.

Serve hot with your favorite gravy.


Val Dhal (Split Mochai) gravy



Ingredients

Val (Split Mochai) - 1 cup (Soaked for 1 hr)
Green Chili - 3
Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Corriander Powder - 1/2 tsp
Tomato - 1
Onion - 1
Ginger - 1" piece
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Corriander leaves - 1 tbs (chopped)
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tbs

Method:

Pressure cook val(split mochai) with turmeric, half a tsp of salt and water for just one whistle and keep it aside. Make sure the dhal is soft not mushy. Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard seeds,cumin seeds and curry leaves. Add green chilies, onion and ginger and sauté till the onions become soft. Add tomatoes, chili powder and corriander powder and sauté till it becomes nice gravy. Add remaining salt to the gravy and add the cooked dhal and let it boil for few minutes. Squeeze some lemon juice and garnish with corriander leaves.

Simple Maharastrian Thali - Pitla Bhakri

I came to know about this simple yet yummy gravy very recently through my Maharastrian friend. I have already tried this twice in a week's time. It's a super-duper hit in my home.

Pitla

Ingredients

Besan - 1 cup
Shallots - 5
Green Chilies - 5 (medium)
Garlic - 4
Methi Leaves – Handful
Curry Leaves – 1 sprig
Hing - 1/4tsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp
Water - 4 - 4 1/2 cups

Seasoning

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Corriander leaves- 1 tbs



Method:

Crush green chilies and garlic with a pinch of salt in a mortar & pestle and keep it aside. Dry roast the besan flour in a kadai on a low fire, constantly stirring until the raw smell of besan is gone. Keep oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to splutter, add onions, curry leaves and chili-garlic paste and sauté it well. Meanwhile make a smooth paste of besan by adding a cup of water, turmeric, chili powder and salt. Add the paste to the pan and add the rest of water. Let it cook in low flame, until the gravy thickens. Garnish with coriander leaves.


Bhakri

Ingredients

Jowar flour(Chola mavu) - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Water
Oil (optional)


Method:
Mix Jowar flour with salt. Add enough water and knead it into a soft dough. Divide the dough into equal lemon-sized portions. Roll it into circles with the palm of your hands. Use a plastic sheet to expand the circle so that the circle won't break. Heat a tava, place the rolled circle and cook on both the sides on a low fire.

Pitla Bhakri

Pitla, Bhakri (Jowar Roti), Jeera Rice, Mirchi-Lasun Thecha ( Chili-Garlic Chutney), Raw onion and Pomegranate seeds. ~ A perfect winter comfort meal

Greens Harvest

Swiss Chard, Lettuce and Collard Greens

Spelt - Two in One

Spelt is a comeback grain that is over 5000 years old and it is a very close relative to wheat. It has more fiber and protein than wheat. Spelt protein is easily digested by the body. It has earthy, nutty flavor and you can substitute spelt flour in recipes that call for wheat flour.







Spelt Methi Paratha

Last week I made spelt methi Paratha . I followed the same recipe as for the
Methi Paratha

Multi Grain Flat Bread/Roti/Chappathi:



Ingredients

Wheat flour :1 cup
Spelt flour :1/2 cup
Buckwheat flour: 1/2 cup
Salt

Method

Combine the flours and salt in a mixing bowl. Add water to the mix and knead it well to form soft dough. Divide the dough into small balls and roll it into a thin circle. Place the disc on a hot tawa. Cook it for a minute. Flip it and cook on the other side. Smear little butter or oil on the top.

Serve roti warm.

Spring Onion - Aloo Paratha

Bounty from my garden



Aloo - Spring Onion Stuffing



Parathas



Spring Onion Paratha-Mirch ka salaan- Cucumber-Onion Raitha

Methi(Vendhayakeerai) Paratha

It's been a very long time since I bought methi greens. We used to have methi every single week when we had Gujarati nanny at our home. She would either make methi-potato baaji or methi thepla. After she left , I would have hardly made couple of times in 2 years. Somehow I was never inclined to buy that. Something struk my mind this time to not ignore the lovely greens and I got a bunch.



Ingredients

Methi (fenugreek leaves) - a bunch (Triple washed and chopped finely)
Wheat Flour - 2 1/2 cups
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Chili Powder - 1 tbs
Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp
Yogurt - 3 tbs
Salt - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbs

Method

In a wide bowl, mix together wheat flour, chopped methi, cumin seeds, chili powder
and salt. Add yogurt and lukewarm water to the flour. Make sure you add the water little by little , keep mixing the flour and knead it to make a nice dough. Add a tablespoon of oil to the dough while kneading it. Let the dough sit for an hour or so. (I made the dough in the night, covered and kept it at room temperature. I made the parathas in the morning.)



Make equal sized balls out of the dough. Roll each ball into a nice circle with a rolling pin. If the dough is sticky, dust it with little flour and roll. Heat the pan and fry the parathas one at a time. Flip the paratha to the other side after 30 seconds. Once you flip it, smear a tsp of oil on the top and let it cook for one more min. Take the paratha out of the pan once you see golden brown spots started appearing on the surface.


Serve hot with plain yogurt and pickle.

Saag & Maize Roti

I had tried Broccoli Rabe subzi couple of times. The leaves are little
harder and it's slightly bitter in taste. Usually I make it with lot of onions and freshly grated coconut to enhance the taste. Mr.B had it as a healthy food but he is not a great fan of it.

Recently my friend's Punjabi nanny made saag and Makki ki roti and I liked it. I used three bunches of greens to make the Saag (Mustard Greens, Brocolli Rabe & Spinach)


Ingredients



sarson
(mustard greens) - 1 bunch
Spinach - 1 bunch
Brocolli Rabe - 1 bunch
Ginger - 1 inch grated
onion - 1 chopped
garlic - 2 grated
green chilies - 4-5
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
red chili powder - 1 tbs
Corn Flour - 1 tbs
Salt

Method

Wash all the greens and chop them roughly. Heat little oil in the Pressure pan(cooker). Add the green chillies, garlic & ginger and stir it for few seconds . Add greens and little salt (just to retain the color) to the pressure pan and add a cup of water and pressure cook the greens for one whistle. Mash it with a hand blender and keep it aside. Take some ghee in a skillet over medium heat. Add the finely chopped onions and fry them till golden brown. Add garam masala, chilli powder ,saag and salt to the pan. Mix the corn flour with water to make a paste( add more water if the saag is too thick) and add it to the saag and simmer it for 15-20 minutes.

Serve hot with Makki Ki Roti.

Verdict :

I enjoyed having the dish with Makki Ki Roti. Mr.B hates corn in any form. So he had the saag with plain Roti. Just got 3 out of 5 stars.

Notes

Sarson greens(Mustard Leaves) and Brocolli Rabe(rabe or rapini)
are totally different. But you can use Broccoli rabe as a substitute for Mustard Greens . I guess the taste would have been better if I had omitted the Mustard greens and used Indian brand corn flour(BRAD) instead of Mexican brand Maseca.