Aaloo Paratha/Indian Bread with Potato filling

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Everyone has their own version of aaloo paratha and here is mine. The most popular paratha is a favorite at  my home.  My kids are happy when I serve these and that in turn makes me happy.  What I like the most about parathas is that I do not have to make any side dish to go with them.  Whip up a raita (spiced yogurt) and a spoon of pickle and the deal is sealed.

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Ingredients:

For Bread :

Whole wheat flour- 2 Cups
Salt- To taste
Water- ~1 cup

For filling:

Potato,boiled and mashed- 2 Medium sized
Onion,finely chopped- 1 small or half of a big one
Coriander leaves chopped - 2-3 Tbsp
Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
Chaat masala- 1/2 tsp
Salt
Oil



Method:

1.Mix the salt and flour, slowly pour the water and knead the dough well.
2.Knead for a few minutes and let the dough rest at least for 15 minutes before you start rolling them
3.Meanwhile prepare the filling. Heat oil in a pan. Saute the chopped onions till they turn translucent.
4. Add the masala powders and saute for a minute.Add the salt
5.Switch off the heat , add the mashed potatoes (make sure that there are no chunks) and chopped coriander leaves into this and mix everything well.
6.Make small balls of dough for making rotis.
7.Make the equal number of balls from the potato mixture too. These should be at least equal in size as the dough balls or bigger than that.
8.Roll each ball of dough till it reaches the size of poori, place the potato ball in the center and fold from all sides to close it.
9.Leave these stuffed balls with the closed edge facing to the bottom, and let it sit for at least of couple more minutes before rolling.
10.Repeat the same for other dough and potato mixture. You should keep the filled balls covered all the time.
11.Now roll out the stuffed balls till they reach about 1/4 inch thickness.
12.Heat a skillet and cook the parathas on both sides by flipping them over. Brush with oil/ghee/butter on both sides
13.Serve with raita/yogurt and pickle/your choice of side dish.



Notes:

1.Do not overcook the potatoes, also do not keep them in cold water for cooling them down. Both these lead to excess of water which is not good for parathas.
2.Keeping the potato filled dough for a couple of minutes helps to prevent the sides from breaking while you roll them.

Poori and Chole/Indian fried bread and chickpeas curry

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There used to be an advertisement on TV while I was growing up in India the lyric “Sundrop super refined sunflower oil…….,” While the jingle plays, a boy summer-saults into the kitchen; where his mother is bringing a plate laden with beautifully round pin cushion like pooris. She dodges around him with the plate and a poori runs down, the boy leaps rescuing it. The jingle continues “…..the healthy oil for healthy people!” I would run to the TV to watch this ad every time it came on. It’s not just the advertisement that got me liking the pooris. I can say this with surety because, if you remember oil is marketed.  Poori which is loved universally and especially by kids is the bait. At least that’s what I believe.
Poking fingers on the crispy top, seeing it crack under your finger’s pressure, steam rising bringing with it the aroma of the light oil and whole wheat are all part of the joy of eating pooris. It helps creativity on table if you like it! I say! Why I say that is because, some of us open the thin layer on top carefully and fill the chana or potato bhajji inside, and eat them like you would a greek gyro sandwich made with pita bread. However, the top is flimsy thin so not as sturdy as the pita bread. Like I said, this is something fun you can try for fun.

So where were we? This is a fun, tasty breakfast or dinner as you please. I have shared below the way I cook them and I hope you will enjoy this as much as my entire family does.



FOR POORI

Ingredients:

Wheat flour- 1 cup
Semolina- 2 Tsp
Salt- to taste
Boiling water- 1/2 cup + 1 or 2 tbspoon depending on the flour
Oil- for deep frying

Method:

1.Mix wheat flour, semolina and salt in a mixing bowl, preferably a steel one.
2.Boil the water in a pan and add to the flour mixture, right from the stove top. Mix well using a big spoon.
3.Once it is cool enough for your hand, knead well using your hand.Cover the bowl and keep aside for 20-30 minutes.
4.Heat the oil for frying on medium to medium high.
5.Make small balls of dough and roll out using a rolling pin.To avoid stickiness you could dip one end in oil before rolling out.
6.Once the oil is hot enough slide in the poori in oil and fry , while flipping the sides using a slotted spoon or skimmer.
7.When it starts turing slightly golden brown, take out and keep in a plate that has kitchen towels/tissues to remove excess oil.
8.Serve with channa curry/chole or any side dish of your choice.



FOR CHOLE/CHICKPEAS CURRY

Ingredients

Chickpeas- 1/2 cup
Blacktea- 2 cups (2 tea bags)
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Onion- 1/2
Tomato- 1/2
Chole masala- 1-2Tsp
Cumin powder- 1/4 Tsp
Coriander powder- 1 Tsp
Chilli powder- 1/2 Tsp
salt- to taste
Oil- 2 Tbsp
Coriander leaves- for garnishing

Method:

1.Wash and soak the chickpeas for 8 hours or overnight in black tea/water.  Soaking in black tea adds to the color and flavor.  This step is optional you can soak it in just water too.
2.Add turmeric and salt and cook in same water.
3.Grind onion and tomato to a fine paste.
4.Heat oil in a pan.Saute the tomato onion paste till it is done and oil start leaving the sides of pan.
5.Add all the other spice powders and saute till the raw smell leaves.
6.Pour in the cooked channa to this and mix well.
7.Boil theis and lower the heat and cook covered for at least 15 minutes.Adjust the water while boiling.
8.Serve with coriander leaves sprinkled on top, as a side dish for roti, chappathi, rice or poori.



Notes:

1.If you are not too calorie conscious, add a teaspoon of butter or ghee while making the poori dough.This makes it even softer.
2.If you do not have chole masala, add more of cumin, coriander and chilli powder and it will be fine.

Contributor : Namitha

Maida Pathiri

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Food the time machine.  Do you know what I mean?  Well, you will agree food has strange powers.  It can satiate hunger for sure but sometimes flood you with memories of a time gone by.  That is why I call it a time machine.  It helps me to get transported to a time and place which I enjoy revisiting and the wonder that all that can be done by eating?! Delightful, isn't it!.  And this is why I love cooking, talking and writing about some of these foods.

So today lets see how I make Pathiri.  Pathiri was introduced to my family by friends from Calicut. We hail from Central Tranvacore so visiting our family friends in Calicut and enjoying their scrumptious malabar cuisine was always looked forward to on Summer vacations.  I know it as patthiri but when I checked online for pathiri and asked around it looks like the pathiri which is famous is made of rice flour.  Well, this one is made with all purpose flour (maida) and deep fried.  If you know this by any other name please let me know, I will be glad to make corrections.


Ingredients:
All purpose flour (maida) - 2 cups
Eggs - 1
Oil - 1 tbspn
salt - to taste
Water - boiling water enough to make roti dough (make hot water to make it easy to make the dough)
Oil - deep frying

Method:
1. Beat egg and add a tbspn of oil to it
2. Add the flour slowly and mix until you can make a dough
3. Keep aside for a while (I generally keep it for an hour)

Rolling the Pathiri:
1.  Tear small portions from the dough to shape into small balls and roll it out into circle roti
2. Spread oil and fold it four times ( Bring the left side of the rolled dough to the center and overlap the right side over it.  Now you have long a folded strip.  Fold again to make a small square by spreading more oil on the surface and bringing the top to the center and overlapping it again.  If you like to have a petal top spread more oil and bring all four edges of the square to the center.  Flip the square over dust with flour and roll out again into a square shape.

If this explanation is not clear let me know I will try to add step by step photos later.

Deep fry the pathiri and serve with a curry vegetarian or non vegetarian of your choice.  I like it with chicken curry.



Contributor: Sunitha