Mung beans, Plain rice and Triangle parathas

Today has been a busy day with lots of housework plus cooking the Indian snacks - chora fari and farsi puri.  So dinner today was whole mung bean curry, rice and triangle parathas with garlic.  (I realise that I have never posted a recipe for plain rice!).

This is one meal the whole family enjoys and I don't have to worry about making something different for a fussy member of the family. We had it with lots of yoghurt and for afters - we had good old fashioned vanilla ice cream.  Now time to relax and catch up with friends.

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Cheese and Oregano Parathas

I love experimenting with herbs and spices to making all the Indian breads a bit more exciting.  I tried making these parathas by adding cheese and oregano and the results were amazing. 

Ingredients for 8 -10 porathas:

2 cups of plain chappati flour (or strong wheat flour)

1 tsp salt

2 heaped spoonfuls butter

pinch of turmeric

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tbsp dried oregano

I cup grated cheddar cheese

1 cup sunflower oil  for layering the poratha and frying them

Method:

1. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.

2. Add the salt, turmeric, garlic, butter, 1 tablespoon oil and organo to the flour.

3. Gently pour warm water to the mixture to form a nice pliable dough.

4. Cover the dough for 30 minutes.

5. Divide the dough into small balls - slightly bigger than golf ball size.

6. Sprinkle some flour on a worktop and roll out one poratha as shown below:

7.  Sprinkle cheese on the rolled out paratha and fold the poratha in half as shown below:

 8. And again in quarter as shown below:

9. Sprinkle some flour into this triangle and roll it out again.

10. Fry this poratha gently in a frying pan using a minimum amount of oil. Making the poratha this way, makes it crispy and fluffy when lightly fried. 

11.  Sprinkle some more cheese on the parathas and serve with any curry or pickle.

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Varela poratha - Rolled porathas

Most Indian food is accompanied by rice or Indian breads like chappatis, puris, naan, parathas etc.  I learned how to make this version of parathas from my dad. He used to make these really lovely fluffy parathas for breakfast on a winter’s morning and we are all now addicted to these and love having them any time.   


Ingredients for serving 4 people
Makes 8 parathas
Time 30-40 minutes


2 cups of chappati flour (often called Atta) to make the dough
2 cloves of garlic
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
2 tablespoons oil for the dough
1 tablespoon of butter
½ cup flour for dusting the parathas when rolling them.
2 cups oil for frying (I use sunflower oil)


Method:


1. Sieve the flour and add in the cumin seeds, garlic, salt and turmeric .  


2. Add in the 2 tablespoons of oil and the butter and mix.

3. Using warm water mix the dough.  When ready, knead it well so that it becomes nice and pliable. Keep this covered for 20 minutes.


4. Divide the dough into 8 equal balls.

5. Take one ball and roll out the paratha and brush some oil on one side and dust it with some flour.

6. Try and make a pile by stacking the paratha as shown below and twist it back into a circle and roll it out again.

7. The oil helps to separate the poratha into layers.


8. Par cook the paratha  finish off - by brushing it lightly with some oil on both sides of the paratha.

9. Serve these hot with any curry.

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Spicy Parathas with tomato, onion, garlic, ginger & coriander

Recently, I have noticed so many breads, biscuits, tortillas etc. all being sold on the market with various flavours. In fact everything seems to be flavoured starting from milk, bread, crisps etc. The flovoured tortilla  got me to thinking whether I should flavour the humble chappati  we eat nearly every day.  Now how does garlic flavoured chappatis sound to you?    In fact – I discussed quite a few flavours with my family but they all felt that the simple chappati should remain without flavours BUT they did not mind me experimenting with parathas!! And this is how my Spicy tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, green chillies paratha got created.  I did not want to use any artificial flavours to my parathas so I made them using natural ingredients.  This dish is also perfect to make when entertaining as you can par cook the parathas and fry them to serve hot to your guests.  I made these as an experiment for a friend of mine who was looking for quick and easy recipes to use for a "Come Dine With Me" event he was hosting.  Some of you may have seen "Come Dine with me" on  the television where 4 people host each other and cook dishes to impress each other and give marks for the food.   These parathas were a hit with my family and his guests too.  We also made a slightly different variety of parathas using green chutney and  I will post that recipe soon.

Garlic and Coriander Triangle Parathas (Indian bread)

There are loads of Indian breads such as rotis, naans, porathas, puris etc. which are served with curries. Some of the breads are fried in oil or ghee, some cooked on a tawa (griddle) and some baked in a tandoori oven.  Some breads are stuffed with  vegetables, herbs or  cheese and some Gujarati delicacies called puran poori are stuffed with sweet lentils. This recipe is adapted from the plain poratha recipe.  I started making these porathas when my kids were young and fussy eaters.   Not sure whether it was the taste or the triangle shape but they used to eat them up. I still continue to make them as they love them so much.  They become quite a talking point  when I make them for my guests.

Ingredients for 8 -10 porathas:

2 cups of plain chappati flour (or strong wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of turmeric
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
a handful of fresh coriander leaves
1 cup cooking oil  for layering the poratha and frying them

Method:

1. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.

2. Add the salt, turmeric, garlic and coriander to the flour.

3. Add 3 tablespoons of oil to the flour.

4. Gently pour warm water to the mixture to form a nice pliable dough.

5. Cover the dough for 30 minutes.

6. Divide the dough into small balls - slightly bigger than golf ball size.

7. Sprinkle some flour on a worktop and roll out one poratha as shown below:

8. Using a brush, slightly brush some oil on the poratha, sprinkle some dough and wrap the poratha as shown below:

9. And again as below:

10. Sprinkle some flour into this triangle and roll it out again.

11. Fry this poratha gently in a frying pan using a minimum amount of oil. Making the poratha this way, makes it crispy and fluffy when lightly fried. This can be served with any curry.

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STUFFED PAROTHA OR ALU PARATHA

Stuffed parathas are served for breakfast in a lot of parts of India. They are served up with fresh plain yogurt.

I love to eat them with curry for lunch or dinner. They are very easy to make and you can use quite a few vegetables for the filling.   Today's recipe is a simple filling of potatoes, onions, coriander and spices.


Ingredients:

For the filling:

I large and 1 medium potato
1 Onion - finely grated
2 or 3 green chillies - minced
small bunch of coriander - cut finely
half a teaspoon salt
one teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch of garam masala (optional)


For the paratha dough:

2 cups of strong wheat flour (often called Atta)
pinch of salt
1 clove of garlic - minced
Some sunflower oil

Method:

For the filling: 

1. Boil the potatoes and mash them using a fork

2. Add in the onions, green chillies and coriander

3. Add in the salt, lemon and sugar

4. Mix well using a fork and leave the mixture covered.

Please taste the mixture and adjust the taste to your preference.

For the dough: 

5.   Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.

6.   Add the salt and garlic to the flour

7.  Add two table spoons of oil to the flour.

8.   Bind the dough  by adding some warm water to the flour.  Keep adding small amounts of water until it comes together as a soft dough almost like play dough.  Knead it well and let it rest for half an hour.

9.   Divide the dough into small balls smaller than a ping pong ball.

10.  Take one ball and roll out the dough to the size of a 3 inch diametre.  Take a small ball of the potato mixture in the middle of the rolled out paratha.

11.      Fold in the edges of the porotha and seal in the mixture.

12.   Using some dusting flour, roll out the porotha.

13.  Cook the parathas gently on a medium to hot griddle or frying pan. 

14.  Once the parathas are slightly cooked on both sides, add a very small amount of oil - using either a spoon or a spray oil and continue cooking the parathas until they are almost golden.

15.  Continue making the porathas and save them in a stack.

16.   Serve the porathas with stuffed vegetable curry or mutter paneer

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