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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Parathas with Herbs and bread crumbs

I have quite a few Paratha recipes on my blog e.g. garlic and coriander paratha, the spicy paratha with tomatoes, onions and garlic.  These parathas are also very similar.  The only difference is that I used a combination of chappati flour and bread crumbs.  These parathas came out soft and fluffy.

Ingredients for 10-12 parathas:

1 cup wheat flour (often called Atta or chappati flour)
1 cup bread crumbs.  Recipe for bread crumbs is here
1 small piece of  grated ginger
2 cloves of minced garlic
Small bunch of finely cut coriander
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon mixture of coriander and cumin powder (dhanna jiru)
2 tablespoons oil to add to the dough
2 tablespoons yoghurt to add to the dough
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 bread crumbs.  Add in the salt, turmeric, coriander, sunflower oil and yoghurt  and mix well.

2. Using some warm water, mix the dough until you get it soft and pliable like playdough. Cover the dough and allow it  to rest for 30 minutes. The dough became so lovely and soft with a fragrance of all the spices - almost as though I was making dhebras.  I must try making some dhebras with bread crumbs soon.

3.  Divide the dough into 10 -12 small balls.

4.  Like my other paratha recipes roll out one paratha and brush some oil on one side and sprinkle some flour on top of the oil.

5.  Divide this into half:

6. And into Quarter:

7. Roll it out again.  Dont worry about the shape.

 8.  Cook the paratha first in one frying pan with no oil and then transfer it to a second non stick frying pan and brush some oil to both sides of the paratha. If you do not have two frying pans, you can dry cook them all first.

9. Remove once they get a bit dark like below and serve them hot with any curry.

10.  We served them with plain Khichedi, Kadhi and potato curry. Chalo jamwa.

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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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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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