Parotta

The parotta , I am narrating here is entirely different from the North Indian parathas and frozen malaysian poratta.

Poratta or parotta , they tell in Tamilnadu and kerala is made of maida (All purpose flour). while the parathas of north India are made of whole wheat. The street side stalls in TamilNadu and kerala serve this parotta with a side dish called salna. Actually they call the parottas as 'veechu parotta'. That means the chef uses a style to spread the dough into a thin chapathi by swinging it in air. 'salna' means a watery gravy with few pieces of chicken or completely vegetarian. This parotta and salna combo is an unbeatable one .It has the potency to tempt even a strict diet conscious person. My weaker soul always craves for those parottas :(
Last week I got tempted a lot by Varsha and chams parottas. But the frozen parotta we get here cannot satisfy my crazy instincts. So I decided to make it my own in a different method.
Long time ago I learned to make this parotta from a cookery show in SunTV . A chef from a star hotel demonstrated this version to make parottas easily. We will get parottas of larger diameters and this can be a fool proof method for a novice like me . May be we can call this as the 'parotta for dummies'.

We may need:
Maida / All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cup
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
water - as per requirement
salt - 1 tsp
baking powder - 1/2 tsp
sesame oil - 1/2 cup
(The parotta stalls in Tirunelveli do not use ghee / butter).

A flat surface like clean kitchen counter top.
Rolling pin.
plastic sheets - 20
(I cut and used the plastic sheets used for filing. we can clean, preserve and use the plastic sheets given with frozen parotta also).

Method:
Mix Maida with salt and baking powder.
Then add water little by little to get a chapathi dough consistency.
Then add 3 tbsp oil to the dough and knead well.
Knead for 5 minutes with beating and punching to get a silky smooth dough.
Cover it with a cling wrap or wet towel and leave it for 4 hours in the room temperature.
Then divide the flour in to 10 equal size balls.
In a small bowl, mix the rice flour with 2 tbsp of sesame oil to get a ghee like paste.

Step 1:


Take one dough ball,apply some oil to it and flatten it on a clean kitchen top .
Flatten it till it tries to tear off. No need to get a smooth circle.
But a very thin disc should be achieved.
(Do not try to take it with hands, just flatten it to a big circle.)
Take a little rice flour + oil mix and apply it smoothly over the flattened disc.
The rice flour gives a flaky texture and also prevents the layers from sticking with one another.

step 2


Using a knife , slit the disc into long ribbon like strips.
Fold every strip once in a longitudinal manner like a paper. (see figure).

step 3


Apply little oil on a plastic sheet . Make concentric circles using all the folded ribbons to get the shape as shown.

step 4

Place another plastic sheet above the dough . No need to apply oil now. Press it gently with a rolling pin to get a perfect circle.


step 5

Make all the 10 parottas as described in the leisure time. keep them frozen in a freezer.

step 6


If you want to fry them immediately, then no need to freeze.
Heat a dosa tava. Apply a little oil over the surface.
Remove the top plastic sheet. Peel off the parotta . Place it on the hot tava.
Flip it again and again to get it cooked evenly.
Take out and serve hot.
Parotta is ready!

Serving suggestions:
Place all the cooked parottas one above other.
Using both the hands , pat them on the sides , to get a loose flaky texture.
Serve hot with any gravy or salna along with raitha.
Makes 10 bigger size parottas.
Increase the flour quantity to get more parottas.

Note: Even though the all purpose flour parottas are not that great for health, these home made ones will surely outwit the store bought 'ghee loaded frozen parottas'.
Try these 'southern style Parottas' and lemme know how it comes out.
You may be interested in 'scrambled parotta / Muttai kothu parotta' too.

From my friend.

Just now I got a sweet surprise from my very best friend
Malar of Kitchen Tantra.


I thank with all my heart to the blogger world and my friends like this who make my every single day a worthy one.
Thanks Malar for these wonderful moments and for your heartfelt friendship.
Actually through you I am seeing the world with a new brighter perspective and thanks for being my friend dear.

Channa Pulao

I prepared this Channa pulao for hubby's lunch box. Though it seems a lengthy process, a little preparation in advance will help us to cook fast. I guess the channa in the pulao will help to reduce the carbohydrate proportion in our lunch:) Even without coconut milk and ghee , this channa pulao will taste great. But I have narrated the complete recipe. The option is yours:)
Lets go to the recipe .

Channa pulav / kondakadalai satham / chickpea rice:




Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 3/4 cup
White Channa - 3/4 cup
Coconut milk from 3 tbsp shredded cococnut with water - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 (small)
Garlic - 3 pods
olive Oil - 2 tbsp
coriander leaves - a handful
mint leaf - a handful
Ghee - 1/2 teaspoon.
Fry and Grind:
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cardamoms - 1
Cloves - 3
Onion (chopped) - 1 small
Red chillies - 10 Nos.
Tomato - 1 (big)
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Garlic - 2 pods
ginger - 1 inch

Method:
1.Soak the white Channa overnight (10 hours). Pressure cook the Channa completely up to 5 whistles . I reduce the heat after a whistle and cook it in mild flame for 12 minutes. Just hate to wake up my neighbors with my cooker whistle:)

2.soak the Basmathi rice in water for 30 minutes. Drain the water completely.

3.Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a wok. Add everything given to roast and grind except tomato.
After the onions become tender, add the chopped tomato. Sprinkle a little water and cook the tomatoes to tender.
Cool them completely and grind into a fine paste in a mixie/ blender.

4.Again heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok. fry the chopped onion to golden brown. Add chopped garlic, cilantro and mint leaves.
After a while put the ground masala and cook till the raw smell goes. check for salt. The salt should be perfect now. This is the 'masala for channa pulav'.

5. Take 3 tbsp of shredded coconut and extract milk from it using 1/2 cup of water.(OR) Dissolve 1 tbsp store bought coconut milk in 1/2 cup water.

6. Take a heavy bottom vessel with lid. Pour 1 cup water and bring to boil.
Add the soaked rice , little salt.

7. Then add the coconut milk, prepared channa pulav masala and let it boil.
Then reduce the flame to minimum and close it with a tight lid. cook it for 20 minutes.
(OR) Transfer everything to a pressure cooker. After a whistle switch off the flame and open after the pressure is gone.

Channa pulav is ready.

Note:
Time taken to cook the channa pulao - 1 hour.
Actually we can cook the channa and prepare this masala in advance to make our job easy. Both will stay good for 1 day if refrigerated.
I dissolved 1 tbsp coconut milk in 1/2 cup water to get the coconut milk.
Immediately after cooking , the pulao may seem to have some excess gravy .
But that gravy will be absorbed by the rice in 30 minutes to one hour completely after switching off the flame.
We need not waste the left over water from cooked channa. I used it to prepare the rice.
Sprinkle and mix the ghee before serving.

Serving suggestions:
The above said quantity will be more than enough for 2 adults.
Serve it hot with boiled egg and Carrot-onion raitha.

A sweet award

Today morning my friend Malar of Kitchen Tantra surprised me with a lovely award called 'Good chat friends award'. Thanks Malar for considering me to this award.



I would like to pass this award to 5 of my friends.
It is really a difficult job to eliminate any one, as everybody of you qualify for this lovely award. Lets spread a good chat by our blogging .

Premy's Cake

Usha Nandhini

Chitra

SriHarivatsan

saraswathy Balakrishnan

Congrats and Happy blogging friends!

Awards and Events

Bunch of awards

Circle of friends , Emerald award and Blogging for purpose award

I am Malar's Friend

Good chat friends award

Sweet blogger

Lemonade award

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Events:

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Seven

Erisseri (vegetable curry)

Erisseri belongs to Kerala. It is an yummy side dish served during all the feasts in kerala and south Tamil Nadu. The yam I am referring here is the 'Indian Yam' which is a root/ tuber otherwise called Elephant foot yam / suran (Hindi) / senai kilangu (Tamil).
It is not the same yam as we see in USA. Here they are calling a root similar to sweet potato as yam.
Yam is available in all seasons in India. Even a small grocery shop in Chennai will sell it. A matured yam will weigh nearly 4 kgs or more. So in India they cut and sell the yam . This vegetable will not rot for a month or two, if kept uncut.
We should be careful in cleaning a fresh yam , as it may cause itching to the hands. To avoid any itching, apply tamarind juice to your hands after cutting this vegetable.
We can buy frozen yam from the 'Indian stores' in USA . So we need not worry about this cleaning or itching , but surely we miss the fresh flavor.
Here is the recipe for Erisseri. Hope you all like it:)



Ingredients:
Yam - 150 gms
Raw banana - 1
turmeric - 1/4 tsp
salt - to taste
coconut oil - 1 tbsp
mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
curry leaf - 1 brig
To grind:
shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
whole black pepper - 1 tbsp

Method:
Cut the yam and banana into small cubes.
Cook it with 1 cup of water , turmeric powder and salt.
Grind the items given to a fine paste.
After the vegetables get cooked, slightly mash them with the ladle and add the masala paste.
Saute them in low flame till the curry becomes thicker.
Heat oil in a wok, splutter the mustard seeds .
Add curry leaves and 1 tbsp shredded coconut to the cracked mustard . Saute well till the coconut turns brown .
Mix it with the curry.
(Traditionally they add a tbsp of hot coconut oil after switching off the flame. )
Erissery is ready.

Serving suggestions:
It can be served as side dish with plain steamed rice, chapathi or sambar rice.
Note:
The consistency should be like a semi solid curry. The coconut masala should be more visible than the vegetables. People who do not like coconut can reduce it to 1/4 cup instead of 1/2 cup.

Kale leaf curry

I have been watching this kale leaf bunch in every grocery store in USA for a long time . But my desi brain couldn't even identify it as a keerai (greens). I assumed it as a kind of cabbage:)
Never dared to take it home as hubby hates trying new greens:)
Then heard of its nutritional value from my friend Malar of Kitchen Tantra.
She has a vast knowledge about the rare greens. This leaf has a lot of vitamin K and good for women. Thanks for the info Malar. Then I started cooking it like our very native paruppu keerai (dhal and spinach).. I don't know any recipe for this. It tastes heavenly. Besides we need not depend on our Indian store spinach alone.That's amazing right:)



Ingredients:
Kale leaf - 3/4 lb
Thoor dhal - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1
Dry red chilly - 2
cumin seed - few
mustard seed - 1/2 tsp
salt - to taste
turmeric powder - a pinch
asafoetida - a pinch
olive oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Wash the kale leaf by placing it in a big mixing bowl.
Remove the thicker vains and chop into big pieces. vegetables chopped into tiny pieces may loose their water-soluble vitamins easily.
Pressure cook thoor dhal with 1 cup water, little turmeric powder, asafoetida and mash it .
Heat olive oil in a non stick wok.
Add mustard seeds. Once they get cracked , add the chopped onion, dry red chilli and saute well.
After the onion gets semi cooked add the chopped kale leaves and stir well.
Add a cup of water and close the lid.
Let the greens cook (but not 100%). It will get cooked in 5 minutes.
Open the lid , add salt, cumin seeds and cooked dhal.
Mix well and let it come to boil.
Switch off flame.
Kale leaf curry is ready.

Serving suggestions:
Serve as side dish with steamed rice or roti / chapathi.
Makes two cups of curry.
1 cup chopped kale leaf gives 36 calories.(citation: The daily plate )
We can add the calories for the olive oil, lentil and onion to calculate the calorie consumed.