Gakar (Crispy wheat bread)

Yesterday while surfing the channels on television, I saw a program 'Khadyabhramanti' on E tv marathi. Mrs. Kalpana Zokarkar from Indore was singing in her sweet voice. In the same show she taught this recipe from Indore, a traditional one.

I just tried it in the evening and it tasted really nice. She used coarse wheat flour (जाडसर गव्हाचे पीठ ) I used regular wheat flour instead but it worked well.

Ingredients
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 tsp ajwain

1/2 tsp roasted तीळ /sesame seeds
salt to taste
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp soda-bi-carb
2 tsp ghee/toop/clarified butter


For the dip
1/2 cup curd
2-3 green chillies (roasted directly on the gas stove and then cut)
salt and sugar(optional) to taste
oil, mustard seeds and asafoetida for the tempering

Method
Make a dough mixing all the ingredients using water. Don't make it too soft. Keep it covered for fifteen minutes.

Make small lemon sized portions out of it. Make a flat tikki by gently pressing between the palms. Make an impression with the thumb in the middle of the tikki( just like पेढा)
Heat ghee in the non-stick flat pan or tawa.
Arrange the tikkis on it.
Cover with lid and cook for 8-10 minutes on low flame.
Turn the sides and cook for 2-3 minutes more

For the dip, mix curd, salt and sugar. Add chilli pieces. Heat oil in an iron ladle or pali. Add the tempering and pour it on the curd mixture. Mix well and serve with hot tikkis.

Wheat bread open sandwich

My daughter surprised us with this for the Sunday evening snack!!!
Whole wheat bread with mixed vegetables ( cut and steamed flavored in olive oil with finely chopped garlic, pepper powder,oregano, chili flakes and salt) topped with mozzarella cheese. She used french beans, tomatoes,baby corns, capsicums and spring onions. Served with tomato ketchup.

Mysore masala dosa

Once the Dosa batter is ready you can make varieties. Today I made Mysore sada and mysore masala dosa .
It doesn't require separate chutney as it is already spread inside. Tastes great with ghee/sajook toop.

Potato veggie or dosa  bhajee preparation is here.

Chutney
freshly grated coconut
kashmiri red chily (soaked in warm water for 10-15 min.)
red chili powder
garlic cloves
roasted chana
tamarind or lemon juice
salt to taste

Grind all to a fine paste in a grinder with very little water.

Method

• Spread a ladle of dosa batter on a hot non-stick griddle or beedacha tawa(बिडाचा तवा ) on medium flame.
• Put some ghee   from the edges of the dosa. Cover with lid for half a minute.
• Spread chutney in thin layer to cover the dosa.
• Spread bhajee over it.
• Fold  the dosa from sides.
• Serve with little ghee over it.

Finger millet vermicelli

नाचणीच्या पिठाच्या शिरवळया

This is the similar one with rice flour as नारळच्या रसातल्या  शेवया or vermicelli in  coconut milk
Here I have replaced rice flour with finger millet flour/ragi or नाचणी. It really tastes great.

I boiled 2 cups of water with 1/2 tsp of salt and a tsp of oil in it. Added 2 cups of nachni flour in it. Mixed well and covered and cooked on low flame for a minute. Transferred in a plate and kneaded it and made

muthiye or pressed the cooked flour in the fist like this








Boiled these muthiye in water till they float over it.

Pressed it through chakali saacha/press with an disc attachment of  fine hole

Extracted the coconut milk with freshly grated coconut with jaggery and cardamom powder in it.

The combination tastes awesome !!! Try it.

Healthy Upma

Lapshi rawa or broken wheat/daliya is more nutritious than normal semolina/rawa as it contains more fiber. Broken wheat is harder hence takes more time to cook. Better to cook it in pressure cooker before using it for any recipe. I always roast it slightly on little ghee/toop and cook it in a pressure cooker with double the quantity of water or mixture of water and curd ( for using in salty dishes) or water and milk ( for using in sweet dishes). This comes very handy and your dish becomes ready in just 10-15 minutes.

Today I made तिरंगी उपमा or tricolor healthy broken wheat pulao to celebrate India's win over Pakistan in World cup 2011.
All the best for Dhoni and the Indian team!!!

Ingredients
1-1/2  cup Pressure cooked broken wheat( preferably cook in advance and let it cool completely)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped capsicum( green peas if available)
1/4 cup chopped carrot
salt and sugar to taste

Tempering
2 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp udid daL
1/2 tsp asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves
1/2 inch chopped ginger
2 chopped green chilies
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Garnishing
grated coconut
chopped coriander leaves
a lemon wedge
1 tsp sajook toop

Method

• Heat oil in a kadhai
• Add tempering ingredients one by one.
• Add onion. Fry in the oil for a while and add little salt. Add chopped vegetables. Stir fry with onion. Cover with lid for a minute or two.
• Add cooked broken wheat and mix well. Add salt and sugar to taste.Cover with lid to blend it well with other ingredients.
• Turn off the gas.
• Garnish with coconut.coriander and a dash of lemon juice. A teaspoon of ghee/sajook toop will surely be 'a cherry on the cake'.

Mix flour ghawan/poLe/pancakes

The multi cereal flour or saat (seven) dhaan pith can be used to make these ghawan or you can call it as spicy pancakes. Though the ingredients used are same as in thalipith, the consistency differs. It is semisolid or just like dosa batter. One can make variations as using chilies instead of chili powder, adding or avoiding fennel seeds,  chopped garlic, chopped onion , chopped curry leaves, chopped coriander leaves etc. Many permutations and combination can be made for the change in taste.

I did it today for the break-fast...but forgot to take the snap so will upload the photo some time later...


Ingredients
1 cup saat dhaan flour
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp coriander seeds powder
1 tsp cumin seeds powder
2-3 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp fennel seeds
salt to taste
1/2 tsp hot oil
water to mix all the ingredients to get the required consistency.

Method

• Mix the batter well and spread it in a circular shape on a hot non-stick pan or beedacha tawa on medium flame.
• Cover with lid. Turn to the other side when one side is done. Put few drops of oil if necessary.
• Serve hot with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

Wheat flour pancakes

Sunday morning break-fast was of pancakes...wheat flour pancakes. So easy and so delicious!!!

Ingredients
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 cup milk
2 tsp sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking powder

Topping
maple syrup

Method

• Take wheat flour in a bowl.
• Mix in all powders (sugar,salt,baking powder)
• Make a pit in between and pour milk in it.
• Stir the milk slowly with spoon in one direction( clockwise or anticlockwise)so as to mix the  flour with milk without forming any lumps.
• Once the smooth batter is ready you can heat the griddle/non-stick pan and spread a ladle of a batter on it to form a pancake with few drops of butter from side of the pancake. Cover it with lid. Turn to the other side with few drops of butter if needed.
• Serve with maple syrup on the top.

Note
If maple syrup is not available try this:
Mix honey with little warm water and add few drops of vanilla essence. Mix well and use as a topping on pancakes.

Kadhi-Patrawade

Mixed pulses' tikkis with coconut curry

This recipe is from BeLgaon. The 'Patrawade' are small  flat tikkis or wada made out of mixed pulses so the dish is high in protein. Actually these are deep fried and then put in a kadhi at the time of serving. Usually this is served for lunch or dinner with steamed rice.
I did it for the breakfast today. I made them flat and slightly thin so that it becomes easy to shallow fry. I served them with green chutney.

Ingredients

To be soaked in water (enough to submerge) and to be ground
1 cup  split bengal gram
1/2  cup toor dal
1/4 cup moog dal
4 tsp part udid dal
2 tsp rice

To be added in ground batter
1 inch piece of ginger
5-6 garlic cloves
2 green chilies
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
2 tsp coriander seeds powder
2 tsp cumin seeds powder
1 tsp goDa/kaLa masala
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
salt to taste
1 cup finely chopped onion

Method

• Coarsely grind the soaked lentils in a grinder.
• Add chopped chili,ginger,garlic,coriander leaves.
• Add coriander seeds powder and cumin seeds powder.
• Add kaLa masala, turmeric powder,red chili powder and salt.
• Mix in the finely chopped onion.
• Mix the batter.
• Take a portion of the size of a lemon and pat it on the banana leaf or a plastic sheet .( apply water to the palm while pressing the tikki so that the batter doesn't stick )
• Shallow fry on a non-stick pan. Cover with lid to cook one side and then turn the sides

Kadhi

Ingredients

To be roasted in a tsp of ghee and ground in a fine paste
1 tbl sp grated coconut
1/4 cup chopped onion
4-5 cashew nuts


1 cup coconut milk
2 tsp red chili powder
1tbl sp tamarind paste
1 tbl sp jaggery

Tempering
1 tbl sp ghee
1/4  cup finely chopped onion


Method

• Roast onion,coconut  and cashew nuts and grind in a fine paste. Mix this paste with coconut milk.
• Mix tamarind and jaggery  in water to make a juice. Strain and add it to the coconut milk.
• Heat  ghee in a pan and fry finely chopped onion. Add coconut milk mixture.
• Bring it to boil. Simmer the gas and add salt to taste. Turn off the gas.
• Mix patrawade in it while serving.
  

Note
You can also eat patrawade without kadhi. Serve with green chutney or tomato ketchup.
Addition of chopped spinach/methi or any vegetable would enrich the nutritional value as well as the taste of the recipe.

Dadape pohe-3

As I mentioned in my earlier post,there are many variations one can make in the beaten rice/poha dishes. This is another variety of 'daDape pohe. A traditional dish from Karwar (Southern part of India)

Ingredients
 2 cups thin poha
 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
 1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
1 tsp tamarind paste mixed with 1/4 cup of water
2 tsp  jaggery
(the combination of tamarind and jaggery should be such that to give sweet-n-sour taste to the dish.)

To be dry roasted and powdered
2 tsp fennel seeds/badishep
2-3 cloves

Tempering
1-2 tsp coconut oil/oil
1/2 mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asaoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Method

• Spread poha in a shallow bottomed pan or paraat.
• Add onion,coconut and tamarind-jaggery mixture. Mix well with hand.
• Sprinkle roasted powder of cloves and fennel seeds
• Heat oil in an iron ladle/PaLi. Add tempering ingredients.
• Mix the tempering with the poha mixture.
• Garnish with chopped coriander( optional).
  

Note
Tastes amazing with coconut oil ( if you are familiar with the taste)

Pohyachi UsaL

A healthy break-fast is a good start for a hectic day. Variety in the break fast is always preferred ... so here's another one of beaten rice...tasty and healthy too!!

Ingredients
2 cups Thick poha(beaten rice)-approx.1 fistful for one person
salt to taste
2 tbl sp powdered sugar or pithisakhar
2 green chilies (finely chopped)

Tempering
2 tsp ghee/clarified butter
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp udid DaL
2 dry red chilies

Garnishing
1/4 cup freshly grated coconut

Method

• Wash and drain poha. Spread it on a plate. Sprinkle salt and sugar over it. Mix evenly with delicate hands or use a spoon .
• Heat ghee in a kadhai. Add mustard seeds and udid dal at the same time. As the seeds splutter and dal becomes light brown add dry red chilies.
• Mix in the poha in it. Stir in lightly and cover with lid. for half a minute.
• Turn off the gas.
• Garnish with freshly grated coconut and serve hot.

whole wheat bread uppit

You just have to replace poha(beaten rice) in kande-pohe with crumbled bread pieces and you are ready to eat this 'uppit'. I used whole wheat bread to make little nutritious.

Ingredients

6-8 slices of whole wheat bread
1/4 cup roasted ground nuts
salt and sugar to taste

Tempering
2-3 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida
3-4 curry leaves
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Garnishing
Chopped coriander leaves
freshly grated coconut
lemon juice

Method

• Crumble bread slices or you can even cut cubes with kitchen scissors if the bread is fresh.
• Heat oil in the kadhai and add tempering  ingredients one by one. Saute onion till golden brown.
• Add bread pieces. Mix well and sprinkle little water all over. Cover with lid.
• After a minute, take off the lid and add salt and sugar to taste.
• Garnish with coriander and grated coconut.

Onion uttappa

Once the basic dosa batter is ready variety of dosas can be prepared. Uttappa is a thicker version of dosa.

To the basic dosa batter ( 2cups)
add
1/2 cup chopped onion,
chopped coriander leaves,
torn curry leaves, a tsp of cumin seeds,
1 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp chopped green chili.
1 tbl sp oil
salt to taste
Add little water (if required )if the batter is too thick.
1 cup finely chopped onion for topping.


Method

• Spread a ladle of batter onto a greased hot tawa or non-stick pan to a round dosa with medium thickness( like a pancake)
• Top the dosa with chopped onion and cover it.
• Turn the side after the 1st side is done.
• Add  few drops of oil if necessary.
• Serve hot with chatni.

Note
You can add tempering of mustard seeds and cumin seeds  instead of plain oil in the dosa batter for a change

Gobi/Kobi paratha

cabbage flat bread

Ingredients
1 cup grated cabbage
1/2 cup grated onion
1 tsp grated ginger
salt to taste
2 tbl sp curd/lemon juice
2 tsp oil
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves

1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp coriander-cumin seed powder

2 cups  approx.wheat flour
rice flour for dredging


Method

• Mix grated cabbage,onion,ginger,salt,coriander leaves,oil,curd in a bowl or shallow plate/paraat.
• Add in all powders. Mix well. The mixture will become moist.
• To this moist mixture add wheat flour in parts and knead the dough using little water at a time.
• Make equal portions/balls (8-10). Roll each ball into a circle (use rice flour for dredging so the dough won't stick to the board/polpat. Thickness of the circle should be of medium.
• Roast it on the non-stick griddle (with a tsp of oil if necessary.)
• Serve hot with curd or tomato ketchup.

Note
You can replace cabbage with दुधी  (bottle gourd)/गाजर (कार्रोत)/लाल भोपला) pumpkin and make variations.

kothimbir paratha

flat bread with coriander leaves
an afternoon snack in today's tiffin ...

Ingredients
2 cups chopped coriander
2-3 green chilies( or as per taste)
1/2 inch ginger
4-5 garlic cloves
lemon juice/aamchur powder/curd as a souring agent
salt to taste
2 tsp oil
wheat flour as required

Method

• Wash coriander leaves,chilies,ginger in water.Chop the ingredients.
• Make a paste of coriander leaves, green chilies,ginger,garlic in a grinder without water.
• Transfer the paste in a bowl, add salt and lemon juice/curd. Mix well. Add oil.
• Mix in the wheat flour with spoon as required  and knead the dough. Use minimum water.
• Keep covered for 5 minutes.
• Make lemon sized  balls out of the dough. Roll each ball into a circle with the help of rolling pin and rolling board or on kitchen platform. (Do not roll it too thin.)
• Roast it on the griddle from both sides till brown spots appear on them.
• Apply oil/ghee while roasting.
• Serve hot with butter or give it in tiffin with tomato ketch up.
  
  

DaDape pohe-2

This is one more of the pataL poha(beaten rice  flakes), a fast, tasty and healthy break-fast recipe.

Ingredients
2 cups pataL poha

To be ground
1/4 cup freshly grated coconut
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 dry red chilies/chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp tamarind paste
2 tsp jaggery
salt to taste( I use black salt/saindhav)

Tempering
1tsp ghee/oil
mustard powder
asafoetida

Garnishing
2 tsp  freshly grated coconut

Method

• Moist poha with water. ( by sprinkling water and mixing  with delicate hands)
• Grind all ingredients without using water.
• Transfer the paste in a dish and mix in jaggery in it.
• Apply the paste to the moist poha.
• Heat ghee/oil in paLi and add tempering ingredients. Pour the mixture on the poha.
• Mix well and garnish with freshly grated coconut before serving.

Note
You can avoid tempering and add finely chopped onion to make it more moist. It will give different taste.

PaLi fodaniche pohe

This is one more poha recipe from Karnataka. Type of daDape pohe. This requires bhajake pohe( roasted beaten rice) , the one we get in chane-shengdane wala's shop. They are also called as 'fulavlele pohe'. I will try and upload a picture of those later.

Ingredients
 1 cup pohe
 1 tbl sp metkoot
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1 tbl sp freshly grated coconut
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
salt and sugar

Tempering
oil
mustard seeds
cumin seeds
green chili
turmeric powder


Method

• Mix poha with metkoot,chili powder,salt and sugar.
• Heat oil in a paLi and add tempering ingredients one by one. Mix it with poha.
• Add chopped cucumber,chopped tomato and grated coconut to make it moist.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.

IDli ChaTNi

Spongy hot homemade idlis with green chutni and sambar is my recipe for the today's break-fast. Yesterday afternoon I soaked a cup of udid dal and 2 cups of rice in water separately. After 7-8 hours I ground one by one into a fine paste. Mixed them together in a container (big enough to accommodate the rise of the batter) with hands. Covered the container with a tight lid. Today morning the batter fermented nicely and was ready for idlis.
I normally use idli-patra or idli stand for making idlis but this time preferred using wati and steaming them in pressure cooker.

masala dosa bhajee

 Today's break-fast was masala dosa with green chutNi...

 Ingredients
2 boiled potatoes(diced)
salt to taste

Tempering
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp udid dal
1/2 tsp chana dal
2-3 curry leaves
2 green chilies
1 sliced onion
1 tsp turmeric powder

Method

• Peel off the skin of boiled potatoes. Chop the potatoes to make medium size pieces. Slice the onion.
• Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the tempering ingredients one by one. Fry the onion till soft and transparent.
• Add potatoes and 1/2 cup of water. Cover with lid and let it blend on low flame.
• Bhajee should be slightly moist and not too dry. so adjust the quantity of water accordingly.
• Add salt as per taste. Mix well.
• Use as a stuffing for masala-dosa with green chutNi or serve hot with chapati.

Moog DaL Panki

moog DaL pancakes
 This is a wholesome and healthy break-fast dish. I used saalwali/chilkewali/skinned moog daL as it's  an healthier option. I soaked the DaL overnight as this is the winter but in summer 3-4 hours are sufficient.

Ingredients (makes 2-3)
1/2 cup moog daL( wash and soak in 1 cup water for minimum 3-4 hours)

To be ground in fine paste
soaked DaL
1 green chili
5-6 stalks of coriander leaves
2-3 garlic cloves
small ginger piece
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp asafoetida
1 tbl sp curd
salt and sugar to taste

Method

• Grind all the ingredients along with the soaked dal (do not drain ).
• Grease the non-stick pan and spread the batter to make a pancake. Cover with a lid.
• Turn on the other side when done. Add few drops of oil from sides if required.
• Serve hot with tomato ketch up.

Note
For change in taste, you can add chopped methi leaves in the batter.
For non- oily version, banana leaf can be used which will give you the 'steamed panki'.

Masalyache pohe

This is another way to prepare daDape pohe....

Ingredients (for two)
2 cups jade pohe/thick  beaten rice( actually the measure is -1 fistful for 1 person)
1/2 cup Onion(chopped)-optional
1-2 tsp jaggery

To be ground in paste
1/4 cup freshly grated coconut
3-4 dry red chilies
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp tamarind paste
salt as per taste

Tempering
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp asafoetida

Method

• Wash the poha with water. Drain the water and spread it on a plate. 
• Mix chopped onion.(optional)
• Grind coconut, coriander seeds,cumin seeds, red chilies,tamarind,salt without water. 
• Apply the ground paste and jaggery to the poha. 
• Heat oil in an iron ladle (paLi). Add mustard seeds. As they crackle add asafoetida and turn off the gas.
• Mix the contents with the poha. 
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and freshly grated coconut.