Friday, November 29, 2019

Spinach Chapathi | Palak Roti | Green Roti

Palak Roti/ Spinach Chapathi, a healthy and tasty indian flat bread made from wheat flour and spinach puree. I got inspired from the green tortilla wraps available in the store and started to make this roti/chapathi whenever i had excess of spinach which were about to expiry soon and now it's became one of the regular dish in my kitchen.

This rotis are  so vibrant, appealing and at the same time it's healthy and quick to make. Instead of serving this with curry, you can use this as wraps too. Here today, i have served this with veg kadai curry, but i had tried using them as wraps with panner/veg stuffing, that too tastes delicious and also it makes the best lunch box recipe. 

In the recent instagram post, i have shared this chapathi along with rajma curry  and got few dms about the recipe, so here i'm with the post. If you haven't tried the spinach chapathi/roti before, do give it a try and then just like me, you may also obsessed with this green chapathi/roti :-)
Recently i read a book "The Hidden Lives of Tree" by Peter Wohlleben, in that book, the author(a german forester) explains about the communication between trees, apart from that, there are lot of other interesting facts about trees, most of them are totally new to me.

Speaking of green color, we all knew that green leaves in the tree is due to photosynthesis, in one of the chapter, the author said that all the light spectrum is not used by chlorophyll in the process of photosynthesis (converts into food) and some are wasted and the waste spectrum of light is green and that's what we see in the leaves(that's really new to me, guess that was not taught by text books in school :-)) and he mentioned that scenario like "One man trash is another man treasure". How interesting, it is !!! 

The rejected part of tree only makes the world greener and gives such a treat to our eyes. After reading that, whenever i see green leaves/color, the lines from the book automatically pops in my mind, just like when i started to write this post.

Ok, enough with the stories, but if you get your hands on that book, do read, it's really interesting. Now let's check out the recipe for this "Green" Roti/Chapathi. 
Related : How to make Ragi Roti 

Spinach Chapathi | Palak Roti

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 15 minsMakes : 8-10  
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Chapathi, Green Roti, Healthy, Roti, Spinach, Palak Palak Roti/ Spinach Chapathi, a healthy and tasty indian flat bread made from wheat flour and spinach puree.
Ingredients
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Spinach - 1 cup(tightly packed)
Green Chili - 1 
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Water as needed

Procedure
First let's blanch the spinach, bring a pot of water into boil and add the spinach, let it sit for 30- 40 secs.

Next immediately drain the spinach and run it under cold for 2 mins. Put the spinach into the mixer/blender jar along with green chili & cumin seeds, grind into smooth puree.

Take the wheat flour in a bowl, add enough salt, mix it well and then add the spinach puree.

Add little water in the mixie/blender jar, swirl it to remove the sticking puree to the jar and add into the flour and mix it well. If needed add more water and make a smooth,pilable dough.Let it rest for 10-15 mins.

Divide the dough into equal parts and roll them into smooth balls.Dust the working surface with flour and using rolling pin spread the dough into thin sheet.

Heat the tava and grease the tava with oil, place the rolled thin sheet on the tava and cook for 30-40 secs on one side, when you see the bubbles on the top, flip into other side and cook till the brown spots occurs. It may take another 30-40 secs.

Tasty, healthy & vibrant Spinach chapathi/ Palak Roti is ready.Serve it with you favorite curry. We had it with Kadai Vegetables.

Notes:
  • I have used baby spinach here, but you can use regular spinach too.
  • Don't let the spinach in hot water for longer time, otherwise it loses the vibrant green color.
  • The tava should be hot for soft and vibrant chapathi. For each chapathi, it shouldn't take more than 1&1/2 mins to cook.
  • Without green chili also, you can make this chapathi.
  • Cumin gives nice flavor to the chapathi but that also optional.
  • The dough should be soft and pilable for soft chapathi. 
  • With the same dough, you can make phulka too, refer here to make phulka.


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Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Kadai Vegetables Curry | Veg Curry for Roti

Kadai Vegetables, a delicious curry made from mix of veggies as side dish for roti, chapathi or any indian flat bread. It's one of our favorite side dish for chapathi without any coconut based masala. I grew up eating lot of coconut based curries(you know what that's the typical south tamilnadu food style), all other curries are mostly got introduced to me from restaurant or friends, if any tried out curries from restaurant is delicious, then immediately i have the urge to replicate that in my kitchen and this is one among them. In the past, i had tweaked this and that in the recipe whenever i had made this to get that perfect taste and for past one year this is being my standard recipe without any change. If you do like restaurant style kadai vegetable curry, give it a try, it would be awesome!!  

Kadai Vegetables Curry | Veg Curry for Roti

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 minsServes : 2 to 3  
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Veg Kadai, Kadai Vegetables, Veg Curry, Veg Curry for Roti, Roti Side Dish,Chapathi Side dish Kadai Vegetables, a delicious curry made from mix of veggies as side dish for roti, chapathi or any indian flat bread.
Ingredients
Onion(small) -1
Mix veg* - 2 cup
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves - 2
Cardamon -2 
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 to 3/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Dried kasthuri methi - 1/2 tsp
Fresh cream - 2 tbsp
To grind
Tomato(small) - 2 
Cashew - 4 
Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp

* I have used potato, carrot, beans, broccoli, beetroot, capsicum.


Procedure
First cut all the veggies(carrot, potato, beans, beetroot) into thin stripes, half of the onions into small pieces and the remaining into small squares, cut the capsicum into small squares.Put the ingredients listed under "To grind" into the mixie jar and grind into smooth paste.Heat the oil in a sauce pan, add cinnamon, cloves and cardamon into it and fry for 30 secs.Then add the onions and  saute till it became translucent. Next add the ginger garlic paste and saute till it's aromatic, then add the veggies (carrot, potato, beans, beetroot).Saute the veggies in the oil for few mins and then add the tomato puree, spices(turmeric,red chili & coriander powder) ,sugar & salt.Mix it all well together and then add the enough water and cook the vegetables.When the vegetables are half cooked, add the broccoli and then let all cook until tender. In the mean time, in a another pan, saute the cubed onions and capsicum with pinch of salt until it's slightly softened and keep it aside.Once the veggies are all cooked, add the onions and capsicum. Mix it well, then add the fresh cream & garam masala. Finally crush the kasturi methi in between palms and add into it. Let is simmer for few mins and switch off the flame.Tasty Kadai Vegetables is ready to serve.
Notes:
  •  Instead of cutting the veggies into stripes, you can cut them into small pieces.
  • Adjust the spices as per your liking, the given quantity is for mild spice.
  • After added the cream, don't let the curry boil vigorously, it may split. Let it comes to light boil and switch off the flame.
  • Broccoli cooks quickly so added lately in the curry.
  • You can use any of your favorite veggies and make this curry. 
  • Peas and cauliflower are good for this curry.
  • If you don't have cream, add few more cashews while grinding tomato puree



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Friday, November 22, 2019

How to make curd at home in cold place | Home made Yogurt

Home made Curd is very easy to make and tastes so creamy and delicious. Back in India, in our home, Amma makes curd every day as fresh. In the night, after finishing all the chores of the day, she adds a little bit of leftover curd to the lukewarm milk and the next day, the curd sets so beautifully without much effort because of the warm temperature. 

When in summer, she used to make the curd in the morning only, within 4 hours, it sets beautifully and ready for our midday meal. So if you're in a warm place, making curd at home is such an easy task. 

But if you live in a cold place like me, I'm not gonna say that it's hard to make curd at home, but you need to take care of certain things to set the curd properly, otherwise it will turn slimy with some weird smell.

I don't have that much energy like amma to make curd everyday, so usually i make curd once a week. Once it sets, I will keep it in the refrigerator and use it as needed.   
Though I have shared my daily meal platter in Instagram, it's been a while since I have posted anything here, so today morning itself, I was so determined to sit, write and post a recipe. I have a handful of recipes with pictures in draft for a while, and will post one by one soon. 

For the past three weeks, the temperature here has dropped drastically, hardly it goes above 0C, fall back daylight time change, earlier sunset around 4.30, all makes me lethargic. 

After the colorful autumn foliage, the whole city now turned into white and grey because of one heavy snow storm. It seems like the colorful screen in front of you changes into black and white screen all of sudden. Really fascinating !!!

Ok, now back to today's recipe, here i have shared my tips to set the curd properly, this post will be useful for beginners or those who try to make curd for the first time at home and the experts, please excuse !!!

How to make curd at home in cold place

Preparation Time : 6 hrs | Cooking Time : 15 minsMakes : 2 cups 
Recipe Category: Curd | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Homemade Curd, Yogurt, Basic, How to make Curd Home made Curd is very easy to make and taste so creamy and delicious.
Ingredients
Milk - 2 cups
Curd - 2 tsp

Procedure
Pour the milk into sauce pan, let it bring into boil.
Once the milk started to boil, switch off the flame and let it cool a bit.  Take the curd in bowl and whisk it well without any lumps and keep it ready. 
Pour the curd into bowl which you're gonna set the curd, check the milk temperature by placing your finger in the milk. It should be bearable but still it's warm, that's correct temperature. Pour the milk into the curd culture. 
Mix it all well together and partly cover the bowl with lid and place it in the warm place. I kept it in oven with lights on. 
After 6-8 hrs, the curd would be set beautifully, immediately keep it in the refrigerator to avoid further souring of curd.Tasty home made curd is ready. 

Related : How to make Indian Cottage Cheese / Malai Paneer


Notes:
  • Make sure that the curd culture is at room temperature before using it.
  • Don't cover the bowl with lid completely when the milk is warm to avoid the milk sweating.
  • Make sure to mix the curd culture with the milk well.
  • Keep the milk in warm temperature to set the curd.
  • Use good quality of curd culture, if the curd culture is slimy, then the end product will also be the same.
  • You can use the store bought curd as curd culture.


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