Zucchini Hummus Parathas

 

 

 

Life stages. Usually, unless you're at a certain stage yourself, or have been past that stage, it is difficult to understand what it is all about. It is nearly impossible to empathize. At least for me, it has been. For the longest time, I couldn't understand why parents fussed over what their children could eat. I saw one set of parents agonizing over their children's lunch and dinner and I saw another set that relied almost totally on prepackaged food.

 

 

Now that I have one of my own to worry about, I realize that I am not the agonizing type. I don't fuss over A's food. He usually eats what we eat. Yes, at times, he may go hungry because he is throwing a tantrum and refuses to eat. Since he is just a year and half, I do offer him one other comfort food option at most meals. If he refuses that as well, I let him be. I know that in these food battles, I am never going to win. My aunt said to me, "My children's paediatrician said that no child with access to food will ever starve." So, when A is hungry, he will eat. My obligation is, then, to ensure that the right kind of food is accessible. And I know that this is me. Every parent is different as is every child.  

 

A has been very fiercely independent for a long time. I see a lot of me in him. I am pretty much the "I-can-manage-all-by-myself-thank-you-very-much" kind of person. When it comes to food, he prefers being able to feed himself. But he is also picky at the moment about textures. He will not touch wet or sticky things. (Or if he does, he will quickly wipe his hands on my clothes!) He is not very comfortable with a spoon and more food falls on his stomach than in. At times, we give him a roasted papad (protein) to eat by himself while he is being fed his meal of rice, dal and vegetable. At times, I make baby sized cutlets for him. He likes to eat oven baked fries (potato, sweet potato, carrot) and I give him a plate as a snack or before his main meal.

 

 

And parathas work very well. I make 'all in one' parathas for him which I cut into bits. He then eats them all by himself. I make the dough, roll out the parathas and freeze them with baking paper in between them. On days when I am feeling particularly lazy, I just pull out two of these, toast them on a tava with a little ghee/oil and cut them up. And then I feel good that he got his carbohydrate, protein, fat and vegetable fix from that one meal.

 

 

1/2 cup Chickpeas (soaked and cooked)

1 cup Atta (Whole Wheat Flour)

1/2 cup Green and Yellow Zucchini (diced)

1 tbsp Tahini

1 tbsp Sesame Oil/Gingelly Oil

1 tsp Paprika

1/s tsp Turmeric

1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

1 clove Garlic

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Sugar

 

Grind the chickpeas with the garlic, tahini and zucchini. Place this mixture in a bowl. Add the other ingredients. Mix well. Keep adding a little water as necessary and knead into a soft, pliable dough. Cover and allow to rest for a few minutes.

 

Divide the dough into small balls and roll them out with the help of a little flour. Toast on a hot tava until brown spots appear and the paratha is cooked.

 

Serve as they are or with some yogurt on the side.

 

Of late, many friends have been requesting child friendly food on the blog. So, I hope you like this.

 

If you are making these for adults, increase the amount of spices or serve with a side dish. I have started adding sesame paste to many of our meals as sesame is a good natural source of zinc. You could substitute the chickpeas, tahini, garlic, paprika and oil with 2/3 cup of ready made hummus.

Mooli Ki Roti

Amma made chapattis every once in a while when we were kids. The real treats, however, were her stuffed parathas. For a long time, she made just two varieties: Aloo Paratha and Mooli ki Roti. For some reason, we don’t call them Mooli Parathas just as we don’t call the spud cousin Aloo ki Roti. Ours is not to question why, ours is but to open our mouths wide.


Each time I took this in my lunchbox, a colleague complained endlessly about the smell. Again, quite like cabbage and cauliflower, I must be “immune” to the smell. Or I’m simply not that gifted. I don’t exactly like radish, especially in dishes like sambar. The parathas, I simply love. Maybe it is because we didn’t get them as often. Absence does make the heart grow fonder.


A spicy toasted radish salad sandwich, where the bread is the roti!


1 cup Radish, grated
1 tsp Chilli Paste/ 1 Green Chilli, thinly sliced
¼ cup Coriander Leaves, chopped
Salt to taste


4 chapattis, untoasted
2 tsp Oil


Mix the radish with the chilli paste or cut chillies, coriander leaves and salt. Keep aside for a few minutes. Squeeze the liquid and divide the mixture into two portions.

Spread out half the salad on one chapatti and cover it with another chapatti. Press and seal the edges. Repeat with the remaining salad.


Heat a tava and toast each “sandwich” with half a teaspoon of oil for each side. Serve hot. This is perfect for breakfast and lunch/dinner, or as a snack. As long as you have chapatti dough ready, this can’t take you more than 10 minutes.

Methi Thepla

Amma came across this recipe some 10-12 years ago on a Sanjeev Kapoor show. I was at the hostel then and when I went home one weekend, she made these along with a creamy mushroom curry. While, I don't get to eat that mushroom curry much these days, the thepla is a standard feature. And I love it best with this sweet and spicy Gujarati Gorkeri pickle. I haven't bothered to get the exact recipe from Amma or from Sanjeev Kapoor's book. (I'm fairly certain it is in there!), I only know the ingredients.

1 cup Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Besan
1 Ripe Banana, mashed
1 tsp Green Chilli paste
1/2 tsp Ginger paste
1/2 tsp Garlic Paste
1 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
1 cup Fenugreek Leaves, chopped
1/2 cup Curd
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Oil + oil for frying

Mix all the ingredients, except the oil for frying, together and knead into a dough, adding a litle water if necessary. Allow this to sit for about 15 minutes. Divide the dough into small balls and roll each into a chapati. Heat a tawa and toast evenly on both sides using a little oil. I'd recommend about a half a minute a side on a moderately hot tawa.

The banana offsets the bitterness of the fenugreek and he resulting thepla is not sweet not bitter. This is great for brekfast, lunch, dinner or any of those in between times!

Dal Paratha

Dal parathas! I absolutely love them. My colleague's mom makes them for breakfast and whether my colleague touches the parathas or not, I devour them. They are quick to make and are an ideal breakfast item. With some curd and pickle, they're enough to keep you going till lunch time. Plus they help clean up some leftovers without much fuss.

1/2 cup Atta

1/2 cup Dal

1/4 tsp Carom Seeds

Salt to Taste

Knead the dough thoroughly by mixing all ingredients, adding a little water as necessary, and roll out rotis. Toast them evenly on both sides and serve them for breakfast with curd and Punjabi mango pickle. The twist in the tale here is that I served it with fresh Avakaya pickle.

I'm sending this to Srivalli as part of her Roti Mela and to myself for the WBB: Express Breakfasts.

Cauliflower Cheese Parathas

I love using up leftovers. These days we don't have as many leftovers as I am learning to cook just what we need. But every now and then, we do end up with stuff. In more ways than one, it makes my life easier when I have something. But at times, I tend to think up more than one dish with the leftovers and can't decide. So, my maid gets to take extra stuff home on those days. I'd much rather someone eat the stuff than waste it.

On several occasions, we are left with rotis. I try and make something nice so the rotis aren't boring. Kothu Roti and Egg Paratha are some of the things I've tried. I tried Amma's cauliflower and cheese paratha recipe with used up rotis (she makes them fresh). Since the cheese melts, the rotis stick together. This one's a keeper.

6 Rotis
1/4 cup Cauliflower, grated

1/4 cup Cheese, grated

1 tsp Coriander leaves, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Chilli Paste

1/2 tsp Ginger Paste

Salt to Taste

Oil for frying

Heat a griddle (tawa) and grease it lightly.

Mix the cauliflower, cheese, coriander, chilli paste, ginger paste and salt and keep aside.

Place a roti on the griddle and spread some of the cauliflower cheese mixture on to it. Spread the mixture evenly over the roti. Cover this with another roti and cook for a couple of minutes. Turn it over and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Use a little oil for frying. Take it off the griddle and cut into quarters. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Off these parathas go to Mansi who is hosting this month's WBB, my dear friend Nandita’s initiative. This month's theme is "Balnced Breakfasts" and she urges us to include Fruits or Vegetables, Grains, Dairy or Protein. I have used all four four food groups in this dish. The rotis are made from wheat flour and soya flour. The stuffing has cauliflower and cheese. I couldn't have gotten a better dish.

Egg Paratha

Leftovers. They always come in handy, don't they? There are days when we plan to have rotis for dinner and so they are made, but then we decide to eat dinner outside. The next day, I’m in no mood to reheat the rotis and have them. And our rotis are not exactly great the next day as they are zero fat rotis. At times I make Kothu Roti and at others, I make stuffed parathas. The only problem is that I cannot use any dry ingredients. I have to use something that will keep the two rotis together. Egg is one such ingredient.

6 Rotis

2 Eggs, beaten lightly
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 tsp Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Chilli Paste
1/2 tsp Ginger Paste
Salt to Taste
Oil for frying

Heat a griddle (tawa) and grease it lightly.

Mix the onions, coriander, chilli paste, ginger paste and salt with the beaten eggs and keep aside.

Place a roti on the griddle and spoon some of the egg mixture on to it. Spread the mixture evenly over the roti. Cover this with another roti and cook for a couple of minutes. Turn it over and cook on the other side for a couple of minutes. Use a little oil for frying. Take it off the griddle and cut into quarters. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Apart from breakfast, these can be had as an anytime snack.

Paneer Paratha

Another very simple stuffed paratha that makes for a light meal. Breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner, I can eat these at any time of the day.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste

For the stuffing:
100g Paneer, crumbled
1 tsp Ginger paste
1 tsp Green Chilli paste
1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped
Salt to Taste

Oil for frying

Flour for rolling

Take a little water in a bowl. Add the salt, sugar and oil. Mix well until the sugar crystals dissolve. Add the flour and mix well. Knead the dough, adding a little water at a time as needed. Keep aside.

Mix all the ingredients for the stuffing.

Roll out small portions of the dough. Place a little bit of the stuffing in the centre and bring the edges together and seal. Roll these using a little flour taking care to ensure that the filling doesn't spill out.

Toast on a tawa on medium flame using a little oil for each paratha. Enjoy with tomato sauce or curd and pickle.

This is one of my entries to the RCI: Punjabi Cuisine which is being guest hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt.

Also, since W is for Whole Wheat Paneer Parathas, this is my fourth W entry to Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables.

Misi Roti with leftovers

During my trip to Punjab, my friend’s mother made this roti for breakfast. I asked her if this contained besan. She laughed and said, “Among other things”. She said she puts any leftover stuff in it and makes the dough.

A day or two before the burglars cleaned my house, I had decided to clean my fridge and kitchen. I had loads of stuff in my fridge and decided to use them all.

I had some left over wheat atta in the fridge. To this I added some maida, besan, paneer paratha stuffing, the leftover kadhi from gatte ki kadhi, dal palak and moong dal sambar. I kneaded this dough thoroughly and rolled out the rotis. I toasted them evenly on both sides and served them for breakfast with curd and Punjabi mango pickle.

This is one of my entries to the RCI: Punjabi Cuisine which is being guest hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt.

Aloo Paratha

Another of Amma's treasures. The ready boiled potatoes that come in handy when hunger strikes. But Amma's only worry has always been that in our family, hunger rarely ever strikes! But she is a true Girl Guide as she is always prepared for the opportunity that may never arise :-)

This is a simple, time-tested recipe that is filling and tasty all at once.

Also, W is for Whole Wheat parathas stuffed with a spicy potato stuffing. This goes to dear Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

1 cup Whole wheat flour

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Sugar

Salt to taste

For the stuffing:

2 Potatoes, boiled and mashed

1 tsp Ginger paste

1 tsp Green Chilli paste

1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped

Salt to Taste

Oil for frying

Flour for rolling

Take a little water in a bowl. Add the salt, sugar and oil. Mix well until the sugar crystals dissolve. Add the flour and mix well. Knead the dough, adding a little water at a time as needed. Keep aside.

Mix all the ingredients for the stuffing.

Roll out small portions of the dough. Place a little bit of the stuffing in the centre and bring the edges together and seal. Roll these using a little flour taking care to ensure that the filling doesn't spill out. (Actually, the portions where it does spill out are tastier than the rest as the potato stuffing gets toasted directly on the tava. So, don't pay much attention to this one!)

Toast on a tawa on medium flame using a little oil for each paratha. Enjoy with tomato sauce or curd and pickle. I enjoy these parathas with the Gujarati Gorkeri pickle.

This is one of my entries to the RCI: Punjabi Cuisine which is being guest hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt.