Oats Veg Bhakri

Hello Friends, Its been quite a while ( to be precise almost 6 years ) since I have published any post on my blog. I might say that a lot of water has flown under the bridge. My grand-daughter just completed six years now and in the meantime, we have also changed our residence. So, overall it was quite hectic these last few years; but seeing my grand daughter growing up gave me and my spouse enough joy and believe me she is quite a handful! 

Well, I am now trying to get back to blogging  {I hope I have not forgotten how to go about it :) }.  I have now to get in touch with all my blogger friends, and hope to revive their contacts too. Looking forward to  your comments and reply like the good old days.

Frankly speaking, what gave me this sudden impetus to restart my blog is that I participated (having got the info from my husband's nephew) in a recipe contest organised by youthofGSB (Gowd Saraswat Brahmin community to which I belong) and they have published all the recipes in the book named Gowd Saraswat Recipe contest book in a pdf format. I think that's enough of my blabbering.  

As you all know that we are all looking for a healthy breakfast to start our day. I was in a mood to start something new and hence started searching on the net for some oats preparation. After a lot of search, I came across Oats Bhakri. I made some changes to suit the texture & palate. Bhakri is generally spread thickly. You can also refer to my earlier recipe of Red Pumpkin Bhakri

Oats Veg Bhakri served with a dollop of white home made butter

Ingredients:

Oats (Instant)            - 1 cup

Semolina (regular)    - 1/2 cup

Curds                         - 1/4 cup

Green chillies            - 1 or 2 chopped

Water                        - approx 1 cup

Corriander leaves      - a small bunch chopped

Grated carrot             - 2 tbsps

Capsicum (chopped) - 2 tbsps

Tomato (chopped)     - 1 medium

Onion (chopped)       - 2 tbsps

Salt to taste

Oil for shallow frying

Method:

1.  In a bowl, mix oats, semolina and salt.
2.  Add curds & mix again.
3. Next add water to dilute it slightly.
4. Now add all the chopped vegetables, green chilies and coriander leaves and give it a good mix.
5. At this stage, add water and mix again without any lumps. The batter should not be very dilute or thick. Let it sit for for about 10 mins.
6. In the meantime, heat a griddle or tawa . Smear oil
7. When the pan is hot enough, lower the heat and spread a ladle of the prepared batter not thinly.
8. Dribble oil all around the bhakri and keep the flame on medium. 
9. Now flip the bhakri and fry on the other side too.
10. Continue in the same manner with the remaining batter.
11. Tastes good with white home made butter.

Preparation Time: 15-20mins

Cooking time       :  20 mins

Makes                   :  8 Bhakris  of  size approx 5-6inches

Ingredients

                                                                   

Oats, Semolina & Salt placed in a bowl

                                               

Curds added to the above mixture

                                                            

Chopped vegetables added to the above mixture

                                       

                                      Batter is mixed thoroughly so that no lumps are formed

                                      

Bhakri has been spread thickly on the hot griddle

                                              

Bhakri has been flipped over

All set & ready to serve

                                                            

Note: 

• Chop the vegetables as finely as possible.
• Oats can also be powdered though not much change in the texture of the bhakri.
• Do not spread the batter thinly.
• Serve with any chutney of your choice if you do not have white butter.
• Bhakris have to be eaten hot.

Makai ki Roti

Makai Ki Roti is a traditional dish from Punjab (India) and normally served with Sarson Ka Saag. The rotis are generally made by hand without the use of the rolling pin. I am not very good at this technique. I have done this before and ended up with shapes resembling that of the map of India and various other countries !

Hence, in this recipe, I have added a bit of wheat flour to the maize flour to make it pliable and easier to handle. I managed to roll them out nicely though the dough needs to be handled with care as it will break at the edges while rolling it out into rotis.
All said and done, it turned out well – tastewise and appearance wise too. I also had the approval of my spouse.  We had a few rotis for lunch today and I am planning to prepare this again for breakfast tomorrow from the leftover dough. 

Ingredients:

Maize flour	1 cup
Whole wheat flour	1/4th cup
Ajwain (carom) seeds	1 tsp
Jeera (cumin) seeds	1 tsp
Haldi (turmeric) powder	1/4th tsp
Salt	1 tsp OR as per taste
Soda or Eno	1/2 tsp
Curds	1/4th cup
Water	1/4th cup OR as required

Method:

1. Crush ajwain and jeera seeds together and keep it aside.
2. In a bowl, add maize flour, whole wheat flour, crushed ajwain and jeera seeds mixture, turmeric powder, salt, soda/eno and curds. Mix it well.
3. Next add water little at a time and knead it into a soft pliable dough. Keep it covered for about 20 mins.
4. After 20 minutes, make medium size balls. Dust each ball with maize flour and roll it into moderately thick rotis with the help of a rolling pin.
5. Then heat a griddle/tawa and place the rolled out roti on it. After a few seconds, flip it on other side and fry it on the other side too. Keep the griddle on a low flame. Do not add oil or ghee while frying.
6. When light brown spots appear on both the surface, remove and place it on a plate.
7. In this way, prepare all the rotis.
8. Serve hot with a dollop of home-made white butter or with a bowl of curds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preparation time: 20 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Makes : 10 rotis of about 6 inches in diameter

Note:

• This is ideal for breakfast and can also be served during lunch.
• It tastes excellent with a dollop of home-made butter. But weight-watchers can also relish this with curds.
• These rotis are a slight twist to the original Makai ki Roti.

Capsicum & Tomato Dip with Tortilla chips

Recently I had the opportunity to attend a cookery demonstration at the club wherein three different dishes were prepared. We were all given a sample of the dishes for tasting.

I liked them all but this dish which I am sharing with you, is not only very easy to prepare, but also quite appealing, tasty and healthy too. Moreover, most of these ingredients used in this recipe are at hand in ones’ refrigerator.

Here, I have used the word “Dip” for this dish and accordingly I have used (Indian) chapattis to be made into tortilla chips. This is my version or shall I say the Indian version of tortilla chips. Tortilla is generally made from corn flour. But our chapattis made from wheat flour works really fine.

Ingredients:

Capsicum (Red or Green) - chopped	1 Medium
Tomatoes (chopped)	2 medium
Onion  (chopped)	1 medium
Thick Curds	½ cup
Salt	As per taste
Coriander leaves (chopped)	2tbsps
Seasoning ingredients
Oil	1 tsp
Mustard seeds	½ tsp
Split black gram (Udad Dal)	½ tsp
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Green chillies (chopped)	1-2 (as per taste)

Method:

1. Keep all the chopped vegetables ready.
2. Heat oil (on a medium flame) in a pan and add mustard seeds, split black gram (udad dal) and when the mustard seeds starts spluttering, add curry leaves and green chilies.
3. Next add chopped onions and sauté them lightly till they are translucent (do not brown them).
   
4. Then add the chopped tomatoes and capsicum. Give it a good stir. Add salt and cover it for 3-4 minutes till the tomatoes and  capsicum have wilted but have not changed their colour. Switch off the gas and remove the lid off the pan and allow the contents to cool.
5. Once cooled, roughly pulse it in a blender or a food processor. Do not grind it to a paste.
6. Now place the roughly ground mixture in a bowl and add the curds. Mix well and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.
7. Serve with the tortilla chips made from chapattis.

Vegetables being stir fried

Chopped Ingredients

Tortilla chips made from chapattis

Dip with Tortilla Chips

How to make Tortilla Chips from Chapattis (Indian flat Bread)

• Make chapattis in the usual way. Take care to see that they do not puff-up.
• To avoid the chapattis from puffing up, prick them with a fork on the surface at random on the rolled out chapatti. Then fry it as usual (on both sides) on a hot tawa/griddle without using any oil or ghee till light brown spots appear.
• Once the required quantities of chapattis are made, smear the surface of each chapatti lightly with ghee or butter and pile them up one on top of the other and cut them into quarters. Now, cut each quarters into half again so that you get 8 triangular pieces from each chapatti.
• Now, spread all the pieces in a greased baking tray in such a way that the pieces smeared with ghee is facing upwards and bake it in the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about 10 mins or till they are slightly browned.  Keep an eye on these so that they do not get burnt. You can flip them over after a few minutes.
• Allow it to cool completely. They will be nice and crisp.

                                                             OR

• You can even fry these without the oven by placing them on the non-stick frying pan.
• Heat the pan and smear it with a little ghee/butter. Once the pan is hot, lower the heat to a minimum and fry about 10-15 pieces depending upon the size of your pan. Overturn them when they are slightly browned on one side and repeat the same procedure on the other side too. The end result will be nice and crisp. Remove from the pan and allow it to cool completely.
•  Store them in an air-tight container - will last for few days.

Serves : 4

Note:

• This is best served as a starter or an appetizer.
• The “Dip” can also be served as a side dish and tastes good as a sandwich-spread too.
• Tortilla chips can be made from left-over chapattis too.

Pudina Roti/Phulka (Mint Phulkas)

Roti or chapatti or phulka are the terms used for Indian flat bread. These are eaten in Indian (asian) homes either for lunch or dinner or even for breakfast. Different varieties of rotis can be made with various types of flours such as wheat, jowar, bajra, ragi etc or with a combination of all of them.

Rotis / chapatis are either fried (on a tawa/griddle) dry or with a little oil. But phulkas are dry fried first on the tawa and then fried directly over  the flame (over the gas burner). Ghee is smeared on it later (while it is still hot) and it is optional. Since no oil is used either in the dough or while frying, this is a healthier version. Besides, the phulkas generally turn out very soft and tasty as they puff out, separating the two layers.

Addition of pudina (mint) in the dough  gives it an aromatic flavour and if you like mint, then you will find this very tasteful. Making of phulkas may seem a little complicated as you have to do some balancing act but once you get the hang of it and with a little practice, I feel it is worth the trouble.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour	4 cups
Mint	1 big bunch
Green chilies	3 or as per taste
Water	For kneading
Turmeric	½ tsp
Salt	As per taste
Ghee (clarified butter)	For smearing the phulkas

Method:

Pudina Roti dough

1.  Wash the mint thoroughly in water. Drain and pick the leaves from the   stems and discard the woody   stems.
2.  Roughly grind mint leaves, green chilies with little water and keep aside.
3.  In a large mixing bowl, add wheat flour, salt & turmeric and mix well.
4. To this mixture and the ground mint leaves.
5.  Add sufficient water to this mixture and knead it into soft pliable dough.
6.  Place the dough in a container and cover it with a lid.
7. After an hour or two make small balls (desired size and quantity) and flatten each ball with a rolling pin into chapattis/rotis (not very thin) with the help of little dry wheat flour .
8. Heat a tawa or griddle. Once the tawa is hot, lower the flame and place a chapatti on the hot griddle and fry it first on one side and turn it and fry the same way on the other side till tiny light brown spots appear on the surface of the chapatti.
9. Remove it from the tawa/ griddle and place it on a plate.
10. The above procedure to be followed for all the chapattis/rotis. For making of Phulkas - see below:

Makes : 15 Rotis or Phulkas (depending upon the size of the balls)

            

Phulka in the making

How to make phulkas :

• Same procedure as above but once the tiny light brown spots appear, hold the chapatti with tongs in your right hand and remove it from the griddle and at the same time, with your left hand, remove the griddle from the fire. Now place the chapatti (held with the tongs) directly on the fire as shown (flame should be high). The chapatti will immediately puff up. Now turn the puffed chapatti on the other side. This side too will puff up instantly. Your Phulka is now ready.
• Remove it quickly and place it on a plate.
• Smear a little ghee with a teaspoon onto the phulka while it is still hot (you will use less ghee)
  
• Follow the same procedure for all the chapattis/rotis.
  

Note:

•     For making phulkas, use a tawa/griddle preferably with a handle.
•     Phulkas puff out well if hte dough is well kneaded.
  
•     The same dough can be used for making parathas too.