Happy Valentine's Day with Moghlai Paratha

Hiiii ... I am back !! :-) It had been very busy past few months...hope all are doing well :) I started writing this post on Valentine's day but could not finish it. So I am not changing the heading :P I feel everyday should be Valentine's day because we need to make our loved ones feel special always !! :)

Sometimes I have this crazy urge to make something right now... so I search thru recipes over the net and rush to the kitchen !! :P At times I let my hubby know what I am upto....and even though he is feeling like eating something else...I convince him to try it out because I am craving to make it today itself !! :P Last night (read : day before V'day) was something like this...when I felt like making (and eating as well) moghlai paratha...so even though he was thinking of having American dinner, we decided to go ahead and have moghlai paratha and keep the other idea for tonight. So, that's how I made Moghlai paratha which actually came out very good :) Hmmm...let's see what happens tonight with the plan to make lasagna for the first time which we have not even eaten before. ( Update: I made it yesterday, recipe coming soon :D ) I made some new dishes in between which I will posting one by one and of course, visit my friends' blogs which is pending for loong !!

I searched through a few recipes for moghlai paratha and ultimately followed Dolon's recipe. Here is a link to her blog. Check out Sayantani's moghlai paratha too :)

I made a simpler version of aloor dum with small cubed sized potatoes first, which can be eaten as side for other breads also. Then I prepared the parathas.

Aloor-dum

Ingredients I used :

Potatoes - 3 big, chopped in small cubes

Onions- 1 large, chopped finely

Tomatoes- 2 medium, chopped in cubes

Green chillies- 2, chopped

Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp

Cumin and Coriander powder- 2 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Red Chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Kashmiri chilli powder- 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala powder- 1/2 tsp

Ginger-garlic paste- 1tbsp

I dint have cilantro, so cudn't use it. But it gives a nice smell when added before removing from heat.

Method :

I made this curry a bit differently than the way I normally make Aloor-dum because here the main dish was moghlai paratha and I wanted to start with that as soon as possible. Special aloor-dum is there for luchi na !! :D

Here is how I made it :

Heated 2 tbsp oil in pan. Added Cumin seeds when oil was hot and let them splutter. Added the potato cubes and fried them medium high heat. When they were slightly done, I added the onions and fried well. Then I added the ginger-garlic paste and kept stirring till the raw smell was gone. Made a paste with all the masalas except garam masala , with water and added to the pan. Kept stirring till oil separated from the side of the pan. Then I added the tomatoes and cooked in low heat till they became mushy.

After that I added one and half cup of water and let it boil. Then I cooked it in medium heat till potatoes were done. I sprinkled garam masala on top and covered with lid and kept it off heat for atleast 10 mins.

I made the curry before paratha as I would be using some curry as stuffing and also we could eat the parathas hot as soon as they were ready.

Moghlai Paratha

Ingredients:

All purpose flour/Maida - as much as needed

Warm water to make the dough

Salt to mix in dough

Oil

For the stuffing:

Eggs- 3

Onion- 1 medium

Salt

Green chillies

Black Pepper

Method:

I made the dough for paratha just like I make for luchi/poori, mixing the maida with salt and oil and kneading for about 5 mins. Then making a firm dough with warm water, as needed. I kept the dough covered with wet cloth for about 15-20 mins.

In the meantime I prepared the stuffing by beating the eggs and mixing with chopped onions, green chillies, salt and black pepper. Also, I smashed some potato curry in a bowl also to be used as stuffing.

Then I made balls from the dough big enough to roll out a roti of approx 8 " - it was the size of my 'chaki' (the round wooden board on which I make rotis - belan-chaki). But actually it led to small parathas after folding, so making bigger than this would lead to bigger parathas just like street side shops.

After rolling it, I put 1-2 tbsp of egg mix in the centre of the roti and added potato curry on top of it. Then I folded the round roti from four sides so as to cover the stuffing thus leading to a square-shaped paratha. I sealed the sides with wet fingers.

I already kept one skillet on heat with sufficient oil. Once it was hot, I put the paratha in it very carefully so that it doesn't open up !! Once the bottom side started browning, I flipped it over and then waited till brown spots started coming up. Once the parathas were done, I drained excess oil and served with potato curry and onion slices. It felt soo good to have these after such a long time !!

Today is a very special day for me...... it's my parents' anniversary.....Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad !! :)

Let me know if you have already posted other versions of this great dish in your blogs, I could add the link here with this post.

Take Care... :)

No-Knead bread !!

This is straight from Soma's e-curry.com ... I couldn't wait to make this bread the moment I saw it. Well...how about a no-recipe post for the no-knead bread ?? :P

Ok let's write a short-cut post :P ... please visit Soma's blog for the detailed recipe here for this very easy-to make-bread !! I followed her recipe exactly as she has written but had to make a few changes. I will write them in detail though !! :)

I don't have a 6-8 quart pot, so I used a 4 qt pyrex mixing bowl and covered with aluminum foil. Maybe, thats why the size of the bread was a little smaller.

And I did a BIG mistake...instead of keeping the mix in warm place for 14 hours, I kept it in the fridge overnight only to realize next morning, when I saw the mix hasn't risen at all !! Actually, I was pre-occupied with something the previous night and dint read that part properly !! I thought that it was gone !! Still, I kept the bowl for the whole day , this time in the unheated oven. To my great relief, I found the dough has doubled !! :)

Since, the bowl that I used dint have a oven-proof lid, I covered it with foil. Actually, my husband did this part...covering and taking out the HOT bowl from the oven before putting the dough in. Have to be very careful if you are doing this way.

Another thing that I noticed, the crust was a bit too hard after baking it for 15 mins uncovered. I should have checked it before that but since we were watching a movie while having lunch...I dint get up before the timer beeped !! :P

Next time, I will check after about 10 mins.

It did taste great- apart from the hard crust, rest of the bread turned out well. And the whole thing was over in one evening. We had some with butter...and then tried making bread pizza with rest of the 4 slices :)) (will write about that soon).

Oh another point, my bread didnt crackle as she has described in her post... I kept it in front of my eyes and watched it expectantly while it cooled down... is it because of the hard crust ?? I am not sure.....may be it will next time !! :)

I will be back with other recipes soon. Till then, take care everybody !! :)

Dinner with Naan and Punjabi Chole :)

I was wondering what to make for dinner yesterday night and decided to try making Naan at home. I wasn't sure how it will turn out, so instead of buying some chicken dish from the nearby Indo-Pak restaurant, I thought of making Punjabi Chole at home...as I ran out of veggies, chicken and eggs :P And thanks to the videos....I could make Naan at home successfully, thought not soo perfectly, ... and it was so soft and tasty :-) I got the chance to use the packet of yeast first time for this, which I had bought last week to make bread at home :-) I did make a loaf of bread btw - though without yeast- will post that recipe soon !! Now, we can have Naan at home anytime we feel like... ;-)

Naan

Ingredients :

All Purpose flour ( maida) - 2 cups

Active dry yeast - 1 tsp

Luke warm water - 1 cup

Salt - 1 tsp

Sugar- 1 tsp

Oil

Milk - 1/4 cup

Method :

Take the luke warm water and add the yeast in it. Add sugar, salt , milk and 1 tbsp of oil in the mixture. Keep it aside for about 10 mins. This will make the yeast active and help the dough to rise.

Take the flour in a big mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and make a sticky dough. I learnt that the dough should be very sticky and soft when you are making naan in oven instead of tandoor. To see how sticky it should be, you can check the video here . There is another version of making naan at home here , but since I dont have pizza stone, I dint follow that.

After making the dough, add 1 tbsp of oil to the dough and coat it thoroughly.

Cover the dough with a lid and keep it for about 20-30 mins. I kept for 25 mins.

The dough did rise,though not double, and was very very soft.

In the meantime, put the oven to its full temperature ... I put it at 500 degrees.

Take the dough and make 6 equal balls out of it. The balls were very soft and light and I had to use flour on my hands to prevent them from sticking.

Then put one ball on the rolling surface and press it with palm to make it bigger and then flip on both palms to give it the shape of a naan ( refer to the video for this :-) )

The baking tray that I have has raised edges...so I cudnt make it exactly like this and I kept them smaller to fit two naans in the tray. BUt it was perfectly alright for us to be enjoyed at home... restaurant -type perfection is not always needed in situations like this :-D

Put the tray to the closest source of heat, I kept in the lowest rack for about 3 mins. After taking it out, I turned the naans and kept again for another 30 secs to 1 min. And then.....it was ready !! :)

I chopped one clove of garlic and added on top of 2 naans to make garlic naan. But since both of us were hungry ... I dint invest too much time on this. Maybe next time... ;-)

After they are ready, smear one surface with butter and enjoy with your favorite veg/non-veg curry. :)

Punjabi Choley

This is one of the quickest curries that I often make with garbanzo beans ( canned chick-peas) and punjabi choley masala. But I have tried with normal turmeric/red chilli/cumin-coriander powder combination as well... and it tastes great too !!

Ingredients:

Chick peas - 1 can ( 130 g) ( boiled)

Onions - 1 medium, chopped

Tomato- 1 medium, chopped

Punjabi Choley Masala - 3/4 tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Red Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Water - 2 cups

Method :

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add the sliced onions when its hot. Fry them in medium heat till golden brown. Drain the liquid from the can of garbanzo beans and wash them thoroughly. Then add the chick peas and the spices to the onions and mix them well. Fry them for about 7-10 mins in low heat. Then add the tomatoes and cook till they become soft. Add salt as per your taste. Lastly, add water and cook in low flame for about 15 mins and take off heat when it reaches the desired consistency. Chopped coriander leaves can be added on top, I added some chopped onions.

Enjoy with Naan or any other Indian bread !! :)