Gobi Paratha | How to make Gobi Paratha ~ Step by Step Recipe | Chapathi Varieties

I know I can talk for hours about how much I love stuffed parathas. I was glad that Konda likes the stuffed ones too. Makes it so easy for us to pack their lunch box. However she likes only the Paneer Stuffed or Aloo Stuffed Paratha. Never knowingly she would've opted for anything else.

So deciding that she should eat other vegetables, these cauliflowers went into the stuffing to make sure she will not find them out. There is no limit to experiment your stuffing and this is the second method. The first one is a simple stuffed gobi with minimum ingredients. Today's stuffed gobi uses different spices all together.

When I asked Pavani for selecting a theme for this month's Kid's delight, she quickly got back saying she wanted to sneak in healthy stuff into kid's meal, which they might other wise never eat. This Gobi paratha was made just for that idea and trust me, even if you feel you are being deceptive, this is really worth it..

Step by Step Picture Recipe

Clean and wash the cauliflower florets in cold water and then in hot water for 10 mins.Drain and keep aside.

Have onions chopped fine, green chilies and cauliflower ready.

Heat a non stick pan with 1 tsp of oil, add the finely chopped onions. Saute for couple of minutes.

Then goes the finely chopped green chillies.

1 big Minced garlic goes in now.

Meanwhile, grated the cauliflower to fine pieces.

This is enough for about 5 parathas.

When the onions are well browned, add the grated cauliflower, turmeric powder, cumin powder, ajwain, garam masala, red chili powder and salt. Mix everything well together.

Saute till all the ingredients are cooked well.

Remove and allow to cool.

Finally add the fresh coriander leaves and mix.

For the dough, knead the usual way, divide into equal balls, Flatten one ball this way on the sides.

Place one tablespoon of the stuffing

Start from one corner and keep closing the opening.

Now comes the finally part.

Enclose it completely.

Then again gather the ball as you would gather and pat again to make sure the stuffing is well covered.

Dust with maida/ all purpose flour.

And roll out. Heat tawa and cook on both sides.
Since there is no binding it might come out but you should be able to manage after the first paratha.

Serve with aam ka Achar and Dahi.

Cauliflower Paratha | Gobhi paratha | Healthy Lunch Box for Kids

Ingredients Needed:

For the Dough

Wheat flour - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Water to knead - 1 cup appr.
Ghee/ Butter - 1 tsp (opt) you can use curds instead.

For stuffing:

Cauliflower florets, grated - 1 cup
Onion - 1 medium
Green Chillies - 2 long
Chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Ajwain - 1/2 tsp
Anardana powder - 1/2 tsp (opt)
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves
Oil for frying

Butter to spread on top

How to make Gobi Paratha:

For the dough,

Take the flour in a wide bowl, add salt, water and knead to a soft but stiff dough. Keep it aside covered.

For the Cauliflower stuffing

Clean, wash and soak the florets in hot water for 10 mins. Then grate it fine. Keep it aside.

Heat a non stick pan with oil, saute the onions, then add minced garlic, green chilies. Saute till the onions are browned.

Then add all the spices, mix well and saute for couple of mins. Remove and allow to cool. Finally add finely chopped coriander leaves.

For making the paratha:

Divide the dough into equal balls. Dust the ball and flatten the sides. Place a tablespoon of the stuffing in the middel and gather from all sides to completely close the stuffings.

Again dust and roll out slowly. You may have the stuffing coming out, that's fine, roll out slowly so that the stuffing is intact.

Heat a tawa and grease with oil. Once it's hot, cook the paratha on both sides.

Remove and finally spread a bob of butter on top. Serve with Curds and Mango Pickle.

Notes:
You can add little aloo to help the binding. But this cauliflower stuffing was very soft enough to handle well.
Play with different spices amchur etc to get a different taste.

Sending this to Pavani, who is hosting my Kid's Delight event, themed on Deceptively Delicious.

Cheest Toast with Thyme, Red Chili Flakes and Roasted Onions | Quick Microwave Mini Bites

I guess when you are pressed for ideas you really come out with some fantastic dishes. Like these Cheesy Toast with Thyme, Roasted Onions with Red Chili Flakes all made within 3 mins in microwave. well I had the need to make some Party Appetizers in Microwave and come up with a post for BM. With the limited time I had on hand, I was really stretching my ideas far.

Well I don't claim this was an innovation. Only made it differently to suit all the events that this entry has to go..:) Plus the fact that I have now got a new snack that Konda will love it and I can easily get it done is a boon. I normally can't get her eat onions, but in this dish she wanted more of it. And I ended up making it for her again.

So sending these Cheese Toast to Lavanya who is hosting the MEC this month themed on Party Appetizers. I hope you guys will plan to send something.

And to Champa for Kid's Delight themed on Mini Bites.

Ingredients Needed:

Bread Slices - 4
Onions - 1 medium
Dry Thyme - 1 tsp
Mozzarella Cheese - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Red Chili Flakes - 1 tsp or less

Method to prepare:

Trim the bread slices on the sides. Cut into 4 squares.

Chop Onions as julinnes, toss in oil and microwave for 2 mins. These onions turn really well roasted.

Spread the grated cheese on the four squares. Place the roasted onions on top of the cheese. Sprinkle Dry thyme, Salt, Red Chili flakes on top. Micro for 1 minute.

These are ready to munch on.

Notes: It helps to have Red chili flakes ready on hand for such dishes. Making these as mini eats makes it easy to eat as otherwise the bread might get chewy. This will be a quick dish that you can serve at parties, if you have all the other ingredients ready.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#6

Vatteppam - Vattayappam | Indian Cooking Challenge for March | How to make Vattayappam Step By Step Recipe!

This month for Indian Cooking Challenge, we are traveling little further down to the state of Kerala to taste one of its unique dish Vatteppam/Vattayappam. I came to know about this dish from my colleague who is from Kerala and wanted to make this for us. When she did make it I was off and couldn't taste it. I had asked her to make it again but then we never came around.

Then after doing last month's challenge I was chatting with Jayasree when I asked her if she has anything in mind to suggest for this month's challenge from Kerala. She said she has something traditional but that might again be something very similar. Then I suddenly remembered Vatteppam and asked her if she has the perfect recipe for one. She said she remembered Shn doing this and quickly referred me to Shn's Vatteppam. Well I love Shn's pictures, though I never actually went through the recipes. Mostly because I am left gaping at the pictures that I forget that I should read the recipe.

Well finally here comes an opportunity to do just that. I immediately sent an email to Shn asking for permission to use her recipe for Indian Cooking Challenge. She promptly replied back that she will be very glad to share her recipe. I would like to thank Shn for her delicious recipe.

I attempted it during the last weekend and had it for the evening snack. It was a good experience.  I took this for a verdict from my colleague and she accepted that this tasted as it should be. Only difference is that, they don't add ghee to the batter other than greasing the pan. Well you ought to expect a variation right.

Step by Step Pictures

Soak the rice for 4+ hours

Fresh coconut which we had to grind to almost a paste.

Cooked rice to be used at the end

Rice porridge coming out really soft, yet to make sure it's completely smooth we pulsed it once.

Foaming yeast

Batter all read to be steamed. Garnished with cashews and raisins before doing it.

 After nearly 12 mins

I steamed in Idli moulds too.

If you want to decorate, remove the lid and gently drop in the saved cashews and raisins on the top.

Heart shaped Vatteppam!

Vatteppam/Vattayappam

Ingredients Needed:

To make the batter:

Idli-Ponni rice, soaked for 4 hours min - 2 cups
Freshly grated coconut - 1 & 1/2 cup
Cooked Rice - 4 tbsp
Water as required to get a thick Idli batter.
Rice porridge - 1/2 cup (Check below to know how to make this)
Salt a pinch
Proofed Yeast - 1 tsp (check below for process)

Notes
Under other climatic conditions, it is advised to soak for longer hours for 6- 8 hrs. But the hot climate that we live in, 4 hours is more than enough.

Since adding grated coconut was not anyway going to get a smooth paste, we ground it with little water to a paste.

Same with cooked rice. From previous experience we know that cooked rice never gets evenly ground when added at the last stage, so this was again ground to paste in a mixer before adding it to the batter.

Adding as little water as possible is advised as you will be adding water in other forms next

To Proof yeast:

Active Dry Yeast - 1 tsp
Lukewarm Water - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 tsp

To make the Rice porridge/ Thari Kurukku

Coarse ground batter - 2 tbsp (saved before adding the coconut.)
Water - 1/2 cup

In a non stick pan, add the coarse rice batter along with water. Cook on high flame, when it starts cooking reduce it to medium flame. Continue cooking till you get a thick porridge. It takes about  5- 7 mins.

We pulsed this porridge couple of times to get a lump less porridge.

To sweeten and flavor:

Sugar - 1 cup + some more. (still it was only mildly sweet)
Cardamom powder - 2 pinches
Whole cashews - 6 -7
Raisins - 10
Ghee - 2 tsp

Heat a pan with ghee and roast both cashew nuts and raisins. Keep it aside.

Method to prepare:

The batter:

Wash and soak the rice for 4 hrs. Drain the rice and add to the grinder. Add just enough water to get the grinder running.

If you are using a grinder, you will use less water than a mixer.

When the ground rice reaches a coarse texture, remove about 2 tbsp of ground rice aside to make the rice porridge. Check above notes to know how to make rice porridge

Next add the ground coconut to the grinder and continue grinding to a fine batter. When it is almost done, add the cooked rice. Switch off when it is all blended well.

Meanwhile take the yeast in a lukewarm water along with sugar. Cover with a lid. Within minutes it will foam up.

While the rice is getting ground, you can make the porridge. When it is cooled completely, add about 4 tbsp to the ground batter. Run it one more time for getting it mixed well.

Finally add the yeast mixture and run it one more time to blend everything well.

Transfer the batter to a big enough container and let it ferment in a warm place for about 4 -6 hrs or overnight. Make sure the vessel is big enough to hold the batter that will get almost double after fermentation.

When the batter is fermented, add sugar and let it ferment again for another an hour.

Just before steaming, heat a pan with ghee, roast the cashew nuts and raisins. Keep it aside. You can add the nuts, cardamom to the batter before steaming.

Steaming the Vatteppam

Grease the pan with ghee and pour the batter into the greased pans.

Since I used 2 cups of rice, I had quite an amount of batter. I used two cake tin, a circle and a heart shaped ones. Plus two idli plates.

Use a pressure cooker for the cake tins, make sure you keep the perforated plate on the water and then over it you place the cake tin with the batter.

This batter is steamed just as you would steam idlis in a pressure cooker, without a whistle. Steam this for 15 - 20 mins. For the first batch it took us about 20 mins. For the second batch it took little more time.

Check after 10 mins for doneness, by inserting a knife into the batter. Depending on how it comes out, you can lower the flame for 10 more minutes.

I opened up after almost 10 mins to drop in some cashews and raisins on the top.

Once the required time is over, allow it rest for a while

When it is completely cooled, gently separate the steamed cake from the pan and cut into desired pieces.

I am told that this is served with tea/coffee. Some even serve Kadala curry with it.

Notes:

• I used Idli rice but this can be made with Raw rice as well.
• The first batch was very porous and soft, while the second batch turned out little thick and not so porous. This happens just like the Idlis.
• I took this to my malayali friend, who said it tasted exactly like how they make. But they don't use ghee at all. When she serves it as with spicy gravy, the vatteppam is mildly sweet. Else if you want you can increase the sweetness.
• As I have mentioned I live in a hot place and soaking and fermenting time is very less. Depending on your climatic condition you will have to adjust. Please check Shn's post as she has given those details more clearly.
• After the batter is fermented we could smell a sharp yeast smell. But luckily it didn't smell the same after being steamed.

************************************************************************

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 2 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ
Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya
Seven Days of Soup: Ila, Smita P 
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,
Seven Days of Cakes: Bhagyashri
30 Minutes Meals: Archana
Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

To all my ICC members, please link your Vattayappam post to Mr. Linky.

Tawa Aloo Sandwich | Quick Sandwich for Breakfast

There is nothing like a quick bite that gets you going. I can easily say this simple and quick Potato Sandwich was one of those dishes I made during my early years of cooking before marriage. I don't exactly remember when I started loving this sandwich, but  this was prepared quite often at home when I was a child. This was the quickest dish that Amma would dish out when she has excess bread on hand.

Hubby dear would always comment how I love anything with bread. I was so happy knowing that Konda has the same taste. When Amma made this Tawa Alu Sandwich, Konda was confused having two dishes she loved, as I had made Uggani for dinner. She didn't want to miss out either. So finally she said she would taste both.

This is a typical sandwich with South indian flovours.

Tawa Alu Sandwich

Ingredients Needed:

Bread Slices - 4
Potato - 1 big
Onion - 1 medium
Green Chilies - 1 long
Garlic - 2 cloves
Turmeric powder a pinch
Salt to taste
Ghee - 2 tsps
Mustard Seeds
Curry leaves - 4 -5
Oil - 1 tsp

Method to prepare:

Boil the potatoes either in a pressure cooker or in microwave for 6 mins. If you are cooking it in mw, once done, immediately put it in water so that the skin comes out well.

You can either mash it roughly or very fine. It depends how you like it. We mostly mash it roughly with huge potato pieces in between.

Heat a pan with oil, add mustard seeds, once it splutters, add the finely chopped onions, chopped green chilies, curry leaves and garlic. Saute till the onions are done.

Once the onions are done, add the boiled potatoes, mix well, add the turmeric and salt. Cover and simmer for 5 mins until the stuffing gets cooked well.

Trim the bread slices on sides. Heat a tawa, grease with ghee. Place all the slices on the tawa, simmer to low flame. Scoop the alu stuffing on two slices.

Once the bread gets crispy, place the other slices on the stuffed slices. Press well for it to stick together.

Simmer again for 2 mins.  Cut diagonally and serve with ketchup.

Notes: Remove the chillies from the stuffing before you use them for stuffing.

Check out the bloggers doing the Marathon along with me..
Group 1  
30 Minutes Meals: Gayathri Anand
Baked Goods: Monika,
For On Going Events: Gayathri Kumar, Usha  
Kids Friendly: PJ, Savitha, Smitha, Veena Aravind  and me
Rice Varieties: Champa, Divya, Padma

Group 2
30 Minutes Meals:Priya Mahadavan, Pavani,
Seven Days of Salad: lla, Divya Vikram,
For Ongoing 7 Events: Priya Suresh, Suma Gandlur, Harini,  
Kids Friendly: Vatsala, Jay, Kamalika
Seven Days of Rice: Veena Krishnakumar, Priya Vaasu, Padma Rekha,

Bombay Grilled Sandwich | Bombay Sandwich | Step By Step Recipes

Ever since seeing these sandwiches in Bombay which was really way back in college days, I have been obsessed with the famous Bombay Sandwiches that are offered. If I am right almost a year ago I was looking at various books and reading on sandwiches when I remembered this sandwich. So I had to read on this. I have been wanting to make this since then.

Coming back from office, I made sure I got other things that is required for making another chat but only after getting back home, I realized that I forgot to buy the main ingredient. My plan was to make both the dishes today but finally settled to make just these sandwiches. 

Between I was so happy to hear Amma saying they enjoyed Dahi Samosa Chat and were expecting me to make it again. Well what more can I ask for!

I told her that I was going to make these Bombay Sandwich and she better not complete her dinner before I can make these. I made both the plain ones and grilled sandwiches. Both were excellent.

I couldn't decide which was more delicious, of course the grilled ones were out of the world and you really ought to trust me on that!

These fresh ones got soggy, well my Green Chutney was little runny and I didn't get time to drain them. Still yummy!

Coriander leaves, Mint leaves and Green chilies for the Green chutney

Cucumber slices, Onions, Tomatoes and Boiled Potatoes. Well I had even Beets but that was going little far I know!

Grated Cheese for the grilled Version.

Trim the sides, butter the slices.

Now don't ask me where the Green chutney bowl. I seem to have forgotten to click that alone. anyway you see the green chutney being spread over the butter.

Next goes Cucumber slices, Onions, Tomatoes, Potatoes and you press the other slice over this. Actually they even make it three slices, well I wanted to get this done fast!

Finally sprinkle the cheese over the slice and flip it over the other. Well this way your cheese will fall down, best was sprinkling over the other slice.

Bombay Sandwiches | Bombay Grilled Sandwiches

For Green Chutney:

Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup tightly packed
Mints leaves  - 1/2 cup tightly packed
Green Chilies - 3 medium
Salt to taste

For Assembling the Sandwich

Cucumber Slices, Tomato Slices, Boiled Potatoes, Onion Slices as required
Butter as required
Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp
Salt to taste

Grated Cheese for Grilled version.

Method to prepare:

To make the Green Chutney

Wash and chop the coriander and mint leaves. In a mixer take the leaves along with green chilies, salt. make it into a smooth paste. Try not to add too much of water.

To assemble the Sandwich

Peel and finely slice the vegetables into thin slices.

Trim the bread on all sides if required. Apply butter on a bread, then apply the green chutney all over.

Place cucumber, tomato, onion, boiled potatoes, sprinkle salt, Chat Masala and pepper if required

Then place the other slice over one and cut into bite size.


To make grilled Bombay Sandwich:

Once you are done with placing the sandwich, spread the grated cheese over it.

I grilled my sandwich in my sandwich maker and it turned out superb.

Hubby dear was very enthusiastic seeing me do something new. There are some famous Sandwich shops that we know and he said I look like how they make. After tasting he agreed these were best. Konda loved it so much that she insisted I make some more for her. So it was really a fantastic experience making this at home. Will surely be making this again.

 
This goes to Kid's Delight themed on Street Food and to PJ's Flavors of Maharasthtra

Check out the 25 bloggers running the next 7 days for the Blogging Marathon!

Azeema, Bhagi, Champa, Gayathri Anand, Gayathri Kumar, Harini, Jay, Kamalika, Meena, Mina, Padma, Pavani,  PJ, Priya Mahadevan, Priya Suresh, Rujuta, Santosh, Saraswathi, Savitha, Shanavi, Smitha, Sowmya, Suma, Usha, Veena