Moong Dal ke Parathe/Lentil Parathe

We are enjoying a perfect european autumn - have had lots of lovely weather lately, slightly cool but sunny and bright - locally called an "altweibersommer" - literally translated - an old wives' summer. The term relates not to geriatric specimens of female persuasion, but rather to a local spider art which is particularly active weaving it's webs during warm autumns.

Anyway....back from ugggh spiders to it's been so beautiful as of late, and I hope it remains like this for a little longer. The weather is just perfect for long walks (which we definitely need after all the Diwali indulgence). These are a few photos from a short autumn walk this week. 

Isn't it beautiful?

Coming to today's recipe - Moong dal ke parathe or as we call them back home - mogar ki pudi - is a very typical rajasthani dish - and you can eat them hot and fresh, or even for the next 3 - 4 days as they don't spoil.

I have had these a number of times (made by mom and my MIL) but I really had not bothered until now to make them at home. But, this time, when my in laws were here, I made them, with the help of my MIL. It tastes great with red chilli pickles or salted yogurt or shrikhand (thick sweet yogurt).

Ingredients

2 cups - whole wheat flour (aata)

60 grams - yellow moong dal (split yellow gram)

3 tbsp - sunflower oil

2 tsp - red chilli powder

1/2 tsp - garam masala

1/2 tsp - coriander seeds, finely crushed

1 tsp - kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

salt to taste

water to knead the dough

oil to roast the parathas

Method

1. Soak the dal/lentils for an hour and cook until slightly soft.
2. Mix together everything in a bowl and knead using water. The dough should be medium soft. Cover the dough with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 15 mins. 
3. Divide the dough into small size balls and roll the balls out into a paratha.
4. Roast the paratha on both the sides on a non stick pan, using oil on each side until brown spots appear on the surface. 
5. Serve.

I had them with shrikhand , while my hubby enjoyed them with red chilli pickle.

Enjoy!

Papad Parathas

Papads or Poppadums are a favourite Indian meal accompaniment - and are eaten either before meals as an appetizer, or with meals (especially with rice) as a savoury spicy side or even after meals as a sort of a mouth-cleaner and mouth freshener, which is what the original purpose was.

In many parts of India and in many families (including mine!), papad eating is almost an obsession and a must-have with every meal. Papads come in almost as many varieties as there are spices - plus the variations on dough, thickness and amount of moisture remaining.

And they can be preapred in various ways - fried or roasted or even boiled and put into a gravy - and just plain or with any number of toppings - oil, ghee, onions, chilli, cumin, coriander leaves, lemon juice and so on.

Here is a rather unconventional papad based recipe. We had these Parathas with a spicy pinepapple salsa (recipe in the next post).My husband is a big papad fan, and was absolutely thrilled by the recipe.

Ingredients

For Papad Churi
2 - papad, roasted
2 tsp - sunflower oil
1/2 tsp - cumin powder
1 tsp -  red chilli powder (adjust according to your taste)
1/2 tsp - chaat masala powder

Crush the roasted papads into fine pieces with hand, add the oil and the spices and mix well.

For the dough
1 cup - whole wheat flour
water to knead
a pinch of salt
a little ghee to brush the dough
a little ghee to roast the parathas


Method 

1. Add the flour and salt in a pan, add water and knead into a soft but managable dough. Brush the dough with a little ghee and knead again for a minute. Cover with a moist muslin cloth and keep aside for half an hour.
2. Divide the dough into 4 parts and shape each into a ball and slightly flatten them. Add the papad churi in the center and seal the ball.Roll these balls into parathas.
3. Roast the paratha on both sides on a non stick pan, brushing a little ghee on each sides until brown spots appear on the surface.
4. Serve hot. We had these parathas with a spicy pineapple salsa.

Makes 4

The Crunchy taste even after roasting the Parathas adds a special zing !

The rather unusal combination of papad n pineapple turned out to be a big hit.

This goes to Srilekha's  EFM Parathas and Gravies/Curries Series 

Enjoy!

Roasted Hokkaido Pumpkin Parathas

For some strange reason, both my hubby and me grew up in households where pumpkins were not, to put it very mildly, the favourite vegetable. The first time I remember having pumpkin was after coming to Germany. Since then, the pumpkin has taken its rightful place as an average regular vegetable on our tables. This led to a few raised eyebrows as well as a few raised nosetips when my family heard of it...but as long as it tastes fine...

This being the season of the Hokkaido pumpkin, and halloween having gone by without depleting the worldwide stock of pumpkins to any significant extent, I decided to do my bit and get onto the pumpkin carriage...I mean bandwagon.

As the hokkaido (weighed around 750 grams) was too big for a single dish for two, I used it to make a yummy soup (coming soon! keep reading!) as well as these Parathas. 

Ingredients                    

1/2 of hokkaido pumpkin , washed and roughly diced

1 - carrot , washed, peeled and roughly chopped

1 - green chilli, finely chopped

1 inch of ginger, finely chopped

3/4 Cup - whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp - salt (more or less)

1/2 tsp - cumin powder

1/4 tsp - red chilli powder

1/4 tsp - garam masala powder

a little olive oil to brush the pumpkin and carrot

a little ghee(clarified butter) to brush the dough
a little ghee(clarified butter) to brush the parathas(optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
2. Place the roughly diced pumpkin and carrot in a baking tray and sprinkle a little salt and brush them with olive oil.
3. Place the baking tray in the centre of the preheated oven and roast.
4. Remove the tray when the vegetables are soft( it took around 40 minutes in my oven)
5. Peel off the skin of the pumpkin and mash the vegetables. Add the rest of the ingredients to the mashed vegetables and knead.(I didn't require any water to knead the dough, but use 1 tsp of water at a time, if required)
6. Brush the dough with a little ghee and knead again for a minute. Cover with a moist cloth and set for half an hour.
7. Knead again and divide the dough into 7 equal parts. Shape each into a ball and slightly flatten them and roll out into thick parathas.
8. Cook each paratha on both sides on a non stick pan, brushing a little ghee on each sides(optional), until brown spots appear on the surface.
9. Serve hot.

Makes 7 small parathas

Isn't the transformation worth the effort? We had the parathas with cucumber raita and absolutely loved  it.

Enjoy!