Pulkhas/Parathas/Indian Flat bread

Pulkhas

Pulkas are indian flatbread varieties made with whole wheat flour ,which gets puffed in direct gas or a holed pan placed on gas.These flatbread are the staple food of north india where every state got little variations to the basic recipe in name of roti,parathas,phulkas etc.While we south indians do once in a while  .While whole wheat flour has got many nutrients like protiens (do you believe it got protiens ? i read about it recently).

.How to make pulkas ?how to make parathas ?I know many of you might know how to make one while some of you may not know this.This post is about how i make them .
When i studied college i know only about chapathis my mom makes,While searching for job i got to know it from my aunt .My aunt is expert in north indian cooking .She cooks wonderful phulkas,pavbhaji and methi parathas .I gave tips to many others after i learnt from her ,That is another story .To make phulkas is very easy and involves very little trick and will be good while serving hot with dry curries or dals.

Preparation time:5 min
Cooking time:15-20 min
Yields:10-11 pulkhas

Announcing Dish It out for March

Hi everybody ,

This month event of dishitout is happening in my space i am very very happy that i am hosting an event for the very first time .

A small intro about the event origin:

 Dish it out is a monthly event conducted by vardhini and is hosted by bloggers like me .This event is running successful for more than 2 1/2 years .

Event runs from march 1 st to 31 st .

Some of the rules of the event  include :

1. Make a dish that fits the theme "Side Dishes".

2. Only vegetarian entries. Eggs are allowed in baking.

3. Use of logo is appreciated as it helps spread the word.

4. Link to Dish it Out announcement and my announcement page is mandatory.

5. Archived entries are accepted as long as they are linked with both announcements.

Yours friendly,

Sathyapriya.

An InLinkz Link-up

Broken Wheat Upma/Godhumai Ravai Upma/Easy Breakfast

Whenever we think of healthy ,instant and filling meal we do this broken wheat upma.Now it has become our family favourite .I got introduced to this when i was in my aunts house while studying.They used to eat it like plain rice along with sambhar and curd.
This upma can be eaten as a snack or breakfast or dinner .Some other options with this broken wheat  is pongal,Bisbibelabath. We can do sweet pongal also with this broken wheat.Everything will taste heavenly and dont forget its very nutritious too .So why wait get a packet of broken wheat and try your favourite recipe ,including this .

Looking for healthy and easy breakfast?

 check raagi semiya,Vegetablemasala dosa,Potato Patty

Cooking time :20-25 min
Serves:3

Malai Kofta /Malayi Kofta

This malai kofta is very rich and can make you feel like eating in a royal palace dinner(for me atleast) .When we eat in hotels  we cant be sure when they made it or how much salt,cashews they put in making the gravy rich .When you make it home you can make it fresh and you can reduce the amount of cashew or cream going in to the dish .That is the very good thing making these gravies home.This month challenge to south team is malai kofta and is challenged by nupur  .We enjoyed the dinner yesterday night with these wonderful koftas and Rotis .It was so rich and so yummy ..Thanks nupur for the wonderful challange.Thanks to divya for starting this wonderful group .

Preparation time : 20 min
cooking time:40 min
Serves:2-3 

Ingredients :
Salt required
oil for tempering and frying the koftas.

Kofta :

• 1 large potato(boiled and grated )
• 1/2 cup curdled milk(50 grams paneers grated)
• pinch f garam masala
• pinch of chili powder .
• corn flour (for dusting)
• 3 tbsp corn flour

For gravy:

• 1 large onion
• 1 tomato(pureed)
• 1 inch ginger
• 2 garlic
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
•  pinch of garam masala
• 1/2 cup wholefat milk.
• 10 cashew(paste).

Spices:

• 2 cloves
• 2 cardamom
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1/2 bay leaf

Method:
I used home made paneer for koftas and evaporated milk for gravy.
This gravy is very easy if you have the above two ingredients ready made.

Gravy:

• Puree a large tomato and keep it .
• Puree the cahews as well .
• In a saute pan add little oil and add Spices(cloves,cadamom,cinnamon and bay leaf ).
• Add coarsley chopped ginger garlic to it and saute for sometime .
• Add onions and saute until its translucent .
• Switch off the flame and cool it and grind it in to a smooth paste .
• Add it to the saute pan and turn the heat on .
• Add pureed tomato  and cook it for 5 min .
• Add chili powder ,turmeric and garam masala and stir well and cook it with required water (add enough water otherwise gravy will be too thick at the end) for 10 min until the gravy is little thick  and oil seperates out .
• Add cashew paste and cook it for 5 more minutes .

• Finally add the full cream milk or evaporated milk in low flame for another 10 min.
• Everything will come together add the required salt as well .

Koftas:

• Grate the boiled ,peeled potatoes .
• Grate the paneer as well .
• Combine the paneer,potatoes with chili powder,garam masala and enough salt .
• Mix well and make around 10 small balls out of it .
• Coat the balls with corn flour and deep fry it for 3 minutes (i fryed 3 balls at a time so it took me 3 minutes may be it varies depends on the climate and oil temperatture ).
• Fry it until the balls are golden brown.

Assembly/Serving  :

• Gravy has to be hot so if you have done the gravy before serving them heat it again .
• Add the koftas to it and add cream if required .
• Add chopped corinader leaves as well .
• Serve it with roti or any flat breads like naan ,kulchas .

Note:

• Original recipe calls for paneer as i attempted to make paneer home but i failed to make it so i used the curdled milk with corn flour .If you have paneer then the koftas would be perfect.
• Add cream if you prefer otherwise evaporated milk would give the taste of malai kofta gravy.
• My malai kofta was little spicy, you can reduce the amount of chili powder in gravy to make it little sweet.
• While frying the whole spices and onions if your oil is hot, fry the onions first instead of ginger garlic (if the oil is very hot and  u fry the ginger garlic first then ur dish may taste little bitter).
• You can use home made paneer and evaporated milk so i planned 1 hour before started cooking the gravy so plan accordingly .
• Evaporated milk has the lowest fat content(8 percent) compared to cream(30-36 percent) or heavy cream(36-40 precent).To know the difference in cream and evaporated milk you can check here 

To make paneer home :Homemadepaneer
To make condensed milk/evaporated milk home :Homemade milkmaid
Yummy paneer curry:Paneer butter masala(with less butter and no cream)

Snake Gourd Curry/Easy SideDish Recipe/புடலங்காய் துவட்டல்

Snacke gourd is a gourd which got its name from its look and they are climbers like other gourds.Some common names of the pudalangai include "serpent guard" ,"padwal" in telugu its called "potlakaaya" ,in kannada its called "paduvalakaayi " ,in bengali its called "chichinga",in nepali its called "Chichindo",in oriya its called "chhachindra".
 Snake gourd has many benifits :its good for diabetics ,it relieves constipation ,it get the mucus out of respiratory system as a natural anti- biotic .While consuming the snacke guard remove the white center part with seeds .Consuming of seeds can cause indigestion problems .
Compared to other similar vegetables like chinese okra this is easy to cut and consume (according to me ) .You can eat it as a salad with little pepper and lemon juice as well ,by then you have to cut them in to very thin slices  .You can prepare it as a semi liquid gravy by pressure cooking it with dals and green chili.Will gradully post other recipes soon ..
Searching for some other side dish recipes? check  pumpkin curry,Banana fry,Mix veg curry with coconut

Prepration time:5 min
Cooking time:20 min +10 min 
Serves:2