Puris - three way

I rarely fry at home. It is usually limited to special occasions like birthdays, Diwali or Gudi Padwa. It is winter time and the temperatures are dipping. My teenage daughter likes fried food. So I gave in to her food choice and decided to make puris today. Now that I have decided to fry puris, how can I make them a bit healthier? I used wheat flour instead of refined flour and decided to add vegetables.

My fridge had all the vegetables in stock and it was easy for me to choose vegetables for puri. I used spinach (Palak) and Kasuri Methi for one puri variety. Beet root is one of my least favorite vegetable. I know it is a great source of iron so why not use it in Puris? That was my second variety - Beet root puris. For the third variety, I chose carrot (Gajar). Beet root and carrot both are root vegetables and sweet to taste. I decided to make one sweet variety and the other two savory.

So, here is Puri recipe - three way.

Ingredients:
For carrot puris:
1 large carrot - boiled and mashed,

1/2 cup of sugar,

A pinch of salt

1 cup wheat flour

water to knead the dough

For spinach puris:
1 cup of spinach leaves - blanched and cut finely,

1 tbsp of sesame seeds,

1 tbsp of carrom seeds (Ajwain),
1/2 tbsp Kasuri methi,
1 tsp chili powder,
1 tsp garam masala,
Salt as per taste,
1 tbsp besan flour,
1/2 tsp fenugreek powder (Methi) (optional)
3/4 cup wheat flour,
1 tbsp yogurt,
water to knead the dough

For beetroot puris:
1 medium sized beetroot - peeled, boiled and mashed,
1 tbsp of sesame seeds,
1 tsp chili powder,
1/2 tsp fenugreek powder (Methi) (optional),
1 tsp chili powder,
salt as per taste,
3/4 cup wheat flour,
1 tbsp yogurt,
water to knead the dough

Oil for frying

Cut carrot, boil it and drain the water. Mash the boiled carrots. You can retain this boiled vegetable water for soups. In a flat vessel,  add sugar to the mashed carrots, a pinch of salt and add wheat flour slowly. Mix little wheat flour and keep kneading. Add more wheat flour to get dough consistency. The dough is soft like paratha dough. Keep it covered for 15 minutes. Make small balls and keep it ready for rolling.

Peel beet root, cut it into pieces and boil. Drain the water from beet root and store it for vegetable stock or soups. Mash the boiled beetroot. Take a separate plate or a flat vessel for mixing this dough. Add sesame seeds, chili powder, fenugreek powder, yogurt and salt. Mix it well and slowly start adding wheat flour. Keep mixing and add more water if needed to get a good dough. Adjust water and wheat flour to get the right dough consistency - like paratha or chapati dough. Keep it covered for 15 minutes. Make small balls and keep it ready for rolling.

Blanch spinach and chop it fine. In a separate bowl or plate, mix spinach with kasuri methi, sesame seeds, carrom seeds, chili powder, garam masala, fenugreek powder, yogurt, salt and besan flour. Mix it well. Add little by little wheat flour, mixing it well. Add more wheat flour or water as needed to get the right dough consistency. Keep it covered for 15 minutes. Make small balls and keep it ready for rolling.

Keep two separate kadhais for frying puris - one for sweet carrot puris and the other for savory beetroot and spinach puris. Heat kadhai and add oil. Keep the flame on medium and start rolling puris. I chose to finish rolling sweet puris first and then started rolling savory puris. Once the oil is hot, test the oil by putting a tiny portion of the dough in boiling oil. It should come up to the surface instantly. This means the oil is well heated for frying. Fry all varieties of puris and let it cool down. Once cooled down, store them in tight air lid containers.

Tip: If you want to make these puris vegan, skip the yogurt and just use water for kneading the dough.

You can have these puris as snacks or with a vegetable gravy as meals. They stay fresh for at least a week (that is if they are not finished by then). :)

Enjoy!

Quinoa Salad (किनवाचे सॅलड)

Quinoa is a recent addition to our food. Quinoa is considered to be a healthy grain option. It is also considered as a super food. I think quinoa is a very versatile grain. You can cook it as per your mood of the day ! I have tried making quinoa upma (just like daliya upma). It tastes great too.

Quinoa is very easy and quick to cook. I often use this as a salad base. To cooked quinoa, I add any other salad ingredients that I can find in my fridge. This particular recipe I make for dinner.

Servings: 3 people

Ingredients:
1/2 cup quinoa grain,
1 cup of water
1 tbsp olive oil,
1/4 cup chopped onion,
8-10 cherry tomatoes or 1 regular tomato, cubed
2-3 leaves of Romaine lettuce (or any other variety)
8-10 pitted green olives
1 avocado (optional)
mixed salad green leaves like spinach, arugula, kale or any other variety
salt as per taste
freshly grated black pepper as per taste
chilli flakes as per taste

In a pot, pour 1 cup of water and bring it to boiling point. Add quinoa and let it cook for 10 minutes. Look at the instructions on the quinoa packet to cook it well. It takes about 10-15 minutes to cook the quinoa. Turn off the heat and cover with lid. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes

Once the quinoa is cooled down, mix together olive oil, salt, pepper, chilli flakes and all other ingredients. Stir together with quinoa, adjust the salt and pepper seasoning. Keep it in the fridge. This salad tastes good as cold salad. 

Carrot and mung lentil salad (गाजर आणि मुगडाळ कोशिंबीर)

Ingredients:
3 grated medium-sized carrots,
1/3 cup mung bean lentils, soaked in water for 20 minutes
1/3 cup grated coconut,
chopped coriander for garnish
8-10 raisins (optional)
2-3 green chillies, finely cut
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt as per taste

Combine together all the ingredients listed. Mix lightly. Serve immediately or refrigerate until the next meal. 

Roasted assorted vegetables (रोस्टेड भाज्या)

I love to roast vegetables. My new favourite way to cook veggies! Super easy, simple, healthy and very tasty dish. You can use any vegetables that you may have at home.

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato
1 medium zucchini
1-2 carrots
5-6 asparagus stalks
1 large potato
1-2 tsp olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt as per taste
2 tsp pepper powder
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Servings:
3 people

Wash all the vegetables thoroughly. Cut potato, zucchini, sweet potato into round slices about 1-1 1/2 inches thick. Cut carrots and asparagus stalks into bite sized pieces.

Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit. In a flat oven dish, line aluminium foil to roast the vegetables. You can also roast them directly on the oven plate. Mix olive oil, garlic cloves, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Now add all the vegetables into the oil mix and coat them well. Leave it aside for marination for 5-10 minutes. Pour all the vegetables in the oven dish.

Place the vegetables in the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes. After every 10-15 minutes, turn the vegetables to uniformly heat them in the oven. Once the vegetables turn slightly brown black, turn the oven off and leave it inside for additional 10 minutes to roast.

This is a great side dish with either rice or chapati.

Cauliflower Carrot Vegetable (फ्लॉवर-गाजर भाजी)

Ingredients:
1 cup cauliflower florets, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup carrots, diced
little bit of ginger, julienne
1/2 tsp of cumin-coriander powder
salt as per taste
1/4 cup freshly grated coconut
1 tsp lemon juice

For seasoning:
1 1/2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
7-8 curry leaves
2 chillies, cut
1/2 tsp turmeric

Servings: 4 people

In a kadhai, heat oil for seasoning. Once the oil is heated, add mustard seeds, a pinch of asafoetida. Once the mustard seeds start spluttering, add curry leaves, chillies and turmeric. Give it a stir. Now add cauliflower florets and carrots. Mix well. Add little bit of water and cover with lid. Add salt, cumin-coriander powder, grated coconut and ginger. Let it cook on low flame for 5-10 minutes until the carrots and cauliflower is cooked. Add lemon juice once the vegetable is cooked and ready to serve.

Dry Veg Manchurian (व्हेज मंचुरियन)

Ingredients:
For the fillets:
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 capsicum, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3-4 green chilies
1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
salt as per taste

For the batter:
6-8 cloves of garlic
1/2 inch ginger or 1/2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
3 green chilies
1/4 tsp pepper powder
salt as per taste
2 tbsp all purpose flour (maida)
1 tbsp corn flour

For the seasoning:
1 1/2 tsp corn flour
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
2 tsp oil
3-4 spring onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup capsicum, finely chopped
1/4 cup beans, cut length wise
2 tbsp tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp chili sauce
1/2 tsp soy sauce
 salt as per taste

Servings: 4-5 people

Mix together all purpose flour and corn flour with very little water to form a thick batter. In a mixer, grind together ginger, garlic and green chilies. Add the ginger-garlic-chili paste to the batter along with salt, pepper powder. Mix it well into a thick batter.

In a mixer, coarsely grind capsicum, onion and capsicum. Do not make it into a fine paste, it should look like shredded veggies. Alternatively, you can finely chop all these ingredients. Mix the shredded vegetables with ginger-garlic paste and salt.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the vegetable fillets to the batter and deep fry till golden brown. Keep the fried fillets aside.

In a flat kadhai, heat oil and season with ginger-garlic paste. Keep the flame on high while cooking this sauce. Add spring onion and stir fry. Next add capsicum and beans and keep stirring. Add soy sauce, vinegar, chili sauce and tomato sauce. Stir well. Adjust the salt based on salt content of the soy sauce and chili sauce. Make a paste of corn flour with water and once the vegetables are half cooked, add corn flour paste to the pan. It will start thickening immediately. Stir continuously. Adjust the water in the sauce based on fried fritters. The sauce needs to be sufficient to coat the fritters. Once the sauce has thickened, add the fritters and stir well for 2-3 minutes. Turn off the gas. Garnish with chopped spring onion. Manchurian is ready to serve.

Note: You can add 1/2 cup shredded cabbage to the fillet. I did not have cabbage when I made this recipe, so I didn't add it.

Bhogichi Bhaji (भोगीची भाजी)

 Bhogi marks the beginning of Uttarayan. It is celebrated one day before Makar Sankranti. A special vegetable preparation is made on Bhogi day. I learnt this recipe from one of my friends.

Ingredients:
1/4 kg variety of beans - Field beans (पावटा), Green peas (मटार), Valor beans (पापडी), Green chickpeas (हरभरा)
2 small brinjal, diced (वांगी)
1 large potato, diced (बटाटा)
1 carrot, diced (गाजर)
6-8 jujube berry (बोरं )

Masala:
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/4 cup grated coconut or dried coconut
1/2 tbsp roasted groundnut powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp tamarind pulp (soak tamarind for half an hour and make the pulp)
salt as per taste
jaggery as per taste
2 tsp mustard
a pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (A little more than usual)

Servings: 4-5 people

Dry roast sesame seeds and grated coconut. After it cools down, grind together in a mixer. Clean all the beans and wash thoroughly. In a large kadhai, heat oil and do the regular seasoning with mustard seeds, asafoedtida and turmeric powder. Now add carrots and all the beans and stir well. Let it steam for 1-2 minutes. Now add brinjal and potato and stir fry. Add sufficient water (around 1 cup) for cooking the vegetables. Along with water, add salt, jaggery, garam masala, sesame-coconut powder, groundnut powder, tamarind pulp. Adjust the water for required consistency of the gravy. It tastes good as dry vegetable as well as gravy. Cook it for 10-15 minutes until all vegetables are cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve this vegetable with hot Bajri bhakri with a dollop of homemade butter.

Mixed Vegetable Gravy (भाज्यांचा रस्सा)

My daughter wanted to have potato gravy. I didnt have cauliflower, peas etc that are needed for potato gravy of her choice. I modified it a bit to make mixed vegetable gravy. You can add any vegetables of your choice. This gravy is made without using onion or garlic.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized potatoes, chunk sized pieces
1 large carrot, bite sized pieces
2 medium tomatoes, bite sized pieces
3 small eggplants, bite sized pieces
2 capsicum, bite sized pieces
1 tbsp tamarind juice
salt as per taste
jaggery as per taste
1 1/2 tbsp groundnut powder
finely chopped coriander leaves for garnish
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp red chilli powder

For Seasoning:
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
8-10 curry leaves
4-5 fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

In a large kadhai, heat oil for seasoning. Add mustard, fenugreek seeds. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, add asafoetida, curry leaves and turmeric powder. Next add tomatoe pieces and stir well. Cover with lid and let it steam for a minute. Once the tomatoes have turned soft, add the remaining vegetables and stir well. Cover with lid and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Now add garam masala and chilli powder and tamarind juice. Add about a cup of water and let the vegetables cook well. Cover with lid and let it simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add salt and jaggery and stir well. Once all the vegetables are cooked, after about 5-7 minutes, add groundnut powder for a thicker consistency. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Note: You can add green chillies instead of red chilli powder. You can use coriander and cummin seeds powder instead of garam masala.

Carrot Salad (गाजराची कोशिंबीर)

Ingredients:
2 carrots, grated
finely chopped coriander leaves
freshly grated coconut

1 tsp lemon juice
salt as per taste
sugar as per taste

For Seasoning:
1/2 tsp of oil
1/2 tsp mustard
a pinch of asafoetida
1/4 tsp turmeric
7-8 curry leaves
1-2 medium green chillies, finely chopped

Servings:
3 people

In a bowl, mix together grated carrot, coriander leaves, coconut, salt, sugar, lemon juice. Toss lightly. In a small kadhai, add oil. Add mustard seeds to the kadhai. Once mustard seeds start to pop, add asafoetida, curry leaves. Next add chopped chillies, turmeric powder. Stir well and turn the heat off. Add this mixture to the bowl and mix well.

Cabbage Salad (कोबी गाजराची कोशिंबीर)

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded cabbage
1/4 cup finely sliced or grated carrot
1 tbsp pomegranate seeds
coriander leaves for garnish
raisins for added flavor

For Seasoning:
2 tsp lemon juice
salt
black pepper powder or chilli flakes
olive oil

Take a bowl and mix all the seasoning ingredients. Add shredded cabbage, grated carrot, pomegranate seeds, raisins and coriander leaves. Toss slightly and serve.