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!

Mushroom Masala ( अळंबीची भाजी )

I started enjoying mushrooms recently. I have not experimented much with mushrooms yet, this is the only dish I cook. All these years, I never cooked them, for some reason, I thought they were heavy to digest. I remember eating mushroom flavored dish in a restaurant long back and having a tummy upset. Ever since then, I did not have mushrooms, even while ordering a dish at a restaurant, I would specifically ask them not to add mushrooms!
I am trying to cut dairy and oil from my diet, relying solely on plant based food to get all the nourishment. While doing grocery shopping, my husband picked mushrooms few months back, and I thought, "why not give it another try?"

So here I am, enjoying mushroom gravy now :)

I have used water based seasoning for this recipe, you can use oil instead, if you want to.

Ingredients:
6-8 white mushrooms, sliced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp garam masala,
salt as per taste,
jaggery as per taste (optional)
coriander leaves for garnish

for grinding:
1/4 cup grated coconut,
a handful of cashew nuts, soaked
1/2 tsp jeera,


for seasoning:
2 tbsp water,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
a pinch of asafoetida,
1/2 tsp cumin or jeera,
1/2 tsp turmeric,
5-6 curry leaves
3-4 green chillies,
1/2 tsp grated ginger,
10-15 cashew nut pieces,

Serving: 2-3 people

In a heated kadhai (pan) add water for the seasoning. When the water starts bubbling up, add mustard seeds, asafoetida and jeera. Let it simmer for a minute. Add rest of the seasoning ingredients and cover it with lid for another minute. Now add chopped onion and mix well. Let it cook for 2 minutes, covering the pan with lid. Next, add diced tomatoes and stir. Let the tomatoes cook for 5 minutes. Add garam masala and sliced mushrooms. Cook for few more minutes. Next add salt, jaggery as per your taste and let the gravy simmer for some time until mushrooms are almost cooked.
Grind together coconut, cashew nuts and jeera with little bit of water to form a chutney consistency mixture. Add this coconut mixture to the simmering gravy. Adjust water in the gravy to get the required consistency. Simmer for 8-10 minutes. The curry will thicken with coconut and cashew paste mixture.

Enjoy this curry as a side dish or with rice or chapati. It goes well with bread too.

Banana Berry Smoothie ( बनाना बेरी शेक )

Banana Berry Smoothie

1 large orange, peeled
1/4 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1 kiwi, peeled
1 banana, peeled
4-5 blackberries (optional)
4-5 strawberries (optional)

Juice the orange manually or using a juicer. Add the remaining ingredients and orange juice to a blender and blend until smooth. You can enjoy it fresh or refrigerate it for an hour and serve it chilled.

Colocacia Leaves gravy (अळूचं फतफतं / तेरं)

This is a popular Maharashtrian gravy, prepared especially during festivals. In Goa, we call this dish tera (तेरं). A simple, nutritious and tasty gravy dish.

Servings: 4-5 people

Ingredients:
2-3 medium sized colocasia leaves, finely cut, about 2 cups of chopped leaves
1/2 cup radish, finely cut
1/4 cup toor or yellow dal
a handful of peanuts
1 1/2 tsp of garam masala
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
2 tsp besan or chickpea flour
1 tsp red chili powder
1 1/2 tsp jaggery or as per taste
salt as per taste

For seasoning:
1/2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
8-10 curry leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Soak peanuts in water for an hour. Soak tamarind in water for an hour and extract tamarind pulp out of it. Next, finely chop colocasia leaves and stem and radish. Wash toor (yellow) dal. Add colocasia leaves, radish and soaked peanuts to the washed dal. Add sufficient water and pressure cook for upto 3 whistles. While dal and other ingredients are getting cooked, dilue besan flour with water. Use very little water to make the besan flour paste. Keep it aside.

Once the dal is cooked and cooled down a bit, you can do the seasoning. In a heated kadhai, add oil and keep the stove on low flame. Once the oil is heated, add all the seasoning ingredients one by one. Next add cooked dal and colocasia mixture. Add red chilli powder, garam masala and tamarind pulp. Add salt and jaggery to the simmering gravy. Next add besan paste, stirring the curry while adding the paste. Let it simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Colocasia leaves gravy is ready to serve. It goes well with rice or jowar, bajra, ragi or rice bhakri (millet flatbread)

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. 

Sauted long beans (तेलावर परतवलेली वालीची भाजी)

In my family, all of us like munching raw long beans. I remember doing it since my childhood. Long beans are very easy to cook. Somehow I prefer their raw, tender flavor rather than cooked (boiled) flavor. I made this as a side dish along with palak paneer, which is my daughter's favorite vegetable for her school tiffin. I added walnuts to this dish for an extra crunchiness. You can add cashews too.

Ingredients:
A bunch of long beans, washed and cut into long strips
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp sesame seeds,
a handful of walnuts, chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil or any other cooking oil
1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar or lemon juice and honey combination
salt as per taste
black pepper powder as per taste

In a heated kadhai, pour olive oil. Add garlic pieces, sesame seeds, black pepper powder, walnut pieces. Sautee for 1 minute till garlic pieces are well fried and turned brown. Next to it, add cut pieces of long beans and sautee on high flame for 1-2 minutes. Season with salt. Add balsamic vinegar and mix well. Sautee for an additional 1 minute. You can also use lemon juice and honey combination instead of balsamic vinegar.

This is a simple and tasty side dish cum salad with rice or chapati.

Dry Garlic Chutney (सुकी लसूण चटणी)

Ingredients:
1 dried coconut, grated
8-10 garlic cloves,
1 tbsp chilli powder,
3-4 kokum fruit or 1/2 tbsp deseeded dry tamarind
salt to taste
a pinch of sugar

Grind garlic cloves, kokum fruit, chilli powder together. Next add grated dried coconut, salt, sugar. Grind to a coarse powder.

This chutney stays good for a month.