Papad ki Dahiwaali Sabzi

Pick up the wrong packet, add significant amount of chaat masala instead of garam masala to a dahi-based sabzi  (that already is a little sour!), panic a bit, then thankfully remember you haven't stirred it in, use a large spoon to quickly spoon out the part of the gravy where the chaat masala has fallen, throw it (literally) from afar into the sink and add garam masala... and after it is all ok, just keep stirring nonchalantly as if nothing has happened! Cooking, does have it's moments and well this one will always be associated for me with making this sabzi (because it was the second time only I was trying it out!)

Papad ki Dahiwaali Sabzi

Papad ki Dahiwaali Sabzi

Ingredients

2 cups dahi
4 tbsps gram flour (besan)
11 /2 tsps red chilly powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3 cups water
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 tsp hing
3-4 whole cloves
2 whole dried red chillies

1 tsp jeera powder
1 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
Salt to taste
2-3 large papads (preferably the udad or  mung ones)
Fresh corriander leaves chopped for garnishing

Method

Roast the papads either on a tawa or on the gas or in the microwave as you prefer and break into pieces of about 2 inches.


In a bowl, whisk together the dahi, the gram flour, the salt, the turmeric and the red chilly powder.

The dahi-gram flour mixture, the papads, and the ingredients for the tadka

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and add the cumin seeds. When they start to crackle, add the hing, the cloves, the whole dried red chillies. Pour in the dahi-gram flour mixture and let it come to a boil. Once it comes to boil, it will start to thicken; lower the flame at this point.

Stage 2 with the dahi mixture poured in after the tadka

Add the papad pieces, the garam masala and roasted jeera powder and let it cook in for about 2-3 minutes on the low flame. Do not cook too much and too fast on a fast flame or the dahi will curdle.

Adding in the papads

Garnish with fresh corriander leaves and serve hot with rotis or rice!

The fresh hot sabzi

Aloo Parathas

Very few things can be compared to the joy of licking dripping golden butter off a hot paratha. My favourite kind of parathas are the very simple and very humble aloo parathas.

I have always wanted to have the typical maa ke haath ka parathas made by a Punjabi mom (if you've never had one of these, put it on your bucket list!). I finally got this opportunity very recently this Tuesday when one of my neighbours' mother came down for a visit from Delhi. My only food request to her was the regular everyday aloo paratha and not any of the other elaborate dishes she offered to lovingly cook for me.  

So I had these awesome parathas and I managed to get the recipe too.... it was a double whammy for me! Today I tried them out and they turned out to be almost as good as those I just had on Tuesday...

Aloo Parathas 

Ingredients

For the dough

3 cups of whole wheat flour

A pinch or two of salt

Water to knead the dough

For the filling

5-6 potatoes boiled and mashed

1 medium onion finely chopped

8-10 stalks of fresh corriander finely chopped 

Salt to taste

2-3 tsps chilly powder

2-3 tsps garam masala

1-2 tsps amchur powder

Oil to shallow fry the parathas

For the dough, add the salt to the wheat flour and knead it by slowly adding small quantities of water till it forms a firm yet slightly elastic dough. Let it rest for half hour.  

For the filling, mix together the potatoes, onion, corriander, and add the salt and the masalas and mix well. Taste a little bit of the filling to check for the flavour of the masalas in the filling. If you feel masalas are just right or less, add in some more as there will be a paratha covering too.

The aloo filling for the parathas

To make the parathas, first roll out the dough into half a roti, put in a small sized ball of the filling in the middle, cover it up with the edges of the roti and roll out to a paratha.

Shallow fry on a tawa with a little oil on both sides.

The aloo paratha fresh off the stove

Serve hot with chutney, ketchup, pickles, curd or simply a dollop of butter. I had mine today with aamras!

Aloo paratha- aamras my meal today!