Bajra Aloo Roti..

I made this roti today for RCI-Haryana. I got the recipe from the internet and this is the source. I just followed the entire recipe as it is, didn't make any changes to it.

For the recipe you can refer here.

These rotis look hard on the outside when you fry, but are really soft when you bite into them. The only thing I felt about them was that there was a teeny tiny tinge of bitterness, am not sure if that's how whole bajra tastes or it was something else. Nevertheless, it didn't bother us as we dunked them with ghee and pickle and raw onions. But if you do know the reason, please enlighten me. All in all, they were very wholesome. It says in the link that these rotis are very healthy and give a lot of strength and warmth in the winter.

So off this goes to RCI-Haryana hosted by EC at Simple Indian Food.

Clicked some Cheese..

This first picture above is my humble contribution to the Click-Cheese/Tofu event hosted at Jugalbandi by Bee & Jai.

I made a Sandwich (Subway Style), to take some photos of cheese :)..Some wheat bread, some veggies and PepperJack Cheese is what I have here. And ofcourse, please don't think I used up all that cheese you see here, in the sandwich, its only for the picture. Not of Click standards, but nevertheless, I shall participate...

As for the recipe, I don't think I have to put it here, as its everyone's personal choice as to what they like in their sandwich.

I made mine with Wheat rolls, tomato slices, pickled dill spears, lettuce, cucumber slices, red bell pepper slices, black olives & pickled jalapenos. I toasted my bread for a minute just on the stovetop griddle, and layered all the ingredients. Finally topped everything with a tiny bit of olive oil. Usually I put some black pepper too, but this time skipped. I love the flavour PepperJack cheese has and have become a big fan of it.

Flax Seeds Chutney powder/ Chutney Pitto...

This recipe is from my Mom. Due to the health issues that she and my dad are having, my mom has been using a lot of flax seeds in their diet. One such recipe is this Chutney Powder/Pudi/Pitto where Flax seeds plays a main role. When I heard about this recipe, I made a picture of it in my mind being a dark, husky kind of powder which wouldn't be so tasty. Nevertheless, I thought, atleast because its good for health, I will try it once. I was wrong and must say here, this is one of the most aromatic and tastiest chutney pudis I have eaten. I think I will stick to this recipe from now on. Do give it a try once and you will agree with me. The combination of garlic, tamarind and other ingredients is just awesome and cannot be explained in photos here.

Ingredients

Flax seeds - 1/2 cup

Garlic cloves - 1/8 cup. I used 4 big cloves

Putani/Roasted Split chana dal/ Dalia - 1/2 cup

Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp or more

Tamarind - 6- 7 small 1/2 inch pieces

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Method

- Heat a pan and dry roast the flax seeds. Take care not to burn them. Switch off flame and then add the red chilli powder to the flax seeds and cover the pan.

- Separately, dry roast the garlic cloves also. ( slightly crush or cut the cloves into smaller pieces and then roast).

- Once all these cool down completely, grind the flax seeds, red chilli powder and garlic alongwith the tamarind to a fine powder.

- Separately, powder the putani, sugar and salt to a fine powder and then mix it to the flax seeds powder and mix well.

- Serve as side with idlis or dosas or even with rice and curries.

Note :

- The shelf-life of this chutney powder is atleast 2 months.

- I added only 1 1/2 tsp of Red Chilli powder, but a little more would be better for spicy buds.

- You can reduce the amount of Putani/Roasted split Chana dal if you want to.

I am sending this post to 'Colors of Taste-Podis/Powders' , hosted at Kadumanga.

Batatya Khadi / Potato Burfi..

This recipe was drafted a few days back, but somehow didn't publish it. So, thought I would just post this today. By the name, if you are wondering what and how this burfi will taste like, try it once and am sure you will like it.

This is a super tasty and easy sweet to make. My son, just like me has a sweet tooth, and adores sweets. Most of the times, his cravings are for Kaju Burfi, Motichoor or Boondi Laddu, which is beyond my capacity to make. I remembered that on our last trip to India, when he was just 3 years old, apart from the whole lot of yummies that my mom use to make, he fell in love with this Batatya Khadi that my mom made and used to keep asking her to make more each time. My poor mom had even packed a few for him while we left to come here. Needless to say, with time and a passing year, he had quite forgotten about it and didn't even remember. So, I decided to make these and he loved them.

Usually, Khadi in Konkani is for a burfi which is slightly hard and not soft. Most of the Khadis even though made hard are very easy to bite into and easily melt in the mouth types. They should break easily even when tried with your finger. I am not sure if this is confusing. However, why I'm saying this is, what you see in my picture or rather what I got is not the hard one, but rather soft. I did not have the patience to stir it even more, so when I achieved this consistency, I stopped and took the mixture off from the flame. If you can get it to harden slightly more, its even better.

Also, another thing I have to mention here is that I made these with Butter red Potatoes, which hubby picked up by mistake. These were yellow on the inside and like any other red potato, cooked very fast.

Ingredients

Butter Red Potato, boiled and peeled - 1 cup.
Sugar - 1 cup.
Elaichi/Cardamom powder - 1 tsp.
Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1 tbsp.

Method

- Mash the boiled potato while still warm so that its a uniform paste.
- Heat a non-stick pan, add the ghee to it. Transfer the potato mixture and sugar to the pan.
- Mix evenly and on medium low flame, keep stirring continuosly till it reaches a soft ball/one mass consistency. Add the elaichi powder just before getting done and mix evenly.
- Take the mixture out on a greased plate and pat it evenly with a spatula to get a smooth finish. - While still warm, cut into desired shapes.
- Once completely cooled, store in air-tight container if using for later.

Note :

- I boiled the potatoes by pricking all over them with a fork and then baked in the microwave for 8 minutes. Then, when able to handle, peeled the skin off and mashed.
- The quantity of boiled/mashed potato should be equal to the amount of sugar you use. So measure out the potato mixture after mashing and add sugar accordingly.
- I used slightly less sugar.
- Since potatoes form an even mixture when made warm and by adding sugar, it is difficult to gauge the doneness of the Khadi, coz it starts leaving the sides of the pan very soon. But you still have to keep stirring for a while and then will get the burfi stage.
- The stirring time I took was about 10-12 minutes.
- I have tried only with these butter red potatoes, but according to me, any kind of potato good for baking should work fine.

This post goes to Just For You , hosted by Alka of Sindhi Rasoi. Apart from making it with love for my son, I should say 'Just For You Mom', also, who will be happy to know that I did cook a recipe of hers which was liked by her grandson.

For the above reasons, I would also like to send this post to Cooking for Kids with Love, hosted by Pratibha and Jigyasa at Pedatha.com .

Beetroot Rice..

I Clicked this before, and now here is the recipe. Even people who don't like beet-root will like this rice, and that applies to me too. Let it sit for a couple of hours after making, so that the flavours settle in. I realised after making this that beetroot, garlic and lemon, gel very well together. So do try it.

Ingredients

Peeled and grated Beetroot - 1 small, approx. 1 cup packed

Cooked Rice - 1 cup

Chana Dal/Bengal gram - 1 tsp

Udad Dal/ split black gram - 1 tsp

Jeera/ Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Green Chillies, slit lengthwise - 3

Garlic cloves, chopped fine - 2

Curry leaves - 3

Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp

MTR Vangi Bhaat powder - 1 tsp

Lemon Juice - 2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil

Method

- Heat oil in a wide non-stick pan. Add the udad dal, chana dal and mustard seeds. Once the seeds start crackling, add in the cumin seeds, curry leaves and green chillies and garlic. Saute for a few seconds, till the garlic gets cooked.

- Add in the grated beetroot, add salt and saute well. Turn the heat to low and cook covered for about 5 mins. I sprinkled just a little water at this point and covered the pan.

- Add the Vangi bhaat powder, mix again, cover and cook (another minute).

- Add in the lemon juice and mix.

- Add the cooked rice and cilantro and mix everything, taking care that the rice grains are intact.

- Serve hot.

Note :

- Beetroot should either get fully cooked, or its perfectly fine if you want it slightly crunchy and cook it till its only almost done.

- Increase the amount of rice in proportion to the beets, if you don't want that strong a taste of beets in it.

- Use any other curry powder if you don't want or have Vaangi Bhath powder.

- You can use ginger-garlic paste instead of just plain garlic.

- A great tip that I had got long back from a friend was that in such kind of rices or fried rice, cook the rice well in advance and refrigerate it. Take it out and separate the grains when ready to use. This way the grains don't break and they get warmed through when you add it to the dish.