Methi Thepla

I had a bunch of fenugreek leaves and wanted to try something different, when I came across this dish. This is like a spiced flavourful roti which can be had as such or with raita. Lets get to the recipe.

     

Recipe reference: FlavoursOfMumbai

Ingredients:

• 2 cups wheat flour
• ½ cup besan flour
• 3 tbsp ghee for the dough + more as needed for frying the thepla
• 1 cup fresh fenugreek leaves(Methi leaves)
• Salt as needed
• 2 tbsp red chili powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds+1tbsp jeera + 1 tbsp fennel all ground to fine powder
• 100 ml yogurt mixed with little water
• 2 tbsp water (adjust as needed)
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

Note: If you have readymade fennel powder,coriander powder and jeera powder you can use 1tbsp of each instead. 

Method:

1. Pluck the stems of fenugreek leaves. Wash them well, chop them.

2. Add the wheat flour, besan flour, spice powders, salt, chopped fenugreek leaves in a bowl and mix well.

3. Add in the yogurt mixed with water and knead well. Add in the 3tbsp ghee little by little. Knead well with your hands.If needed add extra water and knead to form a non sticky dough.

4. If the mixture is too sticky add a bit of flour to adjust, if its too dry add little ghee. Once you obtain a soft non sticky dough, set aside covered for 10 mins.

5. Shape round balls from the dough and roll them with a rolling pin to flat discs like roti.

6. Heat dosa tawa, when hot add the roti and cook them drizzling with ghee as needed. Let it cook evenly on both sides by flipping it. Serve hot with raita!.

Banana Chocolate Brownies made with Jaggery

Well it may sound strange to make brownies with jaggery but I just tried and it tasted awesome. These are chewy, fudgy brownies not fluffy like cake but tasty with a crumbly crust and chewy texture inside. I referred the recipe from here. The original recipe used brown  sugar I replaced with jaggery.

Ingredients:

• Maida - 3/4 cup
• Chocochips (I used Harima brand)- 2/3 cup minus 1 tbsp
• Powdered jaggery - little less than 2/3 cup
• Banana (ripe) - 1
• Vanilla essence - 1/2tsp
• Egg -1
• Butter (softened) - 1/2 cup
• Salt - 1/4tsp

Method:

1. Melt butter in a pan in medium low flame. Remove from the heat and add in the chocochips and stir with a whisk till the chips are completely melted and combined.

2. Beat the egg slightly, add the powdered jaggery, banana, vanilla essence, salt and beat well with a electric beater for 2 minutes till everything is mixed well.

3. Add the melted chocolate mixture to the above mixture and just give it a mix. Add in the flour little by little and beat well till combined completely.

4. Preheat oven to 165C for ten mins. Meanwhile grease the cake tin with butter. Spoon the batter into the tin.

5. Bake the batter in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 mins till the top turns crumbly and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Set it to 15 mins then if needed bake for extra 5 mins. Do not overbake and burn the brownie.

6. Cut the brownie into squares and serve with icecream, chocolate sauce. Garnish with chopped nuts if desired.

Chocolate Arrowroot Biscuit Rolls

This is a recipe I came across in Sanjeev Kapoors site. I had a Nutrichoice Arrowroot biscuit packet lying at home and accidentally came across this recipe. It would make a quick and yummy treat for christmas.

Ingredients:

For the dough/outer covering:

• Arrowroot biscuits- 12
• Powdered sugar - 2 tablespoon
• Cocoa powder - 1 tablespoon
• Milk - as needed ( around 1 to 2 tbsp)

For the filling:

• Dessicated coconut - 1 cup
• Cocoa powder - 2tbsp
• Powdered sugar 3 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - 1/2tsp
• Vanilla essence - 1tsp
• Butter - 2tbsp

Method:

1. To prepare the dough, powder the biscuits in mixie. Add the powdered biscuits, sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl. Add milk little by little and form a soft dough.

2. For the filling, mix all the ingredients under "for the filling" section in another bowl.

3. Spread a clean plastic cover/sheet (if you have have a cling wrap it would be more easy), I didnt have cling wrap so used a clean plastic cover. Grease it with some butter and roll the dough with the chapathi roller pin to a rough circle.

4. Spread the filling in the middle and press down a little. Now start rolling from the top to bottom (along with the sheet) and form a cylinder. Roll it a bit tight. Seal the edges by tying a knot.

5. Pop it in the freezer for 2 hrs. Take it out, release the edges and remove the plastic sheet. Cut into circular slices and serve!.

Notes:

• Take care to ensure mixie is dry before powdering the biscuits.
• The original recipe calls for 3tbsp cocoa in the filling and 2 tbsp in the dough. I made the filling with 3 tbsp but it seemed to have the bitterness of cocoa. So I have given it as 2 tbsp here. Just add 2 tbsp and if its not enough add more after tasting. I used weikfield cocoa powder.
• Add milk little by little. Adjust as per requirement.
• You can add chopped nuts in the filling too.

#KidsDelightChocoGiveaway

linking this to Kids delight event link1 and 2

Kozhi Milagu Curry/ Chicken Pepper Curry

Today being a Sunday, that too after the vegetarian days of Purataasi month and Navaratri, I decided to cook non veg. I saw this recipe in Chef Venkatesh Bhat's cookshow. It was quite simple and looked tempting. He also mentioned it as Superstar Rajnikanth's favorite ;-). I usually love pepper flavour and my husband is a big fan of chicken. So, this dish was a super hit today.

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 400 gms

2. Big onion - 2 medium size(chopped)

3. Tomato - 2 small (chopped)

4. Ginger garlic paste- 1 &1/2tsp

5. Chilli powder - 1tsp

6. Turmeric powder - 1/4tsp

7. Coriander powder - 1tsp

8. Salt - as needed

9. Curry leaves - about half a fistful

10. Oil - 1&1/2 tbsp

To roast and powder:

1. Peppercorns/Milagu - a fistful

2. Fennel seeds/Sombu - about 1/3 of the pepper

Dry roast these two ingredients and make it a fine powder in mixie.

Method:

1. Clean and wash the chicken well.

2. In a wide bottomed vessel, heat oil, add the finely chopped onion and fry till it is golden brown (till when it starts caramelizing). There is a mild sweetness to the dish which is rendered by the onion.

3. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell leaves.

4. Add the tomato and saute till the raw smell vanishes and add in the curry leaves and stir. Curry leaves always go very well with pepper flavour.

5. Add in the chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt and mix well. Add in the chicken and mix well with the masala.

6. Add 1 and 1/2 to 2 tsp (as per your taste) of the ground pepper and fennel powder and stir well. Add around 1/2 cup water.

7. Let it boil till the chicken is cooked and the gravy reaches a semi dry consistency. Do not add more water else the consistency will not be reached and if you let it boil for long time there is a chance of chicken being overcooked. Winner combination with all Indian breads and hot rice and rasam!.

Multigrain Atta Halwa/Atta Halwa/Godhumai Halwa- with Jaggery

This is one of the easiest and healthiest sweets to make. I referred the recipe from divinetaste.com. In that website the halwa was made using wheat flour. But I had only aashirvad multigrain atta at home. However, I decided to give it a try and I just loved the result. The dish has a mild sweetness and is so tasty. Healthy too with the goodness of grains and jaggery.

There are two important things to note in this recipe. Its a very easy to make sweet but you have to do these two steps with care. The first one is the roasting part of the flour. It has to be done continuously atleast for 9 to 10 or 11 mins in low flame. Take care not to burn it. However, the color will change darker. If you do not roast the flour for an ample time, you will get a floury taste in the dish and it will be uncooked.

Second, is while pouring the jaggery syrup, you should be careful avoiding splatters on yourself but you should also assure there are no lumps formed by constant stirring.

 Ingredients:

1. Multigrain Atta/Wheat flour- 3/4 cup
2. Jaggery, powdered -3/4 cup
3. Water - 1 and 1/2 cup
4. Cardamom crushed - 2 or 3
5. Ghee - 3tbsp + 1tsp for toasting nuts
6. Salt - tiny pinch(optional)
7. Nuts ( I used badam) - for garnish

Method:

1. Heat the powdered jaggery with 1 and 1/2 cup water in a pan. Dont let it boil, Strain and set aside.(It will be a runny syrup only not to worry).

2. In a non stick kadai, heat the ghee till it melts. Add the flour and roast it on low heat. As mentioned earlier, you will get a toasted aroma and you will notice the color of the flour gets darker. This takes 10 or 11 mins.

3. Now, add the cardamom powder and a tiny pinch of salt (it is optional, in sweets a tiny pinch of salt enhances the flavour and sweetness). and give a quick stir.

4. Now add the jaggery syrup carefully stirring continuously to avoid lumps and be careful to avoid splatter. I used my ballon whisk.

5. You will see it all comes together very soon to a mass of halwa consistency, so you have to act very fast when adding the syrup.

6. Toast nuts with ghee and add it to the halwa. Serve and enjoy!.

Notes:

• The above quantity is sufficient for 4 people. Do not be carried away by the minimal amount of flour when roasting. You can see how it miraculously doubles up on adding the syrup.
• The dish has a mild sweetness which I loved. If you like your sweetness to be on the higher side, increase the jaggery and water accordingly.