Egg Paratha & Dal Tadka

Have you ever gone into your kitchen with NO clue as to what to cook and then come up with some really cool ideas?

Something similar happened to me the other day…

I knew I wanted to make Dal Tadka…but I didn’t know what to make along with it. After a while, I came up with an idea – egg paratha with dal tadka.

For the paratha, you will need

- Maida – 1 cup

- Water – to knead

- Salt – to taste

- Chilli powder – to taste

- Eggs – 4

- Onion – ½ big finely chopped

- Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon

- Jeera – 1 teaspoon

- Curry leaves – 5 or 6

- Chopped cilantro – little for garnishing

- Cumin powder – ½ tsp

- Coriander powder – ½ tsp

- Garam Masala – ½ tsp

- Turmeric – a pinch

Add a pinch of salt to the Maida, and knead with water…the maida will be sticky…add a little oil (maybe a ¼ tsp…not more than that) to your hand and the flour and knead until you get a chapati dough consistency and put it aside.

Heat up some oil (2 tbsp) in a skillet, add the mustard seeds and jeera and wait for them to crackle. Add curry leaves and onions and sauté until onion turns light brown. Add salt to taste, chilli powder to taste, cumin powder, turmeric, coriander powder and garam masala. Fry them all until you lose the raw smell – for about a minute or 2.

Meanwhile beat the eggs and once the masalas are all cooked well, add the eggs to the pan. Keep stirring continuously to scramble the egg well. Cook it to a desired extent and turn off the heat.

I know you realized by now that this is the famous “egg bhurji”…well I won’t deny it…it sure is…I thought by putting the recipe here, I can kill two birds in one shot :)

So now for the paratha…while the egg bhurji cools, take a big Ziploc bag or any plastic sheet that you can roll out the paratha on. And yes…this will be messy at first…but when you get a hang of it, it will be easier for you to plan around it.

Heat a pan while you press out parathas. Coat the plastic with a layer of oil. This ensures the maida doesn’t stick to the plastic. Likewise, apply oil to your palm. Take a small ball of the maida, put it in the middle of your palm (or if this is difficult, you can put it on the plastic)…with your fingers, keep pressing at the ball to make a small disc. (Note: the disc shouldn’t be thin…if it is too thin, the paratha might break out) Now take some egg bhurji and put it in the middle of the disc…now carefully, without the bhurji falling out, close the disc from all sides to form a ball of maida stuffed with egg bhurji.

Now put it on the plastic and with your fingers, keep pressing it in all directions to make a paratha of the size and thickness you like. The paratha will come off the plastic sheet very easily ‘cos of the oil. So lift the plastic sheet from underneath and with your other hand peel off the paratha and put it on the pan…you do not need to add any oil to the pan ‘cos there is enough on the paratha. Roast the paratha until both sides are done well.

And this goes amazingly with Dal Tadka…for which you will need

- Toor Dal – 1 cup

- Water – 2 cups

- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

- Jeera – 1 tsp

- Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp

- Onions – ¼ big finely chopped

- Garlic pods – 4 or 5

- Green chillies – 2 or 3

- Salt – to taste

- Turmeric – a pinch

Wash and pressure-cook the dal in the 2 cups of water for 3 whistles (or about 10 mins). While the pressure cooker cools, heat a ½ tsp of oil in a skillet and add mustard seeds, jeera and fenugreek seeds. Once they start to crackle, add the garlic pods and onions and sauté until brown. Add green chillies, salt and a pinch of turmeric and cook for another minute or 2. Add the dal and some water (not too much…maybe a ½ cup) and let it boil until it reaches the desired consistency.

Serve the dal and paratha, garnish with coriander and enjoy :D

Pizza

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Who here loves Pizza? Did I just hear a loud "ME"!!!!

The minute I saw the recipe on TV, I knew what our menu for the following Friday was…

Making pizza from scratch may seem like a huge load of work…but only after making it did I realize that it isn’t that difficult at all…I must have put in 30 mins of work at the most. Ofcourse, the whole process takes longer, because you would have to put aside the dough for an hour for it to rise and then there is the oven time to bake. So, let’s get Italian :)

For the Pizza dough, you will need

Warm water – ½ cup

Yeast – ½ teaspoon

Sugar – ½ teaspoon

All purpose flour (maida) – 1 cup

Salt – ½ teaspoon

Ajwain – ½ teaspoon

Olive oil

Pour the warm water into a large bowl, add the yeast and sugar and stir to dissolve. Let sit until the yeast appears foamy, about 10 – 12 minutes.

At this point, your entire kitchen will smell of the yeast…and don’t worry, the stink will leave in a while :)

Meanwhile, in another large bowl add 1 cup flour, the salt and ajwain and mix them together…you could also add any other spices you like…jeera, red chilli flakes etc.

To the flour mixture add the foaming yeast mixture and knead it a few times in the bowl to incorporate the flour on the sides of the bowl, and then turn it out onto a work surface.

Continue to knead the dough for a few minutes, adding the 2 tablespoons flour if it seems wet and sticky. Do not add a lot of extra flour as the dough should be very soft and pliable.

Pour a little olive oil into a clean bowl and smear it around the edges. Rub it over the surface of the dough and then place the dough in the bowl. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

When I finished making the dough, we realized that we were not too hungry for a pizza. In such cases, cover the dough with a plastic wrap, store it in an airtight box and refrigerate it. You can refrigerate it for 2 to 3 days.

While the dough is rising, get your vegetables ready. I made the mistake of cutting all my vegetables into long pieces and tomatoes into circles…I would rather cut up all the veggies into small pieces, so you have more vegetables on the pizza and the dough to vegetable ratio feels good.

For the pizza toppings, you will need

Toppings – whatever you like

Tomato sauce – again…as per your taste

Mozzarella – 1 cup shredded

Pizza pan – 12”

Preheat the oven to 425^o F.

Once the dough is done, move it onto a big workspace like a dining table, so you have enough room to roll it out. Sprinkle flour on the workspace and start rolling out the dough sprinkling a little flour on the dough, so it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin or the workspace. When the pizza bakes, the dough is going to rise a little…so you will have to roll out the dough to 3/4^th the thickness of the result you need.

Once rolled out, transfer the dough onto the pizza pan. The dough may stretch when you try to transfer it…the easier way to do it is fold it in half twice, to make a quarter of a circle, transfer it onto the pan and fold it out.

Pour out the tomato sauce on the pizza while spreading it. Make sure you cover the surface well and leave no gaps. Now start filling the pizza surface with cheese (do not use up all of it)

Add all the toppings and top off with more cheese. When this cheese melts, it keeps the toppings stuck to the pizza.

Once the oven is heated up, put the Pizza in and let it bake for 25 to 30 mins.

Pull it out, slice and serve :)

Sweet Potato Cutlets

I started cooking only after I got married. My husband, luckily for me, comes up with creative ideas for recipes and I implement them...so he's basically the brain behind my skills :)

It was a lazy afternoon when he started asking me to make some snacks and while proving through my refrigerator, I saw some nice pink sweet potatoes.

My mom always made sure she put sweet potatoes in pulusu...a south Indian version of soup / broth. I love sweet potatoes for their unique taste and texture. Besides simple starches, sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates, dietary fiber, beta carotene (a vitamin A equivalent nutrient), vitamin C and vitamin B6.

There are quite a few dishes you can make using this root...and this time I wanted to make cutlets.

So I used 2 sweet potatoes which yielded about 12 cutlets...enough to feed 2 hungry stomachs :) There are two ways you could use to cook the sweet potatoes:

1. Pressure cooker: Cut them up into chunks (don't bother about the shape or size - you are going to mash them anyway), put them in a bowl and fill enough water to immerse the pieces...and pressure cook for about 10 mins or 3 whistles...whichever is faster. You don't have to peel the sweet potatoes, 'cos once cooked the peel comes right off.

2. Microwave: Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them up into chunks, put them in a bowl and fill enough water to immerse the pieces and microwave for about 8 - 10 mins.

Personally, I prefer microwaving them...only 'cos psychologically I feel it's faster...ultimately I am spending 10 mins either way...hmmm...ok I had never thought that through until I started typing it down...oh well...so ya...back to the recipe...boil them and drain out all the water.

Now mash the sweet potatoes...it doesn't have to be a fine paste...small chunks here and there enhance the taste of the cutlets...Now to the mashed potatoes, add 1/2 a tablespoon gram masala, 1/4th tablespoon freshly grated ginger (you could also use ginger-garlic paste...whichever you prefer), salt to taste (maybe about 1/2 a tablespoon), 1/4 cup of freshly chopped cilantro leaves and 1 tablespoon of yogurt.

If you noticed, I did not add too much of any spice...that is 'cos the stronger the spices, the more they dominate the sweetness of the sweet potatoes...so be as miserly as you can with the spices. Now mix all of them together and add about a 1/4th cup of chickpea flour. You will see that the color doesn't change much...and it doesn't have to. The flour is just a binding agent and if you use too much of it, your cutlets will taste floury.

Now that you have the mixture ready, heat oil in a wide skillet. How much oil? Well...let's see...your cutlets will be about 1 centimeter thick...so when you put the cutlets in the skillet, the bottom half must be immersed in the oil...I hope that wasn't confusing :) (maybe the picture below will help)

Anyway, while the oil is heating up, let's make the cutlets...now you can do it in two ways:

Take a ziploc bag, coat one side with a dot of oil, take a small dollop of the sweet potato mixture and make a patty...now turn the patty with the ziploc cover upside down onto your fingers and thanks to the oil on the ziploc, the patty will slip right out.

OR

Take a small dollop of the mixture onto your fingers, flatten it out with your thumb and put it in the skillet. (This is what I usually do)

Let the cutlets fry for about 1 or 2 minutes on each side, until they are a rich golden brown. And you know the rest, take the cutlets out, place them on a paper napkin so all the oil drains out, serve with any sweet chutney and enjoy ;)

To summarize the ingredients for you:
- Sweet potatoes - 2
- Garam Masala - 1/2 tablespoon
- Freshly grated ginger - 1/4 tablespoon
- Salt - 1/2 tablespoon
- Freshly chopped cilantro leaves - 1/4 cup
- Yogurt - 1 tablespoon
- Chickpea flour - 1/4 cup

Inspired from - Bal Arneson, Spice Goddess from the Cooking Channel

My Inspiration

Hi All,

A few days ago I finally saw this movie "Juile & Julia" (I have been waiting for almost a year to watch it). The plot runs around two stories from different generations...one of Julia Child, an American Chef recognized for introducing French Cuisine to the American "servantless" public...and the other around Julie Powell, an American write who was obsessed with Julia Child's cooking. So much so that she started a project "The Julie/Julia Project", a blog chronicling her attempt to cook all the recipes in Ms. Child's book Master the Art of French Cooking.

The movie inspired me, in that, it reminded me of the numerous times I wanted to write a blog about cooking. Every time I thought of it...the hundreds of blogs that already exist on cooking came to mind and I gave up the idea. But when I saw this movie, I said...well...I experiment in my kitchen (my husband's my guinea pig)...and I have a number of recipes and tips I'd like to share and also preserve...so why not. I hope you enjoy my attempt at chronicling recipes from various sources that include my grandmother's cookbook (recipes she collected from TV shows and magazines), my mom's recipes and different websites on the internet.

About me: I am a true-blue South Indian...and I enjoy rice more than rotis :) no no...don't stop reading...there will be recipes of dishes from different cuisines - don't worry! :)

I hope you enjoy my blog...have fun :)

Gayatri

PS - Thanks to my husband and sister-in-law...for telling me (a million times) that I can do this :)