makkai di roti & sarson ka saag

The famous and mouthwatering punjabi dish,which is so authentic and mindblowing is simply deluctable , a proper north indian whole meal which is very famous in road side dhabas.I followed this recipe from my recipe indian cook book,Shobha indani's cookery book.This dish is a perfect winter dish which can easily warm you up.Sarson means mustard and makai means corn( maize flour ),this combination of mustard leaves and maize flour bread is something to die for ,the combination is simply unbeatable .

MAKAI KI ROTI :
Approx will make 8-10 rotis..
ingredients :
2 cups makkai ka aata ( maize flour )
1/4 cup gehun ka aata /normal regular chapati flour (wheat flour)
salt to taste
butter as required
luke warm water as required
zip lock bag or thick plastic sheet
method :
Mix both the flours,add salt and pour little water at a time to make a soft pliable dough.Cover the dough and keep aside for 15-20 mins.Rub the dough with few drops of oil.take a ziplock bag,cut it from two sides,open it ,wet the bag from centre with few drops of water,take one golf size ball from the dough.Keep this dough on the centre of ziplock bag ,cover the bag from another side and roll the dough with a roller or you can press the dough with palms and make it big in size say about a saucer size.Wet your hands again and remove the dough from the plastic sheet carefully and slap it on the preheated tava or pan.Roast it both the sides for few seconds and then on direct flame roast the roti both the sides,put a blob of butter on roti and serve immediately with sarson ka saag.

SARSON KA SAAG :
Approx for 4-5 ppl
ingredients :
2 cups chopped sarson leaves (mustard leaves)
1 cup chopped spinach leaves ( palak )
1tbsp maize flour ( makai ka aata )
1 chopped onion
1chopped tomato
2-3 garlic cloves
1 small pc ginger
1-2 green chillies
salt to taste
1tsp red chilli pwd
1tsp garam masala
1tsp turmeric pwd
ghee/oil
butter
method :
Pressure cook sarson ,spinach leaves,half of the chopped onions,half of chopped tomatoes,ginger,green chillies,garlic cloves adding little water.Cook till they are tender.Let it cool and grind into a paste.Heat oil,fry chopped onions and tomatoes till tender,add the masalas and sarson paste.Fry well ,simmer,add maize flour and stir till the gravy comes to boil.Simmer for 10-15 mins, add a blob of butter and serve hot with makai ki roti.

BREAK !!

Hello friends,PALATE CORNER is taking a short break for about 1-1/2 mths and heading towards India and so wont be able to visit all my fellow bloggers space for sometime and hence sorry for that,will surely miss all the lovely dishes but no worries will soon try and catch up those as and when get some time.I hope you all have a safe and peaceful DIWALI,keep rocking dear friends ! seeya after a short break !!

punjab di kadhi

I luv this punjabi style pakodi ki kadhi very much and infact this is my first post on kadhi,was just wondering i like kadhis more than dal on my daily basis cooking and still have not posted single recipe ,was thinking it is so common in my kitchen as twice a week atleast i make different type of kadhis so never thought of posting it, but offlate i came across so many kadhi recipes in blogosphere that i had to post one too in my blog ;) ,this pakode ki kadhi is actually a thick punjabi kadhi but in my style as this is what i prefer and make always,actually i had invited few of my friends on dinner last weekend and had made proper punjabi menu as makki ki roti de sarson ka saag,pakode ki kadhi and plain rice,aaloo gobi etc.but since im going on a short break i wont have time to post these recipes  so now im just sharing my punjabi kadhi and rest will share after my short break to INDIA.Sending this to pari for hosting this mth's flavours of punjab event ,started by nayna

Approx for 6-8 ppl

ingredients for kadhi :

2 cups thick curd

5-6 tbsp besan/gram flour

salt to taste

6-7 cups of water

for tempering :

2 tbsp ghee/oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tsp grated ginger

1/2 tsp hing/asafoetida pwd

1/2 tsp turmeric pwd

1 tsp red chilli pwd

1-2 chopped green chillies

5-6 broken curry leaves

1 small onion finely sliced

for pakodi :

1 cup besan/gram flour

1/2 cup water or little more to make a thick paste/batter

2 tbsp chopped onions

1/4 tsp carom seeds

1-2 green chillies chopped

1/4 tsp soda bi-carb

1/4 tsp red chilli pwd

2 tbsp chopped corriander leaves

salt to taste 

oil to deep fry

method :

Beat curd,add gram flour and beat well till all the lumps are gone,if not then strain the curd and gram flour mixture with steel strainer,add salt and water and mix well.Heat ghee,clutter mustard seeds,cumin seeds,add hing ,curry leaves,green chillies,fenugreek seeds,ginger and onions.Fry onions till transparent,add chilli pwd and turmeric pwd and the curd -gram flour mixture,stir continuosly without any breaks till one boil,lower the flame and simmer till half an hour stirring at intervals.

For pakodi,mix gram flour/besan,water and beat well till lumps are gone,add rest of ingredients except oil and mix well.Heat oil and deep fry about 1 tsp of batter into it,fry till evenly brown and strain on paper towel.Immerse these pakodis into kadhi and simmer the kadhi for few mins,garnish with corriander leaves and serve immediately with rice/rotis.

gozleme,a turkish flat bread !

Gozleme is a turkish flat bread,very traditional,common and popular street food in turkey .Its basically stuffed flat bread/paratha with spinach and two types of cheese,feta and mozerella,or pumpkin filling or some other non-veg filling but since i am vegeterian and this blog is also a vegeterian food blog ,the spinach stuff was the best and perfect one for me,i had tasted this dish first,an yr back in tesselar tulip festival in melbourne,it was a wine and food festival weekend and we had this lovely dish over there and since then we 3 became fan of gozlemes.A couple of weeks back ,on a sunday we had been to docklands sunday market  at water front city,very close to our house,hardly 5-10 mins walk and we 3 went for a stroll that day and we found a small food stall named as  mama's gozleme in that market and immediatley we remembered our trip to tulip farms and we ordered for spinach and cheese gozleme,the taste was awesome and much better than the one which we had in tulip farms and when i told the lady who was making them that i loved these gozlemes , i ended up asking her the recipe if she could share and she immediately told me the recipe roughly and the very next day i made them in my kitchen,it was more or less the same taste and i was glad,again the next weekend i went there and thanked her for the recipe,she was highly impressed when she came to know i made them at my home,this dish is really very simple and easy to make just that the breads are indeed very flat and thin and it depends if you want crisp you can add semolina or else you can skip them and just roll the dough in plain flour for soft flat breads which we had in tulip festival,we liked the crisp one better :))

ingredients for the dough :

1-11/2 cup plain flour

1 tsp active dried yeast

salt to taste

warm water as required

ingredients for stuffing :

1 cup fresh chopped spinach leaves

1/2 cup mixed shredded feta and mozeralla cheese

1/2 cup plain flour + 2 tbsp coarse semolina (rava ) for dusting

olive oil as required for frying

lemon slices

method :

Mix flour,salt and yeast together in a mixing bowl,add water as required and knead a soft dough.Grease a bowl and place this dough and cover it with a cling film and let it rest for 30-40 mins or till double in size,punch it down and divide into lemon size balls.Roll out the balls into very thin circular discs/round/oval shape using the dry flour & rava mixture.Mix the spinach leaves ,feta and mozerella cheese together .Place handful of this mixture on one side of the rolled disc,cover with the other end and press the sides with the finger so that both the ends stick together nicely.Heat the tava/griddle/pan,drizzle generously some olive oil all over and fry the flat bread both the sides evenly till you see brown spots and crisp.Serve hot with lemon slices,squeeze the lemon juice all over the flat bread and njoy the turkish bread.

pls note :

Since feta cheese and mozerrela cheese are salty i didnt add any salt and actually it was not required so pls avoid adding salt in this stuffing.

the thinner the rolled dough,the better will be the dish,so try and roll out thin discs.

Below r the pics of tulip festival's gozleme food counter..

chocochip cookies

This choco chip cookies are usually favourites of all ,very less ingredients,easy and simple recipe ,i had taken this recipe from my friend sonali (bagad )a couple of months back and made long time ago,but somehow didnt post it,actually the pics were not uploaded and not too good so thats why  i didnt post this recipe ,but today when my daughter asked me to make some cookies i suddenly remembered and i immediately found out this recipe in my drafts and thought of posting it.Thanx sonali for this wonderful cookies recipe and im so sorry to post it late :P

ingredients :

11/2 cup selfraising flour 

180gm softened butter ( at room temp)

1/2 cup condensed milk

1/3 cup sugar ( pls adjust acc to your taste ,i used little less )

150gms  choco chips ( i used dark ones )

method :

Preheat the oven at 180c ,beat butter and sugar till light and creamy,add condensed milk and beat few more mins or until thoroughly combined.Fold in the flour and stir,add chocochips and mix gently into a dough.Roll out small walnut size balls and slightly flat them and place them approx 1 inch apart from each other ,on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 mins or till evenly brown.Remove from the oven and let it cool down for 5-10 mins and then remove the cookies as they might be still soft when warm,you can store these cookies for a week in air tight containers.

Sending this to akila's DNSW : C event.

bharva bhindi / stuffed okra

This is my dearest mom-in-law's recipe,very easy and simple to make,with less ingredients and yet delicious,i simply freak on this kind of stuffed okras very much,i love to have these kind of bhindi with dal-chawal or kadhi-roti and bharva bhindi.......yum!mouthwatering ..isnt it ?

approx 4-6 ppl

ingredients :

18-20 pieces of bhindi/okra/lady finger

2 tbsp roasted peanuts coarse pwd

1 tbsp red chilli pwd

2 tbsp corriander pwd

1 tsp amchur pwd

1/4 tsp turmeric pwd

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds + 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

salt to taste

method :

Wash okra thoroughly under cold running water,strain and wipe dry them.Knock out the ends of it and give a slit in centre such a way that the bhindis are not cut apart,still one and just a small pocket kind of thing in their stomach.Mix corriander pwd,red chilli pwd,salt,amchur pwd and ground nut pwd together.Add very little water to these spices so that all  are mix well and forms a paste kind.Stuff this little in each bhindi in the slits carefully.Heat oil,splutter cumin and mustard ,add turmeric and all the bhindi pieces.Cover and cook on a low flame for few mins,then remove the lid ,stir and flip the bhindis carefully and cook again for few mins without covering.Switch of the flame when the bhindis are tender enough and dark in colour.Serve hot with rotis/dal and rice.

Flaky Puff Pizza ...Domino's style ;-)

Have u ever been to Domino's recently and had their new vegeroma,square flaky puff pizzas ??If not then u should definately try once,i really liked it as it was very simple , light and at one glance you would know that u can make this at home..trust me this is the simplest of all and more over very instant one ,if  you have any unexpected gusts at home u can really try this one ,it would be a change over with your ready rolled store bought puff sheets ,this was my first attempt hence it was not that neat but dont go by pictures,the taste was simply awesome and delectable,it was really difficult for me to take these many pics as we all wanted to eat right away,straight from the oven and didnt wanted to waste a single minute on taking pics and plating it up :)).

makes 2 thin puff pizzas

ingredients :

2 ready store bought puff pastry sheets

1onion chopped

1 tomato chopped

8-9 jalepenos

8-9 pitted olives

1-1/2 cup shredded mozerella cheese

4 tbsp pizza sauce /tomato sauce ( i used store bought pizza sauce )

dried oregeno/pizza topper for taste

salt and black pepper pwd to taste

method :

Thaw the pastry sheets,spread the pizza sauce on one side.Preheat the oven at 200c.Spread shredded cheese,chopped onions,tomatoes,jalepenos,olives on to it,sprinkle some pizza topper or oregeno,salt and pepper and place it on a greased baking tray.Fold around 1/2 inch towards inside of the sheet from all the sides and place the baking tray in the preheated oven for about 10-12 mins or till the cheese is melted and the puff sheet is golden brown in colour,remove from the oven and cut into desired sizes and serve immediately.

pls note :

While baking the puff sheet might puff up (blow up ) from centre but dont worry once it is out of the oven it will settle down back.

You can make your own topping with ur fav veggies so go ahead and make your own flaky puff pizza .

Crispy Finger Millet Pancakes/ Crispy Ragi Dosa

This is the healthiest dosa of all,perfect for people who have diabetes ,a low calorie and have a high nutritional  value.Ragi/finger millet is very common in southern parts of india and i came across this dosa,seven yrs back ,right after my marraige until then i had never used or consumed ragi flour.I was newly married and was staying in a rented house with my hubby in bangalore and the owner of the house were staying right below my house,the land lady was too good and fortunately a very good cook  but she didnt knew hindi etall and i didnt knew kannada but she could understand a bit of english and so it was little difficult to communicate,once she made these wonderful ragi dosa for us and i was very impressed also my hubby is very fond of ragi dosa and ragi rottis so he told me to take recipe from her,but when i went and asked her she was not able to explain me and so she immediately gave me demo in her kitchen and this is how i learnt from her,on that day itself i had noted the recipe in my book.I am really thankful to mrs somshekhar  for letting me know such healthy and power packed dosas ,its now a regular meal in my kitchen.

makes 8-10 dosas
ingredients :
1/2 cup ragi flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup chopped fresh methi leaves/1 small cube frozen methi ,wash and use after thawing it.
1-2 tbsp chopped corriander leaves
1 small finely chopped onion
1-2 finely chopped green chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp crushed black pepper corns
salt to taste
oil as required
water as required
method :
Mix all the ingredients together except oil with enough water to make a thin ( like buttermilk ) consistency batter.Rest this batter for 10-15 mins.Mix well ,heat a non-stick  pan/tava/griddle on high flame,the tava should be baking hot,sprinkle the batter from little high to form a circular shape,drizzle 1-2 tsps of oil generously,flip over and let it cook for few mins till crisp and serve hot with coconut chutney/tomato chutney.
pls note :
1.you can add 1/2 cup yogurt and rest water to make soft dosas or only water to make crispy like rava dosas.
2.If making crispy dosas the tava should be smoking hot and just spread the batter from little top to get the web like look in your dosas.
3.you can add any greens like corriander leaves,spring onion,spinach leaves ,grated bottle gourd or fenugreek leaves for flavour of your own choice.
Linking this to priya's bookmarked recipes-every tuesday event.

hummus

Hummus is a dip/spread mainly used on pita breads and made up of healthy,nutritional and powerpacked legumes, chickpeas.It is very easy,simple and healthy dish ,any one can make this dish with less and simple ingredients and best goes well with falafels.You can add your own flavours in this dip like corriander leaves,pine nuts,parsely,artichokes or any herbs which u like to make it more flavourful.

makes approx 1 cup of hummus
ingredients :
1 cup chickpeas/chole/kabuli chana
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp yogurt ( i used low fat greek style )
2 tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp lemon juice
salt to taste
red chilli pwd to taste
1-2 tbsp chopped parsely/corriander leaves
method :
Wash and soak chickpeas overnight,pressure cook till tender,strain the water and keep the water aside.In a blender ,blend cooked choley and all the rest of the ingredients to make  a thick coarse paste,if required add some leftover water from chickpeas (say abt 1-2 tbsp ) and mix well.Serve with falafels/use as a spread in falafel wraps.
Recipe is adapted from tarla dalal.Sending this to nithu for guest hosting CWF-LB :CHICKPEAS ,an event by kiran  and sending it to ayeesha for her event any one can cook- series 3.
 

falafels

Falafels are basically a very common middle eastern food made up of chickpeas which is the key ingredient in this dish,its a very healthy dish ,it is not too oily when deep fried and tastes best with the hummus dip and in pita bread/tortillas as wraps.I had tasted this first time when i was in dubai for a holiday ,3 yrs back and after that here in melbourne,now its one of our  common favourite during luncheon ,but it was long we had it now and so decided to give it a try on my own and it turned out super delicious and i wont exaggerate but according to my dear hubby AJ, he said he would now prefer eating home made falafels anytime :)),coming soon my home made hummus dip recipe so stay tuned guys ;-)

makes 25-28 falafels

ingredients for falafel :

2 cups chickpeas

4-5 garlic cloves

1 cup chopped  parsely

2-3 tspn red chilli pwd

2 tsp corriander pwd

2 tsp cumin pwd

1/4 cup plain flour/maida

2 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste
oil for deep frying

method :

Wash and soak chickpeas,pressure cook till tender,strain the water,add rest of the  ingredients except plain flour and crush in mixer into coarse paste.Add plain flour and mix well. Make small, walnut size balls,slightly flattened them and deep fry in hot oil on medium flame.

makes 4 wraps 

ingredients for falafel wraps :

4 tortillas or pita bread/pita pockets ( store bought/home made )

12 falafels

1 cup hummus

shredded lettuce as per required

few onion slices

tomato ketch up

mix salads of your choice ( cucumers,tomatoes etc )

method : 

Heat tortillas for few seconds both the sides on a non stick pan,spread generously around 2-3 tbsp of hummus all over the tortilla ,place 3 falafels in the centre of the tortilla ,slightly pressed through your palms ,squeeze some tomato ketchup ,throw some salads,lettuces,onions on it and wrap it up,fold it like rolls and Njoy eating immediately.
Sending this to nithu for guest hosting CWF - LB : CHICKPEAS ,an event by Kiran.

ooey-gooey chocolaty puffs :D

This is the easiest dish i have ever made till date ,and was awesomely delish.In PRIYA'S words its" the easy breezy snack, perfect for the lazy evenings" and its so true,this is her recipe,so please have a look to the original recipe which i had bookmarked the day she posted on her blog.This is specially for a die hard  chocolate fans like my daughter,she is ready for chocolates any time of the day/night and she loved it like anything.It is made up of very simple and less ingredients and to top it ,any one can cook,even an 8-10yr old or even a bachelor for that matter can make these puffs ,also perfect for beginners and hardly it takes any time to cook and prepare,so with all these matching criterias im sending my chocolate puffs to ayeesha for her event "any one can cook "-a weekly event.Since its tuesday today and fortunately this recipe is a bookmarked one,im sending it to bookmarked recipes-every tuesday event started by priya and co-hosted by aipi.

makes 4 small puffs
ingredients :
1 ready rolled-store bought puff pastry sheet
few chocolate blocks/squares ( i used dark chocolate or you can use any leftover chocolate bars available at home )
1 tbsp milk ( optional,used just for glaze on puffs )

method :
Thaw the pastry sheet for 5-8 mins,cut into equal 4 parts,place 3-4 ( or depending on how much chocolaty taste u prefer ) small squares of chocolate bars in the centre of the sheets,bring the two ends togther and close the puffs ,using a fork press along the edges ( 3 sides) to give an impression and it will also help in sealing the edges.Brush the top of the pastries with little milk and place the puffs on a greased baking tray in a preheated oven at 190c or 350f for 10-12 mins or until the it is golden brown in colour and crisp.Serve hot with tea/coffee or on its own.

dinkache laadoo/gond ke ladoo/edible gum sweet balls

"Dink "..means gond/goond/edible gum in marathi language and this is a maharashtrian style of ladoo which are made specially for post delivery women which helps with the lactation  for the new born child,it is meant to be very healthy and nutritional ,also perfect for winters as it provides heat in the body,here the ladoos are not roasted ,very easy to make and  takes less time in making,not required much of ghee and can be stored for quite a few days,today i made these ladoos for my dear friend as she delivered a cute little girl exactly a week back and thought these would be apt for her at this point of stage,i hope she likes them :)

ingredients :
1/2 cup gond/goond/edible gum
1 cup cashew nuts (unsalted-unroasted )
11/2 cups almonds (unsalted-unroasted )
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup dry dates ( deseeded )
1/2 cup dessicated fine coconut
11/2 cups sugar (add more or less acc to your taste )
1/4th cup to 1/2 cup melted ghee ( add more or less accordingly when required for  binding )
method :
Grind sugar, almonds ,cashew nuts,dates and goond all seperately one by one into powder form,add coconut.Mix all together,add ghee and bind the mixture in desired size ladoos,you can store this ladoos for a fortnight.
pls  note :
1. the difficult part is to deseed the dry dates,as they are very hard,if not with a sharp knife you can add them in your mixie jar and grind the dates with switching on and off the mixer knob for seconds and the seeds will be automatically deseeded and then u can remove the seeds from the jar and grind the dates again into powder.
Sending these ladoos to nithu bala for guest hosting celeberating sweets-ladoo ,an event by nivedita and sending my first picture to sana for her event colour your palate-"a visual treat ."