Sharing some of the pictures of the food that I cooked in my Kitchen in the recent past. It was a great time creating this art on my food and thought to go ahead and share it today and not wait for the recipe post to be written. It will follow eventually but until then do enjoy these pics.
Ashus Focaccia Garden (before baking)Ashus Focaccia Garden (after baking)Ashus Spinach & Cheese Tumbler BreadAshus Focaccia Bread. (Smile, these days too shall pass.)Ashus Laddi Pav/ Soft Bread Rolls Ashus Fruit art -Fruits on my plate
It has been so much fun to create these recipes and each of these food moments was memorable. Trust you all too enjoyed these images as much as I loved creating them.
Hope all are keeping safe and enjoying healthy eating.
Finally, after a very long Summer break, the schools here have reopened on the 10th of September. This reminded me to make this post of my regularly cooked recipe, the most preferred school lunch snacks/meals, read it as food that is readily welcomed by my fussy eater. To keep lunch box as healthy, nutritious and as well as filling, I always have preferred to pack different types of parathas or wraps or rolls as part of the afternoon meal, using the ingredient list that my kids like. Sharing today my Paneer Paratha recipe, one of the favorite food of my kids.
I use the fresh paneer for making the filling and the wholewheat flour dough for making the outer paratha coat. The parathas are made thin and medium-sized and ghee roasted to make them crisper. I don’t like very big and thicker parathas, keeping them medium and thin helps to control the portion size and one avoids eating in excess. One should use these simple and useful tips and watch the quantity intake of the food they eat at any given meal. It is a general tendency with all of us to eat in excess when one likes something or is eating a favorite food.
ashu’s Paneer Paratha
PANEER PARATHAS
INGREDIENTS: For Paneer Filling:
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Fresh Paneer (cottage cheese) : 300 gm
Onion: 1 Medium
Green chilies: 2-3 nos
Green Coriander: few leaves
Cumin : 1 Tsp
Salt & Pepper : To taste
Ghee/Cooking oil: As per taste preference
Dough: (Click the link for fulka to make the dough)
Wholewheat flour: 200 gm
Water: 100 ml (or as needed)
Note: Follow the above given recipe link to make the paratha dough.
ashus recipe: Wholewheat flour dough
METHOD:
Filling: Grate the paneer and keep in bowl. Finely chop the onion, green chilies and the coriander, and mix with paneer. Add the cumin as it is or use a coarsely, roasted powder. To make the cumin powder, dry roast the cumin and coarsely crush it using mortar and pestle or simply ground it using the rolling pin. Season the paneer with salt and pepper as per taste. One can also add chat masala powder if preferred.
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Make the medium soft dough of the wheat flour, and use lemon-sized dough balls for making the parathas.
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Roll the ball to make a small puri and fill 3 tbsp filling into this.
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Hold the ends of the puri and giving a circular twist close it tightly and cut away the excess dough from top.
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Dust this paneer-filled dough ball lightly in flour and then using a rolling pin roll it into a medium-to-thin paratha.
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Heat a Tava or fry pan on the gas burner, put the paratha on the tava and cook on both sides.
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Then using a tsp of ghee on both sides, roast it to make it crisp and golden. One can also use any cooking oil for roasting the parathas.
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Serve the parathas as is or cut it into triangles using a pizza cutter and arrange on a plate as shown. Serve with any chutney or tomato ketchup as per preference.
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
ashus recipe-Paneer paratha
Give this paratha a try in your kitchen to find out if you all like the taste. Happy cooking and eating homemade food.
For me traveling to different places necessarily also includes tasting the local cuisine and getting to know the names of their food dishes. During my recent Budapest visit, one of the days we ate at the local street food restaurant and the sight and taste of their flatbread totally made me think of our very own Bhaturas. They called it Lángos, it is the Hungarian street food that is a deep-fried flat bread made using refined flour, yeast, water or milk. They also use potato and sour cream or yogurt to make this and the name changes accordingly.
Through this post I wished to highlight the similarities of the breads that go by different names in two different countries, which are geographically far away from each other. In North India we have our Bhaturas that are made using refined flour and yogurt (I make use of this). I have been observing this very fascinating food fact about breads in different countries that I have traveled so far. The basic ingredients of the breads is very much common around most parts. (You can check out my older post about the Georgian breadhere.)
Sharing my Bhatura recipe and also the pictures of the Hungarian street food from my recent travels.
BHATURAS
INGREDIENTS:
Refined Flour: 250 gm
Sour curd: 100 ml
Ajwain/Carom seeds: 1 Tsp
Water: 100 ml
Salt: 1 Tsp
Cooking oil: for frying
METHOD:
Take the refined flour and add the salt and Ajwain to it and mix. Add the curd and mix well, we get a lumpy flour mix.
Ingredients for Bhaturas
Flour mixed with curd to make Bhaturas
Sticky Bhatura dough
Using the water make a loose dough, it will be sticky. Use some oil to prevent it from sticking to the palm and make a round ball and keep this in the bowl and cover with kitchen towel. Keep this bowl in a warm place for 2-3 hours. For these bhaturas I do not keep the dough in warm place over night. I prefer the taste and flavor of the bhaturas with short leavening time. (had seen a north Indian friend keep the dough overnight and then made the bhaturas).
Roll out the Bhaturas
Note: (I prefer to make them a bit smaller than the regular bhaturas seen in restaurants as then I do not need to pour too much oil in the Kadai for frying. It is not a healthy habit to keep the leftover heated oil for reuse)
Heat cooking oil in a Kadai and deep fry the rolled out bhaturas until they become puffed up golden on both side. Pressing them with the fry ladle skimmer while frying in oil helps to puff them up.
Bhaturas
These were served hot with spicy masala chole.
ashu’s Chole Bhature
Hungarian Lángos
Sharing below pictures that I clicked of the Hungarian Lángos displayed in the restaurant in Budapest.
ashu’s photography
ashu’s photography
ashu’s photography-Lángos with sour cream and cheese
ashu’s photography-Lángos with Chicken Goulash
This plate of the bread with the chicken goulash was very tasty, very close to my cooking style and taste preference. We enjoyed tasting this new dish and loved our dinner at this Budapest restaurant that evening.
I hope you all liked this post as much as I loved cooking the bhaturas and writing and sharing the pictures with you all here.
Enjoy home cooking and eating with the family at the dinning table and create memories 🙂
This morning I made these quesadillas for breakfast and as it is a much liked recipe in my house, I thought of sharing it here with you all. A few basic ingredients are a must to make this at home. We need ready Basil pesto and mushroom filling to make this. I have already shared my recipes of the Basil pesto (click here) and Mushroom filling (click here), check them as previous posts .
I first tasted quesadilla in Chili’s Restaurant in Dubai, something which I would love to eat regularly was the thought that came instantly to mind after the first bite. New food or menus that I loved eating outside first time always end up being tried in my kitchen and getting included in my regular cooking/menus. Like in most Indian houses, I too make fulkas or chapatis or parathas on a daily basis, and hence I prefer to make use of these instead of the Tortillas that I would need to buy from the supermarket for making this recipe. I prefer our regular whole wheat flour to make them. Chapati (without oil) that I make is just a bigger size of the regular Fulkas that I make for our daily meals. (You can check my Fulka recipe here).
Before we start the recipe I would like to share that I prefer the Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses more in my cooking over other cheese used by the specific recipes. I stock on the Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano, whichever I find available in the supermarkets. I have used the cheese that were stocked in my fridge.
Cheddar Cheese slices : 6-8 slices (or you can use freshly shredded as per availability or requirement)
Parmesan Cheese: as per preference
Cooking Oil: 4 Tsp (use more if preferred)
METHOD:
Take 2 chapatis at a time and apply the basil pesto on both of them on one side each.
Basil Pesto and Mushroom filling and Chapatis to make the Quesadillas
Take 2 tbsp mushroom filling and spread it on one of the chapatis, cut the cheese slices in smaller pieces and spread over the filling, grate the Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese as per preference and cover it with the other chapati with pesto facing side and press firmly.
Basil pesto & Mushroom Quesadillas
Heat a tava or pan and put these chapatis on it and press firmly with a wooden spatula so that both sides get roasted crispy, melting the cheese inside. We can make use of 1 tsp oil to make them crisper.
Press firmly and roast on both side
Use oil to make more crisp
Remove them from the pan once both sides are reddish and crispy. Cut them into fours and serve hot with more of the Basil pesto or they can be eaten as it is.
Cut the quesadilla into fours
Grate more of the cheese on top if preferred
We can even dry roast them and avoid using oil if we want, I did make some without using oil.
Roasted without oil
ashu’s Basil Pesto & Mushroom Quesadillas
You can make the rest of the quesadillas in this way, with or without using oil. Apply the pesto, mushroom filling, and cheese as per own taste and enjoy these healthy and delicious Quesadillas for any meal of the day.
Tip: You can even make use of any leftover chapati or plain parathas to make the quesadilla with any filling of choice.
I enjoyed writing this post and sharing my simple homemade recipes with you all, hope you enjoy trying it out.
The food packed for the school lunchbox should be nutritious, healthy, balanced and most importantly appealing to the kids. It is always challenging to manage to pack food keeping all these factors in mind, especially if the kids are foodies and very picky in taste. My kids, like most kids love Paneer, it is a good source of Vegetarian protein. It is one of the best ingredients to make recipes that are quick, easy to make as well as nutrient packed. Sharing here today one of the many recipes of Paneer that I make in my kitchen, an extremely easy and yummy roll that is best for school lunch, as breakfast or a wholesome snack for a brunch or picnic or travelling. My Jr. does not like it if I pack the vegetables and roti or paratha seperately, and hence the Wrap or Rolls always are a welcome food item.
Almost all households with kitchen have the basic spices and condiments handy, using the fresh ingredients like the paneer, green coriander, spring onions, fresh peas the rolls have a softer and more juicy filling and are very tasty. If fresh paneer and peas are not available then we can make use of frozen one, as I have done for this one. Having lived in Vadodara I am very fond of using Amul products in my kitchen and hence I sometimes get the frozen paneer packet to stock up the fridge for moments when I cannot get the fresh paneer from the stores. I am sure most of you too must be using Amul products, and have eaten Amul butter and Cheese since childhood.
INGREDIENTS: (Makes 8-10 Rolls)
Paneer: 250 gm
Mutter/ Fresh Green Peas : 100 gm
Mixed Bell Peppers : 1 cup finely chopped
Onion/Spring onion: 1 Small
Oil: 2 Tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste: 1 tsp
Coriander Powder: 1 Tbsp
Red Chili Powder: 1 Tsp
Garam Masala Powder: 1 Tsp
Chat Masala Powder: 1 -2 Tbsp (as required)
Salt : To taste
Tomato: 1 small (Optional)
METHOD:
Defrost and dip the frozen paneer in hot water, this makes it softer. Drain and dry on a kitchen tissue roll. Grate or crumble the cubes and keep in a plate.
Heat a Kadai and put 2 tsp oil into it. Add the finely chopped onion.
Then add the ginger garlic paste, saute and then add the peppers and green peas. Cook for 3-4 minutes, fresh peas do not take long to cook.
Then add the paneer crumble and sprinkle all the dried spices and salt and mix well. Turn off the heat and lastly add the teaspoon of the garam masala powder.
The filling for the roll is ready.
Take the chapati and apply the parsley or Basil pesto if you have it handy, then take a tablespoon of the paneer filling and lay it on the chapati, sprinkle pinch of chaat masala and roll the chapati carefully and tightly so that the filling does not spill out.
Roll out this size Chapati
ashuskitchen recipe-Paneer Kathi Roll
Make all the rolls and keep them in the grill machine for couple minutes so that the rolls become crispy on the outside and retain the shape.
Cut the rolls and serve with a dip or simply pack them as is for the school or office lunchbox.
NOTE: The tomato can be finely chopped and spread over the filling if the rolls are eaten instantly or otherwise can be added to the Paneer filling when it is being cooked.
For making the chapati follow the fulka recipe here. I made the roti a bigger size than the Fulka and applied oil/ghee on top of the roti and cooked it on the Tava/fry pan and not puffing it on the gas stove as for Fulka.
For the Parsley or Basil pesto follow the recipe here.
You could avoid using the pesto and apply coriander mint chutney too if that is handy. I always keep these pesto handy in the refrigerator and hence I can make the rolls at any given time as all the ingredients are readily available in my kitchen.
This recipe was saved to draft and was supposed to be on the blog earlier in January, but I completely forgot about it. I had made these rolls for my daughter when she was attending a Concert in Abu Dhabi on the New Year’s eve 🙂 .
Hope you like this Zhat -pat recipe of mine and try it out in your kitchen.
Greetings from Ashu to all the readers. It has been a sudden unexpected absence from this online space of mine and I sure missed posting new posts. Starting this new day of March with one of my healthier recipes, Green Papaya Paratha that uses raw papaya as the main ingredient of the recipe.
Parathas are a common menu item in the Indian household, a well accepted food by all, be it the kids, young or old folks. One can have any number of possibilities or types of parathas. It is one of my favorite dishes to make for breakfast, nothing beats the hot stuffed parathas and achar/pickle on a chilly winter morning. I have very fond memories of the yummy parathas that I used to make in the winter months during my stay in North India.
Breakfast happens to be the most essential meal of the day and hence one should try and make sure to eat a wholesome, healthy one on a regular basis. The necessity to make a nutritious breakfast made me try out this different paratha, making use of the raw papaya that I had got from the market. Papaya fruit has lot of health benefits. It is a rich source of antioxidants and phytonutrients that work against free radicals, is great source of Vitamins A, B, C and K, a good source of fiber, also has the digestive enzyme Papain and thus helps in digestion too. It is also rich in calcium and some other minerals. The taste of grated raw papaya is also very refreshing and one can make use of it to make many dishes, but here I incorporated it to make the filling of the parathas and with little addition of oil, the crispy and hot parathas were heartily devoured. If you have not tried this paratha then I suggest you to try once and then decide.
Many a times one is faced with taking care of a sick loved one and is faced with the question to what type of food to include in the regular diet. This Paratha would make an excellent snack or meal menu option as it is wholesome, with vegetable that has fiber, vitamins, is good for digestion and as is a regularly made food item in Indian houses hence one does not have to put extra efforts in its preparation. When cooking for family or loved ones, do make the food with a smile and add loads of your love to it.
Recipe for Green Papaya Paratha:
INGREDIENTS:
Raw Green Papaya: 1 Small
Green Chilli: 2
Green Coriander: 1 Tbsp
Sesame seeds: 2 Tbsp
Carrom seeds: 1 Tsp
Wheat Flour: 250 Gm
Water: 1 Glass
Oil: 50 ml
Turmeric: 1 Tsp
Red Chili Powder: 1 Tsp (Optional)
Salt : To Taste
Chaat Masala: 2 Tsp
METHOD:
Wash and dry the raw papaya. Cut into half and remove the seeds if any. Grate both the halves of the papaya and put in a bowl.
Finely chop the green chilies and green coriander and add to the bowl of grated papaya.
Add sesame seeds, carom seeds, red chili powder, salt, turmeric, and mix all the ingredients of the bowl.
Grated Papaya with masala
In another bowl make a medium-soft dough of the wheat flour using water. For method of making wheat flour dough click here.
Make lemon-sized balls of the dough. Take a dough ball and roll out a small round puri and add the raw papaya filling, close the edges and again roll to make a circular Paratha.
Heat a Frypan or Tava on the gas flame and cook both side of the paratha, apply oil as per taste.
Cook paratha golden brown
Apply oil and Cook paratha on both side till golden brown or crispy.
Green Papaya Paratha/Flatbread
Once the parathas are ready, one can sprinkle Chaat masala powder over them and serve with either a yogurt raita or a mint yogurt chutney or Tomato Ketchup.
Satorya- A Marathi recipe made on occasion of Makar Sankranti. It is puri with TilGul (Sesame seeds and Jaggery) filling.
We all know that January is the first month of the English calendar, a month when all of us are geared up to bring in the new year with new goals, resolutions and lots of plans for the rest of the year.
In the Hindu calendar it is the month of Paush and it brings with it an auspicious harvest festival-Makar Sankranti. Different parts of India celebrates this harvest festival with different names, in Punjab it is called Lohri, in Tamil Nadu it is called Pongal, in Gujrat it is called Uttarayana, in Maharashtra it is called Markar sankranti etc. It is celebrated on the 14th of January, but this year it happens to be celebrated on the 15th. It is the harvest festival and all the new harvest crops are worshipped and shared. In Maharashtra, sesame seeds or Til and Jaggery or Gul that is made of the sugarcane is offered to the gods and shared with others in the form of sweets made of it. TilGul is given to all the family members and also distributed. The other harvest crops worshipped include green peas, carrots, sugarcane, ber, wheat, beans etc. In my house I have seen mother keeping all these crops along with tilgul as offerings or Prasad to the gods. Maharashtrian households do Makar Sankranti Haldi kumkum, a custom to invite married ladies and distribute these goods as ‘oti’ along with TilGul. The tilgul ladoo or laddu is very yum and it is very difficult to stop oneself from eating more than one. Both the til and gur are good for consumption in the winter season. Til is a good source of protein, and also rich in fibre , calcium, and iron. It is also used to make chutneys so that one can consume Til in our diet on a daily basis.
I have grown up eating tilgul delicacies that my mother made, she is an expert cook and a great foodie. I salute her enthusiastic spirit, is always lively, energetic, and ever ready to feed us her delicacies. Today on the occasion of Makar Sankranti I am sharing one of my aai’s (mother) recipe that I have grown up eating, always loved these puris, a grab it and munch along food relished so fondly Continue reading Makar Sankranti Special: TilGul Satorya→
Thank you to all who have appreciated and liked my yesterdays post of Vegetarian Dough Balls: Recipe 1. (Click here for the recipe.)
Today I am posting another recipe of Dough Balls, but with a different filling inside. As mentioned in the previous post the choice of filling makes as many varieties of the Dough balls as we choose to experiment. Small changes in ingredients gives each recipe the necessary twist and makes it unique in its own way. It is sometimes the simple ingredients available in the refrigerator that are sufficient to give us a complete new dish, we just need to let our imagination led us to create. I believe this is true in our day to day life too, one must not get into the routines of following the same pattern, we should always keep room for some change. To explain better giving an example, the same settings in the house over a long period makes it very dull and unappealing, and just a shift of position of the same furniture, and/or of the wall hangings, paintings, or even adding fresh indoor plants gives the same old room a complete makeover. For this one needs to make it happen, and unless we do not make the changes one would not know the difference it makes. Try it out for yourself and notice the change it brings. For me, adding lots of green indoor plants works the magic, makes the room more fresher and just makes the whole environment a more happy place.
The current recipe uses vegetables and cottage cheese. I was asked by my vegetarian friends to post vegetarian recipes too, this is for all those friends and my readers. I loved experimenting with these ingredients and the result was loved by all who ate, and sharing here I wish to spread this happiness to all of you who would give it a try.
Baking is a joy that needs to be experienced, I know how fast the baked dishes disappear from the plates, but the aroma that fills the house lingers on. These moments are the simple pleasures of life.
VEGETARIAN DOUGH BALLS:
INGREDIENTS:
Pizza Dough: 500gm (Please click here for the dough recipe).
Carrot: 1
French Beans: 100 gm
Green Peas: 50 gm
Onion: 1 Small
Cottage Cheese/Paneer: 150 gm
Oil: 1Tbsp (for cooking the vegetables)
SEASONING:
Salt: To taste
Chili Flakes: 2 Tsp
Black pepper powder: 1 Tsp
Dried Oregano: 1 Tsp
Mint Chutney: 1 Tbsp
METHOD:
Dice the Paneer and Carrot into small pieces. Finely chop the onion, and cut the French beans.
Heat a pan or Kadai over gas flame and add little oil and put the cut vegetables and peas and cook for 10 min. Add the seasonings and mix well. Add the grated/diced paneer and mix. Remove the pan from the gas stove and empty the contents into a bowl. As this cools add the mint chutney and mix well. (Recipe of the chutney to follow in the next post.) This is the filling for the dough balls.
Veg Dough Ball filling
Preheat the oven to 200 deg C.
Knead the pizza dough and make small balls of equal portion. Roll out each dough to form a circular shape puri and spoon 1-1/2 Tbsp filling in it.
Roll out the dough
Filling
Close the circular ends together giving it a ball shape. Let all the ends of the circular shaped dough meet, pressing firmly to join so that they do not open when getting baked and spill out the filling. Brush each dough ball with some olive oil or any cooking oil.
Dough Balls ready for Baking
Keep all the dough balls on a greased baking tray or tray lined with butter paper and put in the oven that is preheated to 200 deg C and bake for about 30-45 min, or until they are baked to perfection. The baking time would depend upon the size of the dough balls made. One can apply Olive oil again after they are half baked, this ensures they do not look dry. I applied oil after the baking was complete.
Baking in process
Vegetarian Dough Balls with the dip.
I served these baked delights with an oil dip. Recipe of the dip will be my next post, do visit again and check it out and leave your thoughts about the posts.
Have fun baking and enjoy these warm comforting vegetarian snacks and spread the happiness to your family members.
Early November I had a get-together at my place with my girl friends coming over for a lunch meet, our monthly fun-time together. When it is party time at home, I always believe in making and/or serving food that is a bit different from the routines. This is one of the dish that was served as a starter or finger food. It is a tasty and much appreciated recipe and I am glad to share it here with you all. As I started writing this post and was writing the title, I thought for a moment to decide on a different name, but I have always called these flavor filled yum bites by the name Dough Balls and hence I thought it was the most appropriate name and am going to stick to it. Dough Balls that I make are essentially made of pizza dough and are filled with filling of our choice. This gives us a lot of scope to experiment and we can have many varieties of the same dish but each bite becoming a different eating experience.
Italian food is favorite food at home, and Pizza is something that is welcome at any given time of the day. Pizza is my weakness, something that is difficult for me to resist, yeah even on days when I am consciously watching the calorie intake. It was a time before I started the blog that I had tried making something different of the left over pizza dough, and my familiarity with Indian tea-time snacks Samosa and Kachori had led me to try filling the pizza dough with a chicken filling and shape it like a ball that was later baked. The kids had absolutely loved it. Thus the new snack got added to the list of my homemade recipes. (Check out my Instagram for the pictures of the homemade recipes).
I make use of the pizza dough for making Pizza, Calzones and these yum Stuffed Dough Balls. You can check the Calzone recipe here.
Salads using bell peppers are a favorite and to make a filling for stuffing these dough balls using the different colored peppers gives it a very appealing and colorful appearance, not to forget the sweetish taste they add. It is healthy eating to incorporate colorful vegetables in our diet, and by using the different bell peppers we are adding color, taste and texture to the filling. Using the personal favorite cheeses and adding a dash of the seasoning of chilli flakes and dried herbs makes a very delectable bite of these yum baked goodies.
To make these we need the pizza dough.
CHEESE AND BELL PEPPERS STUFFED DOUGH BALLS:
INGREDIENTS:
Pizza Dough: 500 gm (Please click here for the dough recipe).
Bell Peppers: 1 small each (Red/Green/Yellow)
Onion: 1 small.
Cheddar Cheese: 100 gm
Paneer/Cottage Cheese: 50 gm
Parmesan Cheese: 50 gm (optional)
NOTE: As I love Parmesan cheese, I try to make use of it very often.
SEASONING:
Salt: To taste
Chili Flakes or black pepper powder: 1 Tsp
Dried Oregano: 1 Tsp
METHOD:
Grate the cheeses. Finely chop the Bell peppers and onion. Take a bowl and mix the cheeses and the chopped vegetables and add the seasoning. Season according to personal taste. Mix well. Our filling is ready for use.
Preheat the oven to 200 deg C.
Knead the pizza dough and make small balls of equal portion. Roll out each dough to form a circular shape puri and spoon 1-1/2 Tbsp filling in it. Close the circular ends together giving it a ball shape. Let all the ends of the circular shaped dough meet, pressing firmly to join so that they do not open when getting baked and spill out the filling. Brush each dough ball with some olive oil or any cooking oil.
Roll out the dough
Dough balls ready for baking.
Keep all the dough balls on a greased Aluminum foil or baking tray and put in the oven that is preheated to 200 deg C and bake for about 30-45 min, or until they are baked to perfection. The baking time would depend upon the size of the dough balls made.
Cheese and Bell Pepper stuffed Dough Balls
Serve these dough balls with sauce or dip of choice. I had made three dips/chutneys to serve for my house party: Mint Dip, Red Chili Chutney, and Plum Chutney.
Homemade dips/chutneys.
I am not very happy with the picture quality of the snaps but when cooking for a party and trying to finish up the baking work, I could manage only with this quality. My friends appreciated the appetizers that I served them and loved eating these yummy cheesy bites of delight.
If you are a pizza lover and a foodie like me then I would strongly recommend giving this recipe a try in your kitchen, it is not a complicated recipe and worth all the efforts that goes in home cooking. I believe it is always a fruitful experience to eat something unusual occasionally, and one does not necessarily have to enter the restaurants for that. Cooking at home gives us the opportunity to eat right and make use of the best products and minimize or eliminate the artificial products and flavors used in packaged, frozen, or processed foods. When we have control over what we are feeding to the body, we are on the correct path by being more responsible for the welfare of our health. It is rightly said: Health is Wealth.
My greetings to all who are reading this post. Finally I am back home here after a 20-day vacation to India to escape the harsh summer days of the UAE and to enjoy the rains in my hometown. With the schools re-opening after a gap it is back to packing nutritious lunch for my Jr. The Egg Frankie is one of the favorite lunchbox food in my household.
When living in a multicultural place with many nationalities and the subsequent presence of different cuisine restaurants and food outlets, with kids having specific food liking, it is a balancing act for this mother to give them as much healthy food as possible and also not to deny them convenience food/junk food that all kiddos are so much fond of. I have tried packing their lunch boxes with as healthy and always fresh homemade food with a lot of varieties of Wraps, Frankie, Parathas, Sandwiches, Burgers etc as snack time food or main meals and hence wish to share my recipes here with my Co-sisters, family members and all other readers who have small kids and who wish to introduce some new menu for the daily eating.
Wraps are the best on-the-go food item that can serve as a snack or main meal of the day. Being an Indian, and habituated to eating a complete balanced meal of rice, dal, roti and sabji during both the main meals of the day, I find Wraps as quite filling for the tummy and can become a complete meal with the addition of some accompaniments. The inside filling of the Wraps can be of anything, and this opens up a whole lot of food choices and combinations for us to decide and make use of. The whole family loves eating vegetarian, as well as non-vegetarian Wraps.
I first happened to eat this egg Frankie during my school days in the Coffee shop of my schoolmate. I had never even heard of it before as mother never made it. Her family had newly moved from Delhi and they had opened up a small Coffee and Frankie outlet. Egg rolls, as they are also known as, are very common sight on Delhi streets. The shop sold the best egg and chicken frankies then, freshly made in front of us and occasionally I would parcel them en-route home from school. Now I make these myself in my kitchen and my kids never say no to a frankie breakfast or for the school lunchbox. It is absolutely easy to prepare and the best in taste.
Let us get making these super yum breakfast-Egg Frankies. For the Wraps, I use the whole wheat flour dough for making the roti. You can look up the roti recipe here. One can use refined flour dough too, but I try to keep it as healthy a choice as possible.
INGREDIENTS: To make the dough Rolls: Click link to follow Fulka recipe to make rolls.
Whole wheat flour or Refined Flour: 2 Cups
Water: 1 glass, sufficient to make a medium-stiff dough
Eggs: 3
Onion: 1
Tomato: 1 Optional: Bell peppers-1
Lemon-1
Oil- 2 Tbsp
Seasoning:
Black Pepper powder: 2 Tsp
Chaat Masala: 1 Tbsp
Salt: To Taste
Makes 4-5 depending upon the roll size and thickness. The roll should be bigger and thicker than Fulka.
METHOD:
Make thin slices of the onion and tomato. The bell peppers should also be thinly sliced. Try and keep them the same length as the tomato and onion slices. Season the slices with salt, pepper powder and chaat masala.
Ingredients for making the Frankie rolls.
Break the eggs into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and beat using a whisk. keep this ready.
Follow the Fulka recipe, and roll out the dough to make a 8”-9” chappati (own preference). Heat a fry pan and put the chappati and cook on both sides, then pour the beaten egg mix on the roti and as the egg gets cooked add the oil.
Roti with beaten egg
Flip the egg part down and apply oil to top part of the roll, take care not to burn the egg. Flip the roll and let the bottom part get bit crisper, then remove from pan. Make all the Frankie rolls and keep.
Prepare the roll with the onion tomato filling.
Squeeze lemon juice, sprinkle salt, pepper, and chaat masala on the Frankie roll. Put the seasoned onion,tomato, and bell pepper slices on the Frankie and tightly roll it.
Egg Frankie Rolls
NOTE: One could use finely chopped green chilies or sprinkle red chili flakes on the frankie roll to make them more hot in taste. Adding Tandoori Chicken (for recipe click here) chunks inside the roll also makes them very tasty.
Tip: The bottom surface of the Frankie roll should be made a bit crisper, this makes the roll taste best and adds a crunch to the bite.
SERVING: Cut the roll into two by giving a slant cut using a sharp knife, and serve with either Tomato or Chili sauce.
I loved bringing this recipe to the blog, and hope you too would enjoy making it in your kitchen. Until the next post, here is wishing you all lots of happiness.
Fulka or Roti is the Indian flat bread made up of wholewheat flour. There are many types or variety of Indian breads like Chappatis, Parathas, many types of Naans & Puris, Kulchas etc. Most of the curries and Indian vegetable preparations go well with the Fulkas. I prefer this type of roti for my meals, I mentioned and posted picture in my previous post of Prawn curry (click for recipe).
In most of our Indian households the main meal of the day includes Roti, Vegetables, Rice, and Dal (Pulses), along with salads, assortment of Chutneys & Raita and Papads. Different states and regions have different staple food and most of the meals will have a set menu along with regular accompaniments. I have always found our Indian menus to be balanced diets, as they include all the required dietary components. I find the combination of Rice and Dal as the best. When on tours, away from home and eating restaurant food than this is the one homemade food that we all crave for. Though it is the simplest form of cooked food item, but it also happens to be the most loved one by all of us. ( I will be including my favorite Dal preparations as future posts.)
Coming back to Fulkas, these are best when freshly made, direct on the plate from the stove. Oh, it is so difficult to control the urge to eat more than the daily quota of rotis when they are served hot. If a favorite curry is made than one could end up eating unlimited number of fulkas, a personal experience from my school days! I have observed previous generation relatives having a big appetite and they would eat quite a number of chappatis, off course the size and thickness of the roti would not be the same as I have shown in this post. This could be attributed to the type of work they did, but it is a different story nowadays for the sedentary folks. Changing lifestyle, sedentary work habits, and ever evolving food habits have resulted in quite less consumption of rotis on a daily basis. We never ate outside food in hotels or restaurants so frequently as compared to my kids. Those days the outings were extremely rare treats that were given only on some special occasion.
In my cooking, I use the Fulkas as base for a variety of Wraps that I roll up for the kids. The inside filling of the Wrap is changed each time, the taste is maintained, and those eating the Wraps have no complaints, so this mom’s mission of giving them something nutritious, healthy is also accomplished. No need to buy the ready-made Tortillas!
For a first timer those many years ago, it was a difficult and different experience of roti making. If too much water gets added to the dough it becomes gooey and rotis cannot be rolled out without sticking to the rolling-pin. If less water is added and dough is not kneaded well then soft rotis cannot be made. But with patience and proper follow of the basic steps, the whole roti making process is easier.
I have to post some recipes using the rotis that will follow shortly and hence the need for starting with the basic roti-making post. For all the first timers, for making the roti, wish you have fun trying out the recipe.
INGREDIENTS:
wholewheat flour: 200 gm
Water: 1 Glass
Oil: 1 Tsp or less
Optional: Salt and Oil.
Note:
To keep the salt and oil intake minimum, I do not addsalt and oil to the wheat dough while making roti or fulkas. I use few drops of oil just to knead the dough and make it soft. Kneading properly results in soft and puffed up Fulkas.
The quantity of water required depends upon the quality of wheat flour used, so do use your own discretion for adding water to make the dough.
METHOD:
Take the wholewheat flour in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour water into the flour. Mix with each addition of water and form a medium soft dough. Keep it covered for 10-15 min.
Wholewheat flour and water to make the flour dough.
Drop few drops of oil on the dough and knead it well so that it becomes soft.
Soft wheat flour dough for making roti.
Divide dough into small lemon-sized balls and dust the rolling board and using some flour roll out thin circular shaped rotis.
The rolled out circular-shaped dough ball.
Heat a Tava or pan on the gas stove and put the roti onto the hot pan. Cook for few seconds and turn over so the other side gets cooked. Now lift the roti and turn and put it on the gas flame directly so that it gets puffed up. Once the roti puffs up over the flame, remove and store into airtight hot pot casseroles wrapped in kitchen towel or serve directly on to plates.
The steps after putting rolled flour dough on the Tava.
One could add ghee to the fulkas and keep, it tastes very good.
I can say I loved writing this post, even though I had a few interval breaks, at one stage the scare whether the incomplete draft got published by click of the button, and finally now when I sat to complete it I could not locate my saved draft. Well indeed quite a memorable post of mine so far in terms of writing and posting experience, and before I wrongly hit the delete button I should get this published. Happy reading!
Enjoy the roti making experience, different country maps being rolled out on the board as a first time experience! Have fun all of you who stopped by to read my post and reached this last line.
This is also one of the recipe that is extremely quick and easy to make, a not much effort needed types of recipe that could easily become your family favourite, hence maybe worth trying it out. Whenever I am cooking mince meat dishes or for that matter any recipe, I find it so amazing that the same meat or vegetable can taste so different by simply changing a few ingredients, or cooking it differently, and one can churn out so many dishes out of that one main ingredient. I like cooking food using fresh herbs, and try to keep the ingredients added list as small and simple, wishing to make the final result a tastier and more appealing one.
In this recipe, the meat is simply boiled and water is completely drained out of the cooked mince to which ginger, garlic, chillies, cumin, and spices are added and a filling is made, this is then filled inside a wholewheat flour dough ball, rolled, and baked crisp on a hot griddle.
I usually ask the butcher, at the supermarket, for removing all the visible fat layer present from the meat and then to make the mince, just to cut down on the fat. By adding these readily available at home ingredients, the recipe turns out to be one that is simply irresistible. The pictures below would help in understanding the cooking instructions better.
Ingredients:
For the minced lamb filling: Minced meat 300 g
Onion 1 medium-sized, chopped finely
Garlic- 6-8 cloves
Ginger-small piece
Green chillies 2-3 (according to ones preference)
Cumin- 1tsp
Garam masala- 1tsp
Red chilli powder- 2tsp (as per ones taste)
Turmeric and salt.
Green onion leaves for garnish.
For the outer coating – Wholewheat flour dough.
Wholewheat flour – 2 cups
Water- as needed to make a medium soft dough.
Oil- 2 tbsp.
Method:
Coarsely grind the ginger, garlic, and green chillies together.
Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds and finely chopped onion and fry till onions are pinkish and then add the ground ginger garlic mix and fry.
Add turmeric, red chilly powder, salt, fry for 1-2 min and then add the boiled, water drained out, mince meat (kheema) and mix. Sauté, and make the filling completely dry. Add the garam masala powder. Remove this filling from the pan onto a plate and cool. Use the spring onion greens for garnish.
Prepare the wheat flour dough.
Roll a small round puri of the dough ball, add the filling, and again roll to make a paratha. Bake this, on medium flame, on a griddle/pan, then smear it with oil, pressing on both sides and making the paratha crisp.
Now as you have reached the last snap, I am sure the snaps are mouth watering and you would love to try out the recipe to taste these irresistible Kheema parathas. These can be served with yogurt and mint chutney.
Note: We can sprinkle some chat masala too on the parathas as soon as we remove them from the tava.
Roll a small round puri of the dough ball, add the filling, and again roll to make a paratha. Bake this, on medium flame, on a griddle/pan, then smear it with oil, pressing on both sides and making the paratha crisp.
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