Cracked wheat and spinach khichdi

Ingredients

1 cup coarse cracked wheat
3/4 cup yellow moong daal
2 cups spinach chopped roughly
1/2 tsp whole black pepper
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
1 sprig curry leaves
1 whole red chilli
2 tbsp clarified butter/ghee
2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
5 cups water

Recipe

Pressure cook cracked wheat, moong daal and spinach in 5 cups of water for 3 whistles.
In a small pan, heat oil and clarified butter together on medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add cumin and mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add black pepper corns, asafoetida, red chilli. Lastly add curry leaves and immediately add to the cooked cracked wheat.
Add salt to taste.
Drizzle ghee/clarified butter on top(optional).
Serve hot with a pickle of choice.

Whole wheat pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 cup milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 egg

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp butter
Blueberries or any berries of choice
Maple syrup to drizzle on top

Recipe

Take cold milk in a cup and add lemon juice to it. Keep aside for 5 minutes.

Beat egg in a mixing bowl. 

Add milk and lemon juice mixture,sugar,oil to the egg and beat till everything blends.

Sift whole wheat flour,salt, baking soda and baking powder .Mix into the wet ingredients.

Mix with a spatula till everything just blends. Small lumps is fine in pancake batter.

Heat a pan on low. Brush some oil or butter on the pan

Pour a ladle full of batter into the pan.

after 30 seconds,try to lift the sides slowly using a wide spatula. 

Once the pancake is golden brown on the bottom side, flip it gently.

once the other side is also light brown,Use a toothpick and prick in the center to see if the pancake is cooked throughout.

Transfer to a plate.Drizzle maple syrup on top. Add some berries. Serve hot with a dollop of whipped cream or butter.

Grilled veggie and black beans taco

Ingredients

For Whole Wheat Tortillas:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp oil

For Grilled Vegetables:

1 medium Zucchini

1 medium Onion

1 Green Bell Pepper

1 Red Bell Pepper

1 tsp Chili Powder

1 tsp cumin Powder

1 tsp Black Salt

Oil to drizzle on the vegetables

Juice of 1 big lime

For Black Beans:

1/2 pound Black beans rinsed and soaked in water for 5-6 hours or overnight.

1 onion

1 Tbsp cumin powder

Juice of 1 big lime

1 tsp chili powder

3-4 cloves of garlic

Salt to taste

For Salsa:

1 medium Tomato chopped

1 medium Onion chopped

2 Tbsp Lime Juice

1 Tbsp finely chopped Cilantro

Salt to taste

Mexican Cheese mix for Garnishing.

Recipe

The Tortillas

In a bowl take the whole wheat flour, add salt and baking powder. mix well. add oil mix.

Add milk slowly to make a dough. Dough should not be sticky.

Knead the dough for 2 minutes.

After 2 minutes, dough should not stick to the hands and it should be smooth.

cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, make balls of the dough . Roll the balls into tortillas and cook them on a pan till brown spots appear on both sides.

Cover the prepared tortillas with a damp kitchen towel.

The Black Beans

Pressure cook the rinsed and soaked beans for 4 whistles.Alternatively, simmer beans in a pot full of water for 1 - 1 and 1/2 hours.

In a separate pan, add oil, fry onions till translucent. Add cumin powder, chilli powder, cooked beans and  salt. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Finally add lime juice and fresh cilantro.

The Salsa

In a bowl add the chopped onion, chopped tomato,cilantro, salt  and lime juice.

Mix well.

Grilling the Vegetables

Cut the zucchini lengthwise into 2 -3 slices.Cut Onions into rings. Cut bell peppers into big pieces and remove the seeds so  that they can be grilled.

Apply oil on the vegetables with a brush.

In a small bowl, add the chili powder, cumin powder, black salt.

Rub the vegetables with the above mixture.

Finally drizzle lime juice on top of vegetables.

Grill the veggies till dark lines appear. 

Once grilled, chop them into bite size pieces.

Assembling the Taco

Take a Tortilla, add beans on one side of tortilla.

Add the grilled vegetables on top of the beans.

Add salsa on top of grilled vegetables.

Sprinkle cheese and fold the tortilla into half.

Grill the taco.

Serve hot with lime and guacamole on the side.

Paneer Paratha

 

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 and half cups of water
2 cups Grated Paneer
1 green chilli
1 medium size onion minced
4-5 mint leaves finely chopped
Finely chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp lime juice
salt to taste
1 teaspoon Garam masala powder
1 Tbsp grated ginger
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds

Recipe

Prepare the dough

In a bowl take the whole wheat flour, add water slowly and make a dough. Refer to chapathi/phulka post to know how to make a dough. Keep the prepared dough aside for at least 10 minutes.

Prepare the filling

Heat a pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot add cumin seeds

After cumin seeds splutter, add grated paneer chilli, minced onion, mint leaves,cilantro,lime juice, salt garam masala powder and ginger.Keep sauteing till excess moisture gets evaporated.This is to make sure the paneer mixture is dry.

Prepare the paratha

Heat a Tawa/pan. Make equal number of balls of the dough and paneer mixture. The balls should be of same size. Take a dough ball and roll out a small chapathi. Stuff paneer into the chapathi and close the edges of the rolled chapathi together to make a ball again. Dust the stuffed ball in dry wheat flour and roll out gently to make a paratha. put the paratha on the tawa and wait till the paratha changes color. flip it to the other side and cook.keep pressing the paratha with the spatula. once brown spots appear, drizzle oil/butter on the paratha and cook till a golden brown color is seen on both sides. Serve hot with Raita and pickle or a curry

Phulka- Flat Bread made with Whole Wheat Flour

Phulka

Ingredients

1 cup of whole wheat flour(Makes 5 medium sized phulkas)
3/4 cup of water
1 tsp of oil
Butter/oil to apply on top

Recipe

Add the Whole wheat flour into a bowl.

Add dry flour to a bowl

Slowly add water to the dry flour and keep mixing.
After mixing in all the water the dough should look something like below.

Mix in water to the flour

Knead the dough for a minimum of 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes it should look soft and smooth, something like below

Soft and smooth dough after kneading for 5 minutes

The dough should not be too hard  or too soft  (it should not be sticking to the hands).
Drizzle 2-3 drops of oil on the dough,spread it evenly.
Cover and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Cover and rest

After 10 minutes, knead the dough for half a minute and make balls of equal size

Make balls

Heat up a flat griddle/Tawa . Medium-high is the usual setting that i use. A really hot griddle is the secret behind a good phulka.

Take one ball and dust it in dry whole wheat flour

Dust in dry flour

Start rolling with the help of a rolling pin.
Make sure that the thickness is even. If the phulka is uneven, then it may not fluff up.

Roll it even and flat

Put it on the hot tawa/griddle.

Put it on the hot tawa

Once the color starts to change and there are some brown spots on the bottom of phulka , flip it and let the other side cook for couple of seconds till some brown spots appear.

Flip once brown spots appear

Once the second side also gets brown spots,put it directly on the flame or here, i am using a steel mesh over an electric coil. This mesh can also be used on flame.

Put it directly on flame

Once the phulka puffs up turn it to the other side and keep it on for couple of seconds so that there are no uncooked spots.

Puffs up

Take off the flame and put it on a plate.
Apply oil/ghee on top and cover it with a tissue paper. This step can be ignored by health conscious people.

Stacked up phulkas

Serve hot with curry/daal/raita.