Peas Paranthas

I love stuffed paranthas. It reminds me of my dad. He loved stuffed paranthas and being a vegetarian he always ordered this in any Indian restaurant. I can't believe he left us so early in life. Jan 16th was his 61st B'day. Happy B'day Pappa....this is for you. I remember him everytime I makes paranthas and can almost see him at the dining table waiting eagerly. I wish you guys had known him...he was such a sweetheart. The most important thing I learnt from him was always see the good in people and see the positive side of life whenever you're down. I read this food blog a couple of days back where the author was so called "venting" but she said such mean things about such trivial issues with her co-workers that I was shocked. However hard or long your work day was what bitterness do you hold within you that makes you say such terribly nasty shallow things about people who mean no harm. There's a thin line between venting and being downright mean. What a waste of blog space!! After reading her post I thought of my dad and his sweet outlook on life...because of it he was a happy man. Remember people keep the happy thoughts in, throw out the bad ones and use that "hate" word sparingly. Well I have totally digressed from my main point...here is the recipe for paranthas stuffed with peas in my dad's memory.

Ingredients
2 cups peas, cooked in water
2 green chillies
1 tsp cumin
salt to taste
Dough recipe

Grind together the cooked peas, green chillies and cumin with salt to form a thick mixture. Roll out the whole wheat flour dough into a 2 inch thick 6 inch diameter circle.



Add a spoon full of peas mixture in the centre. Fold the dough over it and seal the edges to form a ball. Flatten the ball in some flour and roll gently using flour to prevent sticking or tearing. This can be hard especially since the peas mixture is mushy. I just rolled a much thicker dough than normal and it was still good. So roll the paranthas thick so as to not tear the dough and spill out the filling. Heat a pan. Place the parantha on it. Lightly brown on one side. Turn over. Add oil to the browned side and flip again to bring a golden brown glossy colour. Cook this way on both sides. Do not press the paranthas too much as this makes them hard. Serve hot with yoghurt.

The perfect phulka (indian whole wheat tortilla)

When I first got married I had no idea how to make good phulkas (also known as chapatis in some parts of India). Since I lived in an apartment with an electric stove, its hard to make phulkas which require an open flame. My aunt gave me a metal rack that can be placed over an electric coil and used to make phulkas. It worked amazingly well. The flour should be whole wheat. Stay away from Durrum flour (available in most indian stores). If your flour is whitish in color you are using the wrong whole wheat flour which is actually quite unhealthy. Your flour should be creamish light brown in color and the package should say whole wheat chapati flour (I use brand name Sujata from our Indian food grocer). My mother in law showed me this and it made a world of difference to my chapatis. Also key is the way you make the dough. So after several failed attempts I learned the perfect chapati technique and am sharing it with you. Its not rocket science but requires some practice. I have a video to add to help you but the server's giving me trouble uploading it...will put that up when I can.

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup hot water (not boiling but very hot)
2 tbsp oil
1 metal rack (available in any indian grocery store)
non stick flat pan
Metal tongs


Add salt to flour. Add hot water. Cover and leave for 15 to 30 minutes. Knead dough. Add water as needed until dough is soft and well mixed into a non sticky ball. Add oil and knead more. Dough should be soft but not sticky. Cover and keep aside for at least 15 minutes. Take a small portion of the dough, roll into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly and place in dry flour to coat both sides. Using a rolling pin, roll out a thin circular chapati using flour to prevent sticking, roll out a tortilla about 6 to 8 inches in diameter.



Heat pan well. Keep metal rack on the other coil on full heat. Roast chapati on both sides on the pan. Then transfer to metal rack. The chapati should rise.





Turn to other side using tongs.Be careful to not place the chapati on the metal rack for too long as the chapati can burn. Move to a covered dish, add ghee and cover. Serve hot.

Cauliflower Paranthas

Stuffed parathas used to be my dad's favourite. He was a vegetarian and every restaurant he went to, he always wanted stuffed paranthas and aaloo gobi. This is an easy recipe from my mom and I always make these when I think of my dad.


Dough

Take whole wheat flour--3 cups, add salt and warm water about 1/2 cup. Cover for 10 minutes. Knead. Add water as needed, finish with oil to knead. Dough should be not be too soft or too hard. Knead well and leave covered for at least half an hour.

Stuffing

1 small head of a cauliflower
1 inch piece of ginger
a small bunch of cilantro or parsley
2-3 green chilles
salt

Throw all ingredients except salt into a food processor. Grind together.


keep aside. Add salt last. Salt releases water from the mix. So water has to be squeezed out before adding to paranthas.

Roll out dough into thin small (about 6 inch diameter) using dry flour to avoid sticking. Roll out two such rounds for each paratha. Take one round. Squeezer out water from mixture, sprinkle over rolled out dough as shown.

Cover with second piece of rolled out dough. Pat lightly with a clean dry hand, especially around the edges. Roll out lightly using a rolling pan flattening out the" dough sandwich".



Place on a hot "tawa" or flat non stick pan. Brown on both sides. Then add aboutn 1/2 tablespoon of oil on each side and fry till golden brown. Turn and repeat on other side. If you want parathas soft don't press down too much on the dough when you cook them. If you want it reddened and crispy press down after adding oil. Place in a covered container before serving to prevent hardening. Serve with yogurt beaten lightly with salt and sugar to taste.