GREEN PEAS PARATHA (INDIAN FLAT BREAD STUFFED WITH PEAS)

GREEN PEAS PARATHA (INDIAN FLAT BREAD STUFFED WITH PEAS)

In 2016, when I went to Delhi, India, I stayed longer than usual, for about 9 months due to many reasons, and also because now I am retired and I can stay longer when travelling. During my working career, while I was in Africa. I used to go to India only for 4-5 weeks in December holidays, which is the winter season in Delhi. I had no experience of staying in the hot summer of Delhi for many years. So in 2016, I found it very difficult to cope with the hot days and humid nights. But there was no choice, I had stayed on and experienced a very hot summer for six months, short rainy season and mild winter which was also short for two months only.

Here I would like to share a funny incidence – while I was in India, One day I was talking to my grandson on the phone; who lives in Canada. At that time he was in grade four, he told me that he read in his social studies course about seasons in India, and told me that there are four seasons in north India. He wanted to check my knowledge and asked me to name them. That time I was too frustrated with that long hot and humid weather that I replied, “Yes my dear, they are four – hot, humid, very hot and extremely hot.” He laughed a lot and asked, “Grandma, what's wrong with you”? Then I told him that I am really tired of this long hot and humid weather here in Delhi and I want to leave this place as early as possible.

In Delhi, winters are short, and mild which mainly last for 2-3 months. After that long summer, I really enjoyed winter season in Delhi. Apart from the nice weather, the other best thing about this winter was the colourful fresh organic vegetables which were available in that season: dark red carrots, cauliflowers, turnips, sweet potatoes, beets. And green peas were the main attraction for me. I really enjoyed the fresh green peas, which I got in plenty in that season and at a very reasonable price. I used them in many recipes and enjoyed them fully. In my long stay in three countries of Africa, i.e. Kenya, Botswana and South Africa, getting fresh green peas was a dream, which never came true. Fresh green peas were not at all available in Africa, and that is why I really missed them and was forced to use the frozen peas only. Even in Calgary, it is a luxury because it is available for a very short time, in Indian vegetable shops only and they are very expensive.

Being a foodie and a food blogger, I experimented a lot with this tiny, cute and green vegetable during my stay in Delhi and tried and tested some new recipes with it. Green peas recipes are not only tasty but healthy as well because peas are considered as the powerhouse of nutrients and have a lot of health benefits of eating green peas. Whenever I cook something with green peas my grandchildren will say, “Hey, today we are eating a powerhouse”, because I always force them to eat their vegetables and particularly the green ones like peas.

This is my favourite recipe, which I am sharing with you today. I really like the taste of these parathas and I am glad that even my grandsons like them too. Last night when I made them, both my grandsons told me that they would love to take these parathas in their lunch boxes for their lunch in school. Both fresh and frozen peas can be used in this recipe.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 500 grams brown bread flour/whole-wheat flour/aata
• 1 tbs oil
• salt to taste
• ! cup or more water to make the dough
• oil for roasting the parathas

FOR STUFFING

• 200 grams fresh or frozen peas
• 1 tbs oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• Salt, pepper and chili flakes to taste

METHOD

• In a bowl, take brown bread flour, add salt and mix water slowly to make a medium-firm dough, neither very hard nor soft, glaze the top of the dough with oil and leave it aside.
• In a frying pan heat 1 tbs oil, add cumin seeds, when they turn to brown colour add peas with salt and pepper, mix well and cover the lid, leave it on a medium heat for 8-10 minutes till the peas are tender and done well and there should be no water left, peas should dry completely.
• Let it cool, with a potato masher mash the peas.
• Divide the dough in 8-10 pieces, make small balls and roll each ball as the size of a cookie,( 4-5 inch in diameter) stuff one tbs peas in it, pick all round area and close the mouth of the parathas and roll into 6-7 inch big in diameter, dust the flour when needed.
• Heat the heavy-bottomed frying pan or cast iron flat pan. When the pan is hot,  roast parathas on both the sides, add drops of oil in all the surrounding of the paratha.
• Cook until brown and crispy from both the sides, serve hot with any pickle or chutney of your taste.

I am sharing this recipe with Cook once and eat Twice and Sweet Inspiration link party and with Eat your greens and with Hearth and Soul link party and with Full plate Thursday and My legume love affair with Lisa's kitchen and Susan of well seasoned cook and with what's for dinner, and with Meatless Monday and with Cook blog share and with Fiesta Friday

SWEET POTATO INDIAN FLATBREAD

SWEET POTATO INDIAN FLATBREAD

EDITED; This recipe was featured in Sweet Inspiration link party on 31at March 2017. Check here.

In 1903, when two American Wright brothers invented the world's first successful airplane, they might have never thought that after 100 years or so that flying by air would become a major mode of transport. These days modern aeroplanes can carry hundreds of passengers and can travel thousands of kilometers in a few hours, and people who are traveling can have breakfast in Africa and lunch in Europe!

I remember my first aeroplane journey in Jan 1980, when I was traveling from India to Kenya. Those days aeroplanes were very different, they were smaller, noisier, with fewer facilities (like television) inside the aircraft. At the time of landing, sometimes passengers were screaming, because our hearts were sinking. Compared to that time, modern aeroplanes are very convenient with luxury seats and lots of entertainment facilities. Despite the improvements today, long journeys are still tiring.

These journeys or modern transportation and communication have made the world very small and now people are settling and working in different countries and touring the world. People are not restricted to their local community, locality or even their own country to live or to work.

People who travel and settle in new places, also take with them, their culture, tradition and their food. This is the reason, if you go to any part of the world, you will find Italian pizza, American coffee, Indian Naan, Chinese spring rolls, British pound cake etc. in any part of the world. People are interacting with each other’s cultures and enjoying food of different cuisines in different parts of the world. This is also resulting in fusion food mushrooming in every part of the world; even in restaurants, you can find fusion food like Indo-Chinese, Indo-Canadian, Indo-British.

Coming to the recipe, this is my daughter's fusion recipe, in which she is feeding the family, a healthy version of Indian flat bread. Though there are many types of Indian flat breads, but new ones are also coming up like this one.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 500 grams whole wheat flour/brown wheat fllour
• 500 grams boiled and mashed sweet potato
• salt to taste
• one tablespoon oil to garnish the dough

METHOD

• Mix the boiled and mashed sweet potato into the flour, while the sweet potato is still hot/warm and make a rollable dough, garnish with oil and leave it to rest for 10 minutes.
• Pinch a small amount of dough and make round balls with it.
• Heat an iron skillet or a frying pan to roast the bread.
• Roll it round and give the shape of a flat bread.
• Roast till cooked on both sides.
• Serve with a vegetable curry or yoghurt or any choice of chutney.

Around 20 flat breads can be made depending on the size you make.

I am sending this recipe as my blog post entry for The hearth and soul blog hop and  Sweet Inspiration Link party, and with Sunday fitness and food and Meatless Monday and Healthy living link party and with I am pinnable pink party and Fiesta Friday with Jhuls of the not so creative cook,
and with Cook blog share,  and with Tasty Tuesday,

INSTANT NAAN

INSTANT NAAN

Indian flat bread

I got my first cookery book, as a gift, by one of my colleagues in 1995, which was written by Madhur Jaffrey. I made many dishes using the recipes from her book and everybody in the family has enjoyed them. Some of the recipes were totally new to me where I had to start from scratch. However, her instructions in the book were so easy to follow and the measurements given in that book were so accurate that even an unacquainted person can easily follow them and can cook. I remember once I made coconut chutney using her recipe, then my husband said, “Let me call Madhur Jaffrey and tell her that my wife can cook exactly like you”. That was a big compliment for me.

A few weeks ago, I was amazed to see in the news that Madhur Jaffrey was publishing her 30^th cookery book, I could not believe it. Now she is 82 years old, she is an internationally known authority on Indian and vegetarian cooking and a big inspiration to many like me. She is recognised for bringing Indian cuisine to the western world with her first book, which was published in 1973 as “An invitation to Indian cooking”. I was astonished to see how this lady has written so many books in the last six decades and inspired the world with the knowledge of the Indian cuisine.

While I was writing this post, I came across another clip of her in the news on 9^th December 2015, when she was interviewed by Chris Caldicott of Telegraph.co.uk. My eyes wanted to get the glimpse of that headline, and it read- “No restaurant can ever compete with home cooked Indian food”. I searched on Google and then read the whole interview.

Through this post, I would like to pay my personal tribute to herself and her reputation in Indian cooking/book writing and want to salute her for the commendable job she did in the field of cookery and book writing from last 50 or more years.

Only because of personalities like Madhur Jaffrey, people in the world today have the knowledge about Indian cuisine. Even before Google came into our life, these were the people spreading the knowledge of Indian cuisine to the world through their writings.

Coming to the recipe, naan is a world famous Indian flat bread, which is served in many Indian and non-Indian restaurants around the world. People really admire this Indian flatbread with both vegetarian and non-veg curries and stews of different types.

I have already posted Stuffed Tandoori Naan on my blog, that was the traditional recipe. This one is an instant one, which can be made in an hour or two depending upon the fermentation of the dough, and off-course is the recipe of Madhur Jaffrey.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 2 and ½ cups all-purpose flour/ white bread flour (500 grams)
• 1 tsp instant yeast *
• 1 tsp sugar
• butter to garnish the naan
• some water to make the dough
• 1 tbs oil for glazing the dough

* Check instructions on the yeast packet, you might need more.

METHOD

• Mix instant yeast in half cup warm water, mix it and leave it to froth.
• Take flour in a big bowl, mix water with yeast and make a medium-hard dough by adding more water.
• Glaze with oil, cover it with cling film and leave it aside in a warm area to ferment, it may take 1-2 hours, depending on the temperature of the room.
• Once the dough is fermented, make small balls.
• Heat the grill /broiler to 200 degrees C
• Flatten the ball with the help of your palms and roll it, giving round shape around 5 inches diameter.
• Heat a frying pan on the stove.
• Roast one side of the naan over fry pan, once slightly roasted transfer it into the oven in a flat tray.
• Roast till golden brown on both sides, garnish with butter and serve hot, it may take 5-10 minutes.
• Around 20 naans can be made, depending on the size.

I am sending this recipe as my blog post entry for Way wow link party, and Healthy happy and green party, with Cook blog share, and with Tasty Tuesday link party, and with Hearth and Soul party, and with Yum yum linky party, with My Two fav things on Thursday and with full plate Thursday, and with Real Food Friday and Funtastic Friday, and with Fiesta Friday with co-host Elain and Julie, and with Food and fitness Friday, and with Meatless Monday together with Sarah, and with What do you do this weekend, and with Tuesday Tutorial