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

RASPBERRY JAM FILLED BREAKFAST SQUARES

RASPBERRY JAM FILLED BREAKFAST SQUARE

Happy Valentine ’s Day

Suitable for vegans

In 2016, I got a surprise gift of two cookbooks, by my daughter's friend, Mamta, who is a big admirer of my blog and always appreciates and enjoys my cooking. I was overwhelmed that day with those two books, it was not even my birthday, and she was just visiting us. What a kind thought it was of bringing cookery books for me? Isn’t it? After thanking her for such a nice gift and gesture, I told her that I will definitely try some recipes from those books and share them soon on my blog. She herself is a great cook, last time when I visited her, she surprised me with so many nice dishes, which I have to get the recipe for and try soon. Here I want to thank her from the bottom of my heart and wishing her all the best in her life, by selecting a recipe from the book and recreating it.

This is called real love, love does not mean romantic love between a girl and a boy, but showing gratitude, care and affection towards someone is also considered as love. In my opinion, love has many meanings and types, if someone is holding a door for you when you are entering a shop, is also called love for someone. If you choose to be a snow angel for someone and cleaning the yard of an elderly couple, that can also be called love. Love is when you smile at the strangers and get the smile back. A mother's love towards her children can be called as unconditional love because she cares only about the happiness of her children. I have written all this about love because I am posting this recipe on Valentine’s Day in the month of February when people normally say that in this month. love is in the air. If you ask me, love is always there in the air, you just have to notice it, give it and receive it.

The first time I had browsed through the cookbook, that is when I had seen this recipe and decided then and there that that will one of the recipes I will make and post it on Valentine's day. The author used apricot jam but I used raspberry jam. I thought if I use raspberry jam the pink colour of the raspberries will suit the theme of Valentine's Day. So here I am with the recipe, the name of the book is Food made fast-Desserts, and the author is Williams-Sonoma.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 1, 1/2 cups brown bread flour (235 grams)/whole wheat flour
• 1, 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (140 grams)
• 1/4 cup Icing sugar (30 grams)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar (185 grams) OR coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (185 grams) OR coconut oil for vegans
• 1 cup Raspberry jam (315 grams)

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 325 degree F (165 degrees C). Grease a square oven tray or parchment paper inside the tray.
• In a food processor, combine the flour, oats, powdered sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture forms fine crumbs.
• Remove 2 cups of the flour mixture and set aside. Transfer the remaining mixture to the prepared pan and press it evenly over the bottom.
• Drop spoonfuls of jam evenly spread the jam up to the edges. Sprinkle the reserved flour mixture evenly over the jam.
• Bake until the top crust and edges are light brown - about 30 minutes. Let cool completely in a pan on a wire rack. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares.

INGREDIENTS FOR JAM

• 200 grams raspberries
• 100 grams sugar

METHOD

• Make a puree in the blender with raspberries with little water.
• Mix raspberry puree and sugar together.
• In a frying pan or heavy bottomed wok cook the puree with sugar on a low flame.
• Keep on stirring; it will take 15-20 minutes to get the consistency of thick jam. Leave it to cool. If you are using a cooking thermometer, check the temperature when it is showing 90 degrees C, it means jam is ready.

I am sharing this recipe as a blog post entry for Meatless Monday, Cook once and eat Twice, Cook blog share, Fiesta Friday, Sweet Inspiration and Hearth and Soul food party. and with Baking Crumbs and whats  for dinner and with Ful plate Thursday

GREEN CHILI PICKLE AND A POST ON A SPICE/HERB CHILI/HOT PEPPER

GREEN CHILI PICKLE AND A POST ON A SPICE/HERB CHILI/HOT PEPPER

Chili is the most valuable spice of the world and is gaining its popularity throughout the world, and now it is used in more and more cuisines of the world. India is the largest producer, consumer and exporter of chilies, which is 40% of the total world production. Chili production requires sunny, tropical, humid conditions with a good amount of rainfall. We have grown a lot of chilies in our kitchen garden when I was in Kenya. We had around 25 plants of 3-4 feet high and were producing a lot of green chilies, being small as a family we were not able to consume a lot, so were leaving the chilies on the plants itself to ripen. When their colour turned red, I used to collect and dry them in the hot sunny area of my garden, and later was grinding in my dry grinder to make red chili powder, which I used in my kitchen.

There are many different types, colors, shapes and mild to a very hot pungent taste of the chilies are available in the world. This spice - chili and chili powder are used in many cuisines of the world. Raw chilies are normally green in colour, but ripened chilies are yellow, orange and red in colour. Since it is impossible to tell how spicy a chili is just by looking at it, you will have to taste it to get an idea. Once you know how spicy it is then you can use it according to your taste.

In Indian cuisine, chili powder is used from ages, some chili powders are giving only a red colour to the recipe and are not very spicy like Kashmiri chili powder, it is more or less like paprika. But some chili powders are very hot, and people use it depending on their taste and the requirement of the recipe. In Southern states of India, whole red dried chili is used a lot in tempering many recipes. Red chili flakes/crushed chili is also used a lot in the Indian cuisine throughout India. Some people have the misconception that Indian food is very spicy, but that is not the case, yes, we do use different types of chilies in its different forms but how spicy the food absolutely depends on individuals choice. Green chilies are a good source of vitamin C; so many people eat raw green chilies with their food.

Some people think that chili pepper is consumed only to put fire on your tongue or to get tears in your eyes but the surprising fact is that chilies do have a lot of health benefits like natural pain relief, boosting immunity, clearing congestion, preventing stomach ulcers, and reducing weight. Check this website for detailed study of all this and a lot of useful information about chilies.

According to Ayurveda, there are six tastes by which all food can be categorized: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent and astringent. Pungent taste is hot and spicy as found in chili pepper and astringent is dry and light as found in popcorn. Ayurveda suggests that all these tastes should be included in every meal for optimum health and to get initial spark to the digestive system. These six tastes satisfy each of the major dietary building blocks and these six tastes also guide our body to accomplish its nutritional needs. Each taste feeds our body, mind, senses and spirit in its own unique way. Ayurveda is a traditional healing system of India, which gave us yoga and breathing exercises and still successfully practiced in India. Check this website-

Chili powder is eaten by one-quarter of world population every day, in all countries all over the globe. But chili powder was completely unknown to the most of the world until Christopher Columbus discovered America. Check this website which explains very nicely that of course, Columbus was not looking for chilies, but was looking for a trade route. This website further explained that, until well after the middle ages, almost all through the world, pepper travelled from the Malabar coast, India to Europe and then to America.

Coming to the recipe, this is my mom's recipe as it is in which she used mustard oil. I get mustard oil from the local Indian grocery store, so I have also used mustard oil, but you can use any other oil instead if you prefer. Mustard oil is used for cooking in Punjab and many other Northern States of India. This is a simple and quick recipe which can be enjoyed using mild to hot chilies basing on your taste.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 200 grams long green chilies (around 25-30)
• 20 grams of black mustard seeds (rai)
• 20 grams of fennel seeds (saunf)
• 10 grams of fenugreek seeds (methi )
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons oil (I used mustard oil)
• 10 grams chili powder (optional) *

* Normally these green chilies are not spicy/hot at all, so if you need some spice in this pickle you can add some additional chilli powder

METHOD

• Mix the fennel, mustard and fenugreek seeds and grind it coarsely in a dry spice grinder.
• Wash and dry the chilies or wipe with a kitchen towel.
• Slit the chilies in the middle lengthwise.
• In the already ground spices, mix salt and chili powder and fill ( stuff) through the slit in all the chilies and leave aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, when hot add all the chilies, mix slowly and cover it after 5 minutes add the remaining spice mixture on top of the chilies.
• Cook for 8-10 minutes till the chilies are cooked and changed in colour.
• Cool it and serve with meals as a condiments/pickle/chutney

I am sharing my recipe as my blog post entry for Cook once and eat Twice and with Hearth and soul blog party and with Fiesta Friday and the  Sweet Inspiration link party and with Cook blog share  and with Meatless Monday and with Full plate Thursday