Tuesday, 21 April 2015

Raw Papaya Stuffed Parathas

Its the most simplest & Yummy Stuffed Parathas You can ever Make.........




We are very fond of papayas!! Raw or Ripe Both are considered as a treat in my family!! I sometimes take a chance to make Raw papaya salad for myself and Mom's regular thing would be to make mixed veg gravy where papaya would be rock star giving the whole dish its sweetness to be enjoyed with rice and some spicy side dish.

My mom had asked me if I want raw papaya this time, I replied leave me a piece that would do. But may be she asked my bro if he wanted it to do something Im not sure where it cropped up from, My mom informed me that my bro wants to have papitey ka paratha. For a while I was dumb stuck coz It was almost 20yrs back from zee tv I tried making paratha once of the same and how delicious it was :D I remember we enjoyed it!! But that seemed to be 1st and last, never got raw papyas in chennai so easily until recently!! so I had to recall and yes a little bit of browsing from sanjeev kapoor again :D How Can I Forget Him, He Is The 1st Chef I Followed and Loved Watching Him Closely. I feel he was cute then lol :P 

Getting Back To The Recipe. Measurement For 3 Big Size Parathas as shown in pic. 

Wheat Flour Dough - as per ur need soft and nice

For filling
Raw Papaya Grated - 1.5 cups
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/4th tsp or green chillies chopped - 2-3
Dry mango powder - 1/2 tsp
Chat Masala - 1tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp heaped
Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil / ghee - to shallow fry, I used both

Method:
- Mix grated papaya with salt and leave it aside till you are ready to use
- Squeeze Grated papayas nicely to remove all the extra water it has emitted. Make sure no water remains everything squeezed out nicely.
- Add the other ingredients mentioned above except oil and mix well. Add some more salt to this. 



- Roll the wheat flour dough a little and place the stuffing as shown above
- Start bringing the sides of the dough to the center pinching all the sides 



- Like the pic above!! Now slowly and firmly in between the palms smoothen the stuffed ball, keep it over rolling board and press it flat gently. No Hard Pressures should be applied. Here by very soft  gentle rolling and handle with care has to be done.



- With the help of dry flour gently start rolling the parathas slowly and softly. sometimes there would be air bubbles formed while rolling, Ignore it, continue with ur soft touch Rolling until a uniform / standard size and shape has been achieved

- Lift this paratha and put over hot iron skillet and cook till both sides done. I 1st used oil a little when it was getting cooked, Once it started forming faint dark spots I added ghee and flipped both sides till nicely done. Adding ghee at last lifts up the flavor. Can use butter instead choice is yours


- While we cook it over iron skillet or non stick tawa when we see the rise of parathas while cooking it gives an immense happiness of perfect rolling and even distribution of stuffing. Parathas will not puff up when firm pressures are applied while rolling and the layer of dough is sticking to each other.  Basic thing to do for puffing up of roti or paratha is put it over hot pan, you will see color changing within 15-20 secs, flip the paratha. Allow the other side to cook till some dark spots r found, again flip the paratha and you will see how nicely paratha will puff up. Unlike roti's which will show some air pockets, parathas will show little bit of puffing and nice aroma is emitted.

To have crispy and flaky parathas make sure u cook it in low medium heat. Spread some oil too as said above and toast till done. 



Check out the above pic for the crispy flaky edges. This texture will remain for very short time So eat it quick to enjoy the goodness. After sometimes It will be soft and get little bit darker in the shade (this is the case with all stuffed parathas). Yet Yummilicious and enjoyable!!

Eat it with Pickle, Yogurt Or Raita And Love ur trial with this yumm dish

* I have added spices according to my taste, You can adjust the same when using more quantity of papayas. But always make sure the fillings spice and salt should always be more as if u cant eat it just like that. It should be little stronger than your taste buds can accept. 

Reason: Wheat flour dough is bland in nature and will be covering the whole stuffing around. So while eating It will be a perfect combo. In case if very light spices r used for filling parathas are not much enjoyable. This is my personal experience over stuffed parathas making, I learnt this trick myself when I was doing trial and error in making  paratha long back :D 

That's it for today :) Hope u make n enjoy one urself!! Any doubts or quire feel free to ask me in comment section!! Check back or click notify me check box to know the response.

Cya until next :)




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Thursday, 9 April 2015

How To Make Perfect Pilaf / Pulao - For Beginners

My dream for making pilaf holding back those long grains rice without breaking has come true


Seeing basmati adds in rice the pilaf they display so long grains shown, so fluffy and looks so nice. This always made me wonder if it is possible to make the same kind at home, But something for sure not certain in those adds, My next doubt would be, was it well cooked? or they just show us all this for sake of showing? 

I was always skeptical making pilaf I dint knew how it would turn out. Though Ive used so many recipes with left over rice  without fail. But working with fresh grains of rice was always doubtful.
In last 1yr Ive tried various recipes and experimented over rice its quantity etc etc and finally I'am here with a genuine method to work with basmati rice, other variations of rice as well, to cook pilaf / pulao without making it look mushy Or extra greasy in nature.


Basic method to try For proper understanding I recommend you to read the whole article carefully. Though its very simple but I have added some extra points for better understanding 

Ingredients:
Rice - 2 cups
Water - 4 cups
Oil - 3-4 tbsp
Salt - As required  (dont forget to check notes)

Method:
- Soak rice in clean fresh water for about half hr or more. Remove extra water and keep it aside in a strainer so that any more extra water drips out
- In a pan add oil add some whole garam masala if needed allow it to crackle 
- In Oil add water and allow it to boil (rapid water bubbles are found)
- Add salt and rice cook in high flame till the water is almost absorbing yet little water remains. You may see faint water bubbles popping up at this stage.
- Close the pan with a tight lid and cook this for about 10-12 mins in lowest flame possible.
- Switch of the gas after 12 mins and Allow it to rest for 20 - 30 mins
- Open the lid and fluff the rice. 
- Serve it hot with any thing desired.


Notes:
- Soak it for half hr or even soak it for 2hrs or more should not be the concern. In fact more soaking will give us well cooked rice.
- Drain out the rice nicely before adding it to the boiling water, This will make sure no extra water goes in more than what is needed
- It is very important that u do not mix the rice with spoon after adding it to the boiling water. Rice will get mixed to the water and the other content on its own as it is boiling. But still if you are not sure that proper mixing can take place on its own, you can mix the content inside the pan just once with a spoon. And allow it to cook as mentioned above.
- Cooking it for 10-12 mins in lowest flame is apt time. Do not exceed it to more. As we r going to giving it resting time for 20-30mins after done, Rice will bloom on its own in this duration and get a well formed shape when we mix it later. So no need more cooking duration
- You need not add to much of oil thinking this will help rice grains stay fluffy and nice. According to me oil or fats play very little role in the concept behind. Oil or fats can be used enough for tempering. Not needed that whole of ur rice grains should look greasy. I tried making pilaf with minimum oil always. But when my mom makes she has her own reasons and logic behind so much oil used. In the above pic you may see not much of oil / fats are found but Its just perfect for the purpose!!
- In the shown pics I have also used daal. I will share the recipe next for this pilaf Insha Allah
- When you add veggies to pilaf you need not increase the water ratio until its required. You may either pre boil the chopped veggies ahead and use its water for measurement to rice for nutritional purpose, or cook the veggies in oil for 5 mins till half cooked and proceed with the above method of adding water and rice.



Previously I had refereed so many blogs and you tube links for proper method but my try would satisfy me only little, either the ratio or cooking time varied would leave the rice over cooked or undone, Though it may appear to be cooked but my family likes to eat rice which is soft while eating.  I always wanted to make pilaf which is soft as my family likes, yet it should not be too much greasy and hold back its shape without being too much mushy. So after so many trial and errors this is the final result of the best I could achieve and share with my readers,  Do try if u had been struggling like me to get a perfect pilaf. And share ur results with us!! 



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Friday, 3 April 2015

Banana Cake - Simplest Cake For Beginners

A big warning this cake is very addictive..... :D

Ever Since I Started Baking Banana Cakes Are My All Time Favorite. And Here Is My Most Amazing Post And The Best Recipe I Tried So Far........ Do Check Out :) 


One of little cousin sister age 6 likes cakes so much that she demands cakes instantly. I want cake now now now make cake for me!! And another cousin sis who will turn 5 now is picky eater. But the way both makes demands for every little thing makes me and my bro feel OMG look at them? I dont recall we did something like this when we were growing. Generation is Changing and me being in late 20's already feeling old in front of these kids. They R super smart and exactly know what they want. All of above when they talk it may make us shake our heads in disbelief if it was those little mouths and tiny sizes spoke out those. I'm sure many should be like me thinking the very way I do. But I guess its High time for me to accept that New Generation is Fast & we R Old..... lol  I seem to talk like my mom here haha

Getting back to the recipe, little kids are just an excuse for my baking and I love it. When brought lots of bananas from market I wondered why? Sometimes she is crazy I believe ;) When she offered me to have one I said give me 2 i'll bake it. So that was just an instant plan to make banana cake. 

I dint make any banana cakes past 2yrs I donno how I missed it but its never too late!! I tried browsing so many recipes but nothing satisfied me. So I decided to Tweak my chocolate Beetroot cake recipe into banana with some orange rinds. The result was just fab!!


Ingredients:
Bananas - 2 large
Eggs -2 Or 3/4th cup Yogurt
All purpose flour - 1 1/4th cup
Oil - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4th cup
Orange rinds - from 1 whole orange (see notes)
Soda Bicarbonate -1tsp

Ingredients Simple Right?

Method:
- Blend bananas, eggs, oil, sugar together with blender or mixer till fine paste.
- Sieve Flour and soda bicarb together and keep it ready.
- When you are ready to bake, Mix flour with wet ingredients. Whisk it slowly or use spatula, do not over mix.
- Also add orange rinds while mixing. 
- Line a round tin with baking paper. Bake until skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Once done let it rest for 15-20 mins, Flip it to cooling rack and allow it to cool nicely. 
- Once Cooled Cut into pieces and Serve with tea and snacks.


Notes:
- Originally vanilla essence is added to this cake when ever I tried earlier, But this time I dint had vanilla essence so thought of substituting essence part with orange rinds, You can also make use of lemon rinds. 
- I baked this on stove top. It took 40 mins. Baking in oven would be 170C for 25-30 mins. Banana based caked gets done sooner than others
- If you dont have a butter paper to line the bottom of cake tin, Just grease the pan with oil / butter and dust the flour over it!  coat the flour around the greased area and remove the extra flour by tapping the tin upside down. (dont add to much of flour for dusting just add enough to coat the inner area)



I fell in love with the shade it got, It was unexpected!! Polished glossy shine sparking to my eyes :)



I was wondering why center looked so dry!! But I was sure that banana cakes would never fail. It was very spongy on the whole when I flipped it upside down :) 


After Cutting the cake was another surprise :) I guess I over baked it by 5 mins more. I forgot that banana cakes get baked quickly. 
I saw it has got 2 color layers on its own and I loved the shade to the core.



Dosent it look fab??? 

Impression:
Cake tasted very nice as good as it looks in the pics 
It was soft porous and spongy. Idle for tea time snacks. To offer these goodies to little kids and make them happy.
Orange rinds gave it a kick in taste I loved it over all!! And every one in the family loved it too :)

Do try ur hands in this wonderful cake!! And let us know how it turned for u :)

As mentioned above its very addictive u really cant stop with one!!

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