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Tikhat mithachi puri

Tikhat mithachi puri is a marathi name meaning hot and savory puri/ poori. There are some variations in the common North Indian puri. You can have this tikhat mithachi puri with pickle as an evening snack or a Sunday Brunch.

Recipe of tikhat mithachi puri

1 cup atta (whole wheat flour)

3 tbsp sooji (semolina/rava)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

3/4 tsp red chilli powder (cayenne pepper)

1 tbsp oil + for deep frying

1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)

1. Mix salt in flour. Add sooji, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, ajwain and 1 tbsp oil. Mix well with your hands.

2. Add water little by little and knead the flour into stiff dough. Set aside for 20 minutes.

3. Take a lemon size ball from the dough and roll out on a lightly oiled surface into a 3-4 inch round poori.

4. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok and when it’s sufficiently hot, turn the heat to medium. Deep fry puris in the hot oil till puffed up and golden brown from both sides.

5. Drain on an absorbent paper and serve tikhat mithachi puri hot with some pickle.

Bread pakora

Bread pakora is one of my favorite fritters. I wonder why I didn’t post it earlier.  Bread pakora is a famous street food in India and is available at street vendors with their assortment of chutneys. You can watch the whole process of their making at these vendors.

Recipe of bread pakora/ pakoda

6 bread slices

1 cup besan (gram flour/ chickpea flour)

1/2 cup boiled and mashed potatoes

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

Salt to taste

1 inch piece ginger- chopped

2 green chillies- finely chopped

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp amchoor (dried mango powder)

Oil to deep fry

1. Mix salt and red chilli powder to besan. Add water little by little so as to prepare a lump free batter. Batter consistency should be thick pakora (fritters) batter like.

2. Mix salt, garam masala, green chillies, amchoor and ginger in mashed potato.

3. Cut each bread slice into 2 triangular pieces to get 12 triangles.

4. Divide potato mixture into 6 portions. Place potato mixture on 1 bread slice and cover it with another.

5. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok or a frying pan. When the oil is sufficiently hot, turn the heat to medium. Dip each potato stuffed bread in besan batter and deep fry in oil. Fry bread pakoda from both sides till golden brown.

6. Drain on an absorbent paper and serve bread pakora hot with chutney or tomato sauce.

Pesarattu

Pesarattu or green gram pancake is a famous breakfast item from Andhra Pradesh. Pesarattu is not just tasty but it is also very healthy and nutritious since we are using whole moong beans.

Recipe of pesarattu/green gram dosa

1 cup sabut moong dal (whole green gram)

3 green chillies

1 inch piece ginger

Salt to taste

6-7 curry leaves

1 medium onion

1/4 cup fresh coriander leaves

Oil to shallow fry

1. Wash and soak moong dal for 3 hours. Chop onion and green chillies roughly. Chop coriander leaves and curry leaves.

2. Drain mung dal and discard the water. Grind moong dal with onion and green chillies. Add salt, curry leaves and coriander leaves.

3. Heat a dosa tava or any non-stick tava (griddle) and smear oil on it. Pour a ladleful of batter in the center of tava and spread it in outward circular motion with the back of the ladle (karchhi). Spread it thinly.

4. Drizzle oil along the edges of pesarattu, cover with a lid of some height. Cook on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Remove lid.

5. Turn over and applying oil, cook from other side also till golden and crisp. Make rest of the pesarattu with remaining batter. Serve hot pesarattu with chutney.

Bombay bread sandwich

As the name suggests, Bombay bread sandwich is popular in Bombay now called Mumbai. This sandwich is also sold by street vendors in Bombay. It’s a spicy sandwich and healthy one at that. You can skip the butter if want, it still tastes delicious. I have also tried its toasted version but personally I prefer it untoasted and preferences vary, of course.

Recipe of (Mumbai) Bombay bread sandwich

Serves 2

4 slices of bread

1 boiled potato- cut into roundels

Few slices of onion, tomato and cucumber

Butter- as needed

Green (dhania pudina) chutney- as needed

1. Remove edges of bread slices.

2. Take 1 slice of bread and butter it. Spread green chutney over the butter.

3. Place potato roundels over it. Arrange cucumber, onion and tomato slices on it.

4. Take another bread slice and apply butter on it. Apply chutney over the butter.

5. Now, place this 2nd bread slice above the 1st, chutney side down. Similarly make other sandwich with rest of the slices. Serve this sandwich as it is or lightly toast it.

Adai

Adai is a type of dal dosa and a popular Tamilian breakfast. It’s very nutritious and protein packed since it uses so many dals (lentils). It’s healthy, tasty as well as filling and the best part is, you don’t have to ferment the adai batter. To make it tastier, you can also add finely chopped onion or cabbage or both to the adai batter.

Recipe of adai (dal dosa)

1/2 cup rice

1/4 cup toor dal (arhar dal/ red gram)

1/4 cup dhuli urad dal (split, skinless black gram)

1/4 cup chana dal (Bengal gram)

1/4 cup dhuli moong dal (split, skinless green gram)

2 green chillies

Salt to taste

A pinch of hing (asafoetida)

Few curry leaves

Oil to shallow fry

1. Wash and soak rice and dals for 2-3 hours. Drain.

2. Grind dals and rice in a blender adding little water into a coarse paste. Remember not to add too much water as the batter for adai is usually thick.

3. Add salt, hing and curry leaves to the batter. Beat the batter well.

4. Heat a non-stick tava (griddle). Grease it and wipe off the excess oil. Pour a ladleful of batter in the center of the tava.

5. Spread it in the circular motion to make a round. Drizzle some oil around the edges and on top of the adai.

6. When the underside is cooked, turn over and cook from other side also till brownish. Similarly make other adai from rest of the batter. Serve adai hot with chutney or chutney powder.

Ven pongal (khara pongal)

Today being Sunday, we ate heavy breakfast. By afternoon, we wanted to eat something light and easy on stomach. I made ven pongal or khara pongal for lunch. Usually ven pongal is made for breakfast but it was our lunch today. Ven pongal is a type of moong dal khichdi except that the seasoning is different.

Recipe of ven pongal/ khara pongal

1 cup rice

1/2 cup dhuli moong dal (split, skinless green gram)

1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)

1 tsp ginger paste

6-7 black peppercorns (kali mirch) - crushed coarsely

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

3 1/2 cups of water

Lightly fried or toasted cashew nuts for garnish

1. Wash and soak rice and moong dal together for 10 minutes. Drain.

2. Heat ghee in a pressure cooker and add cumin seeds. When they change color, add ginger paste and crushed peppercorns. Fry for 1 minute.

3. Add rice and dal and stir fry for 1 minute.

4. Add water and salt. Pressure cook for 4-5 whistles.

5. Garnish ven pongal with fried cashew nuts and serve hot.

bedmi puri

Bedmi puri along with aloo ki sabzi (potato curry) is a popular Uttar Pradesh breakfast. You can also have them in ‘Chandni Chowk’ in Delhi. You can also prepare bedmi aloo for Sunday brunch. They are simply delicious.

Recipe of bedmi puri

2 cups atta (whole wheat flour)

1/2 cup dhuli moong dal (split, skinlesss green gram)

3 green chillies

1/4 tsp garam masala

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 inch piece ginger

1 tbsp oil + for deep frying

1. Soak moong dal for 2 hours. Drain.

2. Grind together moong dal, green chillies, ginger, salt, coriander and garam masala powders in a blender.

3. Take atta in a bowl and add moong dal paste along with 1 tablespoon oil. Knead using water as needed. Cover and keep aside for 1/2 an hour.

4. Take lemon sized ball out of the dough and flatten between palms. Roll out on an oiled surface into 3-4 inch round.

5. Heat sufficient oil in a wok/ kadhai. Gently slide the rolled out bedmi puri in the oil. Press gently with a slotted spoon (pauni/ chhari) so that poori puffs up. Turn over and fry from other side also till golden in color. Drain using the same slotted spoon on an absorbent paper so that excess oil is absorbed.

6. Serve bedmi puri hot with aloo ki sabzi.

gajar ka paratha

Gajar ka paratha or carrot paratha is a super nutritious food since it is loaded with Vitamin A. It’s both healthy and tasty. It’s also a healthy breakfast option and good way to start your day.

Recipe of gajar ka paratha/ carrot paratha

1 cup atta (whole wheat flour)

4-5 carrots- grated

½ tsp red chilli powder

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)

1/4 tsp ajwain (carom seeds)

A pinch of turmeric powder

Oil to shallow fry

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Add water to knead it into pliable dough.

2. Take a ball (peda) out of the carrot dough. Roll it into a 6 inch round dusting with dry flour as needed.

3. Heat a tava (griddle) and place this round or parantha on it. Cook from both sides applying oil till gajar ka paratha turn golden brown with brown-black specks in it. Serve hot carrot paratha with curd or pickle.

Paneer paratha

Paneer paratha is something which is relished by adults and kids alike. It’s a good breakfast option. You can enjoy paneer paratha with some curry or all by itself. It tastes absolutely great and liked especially by paneer lovers.

Recipe of paneer paratha

Filling

100 grams paneer- grated or finely crumbled

3 green chillies- finely chopped

Coriander leaves (cilantro) - finely chopped

1/4 tsp garam masala

Salt to taste

Dough

2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)

1/2 tsp salt

1. In a bowl, mix atta with salt. Add water slowly to knead it into smooth, pliable dough. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for 1/2 an hour.

2. Mix well all the ingredients of the filling except salt.

3. Take lemon sized ball (peda) from the dough and roll out into a 3 inch round. Grease this round lightly by an oiled spatula.

4. Place 2 tsp paneer filling in the center and add salt to it. Mix. Gather the edges of the round and reshape into a ball. Flatten the ball between your palms.

5. Roll out, dusting with dry flour as needed, into a 6-7 inch round.

6. Heat a griddle (tava) and shallow fry this parantha from both sides applying oil. Cook till golden brown from both sides with brown- black specks in it. Similarly make other paneer parathas. Serve hot paneer paratha with curd or pickle of your choice.

rava pongal

While casually surfing through net, I came across this wonderful recipe of rava pongal. This is a healthy South Indian breakfast which people from other parts can eat as a nice variation to regular fare. Rava pongal uses 2 main ingredients that is, rava or semolina and moong dal instead of dal and rice used in pongal. It’s healthy and tasty and try it yourself before believing me.

Recipe of rava pongal

1 cup rava (sooji/ semolina)

3/4 cup moong/mung dal (split, skinless green gram)

1 tbsp cashew nuts- broken

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Salt to taste

1 1/2 + 4 cups water

1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) or oil

1 tsp ginger- garlic paste

2-3 green chillies- slit

1. Heat a kadhai/ wok and dry roast moong dal till aromatic and light pink. Take out from the wok and wash it thoroughly.

2. Place moong dal, 1 1/2 cups of water and salt in a pressure cooker and cook to 1 whistle. Open the cooker after 3-4 minutes.

3. Place the cooker on stove to evaporate the water in moong dal.

4. In the mean time, dry roast rava till aromatic and some golden grains appear. Take rava out of kadhai.

5. In the same kadhai, heat ghee or oil. Add mustard seeds and when they pop, add cashew nuts. Add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies. Brown them lightly. When the water in moong dal dries, take it off the heat.

6. Returning to kadhai, add 4 cups of water and bring it to boil.

7. Add rava slowly, stirring with other hand. Add moong dal and salt. Mix well. Cook stirring till pongal gets thick. Cook it to desired consistency. Turn off the heat you can add lemon juice at this stage if you want it tangy. Serve rava pongal hot.

My husband insisted on adding vegetables to pongal so I boiled green peas (matar), potato, carrot along with moong dal. I agree it increases the nutritional value of rava pongal. Below is the picture of vegetable rava pongal or healthy upma.

vegetable rava pongal