Naan

Before going into the details of this post, let me proudly display my Trophy from Recipe Marathon :) hosted by the wonderful DK of Culinary Bazaar. She went ahead and made a nice video called: An Ode to RM # 2 Runners

It was a wonderful event with so many Runners and as a result a big collection of recipes :) We all had a lot of fun running together and I look forward to do it again sometime.


Back to the recipe, I decided to finally try my hand at this famous Indian bread. I followed the recipe of Petrina Varma Sarkar's in About.com and I must say it turned out pretty well :) I served it with Mushroom masala. I am quoting her recipe here:

Ingredients:
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• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
  
• 6 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
• 3 tablespoons yoghurt
• 3 teaspoons onion seeds (optional)

Method:
------------

Add the dry yeast and sugar to the warm water and stir till the yeast is dissolved. Cover and leave aside for 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to froth. Keep it aside. Mix the flour and salt to taste and sift through a very fine sieve. Put it into a large mixing bowl and now add the yeast mixture, 3 tablespoons of ghee and all the yoghurt.

Mix all this into a soft dough. Once mixed, flour a clean, flat surface and knead the dough till it is smooth and stretchy (elastic). Grease a large bowl with a few drops of cooking oil and put the dough in it. Cover and allow to rest for about 90 minutes or till the dough doubles in volume.
Punch the dough down and knead again for 10 minutes. Equally divide the dough and roll to form 8 round balls. Lightly flour the same surface on which you kneaded the dough and roll out each ball until you have a circle, 7-8 inches in diameter (1/2 "thick).

Gently pull on one edge of the circle to form the Naan into a tear-drop shape ( I did not get this step right, mine was amoebic in shape :) . Do not pull too hard or you may tear the Naan. Instead of rolling the dough out (with a rolling pin) you can also pat it into a circle with your hands (I was doing this too). Preheat your oven 200 C/ 400 F or Gas Mark 6.

Lay a piece of aluminium foil in an oven tray (to cover) and grease it lightly with a few drops of cooking oil. Place as many Naans as will fit without touching each other, on the tray. Brush each Naan with some ghee and sprinkle a pinch of onion seeds all over its surface. Put the tray into the oven and cook till the Naan begins to puff out and get lightly brown. Flip the Naan and repeat. Remove from oven and serve hot .

Pyaaz bhari Kachori (Kachori with Onion filling)

This is my entry for Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine's :

RCI-Awadhi Cuisine event of December month hosted by Siri of Siri's Corner

When Kachori comes to my mind, I will always remember the first and last time I had this snack. It was in my college hostel. I remember that this snack was served as a tea-time snack when we hungrily gobbled whatever was served. The tastedidn't matter at all especially after a tiring day in college. The first time I got to have kachori, I thought it would taste like samosa with a potato filling, until I tasted the filling. It was a different filling with moong dal and other spices which I don't remember now. But what would always remain in my memories would be the distinctive taste of the Fennel seed/powder which I felt was dominating the other flavors. When Siri announced the Awadhi cuisine event, I went through the links she gave in her blog. I was surprised to see so many dishes, which I had already cooked in the past, never realizing that itsAwadhi :) Maybe its because India is a country where you have such a lot of variety of cuisines , where each one is influenced one way or other by another cuisine. I got this recipe from Manjula's Kitchen (which I slightly modified by adding some extra ingredients to the filling)

Here is how I made Pyaaz bhari Kachori (Kachori with Onion filling):

Ingredients:



For the filling
---------------
Onion: 2 medium
Green chillies minced: 3-4 nos
Curry leaves: 4-5 sprigs of leaves chopped fine
1/4 cup : Yellow moong dal
1 teaspoon: Ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon : Ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon : Red chilly powder/flakes
1/4 teaspoon : Ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon: Mango powder
Pinch of asafoetida (hing)
1/2 teaspoon salt /to taste
21 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons water

Oil for deep frying


For the dough
----------------------
1 cup All Purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup chilled water

Method:

To make dough:

Mix all the ingredients for the dough and make a nice smooth dough. Cover with a wet paper towel and set aside.


To make filling:

Chop the onions finely. Make a fine powder of the moong dal. In a pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and all the ingredients for the filling except water. Roast them on a medium flame until all raw smell goes off. Then switch off the flame and add 2 tablespoons water. Mix it well and set aside.
Wait for the mixture to cool .



To make Kachoris:
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Meanwhile heat oil for deep frying in a deep bottom vessel like a Kadhai. Make small balls out the dough, and flatten each ball with the palm of your hand as you would to make stuffed parathas (leaving the center thicker than the edges). Then add a ball of the filling to the center of the dough, gather all the ends of the dough to the top and seal the ends by pinching the gathered ends together.



Similarly prepare all the balls. Then flatten each ball with the seam side up.



Make sure the filling doesn't come out (I was not very successful at this step, but will improve the next time I make these :) . Also make sure to distribute the filing evenly. Flatten the balls 3 inches circle .






Place about 3-4 of these in the hot oil. It will take some time for the Kachoris to come to the surface and puff up a little. Turn them over and fry both sides.

The Kachoris are done when they are a light brown color. Serve them with Tamarind chutney. An instant , most simple Tamarind chutney which I made in a hurry was to mix thick tamarind pulp with honey.


Hope you too will enjoy these when you make it :-)

RM2-Day 30- Maida Halwa

This is a recipe I got from Easycrafts's Simple Indian Food- An Easy Cooking Blog.

It was so easy and it came out good. This being the last post for Recipe Marathon, I am thrilled I made it till here (yeah I missed a day, but I guess, 29 days of posting is not bad huh :)
It was a fun adventurous ride and I enjoyed the part of cooking and posting everyday :) I am motivated to keep blogging frequently because of this event , I must say :). It doesn't seem that tough to keep up with the Marathon , now that I look at it. I am glad I made a whole lot of new blog buddies too , yes that's one of the exciting part of running a Recipe Marathon :) . I am sure I would love to take part in another Marathon, not immediately though :)

Congrats to all of you fellow Marathoners in completing this race :) I thoroughly enjoyed running along with you people , it was fun to see so many recipes everyday !

Last Day Recipe Marathon 2 - Day30:

1. DK
   
2. Siri
   
3. Srivalli
   
4. Ranji
   
5. PJ
   
6. Curry Leaf
   
7. Priya
   
8. Bhawana
   
9. Raaji
   
10. Ruchii
    
11. Anu
    
12. Kamala
    
13. Medha
    
14. Divya Kudua
    
15. Rekha
    
16. Divya M
    
17. Lakshmi
    
18. Raaga
    
19. Lakshmi Venkatesh
    
20. Sripriya
    
21. Viji
    
22. Kamalika
    
23. Pavani
    
24. Karuna
    
25. Roochi