Ragi Paratha - Dieter's choice

Ingredients:

1. Ragi flour - 50 gms
2. Wheat flour - 70 gms.
3. Tofu - 50 gms
4. Carrot - 50 gms - grated
5. Chayote(Chowchow) - 20 gms - grated
6. Beans - 8 nos - finely chopped
7. Onion - one small- finely chopped
8. Green chillies- 2 nos - Optional
9. Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
10. Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
12.Salt - to taste
13. Corinader leaves
14. Hing - 1/2 tsp
15. Oil- 1 tsp+ 2 tsp.
16. Lime juice - 3-5 drops.


Method:

1. Take the ragi flour, wheat flour and add required salt for the dough and mix well.

2. Add required water and knead the dough to a smooth ball.

3. Crumble the tofu well. Chop/Grate the vegetables.

4. In a pan add just 1 tsp of oil or ghee. 

5. Once the oil is hot add the onions.

6. Since we are not adding a lot of oil here, the onions will not brown beautifully. Don't step aside. the onions will burn. so keep saute-ing until the onions turn transparent.

7. Add the rest of the veggies and salt required for the veggies.

8. As we are trying to avoid any more oil addition, I recommend to cover and cook the veggies, until they are half done , by opening the lid and stirring them occasionally. I like it less spicy so I have not added any green chilli. If you prefer it spicy, add finely chopped green chillies now.

9. Once the veggies are half done - this might take 3-5 minutes, add the crumbled tofu.

10. Add all the dry spices - Turmeric, red chilli, hing and Garam masala powders. Add the coriander leaves.

11. Mix well and set aside to cool. Once cooled down to room temperature, add lime juice and  make medium lemon sized balls out of the filling mixture.

12. Make a small ball of the ragi-wheat dough.Dab it in some wheat flour, so that it is easy for rolling.

13. Roll it and make a thick roti of 5-6 inches diameter.

14. Place a ball of filling at the center.

15. Wrap the filling with the roti on all sides such that the filling is well covered.

16. Press it gently and dust it in wheat flour again.

17. Roll it with gentle hands, until you start seeing the impression of under lying filling.

18. Cook it on Tawa with 1 tsp of oil for each side. Since we cook with less oil, the Paratha might take 5-7 minutes to get cooked completely. Less oil More patience. :)

19. Serve hot with curd and pickle. 

Coconut Laddu - Sugary Food heaven

Ingredients:
1. Fresh grated coconut - 150 gms + 2 tbsp
2. Condensed milk - 1 small tin - 200 ml
3. Cardamom powder - 2 tsp
4. Ghee - 2 tbsp
5. Cashews - halved - 7 nos / chopped - 1 tsp

Method:

1. In a pan, preferably non-stick, add a tbsp of ghee and roast the cashews until they are golden brown.
2.In the same pan, if you have some left over ghee, just add a little extra and add 2 tbsp of freshly grated coconut

3. On medium flame, by roasting continuously, fry it until it is crisp and golden brown. remove it on to a separate plate and set aside for cooling,

4. To the same pan, without adding any extra ghee, add the remaining coconut and toss gently in medium flame. 

5. After 2-3 mins, add the cardamom powder and toss gently.

6. Keep frying in medium -low flame, for up to 5 mins or until the divine aroma of coconut and cardamom comes up together. 

7. Make sure the coconut does not change color, we just want the moisture from coconut to escape. we do not want to roast the coconut to golden brown. 

8. Once the aroma is released, add the condensed milk. I suggest to take the pan off the flame, pour the entire can of condensed milk, mix well and then place it on the flame again.

9. Keep the flame on medium and stir the mixture continuously. At first the mixture might seem weird, with coconut flakes and the condensed milk not incorporated so well, as in the above picture. Just keep stirring. After three minutes of time, my mixture looked like below.

10. As the mixture started to thicken, add the chopped and fried cashews. Mix well.

11. Keep stirring. After 5-6 mins of time, my mixture started sticking on to my wooden spoon and started leaving the pan. 

This indicates we are so close to the right consistency. Once the mixture stops sticking to the pan, there we are.

12. After a minute or so, the mixture started to form a nice , soft and smooth dough like ball.

(You can see how clean my pan is. :) ) 

  

14. Allow it to cool completely, or just warm enough for you to handle it.

15. Make small balls out of the mixture and place the fried halved cashew at the center.

16. Roll it over the roasted coconut crumbs. 

17. Coconut laddu is ready. 

Chakkarai Pongal - Maarghazhi Special.

Ingredients:
1. Rice - 90 gms
2. Green gram Dhal /Moong Dhal - 60 gms
3. Jaggery - 400-450 gms
4. Dry fruits- chopped
5. Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Ghee - 4-5 tbsp

Method:
1. Mix rice and Dhal in a bowl. Wash the rice and dhal mixture well until the water runs clear.
2. Add 125 gms of milk and 375 gms of water to the washed rice and dhal and pressure cook it in High flame for 7-8 whistles.
Cooked rice and dhal mixture looks like below.

3. While it is still hot, mash it well with a ladle. Make sure there are no lumps. 

4. Take the jaggerey in a bowl and add water until it submerges. Cook on stove top.

5. Allow it to boil until the Jaggery melts completely. This is done to remove the impurities in jaggery if any. 

6. Take a big wok and fry the chopped cashews, Almond and Raisins

7. In the same wok, filter the boiled Jaggery mixture and bring it to a boil.

8. Allow it to boil for 5 minutes , while stirring continuously.

9. Allow it to boil until Jaggery syrup reaches the below consistency. The syrup should be thick enough until it coats the ladle thick,

10. Now add the mashed rice and dhal mixture a little at once , as you keep stirring continuously.

11. Once the rice mixture is added in batches , mix well until the jaggery syrup mixes with rice completely.

12. Allow it to boil. After a couple of minutes, add the cardamom powder.

13. Add three tablespoons of  ghee. 

 14. Mix well until the ghee incorporates well.

15. Add the dry fruits.

 16. Mix well and the rest of the two tablespoons of Ghee.

17. Serve Hot.