Stuffed Bread Bajji/ Stuffed bread Pakoras.

Ingredients:

1. Whole wheat brown bread - 4-5 Nos

For batter:

1. Gram flour - 150 gms
2. Rice flour - 40 gms
3. Red chilli powder - 1 tbsp
4. Hing - 1 tsp
5. Salt - as required.
6. Sodium bi carbonate (cooking soda) - a pinch.
7. Water - 50 gms.

For Green Chuteny

1. Coriander leaves - A handful
2. Green chillies - 5-6 Nos.
3. Lemon juice - 2 drops
4. Black salt - as required
5. Curd - 3 table spoons

For red chuteny

1. Onion - 2 nos medium
2. A small piece of tamarind.
3. Garlic - 2-3 cloves
4. Red chillies - 5 Nos
5. Jaggery - powdered/ Shredded - 2 table spoons.
6. Urad dhal - 1 table spoon
7. Salt - as required.

For potato stuffing

1. Potato - 250 gms (Boiled and mashed)
2. Green chillies - 2 nos finely chopped
3. Coriander leaves - finely chopped 2 tbsp
4. Hing - a pinch
5. Salt - as required.
6. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
7. Red chilli powder - 2 tsp

Method:

1. Put all the ingredients under the green chutney tab into a mixer jar and grind smoothly. Green chutney is ready.
2. Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and add finely chopped garlic, once it starts cooking, add the red chillies and urad dhal. Once they all turn golden brown, add the tamarind piece and saute just for a couple of seconds. Remove from heat. If the oil is still remaining in the pan, add the finely chopped onions to it, else if the oil is dried out, add a tsp oil and then add the onions. saute until the onions are nice and completely cooked. remove it off the heat and allow it to cool. Add salt and jaggery powder and grind it into a paste. Spicy red chutney is ready.

3. Add all the ingredients under the batter, except soda bi carb and mix well, Add water little by little and form a free flowing, nice thick batter so that it could coat the breads well.

4. Boil and peel the potatoes. Add all the ingredients under the potato filling and mix well. To it add a tablespoon of green and red chutney. mix well to form a smooth mixture.

5. Add the oil required for frying and let it heat up.

6. Take a bread slice and apply green chutney on it.

7. Take another bread slice and apply red chutney on it, 

8. Add a dollop of potato filing. and spread it on the slice on which we had applied the red chutney, such that the centre of the bread has a thick filing and thin towards the end. do not spread it till the end , it will squish when we place the other slice on top and press it. 

9. Place the green chutney side downwards, such that the green chutney touches the potato mixture and seal the bread tightly. 

 10. add a pinch of soda bi carb to the batter and mix well. 

11. Now dip the bread into the batter and coat the bread with batter well on both sides. 

12. Add the bread carefully to the hot oil and fry it until golden brown on both sides.

13. Bread bajji / pakora is ready. 

14. if you feel , stuffing a whole bread, placing another one on top, dipping and frying is a little heavy and tedious, you can follow method 2. 

15. Take a single slice of bread. Apply green chutney on one half and red on the other. 

16. Place a dollop a potato filling on the red chutney side and spread it.

17. Now slightly wet your hands and dab the rear side of the bread with water. do not soak it. just dab it.  Now bring both the edges of the bread together and tightly fold the bread, such that it forms a triangle.

18. Now dip this in batter and deep fry it.

Hot bread bajji is ready to serve. the red chutney or green chutney or tomato ketchup will go well with this.

  

Aloo Peanut curry - An Aromatic, spicy side dish

Ingredients:

1. Peanut(Raw/Not Toasted)  - 150gms
2. Potato - Boiled and very coarsely mashed - 200 gms.
3. Onion - 1 big, thinly sliced
4. Green chillies - 4 nos, Slit lengthwise.
5. Curry leaves - 2 sprigs, washed and roughly torn.
6. Coriander leaves - finely chopped, A handful.
7. Red chilli powder - 2 tbsp
8. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
9. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
10. Cumin powder - 1/2 tbsp
11. Garam masala powder - 1/2 tbsp
12. Salt - as required.
13. Oil - 2 tbsp.
14. Jeera and Saunf - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Bring water to a rolling boil, Add the raw peanuts and allow it to soak for a couple of hours. Drain the water in which the peanuts had soaked. Add fresh water , until the peanut submerges completely. Add salt to taste and pressure cook the peanuts for 4 whistles.

2. Add some salt and boil the potatoes, Mash them very coarsely. please leave  them in big chunks.

3. Add some oil to the pan and once it is medium hot, add the Jeera and saunf.  let the spices flavor the oil a little, while still the flame in medium and the jeera and cumin start to splutter, add chillies, curry leaves and saute for few seconds. 

4. Add the thinly sliced onion and a pinch of salt. 

5. Cover and cook the onions until they are translucent and well cooked. we can move on once the onions start browning.

6. Add all the dry spices at this stage and saute well until the raw smell of the spice powders are gone completely.

7. Add two cups of water and allow it to come to a nice boil.

8. Add the cooked peanuts and allow it to boil for 2-3 mins. 

9. Once the peanuts start soaking some of the gravy and come together, add the roughly mashed potato. Add salt to the gravy, please remember, we have added salt to potatoes, peanuts and to the onions too.  

10. Work with the wooden spoon and mash some of the potato into the gravy, while retaining few big chunks, so that the gravy thickens and gets incorporated well.

If the gravy does not thicken, please allow it to boil for more time. Check for salt and adjust the seasonings according to taste.

Once the gravy thickens , add the chopped coriander. 

11. Mix well and serve it with hot Roti or Puris. 

Coriander Veg Pulao - Simple, Yummy colorful pulao

Ingredients:

The coriander paste
1. Coriander leaves - 1 cup
2. Green chillies - 5-6 nos
3. Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
4. Garlic - 3-4 cloves
5. Salt - 1 tsp
6. Lemon juice - 1 tsp

For Pulao:
1. Rice - 100 gms
2. Diced veggies - Carrot, French beans, Potato, Green peas - 1/2 cup each.
3. Whole spices - 1 stick cinnamon, 3 cardamom, black pepper corn- 3 nos, Bay leaf - 1, star anise - 1, 1 tsp swanf
4. Onion - 1 Medium - thinly sliced.
5. Salt - as required
6. Oil - 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Grind all the ingredients(Except lemon juice) under the 'Paste' column into a smooth paste. Lemon juice prevents the change of color.

3. Add 2 tbsp of oil in a wok and before the oil gets heated fully, add the whole spices. by this way of heating the spices along with the oil, infuses great aroma into the oil and eventually into the pulao.

4. Add the onion and add a dash of salt for the onion to cook faster..

5. Once the onion starts browning, add the rest of the veggies and salt required for the veggies.

 6. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Once the veggies just start to sweat their moisture out, as shown below in the first image , add the green paste.

7. Mix well and let the paste coat every veggie piece.

8. Wash and set the rice aside for ten minutes. Let the rice absorb the extra moisture due to washing.

Add the soaked rice to the above veggie mixture.

9. Mix well,until the rice absorbs all the moisture of the paste. The rice and veggie should be dry as shown below, with no excess water remaining on the pan.

10. Add required water(I added 300 gms of water for 100 gms rice), check for salt, as we have added salt in veggies and green paste. Adjust salt , cover and cook for 4 whistles on medium flame.

Serve hot