MALABAR PARATHA

Malabar paratha, the very name itself makes the mouth water. Any dish from the Malabar region is a delicacy. The delectable gently cooked, mild flavored malabar recipes are a pride to South Indian cooking. The malabar cuisine is famous for the non vegetarian recipes. When it comes to the vegetarian dishes the Malabar parathas takes the top position. These layered flakey flat bread just melts away in your mouth. I call these the king of all the parathas. I have been eating these from my childhood, but never I knew the way these are made. After coming to USA I became a fan of the Pillsbury frozen malabar parathas. I searched all the sites to get the perfect recipe, but failed. There was one blog which gave a full lengthy, but exact  restaurant version of the recipe. It is not possible for a normal housewife like me doing that version. At last I found a simple way in making the parathas. The parathas turned good, but I could not get the exact melting kind of parathas that we get in restaurants. Well I am totally satisfied with my try.     
INGREDIENTS

• Maida (all purpose flour)             2 cups
• Salt                                             to taste
• Sugar                                          1 tsp
• Milk                                            3 Tsp
• Cold Water                                 to make the dough
• Oil                                              1/4 cup( for dough)
• Oil                                              4 Tsp(for frying parathas)

PROCEDURE
The main key for attaining perfect soft parathas lies in making the dough. Mixing dough for these parathas is an art by itself. First sift the flour and transfer it into a large mixing bowl. Now add 3 table spoons of oil and salt,sugar and mix them well. The flour should become crumbling. Now add the milk and mix well. Make the dough by adding water little by little. Make a very stiff dough, stiffer than the chapathi dough. Now by adding a table spoon of oil at a time knead the dough well. The kneading part is very important for attaining smooth parathas. The stiff dough should become a soft dough. Knead the dough for about 10 to 15 minutes. Now smear oil on the dough and let the dough rest for 15 minutes by covering with a cloth. The dough should look oily. After 15 minutes again knead the dough with some more oil. Now let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Your dough is now ready to make the parathas. Divide the dough into equal portions. Cover the dough with cloth and take each portion at a time before rolling. 
 






Take a portion of dough and roll it on a smooth surface As the dough is oily you can easily roll it without it sticking to the surface. If needed apply some oil to the rolling pin to roll it easily. Don’t use flour in rolling.  Make it into a very thin chapathi. Don’t worry about the shape. The chapathi should be as thin as possible. See the above figure and that is how your chapathi should be. Now comes the important step. Smear some oil  on the chapathi.Gently lift the chapathi from one side and fold the dough alternately, one fold to the above and one fold below. The folds should be just like the saree folds or the fan folds. Now it should look just like the one which is in above figure.









Again roll it as a spring. Now it should look just like the above. Now smear some oil on to these rolls and flatten into a round paratha. This should be of 4 cms thick. For this final step if you know how to  flatten the paratha with hands, do it that way. This way you can get spiral layered flakey paratha.  Do not apply excessive pressure while doing the final step. On a hot tava gently fry the paratha on both the sides with some oil to golden brown. Now the delicious parathas are ready to be served with and any curry of your choice.TIPS

• I used oil for the whole process, you can use butter for a different taste.
• Use some green onions while mixing the dough to enhance the taste.
• A hand full of finely chopped vegetables of your choice can also be used while making the dough.(onions, leafy greens, cauliflower, cabbage etc).

OATS DOSA

Oats Dosa

When it comes to cooking, it is said that tasty is not healthy. Lots and lots of oil or ghee or fat items makes the best tasting dishes…………this is not true. Tasty is also healthy is all that I want to say by giving this recipe. Oats, this is the popular word you hear among the dieting foods. Oats oats helps in reducing cholesterol level, stabilizes blood sugar level, reduces the cardiovascular diseases and many more health benefits.Low fat, high fiber oats are good for persons who are desperate in reducing their weight.
A bowlful of steamy oats porridge is a perfect way to start the day with. But unless you have strong  determination of eating healthy, you cant eat tasteless oats as it is. Many try to make the tasteless oats tasty by adding fruits, nuts, honey and many more. Oats dosa, oats upma, oats lassi etc are the recipes which are not only healthy but also tasty. Try out my healthy made tasty recipes and enjoy healthy eating without sacrificing your love for tasty foods. Having these yummy recipes once in a while keeps you fit and healthy.
INGREDIENTS

• Oats                         2 cups
• Salt                          to taste
• Red chilly powder    1 tsp
• Jeera                       1 tsp
• Rice flour                 2 Tsp
• Maida                       1 Tsp
• Oil                            to make dosas
• Curd                         1/2 cup(optional)
• Water                       3 cups

PROCEDURE
Grind the oats in a mixture to a fine powder. In the same mixie jar add the remaining ingredients except oil and jeera. Blend every thing to a fine liquid consistency. Adjust the water to make the batter like the dosa batter. Now take the batter in a bowl and add the jeera. Set aside the batter for about 20 minutes. Now heat the dosa pan and smear a little bit of oil. Pour a ladle full of batter on the pan and spread it into a circle just like the regular dosas. Add the oil to cook the dosas. When the dosa turns golden brown flip the dosa and cook the other side. Remove the dosa and serve hot.
TIPS

• Blending all the ingredients make the batter smooth without lumps.
• Any filling that is used for the regular dosa can be used for these dosas also. Use the finely chopped onions as the stuffing and the dosas tastes best.
• Any chutney can be used as an accomplishment. 

MYSORE PAK

 
Mysore pak is a traditional sweet from Mysore,Karnataka. Generous amounts of ghee is combined with besan and sugar to make this mouthwatering and mouth melting fabulous dessert. When elderly people are asked  about the sweets they know, the list come as ladoo, mysore pak, badusha, jangree etc. This says how famous is this sweet. Previously  mysore pak that was available was  hard and porous but melted in your mouth. But now a days we get a number of varieties, the harder ones, the very soft ones that had the khoya texture, Soft porous grainy brownish colored ones and many more. Today I am going to present procedure the soft porous grainy brown colored mysore pak.
The freshest ingredients should be used exactly in the same quantities  mentioned. The delicious sweet is to be prepared on a very low flame and you cannot relax even a single second while preparing the sweet. After attaining the perfect consistency the mixture should be poured immediately into a plate, any extra minute on the stove top makes the mysore pak hard and crumbling. Removing before the time would end up in making halva and not barfi. So the perfect time for removing the mysore pak is very important and this is known only on practice. Perfect aeration makes the dish a delicacy and it simply melts in your mouth.
Every time I made this sweet I used only the besan. But today I tried using milk powder and the taste is so yummy and from now whenever I make the sweet I shall use the milk powder. 
INGREDIENTS

• Besan                          1 cup
• Milk powder                 2 Tsp
• Sugar                           1+1/2 cups
• Ghee                           1 cup
• Cardamom powder      1 tsp
• Water                          1/2 cup

PROCEDURE
Sift the besan to remove any lumps and also to make the flour aerated. Heat a pan and on a very low flame fry the besan. The flame should be very slow and keep on stirring the besan, see that the besan don’t burn from the bottom. You will feel a distinct aroma and this is the time you can remove the besan into a plate. Combine the milk powder with the fried besan and keep aside. Heat the ghee in a separate pan. 

        
Grease a plate and set it aside. Greasing the plate before hand make you remove the mixture at the right time.  In another pan pour in the sugar and water. keep the flame high. When the sugar melts and begins to boil with bubbles, reduce the flame to low and slowly add the besan mixture along with cardamom powder. Stir continuously and see that no lumps are formed. Any how, the besan is already sifted and fried so the  lumps are not formed. The below figure shows the sugar syrup and the besan sugar mixture.  

Now pour in the hot ghee into the mixture little by little and continue stirring. As the very hot ghee is poured you will hear the sizzling sound and find that air bubbles are formed  in the mixture. The below picture shows how the bubbles are formed immediately when hot ghee is poured in the mixture. Pour in the whole ghee little by little at a time while stirring continuously . Now increase the flame to a medium and stir until a light yellow colored frothy bubbly mixture is formed and the mixture oozes out the ghee. Now increase the flame to high stir for 5-8 seconds(not more than that) and transfer the mixture into a greased plate.

Keep the plate at an angle, this way you can remove excess ghee. After removing the excess ghee cut into desired shape even when it is still hot. Now let the mysore pak cool completely and then remove the individual pieces and store in a air tight container. The pieces can be store for about 15 days, but believe me your family is going to empty the container in 1 day. 

TIPS

• Use fresh ingredients so that the mysore pak tastes great.
• The ghee should be really hot while poring into the besan mixture.
• Once you get the frothy mixture remove the mixture immediately into the plate.
• If you find that you removed the mixture early from the stove or the mysore pak doesn't harden, don’t worry. Heat the mixture in a pan and stir for about a  minute over a medium flame. By this time it would harden. Now remove onto the plate and this time your are sure to get the perfect mysore pak.
• Adjusting the flame as mentioned is an important step. Never keep the flame on high while making the sweet. Just before removing the mixture onto a plate increase the flame to high, stir for 5 seconds and pour the mixture on to a plate. This is the time when you get a light brown color.
• The perfect time to remove the mixture from the stove is known only by practice.
• Do not try to replace milk powder with milk.
• If you are making the dessert in larger quantity take the help of you friend or family member to pour in the besan and the ghee.