Shanghai Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing)

 Some time ago, one of kids' friend's family invited us fo dinner. They were from Shanghai. The food she served was so different from what we call "Chinese" when we go to the restaurants here. It was amazing. Like, when people come to my house and say ..."oh you mean to say you do not eat Tandoori chicken or Butter chicken every SINGLE day???"

Anyway, that day she served these delicious Scallion pancakes, which were so much like the layered paratha were have in India.  Which is our favorite kind of paratha. So finally yesterday I decided I would make it and it was so great. It takes a while to make but at the end the results are delicious. The original recipe is here

Shanghai Scallion Pancakes (Cong You Bing) (Pan fried layered flatbread with scallions)

Shanghai Scallion Pancakes

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups all purpose flour + more for making the bread
2. about 1 cup hot water
3. 2 cups finely chopped green onion or scallion
4. 3/4 teaspoon salt
5. oil for brushing and pan-frying

Ingredients Oil Mixture:

1. 1/3 cup vegetable oil
2. 2 tablespoons cup AP flour
3. 5 scallion whites

Make the main dough: Slowly stir the hot water to the flour. Wait until cooled down and knead until it forms a smooth dough. Or knead the dough with a stand mixer for 5-7 minutes with low speed.

Rest the dough: Cover with plastic wrapper or a wet cloth and rest for at least 30 minutes. So the gluten can be well rested and we can easily roll the pancake out.

Make the oil-flour mixture: heat oil over medium fire and fry green onions until browned. Discard the green onion and keep the oil. Pour flour into a small bowl and stir in the hot oil slowly.

Roll out the dough: Cut the dough into 4 equal portions and roll one portion out to a large rectangle wrapper. Sprinkle salt and top with a layer of oil-flour mixture and then another layer of chopped scallion.

Roll-up the dough: Starting from the long end, roll the dough up like folding a hand fan. Slightly stretch and roll one side up to the middle and then the other side to the middle too. Overlay the two ends. Cover the dough and rest for 15 minutes or so. Repeat the process and finish all of the remaining portions. The former twos with more layers are assembled with the hand folding fan methods, while the two in the second line is made with simply roll up method.

Roll each portion to a large pancake (around 5 inches in diameter). If you plan to cook the pancakes later, package each of them with an air-tight bag and freeze up for 1 week.

Frying the pancakes: add around 3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and fry the pancakes until golden brown on one side (takes 3-4 minutes over medium fire), turn over the fry the another side for 3 minutes too. After turning over, slightly press the center of the pancake so they can be fried evenly.

I served with with Soya sauce dipping sauce 

Soya sauce dipping sauce 

Soya Sauce dipping sauce

Ingredients:

1. 1/4 cup soya sauce
2. 1/2 tablespoon sugar
3. 1 tablespoon Sambal chillie paste
4. 1 tablespoon rice vine or white vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together well to incorporate

Mooli Paratha

 As I write this, it strikes me that I did not take a picture of the mooli stuffing I made for the paratha. Mooli...Daikon...white Radish. One of the rare vegetables which was not in my mom's favorite list. Mainly because the creates a lot of smell when it is getting cooked and back in the day, we did not have ant exhaust in our house in the mother land.

But here is it not a problem. I have my exhaust on any time I am cooking. The stuffing is very very simple.

 Mooli Paratha (Daikon stuffed Indian Wheat bread)

Mooli paratha

Stuffing Ingredients:

1. 1 daikon about a foot long. scrapped clean, washed and grated
2. 1 teaspoon  each of salt, coriander powder, cumin powder, mustard seeds
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of urad dal,  cumin, turmeric
4.  1 tablespoon sambar powder (optional)
5. 1/2 tablespoon oil
6. 1 red green chili chopped fine (optional)

Ingredients for paratha:

1. 3 cups wheat flour
2. oil for frying paratha
3. water for mixing the dough
4. 1 teaspoon salt

In a pan heat the oil (turn the exhaust on) and add the mustard seeds and cover and fry till they splutter. Add cumin and urad dal and fry for 30 more seconds. Add the chilli if using and add the grated Daikon. Add all the spices and mix well and cover and cook for 10 minutes. Garnish with finely chopped cilantro if you want. Let it cool.

Mix the wheat flour with salt and water into dough and set side for 10 minutes. Divide into 8 parts. Roll on a clean surface to about 4 inch circle. Add a tablespoon of the stuffing and "wrap" the stuffing with the dough and make it into a ball between your palms.

Add more flour to the surface and roll the stuffed dough ball into 6-8 inch ball. Heat the griddle and fry the roti until dark brown spots appear on most of the surface. Add a teaspoon of oil or ghee on both side and serve with your favorite chutney or yogurt or as is.

Mughlai paneer pockets

These are similar to paneer paratha or my version Palak paneer paratha but the stuffing is different and the way its made is different. This is easy to eat on the go. Usually Indian food is not very portable, but these are super portable and delicious for kids school lunch

Makes 4 to 6

Mughlai Paneer Pockets (Cottage cheese stuffed wheat pockets)

Mughlai Paneer Pockets

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups wheat flour

Ingredients for filling/stuffing:

1. 1-1.5 cups grated paneer
2. 1 medium carrot grated
3. 1/2 cups chopped capsicum/bell pepper
4. 1 tablespoon chopped cashew nuts (optional)
5. 1/4 cup green peas
6. 1/4 cup chopped onions
7. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, coriander powder, cumin powder, amchur powder
8. 1 tablespoon oil
9. 1 green chilli finely chopped
10. 1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste / finely chopped garlic
11. Ghee/ butter for frying the pockets

In a pan heat the oil and add the onions and carrots to it and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add cashews and bell pepper and add all the spices and mix well. Let cook for 5 minutes. Add peas and paneer and mix well and cook for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro, cut the flame and mix again. Set aside to cool

Mix the flour with water and form dough and set aside covered for 15-20 minutes.

Divide into 6 parts.

Roll the dough into 8 inch. Add 2 tablespoons stuffing into the center and fold the edges onto the stuffing, making a pocket.

In a pan heat 1 teaspoon butter and on medium low flame add the pocket to the pan. Cover and let fry for 2 minutes. Flip and fry covered for 2 more minutes. Cut the pocket into 2 triangles and serve with ketchup

Roomali Roti aur Punjabi lamb curry

Mmmm mmmm mmmm. The recipe was super delicious recipes for roomali roti and Punjabi mutton curry

In all these years I never tried making roomali roti because I thought it was complicated but it was simple. The only thing is, you have to roll it into the thinnest roti you could make

Roomali Roti (Super thin Indian wheat bread)

Rumali Roti

Ingredients:

1. Whole wheat flour (atta) 2 cups
2. All purpose flour (maida) 1/2 cup
3. Salt to taste
4. Cold water  as required
5. Wheat flour  for dusting

Sieve the whole wheat flour and refined flour with salt. Mix it. Slowly add cold water and make a soft dough. Keep it covered with a damp cloth for thirty minutes. The dough should be very elastic. Knead well again. 
Divide the dough into 6 equal portions. Shape them into round balls. Roll out each ball into small rounds on a floured surface as thin as you could roll (dust the surface as needed else the roti will stick to the surface)

Serve immediately with Punjabi lamb curry and onions.

Other curries which go great with Romali roti

Kaleji Rogan Josh

Kaleji Shorbadaar

Kaleji Masala

Phulka aur Paneer Fava Beans

The other day my hubby dear was watching something on TV about how vulnerable you are for getting a heart attack. From that time on he has become a little health concious. So these days instead of making the regular roti with oil I am making Phulkas (these are just the oil-less version of the Indian bread Roti)
but it sure definitely tastes different.
                   And for the side dish I am making Paneer Fava beans. These Fava beans are from the mediterranean stores and they are huge. And sometimes I find them in Target. And I really like them. My kids also love them. So here are the recipes.

Paneer Fava Beans (Fava Beans with Indian Cottage Cheese)

Paneer Fava Beans

Ingredients:

1. 1 can fava beans drained and washed
2. 100 gms Paneer or about 1 cup cubed paneer
3. 1 large tomato chopped
4. 1 medium small onion chopped fine
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, madras curry powder
6. 3/4 teaspoon or less salt
7. 1 green chilly chopped
8. 1 tablespoons+2 teaspoons oil

In a pan heat the tablespoons of oil and fry the paneer cubes for 5-7 minutes until they start to change color. Drain and set aside. Add the rest of the oil if needed and add the onions and fry till they become tender. Add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies and fry for a minute. Add the tomatoes and the powder spices and fry till the tomatoes till they become tender. Add fava beans and 1/2 cup water and simmer for 7-8 minutes. Add paneer and stir to combine and simmer for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro stir to combine and cut the heat. Serve with Phulkas

Phulka (Oil-less Indian whole wheat bread)

Phulka

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups whole wheat flour
2. 1/2 teaspoon salt
3. water as needed
4. Extra flour for rolling phulkas

In a bowl sift the flour and salt together. Add little water at a time and knead the flour until it comes together. Make a hole in the dough and add a tablespoons of water and cover and set aside for 20 minutes. Knead the flour for a couple of minutes. If it is stiking to your hand apply some oil to your palm or sprinkle some flour on the dough and knead.
Divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Sprinkle some flour on a clean surface and roll each piece of dough with a rolling pin into a tortilla. Heat a griddle and roast the phulka. Serve hot

Cabbage Poriyal with Plain Roti

Somtimes you just have to make something so very simple and quick so as to make your life a little easier. This particular dish is one such dishes which is a very simple and a stand-by for me because it is such a no brainer and cabbage is one of those vegetables' which is always there in my fridge waiting for me.
        You can make your life much more easier by serving it with white rice and Khatti Dal or Sambar. As per me I am just serving it with Plain Roti. You can also make Roghni Roti or Kalonji Roti -Variations of the Roti

Cabbage Poriyal (Simple cabbage stir fry)

Cabbage Poriyal

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 head of a medium green cabbage (about 3 cups) shredded
2. 2 tablespoons oil
3. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, turmeric, salt
4. 3 dried red chillies broken
5. few curry leaves

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin, urad dal and mustard seeds for 2 minutes. Add dried chillies and curry leaves and fry for a couple of more minutes. Add the cabbage and stir to combine. Add salt and turmeric and cover and cook till cabbage becomes tender. About 15 minutes. garnish with cilantro and serve with Roti

Roti (Plain Indian Wheat Bread)

Plain Roti

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups of whole or regular wheat flour +Extra for rolling the roti
2. Water for making in dough
3. 1/2-2/3 teaspoon salt
4. 1 teaspoon oil  + Oil for frying roti

Sift the flour with salt and add water to the flour a little at a time until the dough comes together. Apply one teaspoon of oil to the palm of your hand and roll the roll with your palm so that the oil coats the dough. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes
        Divided the dough into 6-8 parts. Clean your counter top and sprinkle some flour and start rolling one part of dough into tortilla. Add more flour if the dough starts to stick. Heat a griddle and fry the roti 1 minute at a time till drak spots start appering. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon of oil on each side and fry for a couple of more minutes. Serve hot

Kalonji Roti, Khatta Aalu Chana Masala, Cauliflower Special

Its roti time again. I never made roti this frequently before, but since my little darling likes it and eats it without any fuss, I am making it more frequently these days
               And sometimes plain ol' roti becomes just that-PLAIN and OLD. So I try to make variations of it and today I made Kalonji Roti (Kalonji are nothing but seeds of Onion) . Looks like I was mistaken. Kalonji are seeds of the plant Nigella sativa and they are a little spicy. But I really like thier flavor in the roti. And here is one more dish I made with kalonji- Aalu Posto

Kalonji Roti (Indian bread with seeds of Nigella Saliva plant)

Kalonji Roti

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups whole wheat flour
2. 1 heaped teaspoon Kalonji
3. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt
4. 1 tablespoon mustard oil (or use any other oil)
5. Oil for frying roti
6. Extra flour for making roti

Mix the salt and Kalonji with the flour and add enough water to the flour so as to make dough. Apply the mustard oil to the palm of your hand and roll the dough to apply oil to it. Set it aside covered for 20 minutes.
Divide the dough into 6-8 equal parts and put some flour on a clean counter and take one piece of dough and roll it into tortillas or roti by adding extra dough if it is sticking to the surface or the rolling pin.
Heat the griddle and fry the roti by flipping it every couple of minutes till dark spot appear. Drizzle 1/2-1/3 teaspoon oil on both side and fry for a couple of more minutes on each side. Serve

Khatta Aalu Chana Masala (Sour potato and garbanzo curry)

Khatta Aalu chana Masala

Ingredients:

1. 1 can chickpeas (garbanzo) drained (14 oz can)
2. 2 medium potatoes peeled and cubed
3. 1 medium onion sliced
4. 2 tablespoons oil
5. 1/2 cup juice from small lime sized tamarind
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric
7. 2 green chillies slit

In a pressure cooked heat oil and fry the onions till they become translucent. Add green chillies and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for two whistles. After the steam escapes open the cooker and simmer till the gravy becomes thick. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with Kalonji roti or Roghni Roti

Cauliflower Special (Stir fried Cauliflower with Cashew)

Cauliflower special

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium small head of cauliflower or about 4 cups cauliflower florets in small sizes
2. 2 tablespoons oil
3. 1 tablespoon chopped cashew
4. 1 small or 3/4 cup sliced red onion
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric, salt
6. 1 green chilly chopped
7. few red chillies broken

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds for a couple of minutes. Add cashew and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add red and green chillies and fry for 2 more minutes. Add onions and fry covered till they become translucent. Add cauliflower and a tablespoon of oil and cover and cook till they become tender. About 15 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients stir to combine and cook for 5 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy with Roti or rice

Kaddu Moong Dal

I was searching for some simple dal curry to go with the roti I was making. I made Pesara Pappu Sora Kaaya. This is one of the most yummies dal curry you can ever mae and eat. So njoy

Kaddu Moong Dal (Lentils with bottle gourd)

Lauki masoor dal

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium sized bottle gourd
2. 1 cup moong dal (toasted)
3. 2 cups water
4. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt
5. 1 green chilly cut into pieces
6. 2 red chillies broken into pieces
7. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin and mustard seeds
8. few curry leaves
9. 1 tablespoon oil
10. 1 garlic chopped (optional)
11. 1/4 cup chopped onions

Peel the bottle gourd and cut into small pices about 1 inch. In a pressure cooker, heat the oil and fry the onions till tender. Add dal and bottle gourd, turmeric and water and cook for 3 whistles (Don't add salt here). After the steam escapes, open the cooker and mash the dal and bottle gourd pieces a bit. In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds for a couple of minutes. Then add  garlic, green and red chillies and curry leaves and fry till the chillies get dark. Add this on top of the dal and simmer for 5 minutes along with salt. Garnish with cilantro, stir to combine and serve with Roghni Roti or regular roti

Roti (Pan fried Indian bread made with wheat flour)

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups wheat flour (makes about 8 rotis) and extra for rolling
2. water as needed
3. 3/4-1 teaspoon salt
4. Oil or butter for pan frying

In a bowl mix the salt into the flour and add water little by little until you can make soft dough. Take about 2 teaspoons oil in your palm and roll the dough ball. Cover and set aside for 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 8 parts . For rolling take a rolling pin, add some flour to your cleaned counter top. Put one part of dough on the flour and spinkle some flour on top of the dough and roll the dough until you get about 1/6-1/8 inch thick tortella. Fry it on a hot griddle or pan and apply oil once drak brown spots start appearing on the roti. Remove from heat and serve hot roti with your favourite dal or any curry 

Poori with Aalu palak paneer

Its been ages that I made poori or Puri-the deep fried bread from India. Whenever I made poori before I always made it with Aalu Chooley (Potatoes with Chick Peas) but today I am in no mood for chickpeas. And I have Paneer at hand.
                   So...I started my search for Paneer recipes and I found the same old, same old recipes ever where aka palak paneer, mutter paneer, butter paneer and all. I am soooooooo bored with these recipes. So I kind of combined two recipes and came up with my own paneer recipe and let me tell you, it was finger licking good. Even my 10 month old little guy liked it.

Poori (Deep fried Indian wheat bread)

Puri

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups wheat flower
2. 3/4-1 teaspoon salt
3. water for making dough
4. Oil for deep frying

Sift the flour with salt and mix it into dough with water a little at a time. Add a tablespoon of oil to it, mix well and set aside for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into about 12 equal parts. If you have poori maker or a tortilla maker make pooris in them or roll it the old fashoned way into puris the size of your palm, roughly 6-7 inches in diameter.
                 Heat the oil in a pan and deep fry the pooris one at a time till golden brown. Serve immediately with your favourite potato curry or the Aalu Palak Paneer

Aalu Palak Paneer (Potatos and Cottage Cheese in a Spinach gravy)

Aalu palak paneer

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups 1 cm cubes of paneer
2. 1 medium large potato cubed to the same size as paneer
3. 1/2 cup frozen spinach thawed
4. 1 medium tomato chopped
5. 1 green chilly
6. 1 medium onion chopped
7. 1/4 cup milk
8. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric
9. 1 inch ginger peeled
10. 3 tablespoons oil divided

Here is how to make Fresh Paneer
Microwave on high the potatos, covered for 3 minutes and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons oil and fry the paneer pieces till they start changing color. Drain and set aside. Add the potato pieces to the pan and fry till they get a nice golden crust, drain and set aside. Grind the onion along with ginger and green chilly. Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the onion paste till it starts to become brown. In the mean while grind the spinach, tomato to paste and set aside. When the onion paste become brown add the spinach paste and stir to combine and fry for 5-7 minutes. Add all the rest of the ingredients, add 1/2 cup of water, stir to combine and simmer on a low flame for 10 minutes. Stir ocassionally. Serve hot or at room temparature with Poori or Roti or rice

Sweet bread

This recipe is from one of my cousin sister-in-laws. Hmm...what is cousin sis-in-law. Well...she is the wife of my cousin :D . This was her mom's recipe. She used to make it when she was craving something sweet.

So...this sweet bread is roti actually but sweet

Misti Roti (Indian bread stuffed with Sugar)

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of wheat flour
2. water to make dough
3. 4 teaspoons sugar divided
4. Ghee or clarified butter to fry the roti
5. 1/4 teaspoon salt
6. 1 teaspoon oil

Mix the salt in the wheat flour and add a little water at a time and make it into a dough. Rub it around with the oil and set it aside covered for 20-30 minutes. Divide it into 4 parts. Take one part and roolit into a small circle. Add one teaspoon sugar and make it into a dumpling. Add some flour to the surface and roll it again into a roti. Heat the griddle and fry the roti until golden brown on both side. Add ghee to both side and serve hot. It is YUMMY!!!