Watermelon Rind Roti (Indian flat bread)

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A quick update before moving on to the recipe. This is especially relevant to email subscribers of this site, if you have been a subscriber for long you know that most posts when delivered into the inbox do not show the title of the post, just show the title of the site. This makes it difficult for bookmarking recipes. Finally feedburner (the feed service for this site) allows me to be able to display the title of the post when it is delivered into your inbox. Some of you may have already noticed that I have set this up and it has become functional from my last post which displayed the title of the post when delivered into your inbox.......hopefully this now makes it easier for you to find recipes and bookmark them from your inbox itself.

Moving on, every since I made this watermelon rind curry. I have been devising different uses for this rind. Watermelon is my favorite summer fruit and using the rind makes me happy that no part of this delicious fruit gets wasted. Since I love Indian flat bread ( Roti) varieties so much, inevitably the rind found its way into a roti before long. The grated rind added an interesting texture and taste to the roti and the roti was much appreciated.

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Ingredients and Method to make watermelon rind roti
3 cups whole wheat flour (atta)
1 cup packed grated water melon rind (pith/ white part between the skin and red part)
1/2 cup grated carrot (about 1 large carrot)
1 1/2 tsp salt (or according to taste)
3/4 tsp chili powder (or according to taste)
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp oil (optional)
water as required to knead dough (I used approx 1/2 cup )
a little oil/ ghee for cooking the roti (use oil for a vegan version)
a little extra flour for dusting

Cut the watermelon, remove the red part and enjoy the fruit or save for later :-)
Remove the skin and grate only the white part of the watermelon (the rind/ pith), keep aside.

In a large bowl add wheat flour, chilli powder, salt to taste, cumin & coriander powder and cumin seeds and mix well. Add to this grated watermelon rind and grated carrot and mix well into dough and knead. Add oil if using and knead into the dough.

Slowly add water as required a few spoons at a time and continue to knead until the dough is slightly stiff and non sticky. (the dough further softens when kept covered, so if it is very soft when you finish kneading it gets much more stickier in a little while. For this roti, it is better to keep the dough just a tad bit on the stiff side)

 Keep the dough covered for at least 30 mins. Knead a few times again, then divide into equal large lemon sized balls and keep aside

With the help of a little flour roll out each ball into a circle.(the thickness depends on personal choice for this roti I made it a little thick)

Heat tawa/ flat pan/ griddle and place one rolled out roti on it
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Cook it for a minute or so (it will start getting light pinkish/ brown spots), flip over and cook the other side (until the other side starts to get pinkish/brown spots).

Apply oil/ ghee to the side facing upwards, flip over and cook for another few seconds. Do the same for the other side.

Remove and serve hot with raita/ plain or spiced yogurt/ or curry of choice. Yielded approximately 15 (yield will depend on size and thickness of rotis)

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Vegan Quinoa Spicy Cookies

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The kitchen can be a such a source of conflict isn't it ? No, No............ I do not mean the type of conflict that some of you are thinking about, I just mean that it can evoke such conflicting emotions:-) .....at least for me, the kitchen definitely evokes conflicting emotions. On some days I just cannot wait to be done with my work there and get out of that place. On the other hand there are days when the kitchen proves to be my solace, it helps to soothe me and helps to re-focus my attention. On stressful days, if I start creating something new and unique, somehow just the act of creating something new itself makes me happy and helps me get over some of my stress.

Recently, on one such occasion when I was having a particularly bad day and was feeling thoroughly restless, I decided to make these quinoa spicy cookies. Ever since I used quinoa in crepes (dosas) I have been thinking that their lightly nutty flavor would work very well in a savory style slightly spicy cookie, so when my bad day brought me into the kitchen I decided that trying spicy cookies with quinoa in them was just what I needed to de- stress :-)

And it worked...... on both fronts, I felt a little better after making the cookies and felt a lot better once I tasted them :-) The nutty taste of quinoa was a perfect match to the slight spiciness imparted by the green chillies and these awesome melt in your mouth cookies were one the best spicy cookies I have ever tasted.

Here is another view of this cookie......

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Ingredients and Method to make Vegan Quinoa Spicy Cookies

3/4 cup quinoa flour (see notes)

1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida) (see notes)

1/2 cup almond meal (see notes)

2 1/2 tsp sugar

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp red chilli powder (or according to taste) (optional)

1 tsp aluminum free baking powder (or any other baking powder)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp dried curry leaves crushed into small bits ( alternatively use about 7 to 8 fresh curry leaves torn into small pieces) (optional)

3 Thai or Indian variety green chillies (cut very fine) (or according to taste)

1/2 cup almond butter

10 tbsp oil (you may not need so much see below)

1 tbsp flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds also known as Alsi in India) + 3 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 350 deg F

Line a cookie sheet/ tray with parchment paper and keep aside

In a bowl add all the dry ingredients ( items 1 through 10) and mix well.

Whisk together flax seed meal + 3 tbsp of water well and keep aside.

In another bowl, add almond butter and this flax seed + water mixture and whisk together gently until mixed well.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix well until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

Add the oil last and add it spoon by spoon, mixing the dough continuously. Once in between ( after about 5 tbsp of oil) take a little of the mixture and place on your palm and make a fist, if the dough sticks together means it is pretty much ready, you do not need more oil. This will also depend on the type of almond butter or if you use some other type of butter since the moisture from other butters could be different and a bit more. ( Also some types of store bought butters have some oil in them so that could change the requirement of oil too)
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Roll the dough into small lime sized balls and place about an inch apart on the lined tray.

Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 mins until the cookies are slightly brown.

Remove from oven and cool thoroughly and store in an airtight container.

Yielded about 22 to 23 cookies

Notes

For the quinoa flour I dry roasted quinoa until it emitted a slight fragrance, then I cooled and powdered it as fine as was possible in my spice grinder ( In case you find quinoa flour at your local store you could try using that too )

I used all purpose flour since I ran out of spelt flour, if you want you can use spelt flour in place of ap flour

Almond meal means powdered almonds, I used my spice grinder to make this. If you want to make this flour, then powder about 1/4 cup of raw almonds in your spice grinder or blender until it turns into a fine powder .Use short bursts of power and make sure not to over grind since the nut butter will cause clumping. You can easily find almond meal in most stores

The cookies were a little crumbly when they were first out of the oven but when they cooled they firmed up. So handle them with care when hot out of the oven.

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Vegan Orange Cranberry Oatmeal Bar

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The idea of making oatmeal bars has been brewing in my head for a while now but there was always something else that needed to get done. Finally I got around to trying it out for the first time. I have been wanting to experiment using nut butters in my bakes and this oatmeal bar seemed like a good place to start. I decided on almond butter over other nut butters simply because I felt that almond would blend in better. And I have always loved the combination of orange flavor with cranberries so I went with orange flavor rather than vanilla as I initially thought. The verdict, this extremely tasty, chewy and healthy bars have been so well appreciated that I have already made this a few times since the first time I tried it.

 

These bars are an ideal snack for the family,they are quick to make, taste awesome and are great to pack and take along on long drives, picnics or even for a quick breakfast. Packed with the goodness of oatmeal and an extra burst of protein and nutrition from almond butter and cranberries, you just cannot go wrong with these bars.

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Ingredients and Method to make Cranberry Oatmeal Bars

1 cup oat flour (see notes)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries ( I used craisins) (or dark raisins/kismis)

1 tsp aluminum free baking powder (or any other baking powder)

1/2 cup almond butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp orange extract

2 Tbsp flax seed meal ( powdered alsi/ ali virai ) + 6 tbsp water (see notes)
2 Tbsp oil 

Pre heat oven to 375 deg F (approx 190 deg C)

Grease a 9" X 9" pan, or line it with parchment paper and keep aside

In a large bowl, place oat flour + rolled oats + baking powder + dried cranberries or raisins and mix well.

Whisk flax seed meal + water until it is gelatinous and keep aside. 

In another bowl, cream together the almond butter and  sugar until well blended. Add flax "egg" to this and mix well. Add oil and mix again.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and slowly mix to form a dough. 

Add orange extract and mix again.

Spread this mixture evenly in the pre greased tray/ pre lined pan. I put the mixture, then place a small piece of parchment paper and with the help of a spatula, smooth out the mixture a little. Place in oven and bake for 15 to 20 mins or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool thoroughly before cutting into squares or  rectangles as preferred and store in an air tight container.

Tastes best within 2 to 3 days ( if it lasts that long :-) )

Notes

I processed rolled oats in a spice grinder until I got fine powder (but you can use store bought oat flour too )

Flax seed meal just means powdered flax seed. In India flax seeds are known as Alsi

The baking times will vary depending on the material of the tray and the size of it. If you have spread the mixture very thin it could be ready in 5 to 10 mins too, so do keep that in mind when you are assessing baking times.

If you are looking for Oat Bars / Energy Bar/ Bites recipes, here for a few more

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Bar

Sugar-Free Oat Nut Energy Bites

Muesli bar

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Cabbage Brown Rice

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My father who is something of a mathematics whiz and the "go to person" for all of us when we have any questions on anything related to maths, first introduced me to Sudoku. For those of you unfamiliar with sudoku, it is a logic based number placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9x9 grid with the numbers 1 to 9 such that each column, each row and each of the nine 3x3 boxes contain the numbers 1 to 9 only one time each.

This incredibly simple sounding puzzle can be highly addictive and can be quite difficult to abandon when you are in the middle of one. It is also quite a lot of fun to do and a great way to pass time on long flights. When I start one of these puzzles, I find myself keeping that page open and keep coming back to it and inserting a couple of numbers in the right slots before going on to do the next thing on my "to do " list. A lot of you may already be "into" sudoku puzzles but if you have never tried them and love to exercise your brain,you should try these out....In either case you can check out my links page here , I have added these puzzles to that page so you can try your hand at these puzzles if you feel like it :-)

Coming back to this cabbage rice that I made using brown rice, I got the idea for this in a Tarla Dalal vegetarian cookbook. It was described as a Maharashtrian style rice and seemed like something we would like. So I adapted that recipe and made some changes to make it healthier, increased the quantity of vegetables to make it hearty enough to serve as a one pot meal and loved the end result.

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Ingredients and Method to make Cabbage Brown Rice

2 cups shredded cabbage

1 cup frozen or fresh green peas

1 small to medium onion cut fine

1 1/4 cup brown basmati rice

4 tsp coconut oil (or any other oil)

1 clove

2 whole cardamoms

1/2 stick cinnamon

4 small bay leaves

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp garam masala (or according to taste)

2 1/2 cups hot water + 1 cup hot water (additional 1 cup only if required )

salt to taste

1/4 cup grated fresh or frozen coconut

Place basmati rice in a large bowl, fill with fresh water until the rice is covered, swirl the rice once or twice and drain water and keep rice aside.

In a large heavy bottomed pan heat oil, add onions and saute until the onions are transparent, then add clove, cardamoms, cinnamon and bay leaves. Stir these spices a few times.

Add shredded cabbage, green peas, turmeric powder, garam masala, brown rice and 2 1/2 cups hot water and bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook.

Stir this occasionally and check to see if more water is required, add balance of water (about 1 cup) only as required until the rice gets cooked but is not mushy.

Add salt to taste, mix well.

Lastly add grated coconut, mix well and serve hot with curry or raita or chips as preferred.

Serves approximately 2 to 3

Notes

You can make this with white basmati as well, just proceed as with brown basmati, only reduce the bay leaves to 2 and also adjust garam masala as per taste.

With this level of spices this rice was very mild and not too spicy, if you like spicier rice, you could add red chilli powder according to taste to spice it up a bit.

Suggested variation

Sprinkle juice of half a lemon on this quantity of rice just before serving for a slight tartness.

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Carrot Moong Curry ( Poriyal )

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I have a new affliction and since I have never heard of something like this I decided to name it, I call it accident prone-vitis. I am not sure how long it lasts but so far it has lasted me about a week. The symptoms include fingers that gripped stuff firmly until now, suddenly turning buttery and causing plates to drop and break, especially at the most inconvenient times, sprains and muscle aches suddenly occuring while doing the same activities that never seemed to cause them before, getting bitten by bugs and even causing pc crashes. I am hoping that this is a short lived affliction and that I am already seeing the last of it. In case any of you know the cure to this strange affliction do share :-)

Jokes aside, you know they say when it rains it pours, I realized this week how true it was...Just when I could least afford to lose time, all these things I mentioned above and some I did not... slowed me down considerably. So the food that I cooked was strictly healthy and simple.

And nothing can describe this carrot curry better than the words,healthy and simple. This curry is something any body can make, it has no complicated steps and final result is something that is hearty and delicious. I love to have this curry just by itself, but it makes a great pair with most Indian dishes especially with south Indian cuisine.





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Ingredients and method to make carrot moong curry

1/2 cup split yellow moong lentil (moong dhal)

5 large carrots (cut into 1/2 inch pieces) (yielded about 3 cups of cut carrots)

Seasoning
1 serrano green pepper (or Thai or Indian variety green chillies according to taste) (cut fine)

2 dry red chillies (broken into small pieces) ( or according to taste)

2 tsp coconut oil (or any other oil)

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp split black gram lentil (udad dhal)

salt to taste

optional garnish

4 tbsp grated fresh or frozen coconut

handful cilantro (coriander leaves) cut fine

Wash the split yellow moong lentils in fresh water and drain

Place the drained split yellow moong lentils in a large pot and add double the quantity of water and bring it to a boil. Then lower heat and let the lentils simmer in that water until it is semi cooked. Add more water if required during this process.

When the lentils are a little softer add the cut carrots to it and cook both carrots and moong until soft but not mushy.

( I did this process in the microwave this time and it worked out well. I placed the moong lentils along with water in a large glass dish and placed in the microwave and cooked in one minute intervals adding water as required and stirring regularly until the lentils were semi cooked. Then I added carrots to it, sprinkled a little water and cooked in one minute increments until the carrots and moong were both cooked and soft but not mushy)

In a small pan heat oil. When hot add mustard seeds to it, when the mustard seeds start to splutter and split black gram lentil and stir a couple of times.

When the split black gram lentil starts to turn reddish, add the green chillies and red chillies.

When the chillies start to change color slightly, pour the entire oil + mustard seeds + lentils + chillies on the cooked lentils and carrot. Add salt to the curry and mix well.

Heat this curry for another minute or two for the flavors to blend (either in the microwave or stove top)

Garnish with grated coconut and cilantro and mix well and serve hot along with rice and dhal/ sambar/ rasam or with roti's/ chappathis

Serves approximately 2 to 3

Suggested variations

You can use 5-6 curry leaves in the seasoning too, just add it after the green chillies and continue with the rest of the recipe as mentioned

Notes

The reason that salt is added in the end for this recipe is because I have heard that adding salt when cooking lentils impacts the cooking process such that the lentils do not cook fully, so the salt is added after they are completely cooked. This does not impact the taste of the final curry at all.

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Quinoa Dosa ~ Quinoa Multi grain crepes

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Quinoa pronounced as Keen-wah is not a grain but a grain like seed related to the spinach family and is native to south America. It is said to be rich in anti oxidants, phytonutrients and is said to be able to even balance blood sugar.Quinoa has more reasons that make it special, it is a complete protein meaning it contains all 9 essential amino acids that are required by the body as building blocks for muscles. It has high levels of magnesium which helps relax your muscles and blood vessels making this ideal food for those that are prone to headaches like migraine. It is also a great source of fiber. When cooked quinoa is light and fluffy and has a slightly nutty flavor.

Guilt that I have not been giving this "super grain" its due importance and curiosity to see how this would work out in a dosa format (savory crepes) had me reaching for quinoa from my pantry where it had been lying for far too long since it was last used. The result, a very mildly nutty flavored crispy and crunchy dosa just the way I love it. With only cumin to give it additional flavor, this experiment truly worked out with great results. I served it with some traditional spice powder (molaga podi ) but this one would taste great even with sambar or any chutney of choice too. If you have been wanting to try quinoa or wanting to use more of it, try this healthy crepe/ dosa I am sure you will enjoy it too.

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Ingredients and Method to make Quinoa multi grain crepes (dosa)

1 cup quinoa

3/4 cup cracked wheat

1/2 cup brown basmati rice

1/2 cup white rice

salt to taste

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp baking soda (optional)

a few drops of sesame oil (or any other oil)

Soak quinoa, cracked wheat, brown rice and white rice together for at least 1 hour preferably 2 hours.

In batches process this soaked grains in a blender little water until it forms a soft and smooth batter. Continue until all of the grains are processed.

Add cumin seeds, salt to taste and baking soda to this batter and mix well.

Add water to adjust consistency if required. The batter should be pouring consistency but a little on the thicker side, not too runny or watery. 

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Heat a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa and when it heats pour a small amount of batter on the center and spread quickly into a thin circle. ( For a very crispy crepe make it very thin and for a softer crepe make the circle a little thicker)

Add a few drops of sesame oil to the side facing upwards. When the lower side turns slightly light brown, flip over and cook the other side.

Serve hot with spice powder (molaga podi) / chutney of choice / or sambar.

Yielded about 15- 17 crepes/ dosas approximately, the yield will depend on the size and thickness of each crepe so do keep that in mind while estimating quantity required 

If you are looking for Quinoa recipes, here are a few more

Quinoa Khichdi ~ Peanut flavored quinoa

Quinoa mung dosai ~ Savory crepes

Quinoa Cashew Kheer ~ Indian pudding

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Herbed Indian flat Bread ( Roti)

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Firstly, for those of you that are still wondering about the answer to the brain teaser given in my last post, let me end the suspense, the answer is ......charcoal. Congrats to the smart girls, Cooker and Soma for guessing correctly. I am sure most of you might have already seen the video of the wedding dance entry that is making the rounds on internet these days. If you haven't do check it out here.

Everytime I see this video it makes me smile, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves so much, it was fun to watch. It is safe to say that their unique entrance made their wedding memorable, even for those that did not attend, but just saw it on youtube :-) After seeing that video, my imagination started supplying me with vivid images of how it would turn out if the bride, groom and their families made an entrance in this manner in Indian weddings. Can you imagine that, just the thought of it seems hilarious.

Anyway moving on, this herb roti was something I made just because I wanted to make rotis with a "difference" . I enjoyed this experiment and the rotis turned out very flavorful and went well with the simple usal (moong bean curry ) that I served it with....

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Ingredients and Method to make Herb Roti

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ( atta )

1/2 cup chick pea flour ( besan )

salt to taste

1 tsp red chilli powder ( or according to taste)

1/4 tsp dried ginger powder

1/2 cup warm water

1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)

1 tsp dried mint leaves

3/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

additional water as required to knead the flour into a soft non sticky dough

a few drops of additional oil/ ghee to apply on the roti

Add the dried mint leaves and dried fenugreek leaves to warm water and let sit for at least 5 to 10 minutes

In a large bowl, mix together the two types of flour and all the spices well .

Add sugar, cumin seeds to this mixture and mix well.

Add warm water with herbs to this mixture and knead well. Add more water if required and continue to knead to form a soft but non sticky dough.

Place the dough in a container and cover it and keep aside for at least 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into equal lemon sized balls.

With the help of flour roll out each ball with a rolling pin into as thin a circle as you like.

Heat a flat pan/ griddle / tawa and place the rolled out dough on it. Cook on medium heat for a minute or so until pink spots appear on the lower side and then flip it and cook the other side.

Apply a few drops of ghee/ oil on the side facing upwards and flip over for a few seconds. Apply a few drops of ghee/ oil to the other side too

Serve hot with curry of choice, I like to have this roti with usal and/ or mushroom bell pepper curry

The yield will depend on the size of each ball, it yielded me approximately between 8 to 10 rotis.

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