Avocado Flax Roti (Indian Flatbread)

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It has been a long while since I posted any kind of roti in this space. In fact I just checked and was surprised to see that the last roti post in this space was in august of last year. Wow, how time flies !! Of course this doesn't mean that I haven't been making rotis for the last six months, only that I haven't been making many new types of rotis, just the ones that have already been posted here :)

 My most favorite way to include avocados in our diet is usually in rotis. I had posted two versions of avocado roti on this site earlier, you can find the posts here and here. This time I combined avocado with methi (dried fenugreek leaves) and also added a good bit of flax seed meal for added nutrition. Loved how this roti turned out, its taste reminded me a little of this methi thepla probably because of the methi and the spices used in this roti. The addition of avocado always makes rotis really soft without any additional fat or oil which is a big plus in my book :) So if you are looking for a way to sneak in some avocados and flax in your diet, this roti may be something you would like, give it a try and let me know what you think :)

 

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Ingredients and Method to make Avocado Flax Roti
2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (atta/godumai maavu)
1/4 cup flax seed meal (powdered flax seeds/ alsi/ ali virai)
3/4 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder (or to taste) (can be substituted with cayenne powder)
salt to taste
1/2 tsp cumin powder
2 heaped tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) (soaked in a few spoons of hot water for 10 to 15 mins)
1 ripe avocado (deseed, remove skin and mash) (yielded approx 3/4 mashed avocado)
a little extra flour for dusting
a few drops of oil or clarified butter(ghee/nei) (optional)

Soak dried fenugreek leaves in hot water for 10 to 15 mins.
In a large bowl assemble all the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the fenugreek leaves along with the water it was soaked in and mix into the flour.

Add mashed avocado and mix into the flour. Add water as required and knead to make a soft and non sticky dough. Keep the dough covered and let sit for at least 30 mins.
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Divide the dough into equal lemon sized balls. Using a little flour for dusting, roll the dough into an even circle of desired thickness.
Place a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa on heat. Place rolled out dough on the flat pan and cook until the lower side gets small brown spots. Flip over and cook the other side until it has small brown spots on it.

If you plan to use oil smear a little oil on the top side of the roti while the lower side cooks and flip over and cook the other side. I did not use any oil at all because the avocado makes the roti pretty soft on its own and I don't feel that it needs any additional oil for softness.
Proceed with the rest of the dough in the same manner. Serve hot with any curry of choice.

Refrigerate the balance of the dough if any and use within a few days for freshest taste.
Yielded approximately 12 to 14 rotis (yield will depend on size and thickness of each roti)

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Quinoa Oat Adai version 2.0 and some humor :)

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Before moving on to the post I would like to share a couple of fun things with my readers. First one is a joke that my brother told me during one of our phone conversations. It was pretty good and I thought my readers might enjoy it too, so here it is.....

Doctor: This newest kind of hearing aid that I have fitted you with is very small and powerful. I hope you enjoy using it.
Patient : Thanks Dr, I am looking forward to using it. Will be back to see you in three weeks time for the follow up.

In three weeks time...
Doctor: So how have you liked using your hearing aid? Your family must be thrilled that you can hear everything clearly.
Patient: I haven't told them about the hearing aid yet. And I have already changed my will three times in these last three weeks.

LOL :) Funny huh? Now onto the other thing I mentioned. This one is a clip I came across of an artist who makes a beautiful spray painting in under a minute. It is fascinating to watch him create the painting. I have uploaded the clip here. If you like art you might want to take a look at the clip, it is incredibly interesting:)

Finally moving on to the adai  (savory south Indian crepe made with rice and lentils). This time I made a variation of this earlier attempt of quinoa adai, only this time I also added barley and oats along with quinoa and made some changes to the proportions of lentils and grains. Adai, I find is a very easy way to sneak in quinoa into our diet, the nutty taste of the quinoa fits right in along with the other lentils and most people cannot even make out that quinoa is used in the recipe. Not only that, but quinoa also adds a nice crispiness to the adai that we really like :) So if you are wondering what to do with that packet of quinoa lying in your pantry, you might want to give this adai a try :)




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Ingredients and Method to make Quinoa oat adai
1/2 cup brown rice (can be substituted with white rice/chawal/ pachai arisi)
1/2 cup pearl barley (for a gluten free version substitute with brown rice)
1/2 cup steel cut oats
1/2 cup quinoa
1/3 cup whole black gram lentil (udad dhal)
1/3 cup split pigeon peas (tur dhal)
1/3 cup split mung bean lentil (mung dhal)

6 to 8 Indian or Thai green chilies (or to taste)
6 to 8 whole dry red chilies (or to taste)
salt to taste
pinch of asafoetida powder (hing/perungayam)
a little sesame oil to shallow fry the adai

Place the first seven ingredients in a large bowl. Fill with water, swirl with hand and drain. Fill the bowl with sufficient water and allow the grains/ lentils to soak for about three hours.

Drain the lentils/ grains and grind along with red and green chilies and a little fresh water to make a coarse batter. The batter should not be too runny or too thick, but slightly thickish. In case of doubt err on the side of a thicker batter, it can be corrected later to get the right consistency more easily.

Add salt to taste to the batter and a pinch of asafoetida powder and mix well.
Heat a flat pan/ tawa/ griddle. Pour a small quantity of the batter in the center and spread into a thin circle. Add a few drops of sesame oil around the circumference of the adai. When the lower side cooks to a golden brown, flip over and cook the other side until it has golden brown spots on it.
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Remove and serve hot with aviyal ( a curry made with a medley of vegetables) / jaggery/ spice powder / flax chutney powder/ honey or even just by itself
Refrigerate the balance of the batter and use within 3 to 4 days for freshest taste.
Yield will depend on the size and thickness of each adai.

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Wheat Flax Sandwich Bread

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One of my most recent appliance purchase has been a bread machine. I had been wanting to buy one for a while and a couple of months back I picked up the bread machine when it was on sale. Usually I read reviews and make sure of the features of the appliances I buy, this time I made an impulse purchase. So far I haven't had any reason to regret my impulse :) Keeping my fingers crossed that it will remain the same in the future too:)

Since I got the machine I have been making bread almost once every week. One of the downsides of the machine that I noticed was it leaves a hole at the bottom of the bread because of the kneading paddle. That hole bugs me quite a bit,  so I end up using the dough cycle, and bake the bread in a conventional oven. This way I do not have to contend with the hole and it saves me time and effort of kneading and proofing the yeast etc. A win win in my book :)

Since I got the machine, I have used it to make this wheat flax sandwich bread most frequently. Initially I played around with the proportions of different flours and even experimented with using bread flour. But this recipe has worked out the best for us in terms of taste and texture. We just love this bread, whether I use it in sandwiches similar to this one, or even just toasted with some mixed fruit jam, this bread tastes very good and has become our new favorite :-)



Here is the close up view of the bread....



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Ingredients and Method to make Wheat Flax Sandwich bread
1 1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/4 cup powdered flax (alsi/ ali virai)
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
2 cups whole wheat flour (atta/godumai maavu)
3 tbsp oat bran (see notes)
1 1/2 tbsp bread machine yeast (see notes)

a few drops of oil to grease loaf pan (optional)(see notes)

Place all the contents in the bread machine pan in the order specified in your owners manual. Mine states all the liquid ingredients first, then the dry ingredients and lastly the yeast. (If you do not want to use the bread machine see notes)
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Set the bread machine to the dough cycle. When done, remove fold down gently and place in the prepared loaf pan. Allow to rise until it doubles.

Preheat oven to 375 deg
Place the loaf pan in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 mins or until the bread turns a golden brown color and when you tap it, makes a little hollow sound.
Remove, cool, slice and serve :)

Notes
If you do not have oat bran it can be substituted with equal quantity of whole wheat flour
If you do not have a bread machine and want to make this bread by hand, then substitute bread machine yeast with equal quantity of active dry yeast and use this post for the steps of making bread.Just follow the steps from this post with the proportions given in this recipe and proceed.

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Tomato with Mung Bean Soup

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Usually winters are the time when soups feature frequently in my kitchen. This winter surprisingly has been different, somehow I never quite made as many soups as I usually do. A few weeks back when I was channel surfing, I caught the last few minutes of a cookery show by Sanjeev Kapoor and he was finishing up a soup with tomatoes and mung bean lentils that looked very interesting.

Since I just caught the last bit of the program, I couldn't get the exact recipe or proportions used in the program, so I just went with my gut when I was making it. The perfect opportunity to make this soup presented itself when we had a very cold and dreary evening and all I could think of for dinner was a hot bowl of soup.I served this soup with some jalapeno cheddar bread but it would work well with just about any kind of bread, whether crusty bread or even something like this oat pav bread.This soup turned out delicious, it was creamy yet very low fat, nutritious and pretty filling. I am looking forward to making this again:-)



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Ingredients and Method to make Tomato with Mung Bean Soup
1/2 cup split mung bean (mung dhal) soaked in sufficient water for an hour
6 medium tomatoes blanched and cut fine
1 large red onion cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tbsp oil
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
salt to taste
1/4 tsp red chili powder (can be substituted with pepper powder) (or to taste) (optional)

Blanch tomatoes, peel skin, chop finely and keep aside. To learn how to blanch tomatoes read this post

Heat oil in a large heavy bottomed pan. Add cumin seeds to it and when the seeds begin to sizzle, add onions and saute until onions turn transparent.  Add ginger and stir a few times.

Add drained soaked lentils and chopped tomatoes and some water and allow the lentils to cook.

When the lentils are cooked, add salt to taste and chili powder (or pepper powder) if using and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes. Allow the cooked lentils and tomatoes to cool to room temperature.
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Puree until smooth, place the pureed soup back in the pan and place on heat.
Simmer for a few minutes and serve hot with croutons/ salad/ crusty bread.

Serves approximately 2 to 3

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