Spinach Paratha

This recipe makes about 10 medium - sized parathas sufficient for 2 - 3 people.

Ingredients

Wheat flour (Atta) - 1 1/2 cups
Salt - 1 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Warm Water (microwaved for 30 sec) - 1/2 cup
Chopped Spinach - 2 cups
All purpose flour - For dusting

Method

Dough Kneading:

By Hand

1. In a wide bowl, take the wheat flour and add the salt, oil & chopped spinach. Mix them together.
2. Add warm water (generously) to form a soft dough. Do not add water little by little.
3. Place the dough on the countertop & knead for 5 min, adding little oil / flour, if needed.
4. This dough should be as soft as a baby's cheeks when touched. If so, the parathas will be really soft.
5. This dough can be used immediately or after some hours (close the bowl with a lid & let the dough rest)

Using Food Processor

1. Fix either the dough blade / chopping blade to the food processor. (* Both blades will grind the spinach & make the parathas green.)
2. Add the wheat flour, salt, oil & chopped spinach. Turn ON for 30 sec so that everything mixes together.
3. Keeping the food processor ON, add warm water (slowly but continuously) to form a soft dough. The dough should form a ball together. This is when the food processor should be turned OFF.
4. This dough should be as soft as a baby's cheeks when touched. If so, the parathas will be super soft.
5. Dust the counter top with a little all purpose flour. Place the dough on the countertop & knead for 30 sec.
6. This dough can be used immediately or after some hours (close the bowl with a lid & let the dough rest) 
7. The dough can be wrapped in ziplocs and can be freezed. Trust me....the parathas will be really soft even if made after a week.

Rolling Out:

1. Now, make lemon sized balls out of the dough.
2. Take a dough ball, coat it in the flour and roll out into a thin circular / square / rectangular / oval discs using a rolling pin.

Chappathi Making:

1. Heat a dosa tawa / griddle.
2. Brush the tawa with a little oil using a pastry brush and place the rolled out paratha.
3. Brush some oil on top of the parathas.
4. When the top side of the parathas starts puffing up slightly, flip it so that the other side gets cooked for about a minute.
5. Once done, place the parathas in a hot box or cover (roll) them with soft towels / paper towels to retain the softness.
6. Serve hot with chicken / mutton kurma or any vegetable kurma or paneer masala.
7. These parathas stay soft even the next day.

Heart shaped spinach parathas for valentine's day

Note

1. These can be called "green chappatis" sine the spinach make them all green.
2. All purpose flour is used for dusting because it gets absorbed into the dough and can't be felt outside.

Recommendation

• I would highly recommend a food processor for making chappati / paratha dough. I always get very soft chappathis / parathas when I use my food processor for dough kneading. Thanks to my dear friend Suja Moses for introducing to me the food processor dough kneading art. Now I'm rocking in my kitchen with these amazingly soft chappathis.

Murungaikai (Drumstick) Poriyal

Ingredients
Murungaikai (Drumstick) - 5 (medium sized)
Salt - To taste
Water - Just to cover the cut pieces
Coconut - 1/8th of a whole coconut (or) 5 tbsp coconut grated
Red Chillies - 3
Cumin (Jeera) - 1/2 tbsp
Seasoning:
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard + Urad dhal - 1/2 tbsp
Chopped onion - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 5 Nos.

Method

1. Cut the drumsticks into 3 inch pieces (discarding both the ends). Put them into a bowl of water.
2. In a mixer / blender, grind the coconut, red chillies and cumin to a slightly coarse mixture w/o adding water.
3. Transfer the cut drumstick pieces into a frying pan. Add water just to cover the pieces.
4. Add salt and cover cook over a low - medium heat until 3/4th of the water is evaporated.
5. Now add the grind masala along with little water used to clean up the mixer / blender.
6. Let this masala cook (w/o lid) for 2 min.
7. Immediately, in another pan, add oil. When hot, add mustard, urad dhal, onion and curry leaves & fry till they turn brown. Pour this seasoning over the drumstick - masala mixture and let it simmer till all the water is evaporated.
8. Serve as a side for white rice along with any veg. kuzhumbhu.

Note

1. The length of drumstick varies from short, medium, long to extra-long. The number of drumsticks to be used totally varies with the length. Accordingly the masala quantity needs to be adjusted.

Vendaikai (okra) Puli Kuzhambhu (Tirunelveli style)

Ingredients

Vendaikai (Okra) - 10 Nos. (washed & dried thoroughly)
Tamarind - 1 1/2 pods
Coconut - 1/4 of a whole coconut
Red chillies - 4
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Big onion - 1/2 (or) equivalent small onions
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - To taste
Tomato - 1 (cut into 4)
Seasoning:
Oil - 3 tbsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Urad dhal - 1/4 tsp
Onion - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 10 Nos.

Method

1. Grind coconut, red chillies and cumin to a fine paste along with necessary water.
2. To this, add onion and grind to a fine paste.
3. Soak tamarind in hot water for 10 min and extract tamarind juice.
4. Cut the okra into big bite - sized pieces.
5. In a pan,  add the grind masala, tamarind extract, the masala powders, salt and tomato slices along with necessary water to cook the masala.
6. In a frying pan, dry roast the cut vendaikai pieces (okra) at a medium heat for about 5 min(till all the water in the okra evaporates). Add them once the kuzhambhu starts to boil.
7. When the kuzhambhu is 3/4th done, do the seasoning. i.e In a frying pan, add oil. When hot, add the seasoning ingredients one after the other. Fry them till they turn brown and add to the kuzhambhu.
8. Let this simmer for about 5 - 10 min in a low heat till the required consistency is reached.
9. Serve with white rice. Can also be taken with idli / dosa occasionally.