"White Vatana (Peas) Curry with Mooli- Methi Poori (Radish- Fenugreek Leaves Poori)" ... both Mooli and Methi are famous in Maharashtra and northern parts of India and there are plenty of dishes prepared using them ... though parathas are more common in homes here I have prepared a combo poori by including both fresh methi leaves and radish ... I have paired it with equally delicious simple white peas curry and it tastes wonderful paired together ... Yummilicious ......
** My growing up years were never much about outside food or anything other than traditional GSB Konkani Saraswat Cuisine and that is exactly where my roots lie and I must confess my taste buds too. However I do love any food that is healthy and tasty and there are plenty of dishes like misal pav, pav bhaji, parathas, veggie poories etc. that caught my fancy after settling in Thane post my marriage.
** Being a foodie I have a huge collection of cookbooks and cutting bound together from Femina, women's era cuttings. A working person always has limitations and despite the desire to try out new dishes I never could do justice to my collection of books and my dear diaries, 7 in all full of written recipes. Venturing into Blogging keeps me on toes and somehow I adjust my timings to create a world of my own here.
** Poories have always been my favorite especially those which were all puffed full of hot steam within, the joy of pricking them to let the steam of is something I loved and always insisted Amma serves me only such poories. In the last 15 years I have learnt many combos in preparation of poories and this is just one of them. There are plenty of more varieties which I will share as and when I prepare them.
** For the design of the poori edgings I just rolled the dough into a large sized round roti and then with the help of a designed cookie cutter pressed out the cuttings of small sized poori with those beautiful edges. Just deep fry them carefully and they come out all fully blown up like small flowers almost of lemon size. However, you can roll the dough into normal sized poori and deep fry them as you always do too.
** Vatana curry too is a dish I learnt from some magazine and it tastes best served with any type of roti/ chapathi/ parathas/ poori. I am a newbie when it comes to postings, so do excuse any shortcoming like that of clicks and presentations. However, I vouch for the taste of the recipes which I am sure will be loved by all in your home. Do try out this combo and enjoy with your family and friends, sure to be loved by all.
** Here is my recipe for both "White Vatana (Peas) Curry" and "Mooli- Methi Poori (Radish- Fenugreek Leaves Poori)" ... my style ...
** Recipe for White Vatana (Peas) Curry ....
** Ingredients :
White Vatana/ Peas : 1 cup
Coriander Leaves/ Kothambari Pallo/ Dhania : 2 handful finely chopped leaves only.
Homemade Butter/ Loni/ Benne : small lemon sized ball.
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
** For Masala to be be Ground :
Onions/ Piyavu/ Kanda : 2 medium sized
Coconut/ Soyi/ Nariyal : 1 cup
Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 5-6
Ginger/ Alle'/ Adrak : 1 inch piece
Tomato : 1 large sized.
** To prepare the Curry :
Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 2-3 tblsp
Mustard Seeds/ Rai/ Sasam : 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds/ Jeera : 1 tsp
Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 8-10 fresh leaves
Haldi/ Turmeric Powder : 1/2 tsp
Kashmiri Red Chilly Powder/ Mirsange Pitti/ Mirchi Tikkat : 2 tsp
Dhania/ Coriander Powder/ Kothambari Pitti : 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds Powder/ Jeera Powder : 1/2 tsp
Goda Masala Powder or Garam Masala Powder : 1-2 tsp
** Wash and soak white vatana for 6-8 hrs or overnight. Drain, rinse well and add into a pressure cooker pan with water say about 2 inches above the level of vatana and cook to one whistle only. Let rest aside and when pressure falls, open and check if the vatana has been cooked, if not further cook for another whistle only.
** Note : Vatana does not taken much time in being cooked in pressure cooker, so be careful and avoid overcooking them.
** For Masala to be be Ground :
** Peel off the outer skin of garlic, onions and roughly chop them to pieces and keep it aside ready. Similarly scrape off the outer skin of ginger and cut it also into small pieces and keep it aside ready. Wash, wipe dry and cut the tomato into small pieces and keep it ready. All ingredients should be kept ready separately.
** Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan, when hot add garlic pieces and fry for a minute. Now add onion and ginger pieces and continue to fry until they turn light brown in color. Now the coconut grating and fry all together until they are evenly fried to a light brown color. Do not let the ingredients burn or over fry.
** Lastly add tomato pieces, mix well, cover and let cook for a few minutes. Stir a few times in between, to avoid it being burnt. Remove and let cool to room temperature, the add into a mixer grinder and grind to a fine paste adding water only if necessary. The ground masala should be thick and fine in texture.
** Note : You can add a few a handful of cooked white vatana while grinding for a good gravy texture. You can also use the cooked water while grinding the masala without letting it go waste, a pattern which I always follow.
** To prepare the Curry :
** Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan/ wok/ kadi, when hot add mustard seeds and when they begin to splutter, then add jeera, curry leaves and fry for a few seconds only. Immediately add haldi powder, chilly powder, coriander powder, jeera powder and goda masala powder and fry all together for a 1-2 minutes only. Do not let it burnt and if you find it being so sprinkle some water and continue to fry.
** Note : Goda Masala is tasty- aromatic Maharashtrian masala powder easily available all round the country. In case it is not available or you do not want to use it you can replace it with normal garam masala powder too.
** Add the ground masala paste to the above, mix well and further fry all together for another few minutes, say about 3-4 minutes, you will get a good aroma when done so. Now add the pressure cooked and kept white vatana and mix well. You can add the vatana cooked water to the curry, however be careful and do not add in excess.
** Note : If desired you can add some boiled potato pieces too.
** Bring all to a rolling boil, stirring well in between. Add salt to taste, mix well and let simmer for 5-10 minutes on low heat. When thoroughly cooked, remove from heat add the ball of homemade butter/ loni and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Cover and let rest aside for 20 minutes for the flavors to be infused well into the curry. If too thick while serving you can add some hot water and mix well.
** Recipe for Mooli- Methi Poori (Radish- Fenugreek Leaves Poori) :
** Ingredients :
Wheat Flour/ Atta/ Govan Peeta : 1 cup
Multi Gran Atta/ Flour : 1 cup
Fine Rava/ Chiroti Rava : 2 tblsp
Radish/ Mooli/ Mullangi : 1 medium sized
Methi/ Fenugreek Leaves : 1/2 cup finely chopped
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 1 tblsp
** To be Coarsely Ground :
Green Chilly/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 5-6
Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 5-6
Cumin Seeds/ Jeera : 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper Corns/ Mire : 1/2 tsp
Haldi/ Turmeric Powder : 1/2 tsp
Ajwain/ Vonvo/ Carom Seeds : a large pinch
** Oil/ Tel/ Tela : For deep frying the poori.
** Wash, wipe dry and peel off the outer skin of the mooli/ radish cutting off both the side edges. Grate and keep it ready aside. Collect only leaves of methi/ fenugreek, wash them, drain well and finely chop them to pieces.
** Note : Some people apply a little bit of salt to methi/ fenugreek leaves and let them rest a while after which they squeeze out the water and discard them before using the leaves. This step is carried out to remove some bitterness from the methi leaves, however, I never follow that step as I believe by doing so the medicinal properties from the leaves are lost. You may follow that step if desired, its individual choice.
** Add all the ingredients to be ground coarsely into a mixer grinder jar and using pulse mode crush them all together until it is evenly crushed/ powdered coarsely. DO NOT ADD WATER. Remove and add it into a wide mouthed atta kneading bowl. Add wheat flour, multi grain atta flour, fine rava, oil, grated radish, finely chopped methi leaves to the above ground masala and mix well to make a tight dough adding more water only if required. The prepared dough should be firm and not soft for best poories. Lastly apply a little bit of oil all over the dough, cover with a wet cloth or tight lid and keep it aside for 5-10 minutes only for the dough to settle and its ready to be rolled.
** Note : Do not rest the dough for more than 10 minutes as it will turn soft and for poori we always need tight dough unlike for preparation of roti/ parathas. A little bit of fine rava added while kneading the dough ensures crisp well blown poories and I do so often, however, it is optional and can be skipped if not desired. In case you want to prepare the poori after a few hours then put the dough in an airtight box and keep it fridge immediately and remove just 5 minutes before preparing the same.
** Once again knead the dough well and roll it into a long roll of about 2 inch in diameter and then with the help of a knife cut them into equal sized pieces. Apply some oil on hand and spread a light hand on the cut pieces of dough. This ensures they do not dry up and also helps in rolling process without dusting.
** For rolling of poori you can follow the dusting or non dusting method. I have applied a little bit of oil to poori balls and not dusted while rolling (this method is used to retain the oil clean while deep frying). Just apply a little bit of oil to rolling pin and roll poori to a circle of 3- 4 inches in dia or any other size desired by you.
** How I rolled these poories : I rolled into a large roti sized circle and then with the help of a cookie cutter pressed impressions on the same and then gently lifted off the excess one. This way in one rolled large roti circle of say about 12 inch in dia. I got quite a lot of small poories with those beautiful etched edgings. Children always love to relish something like these so just give it a try.
** Note : Do not roll all the poori in one go to avoid them from drying up on surface. If you have more poori's to be rolled then after a few, say about 6-8 poori's are rolled, deep fry them and then continue rolling the remaining by once again slightly apply oil to the rolling pin so that the dough does not stick to pin.
** If using dusting method, roll out each ball evenly into a 3- 4 inch dia circle after dusting them evenly on all sides with flour. The poori should be rolled evenly and not be too thick nor too thin, as both will not give desired results. Even in this method you can use the cookie cutter and prepare small sized etched poories.
** Heat plenty of oil in a kadai/ pan to smoking point, then lower the heat to medium, wait for a few minutes before you add poori, coz. if the oil is too hot then poori will burn and turn crisp instead of evenly getting fried, also keep the heat constant throughout frying process of deep frying which is the important step for perfect poories.
** Note : To check if the oil is hot enough, just add in a pinch of dough into the oil, if it hits the bottom and comes back sizzling the heat is right for deep frying. If the dough does not bounce back and takes more time, it means the oil is not hot enough, so continue heating for another few minutes before you deep fry. Again, if the poori bounces back immediately turning dark or burnt that means the oil is too hot, so let cool a bit. Always remember to maintain the correct heat level throughout deep frying of poori is very important to get well puffed and well cooked poori which you will with practice.
** To Deep Fry Poori : Slide a rolled poori gently into the hot oil, when it comes up sizzling, keep pressing it on sides with spatula with little pressure, this enable the poori to blow up from within and puff up evenly and nicely. Once it puffs up a little bit, wait for a few seconds and then gently flip it to cook on the other side. Wait for a few seconds for the other side to be cooked too, then again flip it back and after just 1-2 seconds gently remove it allowing excess oil to drain back into the kadai. If you prepare small sized poories like I have, you can add 4-5 at a time depending upon the size of the kadai.
** The addition of chopped leaves and spices sometimes prevents these poories from puffing up fully, though it does puff up to some extent, don't worry it does not affect the taste of the poories. When puffed up and evenly done, remove and place the poories on an absorbent paper for excess the oil to drain off before serving. Repeat the process with remaining rolled dough by frying them exactly as before until they are all done. Once again roll out the remaining dough if needed and deep fry all in similar manner until all of the dough is used or the required poories are done.
** "White Vatana (Peas) Curry with Mooli- Methi Poori (Radish- Fenugreek Leaves Poori)" is done and ready to be served. This is one of the best combo of serving as both dishes compliment each other well. However, if desired you can serve the peas curry with paratha/ chapathi/ roti/ naan or dosas too and it tastes wonderful. You can also serve these poories with any bhaji or gravy dishes of your choice, again it taste great served with any type of chutney, shrikhand or halwa of your family choice. This dishes I have served is a wonderful combo and we loved it in my home and so did my friends.
** Sharing a common link to all "Poori” recipes in blog below. There are some lovely recipes with different combinations and some of them include step by step methods which will help you understand the procedure better if novice, do check it out in leisure ….
** Plz. Do Check out on an Article written by me on Poori, on the given link below …
** I will be sharing plenty of recipes as and when I prepare them in my Blog space here. You can access them using search option or the label section on the left side of the Blog. If you are still not able to find it or have a query, please leave a message in comment section or mail me the same. I will try my best to get back to you as soon as possible. Do try out various types of dishes included in the Blog and enjoy them with your family and friends and give me a feedback if possible. I am sure your family will love them, they are all tried and tested in my kitchen … Thank You …...
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