“Spiced Masala Mixed Millet flour- Palak Roti” … winter is that part of the year when leafy veggies are available abundantly … as you all know it’s international year of millets too, tried out a mixed millet flour spiced roti with addition of fresh tender palak/ spinach leaves … serve it for lunch or breakfast with any spicy side dish/ bhaji/ pickle/ curds etc. of your choice, it tastes awesome … Yummilicious …
** I have written reams on parathas/ roti/ poories, so will not bore my readers repeating the same again. Parathas is the most famous among north Indians and after settling in Mumbai and watching my friends, neighbors all go in for different types of parathas on routine basis, I too felt the urge to try them out and enjoy with spicy curry dishes.
** There was a lot of cleaning up work to be done at home and all of my energy got drained by the time I finished accomplishing it. It had been a long time since we had eaten chicken curry and both hubby and me decided to order some from our favorite restaurant as it was too late to prepare anything at home, also a it was sort of award on completion of work.
** I had already prepared the dough, so only chicken curry was ordered online. Well, if the dough is ready, preparing a few roti’s hardly takes time, so by the time the curry arrived, roti was all prepared and done to be relished fresh and hot just on time. Trust, me after relishing my 2 roti’s with chicken curry, how, I just wished I had prepared a few more.
** Here is my simple recipe for … “Spiced Masala Mixed Millet flour- Palak Roti” … My Style, do try it, it’s awesome ...
** Ingredients :
Bajra/ Pearl Millet Flour : ½ cup
Jowar/ Sorghum Flour : ½ cup
Nachani/ Finger Millet Flour : ½ cup
Wheat Flour/ Atta/ Gonva Peeta : 1 cup
Curds/ Dahi : 2-3 tblsp
Hing/ Asafoetida Powder : ½ tsp
Haldi/ Turmeric Powder : ¼ tsp
Dhania/ Coriander/ Kothimbir Powder : 1 tsp
Jeera/ Cumin Powder : ½ tsp
Black Pepper/ Kali Miri/ Mire Powder : ½ tsp coarsely powdered.
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
Oil/ Tela/ Tel : 2 tblsp
** To be coarsely Ground :
Palak/ Spinach Leaves : 2 cups, leaves only.
Green Chillies/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 5-6 cut to pieces
Garlic/ Losun/ Lehsun : 3-4 peeled and cut to pieces
Adrak/ Alle’/ Ginger : 1 inch cut to pieces
Ajwain/ Vonvo/ Ovam : large pinch
Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 6-8 fresh ones.
White Til/ Sesame/ Tilu : 1 tblsp
** Ghee/ Toop or Oil/ Tel/ Tela : as required for frying the parathas.
** For Palak Leaves : Choose fresh green tender palak/ spinach leaves always for preparing any dishes. Pick and clean the leaves, discarding the stems. We need to add only the leaves for preparing of parathas. Wash well, strain off excess water, and chop them roughly to pieces. Squeeze out as much water as possible and keep it ready aside.
** Blanching the Palak/ Spinach Leaves : Add the palak leaves into a wide bowl and pour some boiling water on it just enough to soak the leaves. Cover and keep it aside for 4-5 minutes. Then drain off the water collecting it in a bowl and keep the blanched leaves aside.
** To be Coarsely Ground : Add green chillies, ginger, garlic, curry leaves, ajwain, white til and grind all to a coarse mixture mixing well in between WITHOUT adding water. Add in the blanched palak leaves and further grind till well blended. Do not add water, the palak releases water while grinding, remove and keep this ready aside.
** Add 2- 3 tblsp of water into the grinder and mix well the remains in the grinder with it and Keep it aside ready to mixed if need. Here you can use the drained palak blanched water which is what I always do, it includes nutrients so do not discard it.
** In a wide stainless steel bowl add all the flour and powders ie, bajra, jowar, nachani, wheat, hing, haldi, dhania, jeera, black pepper and salt and mix well. Add curds, oil and ground mixture and mix all together to get a crumbled texture. Proceed to knead all together to prepare stiff dough adding little by little the grinder washed water kept aside.
** The dough should be firm, yet soft enough to be able to roll into a ball without breaking. Lastly apply a little bit of oil all over the dough, cover it with a wet cloth and then cover the bowl with a tight lid and keep it aside for 20-30 minutes to rest.
** Note : Always allow resting period for kneaded flour for at least 20 minutes before rolling out for preparation of roti/ parathas etc. This helps in releasing the gluten content in the wheat, though millets do not contain gluten. However, the dough softens making the roti softer and more digestible on consumption, so do follow resting period.
** After resting, knead the dough once again and divide them into equal portions, say each about the size of a small orange and keep them ready aside. Dust them with wheat flour and roll out evenly into a thick round shaped paratha of about 8 inches in diameter with the help of a rolling pin/ lattoni. Do keep parathas slightly thicker than normal roti.
** For Frying the Parathas : Heat iron tava, when hot, lower the heat to medium, wait for a second, spread some oil/ghee all round on tava and gently place rolled paratha taking care to see that there are no creases. Let cook a bit then apply oil/ ghee on the top surface and spread it with the back of the spoon evenly on the placed paratha.
** When Paratha gets cooked on bottom side, ie you will be able to see some bubbles on top, then flip over the roti with help of flat spatula and cook top side too till you get brown spotted paratha. Remove and keep it aside. Repeat the procedure with the remaining prepared dough balls, by rolling into paratha and frying them on tava in similar manner.
** “Spiced Masala Mixed Millet flour- Palak Roti” is done and ready to be served. Always serve parathas hot from tava whenever possible with any side dish of your family’s choice. These parathas are spicy enough and do not actually need any accompaniment/ side dish as such, as it goes well with plain curds or raita too. However, curry does add on to the taste. These parathas can be easily carried in lunch box or when travelling as they are not messy and can be eaten with chutney powder too.
** I must mention here that I relished to my heart's content these parathas with Butter Chicken Curry which I ordered from my favorite restaurant after a very longtime. Due to all the health issue warnings coz. of Covid for the last 3 yrs it has always been home cooked food except on few occasions. Hubby and me were really craving for some chicken curry and though my all time favorite is served with butter naan or roomali roti, I resisted ordering it as I already had prepared the dough for preparation of parathas, nevertheless my only regret was of not rolling out a few more parathas that would have also gone into my tummy merrily, life is so beautiful with good food, one feels so happy and contented.
** Do try out various types of “Roti or Parathas” included in the Blog and enjoy with your family and friends. Some of the recipes also include step by step procedures if you are new to rolling of roti, do check it out. All you need to do is use the search option for the same and you will find a list of the same. However, for the sake of easy access, I am sharing in a common link below, which can be used too if need be …..
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