“Spicy Peas (Vatana)- Methi- Cabbage- Bajra- Rava Bhakri” served with Seemebadane-kayi Raita (Chayote Squash/Chow Chow- Curd Salad) … I have always loved preparing Bhakri in different combinations and each time when they turn out scrumptious, I am motivated to try out more … this one tastes awesome and can be relished as it is with homemade loni (butter) or plain dahi (curds), though I served with veggie raita … in all definitely a scrumptious meal as breakfast/ lunch … Yummilicious …
** I am never tired of trying out new variations of bhakri adding different ingredients and I have prepared and shared plenty of them before and I am sure I will be doing so in the future too. In my home both hubby and me love the crispy crunch on bhakri’s outside, yet that are soft within. Today, I made them with the added goodness fresh peas, methi leaves along with rava, ground spices and bajra as millets are healthy options these days.
** Just as we go about educating ourselves, upgrading in technology etc. so do we need to do with food. With changing times we are more aware of benefits of adding veggies, millets, pulses etc. into daily diets for a healthy lifestyle. It also helps in ensuring that children eat a proper meal as they are reluctant while it comes to eating veggies, fruits etc. The onus falls on parents to build a healthy eating habit for a lifetime with all member of family.
** I always enjoy these experiments, which most of the time gives me surprises past my expectations. My favorite twists are always with our own Konkani Saraswat Cuisine as they help us keep rooted to our traditional culture. I have already posted a few methods before and here I am posting another healthier version of bhakri that includes millets along with leafy veggies. Do try this out and enjoy this awesome bhakri’s with your family and friends.
** Sharing my very own recipe for “Spicy Peas (Vatana)- Methi- Cabbage- Bajra- Rava Bhakri” … my style, do try it out, its nots only tasty but healthy too …
** Ingredients :
Rava/ Bombai Rulavu/ Bombay Rava : 3 cups
Bajra Atta/ Pearl Millet Flour : 2 cups
Fresh Methi/ Fenugreek Leaves : 1 cup finely chopped
Cabbage : one cup finely chopped
Hing/ Asafoetida Powder : 1 tsp
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
Ghee/ Toop : 1 tblsp
** To be Ground :
Fresh Green Peas/ Vatana : 1 cup
Coriander Leaves/ Kottambari Pallo/ Dhania : handful finely chopped
Green Chillies/ Tarni Mirsanga/ Hari Mirchi : 6-8 cut into pieces
Ginger/ Adrak/ Alle’ : 1 inch cut into pieces
Ajwain/ Vonvo/ Carom Seeds : ½ tsp
Fresh Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 8-10
** Ghee (Toop)+ Oil (Tela/ Tel) in 1:1 proportion for frying the bhakri.
** For Methi Leaves : Choose fresh green tender methi (fenugreek) leaves always for preparing any dishes. Pick and clean the methi leaves, discarding the stems. We need to add only the leaves for preparing of parathas. Wash well, strain off excess water, and chop them finely. Squeeze out as much water as possible and keep it ready aside. I have used about 1 cup of finely chopped methi leaves, you decrease a bit if need be.
** Note : You can apply a little bit of salt to methi leaves, rub it all over, leave aside for 10-20 minutes and then squeeze of the water from methi leaves properly, wash and keep this aside ready too. This above step is carried out to remove the bitterness from fresh methi leaves. I personally do not follow salt method as I strongly believe that it should be consumed as it is for its awesome health properties. You may choose any method.
** For Green Peas/ Vatana : Shell, wash and cook peas in a vessel with little bit of water just enough to cook till soft and done. You can also use mircrowave method for cooking peas which is what I do. Just cook peas in glassware dish with a 2 tblsp of water on high for 4 minutes and it’s done. Let it cool completely. I have used fresh vatana here as they are in season and available in plenty, however you can use frozen too, in which case rinse it, cook it a minute or two and then its ready.
** Chop cabbage into fine pieces, put it in a colander and rinse under running water and keep it aside ready for 10 minutes for all the excess water to drain off.
** To be Coarsely Ground : Add cooked peas, green chilies, ginger, ajwain, curry leaves, coriander leaves in a grinder and grind to a paste WITHOUT adding water. Remove into a wide kneading bowl. Add ½ cup of water into the grinder and mix well with remnants and pour this also over the paste and keep it aside ready.
** To the above add prepared and kept methi leaves, cabbage, hing powder, salt, ghee and mix well. Add in the rava and bajra flour and mix all ingredients together to a crumble texture. Now add water say about 1 cup and mix well, then keep adding water little by little as is necessary till you get loosely combined mixture that can be rolled into a ball consistency on hand. Cover and keep it aside to rest for 25- 30 minutes.
** Note : Do not add much water in one go. Addition of water depends upon the rava and bajra mixture as and when it absorbs the same. Resting time is a must for the rava and bajra both to soak in moisture and turn out softer. This step is important and a must or else while frying the bhakri will not turn soft within and crispy outside.
** After resting, check in the consistency of the mixture. In case you find it too dry add in some water and mix the mixture again. The mixture must be smooth and there should be no lumps in them. The texture should be that of other bhakri/ thick batter, a ball consistency. You should be able to take a large amount of lump of mixture on your hands and pat it on the hot tawa directly into a nice round shaped bhakri.
** For Making of Bhakri : Heat a Iron tava to smoking point and then reduce the heat to minimum. Take required amount of the mixed batter and pat it on a hot tava directly to form small/ medium/ large sized bhakri depending on the size you want to make them into. Be careful while doing this to prevent your hand from getting hurt and do not touch the tava. Keep dipping you hand in water or sprinkling some ove the bakri batter before you pat the bhakri, this is necessary to avoid the bhakri paste from sticking your palms and also give it a nice round evenly patted shape.
OR
** The same can be done on a thick silicon plastic sheet/ banana leaf/ cotton cloth if one is not confident on making bhakri directly on tava. Use a clean plastic sheet to make the bhakri, rub is over with little bit of water and repeat the method in the same way as you would have done it on the tava, once you get nice small round bhakri gently/ slowly remove it seeing to it that the bhakri does not crack up or break and put on a hot tava.
** Pour a few drops of ghee+ oil mixture on all sides/ rim of the bhakri on tava, also sprinkle a few drop on top of the bhakri as it absorbs it while being cooked on heat. Let cook on medium heat until cooked on the bottom side and the paste on the upper portion does not stick to your hand when you touch gently. Now sprinkle some more ghee+ oil on top side and slowly flip over the bhakri and cook on the other side too. Do not overcook as the bhakri should remain soft but firm and not too crisp nor should it get burnt on any side, when done remove and place it on a plate.
** Rub the tava clean with a plain tissue paper/ dry cloth and then repeat the process with some more batter and thus continue until all the batter is consumed in preparing required amount of bhakri. Tastes best served hot, though it can be taken in lunch box too, however in case you want to serve it later or you are always in hurry early morning and find it difficult to get time to prepare the batter, do not worry, you can prepare the batter ahead and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. It remains good for 48 hours, just remove it 20 minutes before preparing bhakri.
** Note : The size of bhakri depends on individual liking/ ability to prepare. While the smaller ones are easy to pat on tava and prepare, the medium sized ones are best while serving. The larger ones serve the purpose of cutting down on time if you have a large family. So you do have the choice to prepare the way you desire, to make smaller one take about cricket sized ball batter and for medium say double its quantity and so on with remaining size. If making small sized ones you can put 5-6 bhakri on tava at a time too.
** Note : You can check out on my various posts on preparation of bhakri dishes shared, there are enough information and tips etc. which you may find useful if you are new to this method of preparing bhakri. There are step pictures and tava pictures too, sharing common link below please browse through in leisure for more guidance.
** “Spicy Peas (Vatana)- Methi- Cabbage- Bajra- Rava Bhakri” is done and ready to be served. Rava Bhakri is a quick to prepare tasty- healthy dish that we GSB Konkani Saraswat usually serve for breakfast with butter or chutney. However on days of upvas/ fasting period when the diet consists of 'NO Onion- Garlic- Rice', this dish can easily be prepared and served as it is allowed to be consumed in our community.
** Whenever I prepare these for breakfast, I usually serve it with loni (butter)/ chutney podi/ pickle or at times with coconut chutney and when its served for lunch I make it a point to add on some plain curds or raita or chutney as it taste excellent dunked in them, also it very filling when done so. This is one dish that can be relished any time of the day or while travelling too. There are many more combinations that you can try out if you like us enjoy bhakri dishes, do try this and enjoy with your family and friends.
** Note : You can also add finely chopped onions along with cabbage to this bhakri, if desired or add only onions too skipping out cabbage, it taste wonderful either way, it’s a matter of individual choice. You can also add garlic while grinding the masala as it enhances the bhakri taste, I do at times. However, I prepared this one on 'No Onion- Garlic- Rice' day, hence I have neither added onions or garlic. Also there is an option of adding palak leaves if desired instead of methi leaves, just go ahead and try your own combo, who knows you may end up with a must tastier bhakri than these.
** Sharing a common link below to all “Bhakri” dishes shared in the blog before, do browse through them in leisure and try out that which appeals to you ….
** You can use the search option for "Salad/ Raita" or go through the link given below where you will get many more healthy salad recipes. Do try out various types of salads as a side dish along with your other favorite dishes. I have also included link to Seemebadanekayi Raita (Chayote Squash/ Chow Chow- Curd Salad recipe below, which I served the above bhakri with and it was an awesome combo …
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