Coconut Paratha

One cannot give coconut a miss in a south indian household.My mom used to make these coconut parathas as a treat for us whenever we had some extra coconut left over from any other dish. It basically came in two varieties either with jaggery or with sugar.

Ingredients

1.5 Cups of Coconut shredded

1/4 cup of powdered Jaggery

1/4 cup of Sugar

2-3 pods of Cardamom - crushed

Dough for making around 8- 9 chappatis

Oil to cook

Method

Divide the coconut into two parts of 3/4 cup each. Add sugar to 1 part and jaggery to the other . Add equal amount of crushed cardamom to each part of coconut mix.

Now take a big ball of dough. A little bigger than one we might take for a chappati and roll it out into a chappati of around 5-6 inches diameter and with a thickness greater than that of a chappati. We want the Parathas to be strong enough to hold the filling but not too thick so that they don't cook.

Take 1.5-2 Tbsp of coconut mixture (either jaggery or sugar as per choice)and spread it on one half of the chappati. Raise the other half of the chappati and cover the coconut spread part and press the edges to stick.

It should look like this.

Heat the girdle and place the paratha on it. Turn the paratha when the lower side becomes light brown in colour. Apply oil on the turned side and turn it back again. Keep on pressing the paratha to saute it better but be carefull that the mix does not spill out of it. Remove it from flame when it turns crisp brown

Serve it hot with lime pickle.

This is my entry to Sweet Series and AFAM - Coconut

Dhokla

I shifted residence 2 months ago.I have hardly any furniture to speak of. Only space i have lavishly piled up is the kitchen and the pantry. So i had this 'misconception' that its going to be an easy task. Well shifting house was never meant to be an easy task isn't it..and with that the pain of settling down. Next came the challenge of finding a decent domestic help..and add to it a very hectic work schedule.I am still struggling. One of our boxes is still lying packed.

I therefore these days without guilt look at an oppurtunity of cooking 15 min meals.And in that pursuit ended up with a delicious breakfast of Dhokla's

The recipe I followed has been picked up from the Jai&Bee's site Jugalbandi

I prepared the dhokla's from this site and followed their recommendation of making double the quantity. I must tell you we were left wanting for more. :)

So here's the recipe with a few personal touches

Ingredients:

2 cups of Besan (chickpea flour)

2 cups of Water

2 Tbsp of Lime juice ( Original recipe has 3 Tbsp)

2 tsp ENO Fruit salt (lemon flavoured)

2 tsp Mustard seeds

2 Green chillies finely sliced

5-6 green chillies whole

5-8 curry leaves

1 tsp Sugar

2 Tbsp Oil

2 Tbsp dessicated coconut

Salt to taste

Sieve the Besan. Mix it with 1 Tbsp of Lime juice, 1 Tbsp of oil, salt, sugar, green chillies and water to make a batter. The batter should not be too thick or too thin. I ended up not using the entire quantity of water in the recipe.

Add 3 cups of water to the Pressure cooker and let it heat. Meanwhile grease the inner side of the two pressure cooker insert vessel and pour the batter equally in each vessel. When the water is heated, add 1 tsp of Eno fruit salt to the batter in each of the insert vessel, give it a quick mixing action and place it inside the cooker one over the other. Cover it with the pressure cooker lid but without the weight and let it cook 6- 8 mins after the steam starts coming out.Keep it aside with the lid on.I would recommend use one insert vessel at a time. Keep the vessel with the batter on top and the other can be used to just raise the height of the top vessel. This would help in evenly cooking the Dhoklas. I used both the vessel together and the lower ones did not turn out well.

In a pan add 1 Tbsp of oil and fry the whole green chillies. When fried take it out and sprinkle 1 Tbsp of Lime juice on it and keep it aside. In the same oil add the mustards and let them splutter. Then add the Curry leaves and remove from flames after a min.

Open the cooker. The steam should have been fully released.Take out the vessels and turn them upside down on a plate. Pour the tempering of mustard and curry leaves on it. Sprinkle the coconut.Cut it in a criss cross manner to have square/rhombus shaped pieces. Place the green chillies soaked in lime juice on the pieces and serve.

This is my entry for WBB #23, MBP Street food