Jeera Rice

Jeera rice is one of my all time favorites. I have few super easy and yummy menus for lazy days and this rice is certainly one among them. But jeera rice comes handy when you want to prepare and rich north indian menu. Since this is a light dish it can be paired with other rich gravies and rotis to make a perfect combo! Posting my version hope you find it useful too :) .

Jeera Rice

Cuisine: Indian Category: Main Course Difficulty level: Easy Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook time: 15 mins Servings: 4

Ingredients Basmati Rice 2 cup Salt 1 Tsp To Temper Ghee 2 Tbsp Dry Red Chili 4-5 Shah Jeera 1/2 Tsp Asafetida A small pinch Curry leaves 1 spring Preparation     1.     Soak basmati rice in hot water for 30 mins. Assemble ingredients for tempering.

Method            1.     In pressure pan add 1 Tbsp ghee and once it gets heated temper the ingredients mentioned.      2.     Add the soaked rice along with 1 cup water and salt. Mix everything well and pressure cook in medium flame for 3 whistles.     3.     Once the rice is cooked add another tbsp ghee and fluff it with fork. Serve hot with raitha/ papad or sabji of your choice!!

Notes       ·         Do not add more water than mentioned. The rice should be just immersed in water.       ·         Cook in medium flame if you cook directly in pressure pan like me.      ·         If you can't get Shah jeera you can use normal jeera too. But shah jeera adds more flavor hence its recommended.

I love to pair it with papad and palak paneer :)  

Naan With yeast

Naan is a very famous Indian flat bread loved by all. But I never tried making it in home either because I was afraid maida might be too difficult to roll. Thanks to the encouragement given by my seniors (in blogging) I tried it at home and was really happy with the result :) Best part is the dough was so easy to roll. Since this is my maiden attempt I do realize they don't look very perfect. However I suggest you to try this version so that you too will get confidence like me to try it more often at home.  On this text I did try to understand the difference between "naan" and "kulcha". Sharing the same to you also!!

• Naan mainly uses yeast as leavening agent where for kulcha baking soda along with baking powder is used.
• It seems naan require egg atleast in case of bulk preparations (like restaurants).
• Naan is of Persian origin and Kulcha is a part of Punjabi cuisine. 
• Naan is usually oblong/ triangle shaped where as kulcha is made round shape.
• We don usually top up naan with black sesame seeds where as in kulcha you will find it always.

If you know some more difference do share with me. Lets see the preparation of naan!

NAAN

Cuisine: Indian Category: Main course Difficulty level: Medium Prep Time: 2 hrs Cook time: 30 mins Servings: 10 naan

Ingredients Maida 2 cup+ 1 tblsp Active Yeast 1.5 tsp Sugar 2 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Water 3/4 cup Rice flour 2 tblsp Butter 2 tblsp Oil 1 tblsp

Preparation     1.      Mix yeast along with sugar and add 1/2 cup of lukewarm water to it. Leave it for 2 minutes. Add salt to the flour and mix well.    2.      Make a dent in centre and pour the yeast mixture. Mix everything well. Sprinkle remaining water little by little and kneed to make a soft non sticky dough. Set the dough for 2 hrs.

Method     1.     After 2 hr the dough would have raised and become very soft. Add 1 spoon flour and kneed again.      2.     Finally add oil and make a very smooth dough. Take a lemon sized ball, dust it with rice flour and roll to some oblong shape.     3.     With a brush coat very little water to one side. Place the water coated side on hot tawa. After a minute flip to other side and ensure both sides are cooked well.      4.     Apply butter and serve hot with your choice of gravy. Notes        ·         Yeast has some pungent smell. But that smell was not present in naan.       ·         My flour did raise a little but it din double as I expected. Guess I should try adding more yeast next time. But the flour was incredibly smooth.       ·         Do not coat more water. Just brush it on one side. Also the shape got more oblong when I took it and placed on tawa.

Tasty home made naans !!

Aloo Paratha

Parathas are one of my all time favourite. Along with curd and pickle they make a great breakfast/brunch on a relaxed weekend. Since my hubby loves aloo paratha the most I decided to post it first. For any good paratha the key is a smooth non sticky dough and good stuffing. If any one of them becomes gooey we wont be able to roll parathas properly. Personally I feel getting a perfect round shape is more tricky in case of aloo paratha compared to other stuffing (I am yet to master that art!). Let me share my version.

Aloo Paratha

Cuisine: Indian Category: Breakfast/dinner Difficulty level: Medium Prep Time: 30 mins Cook time: 30 mins Servings: 2-3

Ingredients Wheat flour 1.5 Cup Salt 1/2 tsp Water 3/4 cup Ghee 1 tsp Rice flour 2 tbsp Butter/oil 2 tbsp For Stuffing Potato 2 big ones Green Chili 2 medium sized Salt 1/2 tsp Garam Masala 1/2 tsp Coriander leaves 2 Spring Jeera/Ajwain 1/2 tsp Preparation     1.     Pressure cook potatoes for 3-4 whistles. In the meantime prepare lets the dough. Chop green chilies and coriander leaves very finely.     2.     Add 1/2 teaspoon salt to the dough along with 1/2 cup water. Mix everything well and knead dough with fist by sprinkling water slowly.      3.     After kneading for few mins we will get smooth non sticky dough. Add ghee knead for another minute and cover the dough with moist cloth and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Method             1.     Peel skin of the boiled potatoes and mash them. Add salt, green chilies, coriander leaves, garam masala, jeera and mix well.       2.     Stuffing is ready. Now make equal sized ball out of them as well as the flour. Flatten the dough using hand (like we do for kozhukattai) and place stuffing inside and close it as shown.      3.     Another way of doing this is roll the dough slightly, place stuffing and close it as shown.      4.     Dust generously with rice flour and roll to an uniformly thick paratha. Place it on hot tawa.     5.     Once the paratha colour changes flip carefully and add butter. Ensure both sides are cooked nicely. Serve hot !!

Notes      ·         I prefer rice flour for dusting rotis as I feel it's more convenient . You can use wheat flour too.       ·         You can replace green chili with chili powder.       ·         The measure given makes 8 parathas.

Enjoy the delicious parathas !!