Saturday 31 October 2015

मक्के की मेथी वाली रोटी /Corn Meal and Fenugreek leaves flat bread (Indian flat bread from Corn meal and Fenugreek leaves)


Makki Ki Methi wali Roti with Chas and Aloo-Tamatar ki sabji

Makke ka aata (Unrefined corn flour) has carbohydrates, sugar and dietary fibers. Corn cob is harvested in India in the winter season and that is the time fresh corn flour starts coming to the market. In Punjab and Uttar- Pradesh Corn is a main winter crop. Makke ki roti with Sarson ka sag (Mustard leaf vegetable) is a world famous combination but very few must be knowing that makke ki roti with curry made out of boiled potato and tomatoes (Aloo tamatar ki sabji) taste equally delicious. In northern parts of India Makke ki roti is also made by kneading methi (Fenugreek leaves)   /Palak/Dhania/finely cut onion. Makke ki methi wali sabji (Makke ki roti made from Dough of makke ka aata and methi) served with aloo-tamatar ki sabji and Chas (cool drink made from yoghurt) is a heavenly combination.  I love eating makke ki roti with a dollop of ghee (Clarified butter) and big piece of gur (Jaggery).  As far as I am concerned Makke ki roti serves as main course with vegetable as well as dessert with Gur.

Preparation Time: 5 min.
Cooking Time: each roti takes 8-10 min. for cooking
Servings: 6 Medium size Roti

Ingredients Required for Making Makke ki Methi Wali Roti:
  • 250 gm. Makke ka aata (Unrefined corn flour)
Makki ka aata (Whole Corn flour / Unrefined corn flour)
  • 1 small bunch of methi sprigs (Fenugreek leaves)
  • 1/2Teaspoon Salt
  • Water
  • Butter
Direction For Making Makke Ki Methi wali Roti:
  • Clean methi sprigs of all yellow leaves and hard stem roots.
  • Wash the cleaned methi nicely in running water.
  • Drain water from washed methi.
  • Cut washed methi finely.
  • Take makke ka aata in a bowl.
  • Mix
    • Methi
    • Salt
    •  Makke ka atta
  • Keep a thick bottom plain iron plate (Tawa) on gas on medium flame.
  • While the tawa is being heated warm water.
  • Divide the aata methi mixture into 6-8 parts.
  • Knead one part with warm water by adding water in little proportions and kneading with continuous mashing and kneading action.
  • The dough will become soft and pliable.
Dough of makki ka aata and Methi
  • Sprinkle the dough ball liberally with corn flour and roll the ball to 10 cm. diameter flat round.
Ball of Makki and Methi dough
Dough ball rolled to make roti
  • Place the rolled dough on the palm by inverting the rolling board on your palm.
  • Dust off excess of corn flour from the rolled dough.
  • Place the rolled roti on hot tawa and sprinkle little (% ml.) water on the top of it.
  • Lower the flame and cook till the color of the roti changes from the top and golden brown dots appear on the side touching the tawa.
Makki ki methi wali roti being cooked on hot tawa
Color of the roti changes as it starts cooking on first side
  • Turn the roti and cook on medium flame on the other side also. 
Roti cooked on one side and being cooked on the other side
  • Take a cloth piece, make a ball of it and press the edges of roti on the tawa with it to make sure that the edges are also cooked properly.
  • Turn the roti and repeat the same on the other side.
  • Serve hot roti with a dollop of butter aloo-tamatar ki sabji and Lassi.
Makki ki Methi  wali roti (Indian flat bread of whole corn flour and fenugreek leaves)  with Butter
Makki ki methi wali roti with Aloo-Tamatar ki sabji and namkin Lassi (Chas)

Tips:
  • Never make the dough in advance because it will become runny, it will become difficult to roll and the roti will taste bad.
  • Always knead the makke ka aata with warm water the dough will be made best when made with warm water.
  • Once the rolled roti is placed on the tawa then the gas should be brought to low and cooked slowly for good cooking of roti.
  • Place the ball of dough on a plastic piece and place other plastic piece on it then roll. This will make rolling easy and also the corn flour required for sprinkling the ball will reduce very much.
  • Lesser the dry corn flour sticking on the surface of rolled dough softer and tastier the roti will be.
Suggested Variations:
  • Finely cut palak, Dhania, Onion can be kneaded with makke ka aata.
  • Apply little Ghee/ oil on the chatpati when it is cooked on both sides and cook for little more time by pressing on both the sides with spatula. Makke ka parantha will be made

Tuesday 27 October 2015

Whole Wheat Flour-Pumpkin-Jaggery Muffins


Whole Wheat Flour-Pumpkin Muffins
Moist Pumpkin Muffins
Muffins are great for breakfast and accompaniment with evening tea. Give them some decoration and they serve as healthy dessert also. I prefer using unrefined sugar or jaggery. Jaggery with pumpkin blends very well and adds to the moist texture and dark color both of which make the muffins very appealing. I used olive oil but because I wanted to reduce the saturated fat content in muffins.
Since I used the muffin paper bases without placing them in the muffin baking tray slots thus while baking was on the paper base spread thus making the muffins look more like cupcakes, nevertheless the denseness and the moistness was perfect.

Preparation Time: 20min
Baking Time: 20-30min
Servings:9 Muffins weighing 50 gm each

Nutritional Value/ Muffin: (Approximate values)
calories: 450
Carbohydrates: 20gm
Protein: 0.84gm
Cholesterol: 0
Fat: 8gm
Dietary fibers: 2gm
Vitamin A: 1133 I U
Vitamin C: 2mg
Vitamin E: 0.22mg
Vitamin K: 0.022mg
Folates: 2.6mcg
Riboflavin: 0.02mg
Niacin: 0.11mg
K: 50mg
Na: 8.1mg
Calcium: 2.2mg
Iron: 3mg
Carotenes and many other phyto-nutrients.

Ingredients Required For making Pumpkin Muffins:
  • 150 gm. Unbleached Whole Wheat Flour
  • 1 Teaspoon baking Powder
  • 1/2Teaspoon baking Soda (Cooking soda)
  • 75 gm Organic Jaggery
  • 250 gm. Ripe Pumpkin (unpeeled/ 200 gm Peeled)
  • 1/4Teaspoon of Salt
  • 1 Medium Size egg (My egg weighed50 gm)
  • 30 ml. Olive oil (I used extra virgin)
For Muffin Spice:
  •  1/4 Inch Piece of Nutmeg
  •  2 Inches of Cinnamon stick)
  • 2 Cloves
  • 2 Green Cardamoms
  • 1 Black Cardamom
  • 15-20 Black Currents
  • 2 Bay leafs
  • 50 ml milk (I used low fat)
Directions For making Pumpkin Muffins:
  • Boil bay leafs in milk till milk reduces to half. Cover it and allow to cool at room temperature.
  • Pound
    • Nutmeg 
    • Cinnamon
    • Cardamoms
    • Cloves to powder (It will be slightly coarse)
  • Stir this mixture and keep aside for further use.
  • Cut the black currants to two halves and keep aside.
  • Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and keep aside.
  • Peel and cut the pumpkin.
  • Boil it with as little water as possible, till it becomes soft. If any juices are left do not drain it. Try to cook on low heat till most of the juice in the pan dries but make sure the pumpkin does not get burnt or become dry. Only extra juice has to be dried.
  • Cool the cooked pumpkin and puree it by pulsing it in a blender.
  • Whisk
    • Egg
    • Jaggery
    • Olive oil
    • 10 m milk in which bay leafs were boiled, using a hand blender, till the mixture becomes uniform and smooth. It does not need to be fluffy.
  • Add the pumpkin puree and whisk for one minute.
  • Add black currant pieces to the mixture of flour and mix them nicely, so that the black currant pieces are coated with flour.
Wet and Dry Mixture For Muffins
  • Add half of the flour mixture with black currants to the wet mixture and whisk it to make a smooth paste.
After half Of The Dry Mixture Is Added
  • Add rest of the half flour mixture and again whisk lightly to make a uniform and smooth batter.
Thickness of Final Batter
  • Do not whisk too much as we do not want to incorporate too much air in it. Over whisking will be the cause of muffins not rising.
  • Add 10 ml of milk (room temperature) and mix. The batter should be thicker than the cake batter.
  • With a ladle scoop the batter in pumpkin bases and bake at 170 degree centigrade for 15-20 min or till the skewer comes out clean.
Muffins Baking
  • Enjoy the healthy-Whole wheat flour-Pumpkin Muffins with a hot cup of tea/coffee or fill them and top them with chocolate ganache and have it for dessert. Yummy
Whole Wheat Flour-Pumpkin-Jaggery Muffins
Pumpkin Muffins 
Tips;
  • The baking time differs by 4-5 minutes depending upon the type of oven used. Thus after 15 minutes check for the doneness of the cake. It should not take more than 20 minutes.
  • Requirement of milk may change due to the difference in the moisture content of pumpkin and the quality of wheat flour. Since I Do not discard the chaff from the flour thus the milk content is 20 ml. Thus check for the thickness of batter before adding milk in last step.
  • Make sure the batter is not like a cake batter. Muffin batter is always thicker.
  • If the egg is large then take only half egg white.
Alternate Suggestions:
  • Roasted nuts can be added to the flour mixture along with the currants.
  • I have tried to make puree of pumpkin without removing the peeling. The puree was slightly grainy but I was happy with the texture of Muffins made with it. Best part is not loss of nutrients takes place if the peel is not removed.
  • Jaggery can be replaced with Brown sugar (unrefined sugar).

Friday 23 October 2015

How To Cut Cake Without Knife Into Perfectly Leveled Two Halves


Cake before it is cut
One perfect half
Cutting a ckae into two halves for filling becomes a tiring task with not so satisfactory results if we do nove a turntable and serrated knife. Strong thread of string or dental floss does an amazing job. it does not require a lots of practice and time.
1. Marking the cake from bottom at equal distance (the thickness you want to cut the two halves). you can use tooth picks. which will fall once the cake cuts to two halves.
2. Placethe string of thread (Floss) around the cake at the marked place.
3. Hold the two ends in opposite direction, and pull them in opposite direction.
4. The pulling of the thread should be done firmly but slowly.
5. thread will start entering the cake from the circumfrence.
6. Keep pulling the ends in opposite direction and finally the thread will come out from the cake leaving two halves with nice flat surface over beach other.
7. brush the crumbs lightly and cover them with thw filling of your choice before placing them again over each other.
The  link of vedio posted by me in You Tube  is a practical demonstration of the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkoq5zC3Kss

Hitesh one of my student  used this metod for cupcakes aalso as he prefers no knife version more

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