Carrot Parathas or Gajar ke Parathe

One day when I wanted to eat parathas but didn't have potatoes, my cook Monti, conjured these carrot parathas. I was quite skeptical but they turned out to be quite yummy. Well, they couldn't dethrone aloo parathas for me but they are quite delicious, like theplas!

Ingredients:

Carrots: 5-7 medium
Wheat flour - 2 cups
Gram flour - 1/2 or 1 cup
Dahi (optional)- 1-2 tablebspoons
Oil or ghee - 1 tablespoon
Fennel seeds - 1-2 teaspoons
Salt - according to taste (more than you add to regular chapati dough)
Chilly powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam masala - 1 teaspoon
Green chillies - 1-2, finely chopped
Coriander leaves- 2 tablespoons, finely chopped

Way to Go:

1. Roughly chop carrots and boil in a little water. Use this water for kneading dough later on.

 2. When cool, mash carrots and knead along with all other ingredients. 

  

3. Roll into parathas.

4. On a griddle, roast on both sides with oil or ghee.

5. Serve and eat hot with a raita, pickle, green chutney or a  sour-sweet tomato sabzi.

Ridge Gourd and Moong Sprouts Dry Sabzi

This recipe is courtesy my friend Smita from Udupi. When I ate this lovely curry at her place, I was mesmerized at the way ridge gourd could taste. Let me accept it - I'm not a big fan of this gourd. I hesitate to buy it and if bought, it languishes in the refrigerator for a while before it sees a pan.

As I am from the north of India, south Indian flavors are very different and enchanting for me. I hardly use coconut in my day to day cooking. 

Another friend from Udupi told me that she uses seven coconuts a week. I use seven coconuts a year!

Thanks to this recipe, I do reach for ridge gourd much more often now. 

Ingredients:

Ridge gourd (turai) : 2 medium
Moong beans : half cup, sprouted 

For dry spice powder:

Coriander seeds: 1tbsp 

Cumin seeds : 1 tsp 

Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp 

Garam masala : 3/4 inch cinnamon

Cardamom : 1

Cloves : 3

Red chillies : 1-2 

First dry roast chillies, then add rest of the stuff and dry roast all ingredients.

For paste:

Onion: 1/2 onion

Garlic : 3-4 cloves

Grated coconut: 1-1.5 cup  

Grind it with as little water as possible. Add to the above ground masala. 

Seasoning:

Oil: 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds : 1 tsp

Curry leaves : 10-12 (I chop them so that they aren't visible and hence can't be fished out! Curry leaves are extremely beneficial for health.)

Urad daal: 1 tsp

Onion : 1 medium, chopped 

Tomato: 1 big, chopped

Way to go:

1. For dry spice powder, first dry roast red chillies, then add rest of the stuff. Grind them together.

2. For paste, grind all ingredients together with as little water as possible. Then add to the above powdered dry spice powder.

3. In a pan, add oil for seasoning. 

4. When oil is hot enough, add mustard seeds, curry leaves and urad daal. 

5. Then add chopped onions. When they turn translucent, add tomatoes. 

6. When tomatoes turn mushy, add moong. 

7. Around the time moong beans are half cooked, add chopped ridge gourd. 

8. Add spice mix and turmeric. 

9. Cover and cook for a few minutes. When ridge gourd  turns soft, this lovely curry is ready to be devoured.