Stuffed Bread Pakoda

There are varieties of pakoda's made with different vegetables and even with chicken and fish. This bread pakoda is stuffed with mashed potato, then dipped in besan batter and fried. Stuffing make this pakoda, interesting. But then you can even make a plain bread pakoda, just by dipping in the besan batter without the stuffing too. So you can go either ways. When you feel lazy to make the stuffing, just go plain.

Ingredients

10 to 12 - Bread slices

For stuffing

3 medium size - Potato, boiled
1 to 2 - Green chili, finely chopped
A small piece - Ginger, finely grated
2 to 3 tbsp - Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/8 tsp - Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Besan Batter

1 cup - Besan / gram flour, shifted
1/4 tsp - Red chili powder
1/4 tsp - Coriander powder
1/4 tsp - Garam masala powder
1/4 tsp - Ajwain
1/4 tsp - Amchoor powder / dry mango powder
1/8 tsp - Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Method

1 ) Trim the edges of the bread ( if you prefer it ) Cut it into a triangle and again cut that triangle to a smaller triangle and set aside. You can cut the bread into a round or small square pieces, whatever shape and size you prefer.

2 ) Mash the boiled potato very well, with no lumps. Then add turmeric powder, green chili, ginger, coriander leaves, salt to taste and mix ingredients well. If you prefer you can lightly fry the chili, ginger in oil, then add turmeric powder, coriander leaves, stir and take off stove, then add to the potato and mix to make the stuffing.

3 ) Make the besan batter, by adding all the powders listed with besan and add a cup of water to make a loose batter. Add salt to taste.

4 ) Keep a plate with little water to dip the bread pieces. Now take one bread triangle piece at a time, dip in water on both side quickly and then press with both your palms to squeeze off excess water out. Now spread a little potato stuffing on the bread slice, then dip another triangle piece in water and squeeze off excess water and then place on the stuffed piece. Press and seal the sides lightly. Make use of all the triangle pieces to make similar stuffed bread pieces and keep ready to dip in batter and fry.

5 ) Heat enough oil in a kadai / wok. When the oil is hot enough, reduce heat to medium, then dip one stuffed bread piece at a time in the besan batter and then slide into the hot oil. Fry on both sides to golden brown color. Drain off the oil and transfer to a paper towel.

6 ) To make plain bread pakoda - cut the bread slices to desired shape and size and then dip in the above given besan batter and fry in oil.

Serve with tomato ketchup and have along with tea.

Paneer Paratha

I boiled 2 litres of milk and i hear some strange sound coming from the milk pot. Having a look i see the milk has curdled ! OMG ! now what do i do ? I phoned my friends around and asked what to do with spoiled milk. Just throw it out said one friend and some had no clue if i could make something out of the spoiled milk. Then i asked my maid, if i can salvage this and make anything out of it. She told me, anyways you curdle milk to make paneer and from the 2 litres i had good amount of paneer formed. So go ahead and make some paneer dish out of it. So i drained out all the whey and collected the paneer into a muslin cloth and hung it to drain out all the water. It took a while and i got all the whey out of the paneer. And then i thought of making paneer paratha out of it. Paratha's turned out well. It tasted like i had stuffed scrambled eggs inside the paratha. Anyways, any of you trying out this recipe can make paneer from fresh milk and curdle it with vinegar or lemon juice to make fresh paneer.

Ingredients

3 cups - Wheat flour
1 tbsp - Ghee / Oil
Water to knead the dough
Salt to taste

Instead of ghee or oil, i used 1/4 cup - crumbled paneer, freshly made. ( This helps in making paratha soft)

For Stuffing

1.5 cup - Fresh crumbled paneer
1 medium - Onion, very finely chopped
2 to 3 - Green chili, very finely chopped
1 small piece - Ginger, grated ( optional )
1/2 cup - Coriander leaves, very finely chopped
1/2 tsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Amchoor powder /dry mango powder
1/2 tsp - Garam masala powder
1/2 tsp - Roasted jeera powder / Roasted cumin powder
Salt to taste

Method

1 ) To make stuffing - Its important that all the water is drained out of the paneer. Coriander leaves has to be washed, cleaned, dried and chopped. There should not be any water in the stuffing. Now mix all the ingredients listed for stuffing together and keep aside.

2 ) To make the dough - Mix wheat flour, oil and salt. Mix and rub the flour to get oil and salt well mixed. Then add water little by little, knead and make a stiff dough. Rest the dough for 20 to 30 minutes. Cover with wet towel, so that dough doesn't dry out. Then again knead the dough to get a soft workable dough.

3 ) Make small key lime size balls of the dough. To make one paratha, roll out 2 dough balls. In one rolled out dough, spread the filling. Place the other rolled out dough on top of the filled dough. Press the edges to seal in. Dust with flour and roll out the paratha.

4 ) Heat a tawa or a nonstick pan, on medium heat and place the paratha in it. Smear some ghee / oil on top and around the paratha. Flip and cook evenly on both sides, till it's golden brown in colour on both sides.

Serve hot with raita and pickle.

Check out other Parantha's with detailed pictures -

Aloo Paratha
Green Peas Paratha
Chana Dal Paratha

Mooli Paratha

Parsely Paratha

Carrot Thoran / Upperi

Stir fry with fresh carrots, brings out a touch of sweetness of the carrot and then a spicy taste from the spices combined to make a good side dish to have with rice or roti. I always liked this upperi with rice and meen /fish curry. Easy to make, just leaving the part of cutting the carrots to small bits. It's simple in taste and easy to put together.

Ingredients

5 medium - Carrots, cleaned & cut to small pieces
1 medium - Red onion Or 6 to 7 big , shallots, diced
1/2 to 1 tsp - Red chili flakes
1/4 ts - Turmeric powder
1/4 cup - Freshly grated coconut
Coconut oil

Seasoning

1 to 2 tsp - Mustard seeds
2 to 3 sprigs - Curry leaves

Method

1 ) Heat oil in a kadai or a wok. Add mustard and let it pop. Then add carrot, onion, curry leaves, chili flakes, turmeric powder, salt to taste and stir in well to combine all the ingredients. Then sprinkle some water and close with a lid and cook on a very low heat till the carrot is cooked.

2 ) Add coconut and stir in. Add little coconut oil and fry for a minute to take off any moisture.

Serve hot with rice or roti.

Methi Paneer

Methi or the fenugreek leaves, for all you care, is bitter in taste; but then is a part and parcel of Indian cooking. It's known for its medicinal values, used as home remedies. Cooking with methi leaves, here is a combination of methi and paneer. When cooked, paneer balances the bitterness of methi and you get this wonderful dish, that will go well with roti/ chapati or basmati rice.

Ingredients

1 big bunch - Fresh Methi leaves
200 gram - Paneer, cubed
1 big - Tomato, pureed
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Cumin seeds

Masala Paste - Grind to smooth paste

2 to 3 - Green chili
7 big flakes - Garlic
2 '' piece - Ginger
8 - Black pepper corns
2 - Cardamom seeds, powdered

Garnish

1/2 Cup Coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1 ) Pick methi leaves from the stem and wash very well. Drain and set aside.

2 ) Heat oil in a kadai/ wok. When oil is hot, add paneer cubes in batches and fry to a light brown color. Drain and set aside.

3 ) In the remaining oil, add cumin seeds, when it splutters add ground masala paste, turmeric powder and salt to taste. Fry well for 2 to 3 minutes on low heat. Now add coriander powder and fry for a few seconds. Then add tomato puree and cook till oil separates on low heat. Add fenugreek leaves, saute for a few minutes, till the leaves are cooked.

4 ) Now add paneer cubes and mix in well. Let the paneer suck in the masala flavors. Add one or two tablespoon of water, cover and cook for a minute or two. Open and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with roti or basmati rice.