Cabbage Paratha

How do you eat cabbage?

Soups, salad's, subji's??

I know most people will answer yes. Cabbage can be consumed in different ways. Cabbage Paratha is another healthy way of consuming cabbage and making your picky little one eat cabbage. Apart from that, it is very good for people who want to loose calories and to reduce weight. If you eat cabbage everyday you will surely reduce weight. I used to eat raw cabbage everyday once upon a time and I had reduced a lot.

Try this healthy version of cabbage paratha and do let me know how it turned out :)

Ingredients:
For Filling
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 tsp cummin seeds
1 tsp tumeric powder
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tblespn chopped corriander leaves
2 chopped green chillies
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp Oil

For Dough
2 cups Wheat flour
Salt - as needed
2 tsp Oil
Water - as required

Procedure:

Mould the dough and keep it covered for 30 mins.

In the kadai, heat oil. Add the cumin seeds when they crackle add the chopped green chilly and ginger-garlic paste and fry for come seconds. Add the other powders and stir.

 Then add the shredded cabbage and fry till all the water from cabbage evaporates. 

Sprinkle corianer leaves. Add salt to taste and mix. Switch off the gas and let it cool down.

Make small equal sized balls of the dough. Roll the dough into small round shape and add 1 tablespoon of the filling.Gather the dough from all sides and close it.

Now slightly flatten the dough with filling with your palm.
Then use the rolling pin and roll it gently. Try to avoid the filling from oozing out.
If required dust the rolling table with little flour to avoid the dough from sticking.
Now heat the non-stick tawa/frying pan. Add little ghee and fry the parathas on both sides.

To check a step-by-step method of preparing a paratha, click this link.
Serve with pickle/raita or any type of gravy.

This goes to Gimme Green event.

Oats Upma

Regular oats porridge had become boring. Apart from oats dosa, I wanted to try something different. Found a nice recipe on the packet of saffola oats and instantly tried it. It turned yummy. This is healthy and a perfect way to start your day.
Just give it a try and you all will surely like this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup oats
1 onion
1 tomato
1-2 green chilles
Pinch of asafoetida
1 tsp mustard
5-6 curry leaves
3 cups water
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste

Procedure:
Dry roast the oats in a kadai for 4-5 mins.
Heat oil in the kadai, add mustard. When they splutter, add curry leaves and asafoetida.
Now add onions and saute. Add tomatoes and saute.
Cook for 2-3 mins. Add oats and mix well.
Add sugar and salt. Cook until the water has evaporated and the mixture has a semi-soft consistency.
Add more water if required.
Garnish and serve hot.

Gujarati Kitchen By Bhanu Hajratwala : A Book Review

I  have received a book named "Gujarati Kitchen by Bhanu Hajratwala" from BlogAdda. They have a book review program and I am one of those lucky 10 selected to do a book review.

This is the first time that I am doing a book review. So I am a bit nervous. But I hope this review helps those people who intend to buy this book.

Gujarati Kitchen is a book which has a wonderful collection of recipes cooked in Gujarati Kitchen. The author Bhanu Hajratwala has presented the book in a very nice way. She has mentioned a lot of incidents of her life and her cooking journey. She is a Gujarati, born and brought up in Fiji, where all her ancestors had migrated. She has beautifully mentioned how she developed interest in cooking and how she learnt to cook Gujarati Food.

Just like most of us, who learn to cook after marriage, the author also started her cooking training just before her marriage. She also learnt to cook by writing recipes of Gujarati food in her diary. Later with her husband's help she emerged into a very good and a very experienced cook. The experience that she had with rising dough was really a good one. She went on a trip to a local ice cream and a bread factory. She took some rising dough from the bread factory and the dough rose so much that it burst out of a box in which it was packed. This happened in flight when they were flying back home.

Many such incidents are mentioned in the book by the author which makes one feel, that she has written this book with real love and affection.

She even mentioned that Health-consciousness plays a major role in our lives and how she started focusing on healthy cooking by substituting low-cholesterol vegetable oil for peanut oil and more. She mentions that "fresh spices and ingredients are necessary for a healthy cooking". She also mentioned that food should not only taste good, it should look good, be presentable and make the mouth water. I really liked the way she has mentioned all such facts.

There are 85 recipes in the cookbook which are the authors family favorite and they are generations old. Some were even not written down before. She has given some tips on getting started before cooking.  The tips of washing Dal's, art of deep-frying, soaking and sprouting methods,etc.  Even what type of equipments and utensils to use have been mentioned. She compares herself to a surgeon and stresses on the right equipment for cooking, just like how a surgeon needs the right equipment to perform a surgery. So one can imagine how good the author is.

Steps to set up a basic pantry at home have been mentioned. Description of various spices have been mentioned. There is a brief section describing the types of cooking oils and fats. Tables of solid and liquid measurements as well as temperature conversions have been mentioned.

The book has been started with the starters or appetisers section. There are no starters in Gujarati Cooking as they are a part of main meal, but with some western influence they have been mentioned. This book covers vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. But since most Hindus do not eat beef and pork, recipes containing beef and pork are not mentioned.

Rice recipes and rice accompaniments, mithai or sweets,Gujarati breads, chutneys and a variety of tea time snacks have been wonderfully presented by the author. Gujarati Masala Chai is the authors favorite Chai. The recipe for this masala has also been mentioned along with how she got the recipe for this. Other types of masalas like the Gujarati Dal Masala, Sookha Masala and a couple of other masalas have been mentioned. These masalas can be prepared and stored in the refrigerator for some weeks.

Each and every recipe has been tried by the author in her kitchen and is very nicely written down. It is easy to follow the instructions mentioned for the recipe and I think any person who knows to cook basic food can easily cook something nice from this cookbook.  Some pictures are present in every section i.e. starters, main dishes, breads, rice, accompaniments with rice, sweets, chutneys, pickles, tea time snacks like nankhatai, drinks and mouth fresheners like Pan Masala Mukhwas. In the sections too, there are separate vegetarian and non-vegetarian sections.  In some places, diagrams are mentioned eg. how to fold the round patty to make a ghughara (a Gujarati sweet).  Sample menus have been mentioned and a wonderful index is also maintained.

Overall this book is a very good book, specially if you want to learn to cook Gujarati dishes.
The book is decently priced at Rs.395/- .
I recommend this book to my readers who have an interest to learn Gujarati cooking.

Thanks BlogAdda for providing this book to me.
I will try out some nice Gujarati dishes for my family and friends :)

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Round-Up of CEDD 5 - Desserts with Coconuts & The Giveaway Winner

It was really a good experience hosting an event. Since this was the first event I hosted I had a wonderful time through-put the month. There are some 25 recipes contributed by bloggers from all over the world.

I had chosen coconut to be included in desserts, sometimes people don't know what to do with coconut's apart from kheer. I think this will be one place where people can come to find some Desserts with Coconuts. Once again special thanks to Raven for letting me host this wonderful event.

The round-up is below...

Akheela of TorviewToronto has sent these crunchy Sago Coconut Cookies:

Hari Chandana of Indian Cuisine has sent the below 7 yummy and crunchy recipes:

                                                                Peanut Coconut Laddu 

                                                             Coconut Kesari Bhath

                                                               

                                                                    Kele Rasayana

                                                              Coconut Stuffed Jamuns

                                                              Vermicelli Coconut Burfi

                                                           Dessicated Coconut Laddu

                                                             Coconut Jaggery Laddu

Vidhya Jaideep of GoodEats came up with Elanchi/Pancake:

Umm Mymoonah of TheTasteOfPearlCity came up with Bibingka:

Richa of Ambrosia prepared delicious Sabudana Kheer in Coconut:

Shaheen of Allotment2Kitchen has sent these crispy Coconut Date Bars:

Nupur of UK Rasoi fried some Thekua : Whole Wheat Cookies:

Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes baked up some Coconut Brownies:

Rashida Shaik of Inherited recipes prepared a delicious Kheer:

Chitra of Chitranna baked an exciting Banana and Nuts Loaf(Eggless):

Deeksha of Dee's Kitchen also sent some crunchy Coconut Cookies:

La of FoodSlice prepared this delicious Coconut milk pudding with Vermicelli:

Archana of Mad Scientist's Kitchen prepared  yummy Goan delicacy named Nachni- che- Satv :

Chandrani Banerjee prepared this Semolina delicious Burfi :

Rathai of RathaisRecipes prepared these yummy Bounties:

Ambika of AmbikasKitchen sent us a yummy and delicious BananaCoconutFudge:

Ambreen of SimplySweetAndSavory sent these beautiful Tutti-frutti Cookies:

Amy of FoodSrilanka prepared the below 2 delicious desserts:

                                                                          Lawaria 

                                                                        Pol toffee

And finally...

Raksha of Raksha's Kicthen prepared this yummy Nachnyache Satwa. But this does not qualify for the giveaway as I am a host :)

Yes, now comes the time to announce the winner...

It is Umm Mymoonah. :)

Congrats Umm Mymoonah. Please send me your contact details. I will let you know how you can collect your prize.

And finally, thanks to everyone who participated and made this event a huge success. 

Once again Thanks a Ton :)