Lasooni Palak Phulka

Green chapathi as it is lovingly named by my kids, this chapathi is very nutritious also. I added garlic to this recipe, but one can omit and ginger can be used instead of garlic.

Ingredients :

1 cup spinach leaves ( washed )
2 cloves garlic
3 - 4 green chillies
2 cups whole wheat flour
Salt to taste
water to knead and grind

Method :

1. Grind the spinach, garlic, green chillies with little water into a smooth paste.
2. Add this paste to the wheat flour and some salt and knead into a soft chapathi dough. If you find the dough to be watery, then add little more wheat flour and knead / if the dough is very hard, then add some water. Keep in the fridge for 15 minutes or so for the flavours of the spinach and the garlic to blend with the flour.
3. Remove from fridge and make small balls out of the dough and roll out into chapathis.



4. On a medium hot tava, put one rolled out chapathi and cook on one side till half done.




5. Flip over and cook till the other side has brown spots on it.

6. Remove the chapati from the tava and put the undercooked side over direct flame and puff up the phulka. ( In case of coil stove or glass stove top , use a splatter screen to put the phulka over direct flame or heat ) ( See the fig. )




7. Smear with ghee and serve hot with any side dish or with curd and pickle.

Splatter screens can be found in Wal-Mart, Target, K-mart, Bed Bath & Beyond and any store in the US which has household things.




Krishnaarpanam

Appam for Karthigai Deepam

It was the month of Karthigai according to Tamil calendar and the New moon day of this month marks the birthday of Lord Karthikeyan the six heads god. People in Tamil Nadu light lamps in their house and make Pori urundai which is jaggery balls using puffed rice and appam a jaggery sweet. There are many appam recipes using rice / rava / wheat flour / maida. I had made appam using wheat flour and its quick and easy preparation.

Ingredients :

1 cup wheat flour ( any atta flour or whole wheat flour can be used )
1/2 cup rice flour
2 ripe bananas
1/4 cup grated coconut ( optional )
1 tsp. cardamom powder
1 cup jaggery ( powdered )
pinch of salt ( to bring out the sweetness of appam )

Method :

1. Grind coconut, bananas, cardamom and jaggery in a mixie or blender.

2. Add the paste to the flours and a pinch of salt. Add just enough water to make into a batter of bajji or dosa batter consistency. The batter should be pourable, but thick and not watery.

3. Heat oil at medium in a round bottom kadai and when it is quite hot, pour a tablespoon or a small ladle of the batter in the center of the kadai and fry till both the sides puff up and become brown in colour. ( Alternatively it is easy to make in a appam kuzhipaniyaram pan. As I did not have one, I made in a normal kadai ).


Krishnaarpanam