Aloo Paratha

Paratha is an unleavened Indian flat bread usually made of whole wheat flour with ghee or oil and pan fried. They are also stuffed with vegetables. Vegetables like mashed potato, cauliflower, grated radish stuffings are very famous. Also nowadays we can see parathas stuffed with paneer, onion, carrot and people are very creative in the stuffings. It is a punjabi origin breakfast which is now has become very popular in rest of India. Often served with chilled curd and pickle. It is served hot topped with butter. While you eat the parathas the butter melts and you'll find each bite even more delightful.

Now let's talk about "Aloo Paratha". Aloo means potato. This paratha is stuffed with mashed potato with spices. We can say aloo paratha is the king of all parathas. I'd tasted it in Surat for breakfast along with curd. Then ever on I hooked up on this amazing paratha. I tried making it at home. At starting it was all blob and nasty. Even after so many trials I wasn't getting those dhaba style parathas. The shape and consistency greatly depends on the dough we prepare. Once I got a chance to cook aloo paratha with my friend who is from Goa. I can say she's a seasoned paratha maker ;) who have learnt this skill from her punjabi roomie. So now I know what makes paratha looks perfect. Here's how to make those tasty and filling breakfast. Don't forget to check the notes below.

Servings: 4
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time : 15 mins
Level: Moderate - Difficuly

Ingredients:
For dough:
	Whole Wheat Flour	2 cups
	Salt	1 Tsp
	Ghee/oil	1 Tbsp
	Warm water	1 cup ( May vary depending on the flour you use)
For stuffing:
	Potato	2 large
	Onion	100 gm/ 1 small
	Green chilli	2 nos
	Asafoetida	a pinch
	Turmeric powder	a pinch
	Chilli powder	½ Tsp
	Coriander powder	1 Tsp
	Coriander leaves	3- 4 stems
	Salt	as req
	Cumin seeds	1 Tsp
	Dry mango powder/ Chat masala	½ Tsp (Optional)
	Oil/ Ghee	To fry parathas

Preparation:

For dough:
	1. Sift the wheat flour. Add salt and oil/ghee.
	2. Add lukewarm water little by little and knead the dough till soft and pliable.
	3. Set aside to rest for about 10-15 mins.
	4. Divide the dough into 8 equal sized  balls.
For Stuffing:
	1. Boil the potatoes with skin on in a pressure cooker or sauce pan till soft.
	2. Cool the boiled potatoes. Remove the skin and mash it well.
	3. Chop the onion, green chillies, coriander leaves and mix it with mashed potatoes.
	4. Add cumin seeds, asafoetida, turmeric power, salt, coriander powder, chilli powder, amchur     powder (Dry mango powder) to the potato mixture. Mix well.
	5. Divide the filling into 8 equal sized balls.
Cooking:
	1. With the help of rolling pin or hand, roll out the dough balls to 10 cm discs.
	2. Place the filling ball in the center and by pulling the dough's edges to center seal the filling.     Do it for rest of the dough and filling balls.
	3. Dust your hands and stuffed ball with flour and roll it to 15 cm disc. Make sure the paratha is     thick. Should not be too thin.
	4. Heat a skillet and keep the flame to medium. Drizzle it with  oil/ghee. Place the rolled paratha     in the center and cook both sides by flipping it. Use ghee/oil on both sides to get crispy layer.
	5. When the dough has completely cooked and browned. Remove from heat and scoop half a     tsp of butter and drizzle on the paratha.
	6. Repeat the steps 4 and 5 for all other stuffed balls.
	7. Serve hot with curd and pickle or any chutneys.

Notes:
	1. While kneading the dough make sure you not add too much water or too little water. Excess     water will make the dough sticky and uncontrollable while rolling. Little water will make the     dough tight which will hinder the rolling process.
	2. Adding dry mango powder adds tanginess to the paratha which we love. It is optional     anyway. You can also add chat masala. This enhances the taste of parathas.
	3. Adding onion is also optional. If you are beginner avoid using onion. Only use mashed potato and dry spices.

Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Crostini

It's been a while I made this luscious appetizer. This is one appetizer never be left lonely on the plate at the end of a meal. Creamy & nutty red pepper pesto is divine, comfort & lip smacking sauce I ever made. Goes well with pasta, as a dipping sauce and in crostini. The roasted red pepper adds more flavor to the pesto. Never be lazy to roast the pepper.

Whenever I see the vibrant red peppers I just dream of the pesto I used to make long back when we were in North China. You find ample quantity of red pepper there. I used to make in large quantity and freeze them for later use. Here in Guangzhou I see them on & off. So I bought them last week when I found them in farmers market.

Here we go with nice & crisp crostini with red pepper pesto. I am bit unhappy that I totally lost the original recipe owner as I have been making this pesto since long time & never had any record of the original recipe. Anyway I am very much grateful to the person who shared this awesome recipe in web. :)

Sunday Breakfast 3

Hi friends!!
This Sunday was very beautiful. After so many days being cloudy, we got to see our bright sun. Anyways we had no plans to go out since we'd been BBQ partying the whole evening of Saturday.
I remember when we were staying in North China, our friends would invite us for a get-together event. We'd be around 7-8 people from different countries. Collection of breads, sausages, sauces, cheese were the dinner themes. We loved the slices of brown bread layered with cheese and sausages of our taste topped with mustard sauce. Yummy!!
After we moved to Guangzhou, We missed all of that.. Our friend Martin is from Germany. Few days back he went to Germany for holidays.We requested him to bring us German brown bread. We were excited when Martin brought us the bread. But we had no sausages or cheese with us. So I made some mashed potato salad and fried egg to go with the bread. And some fresh pineapple juice We loved the potato salad.. I added pickled gherkins and olive to it for extra kick..