For this month’s Open Sesame 2 Contest I chose box no.1 and got the following riddle:

“A moniker in my name for a city
A phrase with me will make you cherished
I am so good for you in my utter simplicity
In Medical dictionary the fact so furnished

I am so famous in the world of bytes
Known for many aspects of usage
I am fat and rotound and make crunchy bites
My fame known from many religious traditions – right from the old age

Am, I forbidden? Or mystical ?
or the eternal giver of Youth
I consists of five internal carpels
Am good for good health of your mouth

I am as basic a fruit as you can think of
Or as hard if you dont try enough
If You eat me on a day to day basis
Then you dont have worry about anything – be it cold or dry cough”

At first I thought that it was difficult because Siri had mentioned that this month’s clue will be difficult than the previous month.  The mind was playing it’s trick telling me that it was difficult even before I could read the riddle completely.  But once I gave it a thorough reading, I was able to guess the answer right away.  That’s a brilliant riddle DK!

I was wondering what I can cook using apples apart from the famous pie and milkshake.  I was searching Food network’s site for some interesting recipes.  Then I saw an announcement for another event “Sweet Series”, this month’s theme being puran poli.  All of a sudden I got the idea of making an apple poli.  I thought of making apple halwa, like carrot halwa and then stuffing it inside the all purpose flour dough to make polis.  To my surprise it turned out very very tasty.  The halwa was so delicious by itself and so was the poli too.  Thanks once again DK and Siri, I would have not come up with this recipe if it was not for your  contest.

As it was my test recipe, I tried it with small quantities only.  But the next time I make this poli I’m going to double the measurements.

For the dough:
All purpose flour (maida) – 1 cup
Salt – pinch
Ghee – 1 tablespoon

For the stuffing:
Apple, small, grated – 1 (be sure to check that it’s sweet)
Milk Khoa (Khova, Mawa) grated or crumbled – 1/4 to 1/2 cup
Sugar – 2 tablespoons (or as per taste)
Cardamom powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee – 2 teaspoons
Powdered dhalia – optional

 
Procedure:
1.  Combine all purpose flour, salt and water to form a ball of dough, just like chapathi dough.  Then add the ghee and knead it thoroughly.  Cover the dough and let it sit for atleast one hour.

2.  Cut the top and bottom of the apple. 

 3.  Slice the apple.

4.  Peel the skin. 

5.  Grate the apple slices. 

 Grated apple, grated khoa and sugar.

6.  For the halwa/puran, add the ghee in a microwave safe bowl and the grated apples, cook it for 2 minutes. 

7.  Then add the sugar and khoa to the cooked apples.  

8.  Cook it for another 3 minutes or until you don’t smell raw apples.  Alternatively you can prepare this on stove top also.  Add 2 teaspoons of ghee in a frying pan and sautee the grated apples, until they are cooked well.  Then add the sugar, let it dissolve and then add the khoya and combine it toghether.  If this mixture is a bit watery add some more khoya or the powdered dhalia, so that the stuffing will hold together properly.

 Apple puran and all purpose flour dough.

9.  Now divide the dough into 4 equal size balls.  Also take 4 equal portions of the stuffing.  Make the stuffing smaller in size than the dough.  Eat the rest of the halwa just like that.  Everybody will ask for more.

10.  Roll the dough into a small circle.

 11.  Place one portion of the stuffing on the the rolled out dough.

 12.  Cover the stuffing using the dough.

13.  Press the tip of the dough and flatten it into a disc. 

 14.  Roll out the stuffed dough into a circle, like roti.

 15.  Meanwhile pre heat the tava (griddle).  Place the poli on the hot tava, cook it on both sides, applying little ghee.

The taste was unbelievable!  I was really proud of my creation.  My mother and my son loved it very much.

This also goes to Mythreyee’s Sweet Series Event – Puran Poli, Sweet Chapathis/Rotis.

Last year during Navrathiri (Dasara), I was preparing green peas sundal (curry).  I soaked dried green peas overnight and pressure cooked it the following day.  But I guess I added more water than required, so the peas were mashed.  I was wondering what to do with so much peas.  First I thought of making cutlets, but my husband is not a big fan.  That day I was going to prepare chapathis for dinner.  So I got the idea of mixing the mashed peas to the roti flour and prepare rotis.  The rotis were so soft and added bonus we get the fiber and proteins of the peas also.  So now I prepare it quite often with different types of beans. 

Ingredients:
There is as such no strict measurements.  It’s just mixing mashed beans with the regular chapati flour and preparing the rotis. 
Any type of cooked beans (I used half a can of red kidney beans this time)
Whole Wheat Flour – 1.5 cups
Salt
Oil

Procedure to prepare the mashed beans:
1.  You can either cook the dried beans yourself and prepare the rotis or use canned beans.

2.  For cooking the dried beans, soak it overnight.  Add the beans and water (more than the usual amount you use) to the pressure cooker and leave it for 1 whistle.  You will get a nice mushy mixture.  You can also add grated ginger/asafoetida while cooking the beans to aid digestion of the beans. 

3.  If you are using canned beans, drain the beans in a colander and rinse it well under running water.  Add the beans and little water and blend it to a smooth consistency, like hummus.  Be careful while adding water, we need a semi solid paste of the beans.

How to make rotis?
1.  Now combine the mashed beans, flour, salt and oil to form the dough.  Knead it well.

2.  Pinch a golf ball size dough.  Knead it again and roll it in whole wheat flour which is set aside for dusting.  Flour the surface and roll the dough into a circle.

3.  Cook it on a heated griddle on both the sides by applying little oil or spraying non stick cooking spray.  You can either cook it one by one or use this tip of rolling out all the rotis at once and then cooking them.

My Notes:
1.  You can use any type of cooked beans or can also use a combination of 2 or 3 types of beans. 

2.  You can also add spices to the flour, like garam masala, red chili powder etc, so that you need not prepare a separate side dish.  These masala rotis can be had with yogurt.

This goes to Srivalli’s Roti Mela.

This one also goes to Sangeeth’s Eat Healthy Event, this month’s theme being Fiber Rich.

 Also thanks to everybody for voting for me in the Open Sesame Contest May 08 edition.

I had a lot of mint at home and wanted to use it in a different way other than preparing chutney and pulav.  Earlier I have made parathas too, grinding pudina, coriander and green chillies.  So I wanted to try something new and came up with this idea of mixing it with the potato stuffing for the aloo paratha.  The result was amazing.  Not only did it taste good but the fragrance of the mint took it to another level.

Ingredients for the Paratha Dough:
All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 1 cup
Whole Wheat Flour – 1/2 cup
Salt – as per taste
Oil – 2 teaspoons

Ingredients for the stuffing:
Oil – 1 teaspoon
Mint (Pudina) leaves – 1 cup, coarsely chopped
Potatoes, medium size – 3, boiled and mashed
Garam Masala Powder -  as per taste
Salt – as per taste
Juice of half a lemon

Procedure:
1.  Combine the ingredients to prepare the dough.  Add enough water to form a ball of dough, knead a couple of times and keep it covered for an hour.

2.  To prepare the stuffing, add the teaspoon of oil in a frying pan and let it heat for a minute.  Now add the mint leaves and sautee it for a while until it is wilted.  Remove the pan from the stove and keep it aside.

3.  Now to the mashed potato add the mint leaves, the remaining ingredients for the stuffing and combine together thoroughly.

4.  Divide the paratha dough into lemon size balls and the stuffing into smaller size balls.  I got 5 balls of dough for the above measurement.

5.  Now roll each ball of dough into a small circle and place one ball of the stuffing and cover it with the dough and roll it back again.

6.  Meanwhile pre heat the griddle (tava) and once the tava is hot, cook the parathas on both the sides, by adding little oil.

7.  Enjoy it with yogurt and/or your favorite pickle.

My Notes:
1.  I usually use only whole wheat flour for preparing parathas.  Recently I saw this combination of all purpose flour and whole wheat flour, in a magazine.  So I wanted to try it. 

2.  I grind coriander and green chilles and mix it with the the mashed potato to prepare potato paratha.  This time I changed that too.   The combination of mint, garam masala and the lemon juice was heavenly. 

This is my entry to Srivalli’s Roti Mela.

Hetal of Isha’s Kitchen has passed me the Good Chat Blog Award.  Thank you very much Hetal.  Earlier she had also tagged me for a meme, 10 things I hate.  I’m tagging my dear friend Dee for the same. 

If you like my Finger Millet Sweet Dumplings, please vote for me here.

I made Roma’s Methi Thepla for dinner on Monday.  Even though she had mentioned that it was a travel food, I could not wait to try these until my next long trip.  So I got methi greens on Sunday and made the theplas on Monday.  We all loved it Roma.  Thank you very much for the recipe.

My Notes:
1.  I doubled the recipe.  So for 2 cups of whole wheat flour I got 10 theplas.
2.  I would like to share with all of you a tip which is very useful while preparing chapathis and puris.  My mother-in-law read this in a tamil magazine.

Take some sheets of paper (preferably unprinted, so that the ink does not stick to the dough) and staple them to make a book.  Roll out all the chapathis/puris and keep them in each page of the book.  After rolling out all the chapathis, heat the griddle and by the time the griddle gets hot clean the place where you rolled out the dough and start cooking the chapathis one after the other.  There are two uses – it keeps all the rolled chapathis moist without drying and it is also a time saver.  Those in the US can use the grocery store’s paper bags to make the book.  People in India can use the back side of the big calendar sheets.  Try replacing the book every month.