Jwari chi ukkad -Jowar flour meal

Jowar flour known as sorghum flour is very popular in certain states of India especially Maharashtra and Gujrat. Bhakri made out of Jowar is a staple food for lot. It has very high content of protein and iron make it energy boosting food. It is also gluten free and hence easily digestable. Given all the above, I thought of introducing this to my toddler who loves food. The art of making perfect bhakri is not that simple and I for one am not very good at it. So, I had to be creative and think of some other way of adding it to our diet. Ukkad a popular maharashtrian dish is typicallly made of rice flour and i read a recipe called as 'ukkad pendi' where wheat flour was used as the main ingredient. So, all i did was substitued the flour with jowar flour and used soy yogurt as my son is allergic to cow's milk. A very simple recipe and is very filling and satisfying meal as breakfast or snack. I am not sure if such a dish exists or if it's made with similar ingredients and different name, but I had never come across it lso thought of naming it the way I did.

Ingredients

1 cup Jowar flour
4 tbsp yogurt ( I used soy)
1tsp Jeera
1/2tsp Haldi
1/2tsp hing
Few leaves of
1 green chilli slit vertically
Salt to taste
1tsp sugar
2 cups water
Ghee/oil

First roast the Jowar flour in good amount of ghee for 2/3 minutes. Keep aside and heat some oil or ghee in a pan and the spices as n our regular tadka. Mix yogurt and water and add to the pan and bring to a slight boil. Onc it starts boiling add the flour, salt and sugar. Now keep stirring to avoid any lumps. It shouldn't take very long to cook as the flour is roasted. Withing 2 or 3 minutes the flour will absorb all the water and ukkadJowar will be ready. Serve with a dallop of ghee on top and enjoy!
ghee can be substituted with oil in case you are watching calories but if making it for kids then any amount of ghee is good for them:)
Will post a picture soon.

Easiest Eggless Chocolate Cake ever

While browsing through various recipes at one of my favorite sites 'Joy of baking' I came across this recipe for Chocolate which seemed pretty simple and mix in the pan type of recipe. To add to it the recipe was even eggless. Over the years I have tried various recipes for eggless cake and none of them have been as successful as this one. Given its a tested recipe I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out amazing. My friends didn't even believe that it was eggless. I loved the fact that the frosting was made of chocolate ganache rather than the usual butter sugar frosting. It tates amazing warmed up in the microwave for few seconds :-)

Gobi Paratha

Any form of paratha is a favorite at our house and even my son loves it. It is one of the easiest and best ways of getting veg + bread together. I remember eating gobi parathas made by mom inspired by a recipe from one of her Punjabi friends. The recipe called for fresh grated cauliflower mixed with ginger, green chilli, spices and then stuffed inside the paratha. I have made it with that recipe quite a few times but then with the veg being raw you have to deal with water because of the added salt. It can get a bit clumsy if you are not used to it and are in a hurry. So, this time I used the same ingredients and recipe and instead on keeping the cauliflower raw I sauteed it for few minutes which made the process extremely simple and less clumpsy. Here's the recipe for Gobi Paratha !

Ingredients

Stuffing

1 Cauliflower florets grated

2 Green chillis

1 inch Ginger

1 tsp jeera

1 1/2 tsp amchur powder

1 tsp jeera powder

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp haldi (optional)

2 tsp garam masala (optional)

corriander leaves few sprigs

salt to taste

Dough

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste

water to knead the dough

First we will make the dough by mixing all the ingredients and try to keep the dough a bit tough. Apply oil on top of it and keep it aside for 15 or 20 minutes while we prepare the stuffing. For the stuffing heat oil in a pan and add jeera followed by the green chilli and cauliflower. Now add all the spices including salt and let it cook for about 4 minutes. Now let the mixture cool. To make the actual paratha based on the desired size of paratha makes small balls of the dough. This way we can make sure all parathas turn out to be of the same size. Do the same for the stuffing. Now roll the dough flat and then form into a shape of cup. Add the stuffing and close the opening to make sure its fully covered. Now apply some dough and roll it into circle of desired size. In the meantime heat a tawa on medium heat and add the paratha and cook on both sides. Add some ghee if needed it will enhance the flavor and will make a sizzling sound which just adds to the appetite:)