28 March, 2008

From India's Bread Basket: Mooli Paratha with Lassi

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Mooli/Radish Parathas

There is a land that is drenched by five rivers, their shimmering magical water making it India’s ‘bread basket’. It’s the land that has its own colour, aroma and unique life style with cheerful and most lively people. In this same magical land there is one beautiful farm house with white washed walls and a large courtyard right in a centre of lively, lovely, golden mustard farm with delicate mustard flowers swaying with the cool breeze spreading their earthy aroma all around. It’s early morning time. Birds are singing their welcome songs as the sun rises and spreads his golden rays making everything to gleam and glitter as he touches them. Women of the house are up and awake even before the sun rays could touch the mother earth and they are found in the courtyard busy with their rolling pins.


All ladies are busy as they roll thick poories and then stuffs them with a spoonful of spiced and flavoured vegetables and rolls again it into thick paratha. The Chulha in one corner cooks delicious flat breads one after another and with in no time you see stacks of parathas smudged with dollops of Desi Ghee. They hurry up as they know its just matter of time when the whole household will get up and get ready to face another morning. As one of the ladies cooks last few parathas, another starts making sweet/salty Lassi to go with the Parathas. In few minutes time all the members of the family sit together and enjoy home made delicious Parathas dripping with Desi Ghee and gulping big brass glass of Lassi. Who can resist second servings of these parathas served with dollop of mother’s love? The feeling of fullness, satisfaction and contentment that comes from eating these delicious parathas cooked with mother’s love is emotional family heirlooms for every kid and even grown-ups.

Whenever I make parathas this is the scene which comes into my mind! I guess I have been getting little too much of Bollywood dose these days. After all this is very common scene in most of the movies. Whenever I used watch those ladies (in real and reel life) squatting next to hot tava (griddle), slapping together dozens of roties for their family, I would always wonder if I could make at least one roti at that time period. With little bit of practice and patience I have come a long way from rolling geographical maps to round-puffed roties and neatly stuffed Parathas. Making perfect round shaped stuffed Parathas without the filling oozing is an art in its own way and I am still learning to master this art. We owe a lot to land of five rivers for giving us this opportunity to cook and explore this extraordinary culinary delight, fresh from home.

Paratha dripping with Desi Ghee and a big glass of refreshing Lassi is common breakfast item in Punjabi household. It might sound little odd and too heavy thing to have for early breakfast but Punjabi’s by nature are extremely industrious and helps them to sustain throughout the day. Cooked with different fillings depending on preference and availability of ingredients, these Parathas are one whole meal by itself. Serve them with plain Yogurt with Pickle or with any side dish, they are sure to win everyone’s heart.

This time I made these delicious Mooli/Radish Parathas flavoured with Chillies, Garlic, Garam Masala and Anardaana/ Dried Pomegranate Powder. This simple Mooli/Radish Paratha served with Chass or Spiced Buttermilk is my entry for Mansi of Fun 'n Food’s WBB-Blanced Breakfast.


Mooli Paratha (Indian Flat Bread stuffed with Flavoured Radish)
Prep Time: 20 mins (Excluding Resting time)
Cooking Time: 20-30 mins
Makes: 10 medium sized Parathas

Ingredients:
For the Dough:
3 cups Whole Wheat Flour/Atta (I use Pillsbury’s Chakki Atta)
¼ cup Yogurt
Warm Water for kneading
Salt to taste

For the Filling:
1 large White Radish/Mooli (Approx. 2 packed cups), washed, peeled and grated
2 tbsp Red Onion, finely chopped
2-3 Green Chillies, finely chopped (Adjust acc to taste)
2-3 Garlic Flakes, finely chopped
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin Seeds, roasted and powdered
½-1 tsp Garam Masala
½ tsp Anardaana/Dried Pomegranate Seeds Powder
1 tsp Lemon Juice (Optional, I like it little sour)
1-2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

Other Ingredients Needed:
Oil/Ghee to brush while cooking the Paratha
Little Atta/flour for dusting
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Mooli/Radish Stuffing

Method:
For the Filling:
Mix salt with grated radish and keep it covered for about 30 mins to 1 hour. (Don’t forget to cover the radish properly if you don’t want your kitchen and house to smell of dead rat!)
Take handful of radish at a time and squeeze out the water (which can be used while kneading the dough) as much as possible. They should be as dry as possible or else the moisture content will make it difficult when rolling the stuffed paratha.
Mix in chopped onion, chillies, pomegranate seeds powder, garam masala, chopped garlic, lemon juice if using and roasted jeera powder and keep it aside.

For the Dough:
Sieve atta and mix in salt, yogurt.
Slowly add the sqeezed water from radish and warm water as and when required and make stiff dough.
Cover and keep it aside for at least half an hour.

For the Paratha:
Knead the dough again for a minute and make equal lemon sized balls.
Roll this dough ball in flour and roll them using a rolling pin into thick poories of 4 inch in diameter.
Place about 1 tbsp of filling in the centre. Cover and seal the ends and roll again, dusting flour if necessary, into ½ cm thick roties using rolling pin.
Mean while, heat a griddle at high flame and lower it to low-medium flame.
Gently dust off the excess flour and place Stuffed Paratha on griddle and cook on both the sides till its cooked and brown spots start to appear on top. Apply little ghee/oil if desired.
Serve hot Mooli Parathas immediately with any curry or with plain yogurt and pickle of your choice and enjoy.

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Stack of Mooli Paratha


Note:
Remember to cover the grated radish tightly as it has got very unpleasant smell when its raw.
Squeeze out as much of water as possible from radish to avoid from getting soggy parathas. If the water is not squeezed well then there is high chances of it getting difficult to roll them with out the stuffing oozing from the dough and breaking them.

If you are a beginner, start with small amount of stuffing/filling and roll into parathas. Once you learn the technic and are comfortable with the process, you can gradually increase the amount of filling.
Other Parathas posted in Monsoon Spice


The best drink to go with Parathas is Lassi or Butter Milk. I like Majjige as it is called in Kannada which is nothing but Spiced Butter Milk which is the quintessential summer drink in India. My Ajji (Grandma) had this big earthen pot of churned buttermilk which was offered to the visitors who would come to meet my Ajja (Grandpa) who was the village head. It would be an understatement if I were to say that I grew up drinking Majjige more than water. It still remains to be one of my most favourite drinks for summer and even winters. Although I have different recipes and variations for this Spiced Butter Milk, Sig darling wants us to try something from other blogs and post it. I tried Priya’s Healthy Yogurt Drink which turned out to be absolutely refreshing and delicious. Thank you Priya for the recipe which we enjoyed a lot. This goes to Sig of Live to Eat who is guest hosting this month’s MBP-Mixed Drink.


Lassi (Spiced Butter Milk)
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: -
Makes: 2 Glasses

Ingredients:
½ cup Yogurt (preferably sour)
½-1 tsp Green Chillies, chopped finely (Adjust acc to taste)
¼-½ tsp Ginger, crushed
1 tsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
2 cups Water
½ tsp Roasted Jeera/Cumin Seeds, Powdered
1 tbsp Lemon Juice (Optional)
Salt to taste
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Lassi/Spiced Buttermilk

Method:
Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend for about a minute.
Strain and place it in a fridge till required. Serve chilled garnished with coriander leaves or mint leaves and enjoy this refreshing drink.


An Award:

Surprise surprise!!! Little birdy just came and told me my recipe of Badane Ennegai has won an award of Most Authentic Recipe-Brinjal hosted by my dear friend Pooja.

Thank you Pooja for this wonderful event and thanks to all you people who voted for my recipe. And congrats to Gattina & Pooja for winning other two awards.

Click here for the Badane Ennegai Recipe.

34 comments:

  1. Parathas look perfect, Sia! I really love the one with the stuffing in the raw dough. So cute! Congrats on the well deserved award, girl! :)

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  2. Drooling over my keyboard as i picture mooli and green chillies together :). That's my favorite combination, double spicy ;).

    Congratulations on the award, Sups-that recipe is not just authentic, but written with so much love!

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  3. You are becoming a master at making these Parathas Sia, love the mooli cup before it got rolled out.

    Congrats! on the award. No surprises there, was a lovely recipe.

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  4. Sia such a cute stuffing pic, girl I tried your bhindi gojju and I cannot tell you how much all of us loved.will post pics soon on my blog

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  5. the pic with the filling is so pretty :)

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  6. I would gobble as fast as the ladies make these parathas. Thats how I'll help in the kitchen :)

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  7. Hey i love mooli only in this way.. can i grab majjige neeru as it is hot here everyday. this reminds me our function majjige neeru and how i used to drool over it..

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  8. Firstly congrats on the award Sia..Truly a well deserved one!!
    I love the idea of adding anaar daana to the mooli paratha.. and the stuffed paratha snap stand out...
    Excellent post!!

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  9. I don't believe there ever was a time when YOU didn't know how to roll perfect rotis... I am drooling over the picture showing the stuffing inside!!!!

    It looks so delicious Sia... nange beku please

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  10. everytime i come to your page its a pleassure to my eyes.... the pics are awesome.... and paratha my weakness... kudos...

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  11. Congrats Sups, you truely deserve it my dear!!
    Is there anyway you can send me that bread basket??
    It looks so yummy and lassi is something to die for!!!

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  12. those parathas look worth dyin for Sia! so glad you could make thee for my event b'fore I killed you!:)hehee:D

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  13. Mooli parathas and Lassi you say? I'm in. Looks lovely Sia.

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  14. Another paratha? :) You are on a "roll" :)
    That lassi picture is fab! Thanks for the entry sups...

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  15. Nice perfectly round parathas there, Sup! Loved your dal from the previous post too. Took me down memory lane with the songs in that post. Not that I've seen all movies but the absolute gems of Golden Oldies are the ones I grew up listening to. I have not listened to one in AGES now! Gotta remedy that soon!

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  16. Congrats on your award... the parathas and lassi looks delicious...

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  17. Paratha looks perfect, the lassi is refreshing and congrats for ur award :)

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  18. It's 7 in the morning....my stomach's growling...and what do I see....a plate of my favourite parathas....can I have some???

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  19. U stuff them so artistically!!! Gorgeous!
    Love chass too!! so cooling and refreshing!

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  20. That lassi pic is fab, just like the dhaba ishtyle

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  21. Wow, what a paratha! I liked the way how you folded it. A nice flower look! Wonderful Sia! Congrats on the well deserved award too.

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  22. Oh please take me to the place you described so vividly in this post. Please...

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  23. Hey your mooli paratha and lassi look great.. nice picures.. i just loved the lassi.. yum!yum!

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  24. parathas look so good..i liked the picture of the stuffing...
    congrats on your award..

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  25. Congrats on the award..you deserved it....the parathas and chaas is perfect combination and lovely imagination too:)

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  26. Love the pic of the stuffing. Almost looks like you used a mould for that.:-)

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  27. How awesome! We are 2 birds with the same feather. I made lassi as well....mango lassi. hmm maybe we are just rejoicing that summer is right around the corner. great recipe dear.

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  28. lassi and paratha looks so yum. I have posted mooli paratha too. Congrats on the award !

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  29. that lassi pic is GORGEOUS. as for punjab being the 'bread basket', i take issue with that. never mind. :D

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  30. Thats my favourite paratha..Now your blog is home of many parathas..keep adding the list.

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  31. oh my!! you seem to be a lot into parathas these days, Sups!! these look gr8 too... and congrats on your award!!! :)

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  32. paratha & lassi...balle! balle!

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  33. beautiful snaps of lassi n paratha...!!!
    I have come to ur blog through Trupti and Pooja. u have created a wonderful blog. keep posting nice recipe.
    Sonu:)

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  34. stunning pics, as always...great recipe.Cant wait to try em all out

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