Aloo Palak

My husband is not a great fan of paneer. Which is good in a way because it makes our dishes less fatty. On the other hand it prevents me from trying our paneer specific recipes, such as paneer makhani, butter paneer etc. I try to substitute paneer with potatoes whenever I can, and so I tried a "potato" version of palak paneer. It turned out really good and I was amazed to see how much spinach went into the dish. It's a great way to sneak greens into the diet.

This recipe makes 4 servings.

Ingredients
Spinach - 1 bunch (If using baby spinach from the packet, use half the packet)
Onion - 1 medium
Boiled Potatoes - 4 medium, chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped
Oil - 2 tablespoons
Salt - 1 teaspoon, or to taste
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoons
Green Chillies - 3, or to taste
Cumin Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala - 1 teaspoon
Fenugreek leaves (Kasuri Methi) - 1 teaspoon

Procedure
1) Wash the spinach and remove the leaves if using the bunch.
2) Chop the onions. They don't need to be too fine because you will grind them anyway.
3) Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan/kadhai and add the onions, green chillies and garlic. Saute until onion has brown edges.

4) To the pan add spinach.

 5) Cover with a lid and let the spinach wilt. It will take only about a minute or so.

6) The spinach reduces to so little! Now let the mixture cool and then blend it with little water.
7) In the same pan, heat oil and add some cumin seeds. When the start sizzling, add the potatoes and saute them till they are browned around the edges.
8) Add the spinach puree and salt. Add some cumin coriander masala and crushed fenugreek leaves and stir. If you didn't add much water while blending, add half a cup of water.
9) Cover with a lid and let it simmer on a low flame for 6-7 minutes. Check every now and then to make sure it isn't sticking to the bottom.
10) Optionally, you can add some cream or milk to make the dish taste richer (I didn't).
11) Do a taste-test to see if you need more spice.
That's it! Serve with roti, naan, or rice.

Marathi style Puran Poli

In India and particularly in the states of Gujrat and Maharashtra, puran poli is synonymous with the festival of Holi. As a child, I always remember the Holi day routine of playing with friends, coming home drenched in water and colors, taking a long bath to get rid of the "gulaal" and then having a sumptuous lunch of puran poli with family.  Though we are quite far from Holi at this time, we had a craving for puran poli this weekend, which hubby dearest happens to be a great fan of.

Some people make puran poli with toor dal, but in Maharastra it has traditionally been made with chana dal. I personally like more with the flavor and aroma of chana dal. During older times, making puran poli wasn't such an easy affair. People meticulously used "puran yantra" to crush and make a smooth mixture with the dal. But of course, with growing number of kitchen gadgets and lesser time on hand, there are quicker and less time consuming methods available now.

Puran poli is served with katachi amti, which is a delicious sweet-tangy-spicy accompaniment to puran poli and compliments it perfectly. Katachi amti is made with water that's leftover after you boil the chana dal. So to have enough amti, make sure to boil the dal in lots of water.

In this post, I will show you step by step method of making puran polis. Give it a try, you will love them!

This recipe makes about 10-11 puran polis.

Ingredients
For the roti dough
Whole Wheat Flour or Atta : 2 cups
Salt : 1/2 teaspoon
For the puran
Chana Dal : 1 cup
Sugar : 1 cup (adjust according to your taste)
Nutmeg : 1/4 teaspoon
Cardamom : 1/4 teaspoon
For katachi amti
Water left over from cooking chana dal : 3 cups (or whatever remains after boiling)
Oil : 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon
Jeera/Cumin seeds : 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric : 1/4 teaspoon
Red Chilly Powder : 1/2 teaspoon
Salt : 1/2 teaspoon
Hing : 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves : 4-5
Tamarind paste : 1 tablespoon
Sugar : 1 teaspoon

Procedure
1) Boil chana dal in about 4 cups water with a pinch of salt until it is very soft and tender to touch. I usually pressure cook it for 5-6 whistles.
2) While the dal is boiling, prepare the roti dough. Mix 1/2 teaspoon salt with atta and knead with adequate amount of water to make s soft and pliable dough. Cover it with a cotton cloth and set aside.
3) Drain the boiled dal and reserve the water.
 
4) In a non stick pan, pour the drained dal and add the sugar. Start with 3/4 cup and increase until you get to the sweetness level you like. For us, usually 1:1 ratio of dal and sugar works well.
5) Add ground nutmeg powder and keep mixing and mashing until you get a smooth paste without any traces of whole dal. The consistency of the mixture is really important - if you make it too dry, the puran poli will be crumbly and if you leave it too moist, the filling will come out while rolling.
6) When the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan, sprinkle ground cardamom powder and transfer to another plate to cool.

7) You will know you got the right consistency of the paste when you can form soft balls of the mixture. Make small balls of the roti dough as well as the filling. The filling ball should be approximately 1.5 times the roti dough.

8) Heat the tava/griddle. Roll out the roti dough into a small circle, and as much as possible try to roll out the sides instead of the center.

9) Add the filling and pull the edges of the dough together and twist it on the top. Remove the excess.

10) Press the dough ball lightly and set aside. Do the same for all the dough balls.
 
11) Roll out the dough you set aside the first (which has been sitting around the longest). Apply very gently pressure while rolling it out or the mixture will come out of all sides!

12) Place the poli on the griddle/tava and flip it when you see bubbles appear. Smear some ghee (optional) and after a few seconds, flip it again. Smear ghee on this side as well.
13) When both sides are nicely done, remove from tava and continue the process for the next one.

14) For making katachi amti, heat oil in a pan. When the oil is hot enough, add mustard seeds. When they crackle, add jeera, hing, curry leaves.
15) Add the turmeric and red chilly powder and immediately add the water from chana dal.
16) When the water comes to a boil, add tamarind paste, salt, and sugar.
17) Let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Check the taste and add ingredients as required.

Serve piping hot with Puran Poli!