Bajra Aloo Parathas

The Year is moving too fast.

The whole of April passed so fast, in fact the year is just moving at a very quick pace. I got busy trying to post every single day(except for 3 Sundays) breakfast dishes for the Blogging Marathon Group. While some of the members are very well organized some like me are not. By end of Feb I knew what dishes I was going to make except for just a couple. However, I was just not getting the time to make them. I usually don’t want to make anything new in the evening as taking photos becomes impossible. When I had started blogging I would take photos in the evening too and they would come out so horrible. Also I now find that my speed at working in the kitchen is slowing down.

I guess being a food blogger’s family is not easy. My hubby has to wait till I photograph the dish, he sometimes has to have breakfast for lunch (not that he complains) and if I’ve baked something in the evening especially a loaf of bread, there is no way he can even slice a teeny weeny piece as I need to take photos. In order to avoid all these problems I prefer to cook in the morning.

Anyway, enough of my thoughts and let’s get straight into today’s recipe. Its that time of the month when members of Shhh Cooking Secretly, (a group started by Priya of Priya’s Versatile Recipes) share what they have prepared with the two secret ingredients given by their partners.We select a theme every month. For the month of April the theme was Haryanvi Cuisine, food from the state of Haryana. My partner was Renu who blogs at Cook With Renu. Her blog has a long list of recipes ranging from baked goodies to kids friendly recipes and more. Take a moment to check out her wonderful blog. Renu gave me bajra and garam masala and I gave her besan (chickpea flour) and cumin seeds. She made a delicious, mouthwatering, creamy pakoda kadhi.

Haryana is an agrarian state in North India. The Green Revolution and the building of the Bakra Dam has resulted in a state that grows wheat, rice, sugarcane, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits and is also rich in dairy production. Haryana is largely a vegetarian state. The Haryanvi cuisine is fresh, earthy and wholesome. Staple for this state is saag (a pureed mixture of greens), vegetable curries, rotis, parathas and rice. Yogurt, butter, ghee are largely used in their food preparation. Some famous Haryanvi dishes are pakoda kadhi, besan roti, singer sabji, saag, bhatua raita, churma, meetha chawal, kheer, methi gajar, hara chana cholia, mixed dal and so many more.

With the ingredients that Renu gave me, I decided to make bajra aloo paratha as I already have bajra khichdi recipe on my blog. Usually an equal proportion of bajra (pearl millet) flour and wheat flour are used to make this flatbread or paratha. However to keep it gluten free I used only bajra flour. Using only bajra flour makes it difficult to roll so I made it the way I usually make the Gujarati Bajri na dhebra, by patting it on a wet cloth. These bajra aloo parathas tasted so different from the bajri na dhebra.

I served the parathas with some mixed dal. However, they can be easily enjoyed with other curries, or as breakfast with some yogurt or on its own with pickles. Usually eaten during the winter months as bajra or pearl millet helps to add heat to the body.  Renu thank you for the two very interesting ingredients as this made me try out a new paratha recipe.

BAJRA ALOO PARATHAS

Makes 6

1½ cup bajra(bajri, pearl millet) flour

½ cup mashed potato (boiled, peeled and mashed)

2 tbsp sour yogurt

½ cup finely chopped fresh methi (fenugreek)

1 tsp ginger paste

½ -1 tsp green chilli paste

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp coriander powder

½ – ¾ tsp salt

½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

½ tsp garam masala

½ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)

¼ tsp ajwain (carom seeds)

¼ tsp asafetida (hing)

some oil or ghee for shallow frying

some water in a bowl

1. Add flour to a big bowl along with green chili, ginger, garlic pastes, cumin seeds, ajwain, asafetida, coriander powder, garam masala, salt and turmeric powder. Mix it well.
2. Add chopped fenugreek and mashed potato. Mix it well.
3. Add sour yogurt and bring everything together into a dough.
4. Knead the dough till its smooth.
5. Cover the dough with a lid and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
6. Divide the dough into six parts.
7. Heat a griddle or tawa over medium heat.
8. Wet a small piece of cotton cloth (I find using a handkerchief the best).
9. Wet the work board a bit and lay the wet cloth on it.
10. Take a piece of the dough and roll it into a ball.
11. Wet the fingers and begin to pat it into a circle of about 5-6 inches in diameter.
12. brush very little oil on the hot tawa.
13. Hold the cloth with the patted dough at the top corners and flip it over onto the hot tawa.
14. Peel off the cloth.
15. Let the paratha cook till you’re able to flip it over.
16. Smear with oil and cook both the sides till brown specks appear and its done.
17. Repeat steps 8 -16 with the remaining dough.
18. Serve hot bajra aloo parathas with dal, vegetable curry, yogurt or with pickle.

Tips:

• Adjust spices according to your taste.
• If you want to add wheat flour then use 1 cup bajra flour and ½ cup wheat flour. You may need to add some water to make the dough. You can use a rolling pin to roll out the parathas.
• Replace the fenugreek with fresh coriander or spinach.

You may want to check out cuisine from other states of India:

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