Gobi Paratha / Cauliflower stuffed in tortilla

It's that lucky time for me when my mom is visiting and cooking us our favorite dishes everyday. I had to take advantage of that situation and asked my mom to make us my favorite Gobi parathas. This is more popular in the northern part of India and my South Indian mom was lucky enough to have a Punjabi neighbor whom she learnt it from. Here's how the dish is made and hope you get to make it when you find the time.

Ingredients:

[Makes 10-12 parathas]
Wheat flour: 2 cups
Maida (all purse flour) : 1 cup
Water: enough to make a soft dough

Cauliflower: 1 big one
Green chillies: 7-8
Ginger (crushed): 1.5 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Garam masala powder: 1/2 tsp
Salt: to taste
Cilantro: few stems

2 plastic sheets - you can cut out a ziploc bag into 2 pcs.

Procedure:

1. Mix both the flours into a bowl and add some salt. Slowly add water in order to make a soft dough. The dough should not be runny but soft enough to be easily stretched.
2. Knead the dough for good 10 mins and keep aside after adding little oil to it.

3. Take the cauliflower and shred the flower part of it.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add cumin seeds, green chillies and ginger in that order. After a few seconds, add the shredded cauliflower and cook it for a few minutes. There is no need to close with a lid.
5. Add salt and garam masala to the mixture and you will see that there is now water coming out of the cauliflower. Cook the mixture until the water has evaporated and turn it off.



6. Let the curry you just made cool down and sprinkle the cilantro. One it has cooled down you can follow the next steps.
7. Take a small ball sized dough on to your palm, flatten it, add some of the curry and close it from all sides. You will now have a ball of dough with curry inside it.

8. Now roll this ball on to a slightly greasy plastic sheet and flatten it like a tortilla/roti.



9. Once you have flattened it to a desirable size, heat it on a pan. Heat both sides of the roti and add some oil around the roti while on the pan.


10. You can now serve it hot once it is toasted on both sides. You can eat it alone or dip it in cool yogurt.

బజ్జీ- Bajji- Fritters

Serves: Three. Preparation time: 40 minutes


Ingredients:

1 cup Bengal gram flour (Bésan, Senagapindi)    
1/4 cup Rice flour (Chával ká átá, Beeyappindi)
1/2 Tsp Garam masala powder
1 Tsp Red Chilli powder or to taste
1 level Tsp Salt or to taste
1/2 Tsp Tsp Cumin seeds (Jheera, Jilakara)
1/2 Tsp Turmeric (Haldi, Pasupu)
2 pinches Asafoetida (Heeng, Inguva)

1 heaped cup vegetables (eg; Potato, Plantain, Ridge gourd)
1/2 cup water
Oil to fry

Method:
1. Wash, peel and thinly slice the vegetable into rounds. Set aside.  
2. Place a cauldron of oil on heat so that it is ready by the time we prepare our Bajji batter/dough.

3. In a bowl, sift together all the flours and spices, make sure that they are evenly mixed.  

4. Add a little over 1/2 cup of water to the bowl, mix well making sure to break up any lumps. You may need to add a little bit more of water to get the right consistency. It should be thinner than Idli batter but slightly thicker than Dosa batter. (This benchmark has already been explained in Idli, also refer to step 6. for further explanation on batter consistency). 
5. The oil must be hot enough to fry. Drop a grain sized amount of dough/batter into the oil to test, if it sinks to the bottom and then rises up foaming, oil is hot enough. 
6. Dip each vegetable round into the batter, the batter covers the vegetable and coats it evenly but is thick enough not to drain away completely, it slowly drips off the vegetable. Drop this coated vegetable round into the oil. Repeat this step until the surface of the oil is full of frying Bajjis. 

7. While the Bajjis are frying, line a plate with blotting paper. Stir the Bajjis to turn them around for even frying. 
8. When the Bajjis are golden brown (around 7 minutes but depends on oil temperature and also what vegetable/how thick the rounds are), pick them out with a slotted ladle and transfer onto the plate lined with blotting paper.  
Serve hot with Tomato ketchup or any chutney. Bajjis are great on their own too. 


Variations:
Bajjis can be made from a variety of vegetables. Potato, Plantain, Ridge gourd, Onions, Capsicum, Chillies (if not hot), Eggplants, Zucchini (Courgette, Summer Squash), Cauliflower.
Optional: You may add half a teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste into the batter/dough.
Professional cooks add a pinch of baking soda, it makes the bajjis come out fluffy. However, they soak up more oil and end up with a higher dose of sodium.

Culture & Health:
Called 'Pakoda' by some, 'Bajji' by others, they say a perfect rainy day activity is to sip hot tea or coffee with piping hot pakodas.
I love the taste of soggy leftover Bajjis on the day after they're made, the vegetable flavour permeates into the fried soggy batter. Others like refried Bajjis, leftover soggy Bajjis come out extra crisp when fried again on the next day.
Bhajji-pav is a favourite street-side food sold by cart-vendors in Mumbai. It consists of a potato bajji jammed between a bun, with green chutney, tamarind chutney and other spices.
I don't want to defame/slander the reputation of such a yummy preparation by starting on its health angle. Let me just say, chickpea flour is a good source of protein, while the vegetable provides vitamins & minerals ;-) :-P
On a serious note, we all know that fried foods do all the bad things possible to our system. The vegetable loses most of its vitamin load in the frying process. This preparation is not recommended for regular consumption, it is not for the health conscious, it is not for those on any kind of dietary restrictions. It is full of oil (empty calories: a no no for diabetics. all that cholesterol: a no go zone for heart patients. all that fat: stresses our dear liver, a complete no entry for those with a problem liver/kidneys) and sodium (so much salt/soda, a no no for high blood pressure candidates, gout candidates, arthritic personalities, those on dialysis... I believe most diseases are exacerbated by sodium intake, so we need to watch out!).
And Baba Ramdevji says besan is very bad for health, so don't even feel good about the protein. :-)

Trivia:
If there is one thing that I remember my mother cooking regularly, it's pakodas and bajjis!!
Warning: This food is highly addictive and difficult to resist. ;-)