Methi and Spring Onion Paratha / Thepla - Indian Flat bread with fenugreek leaves and Spring onions

Fenugreek brings remarkable health benefits! Its seeds, leaves(both fresh and dried) is extensively used in Indian cuisine.

Fenugreek leaves helps increase the good-cholesterol levels (HDL-C), the seeds helps ease stomach aches and I've heard that fenugreek helps new mothers boost lactation capacity.

But be careful not to use too much of fenugreek as they leave a bitter taste in the end-product.

Methi Parathas / Teplas

What you need to make Methi Parathas / Teplas -

Fresh Fenugreek leaves

• Methi / Fenugreek leaves/ Mendaya Keerai - 1 and 1/2 cups
• Spring Onions - 1/4 cup (chopped) - Just my addition, you could skip if you do not have them in hand! They do add to the taste though.
• Whole wheat flour - 4 cups
• Green chillies - 2 (finely chopped)
• Ginger (shredded) - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder / Dhania - 2 tsp
• Cumin + pepper powder (Milagu-jeera podi) - 3/4 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp (Adjust to your preference, according to the hotness of green chillies)
• Omam (Ajwain seeds ) - 1 tsp
• White sesame seeds - 1 tsp (Gives added flavor)
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Sugar - 1/2 tsp ( to counter the bitterness of methi)
• Salt - to taste

• Water - as required (~ 1 cup)
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Yogurt / Fresh curd - 2 tbsp

• Ghee - 2 tsp (optional)

How To Make the Dough -

• First wash the fenugreek leaves (shake off excess water) and remove the leaves alone discading the stalk.

• Take whole wheat flour in a big mixing bowl and add all the ingredients listed above, upto salt. Add water, in steps and mix everything together to form a dough.  Add yogurt as well. Keep kneading and bring all the flour together, adding water as and when required. Add oil towards the final stages and get a soft, pliable dough. Cover the bowl and let rest for an hour.

The dough is ready!

To Make Teplas -

• Flour a clean, dry surface, take a lemon-sized ball of dough and roll it into a circle using a rolling pin (also floured). Sprinkle flour in between to prevent the tepla from sticking to the surface or the pin. Repeat until the dough is all used up. The quantities given yield about 12-14 teplas. 

• Heat a tawa and place a rolled-out tepla on it. When the underneath surface starts to show brown spots (in about 10 seconds), flip it and press the corners with a flat wooden spatula. Flip again after 10 seconds and ensure the teplas are cooked well. Finish with a drop (or two) of ghee on each tepla for that enhanced taste! :-)

Store the teplas covered with aluminum foil in a keep-hot casserole.

Teplas are best enjoyed with Yogurt!

Serve with fresh yogurt (plain)/ curd. You can also make dal or any simple gravy to go with these. I can eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner (of course, not all 3 times on the same day, too boring :P ).

Theplas stay good for about a week. I used to make a big batch of these on Sundays when I had exams the following weeks.You might want to heat them up again on a hot pre-heated tawa (microwaving doesn't yield great results according to me, unless you're gonna eat it immediately) before serving.

Spinach rice (Palak rice)

This is a variation from the usual Coriander rice or Mint/Pudina rice that's popular in the Indian kitchens. Here, spinach is blended with spices and mixed with rice and it's a really good way to make your kids include spinach in their diet. Make it richer by grinding coconut and cashewnuts with the spinach paste ...Wah!!!

This does not take more than 30 minutes to complete, so you can make this for a weekday dinner when you want something healthy, quick and filling! It's also ideal to pack in a lunchbox!

Spinach Rice

What You Need -

• Rice, preferably Basmati - 1.5 cups
• Spinach - 2 bunches
• Green chillies - 4 nos
• Onion, chopped - 1 big or 2 small  (Sambar onions (very small ones) taste better)
• Tomatoes - 3 (chopped)
• Coconut (grated) - 4 to 5 tbsp
• Cashewnuts - 12 + 6
• Home-made Curry powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Biriyani leaf - 1
• Cinnamon - 1/2 stick, powdered
• Pulao powder - 1 tsp (optional)
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Ghee - 1 tsp

How To -

• Cook spinach in boiling water and let cool. Strain off water.

• Make it into a paste by blending along with cashewnuts, coconut and curry powder.

• Take a kadai, fry biriyani leaf in oil and then add powdered cinnamon. Add pulao masala if you like.
• Add slit green chillies, chopped onions and fry for 3 mins. Then goes in the tomatoes.

• Mix in the prepared spinach paste to the kadai and cook until the raw smell vanishes.

• Add cooked basmati rice and mix gently. Add salt.

• Garnish with ghee-roasted cashewnuts and fresh cilantro/coriander leaves.

Serve with Onion-Tomato Raitha and/or Chips/Vadam :)

Murunga Keerai (Drumstick leaves with lentils) - Simple & Quick

Drum stick leaves are full of iron and in my opinion, taste better than other greens/spinach varieties. Back home, we used to have a beautiful garden around the house with drumstick tree, coconut trees, plantain trees, mehendi tree (mignonette tree), plants of vegetables like tomato, lady's finger, brinjal and some flowering plants like hibiscus and lilies. When I was a child, every morning, I used to walk around proudly in the garden, holding my dad's hand and marvelling at every single flower or vegetable that has flowered :) In the evenings, we enjoyed chit-chatting in the backyard with tea and hot snacks that amma keeps refilling our plates with, while we enjoy the breeze and sunset. That was a long time back....wow, 15 years ago!

My mom makes murunga keerai quite regularly and I love the way she makes it. It is gently spiced with coconut, green chillies, jeera and the addition of moong dal enhances the taste of the dish. I tried amma's recipe and I was glad that it tasted quite close to hers. Since this is not something you can get in restaurants, I enjoyed murunga keerai after a very long time. 

Murunga Keerai / Drumstick leaves cooked the Indian way

What She Uses - 

Drumstick leaves - 2 cups
Moong dal (Siru paruppu/ paasi paruppu) - 2 handfuls
Turmeric powder / Haldi - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp - to temper
Salt - to taste

To Grind Together -

Coconut (Grated) - 5 tbsp
Green chillies - 3 
Jeera / Cumin seeds - 1.5 tsp

How She Makes It -

Tip~ Removing the drumstick leaves from the stalk is a painful process and it doesn't seem to end forever. But you can save time by getting help from your partner and get this boring chore done while watching TV ^_^ 
Once this is done, the rest of the recipe is super-simple and quick!

• Cook moong dal with 3 times water. Moong Dal is easy to get cooked so you can do it without a pressure cooker, just using a pot with lid. 
• Salt the water. 
•  When water starts boiling, add the keerai, i.e., drumstick leaves.
• Add turmeric. It is said to kill bacteria and other harmful germs/pesticide that could be present in the leaves. In fact, I add turmeric to Cauliflower and Broccoli also for the same reason.
• Dal and drumstick leaves do take too long to get cooked. Around 10-15 minutes. 
• Strain the water and save it to drink later as clear soup :)
• Now, take a kadai, heat 1 tsp oil, allow mustard seeds to splutter.
• Grind together coconut, green chillies and jeera to a paste and add that.
• Add the cooked keerai + dal next and mix well. 

That's about it :) In 20 minutes or less, you have a nutritious dish ready to eat n serve

Palak Vada / Keerai Vadai (Lentils deep-fried with spinach)

Spinach is not a preferred item on the menu for many of us, especially, kids. But we all know that spinach is rich in iron content and is loaded with folic acid and anti-oxidants. That makes it all the more important to include it in our diet and at the same time, make it very tasty.

Here is an attempt to make the quintessential South-indian Vadai with spinach in it. It turned out really yummy and anyone who loves paruppu vadai is sure to love this one too! :)

What You Need -

Channa Dal (கடலை பருப்பு) - 1 cup

Urad dal  (உளுந்து) - 1/2 cup

Spinach , finely chopped - 1 cup

Onions, finely chopped - 3/4 cup

Green chillies - 3 nos

Black pepper pods - 1 tsp

Fennel powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste

Rice flour - for crispness 

Besan  (கடலை மாவு) - a little, for binding everything together

How To -

• Soak the dals together for an hour or two. Drain the water completely and grind to a coarse paste along with green chillies, pepper and fennel seeds (சோம்பு) and salt.

• Mix chopped spinach and onions to the dal paste. 
• Add a little rice flour and besan. 

• Take a lemon sized ball in your palm, then flatten it and slid gently into a kadai with hot oil. Fry the vadas until the color turns golden and then flip sides. Keep the flame on Low and allow the vadais to get cooked well. Drain on kitchen tissues.

I served it hot with onion chutney :)

Kofta with Sprouted Green Gram Bean/Dal

You can see I'm still not over the kofta mania! But this time, it's healthier because I'm using sprouted green gram for making koftas. This is indeed a good way to make your family consume some proteins if they don't relish it in the form of sundals.

I made Palak gravy (similar to the one described in Palak Paneer) to go with the koftas, to make it healthier and take in all the nutrients from greens. You can also make tomato-onion gravy, just like the one we made for Paneer Butter Masala. Or even simpler, just serve these koftas as a starter with some chutney or sauce to dip in.

What You Need -

For the Koftas -

*Sprouted green gram dal - 150 g
Paneer - 100 g
Onions, chopped - 1 medium

Red chilli  powder - 3/4 tsp

Cumin powder (Jeera) - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Garam masala spices powdered - clove, cinnamon, cardamom (optional)

Bread crumbs for crispness
Oil - to fry


How To -

• Grind green gram sprouts without water.
• Mix with grated paneer (or mashed paneer), chopped onion, chilli powder, salt and spice powders to make a thick dough.

• Divide them evenly to make oval-shaped or ball-shaped koftas. 
• Coat the koftas in bread crumbs. Optionally, it is best to dip it first in maida batter to make bread crumbs sticking on better to the koftas. 

• Heat oil in a kadai and fry the koftas.

• Drain on kitchen tissues 
• Serve them with any gravy over it. I made palak gravy :)

That may not 'look' great, but sure tasted yummy!


* To make sprouts :

• Soak green gram dal in water overnight (8 hours)
• Wash it and drain off the water.
• Hang them in a moist cloth (like muslin cloth) for about 12 hours. 
• Sprinkle water often and do not let the cloth go dry.
• Wait for 3-4 hrs more if you don't see sprouts yet.

Palak Paneer (Spinach and Cottage Cheese)

This is one dish which is tasty but at the same time, nutritious too :) It comes with the goodness of green leafy palak(spinach) and the heavenly paneer(cottage cheese)! This is also quick to prepare and can be served in 30 minutes! Now, do you need any more reason??

Palak Paneer

What I Used -

Palak - 1 bunch
Paneer - 15 cubes (of 1 cm)
Onions, chopped - 1
Tomatoes, pureed - 2 to 3

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Dhania powder (Coriander seeds' powder) - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder- 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1.5 tsp

How I Made It-

• Cook Palak in an open pan (to retain green color) with just enough water to cover it. This takes about 15-20 mins on low-medium flame.
• Drain most of the water and allow it to cool.
• Thaw the paneer cubes for about 30 mins. We can do this at the beginning itself to save some time. 
• In a kadai, heat 1.5 tsp of oil, saute onions and ginger-garlic paste until you don't sense the raw smell at all.
• Add pureed tomatoes.
• Add a little salt now. Allow this to cook for 5 minutes.
• Blend the cooked and cooled palak in a food processor and add this juice.
• Add Red chilli powder, Dhania powder and Garam masala and adjust salt.
• Mix well and cook together for 5 minutes.
• Add the paneer cubes directly to the palak gravy and cook for 5 more minutes. 
• Generally, I do not like to fry the paneer cubes unless absolutely necessary. If you'd like to fry them first, then keep them immersed in hot water for 5-10 mins so that they remain soft inside.

This is a North-Indian delicacy and goes well with both roti-varieties and rice.

You can sprinkle 2 tsp of shredded Mozarella cheese on top for a kick! :P Certainly, this is not a part of the traditional recipe!

When I'm lazy to make roti (Indian bread) or cook rice, I just eat it with multi-grain bread and it tastes yummy and very filling :)