Jwari -Nachani Che Thalipeeth - JFI Whole Grains

Thalipeeth is a type of a savory pancake which is a popular Maharashtrian breakfast/brunch item. In Maharashtra, these thalipeeths are normally made using a flour which is called bhajani. This bhajani is made with various grains and spices roasted and ground together in a flour.

In North Karnataka, however, the thalipeeths are also made with Jowar (Sorghum) flour. Jowar is extremely nutritious and yet very light to digest. Thalipeeth is an easier way to incorporate Jowar in your diet as compared to making rotis (bhakris) which require some practice. Jwari cha thalipeeth is a childhood favorite and was always a great item to be packed for a picnic or long journey. Paired with a some pickles and dahi (yogurt), or even just some homemade tup (ghee), this humble dish has the power to satisfy any hungry soul. The recipe can be accessorized as per your likings and it makes a delicious breakfast, quick lunch or a light dinner. It is one of our preferred lunch items to carry to work. This time I also added a little nachani (finger millet) flour and the result was even more nutritious and flavorful.

This recipe is going to Suganya of Tasty Palettes, who is hosting JFI : Whole Grains. I had been planning to write this post for a long time and send it on time, but as usual work piled up and deadlines had to be met. I am thankful to Suganya for letting me send in a late entry. So before I get caught in any other deadline, lets get straight to the recipe.

Ingredients : (serves 2-3)
2 cups Jwari cha peeth (flour)
4 tbsp Nachani che peeth (finger millet flour)
1/2 an onion chopped finely (can be adjusted as per liking)
2 tsp Red chilli powder (adjust to your liking)
salt to taste
water to knead
Oil to cook
Pan/Griddle

Method :
Mix the jowar flour and nachani flour together in a bowl. Usually I make only jowar thalipeeth and this is the first time I added nachani (Finger millet) to it. Hence there is no fixed ratio for this. You can change the ratio as per your liking or even completely skip the Nachani.
Next, add the chopped onions to the mixture and then add the salt and red chilli powder. You can even add a little chopped cilantro for additional flavor and color. Knead the mixture into a pliable dough using water. Divide the dough into four equal portions. The size of the thalipeeth can be modified. So this much dough might yield more thalipeeths if smaller in size.

Now on a tawa/pan (griddle), take about a tablespoon of oil. Take a portion of the dough, smooth it into a round ball and then start pressing the dough on the tawa with your fingers to make a medium thin roti. Once done, punch in 5 holes into the thalipeeth with you finger, like so....

Now drizzle just a little more oil on top of the thalipeeth and make sure it is spread all over. Cover the tawa with a plate and cook. Check after 3-4 minutes to see if done. Once done on one side, flip and let it cook for a few more minutes. Make sure that it is cooked thoroughly otherwise it will end up tasting raw. When it is cooked on both sides, serve with a dollop of fresh homemade tup (ghee) or some dahi (yogurt) and loncha (pickles) like I did here and enjoy!

Sour Cream Sandwiches

I am back ! I know that it seems like a deja vu, but hopefully this time I will not disappear like I did last time. Its amazing how my life changed in a year! Last April , I stumbled upon this beautiful world of food bloggers, and I knew instantly, that this was something i would love to be a part of. With little kitchen experience and a lot of encouragement from all of you, I have managed to complete a year of blogging on 5th April and 50 posts (although, i wasn't really active for the last 4 months...but who is counting right ? ;))! This April, I was buried deep in work with the last few days of tax season, and even managing to cook something at home was a major achievement. So I literally went from a lot of cooking to no cooking in a year. :)

I want to thank all of you for enquiring about my whereabouts and motivating me to come back with all of your wonderful recipes and stories. I would also like to thank my hubby, for his immense patience and tolerance level (as the guinea pig for my experiments), my sister who is always providing me with quick fix recipes and ideas, my mom-in-law for sharing her treasure of recipes with me, and last but not the least....my Mom. If it had not been for her, I would never have developed this skill and Bhaatukli would never have come into existence.

Now, lets talk about today's recipe. Last week, as I was blog hopping to update my blog for the different events going on, I came across this event - The Sandwich Festival, hosted by Anupama of Food-n-More. What a fun event, I thought. Every week, there is at least one day when my lunch box has a sandwich, and there are countless evenings, when I am tired to make anything else, but the humble bread has always provided me with a quick and delicious meal. The sandwich recipe I am sharing with you today, was my discovery in the early days of my marriage (makes me feel really old), when I was trying out different stuff from the American grocery stores and did not have a clue about food blogs. At that time my main resource for new and different recipes was Bawarchi, and I always found very good recipes contributed by readers like us. One day, I went to the grocery store and bought sour cream. I was very excited at the prospect of making something out of this world with this. As I came back home and put the jar of sour cream in the refrigerator, I realized that I the only thing I could think of was sandwiches. But how ? I quickly went to my favorite website for ideas, half expecting to be disappointed. Who would think of making Sour Cream Sandwiches. But to my great surprise and delight, there was someone who thought like me. Yay! I decided to give this recipe a try, and ever since, Sour Cream Sandwich by Saroj Kering, has been a family favorite. The great part about this recipe is that, you can experiment with it and change to your liking. This sandwich is my entry to the Sandwich Festival. I follow the recipe exactly, with a few teeny tiny changes.

Ingredients: (makes 4 Sandwiches)

8 slices of bread (your choice of white, wheat or any other)

2 potatoes

1/4 tsp Turmeric

1/4 tsp garam masala (I generally skip this)

1/2 tsp Jeera powder (Cumin powder)

2-3 green chillies chopped finely (adjust as per your liking)

Lemon juice ( about half a lemon)

Few leaves of cilantro chopped finely

Sour Cream

Grated Cheese ( I use the readymade grated cheese packets -Italian blend/ Mozarella/or whichever I find interesting)

Green Chutney ( recipe to follow)

Sandwich Maker

Method : Green Chutney

To make this chutney, you will need :

A small bunch of cilantro leaves

2 Green chillies

2 tbsp Peanuts (roasted/unroasted but definitely without the skin)

1 tsp Jeera (Cumin seeds)

1/2 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Salt to taste.

Add all the ingredients except sugar, and lemon juice in a mixer/blender and grind together with little bit of water. The consistency should be a little thick, like a paste. Once done, add the sugar and lemon juice and voila, the chutney is ready! You can also add mint leaves if you like.

Method : Sour cream sandwich

Boil the potatoes in the microwave or a pressure cooker. Then mash them and to this, add the turmeric powder, chopped green chillies, cilantro, lemon juice, garam masala (if using), jeera powder and salt. Mix well and keep aside.

Now take a slice of bread, apply the green chutney to it. On another slice, spread a little bit of the potato mixture. Take a dollop of sour cream and apply over the potato mixture. Finally, sprinkle some grated cheese over it and then place the slice of bread with the chutney on top of it to make a sandwich. Place the sandwich in the sandwich maker and cook as per instructions. Repeat process for all the slices of bread. Enjoy hot with some ketchup!

Variation :

Instead of adding green chillies to the potato mixture, I sometimes add laal mirchicha thecha (a type of chutney made with fresh red chillies) to it. This lends a great flavor to the mixture. I will share the recipe for this thecha in my next post.

Jwarichi Bhaakri (Jowar Roti)

This is my concluding post to the previous two posts. Although, a lot of fellow-bloggers have already shared the recipe for a perfect bhaakri, I would like to do my bit for promoting this extremely down to earth and healthy roti.
'Bhaakri', traditionally a farmer's food, can be made from Jowar (Sorghum), Bajra (Millet), Nachani (Finger Millet) or Rice flour. These rotis are very nutritious but at the same time, they are very light on the stomach. For this reason, back in the days, people made Wheat roti only during the day and Jowar roti at night . Also, bhaakri made with bajra flour is reserved for the winter months as it has a lot of heat. This bhaakri is eaten with some homemade loni (butter) to beat the heat in the bajra roti.
Jwarichi bhaakri goes well with any curry/dry vegetable or chutneys, the most popular combo being, 'Zunka-bhaakri'. Bhaakri also goes perfectly with 'Bharli vaangi' and 'Mudda bhaaji'. Making bhaakri requires a little bit of practice and patience, but once you master this skill (which does not take a long time), you will regret why you never tried it before.The most important factor for making good bhaakris is the availability of fresh flour, which can be a little difficult here in the US. I have tried a lot of brands and found that 'Bansi Jowar flour' is very good and consistent in quality. If the flour is not fresh then your bhaakri will start cracking, so make sure you get good flour.

Ingredients:
Jwariche peeth (Jowar flour)
Warm water

Method:
The best part about making bhaakri, is that you do not need to make the dough in advance and let it rest for a while. Make the dough as you go along making the bhaakri, and adjust according to how many you want to make. This is the reason why I have not given specific measures for the recipe.
First of all, take some Jowar flour and make a dough by adding warm water little by little. Knead the dough till it becomes smooth. If at any point your bhaakri starts cracking, throw it back in with the other dough, and knead the dough again.

Now take a small ball of dough and dust it with some jowar flour like this...

Initially, start with a smaller ball of dough to make it easier and make small bhaakris. I started the same way until I got used to the technique.
Next, dust your fingers with a little flour and start patting the ball of dough on a polpat (platform used for making rotis) with your fingers. As you pat, make sure you also turn the bhaakri a little with your fingers. This will ensure that it gets spread evenly on all sides. If it starts sticking to the platform, remove the bhaakri carefully from the surface and dust a little more flour. The best way to remove the stuck bhaakri is to shake the platform a little, then slide off the bhaakri onto your hand and then dust the platform with flour. Resume the patting process until you have an evenly thin, round bhaakri like this...

Don't be discouraged if the results are not good at the first try, it will get easier and better with practice. Remember, this is very healthy with no salt and no oil! :)
Now carefully transfer the bhaakri to the tava (preheat the tava just as you would for making chapati). Best way to do this would be, inverse the polpat ,take the bhaakri in your hand, and toss it onto the tava. Apply the warm water on the entire upper surface of the bhaakri, like so...

Once the water starts drying out a little, flip the bhaakri and cook on the other side. Now, normally, after this step the bhaakri is finished cooking directly on the flame. But since, I have an electric coil stove, I just cook it on the tava as I would cook chapati (In this case you can also use a stainless steel stand that is used to make phulkas on an electric coil stove). Keep flipping till both sides are browned well.

Once cooked on both sides, remove from the tava and eat hot with a little dollop of tup (ghee) and your favorite curry.

Whenever we get a chance, my husband and me enjoy a hot bhaakri , right off the tava, with a little tup (ghee) and salt. All you need to do is cut the bhaakri into half, open each half just as you would open a pita pocket, spread a little ghee inside and sprinkle some salt. Heavenly!!!
Or, you can just take an entire bhaakri, spread some ghee on it and sprinkle it with salt and then forget all your worries...
I do hope that you would give this humble roti a try and enjoy it just like we do in our family.

Here are some other interesting ways that I found from fellow-bloggers to make this bhaakri :
Jowar Roti -- An easy way by Shilpa of Aayi's Recipes
Jowar Bhakri by Swapna of Swad

Phodnichi Poli

Weekends at our place are so lazy...by the time we wake up and make our weekly calls back home, we have missed breakfast time and close to lunch. On top of that, many a times we have run out of veggies but have leftover polis (chapatis). So this is the perfect occasion for another of our childhood favourites---'Phodnichi Poli' or 'Policha Kuskara' as some people call it. This is a very good way to use leftover, stale polis and a great option for breakfast or for a quick snack in between. As a kid I used to plead my mom to make this dish whenever there were some extra chapatis. Of course, my wish was not always granted, but whenever my mom did make this dish, it was a real treat for me. You will not find any Maharashtrian kid who has not heard of this dish and hence this recipe is going for the RCI-Maharashtrian Cuisine event, hosted by Nupur of 'One Hot Stove'.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
Leftover poli 4
Chopped onion 1 medium or 1/2 big
Kadhipatta (Curry) leaves 2-3
Daane (Peanuts) optional 1tsp
Sugar 1/2 tsp
Cayenne pepper 1 tsp
Salt
Mohri (mustard seeds) 1/4 tsp
Jeera (Cumin seeds) 1/4 tsp
Hing (Asafoetida) 1/4 tsp
Halad (Turmeric) 1/2 tsp
Oil for phodni (tadka) 1 tbsp

Method:
Tear the poli (chapati) very fine and crumble it (we call it 'kuskara karne'). This can be done in two ways. Either tear the poli into big pieces, and run them in the food processor till you get really tiny pieces of poli; or just keep rubbing the pieces of poli between your palms to crumble it into tiny pieces. The tinier the pieces the better. Once done, sprinkle sugar, cayenne pepper and salt on this. It will look like this...

Now heat the oil in a kadhai. Once heated add the mohri, jeere, hing and halad to make the phodni (tadka). To this add the kadhipatta leaves. Fry for a minute and then add the chopped onions. Fry till they turn translucent. Next, add the peanuts if using. Fry a little and then add the poli mixture. Mix together, check for taste. Cook covered for a minute or so. Do not cook for a long time otherwise it will turn tough. Garnish with some cilantro and serve with a dollop of dahi (plain yogurt).

Going back to basics --- Ghadichi Poli

I am back with yet another entry for the RCI- Maharashtrian Cuisine event for this month, hosted by none other than our very own, Nupur of 'One Hot Stove'. Today's post is more of a technique, rather than a recipe, which I think (I hope I am right!) is unique to Maharashtrians.
We are all familiar with the Indian bread, popularly known as 'Roti/Chapati'. Well, I am sharing my way of making this roti which is called 'Ghadichi Poli' in Marathi. So what is the difference? The difference lies in the name itself...'ghadi' means 'fold', and so 'ghadichi poli' means folded roti. This technique is similar to that of making parathas, with the exception that parathas are thicker while poli is thinner. The folds in the poli are revealed as 'padar' (layers-for lack of a better word), once it puffs up and cooks. Experts like my MIL and my mom can manage upto 4 'padar' to their poli! The philosophy here is, the more 'padar' to your poli, the better ! :)
My mom always made 'ghadichi poli' and whenever I used to get a chance, I used to grab a hot poli right off the tava (griddle), apply some homemade tup (ghee), roll it up and eat it! Even my MIL makes polis this way and so, both my husband and me, are addicted to ghadichi poli. I have often heard my friends complaining that it is very difficult to make ghadichi poli, and so they normally opt for regular rotis/phulkas. But trust me on this, making ghadichi poli is no more difficult than making a regular roti/phulka. The part which makes people shy away from ghadichi poli, I think, is the ability to make a round poli from a triangle; but with a little practice, and patience, this can be achieved. Before you know it, you will be able to roll out round, thin and soft polis, in no time!


Ingredients: (makes 7-8 polis)
Kanik (atta) 1 1/2 cups (I use Sujata Atta)
Water to knead the dough
A little salt
Oil

Method:
Knead the dough as you would for a regular roti/chapati by hand or in the food processor. Nupur of 'One Hot Stove' has described this process very well here. The dough should be soft and a little elastic. Once the dough is ready, cover it and let it sit for at least 30 minutes. Once you are ready to make the poli, apply a few drops of oil to the dough and knead it again.

Before you start rolling out your poli, make sure that you start heating the tava (griddle). It should be neither too hot nor too cold.
Now, take a small ball of dough like so,

Roll it out like this,


The next step is to apply 1-2 drops of oil on the rolled out poli, and then to fold it into half to form a semicircle, like this...

Apply a drop or two of oil on the surface again and then fold it, to form a triangle like this,


Now, apply a little flour to it like so...

Start rolling out the poli,

To ensure that the poli is round, roll on the edges and keep turning the poli frequently. I have found that it is easier to make a triangular poli round when it is smaller in size.

Now keep rolling the poli on the edges, turning it as you roll, to increase its diameter. Avoid rolling too much at the center of the poli, otherwise it will become too thin at the center and will turn out like a papad. The trick is to keep it thick in the middle and thin at the edges. Apply some flour if it starts sticking to the polpat (platform).
Your poli should look like this,

Transfer the poli onto the tava and cook. Keep flipping to cook on both sides.


Pressing with the end of the rolling pin sometimes helps the poli to puff up...

like so,

and finally, your poli is ready !

Enjoy hot with homemade tup (ghee) and any bhaaji (curry) of your choice! These polis will stay soft till evening and even the next day, so no worries :)


(A big thanks goes to my hubby dearest for patiently clicking these pictures while I made the 'poli')