Jicama(Hi-ca-ma) Parathas - A South American vegetable infused in Indian cooking!!

Jicama (pronounced as Hi-ca-ma in Spanish) is available in abundance in most of supermarkets in California. Resembles more like a potato in its appearance and texture, rather slightly bigger in size. The color and size of the vegetable always attracted me at supermarkets and hence tried out my creation!!

Ingredients:

For Filling:
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Jicama finely grated - 2 cups
Besan flour or Gram flour - roughly 1.5 cups
Cilantro or Coriander leaves, finely chopped - 1/2 cup
Ginger, finely chopped or grated - 1 Tbsp
Serrano Chilies finely chopped - 1
Salt to taste

For Dough:
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Wheat flour - 1.5 cups
Water - roughly 1 cup
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Steam Jicama(after peeling its skin) in salt water until one whistle in pressure cooker.
2. Grate Jicama, add chopped Cilantro, Ginger, Serrano Chilies, Salt without adding water. Add gram flour slowly, ensure the filling is not too sticky.
3. Make balls out of the filling by rolling them in between your palms(use oil so it doesn't get sticky). Makes around 12 balls.
4. Now make a dough by slowly adding water to Wheat flour, a little at a time and knead well to make a pliable dough(Chapati dough consistency). Cover and set aside for 10 min.
5. Divide the dough into golf ball-sized portions. Roll them until all the cracks are gone.
6. On a clean counter surface, dust a tablespoon of wheat flour and using rolling pin roll one golf ball sized dough into a 4 inch circle. Place a ball of filling(Step 3) at center and slowly lift the edges and bring them together at center to form a pouch. Seal it by pressing top end together tightly to close. Once sealed, press down gently to form a flattened pouch. Ensure no filling comes out.
7. Dust in more wheat flour and roll this pouch into a circular shape(Paratha), roughly about 8-10 inches in diameter. Be generous in using wheat flour as and when needed so that it does not stick to surface.
8. Heat griddle and place the Paratha for frying. Flip the Paratha when tiny bubbles pops up on the surface. Smear oil on both the sides and remove when it is crispy golden brown in color on both sides.
9. The Parathas can be dipped in a bowl of curd(Greek Yogurt) along with pickle or chutney pudi.

Baked Onion Crackers or Nipattu - a healthy savory snack!!

I was searching for some recipe that is savory and healthy. I could only think of oats or a whole wheat flour or gain. But how can anyone make crackers with these ingredients. Well, I found a recipe on web which had these along with rice flour....

http://satyamangala.blogspot.com/2011/01/baked-nippattu.html


P.S: Do prick on the circular discs with fork before keeping in the oven. Baking soda/powder will make the discs to puff due to which it may not turn crispy.

I did a variation by adding in 1/2 cup of chopped onion, 2 Serrano chillies with little less olive oil minus baking soda as specified in the recipe. The result was spicy crispy cracker that tasted heavenly.

Baking - never been my forte!!

Until recently I believed that 'Baking' was never my forte. There were many reasons in past for me to arrive at this conclusion. First of all I never owned a conventional oven, secondly the cakes tried in Microwave oven never properly baked, thirdly I never had hand blender and the whisking was not even when done with hand whisker.

When I moved to US recently, I was keen on giving a final try this time in conventional oven. Primarily I wanted a fool proof recipe that wouldn't fail. Secondly a good hand blender or mixer that would do the job of whisking. When I got both, I tried my hand on making a basic pound cake. I came across many recipes but the one that attracted me was
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-basic-pound-cake.

I garnished the cake by sprinkling few cleaned seeds from Honeydew Melon.
They kept on emphasizing not to over-mix and I was curious to know the reason behind that. So borrowed a library book to dig thru the art of baking. Got know that when hand blender runs too long after adding flour to batter(that has butter, sugar and eggs), it releases gluten in flour which hardens the batter and hence the expected result is not achieved.

It is a nice feeling when a baked cake comes out of an oven without major flaws.