Aloo Paratha, Some Milestones and Awards

I am extremely happy today for various reasons!!

My visitors count has crossed 1000...

My post count crossed 50... That's relatively small compared to some of our super bloggers..But still...

I have successfully completed my first year at Zurich!!! Yeah that's a milestone for me! Ask my DH how much scene I created as soon as I landed an year before. Even I was doubtful if I'll stay here for 3 months. But it took only 3 days for me to fall in love with this beautiful city. Now unless the immigration throws me out, I am not gonna go away from here ;)

Above all, I have passed my first level Deutsch certification exam with 1st grade!!!!

Yay, with so many reasons for celebration, I must actually post a recipe for a sweet or dessert. But why in the world am I posting the same, beaten-round-the-bush ALOO PARATHA???? Because it's my favorite, your favorite and most of our favorite! (Actual reason for such a simple recipe is I didnt have anything else in my drafts. But I promise, my next post will be an exciting Swiss speciality. Keep guessing!)

So over to our recipe without much rambling...

Aloo Paratha
Indian Wheat bread stuffed with Potato Masala
What we need:Atta / Wheat flour
Water
Oil - a tbsp
Salt - to taste

For Stuffing:
Potato,medium sized - 2
Cumin (Jeera) - a tbsp
Chilli powder - a tsp
Salt - according to taste
Amchur powder - a tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Fresh Coriander, chopped - a few tbsp

Butter - to top

How to do:
1. Mix wheat flour with salt. Slowly incorporate the oil and water and knead to a pliable dough. It should not be too hard nor to soft. Cover tightly and set aside for half an hour.

Mom's tip: The more you knead the dough, more soft and easy it becomes to roll. This way it also puffs up well. I usually think of somebody/something I don't like, and show all my anger on the dough..Ahem ;)

2. Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Mix in salt, cumin seeds, chilli powder, amchur powder, asafoetida, coriander and make it into small rounds of golf-ball size.
3. Divide the dough into equal parts. Dust with a little flour and roll into a small disc.
4. Keep in the potato ball in the center, pull up all the sides and pinch to close it. It will resemble a modak or kozhukattai, as in step 4 in the pic below.

5. Press gently on the top, dust again with flour, and roll into thick discs. Don't overdo, otherwise potato may start peeking out. Rolling it on the same side you closed the filling without flipping will help.
6. Cook the Parathas in a hot tava, flipping each side occasionally for 4 to 5 minutes each or till the sides turn golden brown.
Serve with pickle, yoghurt. Drop a generous dollop of Butter over each paratha before serving!

Now it is award time again. Thanks everybody for your unstinted support! Your every visit, comment and award are the constant sources of motivation to me!

my Kitchen (Selvi) has passed on to me:

My dear buddies Priya and Jeyashri made my day with:

Aruna gave me this award, which I'd like to pass on to: Sarah Naveen, Asha, Akal's sappadu, Ambika, Nithya, Sushma, Anupama, Meeso, Babli, Indu a.k.a Kitchen Queen, Lata Raja, Kanchan, Sandhya, Sangeetha, Prasu, Sree, Vidya and Lakshmi, Sree Vidya and Sh... (Buddy, what's your real name?)



Plese accept it dearies!

See you all soon! Till then, Enjoy life, happy cooking and happy Blogging! :)