Hello friends,

Hope you are doing well and waiting to get through the ‘Covid-19’ pandemic. While most of us are locked in our homes due to social distancing guidelines and majority of shops/restaurants are closed, lot of people are trying get rid of boredom in various ways like creating videos, singing, dancing etc. Out of these the most common trend has been to cook something interesting and posting pictures of their dishes on social media. As the lock-down dates are being revised multiple times, it’s quite likely that you may need newer ideas to cook something different to avoid repetition. With the same thing in mind, I am presenting “Broccoli Paratha” an uncommon type of paratha which is both delicious and full of nutrition. While broccoli is full of goodness, paneer is great in taste. The combination of these two, added with the savory mix of spices makes it a complete food and can be enjoyed with just pickle, chutney or raita. The recipe is fairly easy but the outcome is highly satisfying. Try this Broccoli Paratha and your lock-down experience will be a bit less painful. Let me know your experience in the comments section.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup- Shredded or grated broccoli (Barik kati hui broccoli)
• ½ cup- Grated cottage cheese (Kisa hua paneer)
• 1½ cups- Multi grain Flour/ Wheat flour (Whichever preferred or available)
• ½ inch- Grated ginger (kisa hua adrak)
• 2 teaspoons- Red chili powder (Lal mirch powder)
• 2 teaspoons- Coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)
• 2 teaspoons- Cumin powder (Jeera powder)
• 2 teaspoons- Dry mango powder (Amchoor powder)
• ½ teaspoon- Asafoetida (Hing)
• Salt (as per taste)
• Olive oil/ Refined oil for roasting parathas

Method:

• Take flour, 1½ tablespoons oil and salt as required in a big bowl and mix. Now add water in portions and knead it into a soft dough. Cover the dough and keep it aside.
• For making the filling, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan and splutter cumin seeds, add grated ginger, turmeric powder, asafoetida and roast for a while. Now add shredded broccoli, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, dry mango powder and salt as per taste. Mix everything and roast for another 2 to 3 minutes on medium flame. Switch off the flame and add grated paneer, give it a mix and let it cool for some time.
• Make small-medium balls of the dough and take one ball, dust with dry flour, gradually press the rolling pin on all sides of the ball and make 3 to 4 inch circle, now put a spoon
  full of filling in the center of the circle. Seal the edges of the dough, softly press with fingers and roll it in a circle with help of rolling pin. Be very careful to apply
  pressure evenly.
• Heat a pan/ tawa on a medium high flame. Transfer your parantha on a hot pan and flip it when you see bubbles.
• Brush both the sides of parantha with little oil and roast on a medium-high flame until brown spots appear on both the sides.
• Serve hot with raita/chutney/ketchup/curd or pickle (as per your choice).

“Paneer dishes are probably the most common choices in the vegetarian menu while ordering food or cooking something special at home. There are many Paneer options to choose from like Paneer Butter Masala, Paneer Tikka Masala, Kadai Paneer etc. Although all these dishes are great in taste yet it gets repetitive and boring once you have tried all of them with their traditional style. Therefore, I keep exploring new dishes to avoid monotonous cooking process and enjoy new flavors. I posted one such non-typical Paneer recipe, Lehsuni Palak-Paneer sometime ago (I hope you liked it). With the same idea, today I am presenting this very unique recipe which gives you a refreshing tangy-cum-spicy taste with a pinch of sweet (Jaggery). Try this distinguished method for a change and I am sure you will make it more often.”

Ingredients:

• 400 gms- Diced Cottage cheese (chokor kate huye Paneer ke tukde)
• 1 cup- Yogurt/Curd (Dahi)
• 6 to 8- Garlic cloves (Lehsun)
• 1 inch- Ginger (Adrak)
• 1 cup- Finely chopped Onion (Barik Kati hui Pyaaz)
• 1 tablespoon- Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 tablespoon- Coriander seeds (Khada dhaniya)
• 1 tablespoon- Fenugreek seeds (Methi Dana)
• ½ tablespoon- Black pepper whole (Khadi kaali mirch)
• 8 to 10- Dry red chilli whole (Sukhi Lal Mirch khadi)
• 1 teaspoon- Red chilli powder (Lal Mirch powder)
• 1 teaspoon- Turmeric powder (Haldi)
• 3-4 tablespoons- Tamarind paste (Imli ka paste)
• 1 tablespoon- Powdered jaggery (Gud powder)
• 4 tablespoons- Clarified butter (Ghee)
• Finely chopped coriander for garnishing (Bareek kata hara Dhaniya)
• Salt as per taste

Method:

• Take yogurt/curd in a big bowl; add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and 1 teaspoon salt. Mix well to form a paste.
• Marinate diced cottage cheese (Paneer) with the paste (as shown in the Picture-1) made in the previous step.
• Keep the bowl in the fridge to rest for 25- 30 minutes.
• Take cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, black pepper whole, dry red chillies (whole) in a pan and dry-roast these whole spices on low- medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until they splutter (as shown in the Picture-2).
• Now transfer these whole spices in a grinding jar. Add garlic cloves, ginger and tamarind paste. Grind these spices into a fine paste.
• Heat ghee in a pan, add chopped onion and sauté till they turn golden brown (as shown in Picture-3). Now add spice paste which was prepared in previous step, mix and cook for 3-4 minutes on low-medium heat.
• Add marinated cottage cheese (Paneer) along with all the marinating paste left, mix gently with spices and cook covered for 3-4 minutes. Add 1 table spoon jaggery powder and salt as required, give it a gentle mix.
• Cover the pan again and let it cook for another 2 minutes on low heat.
• Transfer in a serving bowl and garnish it with chopped fresh coriander.
• Serve hot with Naan/Chapati/Phulka/ Rice.