Pitta Bread Sandwich

I first saw these pocket breads in some TV show and liked its look appeal. Since then, I’ve been wanting to prepare this but in the local store I could not procure yeast; then one day when I got to buy some active yeast, I was more than excited to try it out. This turned out very fine and we just loved it.

Ingredients:

1. Wheat flour - 2 cups
2. Yeast - 1 tbsp
3. Salt to taste
4. Tomato slices - 6
5. Onion slices - 6
6. Boiled chickpeas - 1/2 cup
7. Cabbage - 1 cup shredded
8. Cheese spread or mayonese - 4 tbsp
9. Mint - few sprigs
10. Crushed pepper - 1 tsp

Method:

Step 1: Mix atta with yeast, salt and water and leave aside for an hour
Step 2: Roll into roti like breads (slightly thicker) and roast on tawa; they will puff fully. Cut them into halves to get semi-circular pockets.
Step 3: T make the sandwich, just stuff the pitta pockets with tomato slices, onion slices, few salted & boiled chickpeas, cabbage juliennes, smear some cheese spread or mayo and sprinkle salt and pepper.
Step 4: Garnish with mint leaves and serve.

Paneer Fried Rice

I am very fond of fried rice and have always wanted to try the restaurant style fried rice at home and now it happened. I had tried the simplest version and there are some more variants. Something I learnt for the first time is, in restaurants they cook the rice previous day and refrigerate it to get that non-sticky crisp form. Though I made paneer fried rice, veg fried rice just a subset of paneer fried rice or in other words Veg fried rice + Grated paneer = Paneer fried rice J

Ingredients:

1.       Pre-cooked basmati rice – 2 cups

2.       Carrot – ½ cup finely chopped

3.       Bush beans – ½ cup finely chopped

4.       Spring onion – 1 bunch (green and white part chopped separately)

5.       Grated paneer – ¾ cup

6.       Oil – 2 tbsp

7.       Vinegar – 1 tsp

8.       Pepper crushed – 1 tsp

9.       Salt to taste

Method:

Step 1: Heat oil in a wide pan and sauté white part of spring onion in that, add carrot and beans and sauté in high heat for a minute.

Step 2: Sprinkle salt, pepper and drizzle vinegar. Keep tossing.

Step 3: Add spring onion and paneer and toss well.

Step 4: Now add cooked rice with more salt as required and adjust vinegar and pepper. Toss in high heat until the rice gets heated up.

Step 5: Serve hot with gravies or sauce.

Matri

Though matri is a common snack in north India all round the year, during Diwali every other household prepares this crispy, flat, round, deep fried savory either bland or spiced. Matri is traditionally prepared from maida but due to its glutenous nature wheat flour and bengal gram flour are also used. One can see in the market galis of Delhi, the displayed tins of several variants of matris outside the shops. People buy it like groceries in kilos as matris have a very long shelf life; customers pick their choice by tasting them for spice and breaking them to ensure freshness.

Ingredients:

1. Maida - 1 cup
2. Atta - 1/2 cup
3. Salt as per taste
4. Baking Soda - 1tsp
5. Carom seeds - 1 tbsp
6. Ghee - 2 spoon
7. Oil for frying

Method:

Step 1: Add all said ingredients except oil and mix into a soft but stiff dough with warm water.
Step 2: Leave the dough to sit aside for 30 minutes.
Step 3: Roll into large roti like circles not too thin and prick with a fork on the surface of circles, this prevents matries from puffing.
Step 4: Cut them into small circles with a bottle lid or cookie cutter.
Step 5: Deep fry them in simmered stove to get crispy matris. Crispier the matri, longer its shelf life. Let it cool down before stocking in air tight containers.
Step 6: Serve with pickles or salsa or raita along with hot tea.