Radish Flat Bread {Mooli Paratha}

Have I anytime told you that I do not have an oven in my kitchen?  Well, I had one of those small little table top ones which I used to bake my cookies and cakes in, but last week it fell apart.  So now I am “oven-less” and so in effect “cake-less” and “cookie-less” which is good for my weight.  But I cannot live without an oven.  So you would think I would just go out and get myself an oven.  That was the intention.  But then we passed some places for installation of new kitchens, and decided we needed a new kitchen too which would include the new oven.  

We spent three hours sitting with a designer in one of these kitchen places and made a sort of design on what or how we would like our kitchen to look.  At first I was not at all interested in the design as I was apprehensive about how it might look in real, but then after we completed the design, I did not like what was designed but it gave me a clearer idea of what I would like.  So this week we will again go to another place with the “clearer” idea I have in my mind to see what we could be offered.  My main criteria for a kitchen are a gas oven since I have the notion that I can control it better, a five-burner stove so I can prepare several things at the same time and not bother about the size of my vessels and a marble top work space since I think it looks nice.  For the rest, the design, the esthetics and the color – those are left to my husband’s discretion.  We do work well as a team and divide our tasks and risks and the blame.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 10 flat breads

Ingredients:

2 fresh white radishes

2 cups wheat flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

½ teaspoon red chili powder

½ teaspoon carom seeds, crushed

Warm water, as needed

Method:

1. Sieve the flour and keep aside.  
2. Grate the radishes and mix with the flour.
3. Mix all the ingredients with the mixture.
4. Knead gradually and add more flour if needed.  Since the radishes have water, there is no need to add any water.  Keep aside for 10 minutes.  
5. Divide the dough into 10 equal parts.   
6. Flour a flat surface and with a rolling pin, roll out.  
7. Heat a flat iron girdle, and when hot, put the rolled out bread on it.  
8. Roast on both sides till brown and done.  
9. Continue rolling the rest of the divided dough and cook at the same time.  Serve hot.

Fresh Fenugreek Flat Bread {Methi paratha}

Apparently the President of Yemen is back.  After an attempted assassination and getting refuge and cure from the authorities in Saudi, he is back.  I think everyone deserves medical care irrespective of their social or financial standing.  But while 100s are killed in Yemen, medical staff included, on orders of the government, what entitles the President of the country to the best care available outside?  And mind you, the revolution is to oust him…so he is not a President loved by his people.

I have nothing against the President of Yemen or for that matter the Prime Minister or King of any country.  What does enrage me though is to see the common man suffering.  What angers me is to see the hospitals poorly equipped and the medical staff trying to save lives with what little is available at their disposal.  And then I wonder where the justice in all this is? Why should a teenage boy bleed to death in the hospital while the politicians get the best of treatments abroad?  Why should a mother loose her child to a stray bullet while those responsible for the chaos are safely tucked into their beds?

Some days back I came upon a text on Justice from the Baha’i Faith which I would like to share with you. 

"O OPPRESSORS ON EARTH! Withdraw your hands from tyranny, for I have pledged Myself not to forgive any man's injustice. This is My covenant which I have irrevocably decreed in the preserved tablet and sealed with My seal."

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 10 flat breads

Ingredients:

 

2 cups fresh fenugreek leaves, roughly chopped

2 cups wheat flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 red onion

1 green chili

½ teaspoon red chili powder

Warm water, as needed

Method:

1. Sieve the flour and keep aside.  
2. Finely chop the onions and the green chili.   
3. Mix all the ingredients, except the water with the flour.   
4. Gradually add the water and knead into a dough.  Keep aside for 10 minutes.  
5. Divide the dough into 10 equal parts.   
6. Flour a flat surface and with a rolling pin, roll out.  
7. Heat a flat iron girdle, and when hot, put the rolled out bread on it.  
8. Roast on both sides till brown and done.  
9. Continue rolling the rest of the divided dough and cook at the same time.  Serve with yoghurt or pickle.