Makai ka roti & Chhole

•  Ingredients: makki ka atta, corn flour

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• 1 teaspoon chili flakes
• 2 tablespoons dry fenugreek leaves, kasuri mathi
• 1/8 teaspoon asafetida, hing
• ¾ cup warm water
• 3 tablespoons of ghee or clarified butter for cooking roties

We also need a plastic sheet about 8” x 12” to roll the roties I am using a zip lock bag.

Method

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl, corn flour, salt chili flakes, fenugreek leaves, and asafetida mix it well. Add potato to the mixture and mix. This will become very crumbly. Add water as needed to make the firm dough. Knead the dough for a minute. For makki ki roti make the dough when ready to make roti.
2. Note: Makki ki roti is little hard to roll that is the reason I decided to use potatoes. Potatoes help to binding the dough.
3. Divide the dough in 6 equal parts. Make them in smooth balls.
4. Take one ball press it between the plastic sheet plastic sheet help rolling the roti, roll the roti into about 6-inch circle. Note: may be the edges will not be as clean like other roties.
5. Heat the skillet over medium heat. Skillet should not be very hot. Otherwise roties will not cook through.
6. Place the roti in the skillet. As it cooks, the dough will change color and have a dryer look. Turn the roti over using a spatula. You should see golden-brown spots on the semi-cooked side.
7. After few seconds, spread 1 teaspoon ghee onto the roti using a spatula. Turn the roti over. Using your spatula, lightly press the entire surface of the roti to help it cook all the way through. Put the ghee on both sides of the roti while cooking. Grill the roti from both sides making sure it is golden-brown on both sides.  Remove from heat.
8. Repeat with the remaining dough, until they are all done.

Punjabi Chhole

 delicious and protein pack chana curry recipe from Punjab. Chickpeas are cooked with onion-tomato gravy. It is also called Punjabi chana masala.

Method to prepare:

Soak the channa overnight in enough water. Remember that it almost doubles, so add enough water and use a big vessel. Else you can soak Chhole in hot water for couple of hours and then add soda along with it when cooking. I normally don’t add soda for cooking it. Next morning, you will see a white layer formed, discard it and wash well couple of times.

Pressure cook it for 4 -5 whistles. You can add a quarter tsp of salt along with channa while you pressure cook it. This way, you get the salt into the channa. Some say it doesn’t cook well when you add salt, but I have never seen it. 4-5 whistles should work out, else check and make sure, when you press down a chhole, it gets mashed softly! I don’t like to chew on a hard chhole.

Take a heavy bottom kadai. Roast all the ingredients listed under masala, together. Keep tossing it constantly, else it will get burnt. Doing this on high flame, gets this done fast, so have an eye on that. The recipe asked it to be almost black, I didn’t want to take chances, so tossed it well. Let it cool and grind to a smooth powder.

Heat oil in the same pan, add the grated ginger. Then add the finely chopped onions. Cook on medium till its brown. Now add the tomatoes. I normally add salt at this stage as this will get the tomatoes get mushy fast. Fry till the oil separates. This takes about 10 mins or so.

Once the mix is well cooked, add the fresh ground spice masala, garam masala and red chilli powder. Mix well and cook for 2 mins. Then add the slit green chillies and stir for a few mins. You can remove the green chillies, if you want, I left it as such. Add the cooked chhole. Adjust the salt. Add about 1 glass of water. This of course depends on how thick you want your chhole, hubby dear doesn’t like running gravies, so I always make it thick. Cook on high for 2 mins and then simmer for 15- 20 minutes, stirring every now and then. Else you can pressure cook again for 1-2 whistles.