Green Peas Curry

Green peas, one of my favorite legume.  I like to add them in curries, rice or even while preparing poriyal like carrot, cabbage or potato. They enhance the taste of your dish and ofcourse the nutritional value too. This green peas curry is a flavorful curry that goes well with chapati, naan, jeera rice etc.

Ingredients

Green Peas - 1 cup
Potato - 1
Onion - 2
Tomato - 1
Garlic - 3 or 4 cloves
Corriander leaves - handfull
Green chillies - 3 or 4
Cashew nuts - 5 or 6
Curd - 1 tbsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Oil and salt as per need

Method

• If adding fresh peas, soak overnight and pressure cook until soft. Cube the potato and pressure cook along with the peas.
• Soak the cashews in warm water for 10 mins and grind along with yogurt to a smooth paste.
• Chop the onions, tomato, garlic, green chillies and the coriander leaves roughly.
• In a pan add a tsp of oil and saute all the above ingredients for few mins. Set aside, allow to cool and grind to a fine paste.
• Heat a pan, add 2 tsp of oil and add both ground pastes, add garam masala, mix well and saute until oil leaves on the sides.
• Now add the cooked peas, potato and salt. Cover and cook for few minutes until all the ingredients blend together. If adding frozen peas, cook until peas gets cooked. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with chapati or poori.

Nutritional Information

Green peas are one of the most nutritious legume, rich in health benefiting phyto-nutrients, minerals such as calcium, iron, copper, zinc, and manganese, vitamin C,K,A and anti-oxidants. They are relatively low in calories when compared with other beans. They are also excellent source of folic acid, protein and fiber. Usually peas pairs well with vegetables like carrot, cabbage, potato, beets etc. Aren't they a boon for our health?

Aloo Paratha

Aloo paratha is a Punjabi recipe, one of the most popular dishes in which paratha is stuffed with aloo mixture. I needed lot of practice for getting this right. Initially when I used to make this all the stuffing would come out and the total process will be very messy. With lot of practice found the tricks and started getting it right.  But then with lot of practice and patience I started getting it right. One of the very important thing is the consistency of the chapati dough and the mashed aloo. Both of them should be very soft to handle.The chapati dough should be very very soft but still non-sticky. This can be achieved using oil and warm water for kneading the dough. Similarly, the potatoes has to be boiled well and mashed totally well without any bigger chunks. There should not even be any big piece. Else they will start coming out while rolling the parathas. These are the tips I learnt by practice. Hope this helps you. Now, to the recipe!!

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Salt as needed
Warm Water as needed to knead the dough
Oil - 1 tsp for kneading the dough
Ghee - for cooking the parathas.

Method

In a bowl, add the wheat flour, salt, oil and mix well. Now add the warm water little by little and knead into a soft dough. Note that the dough should be very soft, but should not stick to your fingers. Keep covered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the stuffing.

For the stuffing

Potatoes - 2 or 3 (medium sized, boiled and mashed well)
Green chillies - 2, very thinly sliced
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/4 tsp
Salt a pinch
Corriander leaves finely chopped

1. Mix all the stuffing ingredients together. Make equal size and equal number of balls as of the kneaded dough. 
2. Roll the dough into small round shape, place the potato balls in the center. Seal by pulling the edges of the rolled dough together to make a ball.
3. On a lightly floured surface roll the parathas to nice rounds keeping the sealed part on the top. Don't roll them too thin or the stuffing will come out.
4. Remove the excess of dry flour from the rolled paratha. Gently pull it to the hot tawa, allow to get cooked on low flame. Add few drops of ghee and cook until golden brown spots appear on them.
5. Delicious aloo parathas are ready. Enjoy them with curd and pickle

Nutritional Information

Wheat is a cereal grain. Whole wheat products have increased fiber and nutrients compared to their refined wheat counterparts. Fiber is essential to your health because it has shown to reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease, lower blood cholesterol, control blood sugar levels and help relieve constipation. Whole wheat is rich in B vitamins, vitamin E and only has approximately five percent fat. Also whole wheat is a very good source of  minerals like Manganese and Selenium.
Experts say that Potatoes provide the body with an essential source of fuel and energy, which you need even when dieting. Potatoes are also a rich source of Vitamin B, folate and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and iron. Needless to say that nutrients of a potato can be enjoyed when baked or boiled rather than from a fried potato.