Schezwan Paratha Recipe | Szechuan Paratha Recipe [Video]

Schezwan Paratha is a Chinese inspired stuffed Indian wholewheat flatbread. The paratha is stuffed with a spicy cabbage, capsicum and onion stuffing.

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When normal people think Paratha, schezwan paratha doesn't even pop up in the head. But for a foodie, anything is possible and this schezwan paratha possibly popped in some Indo-Chinese food-obsessed North Indian foodie. Just to let you know, this is not my idea. Na-ah. But the recipe is definitely my own.

Six years ago, I watched a Gujarati cooking show that showed the making of a schezwan paratha. I didn't understand the language, but as they say, food has a language of its own. And that's what happened, I got the gist of the dish while I didn't understand a word of the instructions. And after a few attempts, this paratha was here to stay.

Schezwan Paratha is a perfect fusion of two styles of cuisine. The Chinese inspired vegetable mix is stuffed inside a whole wheat dough, rolled and pan-fried until crisp. The paratha satisfies several cravings - craving for Chinese food, craving for comforting Parathas, the craving for spice and of course, the basic craving for some delicious and new food.

Any stuffed paratha has 2 parts, the stuffing, and the coating. The coating, in this case, is a regular dough made of wholewheat flour, a pinch of salt and water. The dough is kneaded the same way one would for chapati or other parathas. If you want you can add some maida or all purpose dough as well while kneading the dough. The soft dough is stuffed with a spicy mixed vegetable stuffing. The stuffing, in this case, is made with julienned vegetables such as onions, capsicum, and cabbage. You can also add carrots. The vegetables are cooked down with a spicy homemade garlic-chilli sauce that is ready in 15 minutes.

Paratha is generally as breakfast item as it is filling and it gives you energy to cruise through the day. But parathas are also a great dinner option. Pair paratha up with some homemade yogurt (Dahi) and pickle and you are all set to lull yourself to a food coma.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are up to.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Schezwan Paratha Recipe | Szechuan Paratha Recipe

Schezwan Paratha is a Chinese inspired stuffed Indian wholewheat flatbread. The paratha is stuffed with a spicy cabbage, capsicum and onion stuffing.

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Total time:     60 minutes
Yield:                Makes 4 Parathas

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:

3 cups shredded Cabbage
0.5 Capsicum, julienned
1 Onion, julienned
8-10 dry Red Chillies
1 Tbsp chopped Garlic
1 Tbsp Vinegar
2 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste
Water as required

For the dough:

2 cups Wholewheat flour
0.25 tsp Salt
Water as required
Oil to fry the parathas

Method:

1. Soak the dry red chillies in hot water and keep aside.
2. Add the salt to the wholewheat flour and knead into a smooth dough using water as required. Cover and allow it to rest until the stuffing is ready.
3. Drain the red chillies. Deseed the red chillies if you don't want a very spicy stuffing.
4. Blend together the red chillies, chopped garlic, 0.5 tsp salt, and vinegar into a smooth schezwan sauce. Add little water if required to help the blending process.
5. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a kadhai and add in the sliced onions. Cook until the onions are golden.
6. Add in the julienned capsicum and fry for 1 minute.
7. Add 1-2 Tbsp of the schezwan sauce or as required. Fry for 1 minute.
8. Add in the shredded cabbage and salt for taste. Add more schezwan sauce if required. Cook until the cabbage is soft.
9. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.
10. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and roll into balls.
11. Dust the counter with a part of the remaining flour and roll out the dough into small circles.
12. Divide the stuffing into 4 equal parts and spoon onto the dough. Seal the parathas.
13. Dust flour on the counter as required and roll out the parathas as thin as possible.
14. Heat the tava or a flat pan and grease it. Place the rolled paratha on the tava and spoon oil and spread well.
15. Flip the paratha and cook until the it is cooked on one side.
16. Flip the paratha again and cook until the second side is cooked. Press with a spatula so that the paratha is cooked evenly.
17. Serve the parathas hot along with either butter,  or curd (yogurt).

If you liked this, you may also like:

Sweet Potato Cheese Paratha

Methi Paratha

Beetroot Paratha

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Steamed Veg Momo Recipe | Vegan Dumplings Recipe [Video]

Veg Momos are vegan dumplings stuffed with a stir fried mix of finely chopped vegetables. The dumpling can either be steamed,  deep fried or pan fried. This is the recipe for steamed veg momos. Steamed veg momos are a specialty of North East India and these are now a popular street food all through India.

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I never skip a chance to eat a Momo. But making them, I've had my excuses.

I'm glad I finally got around to making some, because I simply loved this recipe and I'm so happy I can share it with you. And unlike what I imagined earlier, it is not that elaborate and no, homemade is so much better than the street side one. 

So.... a Momo is a dumpling that is native to the Himalayan region, mainly North-East India, Tibet, Nepal and regions around them. In recent times, momos have taken the streets by storm and it is not unusual to see folks selling momos at street corners. They have become extremely popular as street food. 

My first experience with momo making was in 2009, when we visited Darjeeling. Darjeeling is very famous for momos and I had it in my bucket list to try some there. We used to frequent a small family run restaurant called Nimto that served us vegetarian food. It was here that we saw Auntie (the owner and chef) prepare momos. I was amazed at the speed and quality of the pleating of her momos. While I am nowhere close to her's in aesthetic appeal, I believe I've made up for it with taste.

Veg momos are usually stuffed with cabbage and a mix of other finely chopped veggies. A momo is very mild in flavor, it has a subtle hint of ginger, garlic and heat. It is usually served with either chilly vinegar or a spicy chilli garlic sauce or a spicy peanut sauce. There are some places that serve momos with mayo but I would never visit those places. 

In this post and video, I have included details on how to make the momo wrappers as well. In my next post, I will share a simple recipe to make the Chilli Garlic sauce that I served the momos with. While I did not do it this time, in the past I have frozen momos and steamed them when required. If you plan to freeze momos, place the momos in a large box in a single layer and freeze them. You can then directly steam them (no thawing required) when you want to eat the momos. But just serve them hot, momos tend to get chewy if allowed to cool.

This recipe shows one method of pleating the momos, this is usually how veg momos are pleated. But feel free to pleat or seal the momos as you please. Look up online, there are several easy ways to pleat. Hope you enjoy this recipe. If you do, please let me know!!

Happy Momo Making Weekend!

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Steamed Veg Momo Recipe | Vegan Dumplings Recipe

Veg Momos are vegan dumplings stuffed with a stir fried mix of finely chopped carrots and cabbage. The dumpling can either be steamed, deep fried or pan fried. This is the recipe for steamed veg momos. Steamed veg momos are a specialty of North East India and these are now a popular street food all through India.

Recipe Type:  Snacks
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     60 minutes
Cook time:     45 minutes
Total time:     50 minutes
Yield:                Makes 20 momos

Ingredients:

For the Dumpling Wrappers:

1 cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)
0.5 tsp Salt
0.5 cup hot Water

For the Momo filling:

3 cups finely chopped Cabbage
0.5 cup finely chopped Carrot
1 Tbsp finely chopped Garlic
1 Tbsp finely chopped Ginger
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped
2 Tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1. To make the dumpling wrappers, take the flour in a large bowl and add salt to it.
2. Now add water by the spoonfuls and knead until you have a smooth dough. Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes to allow the gluten to develop. You can also use cold water to knead the dough, but hot water yields a softer wrapper.
3. Cover and keep aside for 30 minutes to 1 hours.
4. While the wrapper dough is resting, make the filling for the momo.
5. To make the momo filling, heat oil in a pan and add in the chopped garlic, ginger and green chilli. Saute until fragrant.
6. Now add the chopped carrot and saute for 2-3 minutes on medium heat.
7. Add in the chopped cabbage and salt to taste and continue to saute on low heat until the cabbage is almost cooked.
8. Remove from heat and allow to cool down to room temperature.
9. Divide the wrapper dough into 20 equal portions.
10. Fill in 1-2 spoons of filling.
11. Wet the edge with water.
12. Carefully pleat the edges to seal the momos.
13. Steam the momos for 5-6 minutes.
14. Serve hot with chilli sauce.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Vegan Laksa Soup

Steamed Rice Cups

Steamed Lentil Dumplings

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Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa Recipe | Rava Uttapam Recipe [Video]

Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa is a quick savory South Indian pancake that is made from semolina and topped with finely chopped vegetables. It is popularly served as breakfast along with some fresh coconut chutney.

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I'm a complete breakfast lover! These days breakfast is served with a side of "Man with a Plan" playing on Amazon Prime. The show on the side changes, but the love for breakfast never does.

Right from childhood, I've always woken up hungry. It doesn't matter what time I wake up, it could even be a short afternoon nap, but I am hungry for the first 10 minutes after I wake up. It seems like I spend a lot of energy in sleeping and dreaming. But this also gives me the opportunity to actually enjoy my breakfast. I've heard of people forgetting to eat their breakfast (Gee!) and people not being hungry even an hour after waking up (Raj!), but not me, I was born to enjoy the first meal of the day.

Since this has always been my favorite meal, I keep searching for recipes and ideas to keep it interesting. And for me breakfast has to be instant, else it has to be made the previous night. I cannot wait for hours to prepare something. So instant recipes are always a hit with me, like this Instant Mix Veg Uttappa.

To tell you the truth, Uttappa is my favorite way to eat a dosa, even over a Masala Dosa. It's something about those charred onions on top that just makes me want it more than the others. I just went a little ahead with this Instant Uttappa, I topped it not just with onions but with a mixture of vegetables. You can keep it traditional and just use onions, or just use tomato. I love Tomato Uttappa too, with a little bit of spicy chutney pudi sprinkled on top of it.

This Instant Mix Veg Uttappa requires just a few ingredients. Rava or Semolina or Sooji forms the base along with some sour plain curd (yogurt). A pinch of baking soda or cooking soda is added to give it that slight fluffiness. You can also use fruit salt like Eno, but add just a pinch. These ingredients along with salt and water just form the dosa, the actual base of the Uttappa. As I mentioned earlier, you can now top this with vegetables of your choice - traditional choices are onions or tomatoes, I used a variety - onions, tomatoes, cabbage, capsicum and carrot along with some green chillies, curry leaves and coriander. 

Instant Mix Veg Uttappa can be served for breakfast or as an early evening snack. You can also serve it for dinner (I'm a big "breakfast-for-dinner" person). 

Serve the Uttappa with a fresh coconut chutney.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are upto.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+ or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa Recipe

Instant Mix Vegetable Uttappa is a quick savory South Indian pancake that is made from semolina and topped with finely chopped vegetables. It is popularly served as breakfast along with some fresh coconut chutney.

Recipe Type:  Snacks, Breakfast
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     20 minutes
Cook time:     15 minutes
Total time:     35 minutes
Yield:                5 to 6

Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina (Rava)
0.75 cup Yogurt (Curd)
1 cup Water
0.25 tsp Baking Soda
1 Onion, finely chopped
0.5 Tomato, finely chopped
0.5 cup Cabbage, finely chopped
0.5 Carrot, grated
2 Tbsp Capsicum, finely chopped
1 Green Chilli, finely chopped
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Oil to make the dosa
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Mix together semolina, yogurt, 0.5 tsp salt and 0.25 cups of water until well combined and keep aside for 20 minutes.
2. After 20 minutes, add in the baking soda and mix.
3. Add a little water and mix until there are no lumps. Add more water as required, the batter has to be of the same consistency of a dosa or pancake batter.
4. If the batter is too thin, you can add in a little rice flour.
5. Mix together the onions, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, capsicum, curry leaves, green chilli and coriander leaves in a separate bowl.
6. Add a little salt and mix well.
7. Grease a dosa tava or a flat frying pan.
8. Once the tava is hot, pour one spoonful of batter onto it.
9. Top it with the mix vegetables. Pour a teaspoon of oil on the top.
10. Allow the uttappa to cook for 1-2 minutes on one side or until slightly browned. Cook on low to medium heat.
11. Flip the uttappa and allow it to cook completely, approximately 2-3 minutes.
12. Remove from tava and serve hot along with some fresh coconut chutney.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Instant Ragi Dosa

Instant Wheat Dosa

Rava Dosa

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Tawa Pulao | How to make Tava Pulao Recipe with Step by Step Instructions

Street food ROCKS!!!

Don't you just agree to that? Many markets across the world are centered around the street food. Streets of Bangkok... Streets of Mexico City... Streets of Mumbai...

I think the true essence of a city lies in its Street Food. You get local food, fusion food and some even carry international favorites. But one thing is a constant in every food street, there is so much variety. After all, variety is the spice of life, isn't it?
I've found these are one of the busiest places in a city, especially after sundown. We have our own little food street in Bangalore which is packed even on weeknights.

Every city has its favorite, and so does Mumbai.

Mumbai is famous for its Vada Pav and its Pav Bhaji. Lurking in their shadows is the Tawa Pulao. Tawa Pulao literally is rice and vegetables cooked on a flat griddle along with some spices and oodles of butter.

Everything tastes better with BUTTER!!! Spoon in as much butter as you desire, it only improves the taste.

Tawa Pulao can be easily made VEGAN by skipping on the butter, or adding some yummy Almond Butter.

Tawa Pulao has now started to become a popular dish outside of Mumbai too. I've eaten it in so many places in Bangalore. It seems to be entering restaurants too. But the street version beats the restaurant version any day. On my list of favorite street food, Tawa Pulao ranks 3rd, right behind the Pani Puri and the Pav Bhaji.

I must credit this recipe to my friend at work. She got this for lunch one day and I simply had to have the recipe. I was pleasantly surprised when she told me the recipe. I couldn't believe it was so easy to make. My friend makes it with only green peas and she adds a chilli paste as well. I add any vegetables I find in my fridge. In the past I've added babycorn, sweet corn, zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli etc. I guess you get the picture.

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1) If using uncooked rice, wash the rice and cook it in 2 cups of water until it is done but not mushy. Allow the rice to cool and then gently fork it.
2) Dice the vegetables and keep aside. 
3) Puree the tomato in a blender.

4) Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.
5) Once they brown, add the onions and cabbage and fry until the onions are translucent.
6) Add all the remaining vegetables and 1/2 tsp of salt and cook until the vegetables are done but still have a bite to them. You can cover the pan to quicken the cooking.

7) Remove the vegetables into a bowl, and place the pan back on heat. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the tomato puree and cook on low heat for 5-7 mins until the water from the puree evaporates and you get a thick tomato masala.
8) Add the pav bhaji masala and salt and mix well.

9) Add the fried vegetables and mix well.
10) Add the butter and mix well.
11) Add the rice and mix well.
12) Garnish with finely chopped coriander and serve.

Tawa Pulao | How to make Tava Pulao Recipe

Tawa Pulao is rice cooked with tomatoes, vegetables and Pav bhaji masala. 

Recipe Type:  Main
Cuisine:          Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:              Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked Rice or 5 cups of cooked Rice
1 cup Tomato Puree or 2 Juicy Tomatoes
1.5 cups of assorted Vegetables (like Cabbage, Cauliflower, Carrots, Green Peas, Green Beans, Capsicum) (Optional)
1 Onion
1 Tbsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
2 Tbsp Pav Bhaji Masala (If you don't have this available, use Garam masala - 1/4 tsp, Coriander powder - 1 tsp, Amchur/ Dry mango powder - 1/4 tsp, Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp, Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp)
1 Tbsp Butter
2-3 Tbsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin seeds / Jeera
Salt
Water
2 Tbsp chopped Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

If using uncooked rice, wash the rice and cook it in 2 cups of water until it is done but not mushy. Allow the rice to cool and then gently fork it.
Dice the vegetables and keep aside.
Puree the tomato in a blender.
Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds.
Once they brown, add the onions and cabbage and fry until the onions are translucent.
Add all the remaining vegetables and 1/2 tsp of salt and cook until the vegetables are done but still have a bite to them. You can cover the pan to quicken the cooking.
Remove the vegetables into a bowl, and place the pan back on heat. Add the ginger-garlic paste and the tomato puree and cook on low heat for 5-7 mins until the water from the puree evaporates and you get a thick tomato masala.
Add the pav bhaji masala and salt and mix well.
Add the fried vegetables and mix well.
Add the butter and mix well.
Add the rice and mix well.
Garnish with finely chopped coriander and serve.

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