Minty Cottage Cheese & Spicy Garlic Indian Flat Breads

Time flies when you are enjoying what you are doing and doing what you enjoy the most. And I thoroughly enjoyed my vacation at my native Udaipur. Learned to cook a few authentic recipes from mom, visited all the historical places which were in my wish list for long and most important met many of my schoolmates after almost 30 years!

Mom made these two versions of Stuffed flat breads or Parathas for my travel food. My kids dislike air travel and given a choice would always prefer trains over flights. They love to watch green fields, rivers, animals and villages over the dull and gray clouds so I booked for the flight for one way and came back by train.

These stuffed flat breads were the perfect accompaniment in the journey along with some ready-to-eat food that I packed along. I had them for my , lunch and the dinner as well. The breads are extremely easy to make and are scrumptious to snack upon with a hot cup of tea.

1. Minty Cottage Cheese Flat Bread

Roll the flat bread along with its radius..

Ingredients;

(makes 4)

• 1 cup wholewheat flour
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp of dry mint leaves
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp chilly powder
• 1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder
• Salt as desired
• 1/2 tsp dry mango powder (optional)
• 1/2 cup Water
• vegetable oil

The inside story...

Method; Take a large vessel and add the wholewheat flour, salt and 1 tbsp of oil in it and rub the dry flour with finger. Add water and knead the dough. Quantity of water may vary according to the flour, if the flour is coarse of home ground it will need more water while a fine ground flour will need a little less.

In another bowl and add the fresh cottage cheese, chilly powder, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, salt, crushed dry mint leaves in it. Mix all the spices and the cottage cheese well.

Scrumptious treat!

Take a small ball of dough make a perfect round by rolling it in the palm. Dust it with dry flour and flatten it on a board using a rolling pin into a small circular disc.  Spread a teaspoon of oil over it and add about a tablespoon of the above cottage cheese mix and spread it thoroughly.

Make a cut along the radius of the circle as shown in the picture below and start folding the rolled dough in a circular motion till it makes a single long tubular shape. Flatten the dough as shown in the picture below and roll it again into a large circle using dry flour. Make all the flat breads in the similar manner and keep them aside.

Perfect triangles..

Heat a girdle and put the rolled out flat bread on it. Turn to the other side and add 1/2 tsp. oil to the sides of the flat bread. Fry both the sides for 2 minute and cook till golden spots appear on it.

Serve hot with tomato sauce or any spread of your choice. Pack them in an aluminum foil for a great travel and picnic food.

Spicy Garlic flat Breads

Ingredients;

(makes 4)

• 1 cup wholewheat flour
• 8-10 garlic pearls
• 1 tbsp. dry mint leaves
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp red chilly powder or 2 dry red chillies
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• Vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup water

Method; Take a large vessel and add the wholewheat flour, salt and 1 tbsp of oil in it and rub the dry flour with finger. Add water and knead the dough. Quantity of water may vary according to the flour, if the flour is coarse of home ground it will need more water while a fine ground flour will need a little less.

Garlic chilly paste..

Grind the garlic pearls, salt and the dry red chillies into a coarse paste.

Take a small dough and roll it out into a small circle. Rub a little of the ground garlic and red chilly paste and sprinkle a little turmeric powder, cumin seeds and crushed mint leaves over the rolled circle.

Make a cut along the radius of the circle as shown in the picture above and start folding the rolled dough in a circular motion till it makes a single long tubular shape.

Flatten the rolled out dough..

Flatten the dough as shown in the picture above and roll it again into a large circle using dry flour.

Roll it again..

Make all the flat breads in the similar manner and keep them aside.

Perfect flat bread..

Heat a girdle and put the rolled out flat bread on it. Turn to the other side and add 1/2 tsp. oil to the sides of the flat bread. Fry both the sides for 2 minute and cook till golden spots appear on it. Serve the Stuffed Flat Breads hot with tomato sauce, pickle or any spread of your choice. Pack them in an aluminum foil for a great travel and picnic food. Notes;

1. These stuffed bread are a treats.
2. Makes a perfect travel & picnic food.
3. Pack them for a handy and meal.
4. Dry mint leaves can be replaced with the fresh ones but the moisture content will make the bread stale faster.
5. Avoid garlic if you dislike and make only chilly stuffing for the bread.
6. Roll the flat breads and store in the freezer for many months tightly packed in a zip lock bag. Defrost and cook them with a little oil as and when needed.
7. Mom used the hand ground wholewheat flour aging for making these flat breads, which gives a crunchy feel to the recipe.
8. Use Tofu instead of cottage cheese for much healthier version.
9. To dry the mint leaves, just pluck the fresh leaves without the stalks and spread them over a towel or paper in shade till they are dry. Might take several days for the leaves to get dry fully. Drying the fresh mint in sunlight will make the color of the leaves black and loose the fragrance.

 

You may like these healthy recipe on Lite Bite;

garlic & tomato Foccasia bread

Cottage cheese and soya Kebabs

Pears pie with wholewheat and palm sugar