Onion Spinach Roti ~ Indian Wheat Flat bread ~ Pyaaz Palak Roti

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One of my favorite food combinations is roti or phulka with some kind of curry and/or dhal. This simple,  humble combination never fails to satisfy.  Since I like a little variety in rotis though, sometimes I add some vegetables or spices or both for additional flavor and nutrition.  Recently I tried a version with onions and spinach that we really liked a lot.

I've already made this a few more times after the first time and it's pretty versatile, it works well with any curry, dhal or even just plain raita.  If you are looking for some variety in your rotis too, give this easy nutritious roti a try, and as always would love to know what you think of it :) And just in case you are wondering, this packs really well in the lunchbox too :)

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Ingredients and method to make onion spinach roti

1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour ( atta/ godumai maavu)

1 cup chopped spinach leaves ( palak/ Keerai)

1/2 red onion grated (pyaaz/vengayam)

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds ( jeera)

1 tsp ginger garlic paste (adrak/lehsun)

Salt to taste (namak/ uppu)

1/2 tsp chili powder ( or to taste) (lal mirch)

1/4 tsp cumin powder (jeera powder)

1/4 tsp coriander powder ( dhania powder)

A little extra oil/ clarified butter(ghee/nei) to smear on the rotis ( use oil for a vegan version) (optional, see notes)

Grate the onion and cut the spinach and keep aside. 

Heat oil in a medium small/ medium heavy bottomed pan. Add cumin seeds, when the seeds sizzle add ginger garlic paste and stir a few times.

Then add grated onion and stir until the onion is cooked. Add cut spinach and all the spices and stir until spinach is wilted, takes very little time about a minute or so.

Remove and place this mixture in a large bowl. Allow it to cool until touchable or to room temperature. 

Add whole wheat flour to the bowl and mix with your finger tips until it mixes with the onion spinach mixture. Add a little water at a time and knead until it forms a soft, non sticky dough. Cover and allow the dough to rest for about 30 mins.

Divide the dough into equal sized balls.  With the help of a little flour roll out into a circle of desired thickness. Heat a flat pan/ griddle/ tawa. Place rolled out dough on it and cook until the lower side has brownish spots on it, flip over and cook the other side until it has brown spots on it. If you wish you can apply a few drops of oil or ghee to the side facing upwards. Flip over for a few seconds and remove from heat.

Serve hot with dhal of choice, curry of choice or some raita.

Notes:
The oil/ ghee to be applied on the rotis is optional. When I plan to serve it immediately, I skip this sometimes and it tastes just as good. I do apply a little oil/ ghee when I plan to make this for the lunchbox or if I plan to serve it a little later.

If you are looking for roti varieties, here are a few more

Spring onion/ Hare Pyaaz Roti

Carrot Roti ~ Gajar Roti

Avocado Roti

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Low Fat Vegan Tomato Pasta Sauce ~ With Stepwise Pictures

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On the days that I have pasta on the menu, if I happen to be short on time,  I don't mind using store bought pasta sauces. But store bought pasta sauces are not my first preference. Firstly the taste and freshness of the homemade version easily surpasses the store bought version. Additionally if I happen to have a large jar, I have to worry about storing the balance of the sauce and using it up fairly soon so that it does not spoil.

Increasingly I find myself turning to quick and easy pasta sauces that do not take too much time and effort, yet have the fresh homemade taste. The additional benefit, as with any homemade food, is that I get to see exactly what goes in and enjoy the food without any guilt. This low fat pasta sauce is one of the pasta sauces I make often these days. The first time I made it I was amazed at how quick and tasty it turned out, since then I have made it quite a few times and it always turns out consistently good.

Looking for pasta recipes ? Here are a few other pasta recipes in this space
Pasta with roasted Red bell pepper sauce
Thai Inspired Pasta
Southwestern pasta salad

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Ingredients and Method to make Tomato pasta Sauce (adapted from this recipe)
1 red onion cut fine (pyaaz/ vengayam)
1 green bell pepper/ capsicum deseeded and cut into 1/4 inch pieces (simla mirch/ koda molagai)
2 cups diced tomatoes (I needed 3 med large tomatoes for this ) (tamatar/ thakkali)
1 Tbsp oil
2 cloves garlic peeled and cut fine. (lehsun/ poondu)
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper ( or 1/2 tsp black pepper powder)
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

Prep all the vegetables. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add onion  and garlic and saute until onions are translucent.

Add tomatoes and green bell pepper. Add salt, dried basil, dried oregano and crushed red pepper and stir until the tomatoes and bell pepper is cooked and soft.

Remove from heat, allow to cool and puree until smooth. Place back in pan, heat and serve over cooked pasta of choice. Store leftover sauce after it cools thoroughly in a glass bottle or air tight container in the refrigerator and use within a couple of days for freshest taste.

I served it over multigrain elbow pasta and this quantity of sauce is enough for about 2 and 1/2 cups of dried pasta cooked as per manufacturers directions.

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Onion Tomato Chutney version 2

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While browsing the internet an article titled, "The most unhealthy veggie sandwich" caught my eye.Curious to find out which sandwich got this title and also apprehensive that it may be one of those veggie sandwiches that I occasionally have when eating out, I warily clicked on the article. I was relieved to find that the sandwich mentioned in the article is something I have never had, yet the information was quite shocking and I immediately thought this was something I wanted to share with my readers. 

The article  says that Blimpie's Veggie Supreme sandwich (12") contains 1106 calories. Imagine that, a veggie sandwich that contains 1106 calories, seems totally insane. In addition it contains 56 g of fat seemingly because this sandwich uses three types of cheese and a lot of oil too. This sandwich was not the only shocker, the article then went on to list a whole list of extremely high calorie foods available at restaurants including a Dessert Ravioli at Romano's Macaroni Grill that contains a whopping 1630 calories and 74 g of fat. Amazing isn't it, I am so glad that neither of these items nor the other items mentioned in the list have been ones I have ever ordered when eating out. 

Having said that I realize that most of the food served at restaurants tend to be much higher in calories than when we make them at home. This is the reason I avoid eating out too much and when I do,I try and make smart choices by sticking with low fat soups or watching the portion sizes and eating smaller portions. On the rare occasion that we order dessert (which is really a rare event) we just share one serving of dessert so that all our efforts in watching our weight and counting calories is not rendered completely ineffective in one fell stroke.This usually works well and is a better alternative than giving up eating out completely.I am sure all of you have your own techniques to avoid weight gain even when eating out, do share them.... I would love to hear these tips.

Moving on to the recipe which is in complete contrast to the discussion above, this chutney is  low fat, wholesome and tasty and I use it to make sandwiches at home and avoid disasters such as Blimpie's veggie sandwich :-) I call this chutney onion tomato chutney version 2, my earlier version of this chutney can be found here. I use this chutney in veggie sandwiches in place of mayo  but this works just as well in accompaniment with any traditional Indian dish such as dosa's, idli's or roti's or as a dip to go with raw veggies :)

Click here for a printable view of this recipe 

Ingredients and Method to make Onion tomato chutney version 2

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fenugreek seed (methi seeds/ mendiyam)

6 curry leaves (optional)

6 whole dry red chillies (or according to taste)

1 large onion cut fine

4 large tomatoes cut fine ( I used roma tomatoes)

salt to taste

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add mustard seeds to it.

When the mustard seeds start spluttering, add fenugreek seeds to it.

When the fenugreek seeds start getting a little browner, add onions and saute until onions are transparent then add tomatoes to it.

Saute the tomatoes until it is soft and mushy. Add whole dry red chilies and curry leaves if using and stir a couple of times. Remove from heat.

Allow to cool completely, then grind this mixture to a smooth paste, add salt to taste and mix well and serve with any dosa, any roti, use in sandwiches  instead of mayo or use as a dip to go with raw veggies.

Refrigerate the balance and use within 2 to 3 days.

This chutney is off to the Chutney/Dip Mania Event being hosted by Ramya

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