Dalia (broken grains) Bajare (millet) ka - Millet Porridge/Cereal

   


Bajra dalia is a very healthy breakfast for many reasons. It's high in fiber and vitamins and minerals. You can read it's many nutritional benefits here:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=53

Bajra dalia tastes plain yet very flavorful, ideal for a morning stomach.  As it is easy to digest it is usually recommended as a part of your diet during sickness.  Dalia can be eaten either with milk, yogurt or butter (or ghee). It tastes good with any leafy vegetable of one's choice (this may seem odd at first, but it's a very yummy combination, one that's commonly served in Rajasthan).  Let us make bajara dalia which is easy to grind and cook and is eaten during winter.

Dalia and whole Bajara 
ज्योंरी खावों बाजारी वोंरी बजाओं हाजरी

Ingedients
1 cup bajara or dalia

Ghee 2 table spoon

Salt 1tea spoon

One can buy Bajri/Bajra dalia in any grocery shop in Marwar. But if you live outside of Marwar then try to get whole Bajra from a grocery store.  In the U.S. you can buy the whole grains from a health food store like Whole Foods or even on Amazon.com!  

Clean it well and then grind it for 2 minutes in a standard grinder until you get the broken bajara grains.
In a pressure cooker put 1 table spoon ghee and add dalia and start roasting it. Within 3 or 4 minutes a good buttery, roasted aroma will announce that roasting is complete and the color will also change to a distinct golden brown.  At this point, add 5 cups of water and stir it. Intermittent stirring prevents any lump formation. When Dalia starts boiling and becomes a homogeneous mixture, cover it. Let it pressure cook for 5 minutes or say 5 or six whistles of the cooker. Switch off the flame and allow it to cook by the steam inside. Open the cooker after 5 minutes.  Dalia should be served hot with milk, fresh yogurt, butter/ghee or sabzi.



                                         Dalia Ready to serve
Tips:

Bajara dalia or flour tastes best when it is freshly ground.  It oxidizes rapidly losing flavor and "turning" bitter after about 10 days from grinding.  For this reason, it is better to grind bajra at home instead of buying ground bajra.

Methi Parathe(stuffed)

Methi Paratha with Dahi and Ketchup

Methi or Fenugreek is a magical seed. It is rich in iron and is good for people with type II diabetes. The seeds are believed to be good for nursing women and traditional Indian medicine prescribes it as a regular component for a nursing mother's diet.  When grown, the seeds become a common winter green that's surpassed in flavour only by perhaps Sarson(mustard greens).  Starting November all vegetable thelas carry little bundles of green methi. Methi is a very versatile (also see oondhiyun) type of green with a characteristic bitter-sweet flavour.  There's a lot of good recipes for methi that I will write about later but for now let me share parathas using methi leaves.

                                             ingredints

Ingredients
Wheat flour  1cup
Besan (Chickpea flour)   2 table spoon
Methi leaves finely chopped   1/4 cup
Oil   1/4 cup
Red chilli powder  1/2 teaspoon
Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon
Saunf or Fennel seeds 1 teaspoon
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste
STUFFING FOR PARATHAS:
In a pan, on a medium heat flame, pour a tablespoon of oil and add hing, jeera and saunf when the oil is hot.   Immediately add besan and stir Besan until it becomes golden brown. Add chilli powder and salt and methi leaves. Stir and switch off the flame.The moisture from the methi leaves will be absorbed by the besan and it will turn into a mass which can be stuffed inside the parathas. Divide this mass into six balls .

Ready to start rolling parthas

stuffing should be placed after rolling the dough a bit

Knead the flour.  Make ball of dough and roll until it is of 3"  diameter and place the stuffing on the center.Now close it to cover the stuffing with dough to make a ball.
     

                                         ball ready to roll


 Roll again till it is of 7" diameter.
Shallow fry it on a tawa and serve hot with tomato sauce or dhania chutney and yogurt. 

   
                                          shallow frying
The aroma of this dish is so strong that you are bound to have uninvited guests - most likely your neighbours!
Tips :-  
Wash methi leaves thoroughly in advance and drain before chopping  to avoid the stuffing from becoming too soggy.  Try to buy methi with small leaves as these are more aromatic than the larger leaves.

Sonth aur Gond ke laddu (ginger & gum)(postnatal dish)

Winters in marwar are very mild.Still people keep complaining about it and drags out the quilts and blankets by the end of diwali..Menu for lunch and dinner also changes and so the sweets and snacks.Ginger which is considered as very usefull either  fresh or dried is used in making laddus.These laddus are made for nursing mother as it is a part of  postnatal diet programm.

Let us make these laddus.

              

   Ingredients required                                                                                                                

Ginger powder     1 cup                                                                                                                 

Sugar powder        2 cup                                                                                                                        

Ghee or clarified butter          2 cup                                                                                                                 

Gond powder      1/2 cup                                                                                                                                       

Almonds powder   1/2                                                                                                                                      

Dried coconut powder      1/2 cup                                                                                                                              

Whole wheat flour      1 cup                                                                                                                              

                                    Ingredients 

Keep a thick bottomed pan   on flame and add ghee.Now add wheat flour and stir till it roasted and gives an aeroma.Switch off the flame and add gond powder .It will start popping up.                                                  

                         

Gond getting popped up

                      Now add almond and coconut powder.Stir well .Now add sugar powder and ginger powder and mix the mixture well.Now make laddus out of this mixture by pressing it in between palm.

Tips:                                                                                                                                                            

Do not make fine powder of Gond ,almonds and coconut .Let there be some what granules to get a nutty taste                                                                                                                                   

These laddus have a long shelf life as there is no moisture in it.