Courgette Paratha

I have this really weird habit of picking up things that I really don't need while shopping. I know it’s a common complaint many men have against their wives, but I think I do it more often than I realize. Especially when I am doing grocery. I end up buying things and then keep thinking what shall I do with them. That is exactly what happened when I last went to the supermarket. I bought 1 kg of Courgettes (2 packets, around 6 of them). Then I forgot about them. I rediscovered them back in my refrigerator three days after I bought them. They were buried under the tomatoes, the green beans, the mushrooms, the green chillies, the coriander etc. etc. Well, now you know how my veg. basket looks like :)

Anyway, when I rescued the courgettes underneath all these vegs, I started to worry that what do I do with them. These are similar to a veg we get in India called “Lauki” in Hindi and “Lau” in Bengali. The typical dish that we make with these are with prawns called “Lau-Chigri” which we had recently. I looked in the internet and guess what I found a recipe in BBC Good Food called “Indian Bread with courgettes and coriander”!! That was unusual!! I didn’t expect that at all!! So I thought of giving it a try and an hour later, there I was serving courgette paratha for dinner. As usual I didn’t follow the recipe word by word and started adding different things and made my own version of it. I must tell you it’s quite difficult to handle the dough when you are using fresh raw veg as it releases lot of water and  becomes a nightmare to get the right dough consistency but the finished product was good. I loved it. Hope you like it too. 

 

Ingredients:

3 Courgettes / 500gms  (pealed and grated using the coarsest side of the greater)

1 tsp cumin seeds (dry roasted and made into dust)

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

200 gm of plain flour and some extra for rolling the paratha

200 gm of roasted chick peas flour (we call it “Chatu” in Bengali) (you may find this in Indian store or replace with whole meal flour)

3 tbsp rice flour

2 tsp grated root ginger

3 tsp of green chilli paste (optional, I added because I like it)

Oil for frying

 

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl and then add 2/3 tbsp of oil in the flour mix. Give it a good mix then add rest of the wet ingredients in to it and start kneading. You will not need any water to knead as the grated courgette will release a lot of water. I found this step bit difficult as the dough is very sticky at this point. I put few drops of oil in my palms while kneading the dough, which helps to make the dough not sticking to hand. Continue kneading till you have a smooth dough. Make a log out of the dough and cut it into 12-14 equal portions. One by one take each portions and roll the in your palm to make small flat balls. Dip them in dry flour and set them aside. Dust the rolling plane with flour and start rolling each of the balls to thin parathas. Heat a heavy bottom frying pan and place one paratha and cook until you see little brown spot on the side facing down. Turn it over and cook till you see the brown spots again. Pour a teaspoon full of oil on and around the paratha and cook for 1 minute on both sides or until they are fully cooked. Serve them with your choice of veg or meat curry.

I made simple potato with onion, tomato and cumin slowly cooked on low heat. 

SPAIN - VALENCIA - DAY- 3

~The Bull Ring~

This was our last day in Spain so we thought we will take it easy. Just go around the Valencia city and to the beach and relax. It was Monday so our friend had taken the day off for us. We woke up a bit late and then went out to do a tour of the city of Valencia.

~The Train Station - Valencia~

We went to see the famous monuments and places of the city including the old station, the famous bull ring, the post office, the famous square, the cathedral, the remaining two doors of the 12 original doors of the ancient city-wall which were built in the Muslim period.  

~The Cathedral~

It was a very different feeling as I stood at one of the door which is called "the door of the mountains" as most people who walked through this door to the Valencia city in ancient times were from the mountains. 

~The Ancient City Doors ~

Around midday, we reached the city market known for its fresh local produce (not the boring supermarket stuff). That night it was my turn to cook dinner. I had planned the menu the previous night only, so with the list in hand I bought whatever I needed from this market. We also bought lots of chorizos to bring back to the UK.

~The Seal of Valencia - The Post Office~

It was a really huge market with a wide selection of meat, fish and fresh veg. The vendors were very friendly asked a lot questions to our friend which she translated back to us later on. 

~The River Turia (He Represents the river)~

It was already 2 pm by then and we were quite hungry so we took the underground train back home to keep the food stuff. Our friend bought a flower plant from the market and promised us that she will water it regularly. I also have a very poor reputation in this matter. So far whatever plants I have been presented or bought, have all died due to lack of attention. I admit I am not a keen gardener but I was inspired by her and after coming back from Spain the very next weekend I went and bought a plant for my living room. I hope I will be able to keep this one alive. 

~The Cured Meat - Valencia Market~

Anyway, I digress, back to Valencia. We decided to go to the beach and have lunch there. So, around 3 we reached there. The beach is quite close to our friend's apartment, so initially we though of walking there, but it was very hot and we were quite tired and hungry so we drove to the beach. 

~Valencia Beach~

We had Fideuà (Seafood paella). It's made with shellfish and very similar to paella, the main difference is its cooked using Spanish noodles, instead of rice. We also had Ice-cream for dessert (loved it - ideal for hot afternoon). The restaurant was covered in glass from floor to ceiling so we can enjoy our food with the sea in front of us. As soon as the food arrived we dived in straight away and were so busy in eating that we didn't speak for a while. 

~Fideuà~

We had a long walk after the meal (it was very much required!!) along the beach. The sand was quite hot but it wasn't long when sea water kissed our bear feet. We walked quite a bit and then realized we need to go home and start cooking for the night, it was 6 pm already and we still had a one more stop to make (for some coffee really!!) so we came back to our car. 

~Cold Coffee with Crushed Ice~

We went to a cafe called Horchata Daniel which is very famous for a regional drink called "Horchata". It's an ancient drink originated in Valencia at the time of Muslim period, made of tigernuts. The drink was served with crushed ice, a perfect drink one would wish on a warm evening to cool down. Amazing.  

~Horchata - Speciality of Valencia~

We reached  home around 7-7.30 pm, freshen up and went into the kitchen to cook Indian dinner for that night. The menu was Pakoda, Aubergine fry, Fried rice and Chicken Curry. 

~Fried Rice - Dinner~

My friend is very enthusiastic about Indian cooking as I found almost all the spices I needed for my cooking, in her kitchen. She was writing down each and every step as I was cooking. 

~The Dinner~

For that night's dinner our friend's room-mate was also joining and our friend opened a Crianza 2005 which she saved for this dinner specially. For dessert we had those stolen cherries (see my earlier blog entry).

~The Dessert - Cherries~

We were chatting over dinner for quite long time until we realized it was quite late and we had a flight to catch in the morning. So we wrapped up every thing and went to bed. That was the end of day 3 in Spain and our vacation as well. Next morning we left home quite early, reached UK by the afternoon. We had a wonderful trip and we were missing the fun we had in Spain on the way back home. 

~¡Buen viaje!~