Aloo Parathas - For the first time

I have been cooking for almost 14 years now. Yes I started young in the kitchen because I was curious :). However, there are few dishes that probably are considered common knowledge for any Indian woman to know that I haven't made. For example, upma. Yes I am a south Indian but I made upma for the first time only 3 years ago. And now it's aloo parathas. I never made anything in the roti/chapathi/poori/paratha category from scratch.

After debating for the last 2 months about a menu for valentines day, I stumbled upon Vegan Yum Yum's amazing pictures and recipe instructions to make Aloo Parathas. Here is her version. Something about her pictures made me go, "hmmm let me try this" and I am glad I did. They were very easy to make and I think i will start doing them more often. I also made her plain parathas for dad because he is diabetic and cannot have potatoes.

Here is a picture of my parathas. I did not change anything from her recipe.

Prabu's Bread Upma

Oh yes he did. He cooked after what it seemed like an eternity. We had to finish all the produce and bread we got before we leave for our 5 week trip this Saturday. So he took over bread upma. I did not give him any suggestions or tips. He did everything on his own ;). It was good.




Ingredients:

Whole grain bread - 10 - 12 slices cut into cubes
Red Onion - 1 large thinly sliced length wise
Yellow pepper - 1 julienned
Green Chillies - 4 sliced length wise (take the seeds out if you want it to be less spicy)
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp.
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp.
Salt - to taste
Oil - as needed

Procedure:

- Heat oil in a wok. Add mustard and cumin seeds.
- Once they start to sputter, add green chillies, onions and pepper and saute till soft.
- Season with salt and add cut bread pieces to this mixture.
- Turn the flame to medium-low to low and cook the bread to make sure it forms a crust all around with the help of the heat from the wok.
- Prabu says the key is to stir in between making sure it gets an even crust.

Fried Egg Sandwich

The quantity for ingredients below makes 4 sandwiches. Me and my familia are not a big fan of runny eggs. So the nicely cooked eggs and the sandwich. We had it with macaroni salad and pickle on the side.



Ingredients:

Whole grain bread - 8 slices
Eggs - 4 large + 2 egg whites
Onions - 1 small cut into circles
Tomato - 1 small cut into circles
Romaine Lettuce - few leaves
Mayonnaise - 1 Tbsp.
Spicy Mustard - 1 Tbsp.
Chilli Oil - dash ( optional)
Salt and pepper - per taste
Oil - as needed.



Procedure:

- In a bowl, whisk 4 eggs and the 2 egg whites with slat and pepper.
- Make an omelette with the eggs in a wide skillet. You can do individual small ones. I made one big one and cut it into 4 parts.
- Mix mayo, mustard and chilli oil.
- Toast bread and spread the mayo mixture on one or both sides as you need.
- Arrange omelette on one side and lettuce, tomatoes and onions on the other.
- cut in triangles and serve.