Beetroot Chapati

Another way of feeding my 3 year old Veg. He doesn't eat any veg as a side dish. I personally believe there's not much nutrition in a plain chapati. So I cook and puree a vegetable and give him. That way he gets his nutrition and gets to eat chapati. Moreover, he looooooves his "pink" chapati. :).

I keep this chapati very simple. Absolutely no spices are added. I feel the spices do not balance the sweetness of beetroot.That's my personal opinion.

Since there are not particular ingredients, I will explain briefly how I made this.

Take 1 beetroot. Peel and chop and cook. I cook it in the microwave. If cooking in the microwave, its like cooking a potato. Once cooked, drain any water, let cool and grind it to a smooth paste. Do not throw the water. You can use when mixing a dough. You can also freeze it and use it the next time you are making chapati.

Take 2 cups atta, mix the paste and add extra water as needed and knead a dough. Let it rest covered for 30 minutes. Now make your chapatis as usual.

Me and P have it with a curry on the side. But our 3 year old just eats plain "pink" chapati.

Beetroot Curry and my First Food Event

I had another blog that I started more than 3 years back but couldn’t maintain it. When I decided I will maintain my blog, I wanted to start fresh. The other blog had our names in the url – which I decided I didn’t like. I had already submitted this dish for the Event Healing Foods – Beetroot. When I requested Priya to cancel my entry and told her that I will be sending the entry from a different blog, she was fine with it. So her event will be first one I take part on this blog.

I have always liked taking part in food blog events. But I never had the time to be a regular. Now I’ve decided to take part in more events. But that doesn’t mean I will take part in all the events. I will take part in something only if I feel I will genuinely enjoy making a dish for the event.

Healing Foods was started by Siri of Siri's Corner. This month, its hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes, the topic being "Beetroot".

When I was a kid, I never liked the "look" of beets. But once I had Beetroot Pulusu and I was hooked onto it after that. When came to the UK, I couldn't find the beets in the supermarkets. I got the pre-cooked and preserved varieties. But not the raw type.

Some one told us about this new Asian shop. I was so excited when I saw the raw beets there. I had to get them and cook. From then, I kept getting beets every now and then.

Ingredients:
1 Kg beetroot - peeled and cubed into 1/2 inch pieces.
2 big onions - chopped finely
5 tbsp chopped tomato
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
10 to 15 curry leaves
salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pressure cooker. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds.
2. When they pop, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter.
3. Then add the curry leaves and fry for 1 min.
4. Now add the onions and fry till they turn brown.
5. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell disappears
6. Add the chopped tomato and fry till the curry comes together.
7. Now add the raw spices (Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder, Cumin Powder) and salt and mix well.
8. Add the beets and 1/2 cup water. Pressure cook for 3 whistles or till the beetroot is done.
9. If needed, boil uncovered to get the consistency required.