Friday, February 25, 2011

phulka

After giving birth to my daughter, and eating ' ma ke haath ka khana' for almost 3 months, I found myself 25 pounds overweight. Doc said ' It will all come off, since you are nursing'. My daughter is almost 7 months old now, and I have lost only 2 pounds:(.
        I decided I need a life style/ diet change.  Maybe my body is not metabolising the food the same way it used to. 10 yrs ago I would eat junk , make a meal out of gobi manchurian and still managed to look good. I knew I needed to make changes that I could continue to upkeep for a long time. I believe in eating a balanced diet. I am certainly not going to deprive myself of one food group completely. I believe by being moderate, I might not have immediate results,but will have longer lasting results .One of the decisions was to make roti/phulka most dinners.
   I have fond memories of my mom making phulkas on the chulha( yes, we had one at home). We used to sit around the chulha and the phulka would go straight from the fire to our plates,with a spoonful of ghee. Hmm...yummy
      But, the problem isthat it has to be eaten hot or it gets dry and tough without ghee, which I am trying to avoid.  In my quest to find the right recipe for soft phulkas even when cold , I finally zeroed in on this recipe . It makes wonderful phulkas every time, even right out of the fridge after 3 days. I usually make a double batch of the dough and store in the fridge for later use.It saves time.

RECIPE
Wheat flour- I usually use sujatha/lakshmi brand - 3cups
soy bean flour- to increase the protein content-1 cup
Salt- acc to taste
Curds- I use lowfat yogurt-1 cup
water

Method:
  Mix together the dry ingredients with salt.
To the curds add some water and whip to smooth consistency.
Add to the flour mixture and slowly start kneading.
Once the curds are added add more water if needed to incorporate all loose flour.
Knead just enough to incorporate all the flour. Do not knead too much.Working the dough too much makes the phulkas tough especially after refrigeration.It is a slightly sticky dough. Once all the flour are together in one mass, transfer the dough to a closed container and let it rest for atleast an hour.
I usually make the dough in the afternoon while my kids are asleep, and use them to make phulkas for dinner.

Making Phulkas:
Take a small amount of the dough, dunk in  dry wheat flour if its too sticky.
Make a ball about 1 inch in diameter. Knead well so that there are no lumps.
With a rolling pin roll it out into a roti about 2 mm in thickness.


Mean while heat the pan. Drop the roti in the hot pan. Turn immediately, you can see that the side we put on the pan has changed its colour to beige. Once turned , wait till you see small bubbles forming. Take the pan away from heat. Turn the flame to high and put the roti direct on flame. It starts to puff up. Put the flame back to low, use tongs to turn the phulka . Keep on high for a couple of seconds, and the phulka is ready to serve or store.




 Phulka Served with Dal makes a wonderful healthy and filling meal. Of course my son gets it with loads of ghee :-) He loves his ' ootti' :-)

















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