Gajar-Methi ki sabzi (Carrot-Fenugreek leaf vegetable)

Gajar - Methi ki sabzi 

Come winters and in Indian subcontinent market is flodded with Red juicy carrots(Gajar) and fresh green methi (fenugreek leafs). In most of the places methi is ssold in bunches, but many places we get pickied leafs of methi by weight. What ever the way we get it, the green and red color of methi and carrot compliment each other exactly in the same way as the sweet taste of carrot and slightly bitterish taste of methi compliment erach other.
Gajar-Methi ki sabzi is an Indian vegetarian savory packed with micronutrients and dietary fibers. It is normally paired with Roti /parantha. I love to have with dal-chawal (boiled rice and pulses).
Diabetic people who cannot consume potatoes, this vegetable preparation is excellent substitute to aloo-Methi.
Preparation Time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serving: 4 large servings

Nutritional Value: (Approx. values) for vegetable made from 200g methi leafs and 100 g carrots.
170 Cal
28g Carbs
10g Protien
15g Dietary Fibers
140mg Sodium
12g Sugars
10g Fats
200mg Calcium+
5mg Iron+
1070mg Potassium+
12066IU Vitamin A+
110mg Vitamin C+

Ingredients Required For making Methi-Gajar Ki Sabzi:

• 200 gm Cleaned Fresh Methi Leafs (Approx. 1 thick bunch)
• 100 gm Carrots (Preferably red carrots not orange one)
• 10 ml. Cooking oil (I use Mustard oil)
• 1 Teaspoon Cumin seeds
• 1 Whole red chili
• 1Pinch Hing(Aesafotida)
• Salt To Taste

Direction For Making Gajar-Methi Ki sabzi:

• Wash the clesaned methi leafs in flowing water. Transfer the washed methi leafs in a sieve and allow all water to strain from it.
• Wash and cut the carrots to small pieces.

Chopped Carrot 

• Chop washed methi leaves finely.

Chopped Methi 

• In a thick bottom wok take oil and heat on high flame (do not heat it to smoking state). To the hot oil 
• Add 
• Cumin seeds
• Red chili
• Hing 
• When thr seeds have spluttered and red chili color changes wonderful oroma of tempering will come. Add carrot and bring hr heat to medium and cook till carrotspieces loose there shape and color changes. (Carrot pieces will shrink.)

Carrots added to the tempered oil 

Carrots cooked

• Add chopped methi leafs. Mix Nicely and cook on high flame for 1 minute.

Methi added to cooked carrots

• Add salt and mix.
• Cover and cook on low heat with intermittent stirring for 3-4 minutes. Methi leafs will wilt and will look a bit more darker. This is the state at which the heat should be switteched off. Cover and allow the vegetable to cook in the steam and residual heat.

After 3minutes of cooking 

• Removed ther cooked vegetable in a bowl and serve hot with Roti/Parantha, or Dal-Chawal.

Gajar-Methi ki sabzi 

Tips:

• Allow all water to drain from washed methi leafs. Else excess water in methi will ask for longer cooking and this changes the color and taste of vegetable which is not desired.
• Cut bcarrot to smaller pieces. Thick pieces of carrot give wrong texture to vegetable.
• Add methi only when gajar is almost done. Because methi i9s cooked for short time to retain its color, texture and taste.
• Overcooking of methi will cchange its atste to unsavory bitterish taste.

Suggested Variations: None.

Methi Parantha/मेथी परांठा (Indian flat bread with Fenugreek leaves)

Methi Parantha 

Methi is leafy vegetable with high nutritional value as well as medicinal value. It has slight bitter taste.High in iron and vitamins. Methi made with potatoes / Paneer / Nutrela is extremely tasty.Methi puri and parantha are easy and quick to make healthy meal. Methi puri and parantha are very good for lunch box of children as they get tasty fulsome meal. For ever hungry growing children keep the dough ready in fridge so that you just have to roll and cook the parantha.

Preparation Time: 15 min.

Cooking Time: 60 min

Servings: 15 Parathas

Ingredients Required for Making Methi Paratha:

• 250 gm. Whole Wheat Flour

Whole wheat flour

• 1 medium size bunch of Methi (Fenugreek leaves)

• 2 Green chilies

• Salt to taste

• Water for making the dough

• 15 ml. Olive oil / Ghee / Any cooking oil

Direction for Making Dough for Methi Paratha:

• Clean Methi of all hard twigs and keep only soft twig and leaves. Discard the hard twigs and yellowed leaves.

Methi leaves with very soft twigs for use in making Methi Parantha

• Wash cleaned methi in running water to remove all dirt and mud from it.

• Drain cleaned and washed methi of water.

• Cut cleaned, washed and drained methi finely.

Finely cut Methi

• Cut green chili finely.

• In a big plate or bowl take

• Wheat flour

• Finely cut methi

• Finely cut green chili

• Salt 

Finely cut Methi, green chili, Whole wheat flour and salt

• Mix then together.

• Add water (approximately 100 ml.) in little amounts and mix and knead till soft dough is formed

• If the dough is hard add some more water and knead it to soft pliable dough.

Dough for Methi Parantha

• Divide the dough to 15 parts.

• Make ball of one part.

• Sprinkle some dry flour on the rolling board and the dough ball.

Dough ball for Methi Parantha

• Roll the methi flour dough ball to a 5-6 cm. diameter flat round.

Rolled dough ball

• Heat a tawa on high flame.

• When the tawa is hot lower the flame and sprinkle 3-4 drops of oil on it.

• Put the rolled paratha on the hot tawa and cook on low flame till it stars getting golden brown dots on it.

Methi Parantha being cooked on hot tawa

• Flip with the help of spatula and cook the other side also till it gets golden brown dots on it.

• Put 1/2tea spoon oil on the paratha and flip it.

• Press with the help of spatula and cook for 30 sec. It will gain beautiful golden brown color along with its original green color.

• Pour 1/2Tea spoon oil on the other side cook by pressing with spatula till its color become golden brown along with its original green color.

• Crisp, hot colorful methi paratha is ready.

Methi Parantha ready to be served

Methi Parantha

• Repeat the same with rest of the flour.

Methi Paranthas

• Serve theses parathas with Curd / raita / pickle / chutney.

Tips:

• Do not make the dough hard because if the dough is hard then the parathas will not be soft and the edges will crack.

• Wash methi nicely because it always has lots of mud attached to it.

• Cut methi as fine as you can. Take non-stick tawa this will reduce the use of oil to half.

Suggested Variations:

• These parathas can be made layered and triangular also, for this:

• Roll the dough ball to 4-5 cm. diameter round.

Dough ball rolled and oil applied to it

•  Apply 3-4 drops oil the rolled round and fold it to a semicircular shape.

Folded to half after applying ghee / oil on the rolled parantha

• Apply oil on the surface of the semicircle of the dough and fold again so that it looks a small triangle.

Folded to semi-circle and ghee / oil applied on the surface

• Sprinkle flour on the dough triangle and roll it to a triangular shape of 2 mm. thickness.

Rolled Triangular Layered Methi Parantha

• Cook on the tawa to golden brown color.

Triangular Layered Methi Paratha being cooked

• Triangular layered methi paratha is ready.

Methi Parantha

• In the absence of fresh methi Dry powdered methi (Kasoori) can be used.

Dal - Methi (Thick soup of Split Pigeon Peas (Tur /Arhar daal) ) with Fresh Fenugreek leafs)

Dal-Methi with Rice and Palak ka kapa (Spinach vegetable)

Dal-Methi (Thick soup of Split Red Gram with Fresh Fenugreek leaves)

In Maharashtra dal-Methi and dal-Palak are very popular preparation of either Tur dal with Methi / Palak. Highly nutritious preparation and makes a complete meal when taken with Chapatti / Bhakri (roti made from Jowar flour) / Rice. I would say that apart from being tasty it gives an ample opportunity for mothers to make the children eat green leafy vegetable without cribbing.

Try this preparation of dal rather than the regular dal and you and your family will love it.

 Preparation Time: 10 min.

Cooking Time: 30 min

Servings:4 Large Servings

Ingredients Required For Making Dal-Methi:

• 100 gm. Tur dal

• 1/2Bunch of (Medium size) Fresh Methi leaves

• 2 Medium size Tomatoes

Tomatoes

• 3-4 Cloves of Garlic

Garlic cloves

• 3cm. Piece of Ginger

Washed and cleaned Ginger

• 2 Green Chilies

Green Chilies

• 1/4Tea spoon Mustard seeds

• 1/2Tea spoon Cumin seeds

• 1/2Tea spoon Turmeric Powder

• 1 Tea spoon Ghee / Oil

• 1/2Tea spoon Red chili Powder

• Salt to taste

• 300 ml. water

Directions For Making Dal-Methi:

• Wash dal nicely till water from washing comes out clean

• In a pressure cooker take

• Washed dal

• Water

• Salt

• Turmeric powder

• Close the lid of the cooker and Keep it on gas on high flame till pressure is built in the pressure cooker.

• Lower the flame and cook the dal for 10 min.

• Switch off the gas and allow the cooker to cool.

 Boiled Tur dal

• While the dal is cooking wash drain and cut the fenugreek sprigs (methi) finely.

Methi leaves cut finely

• Cut / grate the tomato or make the tomatoes to paste in a mixer.

• Peel and cut garlic finely.

• Grate ginger.

• Cut green chilies finely.

Finely cut green chilies

• Take oil in a thick bottom wok and heat on high flame till the oil is smoking hot.

Oil being heated in a wok

• Lower the flame when the oil is smoking hot.

• Put mustard seeds and let them splutter.

• Add

• Cumin seeds

• Finely cut garlic

• Finely cut green chilies

• Grated ginger

Ginger,Garlic,Green chilies added

• Cook for 1 min. so that all spices get cooked in oil on low flame.

• Add finely cut / grated / paste of tomato and cook on low flame till the mixture starts leaving the edges of wok.

Tomato added to rest of the spices

Tomato and spices cooked and ready for Methi to be added

• Add finely cut methi leaves and cook for 2 min.

Methi added to the Tomato and spices mixture

Methi cooked with tomato and spices and dal to be added

• Add red chili powder and mix.

• Add boiled dal and mix nicely.

Dal added to methi,tomato and spices mixture

• Give the mixture a boil and then take out in a serving bowl.

• Dal-methi is ready to be taken with Rice / roti.

Dal - Methi ready to be served

Dal-Methi

Dal-Methi Palak ka Kapa and Rice

Tips:

• Do not cook the spices mixture for a long time after adding Methi, otherwise the color of methi will change and will not look too appealing.

• Dal should be cook very nicely so that the grains of dal are not separately seen in dal - methi.

• Do not boil the dal methi after adding boiled dal to the methi and spices mixture.

Suggested Variations:

• Split red lentil (masoor daal) can be used instead of tur dal. 
• Garlic ginger paste can be taken instead of grated / cut garlic and ginger.

• Whole red chili can be taken instead of green chili.

• After the dal is taken out in the serving bowl seasoning (tadaka) can be done by 

• Heating one tea spoon Oil

• Adding
•  One whole red chili,
• 4-5Kadi patta, and 

Kadi Patta (Curry leaves)

• Mustard seeds,
• Cook it till seeds splutter and red chili become brown.
• Pour this seasoning on the dal-Methi.

Methi Puri(Puffed Fried Bread With Methi)

Methi Puri

Puris with methi not only give them colorful appearance but also make them tasty. These puris can be eaten with vegetables, chole, or simply with curd / pickle as they have the wonderful taste and flavor of methi leaves. I used to find them very easy to make for my children’s lunch box. They did not like to take vegetable daily, so vegetable puri, parathas, used to be the best option to keep them happy. These puris add a color to your laid table in any party.

Preparation Time: 10min.

Cooking Time: 20min.

Servings: 20 - 25 Puri can be made from the ingredients given below.

Ingredients Required To make Methi  Puri:

• 250gm. Whole Wheat Flour.
• 50gm. (one small bunch) Methi leaves.
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt.
• 10-15 ml. cooking oil.
• 100-150ml. Water to make dough.
• 200 ml. Cooking oil for frying.

Directions To Make Dough:

• Clean methi leaves.
• Wash the methi leaves and drain them.
• Cut the methi leaves finely.
• Take wheat flour in a bowl and add 5 ml. of oil and finely cut methi leaves and salt to it.
• Mix with your fingers.
• Add another 10 ml. of oil and mix nicely.
• The flour oil mixture should resemble bread crumbs.
• The requirement of oil changes with the quality of wheat flour.
• So if required then only add rest of the oil.
• Do not add too much oil otherwise the puris will become too oily.
• Add water in little amounts and mix and knead.
• The dough should be soft but firm.

Dough of methi Puri

Directions To Make Puri

• Put 200ml. oil in a wok and keep the wok on gas, with the gas on high flame.
• Make small balls from the dough.

Ball of dough for rolling the puri

• Oil the rolling board and rolling pin with few drops of oil.
• Keep the ball of dough in the center of rolling board and roll it to 8-10 cm. diameter round puri.

Rolled Puri

• When the oil is smoking hot reduce the flame.

Methi Puri being fried on one side

• To the hot oil put the rolled puri from the side of the wok.

• Fry it from both sides to golden color by turning it once or twice.

Methi Puri being fried on the other side

Methi puri is ready to be served.

Methi Puri

Tips:

• Take only leaves of methi.
• Add water in little amounts while making dough as requirement of water changes with different type of wheat flour.
• More you knead the dough softer it will become and puri will come out better.
• If you like you can add 1/2 spoon of red chilly powder to make them spicy.
• Take care while putting rolled puri for frying, it should be put slowly from side otherwise hot oil may spill causing burns.
• For those who are not too adept at rolling, you can roll few puris and keep them separated on an oiled plate and then start frying them one by one.
• The oil should be very hot while frying otherwise puri will not puff.

 Suggested Variations: 

• If fresh Methi is not available Kasoori methi can be taken to make the dough.