Methi Matar Malai with a Fragrant Saffron Cumin Scented Pilaf

ppears that my last few posts have been about making dishes with my favorite ingredients. Here's a dish featuring another one of my very favorite, fresh Methi or Fenugreek. To give you an idea how much I love it, whenever I am at our local Indian grocery I eagerly scan through each one of those yellow wooden plank boxes sitting randomly on the floor where the nail is still sticking out from where the lid was forcibly pried off, secretly hoping to find one such box with bunches of fresh methi leaves stacked up. When I lay sight on such a box, my pulse does go up a few beats a minute, I kid you not. Hubby is well aware and when he goes grocery shopping by himself and get me a couple of bunches, he sure earns a few points ;) I also grow them in my backyard as well to have a limited yet regular supply. Last but not the least, I always keep a box of Kasoori methi or dried fenugreek leaves in my pantry just in case I run out in my backyard and the stores don't have it either, proof enough? lol.

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Methi-Matar/Fenugreek-Peas Stuffed Paratha with Grape Walnut Raita

tuffed parathas are really popular in India. They can be found on the menus of high-end restaurants as well are made fresh to order in road side dhabas. They come in different types obviously varying by their filling. I have yet to meet a person who does not like them, yes regardless of their filling. There is just something about them.

A stuffed paratha is basically an unleavened and pan fried flat bread stuffed with variety of fillings like spicy potatoes, peas, cauliflower, paneer and even with chicken. You can even find them with sweet fillings too. They are generally served simply with pickle, yogurt or just a little pat of butter... mmmm! It is a staple dish in almost all Indian households with minor variation in the recipe here and there. I remember mom often used to make these for breakfast and also sometimes for dinner with tomato chutney during winter times and it was always soul satisfying.

Hubby loves aloo paratha and my favorite is the one with stuffed peas. In this recipe I added some of the leftover methi leaves to my regular recipe of matar parathas and the result was fabulous. The sweetness of the peas with the flavor of methi and all the spices tucked inside the crispy yet soft bread was a total winner.

I chose to accompany my parathas with some raita. The raita below is one of my mom's famous raita recipe. The sweet tiny mini grapes with the fresh creamy yogurt and nuts is a the perfect side with these or any kind of stuffed parathas.

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Methi Chhole aur Ajwain Puri/Fenugreek chickpeas curry with fried puffed bread

he past week was good fun. My brother was visiting us for the last few days, hubby took a couple of days off work and then of course the festival of Holi. We had a lot of fun with a lot of hanging out, cooking up a storm, riding around town, eating out on occasion when I did not feel like cooking, playing a game of cards or scrabble... you get the idea. All in all, it was great and as I write this on late Sunday evening (which by-the-way is the worst time of the week for me) with mixed emotions I realized I missed out on updates from the blog world for which I believe I owe an apology to all my dear friends.

This is a dish that I made a few days ago, again in my methi cooking frenzy, which like most other methi dishes was a hit with hubby and believe it or not with my little princess too. It is a protein packed dish and is relatively easy to put together too. If you like chhole, you are gonna love this. It goes great with puris and especially a flavored puri like the ajwain puri that I have posted here. The ajwain flavor is simple and nice and the puris can be had as a snack by themselves too.

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Methi Thepla/Fenugreek Flatbread

ubby has officially declared me the "Methi crazy gal". I secretly do a happy dance when I see fresh methi ( fenugreek) bunch in the Indian grocery store, grow them in my backyard when they stop selling them in the stores and with all this always make sure I have the biggest stock of kasoori methi in case I run out of both options... lol :)) Lately I have been getitng lucky with the fresh methi. My local Indian grocery seems to carry it everytime I visit, and everytime I get two big bunches. As you can imagine, I've been cooking and eating a lot of methi based dishes lately.

Last sunday for dinner I was not in the mood to cook something elaborate and thought of making some methi thepla. It is a well known Gujarati bread which is thankfully a full meal in itself :) and of course my family favorite.

Fenugreek/Methi is very common in Indian cooking. The leaves are used as herbs, the fresh leaves are cooked like methi dal and aloo methi curry, parathas are made of these and even ladoos of methi seeds. The dried leaves which are popularly known as Kasoori methi are often used to flavor a lot of dishes, mainly creamy paneer and non-vegetarian gravies. The seeds are used as a spice.

The popularity of the fenugreek is not just for the numerous medicinal properties it has to offer. The seeds and the leaves are subtly bitter but offers a very strong unique and distinctive flavor to any recipe they are added to. 

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Palak Kadhi / Spinach in Yogurt Gravy

There are two reasons for me making this dish, firstly kadhi is all my time favorite comfort food and second I had a big bag of spinach sitting in my fridge that I had to finish :). I am glad I made this because I know this will be a regular in our household now. Two reasons again. My not-so-much-kadhi-loving dear hubby had second serving of it and was raving the whole time how good it tasted and second it is a much healthier option than the regular with pakodas that I often make so no deep frying required and obviously it is full of all the goodness of spinach. We had it with some peas pulao but I bet it will taste awesome with some plain hot steamed rice and spicy crispy potato bhunjiya/fry. Do try it and you definitely will fall in love with this simple, rustic n comforting dish :)
I got the idea while I was chatting with mom on the phone the other day. She casually mentioned eating a version of it at a get together. It hit home with me. So the idea was 'bookmarked' in my head right then and there over the phone :)

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Methi - Paneer Biryani

Apparently fresh green Methi (fenugreek) leaves and I have a special relationship. Whenever I see a good fresh bunch at any grocery store, I always always buy. I buy as much as I can cook over the next several days without any of it going to waste. A couple of days ago I got two big 'ol bunches from our local Indian grocery store and have made a few things with it since. Here's the first and my favorite. 
The Biryani probably needs little introduction. What especially charms me is its versatility in the different variations you can make it in. This version with methi leaves gives the already exotic dish that extra flavor that combined with the slight sweetness of paneer and the texture of each individual grain of rice just gives a burst of flavors in your mouth.

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Methi Mathri/Indian fenugreek crackers

This is a crunchy crispy snack that I always try to keep handy. It is the most common snack that I can have any time and even sometimes as a whole meal with mango pickle :) Mom made it all the time as she knew I totally loved them. Now whenever I visit her in India, among all the goodies she packs for me to bring back, this mathri is definitely included (and a reasonably large pack of it). But again as you probably guessed, I run out rather quickly. Now that I am on my own, I always missed having them around until one day I decided to make some of my own. I now know this is going to be a regular in my snack drawer.
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Corn Fenugreek Pulao

I typically avoid elaborate cooking over weekends and always prefer one pot meals. One pot meals with rice is usually the most convenient. So here is the rice pulao I made this weekend using corn and my all time favorite methi (fenugreek) leaves. It tasted great... simple homey, aromatic and flavorful. The slight bitterness of methi, sweetness from the corn cooked with rice and spices. I know I am going to make it often!

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