Easycooking: Methi Chapathi & Tomato Bhaji

What do I make for dinner tonight? A thought which haunts me immediately after evening tea.Whenever I ask hubby what to cook,he says-just make anything!!!Hmmm...Chapathis are a big rescue though.But does it help really?No,actually.If its chapathi,what do I make to go with it?There are the usual suspects making their way into the plate along with chapathi-Dalithoy/Dal fry,Sambhar,Chole etc etc.But whats new? I do try to come up with a new dish,even though they look like distant cousins of the usual suspects;-).

Amma also has the same dilemma.For her,its an even more tougher choice since onions and garlic are not used in our home,in Ernakulam.Yeah,you heard me right.Whenever I tell this to someone,they are soooo surprised.I just tell them we were the lucky ones who were not affected when onion prices soared,hehe.Things are different now though.When I started my cooking adventures,onions found a way into my amma's kitchen.Of course I couldn't make Fried rice,Gobi manchurian,Paneer butter masala etc without onions and garlic.More so after our marriage.Hubby,who's a non-veg couldn't have survived in our home if these two(at least) were not included!!

Coming back to today's dish.As usual,I was scratching my head as to what to make along with chapathi."Why don't you make Tomato fry/bhaji?",hubby asked me.Tomato bhaji?,that was new to me.He said he had tasted this long back,in a Punjabi Dhaba."It has onions in it,green chillies,tomatoes,coriander leaves and I think some garam masala too"-hubby's version of the recipe.Tried and made this and he said it tasted great.For the chapathi,was thinking of making some new variety,but whenever I add something in the atta,hubby says I am adulterating the original chapathi.So I tried to make a subtle change in the usual chapathi,and that was adding Kasuri methi to the chapathi dough.It tasted great,without any adulteration!!!

Methi Chapathi

Ingredients

Wheat flour/Atta - 1 cup
Crushed pepper - 1 tsp
Kasuri methi - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Water to knead

Method

Take all the ingredients except water in a pan.
Add water little by little and make a soft dough.
You can add oil too,if required.
Keep aside for 1 hour.
Make chapathis and roast on a hot tawa.

Tomato Fry/Bhaji

Ingredients

Tomatoes - 2 big,diced
Onions - 1 medium,diced
Green chilly - 1,chopped finely
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp(you can add jeera instead of mustard)
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves - 2-3 tbsp,chopped

Make a paste -

Ginger garlic paste- 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Haldi - 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp

Method

In a kadai,add the oil and splutter mustard(or jeera).
Add the curry leaves and green chilly.
Saute for a minute and then add diced onions.
When it becomes slightly pale,add the paste-mix well.
Add the tomatoes,salt to taste and about 1/4 cup water.
Let it boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes.
The bhaji should be semi-solid.
Garnish with coriander leaves.