Need ideas for quick recipes and for stuffed parathas.

sneha1985 · Nov 3, 2015

I work full time and study during evenings. I get 3 hours to study in evenings and have noticed I spend most of my time cooking/cleaning in evenings too after which I am just left with an hour to study.

I like parathas and they are filling for me. I was thinking to make parathas for a couple of days together for dinner and have it with tea. Here are the parathas I usually make: radish, onion, paneer, aloo and gobi. Any other stuffings you guys use for parathas? I am just bored of repeating same stuffing everytime.

I am vegetarian and don't eat eggs. Any other quick recipe ideas? I sometimes make pasta in microwave or a quick khicdi/biryani in cooker. No maggi.

I was also thinking to buy some frozen Indian food (from Indian stores here in US) so I can save some time for studying. But if I can make something quick at home, I can maybe save little money too.

radv · Nov 3, 2015

I keep onion gravy handy in fridge. Then to make quick sabzi I add boiled/steamed vegetables, or paneer or mushroom or tinned channa to it. This can be had with rice or roti.

to make gravy - say take 4 medium onion, peeled and chopped + some ginger+garlic and green chilli - purée all in a small grinder. Heat 2-3 tbl spoon oil in a pot, add this purée to it and sauté till it turn light brown in colour. Now add coriander powder, haldi powder, garam masala and salt, mix and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add puréed tomato to it and cook till oil separates. Gravy is ready. It can be stored for a week.

you did say u like stuffed paratha, but u can try this. Hope u wl like it.

or baked vegetables with a dip of hummus is very filling.

imhappy · Nov 3, 2015

u can use pumpkin and pumpkin spice for stuffing, make crispy roasted plain or jeera paratha and have it with tomato or potato or sweet corn soups.
try matar paratha, dal paratha, koki(sindhi paratha with onions in dough), cheese paratha,thalipeeth(marathi multi grain paratha), lauki paratha, dates and nuts paratha, puranpoli(sweetened dal stuffing), dried figs paratha, green onion paratha, methi paratha, raw mango paratha, etc etc etc.

If you want all recipes tell me, I will give you.

butterflyice · Nov 4, 2015

Rice and sambhar cooked from scratch will probably take 15 to 20 minutes max. Throw rice and water in rice cooker, dal, veggies, tamarind paste and water in pressure cooker - you are good to go.

Upma with veggies, pasta with veggies can come together in about 15 minutes. You could replace rice/wheat with quinoa/ barley/millet. Different taste and better nutrition.

Similarly pre-soaked beans like rajma, black urad dal and cooked with tomatoes/onions makes for a filling meal along with rice/rotis.

If you can spare about 10 to 15 minutes during the weekend/any other day when you are free, you can make idli batter and keep in fridge. Hot steaming idlis with sambar/chutney ready. For an easy chutney, grind peanuts, tomatoes, green chillies together and add tadka.

Also keeping a bowl of tadka is pretty handy to season various dals, sambhars as well as to make salads.

sneha1985 · Nov 4, 2015

radv said: ↑

I keep onion gravy handy in fridge. Then to make quick sabzi I add boiled/steamed vegetables, or paneer or mushroom or tinned channa to it. This can be had with rice or roti.

to make gravy - say take 4 medium onion, peeled and chopped + some ginger+garlic and green chilli - purée all in a small grinder. Heat 2-3 tbl spoon oil in a pot, add this purée to it and sauté till it turn light brown in colour. Now add coriander powder, haldi powder, garam masala and salt, mix and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add puréed tomato to it and cook till oil separates. Gravy is ready. It can be stored for a week.

you did say u like stuffed paratha, but u can try this. Hope u wl like it.

or baked vegetables with a dip of hummus is very filling.
Click to expand...

Onion gravy sounds like a great idea. I was thinking of having something light for dinner so I can concentrate on studies for couple of hours (I feel sleepy after eating curry and chapati ). However since I have 2 days of weekend, I can have heavy homemade lunch and use this recipe there.

sneha1985 · Nov 4, 2015

imhappy said: ↑

u can use pumpkin and pumpkin spice for stuffing, make crispy roasted plain or jeera paratha and have it with tomato or potato or sweet corn soups.
try matar paratha, dal paratha, koki(sindhi paratha with onions in dough), cheese paratha,thalipeeth(marathi multi grain paratha), lauki paratha, dates and nuts paratha, puranpoli(sweetened dal stuffing), dried figs paratha, green onion paratha, methi paratha, raw mango paratha, etc etc etc.

If you want all recipes tell me, I will give you.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing so many paratha stuffing ideas. I put onion in almost all of my paratha's so I do get a taste of koki in all the paratha's
Methi paratha would be good for winter (since it snows here a lot). I should make it more often. I have never heard about dates/nuts/dried fig paratha's. Are they sweet and do you make it the same as other parathas?

sneha1985 · Nov 4, 2015

butterflyice said: ↑

Rice and sambhar cooked from scratch will probably take 15 to 20 minutes max. Throw rice and water in rice cooker, dal, veggies, tamarind paste and water in pressure cooker - you are good to go.

Upma with veggies, pasta with veggies can come together in about 15 minutes. You could replace rice/wheat with quinoa/ barley/millet. Different taste and better nutrition.

Similarly pre-soaked beans like rajma, black urad dal and cooked with tomatoes/onions makes for a filling meal along with rice/rotis.

If you can spare about 10 to 15 minutes during the weekend/any other day when you are free, you can make idli batter and keep in fridge. Hot steaming idlis with sambar/chutney ready. For an easy chutney, grind peanuts, tomatoes, green chillies together and add tadka.

Also keeping a bowl of tadka is pretty handy to season various dals, sambhars as well as to make salads.
Click to expand...

Making idli batter in advance sounds great. I can do that and I don't need sambhar with idli so am good to go with idli and chatni. I sometimes make dhokla that way. I daily have rice and sabzi for lunch and roti's for breakfast so was trying to have something light for dinner and especially since I will not be moving much after dinner. My stomach finds rice heavier to digest. Idli is light I guess. But still dal rice is a great option in this chilly winter season.

I would like to give microwave upma a try soon. That way I just have to put everything in a microwave container and put it in for few mins... my dinner is ready. Maybe not super healthy way to do it, but will have to make some adjustments for next few months.

Gauri03 · Nov 4, 2015

Cheese paratha: Grate some Amul cheese or buy a pre-shredded cheddar or jack cheese blend. Grate one boiled potato into the cheese, and add finely chopped onions, pepper and salt. Mix and stuff in a paratha. Very quick and very tasty. My kids live off these.

soulful · Nov 4, 2015

i made one kind of paratha today.

Grate carrot on the finer side of the grater. in very little oil, add onion, green chillies, grated ginger and the carrot. Add asafoetida, chilly powder coriander power, jeera powder and garam masala. and saute it for a minute. You do not need to cook it a whole lot.

The whole process - from grating to making 5 parathas took me 20-25 minutes

you can also add peas in the stuffing above or make only peas stuffing

sravanitenali · Nov 4, 2015

capsicum cheese paratha
Rajma paratha with left over rajma curry
carrot parathas

you can also give a try making theplas like Kale Thepla, Methi Thepla, Tofu thepla

Hope these helps