Like most mums, my Maa also knew how she could get her two daughters excited about food and make them eat well!
Even on a day when she would make healthy-but-unpopular-with-kids-kinda-veggies like gheeya (bottle gourd) or tauri (sponge gourd), I would happily eat it all for two reasons.
Firstly, she would make even the most boring veggies taste soooo yummmm! Secondly, she would plate them very beautifully with raita (yogurt), salad, and soft rotis (flatbread).
The colours on the plate definitely used to get me excited and as I grew up, I did not just see that plate of colourful food but a plate full of love and hard work!
I’m not sure if she would have related the word ‘fancy’ with veggie baguette boats or sweet potato-fig bruschetta that I make but she definitely would have been very proud and happy to see this thaali.
A well balanced, healthy, nutritious meal made with seasonal winter produce; starting from the top-centre there’s matar pulaao (rice), lehsuni dal fry (yellow lentils), masala gobhi (cauliflower & potatoes), nimbu wala pyaaz, kheera (salad), papad (papadum), gulabi roti (beetroot flatbread), and gajar halwa (carrot dessert).
I shall update the links to the individual recipes as and when I upload them. Let’s begin with the ‘gulabi’ (pink in Hindi) bit of the gulabi ruaabi thaali!
This one’s for you Maa! I love you.
Gulabi Ruaabi Thaali
Enjoy the steps!
Ingredients
- Purée
- 1 medium-sized beetroot, washed, peeled, and quartered
- 1/2 inch ginger, peeled and halved
- Optional: 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
- Some water to blend
- Dough
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or as per taste
- Optional:1 finely chopped green chilli
Directions
- Combine the purée ingredients in a food processor, add some water and blend well to make a fine purée.
- In a big bowl, add the dough ingredients, purée, and knead into a medium soft dough. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
- Make equal-sized balls. Roll out the rotis evenly and cook them on a hot skillet (tawa) until they puff up with light golden spots on both sides. Serve hot!
Tips:
- To relish the rotis the Indian way, smear some ghee (clarified butter) on top and serve with chutney, pickle, white butter, dal, or veggies.
- You can also use gulaabi roti as a base to make wraps, quesadillas, and burritos.
