Stromboli

Stromboli has become one of my go to meals when it comes to entertaining. It is traditionally made with Italian bread dough. However, making it with pizza dough works just fine.Stromboli is stuffed with various meats/cheeses or almost anything else, rolled and baked. Make a big batch of pizza dough and this will become your favorite too.
           I am sharing the recipe for stuffing of Paneer tikka masala. Some of my other favorites for stuffing are tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese or mutter paneer or even pear and blue cheese. Stuff these with whatever you like and you will have a sure hit!

From left to right- Mutter paneer stuffing, baked stromboli ready to serve, tomato basil mozarella stuffed stromboli, paneer tikka masala stuffed stromboli

Ingredients:

Pizza dough (refer here for dough recipe)

For Paneer tikka masala

Paneer 1 cup, cubed
onion 1/3 cup, cubed
green bell pepper 1/3 cup, cubed
chaat masala 2 tea spoon
garam masala 1 tea spoon
kashmiri mirch 2 tea spoon
kasoori methi 1 tea spoon
thick yogurt 1 and 1/2 cups
besan (gram flour) 1/4 cups
ginger garlic paste 2 tea spoon
salt to taste


Method:

Make pizza dough per instructions and keep aside.
    To make paneer tikka masala, start with marinade. To make marinade, mix together yogurt, gram flour,spices, ginger garlic paste and salt. Add cubed paneer , bell pepper and onion and mix well. Set aside for half an hour.Heat oil in a pan. Add marinated paneer mixture along with the marinade and fry for couple minutes on medium heat. Season with salt and keep aside to cool completely.
        To make Stromboli, roll pizza dough 1/4 inch thick. Spread cooled paneer mixture onto the dough and roll the dough tightly to make a log. Make incisions on the log to help the steam escape.Bake in 375 F oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cut and serve warm.
       For this particular Stromboli , serve with mint chutney or tamarind chutney.


 

Pooran poli my way

Pooran poli is a traditional marathi sweet poli or roti made from chana daal stuffing. Making these polis is quite time consuming. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love the hot rotis served with ghee and warm milk. But if you have another way of getting the same taste without all the work, why not do that!

Traditional pooran poli.

         Making a pie out of pooran was an impromptu idea that paid off completely. Cardamom and nutmeg scented pie crust is filled with soft pooran  and topped with ghee just before serving. Serve it warm or cold, both are equally delicious. The best part is pie crust can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you are ready to bake it and/or fill it .
         The ingredients makes 1 8" pie.

Pooran Pie!

For pie crust-
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tb spoon sugar
3/4 tea sp baking powder
1/2 tea sp cardamom powder
1/4 tea sp freshly ground nutmeg
4 tb spoon cold butter, diced into pieces
3-4 tb spoon cold water

For pooran filling-
1 and 1/4 cups chana daal
2 and half cups of water
1 and 1/4 cups grated jaggery
1 tea spoon cardamom powder
1/2 tea spoon freshly ground nutmeg

Recipe-
Start by making the Pooran. Pressure cook chana daal with water until soft (4-5 whistles). Once cooked , remove from pressure cooker and keep aside to cool.Once cooled, transfer cooked daal to food processor and pulse a few times just to make it smoother. Don't puree it, you still want some texture. Transfer the smooth daal into a medium size heavy bottom pan. Add jaggery and cook on medium heat until the jaggery is melted and mixture starts to move with the spoon. Add cardamom and -nutmeg powders and mix well. Set aside to cool. Test the done-ness of the pooran by taking a spoonful of pooran between your palms and roll it to make a soft ball. If it becomes a ball, its done. If too dry or crumbly add couple of tablespoons of milk and mix well.

To make pie crust, mix together whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder,cardamom powder and nutmeg powder. Add diced butter and mix the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers to make crumble like consistency. Add little cold water at a time until you have a dough ball. Transfer the ball into a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

To make the pie, grease the pie plate with butter. Roll the crust about 1/2 inch thick to a circle little larger than the pie plate.Transfer carefully onto the pie plate and gently press into the form on the pan. Trim excess dough with knife . Poke holes at the bottom of the pie (this ensures that pie crust does not rise) and bake in 350 F oven for 25-30 minutes, until the pie crust is golden brown.Cool the crust completely and fill with pooran and refrigerate for up to 4 hours. Cut into pieces and serve.

PS- Ignore the flowers on top of the pie. They are made out of the excess pie crust dough.