Monday, August 11, 2008

Butternut Squash Parathas and the River Love

Happiness during childhood for me is usually associated with certain activities that we loved doing and it is a comforting feeling revisiting them. Rivers are one such special place. Rives have this amazing soothing quality that brings the happiness any time I visit. Swimming, playing, fishing - we did it all of this on our trips to the Cauvery river. Not to say we don't have a river around where we live now. Of course we do, the beautiful Potomac river provides all of them and more. Over the weekend, with the weather beautiful, breezy with absolutely no hint of humidity we had the best few days of the summer and made an impromptu trip to the Potomac river. The kids had fun splashing around, getting wet, throwing stones and having fun. We failed to pack a picnic basket and hence had to leave early, all the splashing and running in the water made everyone hungry.

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I never thought fishing was an interesting activity but also realize most of the folks who fish are sloppy too. They leave their reels,wires,soda cans and candy wrappers lying around :( I bet it is not just the fishing folks that leave stuff behind but the wires are probably most dangerous to the wildlife. We did our small little bit to clean a small area around the place we were visiting.

The postman brought a surprise last week and I was happy to see this lovely package from dear Sandeepa. She knew exactly what would bring smiles of joy. Lovely gifts for both DD and DD2. Notice Little S's artwork?

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As for the recipe, this came about because of my unplanned purchases from the grocery store result, one too many butternut squash sitting in the fridge. Now that mom is in charge of the kitchen, if she is not with me during grocery shopping I guess what we might need. I guessed we might need butternut squash again this week when there was already an acorn squash and butternut squash. To tell you the truth I could not resist the tiny butternut squash I saw instead of the usual giant ones that I find there. I was not looking forward to grating half a squash, decided to steam them instead. Baking or grilling the squash will work great too. Soft and fluffy and absolutely delicious parathas were the end result. The dough was pretty loose and soggy. This would have been an absolutely perfect for a picnic near the river.


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Serves:4 Makes:15 Medium Sized parathas
Ingredients
1. 1/2 of a fairly big Butternut Squash steam cooked
2. 2 1/2 cups Wheat flour
3. 1/2 tbsp of red chili powder (optional)
4. salt to taste

Method
1. Mash the steamed squash (ours was pretty watery, best if this is not very watery)
2. Add the Wheat flour, salt and chili powder and bring together to form a dough.
3. Add a bit more wheat flour if too soggy.
4. Set it aside in the refrigerator for about 2hours or so to harden a bit
5. Roll into lime sized balls, roll, dust generously with dry flour
6. Fry on a tava (girdle) first on one side and then on the other.
7. Baste with some oil on the sides.

Absolutely soft and fluffy parathas ready.

19 comments:

  1. Your mom's visiting, ISG? How wonderful for you all!! Enjoy! :)

    Littering goes on everywhere! There are bins all around but still people don't bother to dispose stuff correctly. It annoys me no end.

    Squash parathas is a nice idea. Gotta try that sometime.

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  2. NICEPOST EVERYTHIN LOOKS GOOD,..:-)

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  3. Ah! I do feel a bit jealous here. The temperature here during the weekend was a harsh 105F and going outside was pretty painful.

    But glad that you all enjoyed the river Potomac. This type of paratha is totally new to me. Loved it!

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  4. Indo, thats a beautiful picture..running waters are always so peaceful...so sweet of sandy and lil s hand works look so cute....

    nice quote you got there...:)..

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  5. Hi Indo,
    I am very happy to see u all after a long break. Your Parathas look so soft and healthy. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

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  6. aah, yes! it was a beautiful wknd indeed :) parathas look good, i make something similar with sweet potato, they turn out so soft!

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  7. Butternut squash parathas look delicious!!! You come up with all sorts of interesting grub, Indo. :)

    I've been in a river just once...and boy! it was pure bliss. You are very lucky to have had access to a rivet then and to have access to a river now!

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  8. enjoy your time with your mom... the parathas look delish! What did you serve it with?

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  9. Great idea to use butternut squash in parathas... I live in the DC suburbs too... and am curious about this picnic location. If it's okay for you can you please send me the details? Thank you!

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  10. Mandira a simple egg curry with some tomatoes and onions.

    Laavanya it is Carderock in MD close to the beltway.

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  11. Wow never tried this parathas. Nice click of photos.

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  12. Have a great visit with your mom!

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  13. Hi this is my first visit to your blog,you have a very nice one with a good variety of recipes.This paratha of yours looks really tasty and wholesome :)

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  14. Soft, sweet and moist, better than polis. Thanks for the idea, ISG.

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  15. Thanks for the nice story and even better recipe - those parathas look delicious!

    Miri

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  16. i have so many crookneck squash, it's driving me nuts. thanks for the brilliant recipe.

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  17. Suganya, that gives me a another idea, use brown sugar in place of chili powder for a sweet treat :)

    Bee exactly thats what drove me try this, the difference is you grew them :) I bought them :(

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  18. We would like to feature this recipe on our blog. Please email sophiekiblogger@gmail.com if interested. Thanks :)

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  19. Thank you for the details on the river... :)

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