Kottu Paratha.. my first try !!

Sometimes, it just beats me, as to why is Indian cooking so time-taking and tedious. Well, no doubt its very very tasty... I'd give my life for it.. but if its a weekday and you are hungry and you have to make something at home because you are too tired to go out.. what would you do?????

What do I do?? I take a hot bath first... and try to think of one pot meals.. :)

The kottu paratha is one of my favorite one-pot meals (meaning where you don't need another side dish). It isn't Odiya...it's a Tamil dish. I have seen many variations in the preparation but when it came to making at home.. I had no idea what to put in it.. so I put whatever I could recollect .. I hope you try it and it comes out all nice for you too...

Ingredients here...

• Frozen Malabar Paratha (diced up real nice) .. I'm not very proud of it, but I can't make malabar paratha at home yet.. come on.. people need time !!

• 1 big juicy tomato chopped fine
• 1 medium onion chopped fine
• 1/2 green pepper chopped fine
• 1/2 red pepper chopped fine
• 1 carrot chopped fine
• 6-7 curry leaves
• 4 slit green chillies
• 2 tea spoons chat masala
• 1 tea spoon garam masala powder
• Crushed Black Pepper
• 2 eggs (skip if you are making veg.)
• Oil and Salt

Process here...

• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan (preferably the ones which have a wider pane).
• When oil's hot, add mustard seeds and let them splutter
• Now add chopped onion, green chillies and curry leaves together
• Fry a bit till onion looses color a little bit. Don't have to make it brown-brown
• Now add tomatoes + little salt and let it cook so it becomes all mushy
• Then add the peppers + carrots and fry them up nice and good.

• Add garam masala powder + chat masala to the mixture.
• Mix well.
• When you think the veggies are almost done (little crunchy is fine), break the eggs on the veggies and scramble. Add salt as needed at this point for veggies and eggs.

• Now add the chopped paratha and fry it all up together.
• Sprinkle a little water using your fingers and cover the stuff up. This will help cook the paratha as well as keep it soft and nice.
• Sprinkle crushed black pepper now.
• When the paratha gets brownish you'd know its all coming together.

• When done, add fresh coriander leaves on top and mix up just once or twice.
• You may add a little bit of lemon juice if you like it tangy..

Once this was done, I was so overwhelmed by the colorful dish that I forgot why I was making faces at Indian cooking. By far.. Indian kitchen and cooking .. both are the best !!

Enjoy !!