A lot of people I know, have been waiting for this day to come in my life. I have been dreading this day for years. Every one is wondering how I am going to handle this – Yes, my son has started going for full time school! And No, his school is not near by our home. He has to travel in the school bus – at 7 AM. Everyday.

To get my son ready by 7,  we have to get up at least by 6 AM. Gasp! For me 6 AM means midnight. So now you know why there is so much of concern (and jubilation too) by friends and family about this day.

Well, to be honest, I am not worried about my beauty sleep (though I will miss it for sure!). I am more worried for my child who has to travel over an hour to reach his school. More importantly, I am worried about his food intake. Its no fun making him eat break fast at 6:30 AM :-(. This is the first time that he is taking lunch to the school (previous school was half day and he would come home for lunch). Hoping that the lunch box becomes his buddy!

For today, I have packed him some soft paneer filled chapati for lunch. My mom used to make this for dinner at home. I ran the pizza cutter over the chapatis to give 8 small pizza-like triangles, to make it easy for him. He doesn’t like to touch the food with his hands – ‘Hands diiiirty, Mommy’ is what he tells me. He wipes his fingers clean after every single mouthful of food. So keeping the tissue is as important as packing the chapati :)).

Ingredients:

Chapati:

Wheat Flour : 2 cups

Salt : to taste

Oil : 1 tbsp (optional)

Water : to make the dough

Filling:

Paneer /Cottage cheese : 1/2 cup, crumbled

Coriander leaves : 2 big handfuls

Green Chillies : 1 or 2

Cumin/Jeera : 1/2 tsp

Salt : to taste

Method:

1. In a big bowl, add the wheat flour and salt and mix nicely. Add the oil and 1/2 cup water and start making a dough.
2. Keep adding water in 1/4 cupfuls and kneed, till you get a soft, yet firm dough. The dough should be smooth and pliable.
3. Keep it covered for at least half an hour. The more it sits, the softer the chapati will be.
4. For the filling, grind the coriander leaves, chillies, salt and jeera in a mixie/blender for 10 sec. Do not add water and do not grind for a long time – it shouldn’t form a paste, just crushed together.
5. If you are ultra lazy like me, you can add the paneer too to this mix. Else you can crumble it separately and then add the coriander – chilli mix. Mix everything together thoroughly.
6. Roll the chapati into a small circle, of say, the size of your palm. Take a big spoonful of the filling and keep it in the center.
7. Seal and close the edges by bringing them to the center,but over the paneer filling. This forms a ball with the filling in the center.
8. Rest the ball for a minute or two and dust in flour and roll into a big circle. For me, the filling starts coming out if I make it really big, so I just stop with a smaller size before the dough starts tearing.
9. Heat a tawa and when its hot, add half a teaspoonful of ghee or butter. Cook the chapati till light brown spots appear on one side. Turn over and cook the other side.
10. Cook the rest of the chapatis the same way and serve with dal or yogurt.

Simple dal to go with the Roti

Ingredients:

Moong Dal/ Spit green gram : 1/2 cup

Carrot : 1, cut into small cubes

Fresh Green Peas : one handful

Ghee or oil : 1 tsp

Jeera : 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida : a pinch

Red chilli powder : 1/2 tsp

Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp

Salt : to taste

Method:

1. Pressure cook the dal, carrot and peas together for 4-5 whisles.
2. For seasoning, heat a teaspoon of oil or ghee in a kadai. Add 1/2 tsp jeera and a pinch of asafoetida to it.
3. Add the dal to it. Add salt, chilli powder and turmeric powder. Bring it to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes.
4. Serve with rotis.