Receta Recipe & Food Styling | Green Theplas with Rajasthani Aloo Tamatar Subzi – When work completes and compliments your purpose of living..
“This life is yours. Take the power to choose what you want to do and do it well“. Susan Polis
Cooking & clicking food is a hobby that has filled a large part of my life and has kept me busy for a long time, till it became a real-life job.
And now, working around food as a food blogger and a professional food stylist, completes & compliments my purpose of living. Not to forget the enormous personal growth and fulfillment I get from doing the same.
While most of the projects I take are challenging and fun to execute, there are times when I have to work long hours under stressful conditions. That is when a break is needed to clear my mind and rejuvenate before burnout sets in.
Well, I do get lucky at times and get projects where I can do both, relax & rejuvenate while I work.
And this recent shoot for a television commercial at Hyderabad was one such project where I had a wonderful time working and relaxing at the beautiful location in Ramoji film city while working with wonderful teammates who pampered me completely.
I normally avoid outdoor shoots due to hassles of carrying props and other stuffs but this was an exception as it was referred by a good friend who wanted me to be a part of it.
And all I had to do was to board the flight to Hyderabad with just a small bag-pack by my side.
My room with a view in Ramoji film city..
My cab driver was there with a placard of my name. I reached my room, freshened up and went to the set location where shooting was already in full swing.
Food shots are always kept at the last leg of TVC shoots and I had the liberty to come back to my room and plan for the shots at my leisure with a cup of tea and roasted Makhane 🙂
I had no work in morning and all I did was to roam around the beautiful Ramoji city and clicked a few snippets from the tvc shoot with actress Suhasini in picture.
Production department could manage to get a make shift cooking cylinder and a few vessels on the set, just in case I need to cook something for the shots.
The TVC was shot for Sri Lalitha rice, a very popular brand in Andhra.
And here I am documenting a few more still shoots and tvc’s I did in recent time for my reference….
Savera hotel team shot with their staff and photographer Arun Natarajan.
Props arranged for one another still shoot for Cothas Coffee with photographer Vinoth.
Working shot for Cothas coffee, another popular coffee brand from Karnataka.
And we worked together for one more time…video shoot for Hatsun curd with Lata Menon and Rubecon team.
Green Dhebra with Rajasthani Aloo Tamatar Subzi
Cooking scenes at home is simple and easy to make Indian recipes. These easy Indian flat breads with aloo tamatar subzi is my go-to lunch when time is short yet feeding a healthy meal to my family is on my top list.
But then there are many hick-ups..there should be no green leaf peeping out from the theplas in my daughter’s plate and I have to make sure there is no tomato skin floating in the subzi in son’s bowl. Making a puree of greens for theplas and adding tomato puree in subzi is my best bet to avoid any clashes on dinning table.
Ingredients;
(severe 4)
1 cup – Barnyard millet
1/4 cup – Whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup puree of greens
1/2 cup – Curd
1 tbsp – sesame seeds
1/2 tsp. cumin powder
1/2 tsp. red chilly powder
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1/4 tsp. carom seeds
Salt to taste
Oil (optional)
Method; I have used a mix of fenugreek (methi) leaves and fresh radish leaves to make the green puree.
Take a large bowl and add millet flour, wheat flour and rest of the ingredients into it.
Bring all the ingredients together to bind into semi hard dough. You may not require water to knead this dough as curd and the water from greens is good enough to bind it.
Pinch a small ball of dough, dust it with dry wheat flour and roll into a circle.
Heat a tawa and place the Thepla on it, let it cook for a minute and then flip to other side.
Green Thepla is cooked if light brown marks appear on both the sides. Brush the cooked Theplas with ghee if you wish and serve it with the quick Aloo subzi.
Rajasthani Aloo Tamatar Subzi
Ingredients;
(serve 4)
3 boiled potatoes
4 tomatoes
1 onion (optional)
1 green chilly
1 tsp red chilly powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Water as required
Tempering;
1 tsp. ghee
1 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 dry red chilly
Pinch of asafoetida powder
Method; Roughly chop the boiled potatoes into small pieces. Finely chop the onion and tomatoes (I puree the tomatoes and add in the recipe).
Heat oil in a kadai and splutter mustard and cumin seeds in it.
Break the dry red chilly into two and add it in the kadai along with asafetida powder, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin seed powder, chopped green chilly and salt.
Let it cook for 1-2 minutes on medium heat.
Add chopped boiled potatoes, onion and tomatoes and cover the kadai with a lid, cook for 3-4 minutes.
Pour about a glass or more of water in the kadai and let the subzi simmer for 2-3 more minutes.
Garnish it with freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve with any Indian flat bread.
Notes;
You can add any millet (finger millet, pearl millet, kodo millet) to make these theplas.
Onion is not added in making this subzi, but I have added it as I like the taste of it. You can avoid it and the subzi will taste as good.
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