As I had mentioned sometime back , I joined We Knead to Bake – a baking group in August. Aparna chooses a bread and posts the recipe every month and all them members bake the bread and post it on 24th of the month. This month Aparna chose this very fragrant bread Sheermal .
Wiki says – Sheermal or Shirmal ( Persian : شیرمال ), is a saffron -flavored traditional flatbread made in Iran , Bangladesh , Pakistan , Lucknow region and Hyderabad, India , probably from Persian influences. It is one of the several rare Lucknow and Hyderabadi delicacies in India. It is also part of the Awadhi cuisine and is enjoyed in Old Bhopal, especially with meat delicacies.
When I saw this recipe in the beginning of the month, I was very intrigued by the beautiful color of the bread from saffron. I could imagine the saffron aroma coming out of the bread. I don’t remember seeing/tasting this bread anywhere before.
From last few months, I wanted to prepare an Indian meal for a good friend who loves Indian meal. He wanted to taste chicken tikka masala . I decided to bake this bread to go along with that. I wasn’t sure how he would like a very fragrant bread with that. I thought if I added rose water (which was there in original recipe), he probably would not like it much. Also, it was crazy cold last few weeks and it was not possible for me to go for shopping to get it. I know rose water or cardamom would have totally changed the aroma of it, I chose not to use them. I will try it again sometime with those two.
V and I really enjoyed this bread a lot. Even my almost 8 month old, loved to pick up and eat pieces of it. It was very fluffy and tasty. Since I wanted more bread, I used 1 and 1/2 tea spn yeast, so I increased the amount of all the ingredients by 1 and 1/2 times (except egg, I just used 1 egg). It still came out really really good. I will be making this bread again soon. I will take this recipe as a base and will substitute all purpose flour with wheat flour, a little by little, to come up with a consistency that we will enjoy.
I am posting the quantities that I followed for future reference. Check Aparna’s post for more details.
Pictorial: Make the dough and roll into circles. Brush the dough with saffron milk. Ready sheermal
Sheermal
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 tea spn 1 packet active dry yeast
- 3 tea spn sugar
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 2 and 1/4 cup + 1 and 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tea spn salt
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup ghee + more ghee for brushing
- 1 cup milk or more, as required for kneading
- 1 tsp kewra water screw pine essence or rose water
- A few strands saffron soaked in 2 tbl spn warm milk
- Butter
Instructions
- In lukewarm water, add yeast and keep it aside till it is active (frothy).
- Add egg and till it is mixed.
- Now add melted ghee a little at a time till it is mixed.
- Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
- Add milk and rose water to the yeast mixture.
- Now slowly add flour a little at a time, mixing till it forms a soft and sticky dough.
- Add more milk if necessary.
- Keep the dough aside covered till it doubles in volume (for about 2hrs).
- Preheat the oven at 350F for 10mins.
- Divide the dough in 8 equal parts and press them out into rounds of about 1/8" thickness.
- With a fork, prick holes on the rolled dough.
- Keep them on a parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
- Soak saffron in warm water and brush the surface of rolled dough.
- Bake for 10-15 mins.
- Take them out and immediately brush with some more melted ghee.
- Serve warm on their own or with some spicy gravy.
Notes
Sheermal
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 tea spn 1 packet active dry yeast
- 3 tea spn sugar
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 2 and 1/4 cup + 1 and 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tea spn salt
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup ghee + more ghee for brushing
- 1 cup milk or more, as required for kneading
- 1 tsp kewra water screw pine essence or rose water
- A few strands saffron soaked in 2 tbl spn warm milk
- Butter
Instructions
- In lukewarm water, add yeast and keep it aside till it is active (frothy).
- Add egg and till it is mixed.
- Now add melted ghee a little at a time till it is mixed.
- Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
- Add milk and rose water to the yeast mixture.
- Now slowly add flour a little at a time, mixing till it forms a soft and sticky dough.
- Add more milk if necessary.
- Keep the dough aside covered till it doubles in volume (for about 2hrs).
- Preheat the oven at 350F for 10mins.
- Divide the dough in 8 equal parts and press them out into rounds of about 1/8" thickness.
- With a fork, prick holes on the rolled dough.
- Keep them on a parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
- Soak saffron in warm water and brush the surface of rolled dough.
- Bake for 10-15 mins.
- Take them out and immediately brush with some more melted ghee.
- Serve warm on their own or with some spicy gravy.
Notes
Fenugreek leaves are used in variety of dishes in Indian cuisine. In few recipes, they form base and in some other they are just used to give distinct flavor. In any case, they are of great nutritional value and if cooked in appropriate way, they become part of healthy diet. Needless to mention, healthy dish can be a tasty one too. In this category of ‘healthy and tasty’ dishes, this Fenugreek Salad(Methi palya) has remained our favorite for quite some time now.
We have learnt this from a close North Karnataka friend’s family. This friend of mine, hardly likes our traditional dishes, due to his inherent dislike for coconut. However irony is we like everything that is made in their kitchen! Their cuisine has fewer dishes but each dish is made to perfection. Generally in any North Karnataka thali , its a practice to serve few Fenugreek leaves by side. But this dish goes extra mile, as its leaves remain raw and crunchy. The dish by itself is very tasty and competes for top spot on their thali, along with traditional Ennegaayi, Kalu, Mirchi Bajji and Gurellu powder. Just because leaves are not cooked, its always referred as Hasi Palya (raw side-dish) in their home.
We have learnt this from them and in this version, we have made one modification. Please refer to Notes for as authentic version as theirs.
Pictorial: Wash and spread methi on a paper. Chop them. Grind onions, coriander leaves, chillies, curry leaves, garlic. Make the seasoning and then add the paste to it. Let it cool to room temperature and then mix with methi leaves.
Fenugreek Leaves Salad (Methi Hasi Palya)
Ingredients
- 1 bunch of fresh Fenugreek leaves
- 2 tbsp oil
- Salt as desired.
For tampering:
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds jeera
- 1 tbsp urad dal
- 1 tbsp chana dal
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
For grinding:
- 3 green chillies
- 6-7 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup onion
- 2-3 strands coriander leaves
- 3-5 Curry leaves
Instructions
- Cut and separate roots of Fenugreek bunch, wash leaves, drain and spread over either a paper or dry cloth. This step is very important to get crunchy texture to dish. We need to ensure we get leaves, without any water.
- Chop onion and grind ingredients mentioned above, into smooth paste. No need to add water while grinding.
- In a thick bottomed vessel heat oil and add ingredients mentioned. Fry them till they start to splutter.
- Add paste prepared earlier and fry till raw smell goes off and oil starts separating. Ensure turmeric is added bit later, to avoid burning.
- Allow it to cool. Add 1 tsp of salt or as desired.
- Chop Fenugreek leaves and mix with earlier mixture. Its advisable to mix when you are about to serve to retain freshness of Fenugreek leaves.
- Serve at this stage along with rice and curry or Jowar roti and Ennegaayi.
