Spinach-Chickpea Buns

Everyone must have tried palak paneer, a friend mentioned spinach and chickpeas, i have seen this dish in restaurants,never made it by myself,and also I haven't been able to go and pick a loaf of bread from the stores.So i found myself baking bread yet again.Over the weekend, a whole lot of articles appeared in the newspapers on how the locally packed bread in India are really unhealthy.So more reason to make bread!

As i was preparing the chana palak, the bread dough was rising, the idea came to stuff the bread.It was a good idea.I finally even got my LM to eat some palak!!Achievement.Palak/Spinach and chickpeas are both good and healthy in their own ways and a combination can only be better!

This is how i made it.

Flour 3 cups (1.5 cups wheat flour+ 1.5cup all purpose flour/maida)
Honey 1 tablespoon
Sugar 1 tablespoon
Salt 1 tsp
Warm water 1 cup
Yeast 1 and half tsp
Dry milk powder 1 tablespoon
Oil 2 tablespoons

• Add the flours in a mixing bowl, add the yeast,salt and sugar with honey and milk powder.
• Add enough warm water to make a smooth dough.
• Apply 1 tablespoon oil and knead well until the oil vanishes from your hands and the dough springs back when you push it.
• In a greased bowl, keep the dough and roll it once so the dough is coated with oil well.Cover and leave it for about 1 hour or more to double in size.
• Once the size has doubled, punch the air out and dust the counter or a wooden board where you can make the rolls.
• Take a ball of dough the size of an orange and roll it into a rectangular shape and place a teaspoon of the filling along the length of the roll and seal the sides applying water on the sides.

• Else make round shape and stuff it with the filling and bring all sides together.
• Arrange them in a baking tray and bake at 180C for 25-30 minutes until the bottoms begin to brown.

To make the filling:

Spinach 2 cups blanched with salt

Chick peas 1 cup cooked and cooled

Onions 1 small

Tomato 1 small (optional)

Ginger 1 inch piece crushed

Coriander powder 1 tsp

Ground cumin seed powder 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil 1 tablespoon

Chilli powder 1 tsp

• Puree the blanched spinach and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the onions,ginger and fry,
• Add the spinach puree and cook until the raw smell goes away.
• Add the cooked chick peas and cook well until all blend well.
• Add salt to taste and the masala powders.
• Cover and cook for 10 minutes until its a nice dry gravy.(You can use this as a side dish for chapatis too).Mash the chick peas which will make the filling nice and thick and easier to stuff the breads.
• Let this cool before you make the filling.

Enjoy hot rolls with tomato sauce or as it is.

Tips:

- The above measures will yield about 8 medium buns.

- the rectangular shape was easier to make the stuffing than the round ones.

Sending this to Let's bake and Merry @ ticklingpalates, Snacks Mela@Cooking4allseasons, Bake fest2 @Spicytreats, Lets cook for Christmas Red and green@Simply.Food