Red and White cabbage with Methi leaves:

Cabbage or patta gobi can be prepared in a variety of ways to add more flavor to the vegetable in itself and making patta gobi with some methi leaves was a great idea given to me by my sister in law sometime back. It’s a great dish with loads of nutritive value to it. Methi adds a lot of flavor to the dish and it tastes quite different and yum as well.

Ingredients:

2 cup finely shredded while cabbage
½ cup finely shredded red cabbage
½ cup thinly sliced carrot
½ cup finely chopped onions
2 tomatoes finely chopped
1 potato chopped ( bite size pieces)
½ methi leaves
1 tsp rai (black mustard seeds)
1 tsp methi danna
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilly powder
3-4 green chilies finely chopped
1 tsp amchur powder
Salt to taste
1 table spoon Olive Oil or any cooking oil
2 tsp coriander leaves (finely chopped) for garnish



Recipe:
• Shred the red and white cabbage, wash well under water and keep aside. Also thinly slice the carrot and keep aside.
• In a pan, add the oil and let it heat well. Add rai and methi to the oil and let them sizzle. Add the green chillies and methi leaves to the pan and sauté them for 2 mins. Now add the finely chopped potatoes and sauté them in the pan with methi for another 2 minutes.
• Add the onions, carrots, red and white cabbage to the pan and sauté them well. Add the tomatoes and all the dried masala’s (i.e. turmeric powder, chilly powder, amchur powder and salt) to the pan and mix all the ingredients well.
• Cover the pan with the lid and let the cabbage cook for around 20 mins or till the time the potatoes are properly cooked.
• Garnish the dish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti or parantha.

Rajma ( Red Beans Curry).

A very simple dish which is so easy to make as well; Rajma or Red Beans curry is one of my all time favorites and I can eat rajma with chawal at any time during the day and night. It’s rich in protein and fiber as well so all in all we have a win-win situation with this lovely dish. And to add to the success, rajma tastes absolutely awesome the next day.

Ingredients: (serves 4)

1 cup rajma (soaked overnight)
½ onions finely chopped
3-4 tomatoes (blended into a puree)
3-4 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 tsp jeera
3-4 green chilies (finely chopped)
1 tsp dhania powder
1 tsp chilly powder
1tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp sukhi kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
2 table spoons coriander leaves (finely chopped) for garnish
Salt to taste
1 table spoon Olive oil or any cooking oil




Recipe:
• Soak the rajma overnight in a bowl. Discard the water and fill in fresh water. Add salt and pressure cook the rajma for 20 mins on a medium flame. Do not drain the water after the rajma is pressure cooked as it could be used to prepare the curry.
• In a separate pan, heat the oil and add jeera to the pan. Once jeera sizzles add garlic and green chilies and let it sauté for a minute till garlic turns slightly golden brown.
• Add onions to the pan and sauté the onions till they get a nice golden color.
• Once the onions change color add the tomato puree to it. Sauté for a min and let it simmer on a low flame for 15 – 20 mins or till the oil starts to separate from the sides.
• Add kasuri methi, dhania powder, turmeric, chilly powder and salt ( remember that we have already added some salt while boiling the rajma as well)
• Mix all the ingredients well. Add the tadka to rajma (along with the water) and stir all the ingredients well.
• Pressure cook the rajma again for around 10 – 15 mins as this helps to blend all the masalas and the rajma well.
• Garnish the rajma with coriander leaves and serve with boiled or jeera rice.

Tip: You can also blend the onions, garlic, tomatoes and green chilies together in a blender and then add to the oil to sauté the mixture.

Vegetable Burger – with chick peas and beans.

Here is a really different version of a vegetarian burger just to provide a different taste to the palate than the regular old potato burger with some veggies added to it.

Ingredients: (makes 4)

½ cup chick peas (chana)
½ cup beans (rajma)
2 tsp garlic (finely chopped)
2 green chilies (finely chopped)
1 table spoon red capsicum (finely chopped)
3-4 spring onions (chopped)
Soy sauce (3-4 dashes)
Chilly sauce (3-4 dashes)
Coriander leaves - 2 table spoons
2 tsps cumin powder
2 tsps coriander powder
Salt according to taste
Black Pepper – 1 tsp
2 tsps oil – to sauté the onions and capsicum
Bread crumbs – 3 table spoons and some bread crumbs for coating the burger patty.
Milk to coat the patties
Oil (for greasing the baking sheet)
Burger Buns (I used Cibatta bread) – 4
Shredded Lettuce leaves
Tomato ketchup
Thinly sliced onions.

Recipe:
• Soak chick peas and rajma overnight. Drain the water and pressure cook the chana and rajma for around 15 mins so that the chick peas and rajma have softened but there is still a crunch left in them. We don’t want the chana and rajma to be completely mushy and soggy. Once pressure cooked, drain the water in a colander and keep aside
• In a pan, add 2 tsps of oil and let it heat a bit. Add the spring onions and capsicum to the pan and sauté them till the onion has a pink color. Add a bit of salt and pepper to the pan and mix all the ingredients well and keep aside.
• In a separate bowl add the chana and rajma and crush them well with the help of a potato crusher or you can simply mince them with your hands. Add the onion and capsicum mixture to the bowl. Add cumin, coriander powder and coriander leaves soy sauce, chilly sauce, salt and bread crumbs to the bowl.
• Bread crumbs could be made at home by grinding 3-4 pieces of bread slices in the grinder. You can also used store brought bread crumbs for this as well.
• Mix all the ingredients well. In case the mixture feels a bit wet add more bread crumbs to the mixture and mix well. Take some of the chana-rajma mixture and roll them between your palms and make round shape patties.
• Grease the baking tray or baking sheet with oil. Dip the patty in milk and then coat them in bread crumbs and place them on the baking sheet. Repeat the steps above to make the patties. Once done refrigerate the patties for 30 mins.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degree F or 280 degree C. Remove the patties and bake them in the oven for 20 – 25 mins till we get a golden brown color and the patties are crisp.
• Slit the burger buns and place the patty in between. Add lettuce, and onions and tomato ketchup to it and Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!

Chilly sauce or mustard sauce could also be used instead of tomato ketchup depending upon your tastes and preferences.

I would like to send this to Hima of SnackORama for her event called Sunday Snacks with the theme Bake it.

I would like to send this to Divya of Dil Se for her event Diet Foods.

Fenugreek Parantha (Methi ka parantha)

2 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup – 1 cup fenugreek leaves
1tsp salt
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp chilly powder
1 tsp caraway seeds (ajwain)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp oil to be added to the dough
Oil for making the tortilla (parantha)
½ cup water (to make the dough)




• Take wheat flour in a bowl, add fenugreek leaves, salt, turmeric, coriander powder, caraway seeds, chilly powder, oil into the bowl and mix well.
• Add water to the bowl and mix well to make dough of a consistency similar to that of a pizza dough. Let it sit aside for 10 mins.
• Take some of the dough and roll it between your palms so that you have a round ball like shape. Dust some of the wheat flour on the board and put the dough on the dusty board and with the help of the rolling pin, flatten the dough to make a round shape tortilla.
• Heat the griddle and once it turns hot place the tortilla to the griddle and cook it on one side. Apply oil over the tortilla and turn it over to cook the other side. With the help up of the spatula press the tortilla evenly so that you get a nice brown color on both the sides of the tortilla.
• Apply some butter over the hot tortilla (parantha) and serve with curd.

Chilly Paneer Strudel

Chilly Paneer (cottage chesse) Strudel:

This is also an inspiration from one of the episodes on food network and I tried making my own version of the recipe that was shown in the show. Paneer i.e. is cottage chesse is one of the favorites that is included in our meals on a regular basis and this dish is a very light snack which is baked in the oven and is a twist in the various options of snacks that we can make for parties or dinner outings.

Ingredients:

8 phyllo dough sheets (these are thin and flaky phyllo sheets and turns out to be very crispy when baked).
2 cups cubed paneer
4-5 green chilies (finely chopped)
3-4 spring onions (finely chopped with the greens)
8-10 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
2 spoonfuls of red capsicum (finely chopped)
1 tsp corn starch.
2 table spoons oil for shallow frying the paneer.
2 tsp oil for cooking and 2 tsp for coating the phyllo sheets before baking
Salt to taste
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp lemon juice.
2 table spoons soy sauce.

Recipe:
• Take the paneer pieces in a bowl and sprinkle some salt over it and mix well. Sprinkle the corn starch over the paneer pieces and just toss them over with your hands so that they are well coated with corn starch. Heat 2 tsp oil in the pan and shallow fry the paneer pieces. Take care of not over frying the paneer as they might turn hard.
• Take another frying pan and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot add the chopped green chilies and garlic to the pan and sauté till the garlic gets a nice golden color. Add the red capsicum and spring onions to the pan and mix well. Keep aside some spring onion greens for garnish.
• Add the paneer pieces to the pan along with salt, black pepper, soy sauce and lemon juice and mix all the ingredients well. Be cautious of the amount of salt you add as soy sauce also has salt and we had added some salt to the paneer as well.
• Once all the ingredients are mixed well, let it cook for another 5 mins on a medium flame.
• Phyllo dough is usually found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Please remove the phyllo sheets from the fridge and let them stand for around 40 – 45 minutes to remove the chill from the sheets and it also helps the sheets to roll in a better manner.
• Grease the baking tray and line the first phyllo sheet to the tray. Apply some oil to the phyllo sheet and then place the 2nd sheet and like wise line 4 sheets on to the baking tray. Add the paneer and capsicum filling to the phyllo sheet.
• Carefully roll the sheet into a cylindrical form so that the filling is rolled in between the sheets. Make incisions/cuts on the roll so as to let the steam of them. Repeat the process with the remaining 4 phyllo sheets and keep aside.
• Apply a coat of oil to the filling roll and bake it in a 350 degree F or around 200 degree Celsius oven for around 15- 20 mins till the role has a golden color.

A quick and easy snack which will be hot favorite at your place!!!!!!!!!!