Raw Banana Cutlets

What to do with 2 raw bananas lying in your fridge ? simple.... make some yummy cutlets. As my daughter's holidays are continuing I have to of give her something good to eat. In her words yummy snacks. Initially I wanted to make some bhajji's but I already made them last week, so this was what I came up with. She wanted to have all different kinds of shapes of cutlet ranging from gingerbread man to birdies, but I somehow convinced her to settle with heart shaped ones.

Ingredients:

Raw Bananas - 2

Medium sized Potatoes - 2

Bread - 2 slices

Green chillies - 2 (finely chopped)

Coriander leaves - few sprigs (finely chopped)

Salt, Red chilli powder - to taste

Amchoor - 1 tsp

Oil - to fry

Procedure:

• Cut the potatoes length wise in two and pressure cook them till done.
• Cut the raw bananas in half and pressure cook them for 1 whistle.
• Peel the skin of boiled potatoes and mash them.
• Peel the skin of bananas and grate them.
• Soak the bread in little water for few seconds and squeeze them. Keep aside.
• Mix together potatoes, bananas, bread, green chillies, coriander leaves, salt, red chilli powder and amchoor. Knead everything to a nice dough.
• Take small ball of dough and shape as desired.
• Fry 2-3 at a time in hot oil in medium heat until golden brown.
• Serve hot with green chutney or ketchup.

Minty Pesarattu with Ginger Chutney

I love pesarattu ... crispy and thin moong daal dosas. Pesarattu is very light on the stomach and is an ideal breakfast recipe. I twisted this traditional Andhra recipe by adding mint leaves. Serve this with ginger and jaggery chutney for a tongue tickling experience.

For the Pesarattu-

Ingredients:

Whole green moong daal - 1 cup

Mint leaves - 1/4 cup (finely chopped)

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Green chillies - 3 to 4 (can add even more but 3 was enough for us)

Salt - to taste

Water to grind.

Oil - to make dosa

Procedure:

• Wash and soak the daal for at least 4-5 hrs. After that drain and rinse with water and keep aside.
• Grind daal , mint leaves, ginger and chillies together by adding water little by little. Don't make the batter very thin.
• Mix in salt and make thin and crisp dosas using little oil.

For the ginger and jaggery chutney -

Ingredients:

Ginger - 2 tbsp ( finely chopped)

Dry red chillies- 3 nos.

Urad daal - 1 tbsp

Jaggery- 1 tbsp (powdered)

Tamarind- little

Oil - 2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Procedure:

• Heat oil and add urad daal, once it turns light golden add the chillies and saute for a minute.
• Then add in chopped ginger pieces and fry for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• After this mixture cools, grind in the mixie along with jaggery, tamarind and salt.

Serve this chutney with crispy pesarattu's.

Sending this to-

Susan's MLLA event hosted by Priya of mharorajasthan.

Any One Can Cook: Series 9 started by taste of pearl city.

Pav Bhaji

A party favourite and a popular street food Pav Bhaji makes a delicious evening meal. This is very popular in Mumbai and the pav bhaji stalls caters to thousands of hungry tummy's on daily basis. Ever been to juhu beach ?

Pav bhaji can be made with any vegetables available. My mother makes this with only cabbage and potato, but I like to include as many veggies as possible.

Ingredients:

Pav buns - 12
Potatoes - 2 big
Capsicum - 1 big
Cabbage - 1 cup
Cauliflower - 1/2 cup
Green peas - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes - 3 big
Onions- 2 big
Ginger, garlic paste- 1tsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tblsp
Pav bhaji masala - 2 tblsp
Salt, Red chilli powder - to taste
Lemon - 1/2
Oil - 2 tblsp
Butter - 2 tblsp and extra to toast the pavs

Procedure:

• Peel the skin of the potatoes and cut in small cubes, chop cabbage and cauliflower.


• Pressure cook the potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, green peas along with some salt and turmeric powder for 4-5 whistles.


• Chop the onions, tomatoes and capsicum finely.


• Heat oil and add the onions, saute till it gets translucent, then add the ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell is gone.


• Add the tomatoes and capsicum. Fry for sometime till soft.


• Add pavbhaji masala , salt and red chilli powder. Mix everthing nicely. Add 2-3 tbsps of water.


• Keep mashing with a masher in between so that everything gets mushy and mixture starts leaving oil.


• Then add the pressure cooked vegetables and keep on mixing and mashing.


• Adjust seasoning according to your taste buds. Mix in 2 tbsp of butter and switch off gas and add lemon juice.


• In a flat tava put butter and toast the pav buns. The pavs can also be toasted by adding little salt and pavbhaji masala in the butter.
  

Enjoy pav bhaji hot with some chopped onions. Perfect food for cold evenings.

Savoury Pumpkin Scones

I have always been fascinated by baked goodies and when I saw these savoury scones in Sunita's World I was longing to make them. I changed the original recipe by replacing carrots with pumpkin and omitting spinach leaves. As we are vegetarians and do not eat eggs, I replaced egg with flaxseed meal.

The result was very tasty scones with oozing cheese and crispy outsides with soft insides which got disappeared in no time.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup

Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup

Pumpkin - 1 cup( grated)

Cheddar Cheese - 1/4 cup (grated)

Milk - 1/2 cup + little more for brushing

Baking Powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup (finely chopped)

Butter - 2 tbsp (chilled)

Flaxseed meal - 1 tbsp

Water - 3 tbsp

Italian Seasoning - 1 tsp

Sesame seeds for topping

Procedure:

• Pre heat the oven to 220 degree C and grease a baking tray
• Sift together both flours , baking powder, seasoning and salt.
• Mix in grated pumpkin , cheese and coriander leaves.
• In a mixer pulse 2-3 times flaxseed meal and 3 tbsp water and pour this in the flour mix.
• Rub the butter till mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add the milk and bring everything together.
• Do not knead the mixture very much.
• Roll the dough in a floured surface about 1 cm thick and cut in square shapes.
• Place in the greased baking tray and brush the top with milk and sprinkle some sesame seeds.
• Bake in the pre heated oven for about 17-20 mins or till golden brown in colour and when toothpick is inserted it should come clean.

Cool for few minutes and serve warm.

Sending this to Priya's Bookmarked Recipes- Every Tuesday Event

Also sending this to Healing Foods- Winter Squash event started by Siri of Cooking with Siri and hosted by tastespace.

Sending to Champa's Bake Off event.

Chick Peas Buttons

Holiday season is here and I often hear my daughter asking for some yummy snacks. I prepared chana masala for my hubby's tiffin box and was left with some boiled chick peas, so I came up with this recipe.

Though my daughter N is not very fond of chick peas but she loved these fried buttons.

Ingredients:

Boiled Chick Peas - 1 cup

Large bread slices- 3

Besan - 2 tblsp

Milk - 3 tblsp

Lemon juice - 1 tblsp

Amchoor ( Mango powder) - 1/2 tsp

Salt, Chilli powder - to taste

Coriander leaves chopped - 1 tblsp

Oil - To fry

Procedure :

• Grind the chick peas without any water.
• Soak the bread slices in milk just for few seconds then squeeze the bread.
• Mix the chick peas, bread, besan, lemon juice, coriander leaves, amchoor, salt and chilli powder. Mix everything together to form a smooth dough. The dough will look like this-

• Make small balls of the mixture and flatten little to look like buttons.
• Heat oil and fry the buttons on medium to high flame till nice golden brown.
• The buttons will disintegrate if the flame is low.

Enjoy the buttons hot with some tomato ketchup.

Sending this to Susan's MLLA event hosted by Priya of mharorajasthanrecipes.

Also sending this to Any One Cook :Series 9 started by Ayeesha of Taste of Pearl City.

Kalonji Paratha

Kalonji is also known as black seed but sometimes it is misleadingly known as onion seed ... it has pungent bitter taste and smell and is mostly used in some types of naan and parathas.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1 cup

Maida - 1 cup

Kalonji - 2 tsp

Oil - 1 tblsp

Salt - to taste

Ghee /Oil - to make parathas

Procedure :

Knead the dough by mixing wheat flour, maida, kalonji , oil and salt using water as required . Take a small ball of the dough roll it like a small roti and apply ghee on the inside, then fold the roti in a triangle form . Again roll it out but not very thin. Heat the tava and cook using ghee or oil till both sides are done. Serve hot with any vegetable.

I served mine with tomato and capsicum sabji.

Moong daal and almond halwa

Moong daal halwa tastes very good as it is but making it with almonds enhances its taste. This is a recipe by my friend P who is a lovely lady from the state of Rajasthan. Moong daal halwa makes a regular entree in the menu card of marriage reception in my home town. Here goes the recipe-

Ingredients:

Yellow split moong daal - 200 gms (Soak for 4-5 hrs)

Almonds - 200 gms ( soak in hot water and remove the skin)

Ghee - 200 gms

Sugar - 200 to 250 gms depending on your sweet taste buds

Procedure:

• Drain the water from the daal and coarsely grind in mixie without adding water.
• Pulse almonds in the mixer for 2-3 times.
• In 2 tblsp ghee roast the almonds for 5-7 mins taking care not to let the colour change and keep aside.
• In the remaining ghee roast daal till it turns golden brown ( more of biscuit colour)
• Meanwhile make sugar syrup by mixing sugar and just enough water so that sugar gets soaked.
• Boil the syrup for 5 mins... strings are not required.
• Then mix the almonds, daal and pour the sugar syrup.
• Keep stirring till it attains halwa consistency.

Do keep your portions small as this is loaded with calories.

Hara bhara naram dil kabab

As the name itself suggests naram dil meaning soft heart this delicious kabab has got cheese filling giving it soft and melting insides. Any chutney will be good with these kababs but we had it with date and tamarind chutney.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 3 medium sized boiled, peeled and mashed

Spinach - 1 bunch

Green peas - 1/2 cup boiled and mashed

Coriander leaves - 2-3 tblsp chopped

Cornflour - 2 tblsp

Spices:

Salt, chaat masala and red chilli powder to taste

For the filling:

Cheddar cheese - 1/4 cup grated

Raisins - 1 tblsp

Cashew nuts broken - 1 tblsp

Oil to fry

Procedure:

• Blanch the spinach leaves, drain and squeeze the water and chop the leaves.
• Mix the potatoes, spinach leaves, coriander leaves, green peas, cornflour and all the spices and mash and mix nicely.
• Mix all the ingredients for filling.
• Take the kabab mixture and make balls out of the mixture, make a hole in the centre of the ball and stuff the cheese filling.
• Flatten the balls little and fry in hot oil till it turns golden brown in colour.
• Drain on absorbent paper.
• Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

I fried some capsicum and sprinkled some salt and chaat masala on it and served with the kababs.

Sending this to Any One Can Cook : Series 8 hosted by Ayeesha of Taste of Pearl City.

Update: Sending this to Torviewtoronto's Food Palette Series Green Event

Spiral Cone Chaat

Last time i went to this wonderful home decorating store and saw those cream horn cones and picked them. It came in a package of 4 cones. How beautifuly these stores arrange their goodies and we fall in their trap leaving our poor husbands worried about their credit cards.
Initially i wanted to bake some puff pastry cones and stuff them with some fruits and cream but that was not what was suppose to happen...
I saw this recipe in masterchef india and thats how these chaat cones were created.
The chutneys and the cones can be made in advance.

For the cones-

Maida : 1 Cup ( I got 6 cones)

Ghee : 1 Tblsp

Salt to taste

Oil to fry the cones

Warm the ghee and add to maida. Put the salt and knead with water to make a semi stiff dough. Divide the dough in 3 parts. Take one part of the dough and with the help of little maida roll it thin like roti, don't use lot of maida for dusting. After rolling cut thin long strips. Then take the cream horns and start rolling each strip like a coil , after one strip is rolled seal it with water and then take another strip and start rolling from where the previous strip ended ... keep rolling as many strips as required till the entire horn is covered , seal the edges of the strips with water so that the cones doesn't open up when frying.

Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry in medium heat till golden brown. Drain and keep on absorbent paper. Repeat with the remaining 2 parts of dough.

After the cones cool little , gently pull out the cream horns so that the cones don't break. This process has to be done very patiently else you will end up with broken cones. One of mine broke so i mixed that with the chaat filling.

For the date and tamarind chutney ( खजूर और इमली की चटनी) :

Dates : About 12-13 dates deseeded and chopped

Tamarind pulp : 1/2 cup

Sugar or jaggery : 1/2 cup ( I used sugar)

Chilli powder, Black salt, Roasted cumin seeds powder, Dry ginger powder, Black pepper powder : According to your taste buds

In a kadhai add the tamarind pulp and 1/2 cup water and let it boil then add the chopped dates, sugar or jaggery and the spices. Let the mixture boil till it thickens then strain the mixture to get the chutney.

For the green chutney ( हरी धनिया और पुदीने की चटनी ) :

Coriander leaves : 1 bunch

Mint leaves : 1bunch

Green chillies : 2 -3 ( Can add more according to your taste)

Ginger : Small piece

Cumin seeds : 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Grind all of the above together into a smooth paste adding little water.

For the chat filling :

Boiled and mashed potatoes

Boiled chick peas

Boiled sweet corn( I used frozen)

Chopped onions

Chopped tomatoes

Chaat masala

Chaat can be made in many ways , so you are free to choose your filling and their quantities.

Mix all the ingredients.

Assembling:

Take a cone put some tamarind chutney first then fill the prepared filling, top with whipped curd, both the chutneys, sev and garnish with chopped coriander and mint leaves and serve. This should be consumed immediately else it will turn soggy.

Besan ka Halwa

The weather is very pleasant here, cold breeze is blowing throughout the day. Best time of the year in the middle east, and holiday time for us. My family demanded to eat something sweet so i made this halwa.... tastes too good.... melts in the mouth... yum..

Ingredients required :

Besan (Gramflour) : 1 Cup

Ghee ( Clarified butter) : 1/2 Cup + 1 tblsp

Milk : 1 Cup

Water : 3/4 Cup

Sugar : 3/4 Cup to 1 Cup ( depending on your taste buds)

Cardamom powder : 2 Pinches

Cashewnuts : To garnish

Can add some raisins also.. but my little one is not fond of them so i didn't add them.

Procedure:

In a heavy bottomed kadhai put the ghee and let it heat. Once the ghee is hot add the milk and allow the milk to curdle.. can add a spoon of vinegar to fasten the process... but don't add much else the halwa will be sour. After the milk curdles add the besan and roast till the raw smell goes and the besan turns slight golden brown in colour. Add the cashewnuts now and mix in. Add the sugar and the water and cook till the mixture thickens and takes the consistency of halwa , add the cardamom powder and switch off the gas.

My little one couldn't wait till I clicked some pictures :)

Paneer and Peas in tomato gravy

This remains one of my favourite dishes. This is my maa's recipe and I still demand her to make this whenever I visit her place. Very easy to make and tasty to eat.

Ingredients required:

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) - 200 gms (crumbled)
Peas - 1/2 cup ( I used frozen)
Puree of 2-3 tomatoes
Cashewnuts - around 10
Poppy seeds (Khus khus)- 1 tblsp
Mustard, Cumin seeds - 1 tsp each
Oil
Coriander leaves - to garnish

Spices :
Salt and Chilli powder to taste
Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder, Shahi paneer masala or garam masala - 1 tsp


Procedure:

• Soak cashewnuts and khus khus in around 1/2 cup of water for 3-4 hrs. Then grind a fine paste and keep aside.
• Boil the peas till tender.
• In oil add the mustard and cumin seeds, once they splutter add the boiled peas and stir fry for about 2-3 mins.
• Then add the tomato puree and the spices and cook till the mixture starts leaving oil and the spices release flavour. If the mixture is very dry add little water.
• Then add the crumbled panner and cashewnut-khus khus paste, mix everthing nicely.
• At this stage fresh cream can be added to increase the richness of the dish. I did not add the cream as I dont want to add extra flabs to my ever increasing waistline.
• Switch off the gas and add coriander leaves.

Enjoy this with hot rotis or parathas , and it even tastes great with rice.