Red Beaten Rice & Potato Cutlets | Vegan | Gluten Free | Dairy Free

Hi All!!

A lot of thought process goes into creating a recipe and then a lot of creativity is involved in clicking the pictures. If you notice in all food magazines, food channels, food blogs or any food related websites, a lot of attention is give to food styling and food presentation. As it’s said, that you eat first with your eyes and then with the mouth, so it’s important that the food  looks appealing and attracts you to try it. This is especially important when the food is presented in the virtual world where you can not really taste the food!!

One recipe rather one picture which was on the cover page of Good Food Magazine made me drool over it and I was so tempted to create a recipe similar to that and style it in a similar way,  And finally after many months of postponing I’ve created a similar recipe in my style and  made it more healthier. The original recipe was of a poha cutlet with a rasam dip. I’ve also made a poha cutlet only but instead of using the white version of poha (beaten rice) I opted for red, the more healthier one. Similarly, instead of the rasam dip, I made a tangy Mint chutney.

It was a recipe created for the kid’s lunch box. I need to make healthy and tasty food for the kid which would guarantee that he would finish it without making a fuss. It might sound funny but being a food blogger’s Mom brings in a lot of challenges too especially on deciding what goes into the lunch box, the food going into it can’t be compromised. To my delight, the kid’s lunch box is quite popular amongst his friends and they would demand to eat his lunch box most of the times, leaving him hungry. He would come home famished with a headache. Finally the kid acted smart and gave his classmates my blog id so that their Moms could cook recipes for them from my blog and they could also carry that in their lunch box. This has helped him to a certain extent.

Anyways, I had shaped the cutlets and refrigerated them so that in the morning I didn’t have to rush since I wanted to send them in kid’s lunch box. The kid happily carried this in his lunch box and he came back complaining again that he got only two pieces to eat and he wanted to eat more. He also said that it is one of the best cutlets that I have made and I should make them more regularly. I was more than happy to hear that, as my purpose was solved..

Red Beaten Rice & Potato Cutlets

Preparation Time: 1hr | Cooking Time: 8mins/batch | Makes: 16 | Serves: 4 | Difficulty Level: Easy

Ingredients

1-1/2cups soaked thick red beaten rice

3 large potatoes

4-5 green chilies

4-5 garlic cloves

1inch piece ginger

salt to taste

handful of chopped coriander leaves

oil for shallow frying

Method

Wash the beaten rice several times with water and drain the water completely. Soak it for an hour.

Boil, peel and grate the potatoes.

Finely chop green chilies and coriander and grind ginger and garlic.

Crush the beaten rice with the fingers and add salt to taste. Also add the chili, ginger, garlic and coriander.

Mix together properly. Divide the mix into 16-18 portions. If you feel that the mix is too wet, you can add bread crumbs too.

Shape them into a ball and then flatten. Smoothen the edges.

Take a non stick pan and sprinkle a tea spoon of oil and heat it. Place 5-6 cutlets at a time and cook on a medium flame on both the sides till crisp and golden in color.

Serve with ketch up or Mint chutney.

Sending this to my event ‘Only’ Food For Pregnancy, hosted here.

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Tandoori Bhein Kebab (Lotus Stem Kebab) | Gluten Free | Vegan | Pregnancy Recipes | Step Wise |

Hi All!!

Ever since I’ve announced the current event in my blog, I’m nostalgic about my pregnancy days, so many memories but what I remember the most is my stay at Mom’s place..As a custom I had gone to stay with my parents by the end of 7th month. And friends custom or no custom, I personally feel that there can be no other place more comforting than parents home. Living your entire life with them, the ease and comfort one experiences that can’t be replaced by any other person or place especially when one is going through so many internal changes, one needs emotional support. The love, the attention parents shower on their daughter and the baby is unimaginable.

My parents were so excited to have me and tried all means to keep me happy. My happiness did manifold, when my Grandmother and my youngest first cousin R came down to stay with us. My Grandmother wanted to be there to enjoy my pregnancy and be there to guide me. Every day after my dad came back from office he would ask me what I would like to eat, and if I had any food cravings (which I normally never had) were fulfilled immediately. I was a pampered daughter for those two months of pregnancy..

One day I told my mom that I felt like eating Chirote. My Mom was a bit surprised with my demand, as I had avoided eating that dish for so many years and now in my pregnancy I was craving to eat it. Now, making Chirote was not an easy task but she made them for me. Then another day, I felt like eating dhirade (kind of pancakes) and my grandmother pampered me by making them for me. It was a delight to watch my Grandmother cook as she hardly cooked in those days.

But pregnancy was not only eating and hogging… I was quite particular about myself in those days. My day would start with a boiled egg and a glass of milk. Then I would eat a fruit around 10am (no papaya). Have proper lunch of rice, dal, sabzi , roti with salad & curds. Eat an apple and a glass of milk around 5pm and then have roti, curry and salad for dinner.

Till the end of my sixth month of pregnancy I would do sweeping and mopping regularly at home. All household chores were done by me. It was at the onset of my seventh month of pregnancy that I stopped mopping but sweeping continued. And from my eighth month I would walk 3kms everyday and even after moving with my Mum, my cousin R would accompany me for my walks. She was a friend to me that time though she is younger than me by 9yrs, but we hold a special bond. We would play cards, chat and watch TV together.

       R is the youngest of all the siblings and had written her X boards and was awaiting her result. She had come to spend the summer vacation with me and in her was a caring sweet little sister. After the kid was born she would help me so much with the kid. She would love playing with him. I still can’t believe that  she is married now and is on a family way. I promised her that I would post healthy and yet tasty dishes and that’s when I thought that I should help many more pregnant women by reaching out to them with my preparations and my experiences. So, I came up with this theme of ‘Only’ Food For Pregnancy..

I got hold of lotus stem recently during my Veggie shopping. I love the lotus stem and have posted a few recipes with it earlier too but for those who are not aware of it’s Health Benefits, they are:
· They are very rich in iron, which is required for RBC formation in blood.
· There is good amount of calcium also present, required for maintenance and repair of bones and teeth.
· Lotus stem is high in dietary fiber. It is highly recommended for pregnant women and people with chronic complain of constipation.
· The chlorophyll present in the stack acts as active anti oxidant to fight against cancer producing free radicals.

I thought of making a kebab with it. Ground lotus stem has a meaty texture, makes it perfect for making kebab. I used my tandoor to make the kebab but one can make them on a pan or oven too.

 

 

Tandoori Bhein (Lotus Stem) Kebab

Preparation Time: 1hour | Cooking Time: 5mins per batch | Makes: 16-18 | Serves: 4-5 | Difficulty Level: Moderate

Ingredients
3-4 lotus stems, peeled, sliced and boiled
1green chili
4-5garlic flakes
an inch piece ginger
1/2cup chutney dal/ puttani dal
3-4tbsp chopped mint
3/4cup fried onion
salt to taste
1/2tsp garam masala
3-4tbsp oil
2tsp lemon juice or amchoor (dry mango pwd) or any sour taste of your choice
Dry Spices:
1tbsp coriander pwd
1tsp cumin pwd
1tsp red chili pwd
Method

Pressure cook the lotus stem along with few slices of lemon for up to 5-6 whistles or after the pressure has set, cook on slow flame for 20mins. Adding lemon prevents discoloration of the stem.

Cool the stem, drain and grind it smooth.

Finely chop ginger, garlic and green chili (I used my hand mixer).

Heat 2tsp oil and sauté the ginger-garlic-chili mix. Add the dry spices,chutney dal and roast the mix lightly.

Grind the dal-spice mix along with fried onions and add it to the lotus stem.

Add garam masala, lemon juice, salt to taste, a tablespoon oil and chopped mint. Mix thoroughly.
Take large marble size portion, make a ball, flatten and shape the kebab.

Preheat the tandoor or griddle. Brush oil on both the sides of the kebab and place it in the tandoor or roast on the griddle on both the sides, till you see dark spots. This kebab looks darker as the color of the stem itself after boiling is brownish plus the fried onions add the dark color.
Sprinkle chaat masala. Serve hot with salad and green chutney.


Sending this to my event ‘Only’ Food For Pregnancy, hosted here.
Tips
If you find that the kebab mix is very moist then add more of ground chutney dal or add some bread. But moist mix give succulent kebabs.
While frying onions be careful that you don’t burn them else it will spoil the taste with the bitterness.

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Banana Rings | Monsoon Special | Gluten Free | Shravan Special | Tea Time Snacks | Dairy Free | Step Wise Tutorial

 

Hi All!!

It’s been about two years now that I’m off a full time job. At times I do feel that my monetary contribution to the family is very less as compared to my husband, who works really hard to run this family but when I see that I’m able to feed the family with a variety of food, take care of house hold chores, paying all the bills and many more things which are not even noticed, all those negative thoughts are thrown out of the mind. And the most important contribution which  I feel is, that I’m able to connect with the kid, give him time.

My younger kid who has just entered his teens is a lonely kid these days, with no company for him in the society we live… I’m his person. The minute he enters home after the school, he wants to be with me. He has to tell me what happened in the school, which friend did what, what subjects they studied, which movie they watched during break, who ate his lunch box and the comments his friends gave for the lunch box..

 

Apparently the kid’s lunch box is quite popular amongst his friends and they look forward to eat his food. My kid told me that his friends say that ‘your Mom makes excellent food dude’. He feels proud of his Mom and is glad that I cook good food and give him tasty lunch box. All these small compliments that I receive, they keep me going and I thrive to try new varieties and improve my culinary skills.

With the onset of teenage, the kid has his mood swings and is turning to be a fussy eater. Unlike earlier, he is more fond of Pizza, burger, nachos and all kinds of fast food and my attempt is to sneak in nutritive food in the so called junk food.. But I’m glad he is fond of parathas, so end up making a variety of those, these days. In one of his demands he said that you don’t make anything fried these days…Hmm, I agree to that, I thought…So, today it’s been cloudy mostly and it was a  perfect weather to eat fried. Every time it has rained, I’ve been mentioning to S that it’s perfect weather to make fritters. Finally, today I made a fritter, the recipe of which has been adapted from a book called Indian Home style Cooking by Sushma KK. Again, it’s a rarely seen book these days, which again, I had picked at Reliance Time Out, Gurgaon. The pictures are not so great in the book but the recipes are..

This particular recipe is again without any ginger, garlic or onion. Perfect for Chaturmaas. It can be good tea time snack, a good starter for parties and even for lunch box too (sometimes)..

Preparation Time:30mins | Frying Time: 5mins/batch | Makes: 20-24 | Serves: 4-6 | Difficulty Level: Moderate

 

Ingredients

4raw bananas, boiled

1potato, boiled

3-4green chilies, finely chopped

1-1/2tbsp cashew nuts, finely chopped

1/2 cup mini sago, soaked and drained

2-3 bread slices, crushed

1tsp, red chili powder

a few sprigs of chopped coriander

1-2tsp amchoor ( dry mango powder)

1tsp garam masala

Method

Soak the mini sago in water for half an hour and then drain the water completely.

Boil the raw banana and potato. Cool and peel.

Take the soaked sago in a bowl, add the chopped cashew nuts and chopped green chilies.

Add the chopped coriander.

Crush the boiled potato and banana and mix with sago.

Add all the dry spices and salt to taste. Check the consistency of the mix and based on that add crushed bread slices ( I added two).

Take lemon sized mix, flatten it and make a hole in the center. Deep fry on a medium flame, till golden in color. Remove on kitchen towel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Serve with tomato sauce, green chutney and salad.

Sending it to my event ‘Only’- Cooking From Cookbooks guest hosted by Gauri.

Tips:

If the bread and garam masala is removed from this preparation it can be turned into a faraali/fasting food.

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Sweet & Sour Potato | Indo-Chinese Starter | Vegetarian | Step Wise

Hi All!!

Last few days were interesting in my life, I bought an interesting bunch of spice plants amongst which is an all spice plant too. All these plants are occupying a small space in my balcony. I met food blogger friends of my city, and chit chatted with them over lunch. It was indeed a humbling experience to be surrounded by such immensely talented people. I attended a friend’s surprise birthday party too who will be undergoing a heart surgery soon and I was overwhelmed to see the joy on her face. On top of such pleasant things happening around me, it’s also raining here and I’m loving the cloudy days, the dip in the temperature.

I forgot to mention a very important thing earlier that I’m reading  books too amongst all this, loads of books...actually cookbooks to be precise and my old recipe diaries that I’ve been filling for ages. My bed is full of books these days which I keep flipping through the day, and later at night stand as a heap of books next to my bed..so much for the late night cleaning!!!

While I was flipping through my old diaries…okay before telling you this, I want to tell you something about myself which probably I have mentioned earlier too..nevertheless..I grew up with books like Grihashobha, Manorama and later on Meri Saheli too. My mom, grand moms, aunts would read these books. While the elders in the family were interested in reading stories, articles, stitching and sewing, my sole interest in these books would be the cookery section.

I would read the recipes religiously and I didn’t care whether I understood their procedure or not. I would ask someone to explain them to me. And one fine day when my grandfather gifted me a diary I started noting down recipes in it. I must have been in 9th or 10th. Since then I’ve filled many diaries with recipes that I read here and there. If I didn’t have a diary in my hand and I came across a good recipe, I would jot it down in pieces of paper, behind bills and memos and later on transfer them into my diary. I might be sounding a fanatic to many people here, but friends this is what I was and I am. I love reading recipes, and even if I may not try all of them in reality but I learn from each of them and apply the knowledge, technique, skill, elsewhere in my cooking. For me that’s called an inspired cooking!!

Anyways, coming back to I flipping through my old diaries… I came across a small recipe with few ingredients, scribbled in a page of 2007 diary. After reading it I was inspired to try it instantly. Yes, rains do wonders on me. Fortunately I had all the ingredients at home (did I tell you that my MIL believes I could open a grocery store with the ingredients I have in my pantry). The outcome of the recipe was an awesome starter which I thought I could finish the entire plate but then I literally controlled myself and saved half for the kid and I was so happy that S was travelling and both of us got more to eat. The kid loved, loved, loved it!! Yes, this was the reaction I got from him and he wanted me to make more, which I promised him, that I would soon.. The only thing I was unhappy about was the dark color of the dish, which I know will be lighter in color the next time I make…I do have a solution to it! Also, the next time I make this, would love to add a few red chilies to add more color and also top it with roasted sesame to add crunch.

Preparation Time:25mins | Marination Time: 1hr | Cooking Time: 5mins | Serves: 2-3 | Difficulty Level: Easy

Ingredients

250gms boiled & peeled, baby potatoes

10garlic flakes, finely chopped

3tbsp each of honey, red chili sauce, tomato sauce and soya sauce

1/2tsp black pepper powder

salt to taste

5-6tbsp spring onions, finely chopped

2tbsp oil ( I used a mix of vegetable oil + Chinese sesame oil)

A glimpse to the recipe written in my diary..

Method

Prick the potatoes and marinade them for an hour in a mix of all the sauces and half the garlic. I used a dark soya sauce but will use light one next time.

Heat oils in the wok and brown the remaining garlic. Be careful as the wok heats fast and if one is not careful,  one might burn the garlic.

Tip in the marinated potatoes along with the sauces and sauté on high flame. Chinese cooking is always done on a high flame, so use the biggest burner of the stove.

Once the sauces start to thicken, add pepper powder, half the spring onions, salt to taste and give a final toss.

Serve hot, garnished with remaining spring onions.

Sending it to my event ‘Only’- Cooking From Cookbooks guest hosted by Gauri.

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