Stuffed Broccoli Tikkis

Hi All!

First of all a hearty thanks for writing such elaborate and open hearted comments here in my previous post. I have always loved an open and healthy discussion happening here and somehow I was missing it the past few months but the last two days I was overjoyed. I hope we will continue doing that.

I am here to share yet again another snack item which I had made as an evening snack for my kids. Yes, moms have a never ending challenge of providing a new, interesting, healthy and tasty snack everyday. To satisfy their burgeoning demands can become  burdening at times. I do try that I am able to provide them the best, but at times I do fail when health or time does not permit.

I always tell myself to finish maximum chores in the morning when my body is rested after the night’s sleep and with the mind full of energy and enthusiasm I do create and innovate well. Though, the stress is to plan things in advance and then complete things accordingly, I do fail at times and then regret when I’m short of time and energy.

It was surely not any of the case I mentioned above when I made these tikkis as I had planned my day well and could finish a lot of work that day apart from making these beauties. I made the tikkis in advance in the morning along with the morning lunch and refrigerated them and fried them in the evening. The kids loved them to the core and I was mighty happy as each tikki is quite filling and is a pack full of energy, vital nutrients, health and taste. What more do you want….and the best part it is quite simple to try. As a matter of fact this entire thing came into existence as I was trying to finish off small portions of a few things left in the refrigerator, so for me it was clearing up and cooking simultaneously .

Ingredients for Broccoli Tikkis (makes 8 of medium size)

For the crust

1 onion chopped

3 green chillies chopped

2-3 garlic pods grated

3/4 cup broccoli finely chopped

5 small potatoes boiled and peeled

2 tbsp. corn starch

1 tsp. white pepper pwd

2 tsp. oil

salt to taste

For the filling

100gms cottage cheese grated

50gms mozzarella cheese grated

2 tsp. chilli flakes

2 tsp. oregano seasoning

and

oil for shallow frying

Method For  Outer Crust

Heat 2 tsp. oil and add garlic followed by onion. Add salt to taste and tip in the broccoli and saute for 2 mins. Cool it.

Add the broccoli mix to mashed potatoes and add corn starch, white pepper, green chillies and mix thoroughly. Adjust the salt if required.

Divide this into 16 equal portions.

Method for Filling

Mix all the ingredients under the heading properly and divide into 8 portions.

Assembling the tikkis

Flatten each portion of the potato-broccoli mix and sandwich one portion of the filling between two flattened potato-broccoli portions, seal the edges and give it the shape of a tikki.

Shallow fry on a medium flame in oil till golden brown in colour from both the sides.

Remove on a kitchen towel.

Serve with sauted capsicum, zucchini and tomato ketch up.

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How To Make An Authentic Maharashtrian Style Sabudana Vada….revealing my secret

Hi!

One might wonder why do I say a ‘must read’ for this post as Sabudana Vada is a very commonly made stuff and a lot of people make it quite regularly as fasting food. I have eaten this vada made by many people but have always found something missing, there’s a particular taste that always haunts me and which I am seeking for, when I want to eat or try this and which goes amiss in most of them.

Most of the people just mix the sago, potato, peanut, salt and chillies to make the vada and it turns out to be a good vada with great flavour but this is not what I am looking for, there are a few more ingredients when added to this

vada, takes it to a higher level in terms of taste and flavour which I am going to share with all of you here, one can say I am here to share some secrets which normally I should have hidden. But I always believe that by sharing I learn more than by hiding it and I also strongly believe that with the same procedure followed and ingredients used, one’s passion and the taste of one’s hand gets added to the preparation, so what I make and how it tastes, is not easy to copy..

This vada though needs basic ingredients, can actually fail easily if not handled properly, so do ensure that you use good quality sago else the vadas might burst open while frying and which can cause burns and accidents. Also, use old potatoes which are cooked in open vessel, they yield a far superior result. Coming to the recipe, I am providing exact measures of the ingredients that I have used and gladly they gave me a good result, a result that I wait for. One can change one or more ingredients as per their choice but if you want to taste my kind of vada, just stick to this..

BTW this is my younger one’s favourite and he waited almost for two years for me to make these, which actually made me wonder how much patient he had been…and also, how lazy I was to keep postponing .

Ingredients for Sabudana Vada

4 cups of soaked sago

2 medium sized, boiled potatoes

6-7 green chillies

3-4 tbsp. chopped coriander

3/4 cup roasted and crushed peanuts

3 tsp. singhada flour

3 tsp. rajgeera flour

1/2 tsp. sugar

salt to taste

1 tsp. cumin

oil/ ghee for frying

Method

Wash the sago with water 2-3 times and discard all the water, soak overnight, apply about 2-3 tsp of yogurt while soaking, this imparts a mildly sour taste to the vada.

Mix all the other ingredients into the sago and mix properly, ensure that the potatoes are properly crushed. The singhada and rajgeera flour not only helps bind well but they do add a great flavour too, so my word of advice would be not to miss them.

Heat oil or ghee on a medium flame, take a ping pong ball sized vada mix and flatten it and smoothen the edges, deep fry in oil or ghee till golden brown in colour, for best result fry in ghee.

Remove on a kitchen towel and serve hot with green-peanut chutney.

Method for Green-Peanut chutney

Grind together a cup of chopped coriander with 6 large spoons yogurt, 1/2 cup roasted peanuts, 6 green chillies, salt and half teaspoon cumin to a smooth paste. Add a little water to make it a little thin, mix and serve. I have always found this chutney an excellent accompaniment for these vadas.

These vadas are quite filling, they make an excellent starter and are perfect fasting food, moreover if made in large quantity they make a good brunch item, which was the case at my home, my kids love this and they can actually hog on them.

A word of caution, these vadas are quite addictive, no one can eat just one and plus they are high on calories, so it is surely not for weight conscious  and calorie conscious people.

I am sending this to Naina and PJ’s Flavours of Maharashtra.

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Raw Green Chickpeas Biryani

Hi.

Winter is the season of greens and with that you can also see the fresh green chickpeas abundantly available. As a child and even today I love opening it from it’s pod and eating them raw as well as roasting them too. I also enjoy eating the saag made with it’s leaves which I will try to post sometime.

As a child, I remember carrying a small bunch in my hand and then eating it sitting on a dari in the courtyard while I drenched myself in some sunlight.

 

Now a days the peeled fresh green chickpeas are available easily in the super marts, surely making our lives easier in the times of hurry. I had a pack of this with me which I wanted to use in an innovative and tasty way, so I thought of making a biryani. The end result I must say tasted really good and with a combination of mixed veg raita is an excellent one pot meal. I had skipped my breakfast so after I finished clicking the pics I savoured myself with a plate of biryani and a bowl of raita and simply relished my wholesome meal. The green chickpeas had imbibed all the flavours properly and the rice was rightly aromatic just giving the perfect kick to the taste buds.

Ingredients for Green Chickpeas Curry

2-3 bay leaves

200 gms fresh green chickpeas

3 onions finely chopped

2 tomatoes finely chopped

3-4 tbsp. yogurt

3 large garlic pods

an inch of ginger

1-1/2 tsp. red chilli pwd

2 tbsp. coriander pwd.

1/2 tsp. turmeric

salt to taste

1 tsp garam masala

mix of ghee and oil for cooking

For rice

2 cups long grain/ basmati rice

4 bay leaves

1, 2” cinnamon stick

4 green cardamom

2 black cardamom

1 javitri

salt to taste

1 tsp oil

1 tsp lemon juice

For garnish

fried onion strips

mint leaves

a pinch of saffron soaked in half cup milk

about 4-5 tsp ghee

Method

For making the Rice

The biryani rice is quite aromatic and the aroma comes by adding whole spices while cooking the rice.

Soak about 2 cups of basmati rice in water.

Boil about 7 cups of water, to this add oil, lemon juice, whole spices and then add the soaked rice into it and cook till almost done (the rice grains must have a bite). Cooking in excess water allows the grain to be separate, drain the rice and pour some cold water on it to stop it’s cooking.

To Make The Green Chickpeas Curry

While making the curry for the biryani one must make it more  spicy than the normal as it has to provide flavour to the rice too.

Heat a mix of oil and ghee and add the bay leaves followed by ginger garlic paste and saute. Now add the chopped onions and saute them till light brown in colour, tip in the tomatoes now and cook till mushy. Add the spices and salt now followed by the garam masala. Lower the flame of the gas and the yogurt stirring continuously so that it does not curdle. At the end the curry should have a semi gravy consistency.

Layering the Biryani

Spread a layer of rice followed by the curry, sprinkle some fried onions, about 2 tsp of saffron flavoured milk, few chopped mint leaves and a teaspoon of ghee. Repeat this layering process again with rice and curry till the top of the container. Seal the container and cook in a microwave at 100% power for 7-8 minutes and then let it rest for another 7 minutes before serving.

Serve hot  garnished with fried onions and mint with a  bowl of mixed veg raita.

Sending this to MLLA-32nd Edition hosted by Sandhya and is the brainchild of Susan.

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Raw Papaya Jhunka and The CSN Giveaway Winner Is..

Hi friends!

First of all let me thank all my blogger friends and others who sent in their best wishes for my son’s well being on the FB. He is much better and in less pain, though complete recuperation will take as much as six months. Meanwhile have arranged for a scribe so that he can take his exams. I have not been able to check all your posts for a while due to this emergency at home, will surely try to peep in as and when possible.

The jhunka is a traditional preparation of Maharashtra and Karnataka made using the gram flour. The authentic Jhunka makes use of onions but here I have tried to innovate a new preparation using the raw papaya. I must say this was a quick preparation and tasted really good. No one can make out that there’s papaya going into the preparation…..

The Jhunka goes well with Bhakari or any roti.

I am sending this to Naina and PJ’s Flavours of Maharashtra.

Ingredients

about 3 cups of grated raw papaya

3 garlic pods crushed

6-7 tbsp gram flour

2 tbsp sour curd

1/2 tsp turmeric

a pinch of asafoetida

6-7 green chillies chopped

2 tsp coriander pwd

about 5 tbsp oil (this needs a little extra oil)

1/2 tsp sugar

salt to taste

1 tsp mustard seeds

3-4 tsp coriander chopped

Method

Heat oil and add the mustard seeds followed by crushed garlic, green chillies, asafoetida and turmeric.

Add in the grated papaya and mix. Season with salt and sugar.

Add the coriander pwd and mix again. Put the yogurt and sprinkle the gram flour and mix properly. Cover it with a lid and cook under it’s own steam for 5-6 minutes.

Add the chopped coriander and serve hot.

 

Finally the CSN giveaway winner based on the links left here and after getting a confirmation from Prathibha on the accepted links is Soumya of Soumya’s Kitchen from USA who has sent the Farro Salad. Congratulations dear, please contact me at cookingoodfood@gmail.com

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Bulletin Janvier 2011

Si vous êtes adhérent à notre association PALCF (donc à jour de votre cotisation 2011) sur simple demande de votre part par courriel à PALCF@online.fr , nous vous adresserons le dernier bulletin de janvier 2011.

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‘ONLY’- COOKING WITH BREAD & The Giveaway Of The Month

Hi!

Bread is one of the few things in the world that has remained as an important part of our lives throughout history. It doesn't matter  you live in which part of the world, bread will always have a special place on all our dinner tables. It may not be the centre piece of our daily meal, but we would surely feel its absence if it wasn't there.

So here’s your chance to cook something with bread, bread crumbs or even a bread completely. We used bread crumbs as binders or to provide the crunch, similarly the bread can used to make so many varieties, for eg. toasts, sandwich, rolls, cutlets etc. One can come up with so many varieties of breads, it can be a bread from any part of the world right from Focaccia to Naan  or a Pita, one can use them as a base to make many more variations, imagination is all yours..

Rules For The Event
• Any number of fresh entries can be sent but only 2 entries from the archive will be accepted. Archived entries to be reposted, else will not be accepted.
• Only vegetarian ( eggs allowed) entries will be accepted.
• Use of logo is mandatory as it helps spread the word.
• The entry should be linked back to this announcement page.
• Winner will be chosen by me by any random method after the round up is completed.
• Please send an email at cookingoodfood@gmail.com with the subject line "Only- Cooking With Bread" in the following format.

• Name
• Blog's name
• Blog url
• Recipe name
• Recipe link
• Picture(resized to 300pixel)
• Country (This is an important field)

Non bloggers don't get disappointed, you can also participate, and send me the entries and the details to my email. I will post the round up within 7 days of event completion unless caught in some emergency and also, I am not eligible to win the giveaway being the host.

In case you want to host this event in future, drop me a line at cookingoodfood@gmail.com. The host line up and details of the event can be checked here.

Now coming to the giveaway, this month we have only one giveaway (we will have CSN giveaways in alternate months) i.e from http://www.tarladal.com/. The winner from India will get a book on  Sandwiches.

Tarla Dalal has written a large number of cook books for diabetics, some of which are


One can buy these books online from here.
All the best and keep cooking.

 

.

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Veggie/ Fruit A Month, Event Announcement For February

Hi!

Veggie/ Fruit a Month is an event which is the brain child of a very sweet person Priya Mitharwal of Mharo Rajasthan Recipes. She has posted a lot of recipes from Rajasthan in her blog, do stop by her space to check that. I am thankful to Priya to provide me an opportunity to host her event.

This month is the month of choosing a fruit and as you must have  guessed from the logo, the fruit I have chosen is Strawberry. It is available abundantly here right now and thus providing us an opportunity to indulge more into it. Bake a cake, make a dessert, a dip or a chutney choice is yours. So wear your cook’s hat and come up with innovative recipes.

Coming to the rules:

• The chosen veggie or fruit has to be the STAR of the recipe.
• It can be cooked in any way or can be in its raw form in the recipe.
• It can be any course of the meal (appetizer/main course/side dish/dessert/beverage or breakfast/lunch/dinner/snack).
• Recipe has to be strictly vegetarian (eggs are allowed). This is simply to re-enforce the fact that we can eat veggies without any meat and also for all our vegetarian friends, who do not eat meat.
• You HAVE to make new recipes and old archived posts are not allowed, so that we try and make new fresh recipes :)
• Please send in your entries before end of February 2011.
• If you are a blogger, you can simply send your Name and URL of your recipe and a pic of 300 pixel size of the preparation to cookingoodfood@gmail.com with the subject of "Veggie/Fruit A Month – Strawberry".
• Non bloggers can email me your name, recipe and picture at cookingoodfood@gmail.com and I will include your recipe in the round up.
• Link your post to the original event post along with the event announcement for this month.
• Use of logo is appreciated as it helps spread the word.

So, what are you waiting, start cooking innovative recipes and send them in..

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