Friday 26 September 2014

Kale Chane ke Kebabs

This is another health and tasty recipe which you can serve as snacks at any party or can enjoy in your breakfast.



Ingredients:


  1. Bengal Gram or kala chana - 1 cup
  2. Onions chopped finely - 1
  3. Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 spoon
  4. Green chilies finely chopped - 2
  5. Fresh coriander finely chopped
  6. Oats - 1 cup
  7. Chaat masala - 1/2 spoon
  8. Salt - to taste or 1/2 spoon
  9. Garam masala powder - 1/4 spoon
  10. Oil to fry

Method:

  1. Soak the bengal gram overnight and boil in morning with  salt.
  2. Drain them and let them cool.
  3. Grind the chanas to a paste. Add very little water if you face difficulty while grinding.
  4. Take the paste out in a bowl and add ginger garlic paste, green chilies, onion, coriander and all dry spices to this. 
  5. As we have added salt while boiling the chanas, adjust the seasoning accordingly.
  6. Add 1/2 cup of oats to this and mix well. You can add more if you feel the dough is too watery as oats will soak up extra water and kebabs will not break.
  7. Make small kebabs of this dough of round or oval shape.
  8. Take oats in a dish and coat the kebabs with the oats.
  9. Put this in fridge for some time so that the kebabs are firm and oats are properly coated on them.
  10. You can now deep fry these in hot oil or shallow fry in non stick pan with little oil for healthy snack.

Thursday 25 September 2014

Kuttu Atta Chila in Navratra

Navratras are here and everyone is busy fasting...or should I say feasting. Well these days navratras have become more of a fest than fast, with Haldiram's and Bikanerwalas coming up with navratra chaat, tikki, thali and what not.

If you are like me and want to eat light during the 9 days fast then I have just the right recipe for you. We usually use kuttu atta and singhada aata to make fried puris or paranthas which we eat with equally oily aloo sabzi during navratras. You can use the same flour to create something filling, healthy and yet tasty. You can remove/add few ingredients based on what you eat or avoid during fast.

Ingredients:

  1. Kuttu atta or singhada atta - 2-3 serving spoon
  2. chopped green chilies - 1
  3. chopped tomatoes - 1
  4. chopped fresh coriander - 2 spoons
  5. Sendha Salt - to taste
  6. Oil to cook - 1/2 spoon

Method:

  1. Take your selected flour in a bowl and and pour 2-3 spoon water in it. Mix well to create a smooth paste.
  2. Add some more water to adjust the consistency to make a thin paste so that it falls freely from the spoon.
  3. Add salt to taste and mix.
  4. Heat a non stick pan and and little oil to it.
  5. Pour and spread the flour mix in pan with a spoon.
  6. Sprinkle chopped coriander, green chilies and tomatoes on this, cover and cook for 3-4 mins.
  7. Flip and cook from other side as well.
  8. You can enjoy this with a peanuts chutney or curd.

Hummus

Hummus is an Arabic dip made of chickpeas which is very healthy and is normally consumed with pita bread and falafal. The recipe below is a bit different from authentic recipe and you can use this as bread spread or in sandwiches, instead of using butter and cheese spread. This can also be served with salad, nachos, chips and crackers at your next party.


Ingredients:


  1.  Chickpeas/White Chana – 1/2 cup
  2.  Garlic cloves – 5-6
  3. Chilly flakes - 1/2 spoon or to taste
  4. White sesame seed paste -  1 spoon
  5. Olive Oil - 1 serving spoon
  6. Lemon Juice - 1 spoon or according to taste
  7. Chilly sauce - 1 Serving spoon
  8. Salt - to taste

Method:

  1. Boil the chickpeas with little bit of salt, drain water and let them cool.
  2. In a blender add all the ingredients together and blend to smooth paste.
  3. Add water if necessary to adjust the consistency of dip You can consume it as a spread on toast or as a chutney with kebabs.

Tip:

You can add chopped olive, pickles, jalapenos, capsicum, gherkins etc to this dip and make a sandwich with it.

Image courtesy @BostanMagzine

Pindi Chana

This is the easiest recipe in my cook book. Whenever we are going to have some guests in house this is my favorite as this does not involve any chopping, cutting or cooking the onions/tomato masala for hours.

This recipe demands some extra grease so if you want a healthier version you can use non stick but taste will be compromised. I usually do not use much of oil in this when cooking as a daily meal option. But for guests I try to be more generous.



Ingredients:

  1. Kabuli Chana/White Chikpeas - 1 Cup
  2. Tea bags - 2
  3. Garlic - 6-7 cloves
  4. Ginger - 1 inch long piece
  5. Whole black pepper - 3-4
  6. Black Cardamom or badi elaichi - 1
  7. Cinnamon or Daalchini stick - 1
  8. Cloves or laung - 2-3
  9. Salt to taste
  10. Coriander powder - 7-8 table spoon
  11. Red chili powder - 1/2 table spoon
  12. MDH Chana Masala - 4-6 table spoon (I prefer MDH because it gives the chana a very good taste. I have never been satisfied with any other brand , specifically for this dish)
  13. Mustard oil - 1/2 table spoon
  14. Cooking oil - 8-10 table spoon

Method:

  1. Soak the chickpeas overnight or for at least a couple of hours if you are in hurry.
  2. Put the chickpeas in a pressure cooker along with black peppers, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, salt, whole garlic cloves, ginger chopped in big chunks and tea bags.
  3. Add mustard oil and water to this and let it cook for about 20-25 mins. Do not put a lot of water as this is a dry dish.
  4. In another pan take cooking oil and let it heat. 
  5. Add coriander powder and red chili powder to hot oil and let it cook for a minute.
  6. Add this tampering to the boiled chickpeas in pressure cooker and let cook.
  7. Add chana masala to the pressure cooker and give a nice stir.
  8. Let this cook till the water dries and chickpeas have a good consistency.

Tampering (Optional):

  1. Heat 1 serving spoon of clarified butter or desi ghee in a small pan.
  2. Add dried red chilies to this.
  3. Once chilies are cooked add this tampering on top of your serving bowl. 
  4. You can add some degi mirch also to this tampering to add that extra color to your dish.
  5. Garnish the chanas with fresh green coriander or sliced Onions, tomatoes and green chilies.