Vegetarian Shami Kebabs

Traditionally Shami kebabs are made of minced meat, this is a vegetarian version of them with combination of unusual ingredients, something different to make and serve from the usual array of appetizers..I found this recipe on the internet..tried it and loved it.

Ingredients:

For Kebabs: Makes about 12-14

1 firm plantain (raw banana)

1/4 cup chana daal ( cooked through but not mushy, just firm enough)

1 onion (fine diced)

Few green chilis (finely chopped)

Half a bunch of Coriander/cilantro (finely chopped)

10-12 leaves of Mint (finely chopped)

Red chili powder, Turmeric powder, Amchur Powder, Chaat masala and Salt, all these to taste

 

For the inside stuffing:

1/2 cup of fine grated paneer

Few fresh pomegranate pods

Salt,red chili powder and armchur powder, all to taste.

Mix it well.

 

Method:

1) Boil the plantain in water until its cooked through but make sure you don’t leave the plantain in the water after its done. (should be cooked but firm)

2) Mash the plantain and keep aside.

3) Saute the fine diced onions in a little oil, add green chilies and saute a min or so.

4) Add chana daal,plantain mash, cilantro, mint and all seasoning mentioned above, saute it for a min or so until mixed well.

5) Make a ball of this plantain-daal mix and in your palm flatten it to a small round.

6) Take little paneer mash and put it in the center of the plantain mash, close it to make them into small pattie size kebabs, about an inch or two in circumference.

7) Take some oil in a shallow pan and sear them until golden brown.

The nice part of the dish is when you bit into the kebabs, the paneer stuffing is a surprise and it also makes these kebabs very cheesy to taste and the pomegranate seeds are a big surprise too.

Serve it with chutney of your choice.
By Aditi Sheth

 

 

 

Healthy Vegetarian Seekh Kebabs

Ingredients:Simple ingredients and no frying makes these kebabs healthy and delicious.

1 cup finely chopped green beans

1 cup finely chopped carrots

1 cup finely chopped potatoes

2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp amchur powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp corriander powder,salt to taste.

chaat masala to sprinkle when done.

2-3 tbl spoon oil.

1/4 cup bread crumbs.

15 skewers (metal or wood) soaked in water for about half an hour.

A flat or open griddle/pan.

Method:

steam the vegetable together until cooked

mash them into a thick pulp.

It will be sticky because of the potato but that is what will make it stick on the skewers.

add the seasoning,( increase or decrease based on your preference)

Skewing:

Take some pulp in your palm, put the skewer in the middle of the pulp in your palm and start to bind it such that half the skewer is covered with the pulp.

The trick is to evenly distribute the veg pulp and making a decent layer on the skewer. Not to thick or it will fall off or not to thin cause it will burn.

Once all the skewers are done, heat the griddle.

brush some oil to prevent sticking.

Gently roll them in bread crumbs and lay the skewers on the griddle, roast on medium high heat.

Brush some oil on the skewers just to brown them and turn them over until both sides are golden brown.

Sprinkle some chaat masala on top.

one can add coriander,spinach,mint leaves or any other vegetable like beets.

Serve it with mint chutney.

By Aditi Sheth

Healthy Tandoori Indian Pizza (no guilt!!!)

Just a single slice of regular hand tossed pizza has over 500 calories alone,deep dish slice has close to 1000 calories, add to that the damaging refined flour and oil, the commercial eateries use.

The tandoori part comes from the use of tofu which if done right is a good substitute of paneer and the dry masalas. Using whole grain/whole wheat tortilla with skimmed milk cheese makes this pizza very crispy and healthier.

Cheddar cheese in general contains lot of salt so avoid using that.

 

Makes 1 medium pie

Ingredients:

1 large whole wheat  soft tortilla

2-3 tablespoon of pasta sauce

handful of colored peppers,pineapple,olives,mushrooms (optional),onions,broccoli and whatever other vegetable you fancy or prefer.

I love artichokes and baby spinach.

1/2 cup finely diced firm tofu (not soft or siken, the package has firm written on it) I know tofu with pizza is unbearable to think of but tofu marinated in indian spices can easily substitute paneer.

1 clove of garlic

1 tsp lemon juice.

A pinch of: Garam masala, red chili powder, any dry tandoori masala from MDH OR EVEREST brand.

1 tsp hot sauce

1/4 cup of skimmed milk mozzarella cheese ( i use kraft 2% )

 

Method:

Marinate the tofu pieces for an hour or so in the dry masalas with a spoon of lemon juice.

Spread the sauce on the tortilla, add the vegetables,tofu pieces, sprinkle cheese and sprinkle a pinch or so of dry masalas mentioned above.

Bake in the preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.

 

By Aditi Sheth

 

 

 

South Indian Vegetable Korma

Ingredients :

Few cloves garlic

small ginger piece

2 onions

1 tomato

mixed veggies (carrots ,beans ,cauliflower,potatoes ,peas)

beetroot

coconut

1 tablespoon sambhar powder

1 tsp garam masala

chilli powder as per taste

salt

Method:

 

Grind coconut ,sambhar pwd,garam masala and chilli pwd till it becomes a paste. Keep aside.

temper mustard seed,urad dal and curry leaves in oil.

add onion,garlic and ginger,once it browns a bit

add the tomato let it cook for a little while .

add the veggies,beetroot

when its cook 3/4th add the coconut masala paste.

and let it boil for couple of minutes

u serve this with malabari paratha or u can serve it with regular parathas.

tip: u have to use boiling hot water to make the paste

never boil the coconut based stuff for long it starts to smell (something to do with the oil separating in the coconut)

this is a very traditional Malayalam recipe.

 

By Anuradha Belpu

 

Mix Veggie and Oat Soup

Ingredients:

1 carrots

½ cup cabbage

½ cup beans

½ corn

1 onion

½ green bell pepper

few cloves garlic

1 tsp ginger

few green chilli one

salt

oil

½ cup oats

 

(basically you can use all the veggies in the fridge I call it the leftover vegetable soup)

 

method:

saute the onion in little oil or butter

add the green chilli ,garlic and ginger and salt

add the veggies let it cook a bit and add water .

once it starts boiling add oats and let it cook.

 

By Anuradha Belpu

Cranberry Chocolate Almond Biscotti (just like starbucks!)

This is a very easy recipe, it looks daunting but its not.

The literal translation of Bis and Cotto means twice baked in Italian and that is how authentic biscottis are made as you will see in the recipe.

There are many complicated recipes but this one is real simple.

They turn out just like the store bought ones.

The options are endless, you can substitute cranberries with walnuts,white chocolate,pistachios,saffron,dark chocolate, whatever you want to throw in.

Ingredients

1 stick butter softened

1 cup orange juice

3 eggs

2 ¾ cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

2 ¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp orange extract, essence or vanilla essence.

½ cup dried cranberries

½ slivered almonds,walnuts,macademia nuts

¼ cup melted chocolate to drizzle

Step 1

Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees.

Combine sugar and butter.

Beat lightly until mixed well

Add eggs, essence and beat again until mixed (lightly)

Step 2

Combine dry ingredients.

Flour,baking powder and salt.

Step 3

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well or beat lightly.

Then add orange juice,dry fruits and nuts.

Mix well.

Line a baking sheet/cookie sheet with parchment paper.

The dough will be semi solid and very sticky. That is how it should be.

Drop or spread the dough on the cookie sheet making logs of 9 inches long and 2 inches thick.

It will form about three logs from the quantity.

Bake the logs for about 35 minutes.

You will notice the dough has spread and is light brown from the bottom but soft on the top. This is because at 35 mins into the oven its half done.

Remove the trays, let it cool slightly, keep the oven on and lower the temperature to 300 degrees.

Now, with a serated knife, cut the half done dough into diagonal long pieces.

Turn the pieces over so they stand up. If they don’t stand up then lay them.

Bake them again for another 10-15 minutes until golden brown, turn them over so the other side can bake as well for another 10-15 minutes.

Basically the cookies has be golden brown and crisp.

Cool them, and drizzle melted chocolate on top.

By Aditi Sheth

Ringna no olo (smoked eggplant curry)

Ringna no olo

 

2-3 large sized brinjals

1 medium sized onion

1 small bunch spring onions. Chop separately the greens and the bulb.

6-7 cloves of garlic finely minced

2-3 medium sized tomatoes chopped finely

1 Green chilly – finely chopped

1 small pinch garam masala

1 tea spoon heaped – chilli powder

1 small pinch – turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Finely chopped fresh coriander(cilantro).

1 pinch of pepper powder

1/2 teaspoon jeera

hing for tempering.

 

 

Brush oil on the brinjals and slit them length-wise(although don’t slice them). You can roast them in the oven(350 C) for 20-30 minutes.* I choose to roast it over open flame on my gas stove for want of ‘rustic amenities’.

 

Roast them until the skin is completely charred and the brinjals appear mushy and well-cooked. Cool and scrape off skin. Clean and chop the core of roasted eggplants. Mash it to a chunky pulp.

 

Heat oil in a pan.**

Temper with the jeera and hing and add the chopped onion and spring onion whites. Be careful not to add spring onion greens at this stage. Cook onions until soft. Add minced garlic and green chilly. Make a paste of chilli-powder, pepper, garam masala, turmeric by adding a spoon of water.

 

Add the masala paste. Add tomatoes soon after. When tomatoes are done add the brinjal mash and mix thoroughly. Add salt to taste. Cook awhile until oil separates and coriander leaves and spring onion greens.

Serve hot with bajra rotlas and adad ni dal(urad dal). (Recipes coming soon… at a blog post near you..)

 

 

*The ‘authentic’ version calls for roasting them over ‘chulhas’ or ‘sigris’ where the flame

would impart an irreplacable smoky flavour to the brinjals.

** Like other Kathiawadi recipes this requires a generous amount of oil. It’s the groundnut oil that imparts this a sweet(not as in sugary!) flavour. Not very healthy you might contend, therefore use as much as you dare to.

 

A lot of the dish’s success depends on the quality of the egg-plant and the softness of flesh(the fewer the amount of seeds and fibrous content). There is another simpler version of this dish, where the mashed eggplant is consumed ‘uncooked’ with oil, salt and chilli powder.

By Jasmine Chokshi

 

 

Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoons butter
• 8 oz  sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 1/2 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1 cup  vegetable broth
• 1 cup milk
• Salt to taste
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, saute onion in butter until tender.  Add mushrooms and saute until tender. Combine flour and broth until smooth; stir into the mushroom mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. turn off the heat.
2. Keep some mushrooms aside & blend the rest in a blender till smooth.
3. Return the soup back in the pot.
4. Stir in the mushrooms,milk, salt and pepper. Simmer, uncovered, for 5-10 minutes, stirring often.

By Poonam R

Mishti Doi (Traditional Bengali Sweet Yogurt)

Ingredients

1 can of condensed Milk,
1 cup of Evaporated Milk,
1 cup of Greek Yogurt.

Method:

Mix the above ingredients and  beat with a hand mixer or in the blender till nice and frothy. Pour in a baking dish.

Use a little less than 1 can of condensed milk if you don’t like it very sweet.

Also if you do not have greek yogurt you can use regular full fat plain yogurt but do strain out the whey.

Heat Oven to 350 F. Fill a large baking tray with water. Put the baking dish with the mix in it so that water is half way up. Do not cover the baking dish.

After 30 – 35 minutes the yogurt will be set,
if not allow a couple more minutes. Take it out and chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

Garnish with saffron strands and serve.  You can also garnish with crushed pistachios.

By Sudipta Chatterjee

Green Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:

2-3 medium size green tomatoes

1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds, ground to fine powder, a little more

sesame also tastes good (like tahini), use this amount by your choice after a few experiments.

2-3 green chillies

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

1/4 cup jaggery (adjust quantity per taste, since the tomatoes inherently are sour)

salt per taste

for tadka/tempering

2 table spoons oil

Approx couple of pinches of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, asofoetida, curry leaves
Method:

Cut the tomatoes in big chunky pieces and set aside. Toast sesame seeds and grind them into fine powder.

Add oil to the pan, once heated add mustard and cumin seeds (pinch of each). Add hing and curry leaves and green chilli pieces. Add cut tomatoes and jaggery and keep the lid and let it cook for few minutes via steam. Only about 5 mins is enough on low-flame. Add fresh cilantro.

Transfer all the contents and sesame powder to a blender and blend into chutney like consistency. The chutney is ready to serve.

 

By Priya Vaidya