SWEET CORN CAPSICUM CHAAT

I believe in "food is the real spice of life". My brother in law asked me few weeks back for a chaat recipe which must be healthy and made with some vegetables only. So, today I come here with a very nutritious, low cholesterol chatpatta Veggie chaat that relies on low fat paneer / tofu to stay with low calorie and 'heart friendly' diet.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Cooked Sweet Corn Kernels
1/3 Cup Chopped Green Bell Pepper (Capsicum)
1/3 Cup Chopped Tomatoes
100 gm Low Fat Paneer (Cottage Cheese) / Tofu (Soya Paneer), cut into small cubes
1/2 Cup Chopped Onions
1 tsp Chopped Green Chillies (or as per taste)
1/2 tsp Grated Ginger
1/2 tsp Black Salt
1/2 tsp Chaat Masala
1/4 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
2 tbsp Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves
2 tbsp Olive Oil
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder

METHOD:

Heat oil in a non-stick pan or griddle, add the onions and fry for a while.
Add green chillies, ginger and capsicum. Fry again.
Add all other remaining ingredients, mix well and saute for 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Add Kashmiri red chili powder, fold well and turn off the heat now.

Serve hot garnished with finely chopped coriander leaves. Enjoy this yummy snack.

OATS MOONG TIKKI

Once when I surfed net, these beautiful healthy tikkis attracted my attention at tarladalal.com. I got impressed and jotted down the recipe, little changes I made, but these flavoursome diabetic friendly tikkis are really awesome! These days, I am always fond of healthy food with very less oil and I prefer to use olive oil in my daily cooking. So, here is the fiber rich, protein pack toothsome tikkis, hope you will like it.

INGREDIENTS (FOR MAKING 12 TIKKIS):

1/2 Cup Quaker Rolled Oats
1/2 Cup Split Yellow Gram (yellow moong dal)
1/4 Cup Finely Chopped Onions
2 tbsp Plain Yogurt (fresh curd)
1 tsp Finely Chopped Green Chilies
1/2 tsp Ginger Paste
1/2 tsp Garlic Paste
1 tsp Red Chili Powder
1 tsp Chaat Masala
1&1/2 tsp Dried Mango Powder (amchur)
1/4 tsp Garam Masala Powder
2 tbsp Finely Chopped Cilantro / Coriander Leaves
2 tsp Olive Oil (for greasing tawa and brushing tikkis)
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Wash moong dal nicely. Boil it in a sauce pan with 1 Cup of water, till dal is soft, tendered and all the water has evaporated.
Let it cool, drain and blend the dal in a mixer to make a coarse paste.

Transfer the paste to a bowl, add all the remaining ingredients (except oil) and mix everything very well.
Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions and shape each portion into 2&1/2" round flat tikki.
Lightly grease a non-stick tawa and brush it with 1/2 tsp oil.
Place 2-3 tikkis on a tawa at a time. Cook each tikki on medium flame using 1/8 tsp of olive oil, till it is evenly cooked and got golden from both sides.

Serve hot with any sauce or chutney, it is filling, fiber rich, protein pack yet delicious.

FISH CUTLETS - YUMMY SRI LANKAN SNACKS

Sri Lankans are mad on snacks. It may be tea-time snacks or any party dish. Fish cutlets are another personal favorite among Sri Lankan cuisine. They are small golf-ball sized portion of joy, dip in egg and rolled, lightly breaded and deep fried........absolutely divine.

INGREDIENTS:
(For 20 cutlets)
15 OZ Canned Tuna Fish (may use salmon or jack macherel)
2 Medium sized Potatoes (parboiled)
1/2 of a large Red Onion, finely chopped
1" Ginger (minced)
5-6 Curry Leaves (shredded)
3 Green Chillies (finely chopped)
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder (as per taste)
1/2 tsp freshly pounded Black Pepper powder
1 tsp Mustard paste (optional)
1 tbsp Lime juice
2 tbsps Corn Flour
1 Egg (beaten)
1/2 Cup Breadcrumbs
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

METHOD:

Peel potatoes and cut in cubes.

In a large bowl, combine potato, onion, mustard paste, ginger, curry leaves, green chillies, red chilli powder and black pepper powder. Mash every thing roughly.

Drain tuna fish. Add tuna and corn flour in potato mixture. add salt and lime juice in it.

Mix nicely by using your hands, should not be any lump within the mixture. (Corn flour binds mixture well)

Now time to shape the cutlets. Take about a golf-ball sized amount of mixture, little press from the up and down to give a shape like flatten disc. Next dip the flatten disc into the beaten egg and then into the breadcrumbs. Keep aside on a plate.

I made shapes of cutlets flatten dish with half portion of the mixture and with another half part I gave golf-ball shaped. Because both look very nice.

Heat oil in a frying pan. When the oil is enough hot, add 5-6 fish balls in it. Don't over crowd. Fry the cutlets both sides till golden brown. Follow the same for the remaining cutlets.

Garnish with onions/salad. Serve hot with chilli tomato sauce or mustard sauce as you like.

Linking to:  Chandrani's Holiday Recipes

TANDOORI PANEER TIKKA

I found this recipe on www.sanjeevkapoor.com presented by Chef Harpal Singh Sukhi. But here, I made some changes in it according to my tastebuds and it comes out awesome, lazaabab! I used my oven by making my tikkas, but really I missed that smokey flavour which comes out from the tandoor only. One thing you have to focus always by making tikka or kabab, the marination. Tikkas are generally made in tandoor or grilled in oven. But you may prepare it on stovetop too.

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb / 450 gm Cottage Cheese (paneer)
2 Medium Onions, cut in cubes
A Pinch of Carom seeds
1 Large Green Bell Pepper, cut in cubes
1 Medium tomato, cut in cubes
1/4 Cup Chickpea Flour (besan)
2 tbsps Clarified Butter (ghee)
1/2 Cup hanged curd / plain yogurt
1/3 tsp Red Chilli powder
1/4 tsp Black Pepper powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp freshly pounded Garam masala
1/3 tsp Dry Mango powder (amchur)
1 tsp Ginger paste
1 tsp Garlic paste
2 tsps fresh Lemon juice
3 tbsps Mustard Oil
Salt to taste
4 wooden skewers (soak in water for 3-4 hours)

METHOD:
Cut cottage cheese in 1&1/2" cubes. Set aside.

Heat clarified butter in a frying pan. Add carom seeds in it. Saute for 30-40 seconds, add chickpea flour now. Keep stirring continuously for 3-4 minutes, till a nice aroma comes out. Switch off the heat and pour chickpea flour in a large bowl.

Heat mustard oil in a pan, add turmeric in it. Immediately remove it from the pan.

Combine chickpea flour, mustard oil, curd, red chilli powder, black pepper powder, garam masala, dry mango powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, lemon juice, mustard oil and salt. Whisk nicely.

Add cottage cheese cubes, tomato cubes, green bell pepper cubes and onion cubes and mix with the batter nicely. Keep this marination aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Thread the cottage cheese / paneer into the skewers, alternating the paneer with cubes of vegetables as you wish (alternating, onion-paneer-bell pepper-tomato-onion-paneer-bell pepper-tomato like that). Arrange the skewers on the baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Bake each side for 5-6 minutes. To achieve the sizzling effect, now put the oven to broil mode for 5 minutes. Switch off the oven. Take out the baking tray from the oven immediately.

Place the paneer tikka onto the plate, squeeze little lime juice and sprinkle chaat masala on the top. Serve immediately.

TIPS: If you don't have oven or tandoor, just cook it in gas oven. Heat a griddle, sprinkle little oil in it. Place skewers on it. Cook 5 minutes each side on medium flame.
Sending to:  Chandrani's Holiday Recipes

CORN PEAS TIKKI

During my corporate life, I was in Haryana for 6 months where I met with different types of street food. Literally I fall in love to those dishes. Among them, aloo chat and papri chat with loads of turmarind chutney, curd and mint chutney; are really mouth watery. But I loved different types of tikkis too, a lipsmacking and also a good, evening snack. Here I did some little variation on regular aloo / rajma tikki; corn, potatoes, green peas mixed with lots of Indian spices, tikkis made with it which were shallow fried. Tasty and delicious tikkis will always remind you the flavour of Delhi & Haryana, which I am missing always during evening nowadays. Try this, trust me you will surely love it.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup Sweet Corn (frozen)
1/2 Cup Green Peas (frozen)
2 Medium Potatoes (peeled and parboiled)
3-4 tbsp Bread Crumb
1&1/2 tbsp Grated Cheese
1/2 Green Bell Pepper / Capsicum (finely chopped)
1/2 Cup Chopped Onion
2 Green Chilies (finely chopped)
1 tbsp Dried Mango Powder (amchur)
1/2 tsp Red Chili powder
1/2 Cup Tomato Puree
2 tbsp Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
1 tbsp + 2 tbsp Oil for Shallow Frying

METHOD:
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan. Add chopped onion in it. Fry for 2 minutes. Add green bell pepper, green chili and tomato puree in it. Mix salt, red chili powder and dried mango powder. Fold nicely till spices leave oil from the sides of the pan.

Add corn and peas in it. Fry for another 5-6 minutes, till all moisture evaporates and everything incorporated well with the spices. Remove from pan. Add grated cheese in it.

Add mashed potatoes, bread crumb, coriander leaves and little salt with corn peas mixture. Mix nicely by using your hand.

Take a portion of mixture and make a ball out of it. Gently flatten them into a round shape.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan. Arrange 5-6 tikkis on it. Let it fry for 2 minutes. Flip and cook the other side also to crispy brown. Both sides should be browned.

Serve hot with chutney or sauce.

Sending to:  Chandrani's Holiday Recipes

CHICKEN SEEKH KABAB

Chicken seekh kabab is the special delight of minced chicken and other Indian spices. Kabab is a traditional dish of sliced or minced meat originating in the Middle East and later adopted by the Central Asia, before spreading worldwide. The traditional meat for kabab is lamb, but depending on local tastes, it may be beef, goat, chicken, pork, fish and seafood or even vegetarian foods like falafel or tofu. In Iran or Middle East, kababs also serve with saffroned rice or Persian rice named 'KAPSA'. Kababs in India are more or less similar to most other kababs preparations along with their distinct taste i.e seekh, chapli, kakori, boti, kalmi, tikka, shammi all can be credited to the spices native to the Indian subcontinent.

INGREDIENTS:

500 gm Mince Chicken
1 Onion (finely chopped)

1 tsp Freshly Pounded Black Pepper Powder

1 tbsp Coriander Seeds (coarsely pounded)

1 tsp Red Chili Flakes (or chili Powder)

½ tsp Roasted & Crushed Fennel Seeds (Saunf)

1 tsp Roasted  Cumin Seeds ( Coarsely Pounded)

1 Egg White (Beaten till peak form)

1 tbsp Soya Sauce

½ Cup Very Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro

1 tbsp Finely Chopped Green Chilies

1 tbsp Rice Flour

1 tbsp Corn Starch

1 tbsp Melted Clarified butter (ghee)

3 tbsp Oil (for shallow frying)

12 Bamboo Skewers (soaked in water for 4 hours)

1 tsp Salt

METHOD:

In a large bowl, combine onion, black pepper powder, pounded coriander-cumin-fennel, coriander leaves, chili flakes, green chili, rice flour and corn starch with minced chicken.

Add salt, soya sauce and clarified butter (ghee) in it. Lastly add egg white and combine everything very well. Cover and refrigerate the chicken mixture for overnight or 7-8 hours.

Heat 1tbsp oil in a non-stick pan or tawa. Grease bamboo skewers with few drops of oil. Make seekh kabab by moulding some minced chicken around a skewer about 4" in length and place immediately on the heated pan, like the same way fry 4-5 kababs at a time. Brush with a little oil and keep turning time to time till each kabab is tender and golden brown from outer. After frying remove from the pan and place immediately on the serving plate.

Serve hot with onion rings, salad and chutney of your choice n enjoy!!!

TIPS: Chicken should be very fresh. Soya sauce gives a nice smokey flavor to kababs. Seekh kababs are not supposed to an uniform shape, while making  people are usually using their hands and shape accordingly. So shape can be varied. You may bake, fry, grill or BBQ the kababs.
Sending to:  Cook with Comfort ~Blog Anniversary Event, Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event

VEGETABLE PANEER KABAB

I am posting today an easy and quick recipe for making paneer and vegetable kababs, may call it as tikkis. This is a very tasty and mouth watering kababs. This is a very perfect appetizer for those, who doesn't like potato or aloo. Tryout this perfect tea-time snack specially on a rainy or cold evening, its light and delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Hung Fresh Paneer / Channa (Crumbled)
1/2 Cup Grated Carrot
2/3 Cup Green Peas (Coarsely Pounded)
2 Slices of Bread
1 tsp Minced Ginger
1 tsp Finely Chopped Green Chillies
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Cilantro / Coriander Leaves
1 tsp Roasted Cumin Seeds (Powdered)
2 tsp Dried Mango Powder (Amchur)
1 tsp Black Pepper Powder
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Lemon Juice (Preferably Gondhoraj Lemon)
1 tsp Sugar (for increasing its flavor)
1 tbsp Clarified Butter (ghee)
3 tbsp Oil for Shallow Frying The Kababs
Salt to taste
1/3 tsp Chaat Masala

METHOD:

Dip bread in the water and squeeze out excess liquid from it.

In a large bowl, mix bread and all other ingredients (except oil and chaat masala) nicely. This must be lightly tight mixture. Mix every thing nicely. Refrigerate the dough for atleast 1 hour.

Now take a small portion from this dough, give a shape of ball. Press it gently to make a small flat round pattie or kabab. Repeat the precedure for all pieces.

Heat oil in a pan, fry kababs till crisp and golden brown from both sides. Drain on a paper towel.

Sprinkle chaat masala on the top, serve hot with your favorite chutney or ketchup.

Sending to:  Cook with Comfort ~Blog Anniversary Event, Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event