POTATO CHEESE BALLS IN SPINACH GRAVY

Yummy potato balls cheesy from inside cooked in creamy spinach sauce. Its a labour intensive dish but its worth the effort and makes a great main course party dish. Goes very well with naan, pulao or parathas. Trust me, it is really scrumptious and delightful.

INGREDIENTS FOR POTATO CHEESE BALLS:

3 Potatoes (Parboiled)
1/2 Cup Freshly made Cottage Cheese (Paneer)
4 tbsp Bread Crumbs
5-6 tbsp + 2 tbsp Corn Flour
Mozzarella Cheese, Cut into 9 Nos 1/4" Cubes
1/4 tsp Dried Oregano
1/4 tsp Dried Thyme
2 tbsp Finely Chopped Cilantro
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Chaat masala
Salt to taste
Oil For Deep Frying

INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING SPINACH GRAVY:

500 gm Baby Spinach (or may use leaves only) 
2-3 Green Chillies (As Per Taste)
6 Garlic Pods (Finely Chopped)
1 Large Tomato (Pureed)
1/2 tsp Caraway Seeds (Shah Jeera)
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Kitchen King Masala
1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
3-4 tbsp Oil
1/2 Cup Fresh Cream
1 tsp Butter (Optional)
Salt to taste

METHOD:

HOW TO MAKE POTATO CHEESE BALLS:

Mash parboiled potatoes very nicely.
Add cilantro, chaat masala, oregano, thyme, red chilli powder, cottage cheese and salt. Mix all ingredients well and keep aside for 2 minutes.
After that add 5-6 tbsp corn flour into in it. Mix well. Keep mixture into refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
Dilute 2 tbsp cornflour with 1/4 cup water. Whisk properly, so that there should not any lump inside the batter.
Take a small lemon sized ball, stuff 1or 2 mozzarella cheese cubes in it. Dip the ball in cornflour batter and roll on bread crumb. Thus, I made total 9 balls from the mixture.
Heat enough oil and deep fry the balls till golden brown. Set those balls aside; or you may serve as a party snack with green chutney....:)

HOW TO MAKE SPINACH GRAVY:

Boil 2-3 cups water with some salt. Switch off the heat and immediately add the spinach.

Blanch them in the water for 5 minutes.

Drain and immediately place the spinach in cold water for 3-4 minutes. So that it maintains the bright green colour in gravy.
Drain again and along with green chilies, make a smooth puree in a grinder or blender.

Heat oil in a kadai/handi. Add caraway seeds and garlic in it. Saute for a minute or two till raw smell of garlic disappears.

Pour spinach puree in it and keep stirring for 3 minutes. Add tomato puree and fold nicely.

Add turmeric powder, coriander powder and salt in it. Fry for 5 minutes on medium heat now.

Add 1 cup of warm water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat now and cook on simmer for 7-8 minutes, cook till the gravy is reduced by half.

Lower the heat now, add garam masala powder, fresh cream and butter in it. Keep stirring for a minutes. Switch off the heat now.

Arrange the koftas in a serving dish. Pour the hot gravy over it. Sprinkle little fresh cream on the top and serve hot.

This delectable dish goes well with steamed rice, jeera rice, pulao, phulkas, parathas or naan anything as you like.

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.

VEGETABLE UTTAPAM & WINNER'S GIVEAWAY FROM CUISINE DELIGHTS

'Uttapam' is a great snack or breakfast recipe from South India, very delicious, tasty and very easy to make. Uttapam is a variety of dosa, slightly thicker dosa, easilly called it 'No-Cheese Indian Pizza', my favourite South Indian dish. I don't need any sambar with it, it goes very well with any chutney. So here is the recipe of yummy flavourful uttapam with loads of veggies....

INGREDIENTS:

FOR MAKING BATTER:

2&1/4 Cups Parboiled (ukra) Rice
1 Cup Skinless Black Gram (urad dal)
1/4 Cup Short-grained Raw Rice
1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds

FOR TOPPING:

3/4 Cup Shredded Carrot
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
1 Green Bell Pepper (finely chopped)
1 Large Onion (finely chopped)
1 tbsp Finely Chopped Green Chilies
1 tsp Sambar Powder
Salt to taste
Oil for Frying

METHOD:

Soak parboiled rice, black gram, raw rice and fenugreek seeds in water seperately for 6 hours.
Combine parboiled rice, black gram, raw rice and fenugreek rice in a grinder jar.
Grind well into a smooth and thick batter using water as required, little by little.
Transfer batter into a bowl and set it aside for 8-10 hours, a well fermented batter gives very nice, soft and tasty dosa, idli or uttapam.
Add salt mix well. Add water as required. Dosa batter will be thinner and for uttapam, batter would be little thicker.
Heat a non-stick pan or tawa or griddle on medium heat and drizzle few drops of oil.
Pour 1&1/2 ladle full of the batter in the hot greased pan.
Sprinkle generously the chopped onion, shredded carrot, chopped green bell pepper, little green chilies, few chopped coriander leaves, a pinch of sambar powder fully covering the top and also add few drops of oil on it.
Cover the lid and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes. Open the lid and flip the uttapam and cook on low heat for another 2 minutes or till onion turns golden and crisp.

Serve hot uttapam with podi or chutney, its always yummilicious and filling!

Hi Friends, now it is award time!!!

I was choosen winner in the event "Holiday Recipes" conducted by my dear co-blogger friend Chandrani Banerjee of Cuisine Delights. It was really a very successful event. When Chandrani announced its round up, I surprised to see myself as a winner of that event. I am really very glad and feeling too much happiness.

My heartfelt thanks to you Chandrani Banerjee and loved your giveaway very much. Yes, it is "Party Cooking" by Sanjeev Kapoor, a wonderful book indeed. A special thanks to all of my co-blogger friends, readers and visitor for inspiring and motivating me to explore new recipes in my kitchen....Thanks each and everyone for supporting me......

GREEN MOONG DAL DOSA

This highly nutritious dosa is a very popular breakfast recipe of Andhra Pradesh, also known as 'Pesarattu Dosa'. This dosa can be made with whole green gram or split green gram lentils. This dosa can be served with coconut chutney, onion chutney, tomato chutney or any other chutney. A very crisp and really thin dosa has an unique taste and flavor, which is filling, protein pack and has a soothing texture. Serve warn with any spicy chutney and enjoy it in your breakfast or dinner table.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Cup Green Moong Dal
2 tbsp Rice Flour (instead of that may use gram flour)
2 Green Chilies (finely chopped)
1 Small Onion (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves / Cilantro
1 tsp + Oil for Roasting
Salt to taste

METHOD:

Soak the moong dal for 6 hrs, after that drain water and wash it very nicely, so that you can easily remove the maximum green peels at the time of washing dal.

For preparing dosa batter, grind moong dal, green chilies, onions, coriander leaves together. Add little bit water and make a coarse paste.

In a large bowl, combine moong dal paste, rice flour, salt and 1 tsp oil. Mix the batter. Add 1/2 cup water and stir well to get the right spreading consistancy of the dosa batter.

Heat a non-stick pan or tawa or griddle. Now going to get it off the flame. Pour some batter with a spoon and spread it round with the back of the spoon (in a circular motion).

Let it cook on medium heat. First dried out a bit, brush with little oil. After 2 minutes, flip on the other side and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove dosa from the griddle. Set it aside.

After every dosa that you made, just remove the excess batter from the pan. To sprinkle little bit water to bring down the temperature of the griddle. After the water dries out, spread the other dosa.

Serve moong dal dosa warm with any chutney. Anyone will surely enjoy this delicious, filling and protein pack breakfast; a great way to start the day.

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.

SURUL POLI - SOUTH vs NORTH CHALLENGE

Most of you know that there is a event going on named 'South vs North Challenge', which is a brain child of my dear friend Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook....there are two teams South and North. Each team challenge each other in every month. I am so happy to complete this month's challenge recipe. The challenged recipe, 'Surul Poli' is given by my dear friend Shama Nagarajan from easy2cookrecipes. Where as me challenged to my South Indian friends with 'Labongo Latika'. 

'Surul Poli' is a crispy sugar coated roll with coconut filling. This is an authentic preparation of Kaveri delta region, Thanjavur sweet. A very special dessert for festive occassions. I made little changes, but the main flavour and process is almost same. Such a tasty delicious sweet it is, my full family enjoyed it whole heartedly. Thank you so much Shama for sharing this delightful festive sweet.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE OUTER COVERING OF THE POLI:

½ Cup All Purpose Flour (Self Raising Flour / Maida)

½ tbsp Clarified Butter (Desi Ghee)

Pinch of Salt

Water as required

½ Cup Oil for deep frying

FOR THE FILLING:

¼ Cup Roasted Chana (Pottu Kadalai)

¼ Cup Sugar

1 tsp Clarified Butter (Ghee)

2 tbsp Freshly Grated Coconut

2 tbsp Cashew nuts

3-4 Pods Cardamom

1 tbsp Raisins

4-5 Chopped Dates

FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP:

½ Cup Sugar

½ Cup Water

FOR GARNISHING:

3-4 Cherries

1 tbsp Tutti Frutti

METHOD:

Heat 1 tsp clarified butter in a pan, ghee roast grated coconut and cashew nut for 2-3 minutes or until coconut releases aroma and turns slightly brown. Mix ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup roasted chana, coconut, cashew nuts and cardamoms in a chutney jar. Grind in a mixer into a fine powder. Set it aside.

In a large bowl, combine all purpose flour, ½ tbsp Clarified butter, pinch of salt. Knead it to make a soft smooth dough by using little water. Divide into 5 equal sized balls. Cover with a wet cloth and keep it aside for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat ½ cup water and ½ cup sugar in a saucepan. Boil till it forms string consistency. Remove from heat and set aside.

Now take a small ball from the dough and spread it like a poori (approx 3” diameter). Heat ½ cup oil in a pan, deep fry poori in oil. Drain poori on paper towel to absorb the excess oil. While it is still warm, dip it in the sugar syrup and place it immediately in the plate with dusted powder. Spread 2 tsp of grinded powder along with few raisins and chopped dates over it. Roll them immediately. Repeat the same for the remaining dough.

While serving, pour extra syrup and grinded extra powder on the top of the polis. Garnish with cherries and tutti frutti. Serve warm. You may store the remaining in an air-tight container.

Sending to: Shama's easy2cookrecipes

Sending to: Chandrani's Holiday Recipes

VEGETABLE OATS MUFFIN - A VERY LOW CALORIE DIABETIC SNACK

'Oats' have numerous uses in foods, most commonly, they are rolled or crushed into oatmeal or ground into fine oat flour. Oatmeal is mainly eaten as porridge. But may also be used in a variety of baked good, such as oatcakes, bread, cookies and muffins. Oats are a coomon breakfast dish and are an excellent source of iron, dietary fiber and thiamin; also contain antioxidants, that protect the circulatory system from diseases i.e. arteriosclerosis, which affects the arterial blood vessels. This muffins contain very low calorie and a delicious food for diabetics. I made this healthier snack, savory oven baked treats of vegetables and oats muffins - a delicious and tasty low calorie treat.

INGREDIENTS:

¾ Cup Whole Wheat Flour (atta)

¾ Cup Oats (I used Quaker oats)

1&1/2 Cup Vegetables (1/3 Cup C Tiny Cubes  of Carrot, 1/3 Cup Finely Chopped Green Beans, 1/3 Cup Finely Chopped Cauliflower, ¼ Cup Frozen Corn Kernels,  ¼ Cup Frozen Green Peas)

½ Cup Tomato Puree

3 tbsp Plain Yogurt (curd)

1&1/2 tsp Garlic Pepper Powder

1 tbsp Roasted Fennel Seeds

1 tbsp Mixed Herbs (I used basil, parsley, thyme, oregano and rosemary)

2 tbsps Finely Chopped Cilantro (coriander leaves)

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt to taste

METHOD:

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add all the chopped vegetables and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add little salt and ½ tsp garlic pepper as seasonings. Mix well and sauté for a minute. Remove the pan from heat now and set it aside.

In a large bowl, take whole wheat flour, oats, yogurt, tomato puree, fennel seeds, mixed herbs, cilantro, baking powder, baking soda, remaining garlic pepper, fried vegetables, salt and 2 tbsp water. Mix very nicely so that all ingredients incorporated very well.

Preheat oven to 350 F / 180 C. Grease 12 muffin moulds. Fill each of the prepared muffin mould with a scoop of batter. Bake muffins in preheated oven about 22 minutes or until tops are golden brown. Insert a toothpick comes out clean means your muffins are ready.

Enjoy these savory muffins fresh as a healthy snack. Though I don’t like to store it for near future, If you wish may store 3-4 muffins in a Ziploc bag, suck all the air out and seal the bag. Refrigerate up to a week, then pulling them out one by one and heat slightly for a snack.

Sending to:  Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event

EGGLESS BUTTERLESS MARBLE CAKE

The idea of marbling two different coloured batter into a cake originated in 19th Century Germany. Originally the cakes were marbled with molasses and spices. The recipe replaced the traditional molasses and spice batter by marbling chocolate into the cake, which I blended with little Nescafe granules for more flavor. In the chocolate batter, may use almond extract. This is a super moist classic chocolate marble cake recipe, rich in flavor and a perfect tea-time snack which I make quite often. Swirls of Chocolate and Vanilla ensures that everyone gets their favorite flavor in every slice. Checkout this fabulous cake, it is really very impressive!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup All Purpose Flour (maida)

½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour (atta)

¾ Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Plain Yogurt (curd)

½ tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1&1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

1&1/2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

2 tsp Nescafe Coffee Granules

½ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (may use vegetable oil / canola oil)

METHOD:

In a bowl, sift both flours and set aside.

Beat the yogurt nicely in a large bowl by using a whisk / wooden or metal spatula, so that there should not any lump in yogurt.

Add sugar in it. Whisk again for a minute and give a rest for 5 minutes, so that sugar dissolves in yogurt well.

Mix baking powder and baking soda in it. Beat for 30 seconds and leave it for another 5 minutes, until you see small bubbles on the surface of the mixture.

Add oil, mix well until well combined. Now add flour in 3 batches, gently fold the mixture by using a spatula (or even a wooden spoon). Remove ½ of the batter onto another bowl and set it aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F / 175 C. Coat an 8” round cake pan (you may use loaf pan too) with little oil and a light dusting of flour.

In one bowl of batter, add vanilla essence and fold well. Add cocoa powder and coffee granules in the other bowl of batter and whisk nicely till everything incorporated well. Set both bowls aside.

Drop ½ of the cocoa-coffee batter onto the prepared pan and pour vanilla batter on the top of it. Again drop rest of the cocoa-coffee batter on the top of vanilla batter.

Drag a knife or a skewer through the batter, swirling the chocolate-coffee through the vanilla batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and comes out clean, means it is done.

Remove marble cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely. Cut in desired shape, serve and enjoy!!!

Sending to:  Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event