BREAD UPMA

Recipe Source & Acknowledgement: Homely Food

If you are really bored with sandwich or bread toast or French Fry, just try this South Indian touchy Bread Upma. A wonderful breakfast, very flavorful and it cooks in jiffy. In my school days, my mom oftenly made this dish in my lunch box and she also loved this toothsome dish very much. Since then, I am foodie...:) Bread upma tastes best if you use a day or two old bread (or stale bread), which is little hard and dry - a spiced, a stir fried bread dish. So, lets get started.

INGREDIENTS:
8 Bread Slices
1 Parboiled Potato, cut in 1/2" cubes
1 Onion (finely chopped)
1 Tomato (finely chopped)
2 Green Chillies (chopped)
1 Sprig Curry Leaves
A pinch of Asafoetida
1/2 tsp Urad Dal
1/2 tsp Bengal gram Lentil (chana dal)
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Lemon Juice
4 tbsps Oil
Handful Coriander Leaves (chopped)
Salt to taste

METHOD:
Trim the edges of the bread slices, then cut each bread slice into 9 small cubes.

Heat oil in a pan or kadhai. Add mustard seeds, asafoetida, cumin seeds, urad dal, bengal gram lentils. Saute for 40 seconds, let them crackle.

Add green chillies now, saute for another few seconds.

Now add onion and curry leaves in it. Fry till onions are translucent.

Then add potato pieces in it. Fold well.

Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder in it. 

Mix tomato and salt. Fry till tomato gets mushy.

Add bread pieces now. Immediately fold nicely.

Pour 1/2 Cup of water. Fold everything very nicely. Bread will be soggy but not mushy. Add lemon juice and coriander leaves. Mix well.

Serve immediately.

Sending to: Homely Food Event / Giveaway; "Spotlight: Show Your Best Creation" @ Cuisine Delights; Taste of the Tropics @ ESHO-BOSHO-AAHARE; Jagruti's Mom's event

GRILLED SCRAMBLED COTTAGE CHEESE SANDWICH / PANEER BHURJI SANDWICH

Usually, we made sandwiches with eggs/chicken/veggies/cheese, but today I made sandwiches with the scrambled cottage cheese filling. Very easy to make, may use your leftover scrambled cottage cheese in a great way. My mom is pure vegetarian, she loves cottage cheese (paneer) a lot. Usually she makes paneer bhurji (scrambled cottage cheese) weekly once. So made these sandwiches specially for her and she relished it truely. Thanks a lot to my friend Meena Bhatia for this healthy and yummilicious recipe. You made my mom's day today...... 

INGREDIENTS: 
8 Bread Slices
Salted Butter For Spreading On The Bread Slices
Tomato Ketchup (for serving)

FOR MAKING SCRAMBLED COTTAGE CHEESE:
1 Cup Cottage Cheese/Chena (grated paneer)
1/4 Cup Green Peas (frozen)
1 Small Onion Chopped
1 Small Tomato Chopped
2 tbsps Small Cubes of Green Bell Pepper
2 tbsps Small Cubes of Red Bell Peppers
Few Sprigs of Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves
1-2 Finely Chopped Green Chillies
1/4 tbsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
1 tbsp Clarified Butter (ghee)
Salt to taste

METHOD:
TO MAKE SCRAMBLED COTTAGE CHEESE (PANEER BHURJI):

In a pan, heat little clarified butter. Add chopped onion and green chillies, saute for 3-4 minutes. Add green peas, tomato, chopped bell peppers and fry for 2-3 more minutes. Add turmeric powder, coriander powder, roasted cumin powder and garam masala powder. Fry another 2 minutes. Now add grated cottage cheese, coriander leaves and salt in it. Fry on high heat for 3 minutes, till all spices incorporate well with cottage cheese. Switch off the heat now. Scrambled cottage cheese is ready now.

TO MAKE SANDWICH:
Butter the bread on one side.

Spread scrambled cottage cheese on it.

Cover the slice with another buttered side of bread.

Place both sandwiches on the sandwich toaster.

Grill them nicely.

Serve immediately with tomato ketchut or any other sauce. Enjoy this yummilicious breakfast...

Sending to: Homely Food Event / Giveaway; "Spotlight: Show Your Best Creation" @ Cuisine Delights; Taste of the Tropics @ ESHO-BOSHO-AAHARE; Jagruti's Mom's event

POTATO KOFTAS IN SPINACH SAUCE (KOFTAS IN PALAK GRAVY)

This is a very luscious dish to relish. Koftas turned just yummilicious with this spinach sauce, soft delicious koftas in rich spinach gravy. Today, I made it first time, but my mom used to make this sauce with different kinds of koftas and we all enjoyed it a lot . When I saw this recipe on Homely Food, asked my mom and did some little bit changes and we all enjoyed this dish for its distinct flavor. Specially my mom relished this delicious dish after a long time. 

INGREDIENTS:
TO MAKE KOFTAS:
4-5 Potatoes (boiled & peeled)
1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs
1/2 tsp Grated Ginger
1/2 tsp Roasted Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
1-2 Chopped Green Chillies
1 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Dry Mango Powder (amchur)
1 tsp Freshly Pounded Garam Masala
1 tbsp Finely Chopped Coriander leaves/Cilantro
Salt to taste
Oil to Shallow Fry

TO MAKE SPINACH SAUCE:
1 Bunch/300 gm of Spinach
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 Medium Onion (chopped)
1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
2 Green Chillies
1&1/2 Tomatoes (chopped)
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Dry Mango Powder (amchur)
1 tsp Kitchen King Masala
1 tbsp Chopped Coriander Leaves/Cilantro
1 tbsp Oil + 1tbsp Clarified Butter
Salt to taste

METHOD:
HOW TO MAKE POTATO KOFTAS:
In a large bowl, put boiled potatoes and add all other ingredients except oil.

Mash well, till the mix looks like a smooth dough.

Take some amount of the kofta mix at a time and flatten a bit with your palms. Set aside. Following same way make all koftas from kofta mix. (Here, I made 16 koftas)

Heat little oil for shallow fry in a wok. Arrange 8-9 koftas at a time. 

Shallow fry both sides till it turn golden brown and crispy. Drain oil and set aside. Do the same process for remaining koftas. Now yummy koftas are ready.

HOW TO MAKE SPINACH SAUCE:

Heat a wok, add spinach, Turmeric and little salt in it. Fold for 3-4 minutes, don't cover the lid.

Take out and grind with 2 green chillies to make a smooth puree. Keep it aside. 

Now heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan or wok. Add onions in it. 

Fry till onion turns into pinkish, add ginger-garlic paste now. Fry for another two minutes till the raw smell of the spice disapprears.

Add tomatoes, garam masala, dry mango powder, kitchen king masala and little salt in it. Fry till tomatoes gets mushy and leaves oil. 

Pour onion tomato mixture a mixie jar. Grind to make it a smooth paste. Set aside.

Heat clarified butter in a fresh pan or wok. Add tomato-onion paste in it. Saute for 2 minutes.

Now pour spinach puree (which kept aside before) in it. Fry for 2-3 minutes.

Add 3/4 cup fresh water in it. Bring it to a boil (adjust salt here). Add koftas in it. 

Stir nicely and remove from heat now. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with chapatis, naan, kulchas or any rice dish, !

Sending to: Homely Food Event / Giveaway; "Spotlight: Show Your Best Creation" @ Cuisine Delights; Taste of the Tropics @ ESHO-BOSHO-AAHARE; Jagruti's Mom's event