Protein Punch - Bean Burgers

I don't remember how I fell in love with North Indian recipes..But whenever we go to a restaurant, all others who accompany me 'll be looking at the South Indian dishes in the menu, but I always used to select some North Indian dish...Rajma (kidney beans) is one of my favourite ingredient...I used to make Rajma pulav during my stay in US...My roomies also loved Rajma so I used to cook it almost 2-3 times in a month...But after getting married I hardly cook Rajma...the reasons are obvious..My hubby has a bitter aversion towards any kind of beans/peas...Kidney beans, Chick peas (Gorbanzo beans), Butter beans, Lima beans...A big NO to all of them....

I purchased Rajma, Chick peas and Green peas last month...I somehow wanted to make him eat these...But the moment he observes me cooking any of these he'ld say that he's not hungry and he'll have just some curd rice...So I decided to cook them without his notice...Yesterday I came back home early and soaked all these together...This morning he was a lion as usual, while I made burgers out of these beans and served them for breakfast...He asked me what burgers are those, I replied him "Veggie Burgers"...He might have taken it fot granted that they were made out of potato/corn flour...the usual veggie burger stuff...He had a bite and then asked me what are these...I again repeated "Veggie Burgers, Veggie Burgers, Veggie Burgers"...He ate silently and after his breakfast asked me how I made them..I explained....He said he liked the taste, but that he cannot eat them very frequently (he thought I'ld use this trick every week now)and no more comments from his side...



I liked the taste a lot, no starchy ingredients, less oil, less fuss...We had them sandwiched with rotis and tomato sauce...They just look like normal veggie burgers, can be served within a burger bun as usual...




Ingredients:

Rajma (kidney beans) - 1 cup
Chick peas (Gorbanzo beans) - 1/2 cup
Green Peas - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 large - sliced
Green Chillies - 5 - chopped
Coriander - 3 to strips - cleaned and cut
Salt - as per taste
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
Oil - To pan fry the burgers

Procedure:

1. Soak the kidney beans, chick peas, green peas together over night.
2. Pressure cook with water and salt. Let them cool. Drain all the water.
3. Take the onion slices, green chillies and coriander, turmeric powder into a blender and make a paste.
4. Now add these drained beans,peas and blend together.
5. Add cornflour to this mixture to make a thick paste.
6. Heat a pan and take a spoon full of this paste and spread like a burger pattie.
7. Add few drops around the pattie and roast for about 3-5min on each side. You can cook 2-4 patties at a time depending on the size of the pan. Take care that it's cooked well inside too.

Serve them with burger buns, salad and ketch up/mayo....can be served with chapatis too..my preference (as I love chapatis a lotttttt)....

Custard-Dates Cake

I'm back on to my baking spree...From 14th of august we enter into Sravana Masam which's considered very auspicious and many poojas are performed on the tuesdays and fridays of the whole month...we offer authentic Indian Naivedyam (sweets like paramannam, pongali, pulagam etc etc) to God...I'll be cooking (experimenting would be a better word) many of these dishes all thru the month for my poojas...So I thought I'ld bake a cake today and then start off with my Indian sweet dishes in the coming few weeks...



I never tasted the combo of cake n custard until I came to the UK. Chacolate cake topped with custard used to be our staple dessert in thursday's menu at the canteen in LG. I liked the taste a lot...So I decided to try it at home today...But Suman doesn't like chacolate flavour..He's a vanilla lover..So I made a vanilla sponge cake, topped it with whipped cream, custard and dates...Very easy to prepare and tasty too...Here goes the recipe..

For the Custard,

I used readymade custard powder (Bird's Eye). All we need to do is dissolve this powder in hot water, stir continously to remove any lumps, let the mix cool and refrigerate it for a couple of Hrs. The final outcome should be a custard mix of thick consistency (like Jam).

For Sponge Cake,

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Unsalted Butter - 1 cup (melted)
Sugar - 1/2 cup (powdered) - I used brown Sugar
Milk - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1
Vanilla Essence - 1 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1 pinch
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon

Procedure:

1.Pre-heat the oven to 200C
2. Sift flour and sugar together.
3. Take a bowl, add the milk and break the egg into the bowl. Beat thoroughly. Now add the butter to this and beat well.
4. Mix the flour/sugar into this mixture.
5. Add the vanilla essence,baking soda and baking powder and mix thoroughly.
6. Take a baking tray (cake pan), grease the bottom with some butter and dust the tray with some flour.
7. Pour the cake mix and see that it's evenly leveled.
8. Bake this mix for about 20min or until the cake is done.
9. Cool on a wire rack. Cake should be completely cooled.
10. Invert this cake pan onto a plate and carefully seperate the cake from the pan. Set aside.

Now take the custard mix and spread it on the top of the cake. Decorate it with whipped cream and Dates(Sliced). Refrigerate for about 30min for the custard to set. Slice the Cake and Serve.




I haven't done much to prepare this.....Luckily the cake turned out very well and hence the taste was good.

Can someone name these?...Bobbattlu???

There's an age old idiom in telugu "Ayyavaari vigraham cheyabothe adi pilli ayindi"...That's what happened today...

I wanted to make coconut jaggery sweet...the famous kobbari louju...but it turned out to be something like bobbatlu (Puran poli), with a different stuffing....

I chose kobbari louju because it's a very easy recipe...Dissolve grated jaggery in water, boil it to a thick consistency (theega pakam), add freshly grated coconut and cardamon powder, mix well..cool and spread it evenly on a greased plate, cut into pieces with a knife when it solidifies...so easy...

So Get set go..I started with boiling the water with Jaggery...I think I've added too much water and hence I was not able to get that consistency (theega pakam)....hmmm I had no more jaggery left to add so that I can get the required consistency...Then I decided to add something else...I found dalia (fried chick peas)..I quickly measured a cup full of dalia and blended them to a smooth powder using the mill.

I then added this powder to the jaggery mixture...hmmm, now I got the required thickness...Then I added the fresh grated coconut and mixed well...Put off the flame..cooled down and made lemon sized balls like laddus....I thought "Hammayya, it's not a failure atlast"..

Suman returned back home from his sunday cricket practice...I proudly showed him my new creation....I didn't tell him about the addition of dalia powder..Just told him that I made kobbari louju....He was so delighted...Tasted it and said.."It's something different but good, what did u do papa?"....

Then with my trade mark wicked smile I told him about the recipe....He sighed n said..."Hmmm another experiment...but this's good, it tastes like the mix inside our bobbattlu"....

Haayyyyyyy....he unintentionally used the term bobbattlu...Then I jumped into the kitchen and started making the flour for bobbattlu...He screamed "Ippude ga chesaav, malli em chesthunnav?"..I told him that I was making bobbattlu...

He's totally puzzled...I couldn't explain his facial expressions, but his inane feeling was "Ee pillatho nenu ela vegaali devudaa..God how do I tolerate this girl?"

He was just yelling, but I continued...mixed a cup of all purpose flour with ghee and water and made rotis with that dough...stuffed that kobbari louju(???) into these rotis and made bobbattlu...

They tasted good, very different from normal bobbattlu because of the stuffing I used....Normal bobbattlu contain boiled chana dal, jaggery ground to a paste...My recipe contained dalia (very close to chana dal), jaggery and haa grated coconut is an addittion...so what...coconut tastes good when cooked with jaggery...all that matters is the taste..Isn't it?

Now my hubby wants me to make some more bobbattlu so that we can take them to our friends' home who invited us for dinner today...well, that explains a lot..that my new experiment isn't a fiasco...

For those brave souls who want to try this recipe here are the measurements...

Grated Jaggery - One cup

Grated coconut - One cup

Dalia/Roasted chick peas/Putnalu pappu - One cup (powdered)

All purpose flour - One cup

Water

Ghee

Cardamon powder - 1 pinch

They taste well when topped with a drop of Ghee and served hot..Just as the normal bobbattlu

Dibba Rotti (Rice Flour Roti) - Akki Roti

I've been making these for the past one year, but never knew that the recipe is from Karnataka cuisine and was known as Akki Roti. I always called it as dibba rotti (sounds odd..isn't it?)...People tend to comment those who are little plumpy as Dibba Rottis...the reason being these Rottis are little thick....I've recently come across a wonderful blog of Padma where she posted her version of rice flour rotis. It was then I noticed that this recipe was from Karnataka...Thanks for sharing Padma..

My recipe is slightly different..By now, you might have got used to my way of using ingredients...I just tend to mix whatever I feel like and try my level best to avoid as many ingredients as possible from the original version according to my convinience...If it comes out tasty well and good...If not, lite theesko tendency....

I love these akki rotis (no more addressing them as dibba rottis...akki rotis sounds good) for they are very easy to make and doesn't need any prior soaking, grinding, fermenting bla bla bla stuff. Here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 2 cups

Onions - 1 - Finely chopped

Green chillies - 4 - Finely chopped

Chana dal - 1 table spoon (soak in hot water and drain)

Cumin - 1 tsp

Salt - as per taste

Warm water to mix

Oil to roast

Procedure:

1. Mix all the above ingredients except water. Pour warm water gradually and mix to a thick batter consistency.

2. Take a Tava (dosa pan) and grease the surface with oil. Pour a ladle full of the above batter and spread using your hand into a circular shape (you cannot spread it like normal dosa batter because of its different texture and consistency).

3. Now swtich on the stove and add 1/2 tsp oil around the edges of the roti.

4. Cover the pan with a lid (atleast the portion of the pan with roti). Cook for 2-4min.

5. Turn to the other side carefully and cook for another 2min (No need to close with the lid now).

6. Make sure the roti is roasted well on both the sides and remove from the pan.

7. Run cold water on the bottom of the pan to let it cool and repeat the procedure for remaining rotis.

Serve with any chutney. We eat with peanut chutney/coconut-roasted chickpeas chutney.

Egg Cutlets with Pappu Charu (Toor dal rasam)

I lately realised that I'd completed my half century of posts..Time really flies...I never expected myself to be a regular blogger...

Well, for ppl who've gone thru my previous suthi post might be wondering why I blabbered a lot abt Eggs...becoz I made Egg cutlets on Friday...One of my favourite recipes with Eggs...They can be served as a starter or an accomplishment to a main meal...I also made Toor Dal Rasam (Pappu charu) which goes well with these cutlets....




Recipe For Egg Cutlet:




Ingredients:

For cutlet,
Eggs - 3
Milk - 50ml
Ginger/Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Onions - finely chopped - 1 table spoon
Green chillies - finely chopped - 1 Tsp (2 chillies)
Salt - 1/2 - 1 tsp (adjust)

For roasting,
Oil - 1 table spoon
Onions - 1- Sliced
Garam masala (or coriander/cumin powder) - 1 tsp


Procedure:

1. Mix all the ingredients for cutlet in a bowl thoroughly.

2. Steam cook this mixture in a pressure cooker until 3 whistles. You'll get a cake like structure. You'll have to cut into pieces. Alternately you can put this mixture in idli plates (greased) and cook them like normal Idlis.

3. Keep these cutlets aside.

4. In a pan heat oil and saute the onions till they turn transperent. Add the garam masala powder and mix well.

5. Place these cutlets in the pan and cook them for about 5 min. Make sure that both the sides get cooked well(switch off the stove when they start turning brown).


Recipe for Toor Dal Rasam (Pappu Charu):

Ingredients:
Toor Dal - 1 cup (washed)
Onion - 1 sliced
Green Chillies - 3 sliced and cut
Tomatoes - 1 cut into chunks
Tamarind juice - Extract from one lemon sized ball of tamarind
Water - 3-4 cups

Procedure:

1. Take all the above ingrdients in a pressure cooker and cook until 3 whistles.

2. After the pressure is released open the lid and slightly mash the dal

3. Add salt and mix well.

4. Make the popu (tadka) - Heat a tsp oil in kadai and add cumin, mustard, urad dal (1/2 tsp each) , 2 dried red chillies and garlic flakes. Curry leaves can be added too.

5. Add this popu to the toor dal rasam.




Serve the egg cutlets and pappu charu with rice.

Capsicum-Coconut Rice

It's sunday today, raining cats and dogs since morning....Our typical sunday menu would be some variety of dosa for the breakfast, a nov-veg curry + a dessert for the lunch, Rotis with left over curry for the dinner...we normally prefer to buy meat/fish the day we cook them...There's an Asian Halal shop very close to our house and hence we buy the meat on Sunday itself and cook immediately....

But today Suman's been a lion till mid morning...I was not that keen to walk to the shop getting myself drenched in the rain...So I decided on a veggie meal for the lunch....It's a very common practice in our houses back in India to have non-veg on sundays...No hurry burry packing for lunch boxes, so mom could liesurely cook nv items which normally take longer time. If at all someone visits our home in between 10AM-12Noon on a Sunday morning, he/she'll for sure enjoy the aroma from our kitchen (this emanates while our amma grinds kuskus, dry coconut flakes, cinnamon, cloves with ginger and garlic)...You'll have to take my word abt this...Even today amma, attamma would have made the same masala for the curry....

From my yesterday's pizza preparation I had some left over sliced capsicum and mushrooms in the fridge. So I thought of making some fried rice kind of recipe...I generally don't prefer to use readymade garam masala powders for any of my recipes...that too on a weekend..'ll have plenty of time to prepare the masala powder by myself.....I add whatever I find in my kitchen cup-boards, take no measurements add whatever amount I feel like (depending upon my choice of spiciness for that dish), dry roast them and grind them in a mill...I take all the liberty under the sun to try each n every ingredient with different permutations and combinations..please excuse my grammatical mathematics....

Too much introduction for a recipe....hmmmm...'ll stop here...Here's the recipe I followed..

Ingredients:

Rice - 3 cups (cooked)

Onion - 1 sliced

Green chillies - 4 sliced

Capsicum - 2 sliced

Mushrooms - 1/2 cup sliced

Dessicated dry coconut - 1 table spoon (I used readymade coconut powder)

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tea spoon

Salt - as per taste

Oil - 1 tablespoon

For the powder,

Cinnamon - 1 inch piece (broken into tiny pieces)

Cloves - 4

Cardamon pods - 3

Black peppercorn (miriyalu) - 10

Khuskhus (gasagasalu) - 1 table spoon

Procedure:

1. Dry roast the 5 ingredients (listed for powder) in a pan, let the mixture to cool down and grind into a coarse powder in a mill.

2. Heat Oil in a pan, add the ginger garlic paste and roast for 30 sec.

3. Add the green chillies, onion pieces and saute till onions turn transparent.

4. Add the coconut powder and mix well.

5. Now add the spices powder and then the vegetables (capsicum and mushrooms)

6. Add salt to this and mix well. Cover with a lid and cook for 5min on medium flame.

7. Finally add the rice and mix thoroughly. Cook for 3-5 min on low flame and turn off the flame.

Serve with raita. Tastes good on its own too....Roasted cashews can be added for garnishing.

Final Note: I hereby promise all the readers of my blog that this would be my last recipe for this weekend..No more torturing...'m bored too...:(

Home made Veggie Pizza

I've tasted pizza for the first time during my college days in India...I've done my engg in a city called Vijayawada in AP...It was a hub for many educational institutions and hence was then one of the very rapidly developing cities...We were 7 girls in the hostel as a group...Among us me, chandu, swapna n jyothi were kind of foodie freaks...There were times when we even used to bunk the classes to go to Hot Breads, Sweet Magic (Food corners) in Bunder Road...hmmmm I'm getting nostalgic now..Miss u all dearies...

Ok coming back to today's cooking saaga, I wanted to try something which's not from the Indian cuisine...I've recently came across a website describing the preparation of pizza dough...From that moment I wanted to try it at home...Somehow I don't prefer non-veg versions of West (I like non-veg items only when cooked with Indian Masalas), so I opted for a veggie version...Suman normally doesn't like any western food, but pizza is kind of OK to him...It came out very well as per taste, but the appearance was not that good...I need to improve on setting the Baking time in the Oven (slightly over baked it)..Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

For base,

Self-raising flour - 1 cup

Dried yeast - 1 tea spoon

Warm water - 1/2 cup (should not be luke warm or too hot, shld be able to touch)

Brown Sugar - 1/2 tea spoon (honey or normal sugar can be used too)

Salt - 1/4th tea spoon

Oil - to rub onto the base

For topping,

Tomatoes - 1 cup - sliced (I used tinned tomatoes, but fresh cut tomatoes are a good choice)

Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 2 - sliced (preferably of two different colors)

Red Onion - 1 - sliced

Green Chillies - 2 - sliced (Jalapeno peppers also can be used)

Mushrooms - 1/2 cup - washed and sliced

Cheese - 1/2 cup to 1 cup (your choice)- grated (I used cubes, but grated cheese would be a better option)

Any other toppings can also be added..like olives etc

Procedure:

1. Mix the flour, brown sugar, yeast and salt with warm water and make a dough. You can refer to the link below for a more clear picture.

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/breads/yeast/pizzadough.html

2. Now take a baking tray and grease it with some oil or butter. Dust it with some flour. Now, rub a lil oil onto your palm and spread this dough evenly onto the tray. Level the surface properly.

3. Top it with all the veggies first and then cheese on the top. I first topped it with tomatoes, then onions, green chillies and then bell pepper and finally mushroom. Spread the cheese evenly on the top.

4. If you think you need to add more salt you can sprinkle some salt on the top now.

5. Put this tray in a pre-heated oven to 200C and bake for about 15-20min or until the crust is crispy.

Aahaaa....finally a yummy yummy weekend treat to my love with love, Home made veggie pizza served with tomato sauce and accompanied by a glass of mango juice topped with cream....I made 4 pieces and none's left now....me a pizza cook..hahahaha....'m on cloud nine...