Veggie Cutlet
Vegetable Cutlet reminds me of summer holidays during my childhood when my mom would prepare one tasty snack everyday. This used to be one of the most favourite snacks I used to enjoy with my siblings and cousins. To this day, I relish it everytime it is prepared.Time Taken: 30-40 minutes.
Serves about 4 peopleIngredients Used:4 medium sized potatoes
2 medium sized onions
1/4 inch ginger
7-8 french beans
1/2 cup of sweet peas
1/2 of a medium sized beetroot
2/3rd of a large carrot
1/2 tsp red chilly powder
1/4 tsp garam masala powder
Coriander leaves
Salt to taste
Bread crumbs or rava for the coating.
Oil-as required.
Method of Preparation:Cook potatoes(cut into halves) in a pressure cooker with a little water. In the meanwhile, chop all the vegetables very finely and keep aside. Then, in a cooking pan, warm up oil and fry the onions until golden brown. Grate ginger into this and add red chilly powder. Toss in the rest of the finely chopped veggies along with peas and cook with closed lid taking just the required amount of water and salt. When it is almost done, add garam masala powder and some of the coriander leaves. Stir for a minute or two.
Deskin the cooked potatoes and mash it. Mix this with the veggie mix prepared. Do not use water anytime because the cutlet mix should be dry, else it will be difficult to make balls. Check for salt and roll this mix with your palm into evenly sized balls(each about the size of a medium sized lemon). Flatten these balls into oval/round/heart shaped cutlets-whatever you prefer . Take bread crumbs/rava(fine semolina) in a plate and coat each side of the cutlet with it by touching each side on to the surface. Shallow fry all these cutlets on a heated skillet/tava/griddle(medium heat)-the bigger the griddle the better since you don't have do too many rounds of frying. Pour a little oil around each cutlet and ensure that each side turns golden brown(the entire frying process should take around 15-20 minutes). Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with tomato ketchup/tamarind+chilly chutney.
Labels: Chatpat, Cutlet, Jhatpat, North Indian, One dish meal, Snack, Vegetable, Veggie
Raja Masala
Raja Masala is a quick and easy snack made out of groundnuts(peanuts). Have heard that it goes well with Chilled Beer. It tastes good with coffee too, especially on a cold winter evening.
Ingredients Required:
Three handfuls of dry roasted, skinned peanuts
One handful of finely chopped onions
Two finely chopped green chillies
Quarter tsp. red chilli powder(Chat masala-optional)
Salt, lemon and coriander leaves to taste
Time Taken: 5 minutes
Serves about 4 people.
Method of Preparation:
Mix the ingredients mentioned above in the given order. Make sure the peanuts are crispy(kurkure). The less-health conscious people could use deep fried peanuts(obviously, it would enhance the taste). Chatpata raja masala is now yours to savour.
Note: Snacks of similar types can be prepared by replacing peanuts with sprouted moong(raw uncooked or partially cooked green gram varieties) or cooked chana(chickpea).
Labels: Chatpat, Jhatpat, Masala, Peanut, Raja, roasted, Snack
Philly Veggie Sandwich
Philly Veggie Sandwich is something that I first tried out at a mall here in the USA. We liked it so much that, everytime we visit this mall, we make it a point to not come out before grabbing a biiig bite of it. It is very filling. Since the cook out there prepares it right in front of us, we get to see how it is made and this is now being made public so that, those of you who find it tempting enough could try out. Happy eating!!Serves about 2 people.Preparation Time: 15 Minutes.
Cooking Tip: While the stuffing is being prepared, one could get the buns/subs ready for the stuffing..that could save a few more minutes.
Ingredients Required:2 subs-foot long (Indians could use burger buns, but it tastes better with subs)
Two onions
Quarter bell pepper(Capsicum)
One tomato
10 mushroom slices
15 pickled slices of jalapeno(In India, if jalapenos are not available, maybe 2-3 chillies+salt could help)
15 sweet peppers(we like to replace it with small pieces of pineapple)
4 slices of cheese
Mayonnaise (you decide the fat content and the variety of cheese/mayo you want to use)
Olives(optional)
Lettuce(optional)
Method of Preparation:Chop onions, capsicum, mushrooms and tomato lengthwise(thin) into half an inch long pieces(ref the pic provided). Toss them into a flat based pan(preferably) which is heated and leave for three minutes. No oil is required. When the veggies catch some heat, add the jalapenos, sweet peppers(or pineapple pieces) and olives. Stir for a while giving a minute before every stir, until the veggies become cooked enough and yet have that crunchy feel(not golden brown ). Then, add the cheese slices on this mix and allow to melt (refer pic). In the meanwhile, spit each sub horizontally and spread a layer of mayo along the base of the sub. One the veggies are fried, fill in the sub. Decorate with two or three slices of tomatoes. You could spread in some fresh chopped lettuce too. Your Philly veggie Sandwich is ready to devour.
Labels: Chatpat, Easy, Jhatpat, One dish meal, Sandwich, Snack, Tasty, Veggie
