Malai Kofta

What to do if you see unexpected guests at home for dinner? You can either order food or cook something that takes less time. I have a simple and quick recipe for dinner - Malai Kofta. This veggie kofta takes less time and is delicious. Please do not think this malai kofta would be a heavy dish like the one you get in restaurants. This malai kofta curry recipe is very simple and very light. Anyone can eat it.

So how to make Malai Kofta? Well let’s first know the ingredients and then read the method.

Ingredients For Kofta:

Grated Paneer/Cottage Cheese: 200gms
White Refined flour/All purpose flour (Maida): 2 tbsp
Baking Powder: a pinch
Finely chopped Green Chillies: As per taste
Chopped coriander: 2 tbsp
Oil- 2 tbsp
Salt to taste


Ingredients for Gravy:
Onions: 1 large
*Boiled and peeled tomatoes: 4
Garlic: 4-5 cloves
Green chillies: As per taste
Ginger: 1 piece
Coriander seeds: 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds (Jeera): 1 tbsp
Cinnamon (Dalchini): 1 stick
Cloves: 2

*You can either use tomato puree available in the market or make it at home. For home made puree, microwave the tomatoes for 3-4 minutes. Peel them and blend them to make puree. You can also boil them in a pressure cooker but microwave makes it easier and takes less time.

Blend the above gravy ingredients in a blender and keep aside.

For final gravy:
Milk: 1 cup

Fresh Cream: ¼ cup cream

Preparing Koftas:
Grate the paneer finely. If you think it is hard, microwave it a little so that it becomes soft. Add Maida, baking powder, green chillies, coriander leaves and salt to it. Make dough by mixing the ingredients finely. Now make small balls of it and press them very little to make koftas.

Take a microwave container and grease it with oil. Place the koftas in it, cover it and microwave for 1-1.5 minutes. Leave it in microwave. You will see that the colour of the koftas will change to off-white.

Preparing gravy:
You can either make the gravy in microwave or in a wok/pan. I prefer cooking it in a pan. Take very little oil in a pan and let it heat. Add the blended mixture in it. Let it cook for 5 minutes. Now add milk to it. When it starts boiling, add the cream and turn off the gas. The gravy will become thick and of a very light orange shade or you can say a little more than off-white shade. Add the koftas to it. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Tips: 
Do not add turmeric powder to the gravy else you will not get that off-white colour.
Market made purees are too red in colour and may not give you the desired colour of the dish.
When blending the gravy ingredients, add everything except tomatoes. Once the spices are done finely, add the tomatoes. Alternatively, you can prepare the tomato puree separately and add it in the wok later when the mixture is done.

Once you add the cream, do not let the gravy boil. You can use fresh cream available in the market or use the one at home. Take out the cream from milk and mix it thoroughly to make a smooth paste. Add little milk to it if it is hard. Make it very smooth so that it mixes easily in the gravy.

It might take some time to make this dish when you try it for the first time. But after that you will be able to make it in minutes. And it tastes really good.

Try it at home and write your feedback.

Veg Kebab Recipe

Kebabs are a mouth watering dish and can be prepared easily at home. Pure Vegetarians too can enjoy this dish as it does not have any onions or garlic.

The good part about these kebabs is that they don’t need to be deep fried or cooked in too much oil. Let’s know the veg kebab recipe first and then talk about the other details.

Ingredients:
Jackfruit (kathal) - 350 gms
Chana Dal - 1 cup
Red chilli powder - According to taste
Garam Masala - According to taste
Dhaniya powder - optional
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves
Oil for frying

Method:
Wash the jackfruit properly in running water. Usually vegetable vendors cut the jackfruit in pieces and then sell it. So it makes your task really easy. Pressure cook the jackfruit in less water. Let it boil properly so that it is easier to mash it.

You can either soak the chana dal for about an hour or pressure cook it in less water for longer period of time. The goal is a properly cooked dal that is easier to mix with jackfruit.

You can even soak the dal and boil the jackfruit and dal together. But if you use more water to boil, the result would be jackfruit soaked in proper dal. This will make it difficult to mix the two important ingredients of veg kebab. So if you are trying it for the first time, boil them separately in less water.

Remove the water from jackfruit and let it cool. Now take a bowl and pour little dal in it. Squeeze 3-4 pieces of jackfruit to remove excess water and mash it with the dal. Add salt, red chilli powder, dhaniya powder, garam masala and coriander leaves. Now on a non stick pan, pour very little oil and spread it. Make small tikkis of the mixture and fry on the pan/tawa. Once done, you can enjoy it with green chutney and have it with drinks or with parantha.

Kebab parantha is a famous food item. Cut onion into thin slices and serve with the kebabs along with chutney and parantha. You can even make a kebab parantha roll for kids.

Use the left over kebabs the next day in sandwiches or burgers. Just microwave them for 20 seconds and they will be soft again.

Some tips:
The choice to retain jackfruit seeds or throw them depends on the quality of jackfruit and how well you boil them. If they are properly boiled, you can mash the seeds easily. But I have noticed that sometimes, the seeds don’t boil properly and it becomes difficult to mash the jackfruit. So remove the seeds (after boiling) if you think they have not become soft.

Boiled Chana dal becomes dry very quickly. So your kebabs will become dry if you use more chana dal and less jackfruit in the kebab mixture. Some hit and trials will let you know the exact ratio of dal and jackfruit depending upon how you like the kebabs.

Sometimes the mixture looks too loose and we think that kebabs will break while frying. Well it happened with me when I boiled the dal and jackfruit together. The water was a little more than required. I tried to remove the extra water from dal but still the mixture was very loose. But I fried the kebabs carefully and they turned out to be super soft and everyone enjoyed them.

If you’re not sure about the right amount of salt and chilli powder to be used, make one kebab first, taste it and then adjust the ingredients.

You can boil the dal with some salt and red chilli powder. But remember to add only required quantity of condiments in the final mixture.

Enjoy the veg kebabs and do write your feedback.

Easy Falafel Recipe

Falafel is again a healthy snack and can be used in various ways. It is like a tikki that can be used with various other items. You can make Falafel burgers, Falafel sandwiches, footlongs or have it plain with some hummus. Have it with drinks or as evening snack. Since it is heavy, it is a good food for vegetarians.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas (white chane) - 2 Cups
Chopped Onions - ½ cup
Garlic - minced
Salt to taste
Coriander (Dhaniya) Powder - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Powder - according to taste
Coriander leaves

Method:
Soak chickpeas overnight or for six hours. Wash properly and remove water. In a blender, blend the chickpeas but do not make a fine paste of it. It should be thick. Now add salt, dhaniya powder, red chilli powder, garlic, onions and coriander leaves. Mix everything properly. Now make small balls of it and press a little to make tikkis. Deep fry them but do not touch till one side is properly done. Serve with hummus or use it between pita bread or sandwich slices.

Falafel can be served with green chutney or tomato ketchup.

You can either make falafel and store them in fridge for 2 days or keep the mixture ready to make them anytime you want. It is a healthy snack and can be had at any time of the day.

You can even give your kids falafel with hummus in bread or chapattis. It is healthy and will help in keeping your child’s tummy full.

Do prepare it and write your feedback.

Healthy Hummus Recipe

Whenever we are hungry, we think of all junk food like Maggie and burgers. But if we have healthy things stored in fridge, we will never fill our stomach with junk food. The usual bread butter and Maggie is so boring. So here is a new recipe that is healthy and can be used as dips - Hummus!

Sometime back, Hummus was an uncommon name. But now this Middle Eastern dip or spread is known to and liked by many people. Hummus is made from boiled, mashed chickpeas, blended with Tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic.

Let’s first talk about Tahini. This is an important ingredient in hummus and can be made at home or purchased from the market. Tahini is like a sauce made from sesame seeds. Since it is not easily available in small towns and local stores, I would suggest you prepare it at home. It takes 7-10 minutes to make Tahini.

Ingredients:

5 cups sesame seeds
1 1/2 cups olive oil or vegetable oil

Method:
You can either roast Tahini in an oven or in a pan. Preheat oven to 350 and roast sesame seeds for 5-10 minutes. Keep tossing the seeds frequently with a spatula. Do not allow the seeds to turn brown. Let it cool for about half an hour.

Now take a blender or food processor and add sesame seeds with oil in it. Blend for about 2-3 minutes. The yield should be a sauce like thing with thick yet pouring consistency. Add more oil if you don’t get the desired consistency.

You can store this tahini in a refrigerator for 3 months. So there are no hassles of preparing it every time you need to make hummus.

Now let’s come to the main recipe hummus or hummus dip.

Ingredients:
Chickpeas/white chaney- 2 cups
Garlic - 2-3 cloves
Tahini- 2 Teaspoons
Olive oil- 1/2 cup

Method:
Soak chickpeas overnight or for 6 hours. Now boil them and leave to cool. Remove the water and blend together all ingredients in a blender. Now take out this mixture in a bowl and add 1tbsp lemon juice. Add some salt to taste.

Pour the mixture in a bowl. Coat 4-5 boiled chickpeas with corriander (dhaniya) powder and chilli powder and garnish along with some olive oil.

You can store hummus in an airtight container in fridge for about a week. Usually hummus is used as a dip with falafel. But you can use it as bread spread also. Whenever hungry, apply some on a piece of bread and have it.  Olive oil is healthy and so hummus is a nutritious snack.

Hummus can be used in salads or with chips too.

Do try it and write to me your feedback.

Easy Vegetarian Sandwiches

Bachelors and people who are always short of time usually look for easy food recipes. Breakfast, which is most important meal in a day, is usually skipped because of lack of time and less knowledge of easy recipes.

So here is an easy sandwich recipe that is easy and very tempting. Vegetarian sandwiches are healthy and the ingredients are easily available in the market.

For Two People:

Ingredients:

Bread slices

Half Cucumber

One Capsicum

Half Tomato (tight)

Half cup boiled corns

1 spoon Sandwich Spread

These days sandwich spreads are easily available in the market. You can buy ‘Thousand Islands’ spread or eggless/with egg sandwich spread.

Corn packets are also easily available in the market. Buy a fresh packet and wash and then microwave them with very little water for 5 minutes. Strain them and let them cool. You can store them in fridge for a week.

Method:

Chop into very small pieces cucumber, capsicum and tomato. Avoid using very soft tomatoes as the juice will make the bread soggy. Put chopped vegetables in a bowl and add corns in it. Now add one spoon sandwich spread and mix well. Use this sandwich filling in bread and make a sandwich. Place it in a grilling toaster and take out when brown. Have it with tomato sauce or plain. 

You can keep the chopped vegetable sans tomatoes in fridge for few days. Whenever you’re hungry, just add tomatoes and sandwich spread and make your sandwich.

If you don’t wish to use the chopped vegetables, you can even slice them. Apply the sandwich spread on bread, place the sliced cucumber, capsicum and tomato, sprinkle some corns and you can even add a little mustard sauce (easily available in the market).

They can be used as tea sandwiches, breakfast sandwiches and you can even have them as afternoon tea sandwiches.

One important thing to remember is the bread. Use a good quality bread like English Oven bread or bakery breads. Thin breads usually become soggy and don’t taste good.

Make these sandwiches at home and do write your feedback.