Cabbage Kofta Curry

Ingredients :

For the Koftas

• 1/2 a cabbage (finely chopped)
• 1/4 cup besan
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp ginger (grated)
• 2 green chillies (finely chopped)
• Handful of coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• 1 small tomato (minced)
• Salt to taste

For the Curry:

• 2 medium sized potatoes (peeled and cubed)
• 1 cup sour curd (whisked and mixed with 1 cup water)
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp ghee
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• Salt and chilli powder to taste

Method:

Put all the kofta ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make small lemon sized balls and keep them in a plate. Heat oil in a wok/kadhai and deep fry the koftas to a golden brown. Put the fried koftas on plate laid with tissue paper to absorb the excess oil from them. After about 2 minutes transfer the koftas to a serving bowl.

Heat 3 tblspns of oil. Put in potatoes and spices. Fry till the mixture is golden colour (on medium flame). Put in sugar, salt and stir for a few more seconds. Now add curd and keep stirring gently on a low flame for 2 -3 minutes.

Pour the curry over the koftas. Sprinkle garam masala on top (optional). Heat ghee and pour on top of the kofta curry before serving. This dish goes well with rice as well as roti.

Sugarless Energy Bar

When hunger pangs strike and you want to avoid any kind of junk food, this is when the Energy bar comes into picture. I am a junky to the core,but decided to give it all up and binge on healthier stuff. So, read aboutEnergy bar , and decided to give it a try finally. But there is a twist in the tail ....err tale ;) I read a couple of recipes for Energy bars and thought I'll experiment to make something different. The experimental bug made me do this and here is how I went about.

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup porridge oats
• 1 Cup Atta (wheat flour)
• 1/2 Cup walnuts (roasted,partially powdered)
• 1/2 Cup Almonds (roasted,partially powdered)
• 1/2 Cup raisins
• 1/2 Cup Honey
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• 4-5 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp melted butter

Method:

Take a wide bowl . Put wheat, oats, baking powder,baking soda and mix well with a wooden spatula. Now add almonds, walnuts, raisins and mix well . Finally add milk, vanilla essence,butter, honey into the above mixture and mix well such that all the ingredients bind well. Grease a square baking tin and spread the mixture evenly and flatten on top.

Pre-heat the oven and bake the preparation for 25 minutes at 200* C (bake until a knife comes out clean when pierced in the tin). Once it is done, allow to cool and cut them into medium sized rectangles. Wrap them in aluminium foil and refrigerate it .

The energy bars that I made were not very sweet ( wanted it that way) people who prefer it sweet can add 1 cup of honey instead of a half cup.

Gobi Paratha

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cauliflower (grated)
• 1 large onion (finely chopped)
• 2 green chillies (finely chopped)
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp aamchoor powder (dry mango powder)/or juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
• Salt to taste

Method:

Sprinkle the grated cauliflower with salt and and little water. Keep it aside for sometime.

Squeeze out the excess water and mix the grated cauliflower with onions, garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, aamchooor powder/lime juice, turmeric, green chillies and coriander leaves.

Mix all the ingredients well. Make them into medium sized balls ( slightly bigger than the size of a lemon). Keep them aside.

Sieve 500 gms of wheat flour (atta) add salt as per taste, 2 tbsps of butter or oil and enough water to it and knead it well to make a stiff sough.

Divide them into 6 portions and roll each one of them into thick round circles. Place cauliflower mixture ball in the centre, seal the edges.

Form into balls and then roll out as thin or thick parathas as per your choice. Roll the paratha gently so that the stuffing doesn't spill out. Heat a frying pan/tawa and roast these parathas on both sides, adding a little butter/oil, till evenly browned.

The gobi parathas go very well with pickles and curd. Plain curd is the usual choice. I chose to add a little flavour to the curd too. This is what I did. Read on..

Chatpata curd:

• 2 cups curd (whisked)
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp aamchoor powder (dry mango powder)
• 1 tbsp coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• salt to taste

Add all the above ingredients to the curd. Garnish it with coriander leaves. The chatpata curd is ready to be served with piping hot parathas :)

Dahi Aloo

Aloo is an all time favourite in my home. Almost everyday there is some or the other aloo dish on my dining table. This high demand for aloo has made me do all sorts of things, from trying the regular recipes to mixing and matching recipes to cooking up some of my own. However there is one aloo recipe that I had come across sometime ago but never tried it. Last Sunday I wasn't in the mood to make something elaborate and so decided to make Dahi Aloo.

Ingredients:

• Boiled potatoes - 2 (large)


• Curd - 2 cups (whisked)


• Green chillies - 2


• Coriander leaves - a handfull (chopped finely)


• Ginger - 1" piece


• Onion - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)


• Mustard - 1 tsp


• Urad dal - 1/2 tsp


• Cumin(Jeera) - 1/2 tsp


• Hing - a pinch


• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp


• Curry leaves - 5-6


• Ghee/oil - 1 tsp


• Red chilli - 1


• Salt to taste

Method:

• Cut the boiled potatoes into tiny chunks and make holes in them using a fork


• Finely chop the onions, ginger and green chillies


• Take all the above in a vessel, add the whisked curd to it, add salt and keep it aside


• Heat the ghee/oil in a small pan and add mustard, jeera, urad dal and red chilli.


• When the mustard and jeera begins to splutter, add curry leaves and hing to it


• Take it off the flame, add this seasoning to the potato and curd mixture and gently mix all the ingredients well


• Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves


• Refrigerate this for 1/2 an hour and serve chilled

Isn't it an easy, simple and quick dish for the days you hate to cook?