VEGETABLE CUTLET

Ingredients:
Potato – 2 big, boiled
Onion – 1 big, chopped
Carrot – 1 big, chopped
Green peas – ¼ cup
Corn kernels – ¼ cup
Green chilies – 2-3, finely chopped
Ginger – 1”, chopped
Chopped coriander leaves – 1 tsp
Cumin powder – ¼ tsp
Turmeric powder – a pinch
Bread crumbs – 3-4 tbsp or as required ( I grinded fresh bread in blender and used the crumbs)
Salt

Cooking procedure:
Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan and add the onions. Sauté the onions till they become translucent. Then add the carrot and sauté for a minute or till the carrots become little tender. Remove the pan from heat and keep aside to cool. Take microwave safe bowl and add the green peas and corn kernel to it and microwave covered on high for 2 minutes. Then remove and keep aside to cool. Cut the potato into very small pieces and add them in a big bowl. Mix in the sautéed onions, carrots, green peas, corn kernel, green chilies, ginger, cumin powder, turmeric powder, chopped coriander leaves and salt. Mix everything well using hands. Then add the bread crumbs and combine everything. Make small patties of the mixture and shallow fry them on medium heat till they become golden brown. Serve with green chutney or cabbage salad.

CABBAGE SALAD
Ingredients:
Shredded cabbage – 1 cup
Tomato – 1 big, thinly sliced
Mayonnaise – 2-3 tbsp
Red chili sauce – ¼ tsp
Salt
Pepper

Add all the above ingredients in a bowl and mix everything well. Keep aside for flavors to combine. Serve cold or at room temperature.

APPE

Ingredients:
Rice- 2 cups
Chana dal – 1 cup
Urad dal – ½ cup
Thick poha – 1 cup
Green chilies – 6-7
Chopped coriander leaves – ¼ cup
Eno/ baking Soda – ¼ tsp

Salt

Cooking Procedure:
Wash the rice, chana dal and urad dal in separate containers till the water runs clear. Take three times more water to fill each container and soak them overnight. The other day remove the excess water and grind the rice, chana dal and urad dal separately into a fine paste. Use little water while grinding*. As you grind the rice and dals, remove the pastes in one big container. Mix everything well to form a cake like batter. Add salt and leave the mixture to ferment for about 6-8 hours or till it rises. I keep the batter in oven and keep the oven light ON, so that the heat from the lamp boasts the fermentation process.
Before making the appe, finely chop the green chilies and coriander leaves and add it to the batter. Mix the batter well. Crush the poha with hands, add it to the batter and mix well. Just before making the appe, mix in the soda. Heat the appe mould and add a teaspoon of oil in each mould. This how the appe mould looks like. I bought this in India. You can buy it in US as well and is called "Aebleskiver Pan".

Pour a spoon full of batter in each mould and cook it covered on medium heat for about a minute.

Remove the lid and flip the appe.

Let the other side cook till golden brown. Serve hot with coconut chutney. If you want to eat the appe later, I usually remove the appe and keep them on cooling rack to cool so that they remain crispy. When they cool down a bit, I transfer them to a container. You can reheat them in the microwave.

* I use oster blender to blend the dals or rice and add about ½ cup of any ingredient in the blender so that air can circulate and the blades don’t get jammed. If you add too much, the blades get stuck and the required consistency and texture of the batter is not achieved.

DAHI VADE

Ingredients:
Urad dal – 3 cups
Moong dal – 1 cup
Yogurt – 5 cups
Green chlies – 4
Ginger – 2”
Sugar – 5-6 tbsp or as required
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Salt
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Date and tamarind chutney – ¼ cup

Cooking Procedure:
Wash the urad dal and moong dal in separate containers till the water runs clear. Soak the urad dals in 8 cups of water and moong dal in 3 cups of water for about 8-9 hours. Then drain the water and grind the dals to a fine paste. Don’t add too much water while grinding. The batter should be little bit thick in consistency. Add salt to the mixture abd whip the batter for 2-3 mins till it becomes little fluffy. To fry the vadas, heat some oil in a pan. I use a flat bottom pan to fry the vadas and add as much oil to cover 2 inch of the pan. To see is the oil is sufficiently hot, add a drop of batter in the oil, and if it comes to the top immediately, that means the oil is ready for frying. Add tablespoon size balls of batter in the oil and fry till golden brown. For one batch of vadas add 5-6 balls of batter in the oil or adjust the number of vadas as per the size of pan. The vadas tend to expand during frying. Fry the vadas on medium heat till golden brown. Fry all the vadas. Take some luke warm in a big bowl and add salt to it. Transfer the fried vadas to the water and leave them for a minute. Gently press the vadas in palm of your hands, to remove the excess water. Keep them aside.
To make the yogurt, grind the ginger and green chilies to a fine paste. Add the chili paste to the yogurt along with sugar, cumin powder and salt. Whisk everything very well. Add little water if the yogurt is very thick. Keep the yogurt in refrigerator to cool.
To serve the dahi vada, place the vadas in the plate and top it with the yogurt and sprinkle little red chili powder on the top. Finally drizzle with some date chutney.

BREAKFAST PANINI

Ingredients:
Sandwich buns – 2
Eggs – 4
Green chilies – 3-4, chopped
Onion – 2, medium sliced
Tomato – 2, medium sliced
Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
Cheese as required
Salt
Pepper
Butter – 2 tbsp

Cooking Procedure:
First make the omelettes. To make the omelettes take 1 tbsp of water in a bowl. Add salt, black pepper powder and coriander leaves, mix well then add the eggs ( I use 1 whole egg and 1 egg white to make one omelet). Whip everything very well. Then heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and add the egg mixture and spread all over the pan. After one side gets completely cooked, flip the omelet and let the other side cook. Remove the omelet and keep aside.

Prepare the sandwich, apply butter to the outer sides of the snadwich buns. I use alluminium sheet for easy cleanup. On the bottom bun, place the omelette and top it with onion and green chilies.

Place the tomato slices on top of the onions. Sprinkle salt and pepper.

Then add the cheese, I used mexican four cheese mix

Now place the other bun on top of the prepared sandwich and place it in the panini maker. Grill for 4-5 minutes till it has golden brown crust. We like to eat this sandwich with tomato ketchup and ranch.

GRILLED VEGETABLE PANINI

Ingredients:
Bread* – 4-6, slices
Zucchini – 1, cut into strips
Onion – 2, medium, sliced
Tomato – 2, medium, sliced
Canned roasted red bell pepper – 2, cut into strips
Dried basil – ½ tsp
Dried oregano – ¼ tsp
Black pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Extra virgin olive oil – 2 tbsp
Fresh mozzarella cheese – 6-7 slices
Red chili flakes – 1 tsp
Salt

Cooking Procedure:
Place all the vegetables in a big bowl. Add dried basil, oregano, black pepper powder, salt and olive oil. Then grill all the vegetables.

To build the panini, brush all the bread slices with olive oil on one side. On the other side place the zucchini, top it with onion, then with roasted bell pepper and tomato. Then top all the vegetables with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle black pepper powder, salt and red chili flakes. Top with other slice, with olive oil side on top and place it in Panini press. Grill it till golden brown.

* I used Sour dough bread but you can use any bread of your choice. Sometimes I use Focaccia or Ciabatta, they form a nice crispy crust.

COUSCOUS SALAD

Ingredients:
Couscous – 1 cup
Water – 2 ½ cups
Butter – 1 tbsp
Salt – 1 tsp
Ginger – 3-4 slices
Green peas – ¼ cup
Chickpeas – 15 oz can
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Tomato – 2 small, deseeded and chopped
Cucumber – 2 small, chopped
Jalapeno – 1, deseeded and chopped
Freshly chopped coriander leaves
Roasted cumin powder – ½ tsp
Lemon juice – 1 tbsp
Extra virgin olive oil – 2tbsp
Salt

Cooking procedure:
Put the water in a pot. Add butter, salt, ginger and green peas to the water and bring it to a boil. Now remove the pot from the burner and add the couscous. Cover the pan with the lid and keep aside for couscous to cook. Let the couscous cool down completely. Fluff the couscous with fork. In a big bowl add onion, tomato, cucumber, jalapeno and coriander leaves. Mix well then add chickpeas, cumin powder, lemon juice, salt and olive oil. Mix well and then add the couscous. Mix everything well and keep the salad aside for 15-20 mins , so that the couscous takes the flavors from the vegetables. You can eat this salad cold. It’s a meal in itself and is very good for picnics.

SAVORY ZUCCHINI PANCAKES

Ingredients:
Zucchini – 2 small, grated
Besan/ chickpea flour – 1 ½ cup or as required
Semolina – 2 tbsp
Green chili – 2, finely chopped
Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp
Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – ½ tsp
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Asafoetida – a pinch
Fresh chopped coriander leaves – ¼ cup
Salt


Cooking Procedure:
Place the grated zucchini in a big bowl. Then add green chilies, sesame seeds, garlic paste, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder, asafetida, coriander leaves and salt. Mix everything well and keep aside for 5 mins. Now add semolina and mix well. Then add besan as required to form a pancake like batter. Don’t add water. Mix well and keep aside for 10-15 mins.

Now heat a griddle and put ladle full of batter on hot griddle and spread inside out, using the back of the spoon to form a 4-5 inch diameter pancake.

Drizzle with some oil and let cook on medium heat.

Using a spatula slightly lift the pancake and see if the bottom is nice brown color.

Then flip it and again drizzle with some oil. Cook the other side till it becomes brown. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

FRESH MOZZARELLA AND TOMATO PANINI

Ingredients:
Sesame seeds buns – 2 nos
Fresh mozzarella cheese – 7-8 slices
Tomato – 2-3, sliced
Baby spinach – 12-15 leaves
Crushed red pepper – 1 tsp
Dry basil – 1tsp
Crushed black pepper – ½ tsp
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil


Cooking Procedure:
Brush the outer sides of the buns with olive oil and place them on a sheet of aluminium foil. I use the sheet for easy cleanup.

On the bottom slice of the bun, place the tomato slices. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Then place the baby spinach over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper.

Then top it with fresh mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with some basil and salt.

Place the top slice. Place the buns on the Panini press and grill for 4-5 mind until the cheese melts.

Serve hot. I did not have fresh basil, so I used dry basil. You can use fresh basil.

PANEER PARATHA

Ingredients:
Wheat flour – 2 cups
Salt – 1 ½ tsp
Oil – 2-3 tbsp
Water as required

For stuffing:
Grated Paneer – 1 ½ cup
Onion – 1, medium finely chopped
Coriander leaves – 1-2 tbsp, finely chopped
Green chilies – 3-4, chopped
Red chili flakes – ½ tsp
Cumin powder – ¼ tsp, coarsely crushed
Salt

Cooking Procedure:

Mix all the ingredients for the stuffing and keep aside. Take the flour in a big bowl and add the oil and salt. Mix well with your hands then add water and kneed to form dough. Dough should not be too hard or too soft. Apply little oil to the dough, cover and keep aside for 15-20 mins. Then divide the dough into small balls. Take two balls and roll them into 3-4 inch diameter roti. Put the stuffing on one roti and top it with other roti. While putting the other roti over make sure to press gently from inside out, so that there are no air pockets left when you roll the paratha. Secure by pressing the ends of both rotis properly, so that the stuffing doesn’t come out easily. Sprinkle some flour on the paratha and start rolling. After two rolls, flip sides and roll again. If you roll from one side, the upper roti becomes thin and stuffing tends to ooze out. Place the paratha on the heated griddle and roast on both sides, by applying little oil/ghee while roasting. When the paratha becomes golden brown, its ready to serve. Serve with pickle.

IDLI SAMBAR AND CHUTNEY

For Idli:
Ingredients:
Rice – 4 cups
Udad dal – 2 cups

Procedure:
Use different containers for rice and udad dal. Wash them with water till the water runs clear. Fill the containers with water, 2-3 inch above the rice and dal. Let them soak over night. Then next day grind the rice and dal to form a batter. Add little water while grinding. I grind the dal first and then the rice. Mix all the batter well and cover the container and keep aside to ferment in a warm place. I keep the batter in oven and keep the light ON. And when the batter doubles in size, its ready to use.

For Sambar:
Toor dal – 2/3 cups
Onion – 1, medium chopped
Lauki (bottle gourd) – ½ cut into chunks
Small eggplant – 3, cut into pieces
Potato – 1, small chopped
Bhendi (Okra) – 3-4 chopped
Tomato – 1, medium chopped
Garlic – 2-3 cloves, chopped
Curry leaves – 4-5
Tamarind pulp – ½ tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Hing – a pinch
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Garam masala – ½ tsp
Sambar masala – 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves
Salt

Cooking Procedure:
Wash the dal, till the water runs clear. Pressure cook the dal with 3 cups of water, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp oil.

Cut the vegetables as shown in picture below

In a big pot, heat some oil. Add mustard seeds, when the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the fenugreek seeds. Then add the onion. Fry the onion till translucent. Then add the garlic and curry leaves and fry for a minute. Then add all the vegetables except the bhendi. Fry for two mins on medium high heat, stirring continuously. Reduce the flame then add the turmeric powder, hing, red chili powder, garam masala and salt. Stir to combine all the vegetables with masala. Then add the dal and sambar masala. Bring everything to a boil. Now add the tamarind paste and bhendi. Continue cooking till the vegetables become tender. Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
You can substitute the vegetables with other vegetables like pumpkin, drumsticks, cauliflower. You can use these vegetables in combination. If you don’t have all the vegetables mentioned above, you can also make sambar with 2 vegetables.

For Chutney:
Roasted peanuts – 1 cup
Green chilies – 3-4
Garlic – 2-3
Chopped Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
Salt
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/8 tsp
Hing – a pinch

Cooking procedure:
Combine roasted peanuts, green chilies, garlic, coriander leaves and salt. Blend this mixture to make a fine paste. Add little water if required. In a non stick pot, heat some oil. Then add the mustard seeds, when they start to splutter, add the cumin seeds, curry leaves, hing and turmeric powder. Then add the peanut paste and mix well. Add water if required. Bring the chutney to a boil and continue cooking for 2-3 mins. Now the chutney is ready to serve. This chutney taste good when served hot. We like our chutney little watery. You can adjust the amount of water as per your taste. Also this chutney becomes thick as it cools. This chutney tastes good with idli, dosa, uttapam and also in sandwiches.

SOY LAUKI KABAB

Ingredients:

Soy chunks – 1 ½ cup
Garbanzo beans – 1 can
Lauki – 1 cup, grated
Ginger – 1”
Garlic – 2-3
Green chilies – 4-5
Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
Chopped mint leaves – 1 tbsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Corn flour – 2-3 tbsp
Fresh bread crumbs as required
Salt

Cooking procedure:
Soak the soy chunks in hot water for 2-3 hours. Add salt to the grated lauki and keep aside for 15-20 mins. Then squeeze out all the water from lauki. As the ingredients are been prepared keep on transferring them to a big bowl. Remove the water from soy chunks and squeeze out as much water as possible from the chunks. Then grind the chunks using a blender or food processor to form granules. Drain the water from the garbanzo beans and grind them to fine powder. Make ginger garlic and green chili paste. Mix all the ingredients well. Add the bread crumbs as required. Don’t add too much bread crumbs or it will change the taste of kabab, so make sure you squeeze out all the water from soy chunks, lauki and no water in garbanzo beans. Form oval shape kababs and deep fry till golden brown.

You can also shallow fry them, in that case shape them in small size patty and don’t add corn flour. These kababs are crowd pleasers in parties. You can make the mixture a day ahead in keep in refrigerator and on the day of party you just need to fry them. Serve these kabab with green chutney or kabab chutney.

KABAB CHUTNEY

Ingredients:
Chopped Coriander leaves – 1 cup
Garlic – 2
Green chilies – 2-3
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Salt
Lemon juice
Yogurt – 1 ½ cup

Grind coriander leaves, garlic, green chilies, cumin powder and salt to a fine paste. Whip the yogurt and add lemon juice and the coriander paste. Mix well.

RAJMA CUTLET

Ingredients:
Cooked Rajma – 2 cup
Cabbage – 1 cup, chopped finely
Cooked Couscous – ½ cup
Cooked rice – ½ cup
Onion – 1, medium chopped
Green chili – 3-4
Ginger – 1”
Roasted besan – 2-3 tbsp
Salt
Fresh bread crumbs as required

Cooking Procedure:
Put the cabbage in microwave safe container and microwave on high for 2 mins. Cover and keep aside to cool. Make ginger and green chili paste. Mash the rajma. Take some oil in a small pan and add the chopped onions. Sauté till the onions get translucent. Transfer the onion to a big bowl and let it cool down. Then add the cooked couscous, cooked rice, cabbage, mashed rajma, ginger green chili paste, salt, besan and bread crumbs. Mix well. If you think the mixture is soggy, then add more bread crumbs. Cover the mixture and keep aside for 15- 20 mins to absorb all flavors. Take small portions of the mixture (size of ping pong ball) and shape it into a patty. Shallow fry the cutlet on medium flame till brown. Serve with tomato ketchup. This recipe is a very nice way to use the leftovers. If you don’t have couscous, you can replace it with rice.

BEETROOT PARATHA

Ingredients:
Beet root – 2, medium size
Wheat flour as required
Garlic – 3-4
Green chilies – 5-6
Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp
Ajwain seeds – ½ tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Cumin powder – ¼ tsp
Hing – a pinch
Salt
Freshly chopped coriander leaves

Cooking Procedure:
Peel the beet root and pressure cook it till tender. Don’t add any water while boiling. After it is boiled, let the beetroot cool completely. Puree the beetroot, garlic and green chilies to a fine paste. Add little water if required while grinding. Transfer the puree to a big bowl and add the turmeric powder, hing, cumin powder, salt, sesame seeds and coriander leaves. Mix well. Then add the flour as required till soft dough is formed. Dough should not be too hard. Cover the dough and keep aside for 15-20 mins
Divide the dough into small balls. Take one ball, roll in dry flour and roll it into a small circle of 2 inches radius, apply oil on the top surface. Fold the circle in half to form a semicircle. Apply little oil on the semicircle and fold to form a triangle. Then roll the triangle to form the thin paratha. By folding the dough in this way, will make multiple layers and make the paratha soft. Roast the paratha on a heated tawa/ griddle on both sides by applying little oil. Serve with yogurt. The color of the paratha is very attractive, kids love to eat. I have 2 year old son and he likes this paratha very much.

BOMBAY STREET SANDWICH

Ingredients:
Sandwich buns ( I used crustini buns)
Green chutney
Boiled potatoes
Onion
Green bell pepper
Butter
Chaat masala
Cheese of your choice ( I used four blend Mexican cheese)
Salt

For green chutney:
Coriander leaves – 1cup, finely chopped
Mint leaves – ¼ cup, firmly packed
Green chilies – 2
Ginger – ½ “
Roasted peanuts – 2 tbsp
Lemon juice- 2-3 tbsp
Cumin powder – ½ tsp
Sugar – 1tsp
Salt

Cooking procedure:
Place all the ingredients for chutney in the blender and blend it to a fine paste. Add little water if required.

Chop the onion and green bell pepper. Slice the boiled potatoes.

To assemble the sandwich, take three slices of bread. Spread each slice of bread with butter on one side. On the top first slice spread chutney over butter and keep aside. On the second slice spread the chutney over butter and top it with potato slices, sprinkle some chaat masala, salt and finally top it with cheese. Place the chopped onion and green bell pepper on the third slice, sprinkle some chaat masala, salt and finally top it with cheese.

Stack the onion slice above the potato slice. Finally place the chutney slice on the top, chutney side down. Place the sandwich on the Panini press.
Now grill it till crust becomes brown and cheese melts. Place on the cooling rack for 5 mins. Cut the sandwich and serve.

MIXED DAL DHIRDE/ DOSA

Ingredients:
Toor dal – ½ cup
Moong dal – ½ cup
Urad dal – ½ cup
Chana dal – ½ cup
Rice – 1 cup
Green chilies – 3-4
Ginger – 1”
Garlic – 3-4 cloves
Freshly chopped coriander leaves – 3-4tbsp
Salt as per taste

Cooking Procedure:
Use separate container for dals and rice. Wash all the dals and rice till water runs clear. Soak them for atleast 5-6 hours. Coarsely grind the rice. Grind all the dals to smooth paste, adding just the required amount of water to grind .Mix all the dals and rice together to form a cake like batter. Grind ginger, garlic and green chilies. Mix this paste into the batter. Add the coriander leaves and salt.
Heat the non stick griddle/ skillet on medium heat. Pour a ladleful of batter over the skillet and spread the batter evenly using a circular motion from inside out.
Pour a teaspoon of oil around the edges. Increase the heat and cook until the bottom of the dhirde/dosa starts to turn golden brown. Turn over carefully and cook the other side for a about a minute
Serve hot with coconut chutney/ chutney powder.

PANEER BHURJI QUESADILLA

Ingredients:

Paneer – 400gm, grated
Onion – 1 big chopped
Green chillies – 2-3, chopped
Ginger – 1” cut into strips
Tomato – 1 medium chopped
Tomato paste – 1 ½ tbsp
Red chili powder – 1tsp
Chopped coriander leaves
Chaat masala – 2 pinches

Tortillas - 3-4

Cooking Procedure

Take oil/butter in pan. Add chopped onion. Sauté till translucent. Add green chilies, ginger, tomato. Stir well then add salt and tomato paste. Cover and let cook. Cook till oil separates, this makes sure that the tomato paste is cooked. Then add in the grated paneer. Stir well and cover. Let it cook for 2-3 mins. Remove the bhurji from pan, add chaat masala. Keep aside to cool. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
To make the quesadilla, take a tortilla and put the bhurgi on half portion of the tortilla. Top it with chopped onions to get extra crunch (this is optional). Fold the other half and press down with spatula. Take little oil in a pan and and roast the stuffed tortilla on both the sides till crispy. Then cut into pieces.