Zucchini-Carrot Kofta

Malai Kofta is one of my favorite curry, but thinking of the deep fried kofta's and lot of butter, cream involved in it scares me away. So I tried a healthy version with some vegetables and baked kofta. It was as yummy as you eat it at a restaurant with guilt free. I have used Zucchini, carrot and potato, but you can use any vegetable of your choice. But I am a big fan of Zucchini so, I tried this.

Ingredients:
2 Zucchini grated
1 carrot grated
2 Potato cooked and mashed
1cup Soy Chunks(I grinded it into fine powder-Nutella Brand)
salt to taste
1tsp Lemon juice
1-2 green chillies(optional)
1tsp Cashew nuts and Raisins

For gravy:
1tsp Oil
1 can tomato Puree(No salt and low sodium)
1 Onion finely chopped
1tsp Ginger-garlic paste
1tsp garam masala
1tsp Chilli powder
1tsp Kichen King Masala(optional)
1tbsp Kasuri Methi
1 bay leaf
1tsp Sugar
salt to taste
1/4tsp turmeric powder
1tbsp Heavy cream

Method:
Squeeze all the water from Zucchini and mix it with grated carrot and mashed potato. Add green chillies, cilantro , lemon juice, salt to taste and cashewnuts-raisin. Mix it well and divide into equal parts and give it a round shape and roll it in soy chunks powder and bake it in the oven at 350*F for 20 mins with a little sprinkle of oil on each of the kofta balls.

Gravy:

Saute the onions with a tsp of oil and add ginger-garlic paste and saute for few more mins. Now add the tomato puree and all the dry masalas, turmeric powder and cover it and let it boil for 2-3 mins. Lower the flame and keep stirring every few mins till the oil seperates. Add salt and sugar and finally add Kasuri Methi and cream. Keep the gravy hot till you serve. Add the kofta's before serving otherwise they get soggy. Enjoy with Naan/ Chapthi.

Walnut Burger

Burgers for me meant to be just the Boca Burger. But after exploring the web and cooking channels I found this yummy and very healthy burger which has become very common burger at my house. Its very simple to make and delicious. Of late I have tried a no. of burger's and am happy with so many choices for a vegetarian like me. Will post some of them in my next posts.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Walnut
1/2 Cup cooked Garbanzo beans(or 1 can)
1/2cup Mashed potato(I substituted for 1 egg)
1tsp Garam Masala
1/2tsp Chilli Powder(adjust to your taste)
salt to taste

1 Big burger bun
1 big Romane lettuce leaf
2 big slices of Tomato
1 slice of Red Onion

Method:
Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blend it till its coarse/mashed well to make a patty. Now divide it into 4 parts and make it 4 balls and pat a little bit. If the patties are a little moist, then refrigerate for 30 mins. Bake it on a indoor/outdoor grill for about 4 mins on each side. You can place a cheese slice on top of the patty at the end and bake it for a 1 min/till the cheese melts a bit. Bake the Burger Buns for a min so it doesn't get soggy when the patty is placed.
To arrange:

Take the bottom part of the bun and put a lettuce leaf and tomato and the patty on it. 1 or 2 slices of tomato and cover it with the top bun.dress it with tomato ketchup and mayonnaise.

Low-Fat Strawberry Parfait

Parfait is a simple but very easy dessert good in any season. I love strawberries so this is my favorite low-fat, no guilt dessert.

Courtesy: Giada-De-Laurentiis

Ingredients:

5-6 Strawberry chopped + 2 for decoration
1 cup Yogurt/Greek Yogurt
1 orange zest + juice
2tbsp Sugar
1tsp honey
1tsp chopped nuts
Mint for garnish
Method:
First make Greek yogurt if you don't have a store bought one.To do that, put a paper towel/coffee filter paper on a strainer/small colander with a bowl under it and refrigerate for 1-2hrs.So the water separates from the yogurt and you will get a thick and creamy Greek yogurt.

Then take the chopped strawberries in a non-stick pan with orange zest and juice. Add sugar and honey to it and bring it a boil and cool it. Now lets arrange to parfait. First put a big spoon of Greek yogurt in the bottom of the serving cup and let put 1 spoon of cooled strawberry syrup and then layer it with a spoon of yogurt. You can make any number of layers you want then top it with nuts and garnish with mint.

Note: you can substitute Greek yogurt with whipped cream or one layer Greek yogurt and one layer Whipped cream.

Sago/ Sabbakki Idly

I was cleaning my pantry and found some Sabbakki/Sago seeds. The only dish i knew with this was sabbakki payasa/Sago kheer, Which I wasn't in a mood to make but wanted to try something new with this. Upma is one more dish I know, but nobody likes that in my family. So I started my hunt and found this recipe on some blog, So I thought why not give it a try and ....it turned out so good and I liked it. So its a keep for sure.

Ingredients:

1cup Sabbakki/Sago seeds
1cup yogurt
1/2cup Fine sooji
cilantro leaves chopped
1tsp Oil
1/2tsp Mustard seeds
1/2tsp Urad dal
1/2tsp channa dal
1-2 green chillies chopped
salt to taste
3/4tsp ENO/fruit salt
Method:

Soak the Sago seeds in the yogurt overnight or at least 6 hrs with additional water if necessary. In a pan make tempering with oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, green chillies and broken cashew nuts(optional), add sooji and roast it for couple of minutes. Cool it and add it to the tapioca-yogurt batter. Add chopped cilantro, salt and eno and mix well. pour it into Idly stand and steam it for 15 Min's. Enjoy with sambar/chutney of your choice. Eat it warm.It is similar to rava idli's but has a little taste of Sago seeds.

Spinach-Watermelon salad

This is a very simple and easy spring/summer salad. The color combination is superb and very inviting. It is indeed a refreshing salad with the orange vinaigrette.

Ingredients:

1cup Baby Spinach(You can do 1/2cup each of Spinach and Lettuce)
8-10 watermelon cubes/balls
1tbsp Walnut
1/2cup cooked Pasta

Vinaigrette:
1tbsp orange juice
pinch orange zest
salt & Pepper to taste
1tbsp Extra virgin olive oil

Method:
Put the spinach, watermelon, walnuts and cooked past a in a bowl and prepare the vinaigrette in a separate bowl and mix it before serving.

Spiderman Chocolate Cake

I saw this cake in Wendy's"Cake Space" and wanted to try out as I had some buttercream frosting sitting in my freezer. It was a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. My Son freaked out seeing it.

Spinach Pesto sauce

This is a very easy Pesto sauce with no cheese in it. It tastes wonderful and very healthy. Good thing about pesto sauce is you can make a lot and freeze it, so you will have it any time you need or its that simple that will not take much time.

Ingredients:

2cups Baby Spinach
1cup Walnuts
1/4cup Olive Oil
salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Method:
Grind the walnuts to a fine/coarse powder then add spinach and blend it. Add salt and Pepper and start grinding and slowly add olive oil till its well blended and fine paste is formed. Use it on any pasta or store it in an airtight container.

Note: Its easy in a food processor or a glass jar blender.