Soya Lollypops - The delicious vegetarian kebabs

Hello Friends..

I am back with an amazing dish. It’s healthy, it’s delicious and on the top it’s vegetarian. My vegetarian friends would not be jealous of their non-vegetarian mates now. Yes, because now they have their own version of delicious kebabs. This can be a good starter at any party and win hearts. I bet if my non-vegetarian friends would have it, they would feel it’s an improved version of chicken seekh kebab.

What more do we want? Something healthy, something delicious and something that looks amazing.  I hope you like the idea of popping the kebabs in wooden sticks. I liked it better than skewers.  

So how do we make this wonderful dish?

Let’s quickly go through the recipe. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup soya chunks (If you find small/ground soya, you can take that. I blended the soya chunks in a mixer after cooking them in hot water for 4-5  minutes ).

1/2 cup roasted gram flour (besan) (Roasted on medium flame for 10 minutes)

1 cup bread crumbs (we will put 1/4 cup in the kebab batter, rest we will use for coating the kebabs)

2 small potatoes boiled and peeled.

1 small finely chopped onion

1 cup chopped coriander leaves

2-3 finely chopped green chillies

ginger -garlic paste ( 2 tsp )

fresh lemon juice (2 tsp) 

salt as per taste

red chilli powder / or red cayenne (1 tsp)

garam masala powder / ground indian spices (1 tsp)

chaat masala powder (1/4 tsp)

dried mango powder (1/4 tsp)

coriander cumin powder (1/2tsp) 

sesame seeds white or brown (1/2 tsp)

cumin seeds (1/2 tsp) (can add black cumin as well)

oil about 3-4 tbsp for frying the kebabs.

Soya chunks

Few important ingredients

Roasted gram flour

Procedure:

1. Bring around 3 cups of water to boil. Add little salt. Now add the soya chunks and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Now drain all the water from the soya chunks using cloth or paper towel and let it cool down. Remember we need to remove as much moisture as we can, to improve the quality of kebabs. 

   

   Soaking the soya chunks in hot water

2. Blend it in a mixer/blender to get a coarse mixture.

   

   Soya chunks blended in a mixer

3. Now bring the soya mixture to a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients too. Mix everything well. Taste the batter to see if you need to add something to suite your taste. Add more spices if you need to.  Take a small portion of the mixture in palm and see if you can form a ball. If so, the kebab batter is ready. If not, you can add some roasted gram flour or more bread crumbs to adjust the consistency.
   
4. I used small sticks to give the kebabs a funky look. Apply some oil or water on palms and take some portions of batter. Now form a oblong lolly pop shape by gently pressing a bit. Insert a wooden stick from bottom of the kebab. Gently press again to make sure the batter sticks well to the stick. 
5. If you don't want to use sticks/skewers then it’s fine.  You can simply apply some oil on palm, take some mixture and form flat round patties. 
6. Cover the kebabs with some bread crumbs. Repeat the process for rest of the kebabs..................
   

   

   Kebabs coated with breadcrumbs.. Ready to be fried.

7. Once you have all the kebab sticks ready,  you can let it rest in  refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. 
8. Take some oil in pan and lightly fry these kebabs 2-3 at a time. These get done in 2-3 minutes. You will see the crust becoming golden brown when done. Gently alter the sides so that it gets fried on all sides.  You can also bake it. 

   

   Soya kebabs served with green chutney and tomato ketchup...

   
   

So, the delicious Soya kebabs are ready. Enjoy it with green coriander/mint chutney. Tomato ketchup also works fine.. :-)

Let me know how your family and friends liked it. 

Vegetarian cooking is fun too :-).
Have fun with cooking and keep the kitchen happy :-) I

If you like this recipe or any of the earlier recipes, please comment on the blog. You can follow me too. 

Love,
Shweta

Ready for some healthy bites....The Ragi, Almond and Oats Cookies...

Hello friends...

Yesterday, the aroma in every corner of my home shouted and said .. Something really good is in baking…  Oh yes, it was cookie time....  Nothing smells so good... :-)

And the cookies are special ones.. They have been made taking care of my health conscious friends… It’s made up of Ragi (Finger millet) flour, almonds and oats.. Moreover it uses olive oil instead of butter and contains light brown sugar and spices like cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. They look beautiful and taste amazing.  You can have it any time of the day and only feel good about it. :-) 

My family loved it. No one could guess it’s made up of Ragi flour.  I am sure, you will be happy with the results too.

Here’s the recipe. 

Ingredients:

1 cup Ragi flour (Finger millet flour)

1/2 cup oats.

2/3 cup ground almond flour (You can use ready made almond flour. I blanched almonds and removed the skin. Then blended the same in mixer to form a coarse flour ). (I also added about 4-5 pieces of roasted walnuts and ground it in mixer along with the almonds).

1/2 cup light brown sugar (You can use any kind of sugar and can change the proportions based on the sweetness level preferred. I added an extra 2 tsp of granulated white sugar. But it’s purely your choice.)

2 tsp grated jaggery (optional)

2 tsp (white) sesame seeds

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2-1 cup water for kneading the dough

(2-3 sliced almonds and 1-2 tsp coarse sugar for garnishing the cookies before baking).

little flour (either all purpose or wheat for dusting the surface while rolling out cookies).

Spices:

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp salt 

Procedure:

-Add all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well.

-Add oil and mix well with hands to form a crumbly mixture. Just showing few of the ingredients in the below pictures. 

Ragi (Finger Millet) flour 

Light brown sugar 

Ginger powder

Grated jaggery

Sesame seeds

Cinnamon powder

Almonds and walnuts before being ground

 -Add water little by little and knead with hand to form a smooth dough. The consistency should be such that you can roll it out with a rolling pin. Cover it with little oil on surface after the kneading is done.

-Bring the dough on clean platform surface. Sprinkle some flour on the surface and start rolling out the dough. Let it be of medium thickness. 

A portion of rolled out dough

-Now using a cookie cutter, cut out cookie shapes of your choices. 

-Line your baking tray with parchment paper and sprinkle some flour on it. Now gently lift up the cookies from surface and arrange them on cookie sheet. 

Small and medium sized round cookies before baking

-Put a slice of almond on each cookie and sprinkle some sugar on the surface.

-Pre-heat your oven to 375 degree F. Bake for around 11-12 minutes. Maximum could be 15 minutes. -Be careful and keep an eye as these will get baked in no time. If  it stays in oven for more time, it will get burnt at the bottom. So remove it from oven immediately and let it cool down. 
-It might feel little soft when you remove it from oven, but gradually it will gain crispiness when it cools.-Once the cookies have cooled down,  store them in an air tight container and enjoy it anytime. 

Cookies out of the oven

Enjoy the wonderful cookies along with a cup of tea or coffee :-). No guilt please, because you know what it is made up of... :-) 

Have fun.  

Love,

Shweta

The Classic Apple Pie

The beautiful looking apple pie makes a perfect breakfast or an evening snack for me. I think, it could be a dessert in the dinner menu too. Well you can have it anytime.. 

My refrigerator had some beautiful juicy apples lying in it and I wanted to do something classic with it.  The apples were ready to get tossed up in the beautiful  flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg and caramel.. and get wrapped in a fabulous flaky cover.. 

So I promised them…they would be a part of a beautiful pie. And the promise was fulfilled….. The pie got a crispy flaky crust and perfectly baked apples. Cinnamon and caramel played an important part in bringing out the best of flavours. You won’t believe I used ghee (clarified butter)  instead of butter in making the crust. It worked wonders :-) . Just for your information ghee is widely used in making Indian desserts. 

Sharing with you the recipe of the pie. 

Procedure

First, lets make the dough for the crust. 

Ingredients for making dough.

1. 2 cups all purpose flour ( I used bread flour instead as I have it in plenty in my pantry).
2. 3 tbsp ghee(clarified butter) at normal temperature. Do not melt it. You can use 1/2 cup cold butter instead. (cut into small pieces). We want everything cold to get flaky crust. 
3. 1/2-1 cup ice cold water for kneading the dough.
4. 1 tsp salt

Procedure. 

1. Add salt to the flour. Mix well. Add in the ghee/butter. Mix it well lightly to form lump like mixture. We don't want the butter or ghee to melt. (You can used hand blender to do this.). Add water little by little and gently knead it to form a ball shape. Brush it with some butter all over. Make two balls out of it. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for atleast 25 minutes. (You can even use the dough later if you want to. Keep it refrigerated.)

Second, let’s make the salted caramel sauce that we will use in filling and also drizzle it over the baked pie.

Ingredients for making the salted caramel sauce.

1. 1 cup granulated white sugar
2. 1/4 cup butter ( can use more unto 6 tbsp. I used less.) 
3. 1/2 cup heavy cream (or use 1/4 cup cream and 1/4 cup milk)
4. 1/2 tsp salt.
5. 1-2 tsp cornstarch or all purpose flour.

Procedure to make the sauce.

1. Take a deep vessel and add sugar in it. Let it stay on medium flame. Don't stir. Wait until the sugar has almost melted. You can move the vessel to and fro but don't stir the sugar. (Don’t either touch it, it will be too hot and can burn your skin).
2. Once the sugar turns deep brown add the butter. Stir it for about 2-3 minutes. 
3. Now add cream. It will splatter so be careful. Let it boil for about 1-2 minutes.
4. Add about 1-2 tsp of cornstarch or all purpose flour to thicken the sauce. Stir it well so that it gets incorporated thoroughly.
5. Switch of the flame. Add some salt and let it cool down. (You can even add some flavor like lemon zest, vanilla etc. I kept it simple.) Your salted caramel sauce is ready.  You can even store it in air tight container and refrigerate for later use. You just need to heat it again for use.) 

Third, let’s make the apple filling.

Ingredients for the filling.

2 fresh medium sized apple diced (I took fresh ones. You can take canned ones too)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp nutmeg powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup salted caramel sauce (prepared in step 2)

Procedure to make the filling.

Mix all the ingredients in the bowl and toss it up so that everything is incorporate well.  Add more spices if you want. 

Fourth, let’s roll out the dough and make the beautiful pies ready to be baked.

1. Take one ball of dough on a platform.  Sprinkle some flour on the surface and start rolling out the dough with a rolling pin. Roll it out thin and equal all the way, to form a rectangular sheet.
2. Using a cookie cutter or lid of any container, cut out 2 small circular sheets for base of the two pies. I did the lattice (mat) shaped surface for the pies because it looks so beautiful. For each pie’s surface cover, cut out around 9-10 equal sized strips for one pie using a knife or a pizza cutter. I did some pattern on the stripes too.
   
3. Now apply water on edges of the base sheet. Put around 2-3 tbsp of apple filling in the centre leaving the edges empty. 
   
4. Now one by one apply the surface stripes vertically leaving little space between each. Lightly press the end and cut off extra dough to retain circular shape. 
   
5. Now start inserting stripes one at time horizontally to form a lattice pattern. See the picture for more details. Apply a little water on the edges and press firmly at the ends. Cut out extras to retain circular shape. 
   
6. Gently brush out the surface with water/butter or egg wash. Sprinkle some coarse sugar on the surface. It looks wonderful after the pie is baked.  Repeat the procedure for the remaining pies. (I did two at a time and baked the remaining one the next day. )
   
7. Roll out parchment paper on baking tray. Let it rest in refrigerate for 5-10 minutes before baking.
8. Meanwhile pre-heat oven to 400 degree F. Bake the pies on 400 deg F for about 20 minutes and once the crust becomes hard, bake it for another 20 -30 minutes on 375 degree F or until  it looks perfectly golden brown. 
9. Once baked, it should be a crispy crust on outside and you be be able to cut through the pie completely. 
   
   
   
   
   
10. Let it cool down. Before serving drizzle some salted caramel sauce over the pie. 
    

I am sure you are going to love it and going to think about it over and over again :-) Ofcourse you will make it quite often once you have tasted it.

Have fun cooking.

Love,

Shweta