Quinoa Patties

Quinoa has started getting very popular as high protein vegetarian grains.... I got a chance to try a recipe when my friend who moved gave me a box of these grains. As I have never eaten or even seen it before, I googled information about it and how to cook it..... Interesting trivia on quinoa can be found here.... Last week, I opened the box and finally decided to use.........so thought of making this recipe with some other vegetables in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• quinoa -- 1 cup
• bread -- 2 slices
• beetroot -- 1 small
  
• carrot -- 1 small
• broccoli -- 4/5 florets( half a head)
• garlic -- 4 cloves
• coriander leaves -- 1 small bunch
• onion -- about 1/2
• green peas -- about 1 cup
• lemon juice -- about 1 tbsp
• powdered spices -- coriander powder and tandoori masala powder (about 1/2 tsp each)
• salt and pepper -- about 1 tsp each
• butter or oil -- about 2-3 tsps
• water -- 2 cup

Recipe:

• Boil about 2 cups of water and add salt. Add quinoa and cover the pot and let it simmer on medium heat till the water is absorbed by the grains. About 15-20 minutes. The grains will fluff up. Add 1-3 tbsps of water if needed. Keep it aside to cool.

• Prep the vegetables and make bread crumbs in a food processor. Grate the broccoli, carrot and beetroot. (I boiled the beetroot prior to grating). Chop onions, peel and grate garlic. Defrost the peas and heat them in the microwave for about 1-2 minutes.

• Take all the prepared vegetables in a large bowl. Add the powdered spices and season well with salt and pepper. 

• Add quinoa and mix well.

• Add breadcrumbs, coriander leaves and lemon juice. Mix well with a spoon.

• Take about 2 tbsp mix in your hands and roll them in a ball and flatten to patties. Use up all the mix to make patties and keep them flat in a plate.

• Refrigerate the patties for an hour. I kept them in the freezer for 10/15 minutes.

• Heat a pan and brush the bottom with a tsp of oil or butter. Arrange the patties in a single layer and brown the bottom on medium heat. Flip the patties after 3-4 minutes and brown the other side.

• Serve hot with ketchup, mint chutney or tartare sauce. 

Quantity:

• Makes about 15 -20 patties 
• 2-3 patties are good for a serving size along with a salad or rice or pasta.

Notes:

• I found the binding part a bit difficult with breadcrumbs made with  just 2 slices of bread.... can increase the bread slices to about 4 or 5
• You can add potato, paneer or even egg instead of bread crumbs. 
• The refrigerating helps keeping the shape.
• Instead of using indian powdered spices you can use cheese and mixed italian herbs too.
• I preferred the ones, I sauteed with butter for obvious reasons...  :)

Gajar koshimbir (Carrot salad)

Koshimbir is a salad, served as a side in a full Maharashtrian meal.( Maharashtra-- a state in India). It is generally made with different crunchy vegetables like cucumber, carrots, tomato, onion, etc which are grated or chopped to tiny pieces and mixed with simple seasonings like salt, sugar and lime juice. Peanut powder or yogurt are also part of this salad. It tastes yummy just by itself, but I usually make it as a part of the meal with chapatis, dal, dry vegetable curry, etc.

For this recipe, I found the unusual purple carrot. (It looks a bit dark pink in pictures here) Any other variety of carrot like the regular orange one or the deep red one can also be used. I thought that purple is some new variety of carrot, but I googled for this information about them and was really surprised to know that they were grown as early as 2000 BC. The orange carrot that we know and use are of much newly modified variety. More information about PURPLE CARROTS HERE.

Ingredients:

• 1 large purple carrot (or orange or the red one)
  
• 1/2 -1 tomato
• 1 green chili
• a bunch of coriander 
• 1-2(or more) tbsp of roasted peanuts crushed to powder
• salt and sugar to taste (about 1 tsp each)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• A seasoning made with 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds,1/4 tsp asafoetida and some curry leaves added to a heated  tsp of oil/ghee) --- optional

Recipe:

• Wash, peel and grate the carrot after chopping off the top part.

• Chop tomato and green chili.
• Add it to the grated carrot. 

• Add crushed peanut powder and mix it well with a spoon.

• Add salt, sugar and lemon juice.
• Mix it well.

• Garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves.

• Serve it as an accompaniment to an Indian meal or as a meal by itself.

Quantity:

• 4-5 servings as a side to a meal with other accompaniments.
• 2 servings as just a meal by itself.

gajar koshimbir with black urad dal, chapati and onion

Notes:

• You can use other colored carrots.
• Increase chilies, peanut powder and seasoning according to taste.
• Chill it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or so before serving.
• You can add a "tadka" made with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves heated in some ghee or oil and pour it over the salad at the time of serving. I served it as is...without this optional seasoning.

Carrot and methi puri (deep-fried flat-bread with carrots and fenugreek)

This is my first post on this blog about deep-frying. Puris are delicious puffed up flatbreads, which are made by rolling a ball of dough and frying it on high heat so that it puffs up. As an occasional treat, this bread is lovely. Usually, Indians have it for breakfast or during festivals. I make puris for my kids for their after school snack or school bento. Puris with alu (potato vegetable) or chana (chickpea curry) is a yum breakfast/brunch combo. 

This recipe is about puri made with added vegetables and spices, which can be had just by itself or with some pickles. I have served my puris with my friend Aruna Mani's pickle which she gifted me  :) Recipe for the Mango thokku pickle is on her blog here.

A well made puri, should puff up and have a deep pocket, something like this....:)