Vegetable Spring Roll

Vegetable Spring Roll

Vegetable Spring Roll is an Asian appetizer/snack. It is a snack in which vegetables  are rolled inside a thin spring roll sheet made of corn or wheat and deep fried.

Ingredients:

1. Spring Roll base/sheets ( available at Asian/Indian stores). These sheets are generally stored frozen. Before preparing the spring rolls, thaw the sheets outside the freezer. Keeping it in normal room temperature for 30 minutes will make it easier to remove the sheets without getting torn or without getting stuck to each other

2. Mixed vegetables cut length-wise(julienne cut) or into small pieces ( carrots, cabbage, red onion, cilantro etc. you can also add bell peppers to get a more crunchy effect. )

3. Minced Garlic - 1/2 tea spoon

4. Salt - 1/2 tea spoon(Adjust as per your taste)

5. Coarsely ground black pepper powder- 1/4 tea spoon

6. Tomato Ketchup - about 2 tea spoons

7. Cooking oil - For deep frying the spring rolls

Procedure: 

1. Heat a tea spoon of oil in a pan.

2. When the oil is hot,  saute the garlic and red onions well till they turn light brown in color.


 3. Now add all the other vegetables and saute them well.Also for those who want their spring rolls to be more spicy, you can  add 2 to 3 minced green chillies or sprinkle 1/2 tea spoon of red pepper flakes while sauteing the vegetables

4. Sprinkle the salt and pepper powder when the vegetables are about half-cooked.

5. Finally add the tomato ketchup and mix well and keep this vegetable mixture in a plate aside.

6. Take 1 tea spoon of all purpose flour and 1 tea spoon of corn flour. Mix them with 2 tea spoons of water to form a thick paste.

7. Place 1 tea spoon of the vegetable filling near one of the edges of the spring roll sheet.

8.Fold the edge inside covering the vegetables and start rolling the sheet from one edge diagonally/Roll it tight inwards to avoid spilling of the filled vegetables.

9. When it is half-rolled, apply the flour paste on the edges and seal the edges of the spring rolls as shown in the picture.

 

 
10. Heat oil in pan. Deep fry the spring rolls till they turn golden brown.

 

11. Serve hot and crispy spring rolls. This would taste great with hot and sweet tomato sauce, mint chutney etc.,

Paneer 65-Crispy Paneer Fry

Paneer 65 - Crispy Paneer Fry

Ingredients

1.Paneer cubes - 400 gms

2. Green Chillies - 4 to 53. Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tea spoon or ginger - 1/2 inch piece and garlic pod - 14. Chilli powder - 1 tea spoon5. Curry powder or garam masala powder - 1 tea spoon6. All purpose flour - 1/4 cup7. Corn starch - 1/4 cup8. Water - about 1/2 cup9. Salt - 1/2 tea spoon. Please adjust as per your taste.Procedure1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl - All purpose flour, corn starch, chilli powder, garam masala or curry powder, salt etc

2. Grind the green chillies, ginger and garlic together into a coarse paste and add to the dry ingredients. 

3. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water, a few spoons at a time and mix the ingredients into a thick batter. Batter should not be too thin and watery else it will not stick to the paneer and will separate out when fried in the oil.

4. Add the paneer cubes in this batter, mix well and marinate this for about 5 to 10 minutes.

5. Heat Oil in a pan in medium heat. Add a small drop of the batter and check that the batter raises above slowly and starts becoming crispy. 

This is the right heat for deep frying the paneer 65.If the paneer batter settles down or sticks to the bottom of the pan, the oil is not hot enough yet and if the batter raises very quickly and starts floating too soon, then the oil is too hot. Adjust the heat accordingly.

6. Start frying the  paneer cubes dipped in the batter, in the hot oil.

7. Keep turning them gently with a fork in  the hot oil till they turn golden brown.

8. Place in a paper towel so that the extra oil if any is drained.

9. Serve hot. This can be a wonderful tea time snack or it can be served as a starter before any main course or can be served as a side-dish for various kinds of rice dishes.

Enjoy this yummy and crispy paneer 65 with your loved ones!

Paneer Chilli burji

Paneer Chilli burji

Paneer Chilli burji is a semi-gravy paneer or indian cottage cheese based dish.( This can be made dry without gravy as well). This goes as a great accompaniment/side dish to Chapathis, Rotis, Phulkas and Naan. Also this can be taken along with a hot steamed rice, fried rice or pulao.

Ingredients

1. Paneer - 400 gms

2. Red onion - 1/2 cup chopped into pieces or about 8 to 10 shallots/pearl onions peeled

3. Green chillies - 8-10 slit length-wise

4. Tomatoes - 1 if big, 2 if small - cut into cubes 

5. Ginger - about 1/2 an inch

6. Garlic - 1 or 2

7. Clove - 1

8. Cinnamon - 1

9. Cardamom pod - 1

10. Pepper corn - 3 to 4

11. Water - 1/2 cup

12. Mustard seeds - 1 tea spoon

13. Cooking oil - 2 tea spoons

14. Salt - 3/4 tea spoon

Procedure:

1. Grate the paneer in a mixer-grinder/blender into coarse powder

 

2. In a mixer-grinder/blender, grind the tomatoes, onion, green chillies, ginger, garlic, clove, cinnamon, cardamom pod, pepper corn by adding about 1/2 cup of water.
3. Heat 2 tea spoons of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds and allow them to splutter.
To this, add the tomato-onion paste and keep stirring till the mix thickens.
4. Add 3/4 tea spoon of salt to this.

5. Add the grated paneer to this and mix well. At this stage, water from paneer oozes out and starts boiling.Add about 1/4 cup of water, mix well and allow to cook well in a medium heat with closed lid.Stir occasionally.

6. Serve along with hot chapathis, rotis, Naan, phulka or Rice.

 

7. A milder version of this dish can be prepared for kids. Follow the same procedure without adding the green chillies. This will taste great as well.

Enjoy this delicious recipe with your friends and family!

Vegetable Biryani/Biriyani

Vegetable Biryani/Biriyani

Vegetable Biryani is a rice dish with cooked chunks of vegetables mixed with different spices and condiments. Biryani has different varieties and is prepared in different ways , mostly in India and the Middle-eastern countries.

Ingredients

1. Potato - peeled and cut into small cubes - about 1/2 a cup
2. Beans, Carrots, Cabbage, Peas - cut into pieces of about 1 inch length - 1 cup
3. Capsicum/Bell peppers - 1/4 cup
4. Red Onion - cut into small pieces - about 1 inch length - 1/2 cup
5. Green Chillies - 5 to 6 - slit lengthwise
6. Ginger-Garlic paste - 1/2 tea spoon
7. Chilli powder - 3/4 tea spoon
8. Cashew nuts - about 10
9. Curd/Yoghurt - 3 tea spoons
10. Long-grained Rice preferably Basmati Rice -1 cup
11. Salt - 3/4 tea spoon , Adjust as per your taste
12. Cloves - 3-4

13. Bay leaves - 1 or 2
14. Star anise  - 2 to 3














15. Cinnamon strips - about 2 -3
16. Cardamom pods - 2-3
17. Jeera - 1/2 tea spoon
18. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

19.Fennel seeds - 1/2 tea spoon

20. Ghee or butter - 2 tea spoons
21. Biryani Masala powder  - 2 tea spoons ( optional, please add if available to give additional flavour)
22. Curry masala powder - 2 tea spoon
23. Pepper Corn ( optional) - a few
24. Water - 21/2 to 3 cups
25. Paneer or Indian cottage cheese cubes - about 1/4 cup ( optional)

Procedure:

Rice preparation
1. Wash the basmati rice in a bowl with water and soak it in water for about 1/2 an hour before cooking
2. Cook 1 cup of rice with 1.5 cups or 1 and 3/4 cups of water(use the same cup used to measure rice), a tea spoon of oil and 1/2 tea spoon of salt. The oil is to ensure that the grains do not stick to each other when cooked.
3. After the rice is cooked, spread the rice gently using a fork on a plate and allow this to cool, else the rice will get cooked further and become mushy if allowed to sit the same hot vessel in which it was cooked.

Biryani masala preparation
1. Heat a pan and add about 2 tea spoons of oil. Fry the cloves, cinnamon, pepper corn, cardamom pods, star anise, fennel seeds, bay leaves , cashew nuts , mustard , jeera etc.
2. When the cashew nuts turn golden brown, add the ginger-garlic paste, green chillies and onion to it and saute well till they turn light brown.
3. Add the vegetables , paneer (if available), 3/4 tea spoon of salt , mix and  saute them well.Add around 1/2 cup of water  and mix well. (Adjust salt as required for only the vegetables, as Rice is already cooked with salt ) Cover the pan with a lid and allow to cook for about 5-8 minutes. Check occasionally and stir the vegetables till they are about 3/4th cooked.
4. Now add the chilli powder, biryani masala,  curry masala powder, yoghurt etc and mix well.
5. Add 1/2 cup of water and allow the masala spices to be mixed and incorporated well with vegetables.Cover the lid and cook for 3-4 minutes. Turn off the stove.
6. Now in another pan or pressure cooker, apply 1 sppon of butter or ghee to the bottom of the vessel, Spread 1 table spoon of cooked spicy vegetables as the bottom-most layer. On top of it, add a layer of cooked basmati rice. Next on top of the rice, spread the next layer of vegetables followed by rice. Have 3 such layers of rice and vegetables. Spread fried onions on the top most layer along with some cashew nuts. Add 1 spoon of ghee/butter on top.
7. Cover this pan with a lid ( or pressure cooker lid without whistle) and cook in medium heat for about 8 to 10 minutes.
8. Serve the biryani by scooping up all layers (till bottom-most layer) of the biryani. This will give you the layers separately and you get to taste the vegetables and flavourful rice separately. Another way is to mix up the rice well with the biryani masala and vegetables and serve. This tastes very good along with Onion-yoghurt raita or kurma.
9. Have a wonderful time enjoying your spicy vegetable biryani !