Bean Burger

The 'Bean Burger Story' :)


Well I woke up today morning, and just didn't want to have the usual breakfast. I didn't even know what I wanted to cook. All I had in the refrigerator was some boiled beans from the day before. 


Thought of the burgers and I decided to make my own burgers - with no potatoes. (Considering I am spending so much of my time at the fitness world these days in a hope of losing some weight ;))


Well rather than calling them ingredients, I would just tell you what I had and what I did. 


For the tikki - 


Half large onion - finely chopped or grated. 
Half a bowl of finely chopped mushrooms
Three green chillies - finely chopped
Fresh Coriander - Half bowl - finely chopped
A large bowl of boiled beans ( I had boiled beans yesterday with chopped ginger, crushed garlic, a pinch of asafetida and salt to taste)
Half bell pepper - Finely chopped
Two carrots - finely chopped
Two hamburger buns - crumbled to bread crumbs
Two large table spoons of semolina flour (sooji)
Oil - Two table spoons
Salt - To taste
Red Chili Powder - To taste


Method: 
I took a pan and heated the two table spoon of oil at medium flame. 
Then I added the shredded onion, and fried them till they were golden brown. Then i added the chopped mushrooms. Then I added the green chill and coriander. Cooked this for 2 min, and then added the beans. At this stage i let the mixture dry up a little bit, and kept stirring continuously so that it doesn't burn. Then I added the semolina and bread crumbs. At this stage, I added salt and pepper and stir fried for another minute. Finally I added the chopped bell pepper and carrots and  removed the mixture from the flame. 


To make the tikki, I took another 2 table spoons of semolina in a flat dish. Then once the above mixture cooled down I took the mixture in little portions, and made small balls. Finally pressed these balls a little and wrapped them with semolina. The mixture is delicate and so had to handle it bit carefully. Finally a shallow fried the tikki(s) on a flat tawa. 


For the buns - 
Sliced onions into thin concentric circles
Slides tomatoes into thin discs
and sliced some cucumber
Sliced the hamburgers into halves, and fried them on a non stick pan. 


Finally served the burgers with sauce and tea :) 


I loved the whole dish, and hopefully you will love this too. 

Vegetarian Pizza

Finally I have found the easy and the best suited (to my taste) recipe of making a quick vegetarian pizza at home. 

What you need to make this recipe: 

Pizza Dough:

All purpose flour (3 and a half cups) - Makes 4 medium sized pizza

3/4th cup olive oil (or refined oil)

Yeast - 3 tea spoons

Sugar - 1 tea spoon

Hot water - 1 and a half cup

* All the below quantities will be sufficient for 3 pizzas. We will make 1 pizza with zucchini and two with capsicum(green bell pepper). The rest of the toppings remain same. 

Tomato Sauce:

Tomato Puree - 1 can

Tomato Sauce - 2 table spoons

Chilli Sauce - 1 table spoon

Oil - 2 tea spoons

Oregano - 2 tea spoons

Salt - 1 tea spoon

Pizza Toppings: 

Mozzarella cheese - shredded into thin threads

Onion - 2 large onion finely sliced into thin circles

Tomato - 5 finely sliced into thin circles

Zucchini - 10-12 thin circular slices

Capsicum - 10 thin circular slices

Mushrooms - 1 bowl thin slices

Pizza Base: 

Dry all purpose flour

Method: 

Mix the yeast and sugar in the hot water and leave for 5 minutes. You will see that the water becomes milky and the yeast begins to ferment. Adding the sugar helps the yeast ferment faster. 

Meantime take the 3 and a half cup flour in a big bowl, and make a hole in the centre of the flour. Then pour the fermented yeast and oil in the flour. Take a butter knife and start moving it across the flour in a cake cutting fashion. You will see that the flour immediately binds together. Take 2 drops of oil in your hand and knead the flour nicely. One way to test that the flour is done is to make it into a round ball, and then press with two fingers gently on the flour ball surface. If the surface bounces back, the flour is done. Put the flour in a bowl and seal the bowl with cellophane from the top. Leave the flour to ferment for 2 hours. 

When the flour is ready, start with preparing the sauce. Mix all the contents mentioned above in a bowl, and the sauce is ready. 

Now take out the flour and knead again for around 5 minutes. Divide the flour into 4 equal portions. Pack one portion in the cellophane sheet and keep in the refrigerator. This can be used for the next time. Also turn on the over at this time (200 degree centigrade) and pre-heat for 15 minutes. 

Now put some dry maid (all purpose flour) on the surface of the kitchen table and start rolling out the pizza using a roller pin. Roll it out into a large circle keeping in mind that it is uniform in thickness throughout. When the pizza base is large enough, I stop using the roller pin, and flatten out the base more using my hands and fingers. 

Spread 1/3rd of the pizza sauce uniformly on the pizza base. Add a thin layer of pizza base. Cover with onion, zucchini (or capsicum, or both), tomato and mushroom. Finally add another generous layer of cheese on the top. Sprinkle salt on top of the pizza as per taste. 

Place the pizza in the over and bake nicely till the top of the pizza is golden brown and the base is nice and crispy. 

Serve hot with hot coffee or tea :) 

Tip: Add oregano and chill flakes while eating for that extra taste. Don't make it too spicy if you have acidity problems. Zucchini pizza is specially good to curb acidity issues. 

Saag

Spinach/Sarson Curry (Saag)


I had this amazing dish at a Pakistani Restaurant at Flensburg in Germany. I couldn't stop myself from trying it and within the next three days of my birthday dinner, I tried this at home. 


Absolutely simple and fantastic dish, specially for those who like saag. 


My recommendation would be to use sarson, however for Indians living outside india, just buy two packs of frozen spinach with cream. I used two packets of 'Luksus grønt' spinach to make this recipe. 


In case you are using fresh spinach or fresh mustard leaves, wash them thoroughly and then chop them into fine strips. It is best to leave a little leafy texture to this recipe. It just enhances the taste. :)


Ingredients


Spinach with cream - 500 gram
Onion - 1 big sized
Tomato - 1 big sized
Crushed Ginger - 1 table spoon
Crushed Garlic - 1 table spoon
Cumin Seeds (Zeera) - 2 tea spoons
Salt - To taste
Red Chilli Powder - 2 tea spoons
Garam Masala - 1 tea spoon
Ghee - 4 table spoons


Method


Peel the onion and grind the onion and tomato to a fine paste in a mixer or food processor. Keep aside.
Heat 2 table spoons ghee in a non stick pan, and add cumin seeds to the hot ghee. When the seeds have crackled, add the onion-tomato paste to it and stir fry till the mixture is golden brown. If you feel that the mixture is sticking to the base, add more ghee to it so that it doesn't burn. 


Cook for 2 minutes, and then add the spinach with cream to the pan. I had the frozen packets so it took no time for me to prepare for this dish. If you are making this dish with fresh spinach or fresh sarson, then you will need to take out some time, prior to cooking, for cleaning and shredding the spinach or mustard leaves. 


Cover the pan with a lid and let the spinach-cream mix cook on a low flame for 15 minutes. Keep checking in between to ensure that the spinach is getting the right consistency. If you feel that you need more cream you can add more fresh cream to the recipe. After 15 minutes, add salt, red chill powder and garam masala. 


In another small pan take two table spoons of ghee, and heat it. Add the crushed ginger and garlic paste to the ghee and stir fry for 1 minute. Pour this mixture on top of the spinach and mix nicely. Cover the lid of the pan (with spinach) so that the aroma is sealed into the dish. 


Serve hot. Best with naan and zeera rice. 


Tip: To add to the aroma of the dish, add a little cottage cheese (paneer) while serving on top of the dish. 

Sayantani Style Gobhi Masala

 I learnt making this lovely dish from my friend  Sayantani. With a very north East Indian food quality, this dish is best served with yellow dal tadka and zeera rice. 

 Ingredients

Cauliflower - 1 large piece

Onions - 2 large 

Potatoes - 4-5 medium sized

Tomato - 1 large

Salt - To taste

Panch Phodan - this is a special mix of spices from Kolkatta and can be easily made at home. (Check here for more details)


Turmeric - 2 tea spoons
Red Chilli Powder - 1 tea spoon

    Dried Coriander Powder - 3 tea spoons

   Garam Masala - 1 tea spoon

   Oil - half a bowl

Method

Pluck big flowers out of the cauliflower. Please do not use a knief. Simply pluck the flowers (big around the size of a tennis ball) and place aside. 

Heat around 4-5 table spoons oil in a large shallow frying pan such that you can spread the flowers around the vessel. Place the flowers one by one in the hot oil and let it fry slowly. Keep checking on the flowers and turn them on all sides so that the flowers cook uniformly from all sides. While making this dish I sometimes feel that the flowers are little burnt however it only adds a smokey flavor to the end product. While the flowers are frying, prepare the other ingredients.

Peel the potatoes, and cut each potato into 4 pieces. Keep them aside. Also puree the one tomato and keep aside. Finally shred the two onions into thin long threads and keep these aside as well.

By now the cauliflowers would be done. Take them out piece by piece and place on a tissue paper to get rid of the extra oil. Then fry the potatoes in a similar fashion.

When the potatoes and done, take them out on a tissue paper. Finally add another table spoon of oil to the same pan. Add 2 table spoons of panch phodan to the hot oil. When it is crackled, add the onions. Fry the onions till they are brown, and add the puree. When the puree starts leaving a little oil, add turmeric, chill powder, coriander powder and garam masala. Stir for half a minute and add the cauliflower and potatoes.

It is important to ensure that the cauliflowers do not break into small pieces. So as the dish starts to cook, the vegetables will become more and more tender. So handle it with more patience towards the end. Cover the vessel with a lid and cook on low flame for approximately another 5 minutes. 

The gobhi masala is ready :) Enjoy :)

Tip: My picture shows that peas inside the gobhi, but please don't add those. It simply spoils the whole taste. Make it simple and it comes out very nice. 

Hope you like it.