Vegetarian Kheema Paratha

Consuming soya nuggets have many benefits. They are low in fats and have a high protein content. As it provides all the amino acids that are present in meat, it is an excellent choice for vegans. For the same serving size, soya provide more protein than meat. One serving of soya nuggets is enough to provide more than the daily requirement of iron and almost half of the daily requirement of calcium.
Also its mild taste and texture makes it quite easy to incorporate it many recipes.

Read on for one of my favorite recipes:

Preparation Time - 25 mins ( minus 10 mins if you have the dough ready/ if using soya granules )

Ingredients - Whole wheat flour ( 1 1/2 cups or enough for making 4 rotis ), 3/4 cup soya chunks, 1 small onion, 1/2 tsp red chilli powder, 1/3 tsp coriander powder, 1/4 tsp cumin powder, 1/6 tsp garam masala or meat masala a pinch of turmeric, salt to taste, 6-7 tsp oil.

Preparation - Take the dough in a open vessel . Add salt and 1 tsp hot oil. Mix together.

Add water little by little to the above mixture and make into a firm dough. Keep it covered and allow to sit for 5 -10 minutes.

Chop the onion into small pieces.

Cooking - Cook the soya chunks with a little salt in a pressure cooker. Allow 1 whistle. Remove and keep aside till steam escapes.

Drain all the water and squeeze out the water in the chunks. Wash twice with fresh water and squeeze the chunks to remove remaining water.

Transfer the chunks to a grinder cup and grind into a coarse paste (kheema).

Heat  2 tsp oil in a wok. Add the chopped onions and fry till translucent. Add all the powdered masalas and fry for 30-45 seconds.

Add the kheema and fry till it turns to a brown color.

Remove from stove and allow to cool down.

Make 4 balls out of the dough prepared earlier. Roll out into rotis.

Divide the soya kheema into two portions. Spread the kheema over one roti and cover with another roti.

Pinch the sides to close the paratha.

Heat a tawa. Place the paratha on the tawa and cook for 1 minute. Flip over and drizzle with oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes till done on both sides.

Repeat the process for making another paratha.

Serve hot with sweetened yogurt.

Khari pakoda

Khari biscuits are a favorite with almost everyone. They are light, airy and wonderfully crispy. I usually serve them to my guests with tea ( yeah i do try to resist them....loaded with butter...u know :) ) and they disapper in minutes. But at times some are left in the cupboard for too long or maybe hubby forgot to close the container properly and they lose their flavor ( no Tupperware/LocknLock works in this case ) . I had been putting those in the dustbin till last week.

But then i heard Ranbir Kapoor singing about 'Khari pakoday' with 'nukkad ki chai' in the promos of his latest flick 'Besharam'. Voila, and a new dish was born. Initially i tried making pakoras with the broken crumbs of khari biscuit and they are ok-ok types. But then i tried to take each biscuit, pull apart the layers and then dip them into the batter individually before frying. I must say these pakoras are wonderfully crisp and totally worth the effort.

Preparation time - 15 mins

Ingredients - Khari biscuits, oil for frying.

For the batter - 4 tbs besan, 1 tsp cornflour, 1/3 tsp jeera-lanka ( cumin-chilli ) powder, 1/3 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp coriander shoots finely chopped, 1 tsp green chilli finely chopped, salt to taste.

Preparation - Take all the ingredients for batter in a mixing bowl. Add water and make into a paste of medium consistency. Keep aside for 15-20 mins.

Cooking - Heat oil in a wok.

Take each khari biscuit and pull apart into 3-4 layers. Dip each piece into the batter and leave in the oil. Fry till light golden brown. Remove and keep on a tissue to drain excess oil.

Serve hot with tomato sauce and tea.

Poee Raee

This is my 300th post and such a special occasion is the right time to get the spotlight back on Orissa. When i first started writing this blog my sole objective was to showcase the cuisine and food habits of Orissa. My initial posts do bear a testimony to that. But since we all inhabit a cosmopolitan world, my latter posts were influenced by the varied cuisine that i came in contact with.

'Raee' or vegetables cooked in a light mustard gravy is a signature dish of Orissa. While some people add cumin along with the mustard, garlic may or may not be added depending on the day(vrat/osa bara). Usually vegetables  like raw banana, colocasia and brinjal are added to this preparation but i have skipped those due to a food allergy in the family.

Preparation Time-20-30 mins

Ingredients - 4 cups chopped poee, 1 cup pumpkin cubes, 1/2 cup ridge gourd cubes, 1/2 cup potato cubes, 1 medium sized tomato chopped, 2-3 garlic flakes, 1 small onion chopped, 1/2 tsp pancha-phutana or mustard seeds, 1 dry red chilli, 1/3 tsp turmeric, salt to taste, 4 tsp oil.

For the mustard paste: 1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 5-6 garlic cloves, 1 red chilli.

Preparation: Grind the mustard, cumin and red chilli into coarse powder in dry state .Then add a little water along with garlic flakes and grind again into a fine paste.

Cooking: Heat 1-2 tsp oil in a wok. Add the chopped poee and stir fry on high flame till excess water evaporates. Remove and keep aside.

Add the remaining oil to the wok. Add the broken red chilli and pancha-phutana/mustard. When it starts spluttering, add the crushed garlic flakes and onion. Stir fry for 1 minute.

Add the mustard paste along with a little water and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add 2-3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add all the vegetables and cook with lid covered till they soften.

Add the fried poee to the wok and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Serve hot with white rice.

Soya masala Dosa

Masala dosa happens to be one of our staple breakfast items. We usually end up trying out variations to the regular potato masala like the panner stuffed dosa, egg bhurji stuffed dosa, upma stuffed dosa (MLA). This time we decided to stuff it with soya kheema ( mashed soya nuggets ). This not only reduces the starch/carbs content which makes it a healthier option for diabetics, but the increased protein content makes it more filling. Here is the recipe:

Preparation time: 15-20 mins

Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup boiled soya nuggets, 1 medium sized potatoes ( boiled and peeled ), 1 tsp grated garlic, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 medium sized onion ( finely chopped ), mustard and cumin seeds for tempering, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 1/5 tsp turmeric, 2-3 tsp chopped coriander leaves, 3-4 tbs green peas, 3-4 tsp oil, dosa batter for 3-4 dosas, salt to taste.

Cooking: Heat 3-4 tsp oil in a wok. Add mustard-cumin seeds when the oil starts smoking. Follow with chopped onion and the grated ginger and garlic. Fry for 4-5 mins till the raw smell goes away.

Add green peas and fry for 2 minutes.

Add the boiled soya nuggets and fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the mashed potato along with chilli powder, salt and turmeric. Fry for 2-3 mins. Add the chopped coriander. Fry for 1 minute. Remove from heat and keep aside.

Heat a tawa. Season it with 2-3 drops of oil. Wipe off excess oil with a paper towel / soft cloth. Sprinkle a little water to check if the tawa lets out a slight sizzle. At this stage take a ladle full of the batter and spread over the tawa with a circular motion.

Spread the soya-potato batter at the center of the dosa.

Fold it from both sides.

Serve hot with chutney or sambar.




      

Amba Sorisha Khatta ( A sweet sour Mango relish from Odisha )

Cooking time required: 20-25 mins


Ingredients:

• 1 Large green mango (kancha amba)
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/5 tsp turmeric powder 
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 
• 2 tsp mustard seeds ( use half the quantity if you are not used to the pungency 
• 2 tsp oil ( 2 tsp)
• jaggery / sugar as per taste ( also depends on the sourness of the mango )
• 1/2 tsp pancha-phutana
• 1/4 tsp roasted cumin-chilli powder (jeera-lanka gunda)
• salt to taste

Preparation: Grind the mustard and cumin seeds into a fine paste.

Peel and cut the mango into long pieces.

Cooking: Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pan, add the pancha-phutana and curry leaves. Stir for about 30 secs. Add the mango pieces and stir fry till soft.

Add the mustard-cumin paste along with 3-4 cups water. Add chilli powder, turmeric and salt. Bring to a boil and allow to simmer.

When the water reduces to 2/3rd add sugar and boil for 3-4 mins. Sprinkle jeera-lanka powder and remove from fire.

Serve with non-veg curry or dalma rice.

Note: I usually prepare it with Mansa jholo/Maccha jholo.But it tastes equally good when had with arwa chawal & dalma.