One Day At A Time

Hello everyone! I have been quite busy with back to school routine. Packing a lunch box for my 7 year old is part of my weekday morning. For some reason, my kiddo likes beetroot. Today's kid friendly Airfried Beetroot Vegan Nuggets are packed with colorful root vegetables and greens. Its a family favorite now.. one that works well as a hot meal in my child's thermos. We grownups love these cutlets too.  Ingredients: Boiled Potato - 1 big (about 1 cup) Grated Beetroot - about 1/2 cup Grated Carrot - about 1/2 cup Frozen Green Peas - 1/4 cup Chopped Baby Spinach - about 1/2 cup Whole Wheat Bread Slices - 2 Garlic Powder - 1/2 tsp Onion Powder - 1/2 tsp Paprika - 1/2 tsp Black Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp Salt Cooking Spray or Oil How to Airfry Vegan Mixed Vegetable Nuggets: Blend the bread slices in a food processor to a fine powder. Microwave frozen peas for 40 - 50 seconds. Let the peas cool down. Finely chop spinach leaves. Finely grate beets and carrots. Make sure spinach leaves ...

Shallow fried vegetable cutlets are quite common at our place for evening snacks or as side dishes for meals. Its a good way to include more veggies in your diet. Today, I made these savory corn cakes to spruce up the leftovers.

Shallow fried Vegetarian or Vegan Cutlets made of potatoes and leafy green Spinach. Ingredients: Boiled Potatoes (Russet) - 2 big Baby Spinach/Palak - about 3 cups Coriander/Dhania Powder - 1/2 tsp Cumin/Jeera Powder - 1/2 tsp Fennel Seeds/Saunf/Badishep - 1/2 tsp Chat Masala or Aamchur - 1/2 tsp Garam Masala or any spice mix - 1/4 tsp Salt Oil Corn Starch - 1/4 cup Bread crumbs - 1/2 cup How to make Aloo Palak Cutlets: Microwave washed spinach leaves for 3 - 4 minutes so that the leaves wilt and lose moisture. Let it cool. You can rough chop the leaves if you like.  Any other greens like Fenugreek/Methi, Spring Mix can be used. Crush the fenel seeds in a mortar pestle to a coarse powder. In a mixing bowl, add mashed potatoes, spinach, coriander, cumin, fennel, chat masala, garam masala and salt. Make sure that the potatoes are cooled completely before mashing and not overcooked. I prefer Russet Potatoes for cutlets. Divide the cutlet mix into  8 - 10 parts. Fl...

Deep fried raw Banana or plantain Wadas with chana dal. Ingredients: Plantain/Raw Banana - 1 big Chana Dal/Split Bengal Gram/Split Chickpeas - 1/2 cup Ginger - 1/2 inch piece Green Chillies - 5 Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1/2 tsp Coriander/Cilantro Leaves - few sprigs Salt Oil Method: 1. Soak chana dal overnight or for about 4 hours.   2. Cut the plantain into 3 or 4 big pieces and make few cuts on the skin with a knife.  Cook plantain in enough water till they turn soft.  Drain the water and let it cool.  The skin will come off easily, discard the skin.  Grate or mash the cooked plantains.  Finely chop cilantro leaves. 3. Wash soaked dal well.  Grind soaked dal, green chillies, ginger, cumin seeds and salt to a slightly coarse paste. 4. In a mixing bowl, add grated plantains, ground dal and chopped cilantro.  Make round balls of the mix or slightly flatten them to form a pa...

Ingredients: Grated Boiled Potato - 1 1/2 cups Corn Meal or Semolina or Bread Crumbs - 1/2 cup Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup Cilantro/Coriander Leaves - about 1/2 cup Green Chillies - 2 Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Sugar - 1 tsp Salt Oil Method: 1. Finely chop cilantro and green chillies. 2. Mash or grate the (peeled) boiled potatoes.  Add corn meal, salt, turmeric, green chillies (or red chilli powder) and half of the chopped cilantro.  Add corn meal and mix all the ingredients to form a soft dough.  Add more corn meal if required.  Divide the dough into 6 - 8 balls as per desired size.  3. Stuffing: Mix grated coconut, sugar and other half of the chopped cilantro. 4. Flatten one of the dough balls big enough to hold the stuffing.  Add about 1 tsp of the coconut stuffing in the centre and gather the edges to form a round shape. 5. Deep fry this stuffed ball in hot oil and check if it breaks while frying.  If it breaks...

One can always experiment with cutlets.  This is the first time I added corn along with some other vegetables and it tasted great. Ingredients: Boiled Potatoes - 2 big Corn kernels - 11/2 cup Green Peas - 1/2 cup French/Green Beans - 10 Chopped Cabbage - 1/2 cup Cumin/Jeera seeds - 1 tsp Garlic - 5 big cloves Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper/Red chilli powder - 2 tbsp Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1 cup Salt Oil Method: 1. Cook corn kernels, chopped beans and green peas with about 1 cup water till soft.  Drain the water and let them strain in a strainer for about 20 minutes. 2. Heat about 1/2 tbsp oil in a kadhai/wok and add cumin, grated garlic.  Saute for few seconds and add chopped cabbage.  Cook till cabbage turns soft or wilts.  Add the cooked vegetables, chat masala, garam masala, cayenne pepper and salt.  Cook till all the ingredients are mixed well and moisture is l...

A delicious Vegan Burger with potatoes and fresh fenugreek leaves.  Ingredients:   Boiled Potatoes - 2 big Fenugreek/Methi leaves - 1 cup Coriander/Cilantro leaves - 1/2 cup Carrots - 2 French/Green Beans - 1/2 cup Yellow Corn Meal - 3/4 cup Chat Masala - 1/4 tsp Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper - 2 tbsp Mushrooms - 350 gms Garlic - 5 big cloves Black Pepper Powder Salt Oil Method: 1. Heat 2 - 3 tbsp oil in a skillet and add sliced mushrooms, finely chopped garlic.  When mushrooms start turning brown, add salt and black pepper.  Saute for a minute and keep them aside. 2. Saute french beans with little oil till soft.  Add little salt and save them for later. 3. In a mixing bowl, mash or grate the boiled potatoes.   Add finely chopped fenugreek and cilantro leaves.  Add grated carrot , sauted beans, corn meal (or bread crumbs or semolina), garam masala, cayenne pepper and ...

Shallow fried potato cutlets or tikkis mixed with vegetables and made crisp with semolina (rava). Ingredients: Potatoes - 2 big Onion - 1 medium Chopped Carrots - 1/2 cup Chopped Cabbage - 1/2 cup Chopped French/Green Beans - 1/2 cup Green Peas - 1/2 cup Green Chillies (minced or chopped) - about 1 tsp Cilantro/Coriander leaves - few sprigs Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp Cumin/Jeera Seeds - 1/2 tsp Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp Lemon/Lime Juice - about 2 tsp Turmeric/Haldi - 1/4 tsp Semolina/Rava/Sooji - 1/2 cup Kala/Sendha Namak/Indian Black Salt Oil Method: 1. Boil the potatoes till soft enough to be mashed.  Finely chop onions, French beans, cabbage, carrots, green chillies and coriander leaves. 2. Heat about 2 tsp oil in a pan.  Add cumin seeds, ginger garlic paste.  Saute for a minute and add onions.  When onions turn soft, add chopped beans, cabbage and carrots.  Saute till all veggies turn soft. 3. Now ad...

Sabudana or Sago is a staple for Indian fasts, well known as Vrat or Upvaas.  Sabudana Khichdi also known as Sago Pilaf is a vrat special food. Let me tell you about another sago delicacy - deep fried sago and potato cutlets, known as  Sabudana Vade.