Potato wadas

Ingredients:

3 medium to large potatoes boiled

1/2 tablespoon ginger paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

A handful of coriander leaves finely chopped 

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

4 tablespoons gram flour (besan)

Water

Salt to taste

5-6 curry leaves

Red chilli powder to taste

Oil for frying 

Mash the potatoes with coriander, salt, turmeric and red chilli powder.

In a small pan heat 1 tablespoon oil, add mustard seeds and let crackle. Then add. Curry leaves, ginger and garlic paste.

Add this to the mashed potatoes. And mix well. Shape into balls and keep aside

Make a thin paste of the gram flour, a little salt and water.

In a pan heat oil. Dip the potato balls in the gram flour and deep fry until golden brown or crisp.

Serve hot with coconut or coriander chutney or ketchup.

Can be fried a little and stored in the refrigerator (like in the picture). When you want to serve, just refry till golden brown. Can be stored for 3-4 days.

Makes 10-12 wadas.

Paneer chatpata

Ingredients:

250gms paneer (cut into bite sized squares)

4 tablespoons hung curd or Greek yoghurt

4 tablespoons maida

1 medium onion cut into cubes

2 tablespoons tomato purée

1 green capsicum  cut into cubes

1 teaspoon ginger paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1 tablespoon Kasturi methi

Oil

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder to taste

1 teaspoon tandoori chicken powder

1 teaspoon chat masala

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon dhania powder

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon jeera powder.

Make a thin paste of the maida and water, add some salt. 

Dip the paneer pieces in this batter and fry on medium high heat and keep aside.

Mix all the dry spices and some salt and chilli with the yoghurt and keep aside.

In a pan heat the oil and toss in the ginger, garlic, onion and capsicum and sauté for 2 minutes.

Add 2-3 tablespoons on water to soften the info and capsicum. Once the water is dry, add the yoghurt, methi and tomato purée and sauté for a minute.

Add the fried paneer pieces and let cook on low flame for 2 minutes.

Serve hot with rotis/naan.

Creamy Mushroom soup

Ingredients:

1 big onion finely chopped

250 gms mushrooms (you may use button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms or any other kind of mushrooms or even a combination) finely chopped

1 litre full cream milk

11/2 tablespoon corn flour

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)

1/2 tablespoon oil

Salt to taste

Pepper powder to taste

In a pan heat the oil and melt the butter. Add onions and cook till translucent. Then add the mushrooms and sauté for 4-5 mins on medium heat.

Take a little milk and dissolve corn flour in it. Add the remaining milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg and being to a boil.

Then add the milk in which corn flour has been dissolved and let simmer for about 8-10 mins.

Let it cool and with a hand blender make a purée. Do not make it pasty, let some mushroom pieces remain.

The consistency is usually perfect, but if you want you may want to thicken it by boiling or add water to make it thinner.

Serves approx 6.

Chicken burger

Ingredients:

250gms minced chicken

1 small onion finely chopped

1 teaspoon ginger and garlic paste

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Some coriander finely chopped

Salt to taste

Black pepper powder to taste

Bread crumbs to bind 

Oil to fry

Mix together all ingredients except the oil.

Let the mixture remain slightly soft. Do not use a lot of breadcrumbs.

Shape into burger patties and ensure it's soft. Leave in the freezer for 10 mins and then transfer to the refrigerator. This will ensure that the patties don't break (possibility of breaking is otherwise high since the pattys are soft).

On a grill or a fry pan add a few drops of oil and grill/shallow fry. Serve on a burger bun with mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, tomato slice, cucumber Alice, gherkins or jalapeños.

Tip: the softer the party before cooking, the juicier your burger.

Mushroom and cheese tikkis

Ingredients:

8-10 mushrooms

1 small onion

1/2 cup grated cheese

1 teaspoon ginger paste

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1/2 teaspoon jeera powder

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1/2 boiled potato

1 teaspoon chaat masala

Salt to taste

Oil for frying 

Bread crumbs (if needed)

In a pan of boiling water and the mushrooms and leave for five minutes. Strain and leave aside.

In a chopper add all ingredients except oil.

Shape to form tikkis. If the dough is too soft, add breadcrumbs.

Shallow fry on medium heat and serve.

Do not deep fry. Since this contains a lot of cheese it's likely to crumble.