Raw banana cutlets

Just wanted to try out something interesting with unripened bananas and wanted to find out how different they tasted from potatoes. And although green/unripened banana mash resembles mashed potato the taste is far from similar and the two have a distinctly separate texture.

So I tried cutlets trying to keep the ingredients mostly green or rather avoiding the use of anything like red chilli and garam masala powder.

3 unripened bananas (gave just under 1 cup of mash)
1 large green pepper
2 tsp green chilli paste
2 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp powder of roasted fennel seeds
1 1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
4 tsp lemon juice (or adjust to taste)
Salt to taste

For coating:

Rice flour or all purpose white flour or egg whites if you prefer
Fine suji or bread crumbs.

Cook bananas along with the peel until soft. I cooked them in a pressure cooker with water only at the bottom of the cooker but none added to the bananas.

Peel, cut and mash bananas once cool. Finely chop green pepper. Mix in the pepper and flavoring ingredients (pastes and powders), lemon juice and salt with the mash.

Make a runny paste with the flour. It should be a consistency like egg white. Spread suji or bread crumbs in a thin layer onto a plate.

Shape the banana mash into flattened cutlets. Give each one a quick dip in the flour paste and then a roll over the suji or crumbs.

If the paste appears to thicken add some water or milk to maintain consistency. The cutlets should not be too wet or the covering will not be crispy enough.

Heat a pan and coat with oil. A nice non-stick pan will mean hardly any more oil will be needed. Arrange the cutlets on the pan and reduce heat to just over sim. Flip over after a few minutes, repeating again once for even roasting. The cutlets should be done in just over 15 minutes.

Green banana is said to have cooling and astringent qualities which calm the pitta dosha but encourage the vaata dosha. It is rich in carbohydrates and minerals. Cutlets were quite filling in any case. And were a welcome change of taste.

Baked whole wheat apple pie pockets

These are as the title says baked whole wheat pie pockets. I had to come up with a recipe of my own because none of the posts I found on the Internet used whole wheat. Also the recipe draws inspiration from Indian sweet dishes so is a fusion so to say.

Because no fine white flour or baking powder is used the pie pockets don't become very crispy. When shared with friends at work the next day I got a comment saying the stuffing was worth trying out but in deep-fried pockets. You can add 1/2 the proportion of fine white flour to get crispiness and still bake it. The baking duration might be 5-7 minutes lesser depending upon the oven if fine white flour is used.

Took me about an hour for preparation. Baking time was 45-50 minutes.

Ingredients:

For the stuffing:

4-5 medium-sized red apples
3/4 cup coarsely chopped dry fig, cashewnuts and dates
1 1/2 tbsp poppy seed
1/4 cup or less of sugar
1-2 tsps cardamom or nutmeg powder

For the cover:

2-2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp vanilla essence
Salt
Milk
Cooking oil
Butter for shallow-frying

To do:

Warm the milk just a bit and mix in the vanilla essence.
Add some salt to the flour for taste and mix it well. This is optional.
Mix in the milk with the flour gradually as you knead it into a dough. The dough shouldn't be too moist but soft enough that it gets moulded into shape without getting cracks.
Shape into lemon-sized balls and set aside covered with a moist cotton cloth.

For the stuffing:

Chop the apples into small pieces. I didn't peel them.

Add about half a tbsp butter to a pan. Heat it and before it reaches smoking point shallow fry the poppy seeds first and then the chopped cashewnuts separately. Set aside to cool.

Tip the apples in the pan and let cook until the juices are released. Add sugar if you are going to use any sugar. Let cook until apples are tender and most of the juice evaporates. But not for longer than ten minutes after the sugar is added.

Take down pan off heat, mix in all the dry fruit and poppy seeds. Add cardamom/nutmeg powder and mix well.

Take some milk in a small bowl before beginning with the pie pockets.

Roll out the dough into discs or squares about two inches in diameter. Lay out the stuffing flattening it gently at the center of each disc. For semi-circle shaped pockets lay out the stuffing at the center of the lower half of the disc.

I shaped them semi-roundish:

Pre-heat oven at 180 C for 15 minutes.

With your fingertips or a teaspoon line the sides of the disc with a few drops of milk. Close the pockets to wrap into square-shaped envelopes or semi-rounds. Use a drop of milk as glue at places where any open ends need sealing in.

Brush cooking oil on all sides of the wraps and lay them out on a mesh. Put in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Get them out and flip over.

You'll know if the temperature is too high or the other side needs to be baked longer than 25 minutes. Brush oil on the surface again if needed.

Let bake for another 20-25 minutes and let the pockets be in the oven for another 5 minutes before they are taken out.

The pockets taste better when warm or just give a quick round of re-heating before serving.

Quick Salsa Puri (crunchy canapé)

A quick side to serve as starter or finger food for a party or simply as a relaxing treat with tea after a long day.

30-40 flat chaat puris/canape bases
2 medium green peppers
1 large tomato
1 medium onion
1-1/2 tbsp sweet sour red chilly sauce
1/2 tbsp lime juice
salt to taste

Pre-heat oven at 160 C for 5-7 minutes. Temperature will need to be adjusted according to your oven. But basically on low temperature.

Finely chop the vegetables and mix in the red chilly sauce, salt and lime juice. Top each puri with half teaspoonfuls of the mix. Arrange on the grill and set in the oven to bake. Reduce temperature to 155 C and let bake for about 7 minutes.

Other canape bases like pre-toasted bread or crackers can be substituted for the flat chaat puris.

Baked vegetable cutlets with basil pesto

1 small beetroot

1 small carrot

1/2 sweet potato

1 small green pepper (capsicum)

1 tbsp basil pesto

4 tbsp rice floor

Cooking oil

Salt to taste

(Makes about 10 cutlets)

Pre-heat oven at 180 C for 10 minutes.

Peel, cube and blanche the carrot, beetroot and sweet potato and blend through a mixer/blender. Finely chop green pepper.

The basil pesto was made at home with basil leaves, black pepper corns, garlic and almonds ground together with some olive oil.

Mix pesto and salt with the vegetables. Blend in the flour gradually as needed. The mixture is high on moisture because the vegetables have been blanched _and_ blended through a mixer - mashing them would be a better idea but blending is quicker and veggies do not need to be cooked soft.

Shape the mixture into cutlets and arrange on a grill. Put this in the oven and bake at 180 C for 25 minutes and then at 200 C for just about 7 minutes - or just enough so they are more firm around the outer layer but do not burn.

The pesto gives the cutlets all the flavour, so it is really the magic ingredient of the dish. None of the root vegetables used have a sharp taste and blend well with the pesto. Rice flour is one of the most subtle flours I've known and it almost softens the sharp taste that the baking brings out of basil pesto.

Just before they went into the oven:

Stir fried french beans with tender coconut

This is like a cooked salad, quick and healthy recipe for any season. Rather a fusion between Indian and Thai cooking. But who knows what influences played in the past upon what is known to be 'Indian' and 'Thai' today.

Ingredients:

150 gm French beans
3/4 cup tender coconut paste
1 large red chilli (Kashmir chilli if you like)
10-12 black pepper corns (depends upon how much heat is desired and how much the peppers offer)
2 tsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp shredded ginger, optional
Salt and sugar

Blanche beans, I prefer to leave them with a bit of a crunch. Grind the tender coconut just about in a food processor if you are using pieces. Little bits might remain but they will be very soft and unobtrusive. Blending it too much will make it watery in consistency.

Shred the lemon and ginger for garnish. Deseed chilli and coarsely crush the pepper corns.

Heat the cooking oil in a pan and tip the pepper and chilli in it. Toss well. Chilli fries in a few seconds, wait until the oil has a reddish tinge but taking care to not let the chilli burn on any side.

Add beans, stir for a minute and coat them with the oil. Add salt to your taste. Stir in the tender coconut, mix well. Add sugar (brown sugar will also go well), lemon zest and shredded ginger if you are using it.

Switch off the heat within a minute of adding the garnish. Add some lemon juice if preferred.

This will go well as a side. Boiled potatoes and carrots could also be added or used instead of the beans. Fish or chicken? Might need a little marination beforehand?

Multigrain Rawa Dosa

2 cups wheat semolina/rawa (not dry roasted or soaked)
3/4 cup ragi flour
1/2 cup rice flour
2 cups curd, whipped to a liquid consistency

For garnish

1 tsp ghee or butter
1 green chilly chopped
1 tsp cumin
3 tsp coarsely chopped cashewnuts
Curry leaves
Chopped coriander

Mix the rawa, flours and curd adding only a bit of water as needed to make a smooth thick batter. Add salt and let it stand for half an hour, an hour if possible.

Heat the ghee in a pan, make a tadka with the garnish ingredients except for the coriander and stir in into the batter. Add the coriander. Adjust salt and we are good to make dosas.

Evenly spread out a ladle-full of batter on a hot pan into a thin pancake. These dosas don't need to be covered to be cooked, just wait to flip over until it begins to get lifted from the sides.

Serving idea:

Add crushed black pepper to the batter. And top dosas with sweet mustard sauce. Green fresh coconut chutney is my favourite with this dosa.

Banana and tender coconut smoothie

Another tender coconut smoothie.

2 bananas
2 tbsp curd/yoghurt
3/4 cup tender coconut
Cocoa powder to taste

Blend all in a blender until smooth. I had some raisins soaking overnight. They were deseeded and added for extra nutritional punch. Garnished with chocolate mocha cocoa powder. This makes for two small servings but is considerably filling.