Easy Vegetable Cutlet

Cutlet is my hubby's (SS) favourite food. Its one of his staple order in chat shop. I learnt it from my SIL especially for him. Loaded with veggies, it usually is a lifesaver for kids or anyone (in my case my hubby) who don't like vegetables. Served hot with tomato sauce or packed as a lunch, it is sure a win win recipe (tasty as well as nutritious!!!). Plus its a super easy recipe..

INGREDIENTS:

Potato - 3 (medium sized)

Carrot - 2

Beans - 10

Peas - 3/4 cup

Onion - 1 (medium sized)

Coriander Leaves - 1 handful

Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Homemade Bread Crumbs( or Store brought) - 3/4 cup (1/2 cup + 1/4 cup)

Salt - as required 

Oil - as required for pan frying

METHOD:

1) Peel the potatoes and chop them along with carrot and beans. In a pressure cooker add the chopped veggies, peas, salt and 1/4 cup water and cook until soft (1 whistle and 5 minutes sim).

2) Mash the veggies with a mathu or potato masher ( no need to make like a fine paste ).

3) In a kadai add 1 tbsp oil and saute the onions for a minute(till it turns soft). Next add the ginger and garlic paste and fry till the raw smell leaves.

4) Now add the mashed veggies along with chilli powder and coriander powder and fry for about 5 minutes till the raw masala smell leaves ( this step also helps in making the dough less sticky).

 5) Check for salt and add garam masala, chopped coriander leaves and 1/2 cup breadcrumbs and mix well till it all comes together as a soft dough ball (about a minute). Switch off, let it cool down..

6) Next  Make even sized balls and flatten them by pressing slightly between your palms. Coat both the sides in the remaining 1/4 cup breadcrumbs.

7) Pan fry them with 1 to 2 tbsp oil in medium low flame on both sides till brown and crispy. Serve hot with tomato sauce or pack as a nutritious snack for your kid.

You can make any shape you want. I personally like square!!!

NOTES:

1) Don't add more water as it will take long to come together.
2) I like coriander leaves very much in my cutlet so I have added a handful. If you don't like it much you can reduce it.( but don't skip it, as it really uplifts the flavour).
3) If you have any leftovers, after coating with breadcrumbs, you can refrigerate in an air tight container for 1 day and serve hot.
4) I got 11 cutlets from this recipe.

Sending this to Nupur's What's with my cuppa?? event

Cheers,

Sindhiya.S

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Anytime Banana Fruit Salad (No Refined Sugar)

Whenever I crave something sweet at the same time light and not in a mood for cooking, this is the dish that satisfies me. It is very simple, yet delicious and can be prepared in less than 5 minutes. Well about the name of this dish...I thought about it long and decided Anytime Banana Fruit Salad as it can be had during anytime of the day...breakfast,dinner,evening snack or even as a light dessert... 

Banana is not my favourite fruit, but given in this form I will even eat 3 at once. Freshly grated coconut combined with the caramel flavoured dark brown jaggery gives the bananas an authentic taste. You can enjoy it without any guilt as it is refined sugar free!!!!.

INGREDIENTS:

Bananas - 2 (about 3/4 cup)
Dark Brown Jaggery - 2 tbsp
Freshly Grated Coconut - 3 tbsp + garnishing

METHOD:
Take all the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and serve immediately topped with grated coconut.

Look at the natural caramel oozing out from the salad!!!!!

NOTES:
1) You can even add small pieces of coconut to the salad to get a nice crunch between the soft bananas ( I do that some time...)
2) If you can't get dark brown jaggery, you can substitute with regular jaggery too....It will still taste so good.
3) Adding an extra tbsp of honey will also be good( with the extra honey punch, like a dessert!!!)


Cheers,
Sindhiya.S

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No Bake Mango Cheese Cake (Creamy, Eggless and No Creamcheese)

I always love summer for two reasons, one is getting a break from the daily routine...visiting native...family get together and the other one is the yummy and juicy and tasty mangoes!!!! Well its the only fruit that I have eaten by myself from childhood without my mother's constant reminder (Eat fruits, its good for health!!!!). Now that I have eaten it daily to my heart's content, I thought of making the legendary dessert The Mango Cheesecake

This recipe was first tried by my sister Jayanthi and myself during the end of last summer holidays.We wanted to eat something sweet and weren't in a mood for an icecream or a cake.I was itching my sister to get me cheesecake(it is not easy to get a cheesecake here....).So finally she said let us try one at home and then we found a promising recipe with readily available ingredients (we both like to work with ingredients that are easily available...well who doesn't??? ) and a delicious one too!!!! We got the last mangoes of that season and tried it. I could hardly wait for it set. One hour was my limit then I started hunting towards our fridge with a spoon(just to check whether it is set ofcourse...)

The taste was out of the world. The creamy filling with the biscuit base was heavenly!!! The light and soft mango jelly topping was soooo good...not to mention without any eggs and creamcheese.

Ok..enough story I think, lets get onto the fabulous mango cheesecake recipe....

INGREDIENTS:

Chopped Mango - 3/4 cup

Homemade (or) Store brought paneer - 165g ( a little more than a cup)

Sweetened condensed Milk - 1/2 tin (200g)

Vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp

Gelatin - 1 tbsp

water - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp

Sugar - 2 tbsp

For The Base

Britannia Marie Biscuits - 15

Melted Butter - 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp

Recipe Source:Yummy Tummy

METHOD:

1) Soak gelatin in 2 tbsp water and keep that aside.

2) Powder the marie biscuits in a blender.

3) Add the melted and cooled butter to the powdered biscuits and stir till it resembles like wet sand. Put them in individual serving glasses and level them with the back of spoon. Put them in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm up.
4) In  a blender add the chopped mangoes and puree them till smooth. In another blender add half the mango puree, paneer, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla essence and blend them till smooth and creamy.
5) Look how creamy the filling is!!!!  In a pan boil water. Add the soaked geltin to it and stir well till it dissolves completely. Turn it off and allow to cool slightly.
6) Add half the gelatin mixture to the creamy mango mixture and mix well. Now take the glasses from freezer and add the creamy mango layer as the second layer on top of the biscuit base. Return to fridge to set well ( about 1 1/2 hours).
7) Meanwhile add 2 tbsp sugar to the remaining mango puree and blend well till sugar dissolves. Keep that ready.
8) After the second layer has set well take that out of the fridge. Add the remaining gelatin mixture to the pureed mangoes and mix well. Pour that over the top of second layer and return it to the fridge to set completely for about 4 to 6 hours (overnight is best!!).
Your Creamy Mango Cheesecake is ready!!!!
Look how all the 3 layers have set beautifully.....

Garnish, Serve and enjoy your yummy mango cheesecake!!!

NOTES:

1) Before adding the third top layer make sure it is set well, otherwise both the layers will merge.

2) In the original recipe I found the top layer less sweet to my liking so I have added (2 tbsp) sugar for that top layer alone. You can skip that if you don't like it or if your mangoes are super sweet.

3) In this recipe I have used homemade paneer, you can use store brought too. Make sure it is fresh.

Cheers,

Sindhiya.S

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