Patties/Veg Puff/व्हेज पफ

Veg Puff ,Patties

In college days..we used to eat it almost every Sunday morning....
Very easy to make so you can make it at home.. a good option for accompanying tea...
serve hot with nice Masala Chai :-)
I am giving a generic Recipe, how to do it. Adjust your ingredients as per the number of Puffs you want to do it.
Basically,I did it with Potato sabji this time. Like Aloo masala of masala dosa. You can prepare mixed veg Sabji or any stuffing as you like. :-)
I would suggest, use 2 potatoes and prepare stuffing. and Make 2-3 Puffs from it and see how it goes.Later on you can try more numbers. :-)


Ingredients:
Puff pastry ( I used Jus-Rol Puff pastry 500 gm pack which will have 2  slabs/thick sheets 
it makes 25-30 medium sized Puffs )
You can use as much as you want to make Puffs. Its like frozen Dough ,so use and then freeze again.
For potato stuffing :
Medium sized potatoes ( ideal for mash ).
Green chillies to taste
Grated ginger
Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Coriander powder
Procedure:

1. De-frost the pastry  for 2-3 hours. Ideally keep it outside freezer to normal room temperature for more than 2 hours before you start rolling the pastry.
2. Boil potatoes in pressure cooker until soft and easy to be mashed. Mash the potatoes to prepare filing.
3. Preheat the Oven for 200 deg.C
4. Potato filling : Keep oil for heating. Once heated, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, Grated ginger, chopped chillies, turmeric powder. Stir well. Add the mashed potatoes.
5. Mix well and add salt to taste. Add Coriander powder for a nice Flavor.
6. Mix well and cook for just 5 min. Keep it aside to cool down.
7. The pastry will come as a square slab.Divide the slab into small squares.(Cut the Pastry slab with Knife into an approx. 3 cm wide roll and cut that roll into small square shaped chunks.)
8. Roll out each square into a round shape with roller pin. Dont make it very thin.Keep it medium thick.
9. Take a tsp full of filing and place on the rolled pastry.

       10.  Close it by all the sides and give a shape of a rectangle by pressing

               from both the sides. Make sure filling is not exposed by making sure

               that everything is well packed.

   11. In a heated Oven, place these Puffs on a Foil covered treys. 

         Keep the trey in a middle shelf of oven. Bake for 12-15 min or less or 

         more until they puff up and turn light golden brown.

Homemade Veg Puff

            

Tags:  Homemade Veg Puff/Aloo Patties/Patties recipe/Puff recipe/Kartoffel/ジャガイモ/картофель

Cucumber Sabji / Kakadi chi pith perun Bhaji / Kakdi Sabji

A quick recipe of side dish, if your fridge is running out of Veggies, a good option..coolant for your tummy. 
Add Cucumber to your diet during warm summer months.


Ingredients:

1 Tsp oil

Mustard seeds

Cumin seeds

Asafoetida

Turmeric powder

Curry leaves

Fresh Cucumber chopped into small cubes ( I took half of the long dark green Cucumber)

Red chili powder,
salt to taste
2-3 Tsp Coarsely ground Gram flour ( or just usual Gram flour)


procedure:

1. Peel of the Cucumber and cut into cubes.
2. Keep oil to heat up. Once heated, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds,asafoetida,turmeric,curry leaves.
3. Add chopped cucumber pieces.
4. Stir well. Add red chili powder as per taste. When you prepare this dish first time put little less than you think you would need. :-) you will get an idea next time. 
5. Add salt.
6. Mix well. Keeping flame on slow-medium flame. Cook the cucumber until soft but not soggy soft. Just soft enough that when you try to press it with the spoon it is not hard.
7. Once cooked well ( approx. 5-7 min should be enough) add 2- 2 and half Tsp of Coarsely ground gram flour or a usual gram flour. Mix well in order to apply the flour to the the full quantity of cubes. Adjust the flour as per your taste.
8. Cover with the lid and on the lowest flame, cook for 5 min. This is required to cook the flour now.
9. Mix it well and if you see the flour might be yet uncooked, cook for couple of minutes more.

Serve hot with chapatis.

Health benefits of Cucumber:

Rich in Vitamin C , good source of fiber and it comes naturally prepacked with essential fluids you need when consuming fiber. They contain an important mineral Silica.Also, a good source vitamin A,folate,magnesium.

For ladies::::  Cucumber juice is often recommended as a source of silica to improve the complexion and health of skin. Plus its high water content makes it Hydrating. Which is important for glowing skin...

So,Add this crunchy cool cucumber to your diet everyday :-)

Tab: Kakdi Sabji,Kakadichi Bhaji,Cucumber side dish,काकडी,ककड़ी,Gurke,キュウリ,огурец,खीरा,concombre

Seeing the E-Coli outbreak in Europe right now, It is better to cook the vegetables like Cucumber,Tomato than eating them raw.

Roasted potatoes / Crispy Potato wedges

A good option for Starters, healthy substitute to Chips ( no frying ) and no time spent cooking or preparing stuff...

Ingredients: 

4 small potatoes ( for the quantity in above pic )

1 Tsp Olive oil.. I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil

salt for seasoning

Ground black pepper

Sweet chili sauce for a dip

That's all....... :-)

Procedure:

1. In an oven tray, lay an aluminium foil and keep it in Oven
2. Keep oven for preheating. Temp. 200 Deg. ( Appropriate one for Gas oven I think it mark 6. confirm it,am not sure)
3. Meanwhile,wash the potatoes and cut them into big cubes ( as shown in pic or whichever way you like ). Don't peel them off.
4. In a large bowl add potato cubes, Olive oil, salt, powdered pepper and mix.
5. Spread these cubes on the baking tray.
6. Roast for 30 min or until golden brown / crispy looking. Flip them in between to even roast all the sides.
7. Serve hot with fav. dip.

I had also kept couple of tomato slices for roasting. But they take 10-12 min. They need to be removed in less time than potatoes :-)

Health benefits of potatoes:

They are so rich in Vitamin C. If you take away the fat ( like in fried fries or chips or baked potatoes with cheese or butter) and then it is an exceptionally healthful low calorie high fibre food that offers protection against cardiovascular diseases. It also have blood pressure lowering potential, vitamin B6.

The potato skin is a concentrated source of dietary fiber, so to get the most nutritional value from this vegetable, don't peel it and consume both the flesh and the skin.


Tags: Crispy roasted potatoes / Oven baked Potatoes

Dudhi Koshimbir / Dudhi Raita

One of my fav. Raitas, a lot healthy and quite coolant for your tummy. Do include it in your diet once in fortnight.
I have not given Ingredients in gms or Tsp or anything. You can adapt it depending on how much you have to prepare.

Ingredients: 
Dudhi / Bottle gourd , peeled off and chopped into small cubes.
Yogurt
Cumin powder
Salt
Dried Mint leaves powder
Mustard powder ( Take 1 spoon of mustard seeds and grind in mortar and pestle
Sugar
For Tadaka,   oil, cumin seeds,green chili, curry leaves
for garnishing fresh mint leaves, coriander leaves finely chopped.

Procedure:

1. I took a medium sized Dudhi for raita. Peel of the Dudhi and cut into cubes. In a pressure cooker, put all the cubes in a container without putting water. just pour 2-3 spoons of water. or just sprinkle water. Pressure cook for couple of whistles or 3 whistles ( depending on the pressure cooker you have). Cook until they are soft but shouldn't be overcooked otherwise while mixing the yogurt and other ingredients it will become paste.  
2. Drain out the water if any in the container and keep the boiled cubes to cool down completely. I would suggest, keep them aside and carry on with your rest of the cooking.
3. Once cooled down properly, take enough Yogurt in another container and whisk it to have an even consistency in the yogurt and it doesn't leave water when poured into Dudhi. Quantity of Yogurt should be as much to cover whole quantity of Dudhi you have taken. Take little quantity at a time and add in if needed.
4. Pour the whisked yogurt into cubes, add little bit sugar ( to balance the taste), cumin powder,dry mint powder, mustard powder and mix well gently. 
5. Prepare Tadaka in different pan. First oil, once heated add cumin seeds, curry leaves,green chili/s. Pour this on Raita. Give a mix.
6. Garnish with couple of mint leaves and chopped coriander leaves.
7. Just Before you serve, add salt to taste and mix. If you put salt at the preparation time, it will leave water until you serve.

Health benefits of Dudhi / Bottle Gourd :

The cooked vegetable is cooling. It gives a feeling of relaxation after eating it.

Bottle gourd is very valuable in urinary disorders. 

The juice of bottle gourd is a valuable medicine for excessive thirst due to severe diarrhoea, diabetes and excessive use of fatty or fried foods.

Its use during summer prevents excessive loss of sodium, quenches thirst and helps in preventing fatigue.

The juice of the fruit is used in the treatment of stomach acidity, indigestion and ulcers.

Bottle Gourd helps in constipation. Bottle gourd is not only rich in essential minerals, iron, protein and trace elements; it is also rich in Fibre. Fibre is known to be missing in the modern diet, the absence of which is the cause of not only constipation but other digestive disorders like flatulence and even piles. Hence diet using different preparations made from this vegetable are useful.