Garden Veggie Burger

I was not kidding when I wrote on FB that this dish is versatile and international in its appeal - it is called by different names depending on where  - One ma's cutlet is another man's patty and one man's vadai is another's falafel and patty to one is burger to yet another and so on - it can morph into the name you choose for it since all it is a luscious, delicious vegetable preparation that can be eaten by itself or with a bun/pita. The best part is it is loaded with  quinoa flakes thus making it a highly nutritious and protein enriched all in one burger.  So you can reasonable avoid all other carbs and eat it solely.

This was an idea conceived literally 20-25 minutes before it became what it is in the pictures below - Opened the fridge door, saw a couple of zucchinis which were aging but still intact, and some fresh heads of broccoli - I knew exactly what I wanted to make and how.

Finely grate the veggies in question - take a cup of besan or chick pea flour, 2 cups of quinoa flakes and 1 tbsp of freshly homemade sambar powder of spices of your choice - the only other thing I added was garlic flakes.

NO WATER needed - The juice from the veggies is enough to mix into a thick batter
Spray your pan, make lemon sized balls of veggie mix and pat down to flatten
Broil for 15-18 minutes
or Use your Kuzhi paniyaram dish to make them like Falafels.

This is my protein rich recipe for this month's Avant Garde Cookies first post.


Ingredients:

• 3 medium sized broccoli heads finely grated
• 2 medium zucchinis finely grated with skin on
• 2+cups of Quinoa flakes
• 1 cup of besan (chickpea flour)
• (spice it the way you like best - garlic, green chili, ground black pepper or ginger)
• I used 1 tbsp of Sambar powder - (this contains cumin, coriander, dry cayenne chilies, split peas, sesame, fenugreek, turmeric and a couple of other ingredients (recipe to follow soon) 
• 1tsp garlic flakes
• a fist full of peanuts, ground (entirely optional)
• salt
• NO WATER

Method

1. Add the dry besan, sambar powder, salt and garlic flakes in a large bowl and mix them
2. Add the grated veggies and mix in with the dry flour and spices
3. Considering how much water zucchini and broccoli can let out, the mix may be a little liquidy
4. Now add 1 cup of quinoa and stir in
5. Add the second cup and check consistency after stirring in -
6. If it is still too sticky, add more flakes 
7. Spray a baking pan and make lemon-sized balls of the batter
8. place and flatten to patty style
9. Broil for about 15-18 minutes depending on your oven
10. I turned them over at about 14 minutes
11. If you have the dippy donut pan, you can spray them lightly and use that as well for making this  - will look more like falafels. 
12. Enjoy with buns, pitas or just like that.

Home Garden Veggie Tian

This is an adaptation of the French dish Tian, which mainly consists of vegetables, cut in circles and baked. By adaptation, I mean my version has sambar podi to liven things up for the Indian palate. What is special about this dish? It was made with homegrown, organic zucchinis, squash and tomatoes, the only outsider being potatoes. It is a very easy recipe to put together. The only suggestion I have after making it once, is to half boil your potatoes if you're adding them, since they take much longer to cook than the other vegetables. It's a colorful and extremely visually appealing dish and I hope you will attempt it in your kitchens. You can be sure to elicit the "wow"s from whomever you're serving it to.

Ingredients
Serves 10-12

2 large red tomatoes
2 large pink potatoes (peeled)
2 large zucchinis
3-4 medium/large squashes (very large squashes get too seedy)
2 Tbs sambar powder
1 cup of grated cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar)
Garnish with herb of your choice (I used thyme and rosemary for this one)
Finely chopped spring onion chives
Oil spray
Salt to taste

Preparation

Peel potatoes.
Cut every vegetable (and fruit) in 1/4 inch thick circles.
Cook the potatoes in the microwave for about 5-6 minutes.
Prepare your baking pan by spraying it with olive oil.
Set the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Separate the circles by vegetable and keep them apart.
Mix sambar podi with salt and sprinkle it over each of the veggie discs.
Arrange them in the pan in the order of your preference, alternating colors.
Bake this for 25-30 minutes.
Reduce the heat of the oven to 350 degrees.
Now pull the dish out.
Add the herbs and chives first and top it with the cheese.
Cook at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is golden brown.

Enjoy by itself, or with freshly baked French bread.
Until next time,
Au Revoir!

Avocado Bread

With Dr. Oz stressing each time I turn him on about the goodness of this rather fatty green fruit, I thought I'd make something out of it other than the standard guacamole - Don't know if I have talked about before, but after my third baby, I ended up with a rather sluggish gall bladder and it was very difficult for me to digest any fat - I ended up having violent reactions to fat esp that of avocado - which had been a staple in the house before then - One would be happy right to develop an allergy to fat - well this I can tell you friends, altho I would to lose that muffin top that constantly reminds me of my motherhood status, I would rather not have it go this way - as in developing food allergies, coz many are the discomforts that come along with allergies - Moving to Virginia first made me aware of how allergic I was to pollen, tree pollen to be precise and cats! - I did not know that - And I had the "good" fortune of being bitten by a tick and ended up with Lyme disease in 2007 - That has led to a few freakish annual appearances of swollen joints  - Don't mean to go on about my ailments, but just saying - we deal with all kinds of unexpected issues!

But after 4 years, I have re-introduced Avocado into the home - My hubby and daughter who are the only two who like guacamole usually satisfied their cravings outside or from a dubba from WholeFoods
I thought perhaps baking it would reduce the chance of aggravating or reopening old issues -
The bread was SO delicious and I do believe this recipe is a keeper - I pretty well followed my Zucchini bread recipe and went about it in a similar way, subbing Avocados for Zucchinis. I did not add any nuts or chocolate chips which might have distracted from tasting the avocado

DID I mention that this cake was made FROM Scratch by my darling daughter? She amazed me with her precision and efficiency - Happy she is getting to an age when she can do lots of things on her own - Yes - I got me a sous chef :)

Ingredients

•    3 cups all-purpose flour

•    1/2 teaspoon baking powder

•    1 teaspoon salt

•    1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

•    1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

•    1 teaspoon baking soda

•    3 eggs

•    2 cups white sugar

•    1 cup vegetable oil

•    2 teaspoons vanilla extract

•    3 avocados mushed

•    1 tablespoon lemon zest

Preparation

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, mushed up avocado, orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. 

There you have it mes amiea!

Linking this to the Bake Fest  event happening on my blog -

Baked Pakodas

Want every flavor of hot onion pakodas without the hassle of frying or the fat an guilt that go with it? Here is an admirable way of literally having your pakodas and eating them too. A few months ago, Uma had blogged something which caught my eye. It however had egg and made them muffins.
Taking off on that concept, I decided to make my baked pakodas without eggs and it was a big hit with all who tasted them.

Ingredients
3/4 cup each of all purpose and whole wheat flour sifted
1 large green onion finely chopped
1 cup of chopped spinach or 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
2 hot green chilies finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup of milk (I used 1 percent)
1/2 cup of cheese of choice (optional)
2tbsp of olive oil
A pinch of asafetida

Preheat oven to 400 F
Prepare your muffin pan by greasing with olive oil

Preparation
In a pan, heat oil and lightly fry the onions to remove the raw smells
In your mixer bowl or regular bowl, sift the flours
Add the baking powder and the salt to the dry flours and mix
Now add the spinach, onions, chilies and cheese
Mix these for a minute before add the the milk
Mix with milk for a minute or two
If you are kneading with hands, make it pakoda consistency
Scoop with table spoon or ice cream scoop into muffin pans. I used the mini muffin pan to yield more as an appetizer.
Bake for 25-30 minutes ( Check after the 25th minute) or until you see the slight browning on the top.
Enjoy hot with some sauce or just by itself.

NOTE: my next attempt will be with besan the original pakoda flour.. will post pictures if they turn out well.
Until Blog Hop Wednesday, Adios & Alvida

Spanakopita

Spanakopita is a greek dish - Spana meaning spinach and kopita as in Pita or pie :) The light phyllo dough is used to make the pie crust and I have tried to remain true to tradition. The only addition to the recipe was I added a few pine nuts
This is a simple, healthy and delicious meal which can be executed in as little as 20 minutes for prep time and and baking time of 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 pack of frozen chopped spinach
1tbsp of pine-nuts
One 4-ounce carton of feta cheese
1 dry red chili for seasoning - if desired
3-4 tsp of olive oil

Preparation
Remove phyllo dough from freezer and place in fridge 2-3 hrs hours before preparing this dish
Set oven at 400 degrees F
Thaw the spinach and season with chili and salt and cook for a couple of minutes with about a tsp of oil
Throw in your pine nuts (you can sub with walnuts or almonds or avoid nuts if that is preferable)
Keep ready
Prepare your pan by greasing the bottom with olive oil
Roll out the phyllo dough and place 6-8 sheets dribbling scant amounts of oil every two layers to keep it from drying out- you could also keep a damp towel and dab the dough if you think it is drying out
Next layer with the spinach, followed by the feta cheese
Add 6-8 more layers of dough again dampening them with oil/damp cloth
Bake for about 15-20 mins depending on the efficiency of your oven
Remove when the phyllo dough is crisp and golden brown
Enjoy with a side salad :)