BEETROOT TIKKI

Beet, Beets, Chukandar or Beetroots are loaded with too many nutrients, they are immunity booster and helpful in detoxing your liver . It is said that it should be consumed raw if you want to take maximum benefit of it. The easiest way is to have it in salads and juices. Last month I had posted tomato and beetroot soup recipe and this is my second recipe of beetroot. Many people are not easy with its taste, so I have included it in tikkis, healthy as well as tasty. In this recipe I have used Microwaved beetroot, as beetroots are harder than potato and take much time in boiling, so if you are planning to boil it, first boil beetroot for 1 whistle let the pressure settles down, open the lid and then add potatoes in pressure cooked for further boiling. When it comes to health I switch to non stick griddle in place of my regular tawa. Now coming to the recipe, Ingredients required and detailed instructions of the recipe are as follows:

Beetroot : 1 big size (boiled or microwaved)
Potatoes: 3-4 medium(boiled )
Green chillies: 2(chopped)
Ginger : 1” grated
Coriander leaves: 2 tablespoon chopped
Salt - to taste
Red chilli powder: ¼ teaspoon
Garam masala powder: ½ teaspoon
Amchur powder: 1 teaspoon
Bread slices: 2 for binding (soaked in water and immediately squeezed)
Oil: 1 table spoon for shallow frying
Method:
Grate potatoes, add salt, green chillies, ginger, coriander leaves, redchilli powder, garam masala powder, amchur powder and bread slices.
Now grate beetroot to it, mix well .
Make tikkis of desired shape.
Heat non stick griddle, pour some oil , place tikkis over it.
on a medium heat shallow fry all the tikkis from both sides till golden in color.
Serve hot with chutney or sauce of your choice.

Tips:
1. Wash 3-4 beetroots thoroughly place them on the turntable of your microwave, Micro High for 6-7 minutes, they will cook and soften, you can refrigerate them for 1 day , peel and use when required.
2. Red potatoes( lal aloo) are ideal for tikkis , because the quality of starch available in them is very good, you don’t need any binding material (bread , corn flour etc.) with them.
You can also try Paneer and Potato tikki with sweet tamrind chutney
Here is the recipe of green chutney

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Masala Kaju(Maida)

Masala Kaju: as a name suggests they are not fried cashewnuts, but they are cashew shaped made from maida. Basically they are similar to namakparey, spice powder coating to this change the taste .

Ingredients

For Kaju
Maida(all purpose flour): 250 gms
Oil 2 tablespoon for kneading and extra for frying
Salt: ½ teaspoon or less( as it is also added in spice powder)
Ajwain: 1 teaspoon
Water: as required for kneading the dough.
For Spice Powder:
Black salt: ¼ teaspoon
Chat masala: ½ teaspoon
Pepper powder: ½ teaspoon
Dried mint leaves powder: 2 teaspoon
Roasted cumin powder: 1 tablespoon
Method:
Sieve maida, add salt, ajwain & 2 tablespoon of oil, mix well till it becomes crumbs like consistency, if it appears that mixture is very dry you can add some more oil, with the help of water knead stiff dough, cover it with wet muslin cloth, keep aside for 5 minutes.
Grease your palms with oil, knead the dough thoroughly for 2 minutes. Now divide the dough in 4-5 portions of equal size. Take one ball of dough, roll out thick roti as big as you can, with the help of sharp lid of any small container or bowl, cut the half moon shaped pieces of maida, as seen in pic.

Repeat the same process with the remaining dough and spread kaju pieces on thali or tray.

Heat oil in kadhai, check if oil is properly hot or not by frying one piece of kaju in it, as it floats upwards, this mean oil is ready, fry some kaju pieces on high flame as they start changing color to pinkish, set the flame to medium to low and let them fry( this way they are properly cooked from inside, on high flame they quickly change the color but remain uncooked from inside) this will take approx 7-8 minutes. When they are golden in color and crisp, remove them on a plate. As you remove one batch of fried kajus from kadhai, sprinkle spice powder and mix well, as they are hot powder will stick to them properly.
Repeat the same process with the remaining dough.
Let them cool completely and store them in an airtight container. An ideal snack for evening tea.
For a variation you can also add few fried cashewnuts( real one) to this in order to make them rich.

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KACHOURI

Kachouri is my favourite recipe for every festival,  occasionally I make it on holidays. This is best served with aalo wadi ki subji or simply with Meethi Chutney as an evening snack.

The ingredients required and procedure for kachouri is as follows:
Ingredients:
For coating:
Refined flour (Maida) ½ kg.
Oil : 3 tbspns for kneading(extra for frying and roasting daal masala)
Salt : to taste.
Ajwain: 1/2 teaspoon.
For stuffing:
Moongdal (green split): ½ cup
Urad Dal (green split): ½ cup (mix both dals and soak overnight)
Ingredients for Masala:
Fennel seeds: 1 tablespoon
Jeera(cumin seeds) : 1 tablespoon
Whole red chillies: 8-10
Peppercorns: 8-10
Cloves 4-6.
Salt to taste
Hing ½ teaspoon
Amchur powder : 2 teaspoons
green chillies : 4-5,
Green coriander : finely chopped 2 tablespoon
Method:
Take maida, salt ajwain and 3 tablespoons of oil in a bowl rub well till crumb like consistency , knead stiff dough with cold or chilled water. Cover the dough with damp cloth and let is rest for ½ an hour.
Drain water from soaked daals, grind them without using water, the consistency should be thick,(coarse) some pieces of dals may remain ungrinded.(vegetable chopper is best for grinding)
Dry roast all the ingredients for Masala on gridle (from fennel seeds to cloves) till nice aroma. Let them cool and grind to coarse powder.
In a heavy bottomed pan ( non stick will be easy or regular kadhai is ok.) heat one tablespoon oil add hing to it, as it cooked add grounded masala powder, salt and daals mix well , low the flame cover the pan , stir occasionally in between (removing the mixture from the base of the pan) till mixture is light brown in color this will take 10-12 minutes. When mixture is ready add amchur powder green chilles and coriander mix well and let is cool.
Method for rolling kachouris:
Divide dough in equal portions, roll out thick puris, place 2 teaspoon of stuffing in each puri Pull the edges of puris to wrap the dal filling.(like daal filled balls) Repeat the same process with the remaining dough portions.
Let the puris sit for 3 to 4 minutes before rolling.
Take filled puri on your rolling pin for flat surface with the joining side up, with the help of your palm, gently flatten them in circle.
Heat sufficient oil in frying pan on medium heat, drop 3 to 4 kachouris at a time, on medium to low heat fry them till they are golden brown in color from both sides.
Notes: : As daals are soaked overnight they are cooked easily, grinding without water helps in roasting the mixture as it stick less to the pan(using non stick pan there is no problem in roasting)
Dough is kneaded with chilled/cold water cause kachouris to puff up.
Shaping kachouris with the help of your palms prevents mixture to come out from kachouris and can spoil the oil.
In the same manner your can prepare aaloo ki kachouri , stuffed with boiled potatoes mixture, In Northern India it is very popular breakfast dish.

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