VEGETABLE PIES WITH COCONUT AND CASHEW

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE VEGETABLE SAUCE
2 to 2 and 1/2 Cups of Assorted Vegetables ( I have used Cauliflower, Broccoli, Peas, Carrot, French Beans )
2 Green Chilli **
1/2'' Ginger
1/4 cup or 2 fist full of Fresh Grated coconut
8 to 10 or fist ful of Cashews
1/4 cup Milk
1+ 1 tsp Jeera / Cumin seeds
1/4 tsp Coriander seeds
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Pepper corns (optional )**
3 tsp Oil

1 Block Ready made Short Crust pastry (You can even make it at home which I will post soon on how to make it, you can even use puff pastry )

METHOD:
Thaw the Pastry by keeping it out of the freezer before starting the gravy as directed by the suggestion on the cover.
Soak Cashews in warm milk till you get all the vegetables cut and get them ready. Wash all the veggies and then Chop Beans, Carrots in chunks and Cauliflower and Broccoli in florets,
In a Kadai / Pan heat oil to this add 1 tsp of Jeera / Cumin seeds then add all the vegetables mix them well and cook them in a low flame with 1/4 cup of water and closed lid.

Meanwhile in a dry pan lightly roast cumin, pepper and coriander seeds, In  a blender or mixer grind roasted cumin, Pepper, coriander, coconut, Ginger,  Chillies, turmeric and soaked cashews into a fine paste with the help of soaked milk and some water.
Once the vegetables get cooked 3/4th add required amount of salt and the ground paste and mix thoroughly, taste and adjust the salt.
Let the gravy be in a semi solid consistency. That is not too thick nor too thin.  Allow this to cool.
Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 / 180 degrees
Take your thawed short crust pastry, dust some flour on to the surface, cut the block into 4 equal pieces, flatten each one of them into a slightly round shape, Now using Pie Cups, I have used the foil ones as you can see in the picture fold in the pastry base to line the foils.
Fill the pie cups with cooled down vegetable sauce equally then top them or cover them over with hanging pastry cases completely.
Then make some cuts here and there and bake these cups until well browned.
Remove it from the oven and keep them on the wiring rack for it cool a little bit then serve.
Serve the Pastry cups in wholesome on individual plates with any sides you like. Just remember they will be quite hot inside and be careful when eating.
The vegetable pies have Indian taste and a great look as well...

** You can either use green chillies or Peppercorns, I have used both, you can increase the quantity of coconut if you wish to make it more rich.
Optional : If you want you can use Eggs in this, I would say after the curry is done and cooled down a bit  you can break two eggs mix it with the sauce, adjust salt and pepper mix well with the curry then fill up the cups and Proceed as indicated earlier.

Sending these wonderful and yummy pies to Champa's Bake-a-thon event, which had to be posted Yesterday, my apologies for being late.., for reasons happened unexpectedly.  Check out my blogger friends Preethi, srivalli, Priya and sumana for their wonderful virtual treats...
And don't forget to tune in tomorrow to what I am going to post for my Bake-a-thon series...
Enjoy make them and tell me of how you like it...

The post Vegetable pies with Coconut and Cashew appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Call them cutlets or Burgers, call it however you want but definitely a delicious healthy recipe.  If you like to eat in between Burger Buns with sauce, Mayonnaise and salad leaves they become Burgers OR If you don't want to eat it like that you can just eat with a ketchup or sauce they become cutlet, If you want to make it like restaurant, Hotel or take away style you can deep fry them.  I grilled them and put them on the stove top with a bit of oil to give that good perfect look.
My kids love these kind of Burger / cutlet I make, and usually make them in different ways, I have got a few in my draft, this was also in my draft :), when Moong dal and Pepper were the magic ingredients, I was shocked to find how many recipes I have in drafts, I should have started posting from the day she announced, but with my Neck stuck and I sitting here looking like a ostrich with my Neck collar it is so difficult to even sit and type or sit comfortably but then I thought I will pull myself and do this, as this is good chance to post some in my drafts than them still waiting for me to publish right ?.  Ok let me stop at this, and get back to the recipe.  Here is how it was made... Hope you like it

SPINACH AND MOONG DAL CUTLETS / BURGERS

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Cup Moong Dal
1 Bunch Spinach
1 Large Onion
2 Medium sized Potatoes
1 Medium sized CarrotCup 
1/2 grated Cauliflower
1/2 tbsp Ginger- Garlic Paste
3 to 4 tbsp of Coriander chopped
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1 tsp Pepper powder
1/2 tsp Cumin powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
Salt as required
2 cup Bread Crumbs ( use as required )

HOME MADE BREAD CRUMBS FRESH
2 to 3 Brown / white bread slices
1/4 cup Walnuts
Grind both of these in a mixie / food processor fry it in a wok / pan for few minutes until it looses the moisture in it.

FOR THE COATING / COVER
1/4 cup Corn Flour and 1/4 cup All purpose Flour and water as required to make it into a sauce consistency
OR you can use Egg instead of this

METHOD:
Clean, Chop and cook spinach in a very minimum water say around 1/4 cup water or even less, I cooked it in my little cooker in a low flame, that way they don't get stuck to the cooker.  Puree the cooked spinach.
Next grate cauliflower and cook the same way, drain out the water and keep it separately.
Next grate carrots, onions and keep it aside.
Wash and soak Moong Dal from at least 2 hours, cook it until they become soft but doesn't loose too much of their shape then drain out the water.  ( The water can be reserved and can be used in making Rasam / sambhar )
Cook potatoes peel the skin and mash them up as well.
In a wok / pan add 2 tsp of oil add G-G paste chopped onions all the spices saute for just few minutes, then add all the other Ingredients mix them up well.
TASTE and adjust OR Adjust , salt and spices in it, as you like it, ( I usually make it less spicy because one kid doesn't like to eat anything spicy, the other two eat everything with Nando's Sauce which is very hot, so I try to adjust to see that they don't eat anything too hot and spicy).
Add bread Crumbs ( If you don't like too much bread crumbs the burger will only be a bit softer and doesn't hold shape if you are not careful, I always use less bread crumbs so I really struggle to make them hold well together but I like it that way ).
So, add bread crumbs and bring them together they will hold into shape then, make round balls of the size you prefer then flatten it a bit.
Dip these balls in the Sauce you have made ( or you can use Eggs to coat them ) then again Dip them in bread crumbs.  When all of them are ready coat them with a bit of oil on all sides and grill it for 15 to 20 minutes on Gas Mark 5, they will harden up a bit.
Now transfer them on to the girdle / flat pan / tawa on the stove top then with help of little oil toast them or shallow fry on  both the sides for few minutes until you see it is roasted well on both the sides.
Serve them immediately with some fresh salad leaves or with Burger buns and sauces or as you wish.
Enjoy...
A few days back my kids were saying it's been a long time I made these kind of things and they love my Burgers and miss it..
Tune on I will post some more these kind of recipes...

Sending this to Kalyani's Magic Mingle # 7 - Moong Dal and peppers
Kid's delight  - evening snacks and tiffins hosted by vardhini started by valli
sending this to Learning to cook hosting Dish name starts with M, hosted by Akhila
Sayantani of A home maker's dairy hosting Monsoon of India started by Jagruthi
show me your hits Lentils - Legumes by Nalini's kitchen started by Sangeetha
MLLA# 49 hosted by Simone of Briciole started by susan of the well seasoned cook
vardhini's Only vegan - Kitchen chronicles started by Kalyani
Priya's Olympics 2012 started by Jagruthi

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You must have noticed that my baking is always to please my kids.., My whole cooking and baking is involved with my kids..., they are my inspiration to create whatever I do.. , My eldest is my greatest inspiration as she loves to try out every dish possible (only vegetarian) .
My kids love these Tarts and pies and keep asking me to bake them. That was when I started these journey on Tarts and pies from plain tarts to different kinds of tarts  lot of experiments I have indulged myself in!!
I have baked these tarts many a times and Just because my kids and of course my hubby loves it too....., sometimes I bake them as brunch on weekends or sometimes as their snacking time, coming from school they are always very hungry....
Basically baking this kind of Tart started one day when there was an argument between my two girls, My eldest  doesn't like these french fries, chips etc.., she feels that they are very oily to her taste, even though they are baked ones, only when I make them she likes as she mum wouldn't use too much oil  but she loves eating cheeses though!.
My second one loves potatoes to the core, she has already told me, that on her birthday and of course her twin R's D-Day I have to make, cook and bake only potatoes her list was too long, I just had to ignore her.
so coming back to the recipe she wanted potatoes in her tart and the eldest said I should not use it with other veggies in the tart.
When I saw both them together, an idea came to my mind!, why not use them both in flours satisfy and both the girls. so here goes my recipe...

WHOLE WHEAT AND POTATO VEGGIES TART
FOR THE TART: 
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/4 cup plain flour
3/4 th cup  peeled, cooked and Mashed potato
salt to taste
6 tbsp of Chilled butter
1/4 cup cold water ( use when needed)
Cheese for the topping of the tart

FILLING FOR THE TART
INGREDIENTS:
1 Green bell pepper
1 yellow pepper
100 gms of Broccoli florets
100 gms of Cauliflower florets
1 cup chopped spinach
1/2 cup peas
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1 tsp salt
100 ml single cream
1 tbsp Flax seed meal
1 cup of vegetable stock ( I used 1 ready made cube, gently warm water and add the stock cube).
50 ml single cream
1 tbsp Corn starch

METHOD AND SAUCE FOR THE TART
You can use an Egg in the sauce recipe but I have baked an eggless version...
First of all sift both the flours, with salt.
Cut all your veggies, cook broccoli, cauliflower, peas and carrot set them aside, don't cook too much.
Beauty of the veggies might become too soft and become a mess
Mash the cooked potato blend it with butter, once those two are ready, start adding the flour, to make it into a dough consistency. Rub the flour with your finger tips, just add 1 or 2 tbsp of cold water make it into a nice dough, knead it well so it forms into a ball.
wrap this dough in a plastic wrap and chill that in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes
Meanwhile soak in a 3 tbsp of hot water flax seed meal.( around 10 minutes)
preheat the oven to 200 degree centigrade/Gas mark 6)
In a large wok, add 2 to 3 tbsp of Ginger-Garlic paste, once sauted add chopped onions, and pepper finely sliced and saute them too..,
Now add pre-boiled  broccoli, cauliflower, carrot etc.., into the wok then add the vegetable stock and allow it to boil with Pepper powder.
Now blend these flax seed meal first and then add corn starch without any lumps and single cream blend well together again, keep the flame low, pour this into the cooking veggies, adjust salt  and allow it boil for few minutes stirring continuously once it starts thickening keep it aside to cool.
Take out the dough roll out into a nice big round, then press this pasty ball into the tin, allowing any excess to hang over the side, you can roll a rolling pin over the tin and cut the excess slices for a good looking pasty case or like me just leave it aside.

Prick the base with a fork,  reduce the heat to moderate 180degree C, (Gas Mark 4) and all the fillings on to it then  grate some Cheddar cheese top it over close all the hanging out extra bits of the pastry  to cover it up and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until cheese melts and turn light golden in colour.
Serve warm and let the kids enjoy.

MY TIPS: To get a more crispier base you can trim of the extra dough, cover the pastry case with baking paper then add baking beads place the tin on a baking tray and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the paper and beads reduce the heat add the fillings and cheese bake further 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#14

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CAULIFLOWER - PEAS KURMA

INGREDIENTS:
1 (around 600gms) Cauliflower Florets
2 (around 280 gms) Onions
2 (around 220 gms) Tomatoes
1 and 1/2 Cup Peas
1/2 tsp Turmeric
Salt as required
3 to 4 tbsp of Oil
Few Coriander leaves to Garnish

GRINDING:
1/4 Cup Coconut fresh
10 Nos Cashew nuts
1 Onion chopped
1 tbsp Pottukadalai/Daria/Chutney Dal
2 to 3 pods of Garlic
1 No. Cardamom
1/2 '' Cinnamon
2 cloves
4 to 5 Green Chillies
3 Red chillies
1 tsp Coriander seeds

METHOD:

Grind Using all the things under Grinding and from the Ingredients heading the Tomatoes and Onions into a smooth paste.
In a large bowl cook cauliflower and Peas with little turmeric and salt until well cooked then drain and keep them aside until required.
Take a large pan, Heat oil then add the Ground paste and turmeric to it, fry until the oil leaves the sides of the pan and the raw smell of the onions and tomatoes disappears.
Now add the cooked Cauliflower and peas into it with required quantity of water and boil for few more minutes with chopped coriander leaves and a closed lid in a medium flame say around 10 minutes, until they are all well combined and the veggies absorb the masala.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with Chapatis, dosas, Ghee rice etc..

I am sending this to my own event Bloggers Marathon from Raks kitchen
It was so lovely thanks Raji for sharing this recipe...

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DRY GOBI MANCHURIAN

INGREDIENTS:
Cauliflower one whole medium sized one
1 bunch (8 to 9 stalks) Spring Onions
1/4 Cup Grated Cabbage
1 (medium) Carrot
1/2 fresh Green peas Pre cooked ( you can use frozen too)
1 large Capsicum/Green Peppers
2 to 3 Green chillies
3 to 4 finely Chopped Garlic pods
1'' Grated Ginger
1/4 bunch Coriander leaves

FOR MARINATING FLORETS
1/4 Cup Corn flour
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp Plain flour
Salt as required

FOR THE SAUCE
1 tbsp of Dark Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Vinegar
1 tbsp Hot chilli sauce
2 to 3 tbsp Tomato Ketchup (depending upon the sweetness you like)
1 tbsp Tomato puree
1 tsp Pepper powder

METHOD:
First of all chop the and cook the Cauliflower florets for 5 minutes, this way any a kind of cleaning is done as it is difficult to clean the florets ( Dad always said florets have hidden worms in them, cooking florets in water will kill them), I do not how true it is but I have always done this.
Drain the water and let them drain on a kitchen when you get your things ready for sauces.
Take the sauces for the florets and put them in a large bowl then add the flours to it, with little water make it into a paste, do not add too much water then add these florets to it mix them well, I asked you not to add to much water because the florets will still have water in them even after they are drained if it very thick add a little bit more water, and leave them to marinate.
Now peel and chop the carrots to Julienne strips, the same way cut the cabbage and capsicum/Green Peppers and keep them aside.
Chop Garlic finely and grate ginger and keep it aside
chop spring Onions too.
Now Take a wok add around 2 to 3 tbsp of oil take few marinated florets at a time and in a high flame fry them continuously so they get coated with oil and gives a rustic finish and the paste gets uniformly coated to the florets and have a nice crunchy effect, keep adding 2 to 3 tbsp of oil every time and fry the florets quick and fast for this entire florets I might have used around 6 tbsps of oil at the most as I remember. After frying them like this keep them aside no need to keep on a kitchen towel as it is not deep fried.
(when you start doing this if your wok has lost its teflon coating like mine, it might stick to the pan the first time but afterwards it will be fine.).
Now get the wok back on to the stove, heat 2 to 3 tbsp of oil then add chopped green chilles, ginger, garlic, shredded cabbage, carrot, peas (precooked), Capsicum/Peppers, all at one go into the wok, stir fry them in a high flame, so they get cooked and still be crunchy!, for around 5 to minutes.
Bring the flame to low, Then add all the Sauces under the sauces heading (Increasing or Decreasing to your taste , as I like more pepper powder in it, I usually lit bit extra for the taste), After adding them give it a go by tasting and adjusting to your requirement, Now Increase the flame again and stir fry for another 2 minutes so the sauces get incorporated into the veggies now add the florets into the wok, mix thoroughly, then add chopped spring onions and chopped fresh coriander leaves and serve immediately with your favourite sauces.
Enjoy.., healthy and gorgeous to taste with no compromises... a wonderful  Gobi Manchurian....

c u soon..., take care
I am sending this to fast food not fat food of Priya, Alphabet recipes - A Appetizers, and vallli's Kid's delight - street food.

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HERBED MASCARPONE AND VEGGIE TART WITH FRENCH TART DOUGH

So  let us start with how to make this French Tart dough..., check out his blog on the link above for this tart recipe with lovely clicks than mine, and he uses microwave to make his butter to boil and I did this on the stove top!.  coming back to the recipe.

FRENCH TART DOUGH

INGREDIENTS:
90 gms Unsalted butter
1 tbsp Vegetable oil (I also used canola oil)
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp sugar
1/8th tsp salt
150 g (50z or I used 1 cup of flour).

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 410 degree F or 210 degree Centigrade, mine is a Gas oven so I baked it at Gas mark 6

Take a thick bottomed wok as shown in the photo take the measured quantity of butter and start melting it once it is completely melted add the other Ingredients oil, water, sugar and salt and allow it to boil, for a few minutes you can the edges turning brown (something like the smell of ghee I did not allow it to turn brown too much) then put of the flame add the sifted flour to the wok and mix it well until well combined and forms into a ball and pulls out or comes out clean from the wok.
If you are using a Microwave method put all the first five Ingredients into a microwave safe bowl or pyrex bowl and allow it to boil for 15 minutes as David Lebovitz says until you can see the edges turning brown and be careful when handling the bowl as it will be very hot and do not grab it with your bare hands!
Once the dough is done, transfer it into a 9 inch (23 cm) Tart mould with a removable base and spread it with the help of a spatula once it starts getting cool with the back of your fingers/heels press the dough completely into the tart mould to cover it pressing it to the base and edges as shown.
Prick the dough a few times and bake the tart shell in the oven 15 minutes until it is Golden, mine turned a Golden brown as I baked it a few more minutes and my tart mould was bigger than anticipated and the crust of the shell was really thin.

HERBED MASCARPONE AND VEGGIE TART FILLING:

This filling was again from David lebovitz blog as the spring onions caught my attention. Actually this Tart caught my attention then when I scrolled down thinking that I wanted to make my own pastry case, I found this French Tart dough recipe! So I made both of them, as usual I had to make some changes with my filling as I had to use the things which I had in hand and fridge.
Basically David's recipe calls for Ricotta, which I did not have and no time to make it as it was night! So, I had to tweak the recipe to my pantry requirement.
My tart tin was a little bigger I think so use the 9 inch (23 cm) mould for a perfect pastry.
So I used what all I had in hand I had .............

I
INGREDIENTS:
250gms of Spring Onions
1 tbsp butter
1 and 1/2 tbsp Fresh Thyme
5 ounces of Mascarpone
1 Large Egg
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
1/2 Cup whole milk
300 gms of Broccoli
1 Yellow pepper
50 gms of Crumbled Tofu

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C/Gas mark 6.
Clean and chop the spring onions into 1/2 an inch thickness, cook Broccoli and peas until 3/4th done drain and keep aside until all the water is gone. Press the Tofu and squeeze out all the water and crumble it. wash and pat the Thyme leaves ready.
Heat butter in a wok and stir fry the Yellow pepper (thinly sliced) first and then add spring onions until  tender and then put of the stove season it with salt and pepper and some fresh thyme, and allow it cool down.
Meanwhile In a large bowl take egg beat it well so the egg and yolk are well mixed then add the cheese, milk and heavy cream give a whisk again then add the crumbled Tofu, Broccoli, Peas, thinly sliced yellow peppers
and the spring onions and some more salt and pepper to season as required.
I had some mint and coriander leaves I added a tbsp of them into it. mixed them well and scraped it into the already baked tart shell.
Bake this in the pre-heated oven until it is nicely done as you can see above and check with a tooth pick inserted comes out clean for 20 to 30 minutes
I served it with an array for oven roasted fresh vegetables and sauce of your choice.

I would like to send this to Priya who is hosting AWED - French started by DK of chefinyou, and to Healing foods started by Siri and Guest hosted by Spice mantra.
Hope both of them would like it as my family did....
I am also linking this recipe with ..........

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The post Stir-fried Veggies with Avocado pulkas appeared first on My Veg Fare.

• 250 gms of Moong daal /Hesaru Bele
• 2 cups of mixed chopped vegetables (cauliflower,beans,peas,carrots,capsicums)
• 3-4 green chillies
• salt to taste
• oil for frying

1. Soak Moong dal washed and soaked for 2 hours, drain all the water completely and grind into a smooth paste without any water, if it doesn't grind add a tbsp of water and grind, it is important to add very little water, if you add more water it starts absorbing more oil.
2. Then cook cauliflower, french beans, carrots, peas and drain all the water from them do not throw the water but keep it aside for future use.
3. Then wash wipe and chop the capsicums and add them directly do not cook them.
4. To the finely ground moong dal paste add all the cooked completely drained veggies and capsicum mix well, with salt to taste and with little coriander leaves finely chopped.
5. Take a wok and heat oil for frying using a spoon or your hand drop small whole walnut sized balls into the wok and fry until cooked
6. Drain them in kitchen towel and keep aside.

• 7 to 8 Ripe Tomatoes
• 1/4 cup /cottage cheese mashed (paneer)
• 2 medium sized Onions
• 1'' Ginger
• 5-6 cloves of Garlic
• 2 tbsp Red Chilli powder
• 2 tsp Coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Garam Masala powder
• 1 tbsp of tamarind juice or 1 tsp Amchur powder
• few sprigs of coriander leaves to garnish
• 4 tbsp of oil

1. Grind Onion, ginger and garlic into a fine paste and keep aside
2. Take water in a loarge bowl and put tomatoes into it and remove their skins once well cooked, this is called blanching, and then chop into one or two pieces and allow it to cool
3. Once they are cool grind them into a smooth paste
4. Heat oil and fry the onion paste till brown (that actually takes some time!!).
5. Add the ground tomatoes once they start boiling add chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, turmeric powder, Tamarind or Amchur powder and salt to taste.
6. Add the mashed cottage cheese (paneer).
7. Mix well and cook for further five minutes.
8. Add the water from the kofta recipe which you had kept aside when drained, mix well and allow it to boil for further five minutes
9. Now add the koftas and allow it to boil once or twice, add a little bit of Garam Masala powder and garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with puris, chapatis, pulkas or Rice.

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