Recipes Collection: patties

Showing posts with label patties. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Foxtail Millet Basil Patties Another recipe using this wonder grain

Foxtail Millet is clearly my best food discovery of 2013 so far. Ive eaten it in place of rice, added it to salads, made tiffin items like upma, tomato baath and it has never disappointed me. The best thing with this grain is that by controlling the extent of the cooking, you can get it mushier (to eat with the accompaniments you would eat rice with) or al dente enough with each grain separate (for salads). By cooking it to a mushier texture, you can also make these superbly textured and flavorsome patties. They dont have much of a taste by themselves so youll have to add strongly flavoured ingredients to make these delicious patties - which is why Ive chosen basil, garlic, onions and cheese. But go ahead and try your own flavour combinations.

A few nutritional pointers about Foxtail Millets
Its naturally gluten free, so those who cannot eat wheat and wheat based products and dont want to eat rice for all your meals, this is a very nutritious alternative to providing the necessary carbohydrates in whole grain form.
It contains twice the iron of wholewheat and very rich in magnesium. Magnesium is known to reduce migraine attacks, reduces severity of asthma and keeps blood pressure under control.*
It also contains a good amount of silicon. "It contains 4 times the amount of silicon in whole wheat (160mg/100g) which is required for hair growth, blood circulation, protection from mental fatigue, arthritis and infection.*
[*Source: Laugh With Health: Your Complete Guide to Health, Diet, Nutrition & Natural Foods, Manfred Urs Koch]
The high fiber and protein content make sure that you stay full for a long time after eating millets.
This grain is extremely diabetic friendly, so if you are cooking for diabetics in your family, make sure you stock up on this grain at home. I will go ahead and say that is the best alternative to quinoa available in India, locally grown and wont cost you an arm and leg and a huge carbon footprint that it takes to import the grain from the other end of the world.

Do read my story Superfoods in your Backyard published in Mint this week!

Recipe for Foxtail Millet & Basil Patties

Ingredients
3/4 cup foxtail millets
1/2 cup roughly chopped basil
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup coarsely grated cheddar or any other hard cheese
1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper (or more as per taste)
1 tsp salt
2 green chillies, finely chopped (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil or any other cooking oil

Directions

Rinse the millets in water, place it in a container that will fit in the pressure cooker and add 1 3/4 cup of water to it. Pressure cook for 2 whistles and on sim for 5-7 minutes. Once the cooker is cool enough to open, remove the millets, mash with a spoon and keep aside.
To the mashed millets, add all other ingredients and mix well with fingertips.
If you want to make this gluten free, omit breadcrumbs and use 2 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed instead.
Divide this into 6-8 balls and flatten on your palm to make patties as shown in the photos and keep in one layer on a plate.
At this stage you could cover the plate with cling film and refrigerate for few hours until you need to make them.
Grease a non stick tava, once moderately hot, place the patties in one layer. Once the bottom side turns golden brown, turn to the other side and cook for another 5 minutes until crisp and golden.
Serve immediately with ketchup, chutney or marinara sauce.
Omit the chillies if you are sharing this with young kids :)

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Healthy Chick Pea Patties

This recipe is easy and delicious, I cooked it for my husbands dinner today and he loved it, I must admit I did too!

They are tasty as a hot or cold snack and so very healthy.

8-10 Small White Potatoes

1/2 Red Onion (finely chopped)
1/2 Tin Chick Peas
1/2 Tin Peas
Small Chunk Ginger
1 Large Clove Garlic
1/2 Green Chili
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Coriander
1/2 tsp Garam Massala
Olive Oil
Chick Pea Flour

Make some mashed potatos (do not add butter - just salt!) with 8-10 small potatoes, place in a bowl. Gently heat your chick peas for a few minutes then add to the potato mash with your peas.

Stir together.

Now chop ginger,garlic and chili and grind in a mortar and pestle.

Add your finely chopped onion to a frying pan on a hot heat and cook for a minute or 2, then turn down the heat and add your ginger paste, gently cook for 2 minutes then add your spices - you may need to add some more oil.

Add to your mash mixture.

And stir well.

Make small balls in the palm of your hand then flatten them a little. Dip them into chickpea flour then heat up some oil in a frying pan on medium - high heat (do not cook on low or your patties will stick) and cook on both sides until brown.

If you enjoyed reading this wonderful recipe then why not check out my vegetarian kebab recipe as they are just as tasty as my healthy chick pea patties.