spicy – Batter Up With Sujata

Karela Or Bitter Gourd Dopyaza

Karela or bitter gourd dopyaza.
Bitter gourd or karela with lots of onion and tomato. Onion and tomato reduced the bitterness of karela. A dry curry not thick gravy like mutton or chicken dopyaza.

Normally we make dopyaza with chicken or mutton. Or you can make dopyaza with paneer or cottage cheese, bhindi or any vegetable. And dopyaza usually made with thick spicy gravy. But this time I made dopyaza with karela and made it dry. After marinating with salt, rinsed and squeezed karela automatically reduces it’s bitterness. And lots of onion also reduced the bitterness so if you don’t like the bitterness of karela, you will definitely enjoy the taste of this karela dopyaza.
You may like three more karela recipes on this blog.

1. Sukto

2. Bitter gourd with tomato

3. Gujarati bitter gourd stir fry

This week 220 #Foodiemonday bloghop theme is Gourds Are Beautiful suggested by me. Yes this week its my turn to suggest the theme and I have suggested two themes. #1 make anything using any gourd, #2 one pot rice dish. Everyone voted for gourds. And we all bloghop members presenting recipes of different types of gourds.

I have used sliced onion and cubed onions. You can also use whole shallot instead of cubed onions. For sourness I have used 2 teaspoon amchur or dry mango powder. You can use more or less according to your taste. You can also use tamarind paste instead of mango powder.

Recipe

Karela or bitter gourd – 3 medium

Small onions – 5, cubed

Onion – 1 large, sliced

Tomato – 3 medium

Ginger paste – 1/2 teaspoon

Garlic paste – 1 teaspoon

Oil – 3 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 2 teaspoon

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Amchur or dry mango powder – 2 teaspoon

Method

1. Discard the both ends of bitter gourd. Lengthwise make half. Chop into thin slices.

2. Rinse and drain the water. Marinate with 1 teaspoon salt and keep aside 15 – 20 minutes.

3. Wash the bitter gourd again. Wash 3 – 4 times and squeeze well.

4. Grind the tomatoes.

5. Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced onion.
When the onion becomes translucent add garlic and ginger paste. Fry till onion becomes light brown.

6. Now add bitter gourd and fry for 4 – 5 minutes.

7. Add cubed onions, salt, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and kashmiri red chilli powder. Saute for 3 – 4 minutes.

8. Add ground tomatoes and mix well. When it starts to boil reduce the heat. Cover and cook on simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in between.

9. Now remove the cover and cook on high heat till dried up. Keep starting.
When bitter gourd or karela dried up remove from heat.

10. Garnish with cilantro or coriander leaves and onion rings. Serve with steamed rice or Indian flat bread.

Notes
1. Shallot can be used instead of cubed onions.
2. You can use tamarind paste instead of amchur. Use amchur or tamarind paste according to your taste.

If you tried my recipe, you can share your food pictures with me in the social network sites by using hashtag, #batterupwithsujata
I would love to see your creations.

I would love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts and suggestions in comment.
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Chhanar Dalna Or Paneer/Cottage Cheese Balls In Gravy

Chhanar dalna.
Bengali style no onion garlic curry with homemade chhena or cottage cheese balls.
This delicious and aromatic curry can be served as a side dish with pulao, jeera rice, luchi or puri, paratha, roti or any type of bread.
You can use grated store bought paneer but homemade soft chhena or paneer taste best. Get the method of making homemade paneer or cottage cheese here.

You may like some more paneer or cottage cheese recipe on this blog.
1. Dal corn paneer pakoda

2. Kathal paneer kofta curry

3. Schezwan paneer

4. Italian flavoured paneer bhurji

5. Paneer gajar halwa

6. Methi paneer kofta in palak gravy

7. Cottage cheese or paneer capsicum stir fry

8. Paneer kala chana kofta curry

9. Paneer stuffed parwal mithai

10. Mint paneer kofta

11. Aloo paneer

12. Chhena kheer or chhanar paesh

13. Shahi paneer

14. Hariyali paneer butter masala

15. Paneer or cottage cheese croquette

16. Soya paneer lollipop

17. Chhanar jilipi

18. Sandesh

And many more sweet dishes.

This week’s 217 #Foodiemonday bloghop theme is khali fridge or empty fridge suggested by very talented blogger Renu Agrawal dongre who blog at Cook with Renu. Visit her space for mouthwatering recipes from different cuisine. I have recently bookmarked her Whole Wheat Spinach Pizza Pinwheel to try.

Renu suggested that use your pantry ingredients like grains, rice , dals etc or what you cook when you run out of vegetables and fruits or you do not have tomato, onion etc. Okay when I don’t have tomato usually I use curd and whenever I don’t have any vegetables in my pantry I use the milk from my refrigerator and make fresh paneer or cottage cheese to make different types of curry or stir fry.
Today sharing Bengali style chhanar dalna or paneer balls in no onion garlic gravy. My mom usually made it on veg days. It can be made for offering or bhog prasad. You can also make it for party side dish.

Recipe

Paneer or cottage cheese – 1 cup heaped, crumbled

Ginger – 1 inch piece, grated

Green chilli – 1 finely chopped

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon +1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Sugar – 1/2 to 1 teaspoon or to taste

Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Dry red chilli – 3

Green cardamom – 3

Cloves – 3

Cinnamon – 1 inch piece

Bay leaf – 2

Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

Hing or asafoetida – a pinch

Tomato – 2 medium, peeled and cubed

Curd – 3 tablespooon

Refined flour or maida – 1 tablespoon

Ghee or clarified butter – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Oil – 3 – 4 tablespoon

Green chilli – 2 slit

Water – 2 cup + 4 tablespoon

Method

1. Soak red chilli in 4 tablespoon water for 30 minutes.

2. Mash paneer or cottage cheese well in a plate. I have used homemade fresh paneer. Get the recipe here.

3. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 finely chopped green chilli, 1/4 teaspoon grated ginger and 1 tablespoon refined flour or maida. Knead well to make smooth.

4. Make equal sized small balls. Press gently with your palm. Make all the balls and keep aside.

5. Grind remaining grated ginger, tomato, green cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Skip tomato if you are using curd.Make a smooth paste. You can use crushed green cardamom, cinnamon and cloves in tempering but I like my gravy smooth so ground.

6. Blend dry red chilli with it’s water and keep aside. It will give a beautiful colour to the gravy. You can use kashmiri red chilli powder instead but I recommend to use it.

7. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the paneer or cottage cheese balls from both sides. And place on a paper towel.

8. Fry cubed potatoes till golden brown in the same oil and keep aside.
Add cumin seeds, hing or asafoetida and bay leaf in the oil.

9. When the cumin seeds starts to crackle add the ground paste, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and sugar. Also add well beaten curd if using.When it starts to dried up add blended dry red chilli. Saute till oil leaves the sides.

10. Now add fried potatoes and salt. Saute again for a minutes.
Add 2 cup water and slit green chilli. Cover the pan and cook till potatoes becomes soft.

11. Add fried paneer or cottage cheese balls. Cook uncovered for 2 minutes.

12. Add ghee or clarified butter and garam masala. Mix and remove from heat.

13. Garnish with chopped cilantro or coriander leaves. Serve hot with steamed rice or paratha, puri or any Indian bread.

Notes
1. You can add cashews, almond or melon seeds paste to make the gravy rich I didn’t.
2. Use red and green chilli according to your taste.

If you tried my recipe, you can share your food pictures with me in the social network sites by using the hashtag, #batterupwithsujata
I would love to see your creations.

I would love to hear from you. Please share your thoughts and suggestions in comment.
Please visit my facebook page and hit the like button to get the latest update

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Rice Appe Or Paddu With Cooked Rice

Appe/paddu with cooked rice.
A spicy, delicious and easy to make appe/paddu or kuzhi paniyaram. This appe is made of cooked rice, you can also use leftover rice. Serve hot in breakfast or as a snack. It also taste great in room temperature.
Its known by various names in South India including paddu, appe, guliappa, gulittu, yeriyappa, gundponglu, ponganalu.
Kuzhi paniyaram or Paddu/GuLiyappa/Yeriyappa or Gunta Ponganalu or Tulu : “appadadde” is an Indian dish made by steaming batter using a mould. The batter is made of black lentils and rice and is similar in composition to the batter used to make idli and dosa. The dish can also be made sweet or spicy depending on the ingredients jaggery and chillies respectively. Paniyaram is made on a special pan that comes with multiple small fissures.
Source – Wikipedia

You may like some more appe recipes made with different ingredients on this blog.
1. Red lentil appe

2. Beetroot appe

3. Semolina and lentil appe

4. Roasted gram or sattu appe

5. Semolina and flatten rice appe

6. Sprouts and oats appe

This week #209th #FoodieMonday bloghop theme is #ThindiYenu suggested by Aruna SarasChandra. Who blog at Vasus Veg Kitchen.
Do visit her space for many authentic, delicious and healthy vegetarian recipes. Recently loved her oats and nuts laddu. I will to try it soon.

ThindiYenu in Kannada means What is for Tiffin. According to Aruna here tiffin is refers to breakfast. And my contribution is this spicy and delicious rice paddu or appe using leftover rice.
I always love to make different types of appe. When Aruna suggested the theme Karnataka special breakfast or ThindiYenu.
I was searching for Karnataka breakfast recipes and loved this paddu recipe.
My son is at home this time for few days and he loves spicy food so I have made this paddu or appe spicy. Fresh cooked rice or leftover rice both can be used for this appe. At first I didn’t plan to use coconut but my vegetable vendor bought fresh coconut in the morning. So I have used it. Coconut definitely enhance the taste. But if you don’t have coconut then you can skip it.
Recipe adopted from Veg recipes of Karnataka

Recipe

Cooked rice – 1 cup

Semolina or suji – 1/4 cup

Curd – 1/4 cup

Ginger – 1/2 inch piece, grated

Green chilli – 1, finely chopped

Cilantro or coriander leaves – handful, chopped

Water – 1/4 cup

Fresh grated coconut – 2 – 3 tablespoons, optional

Curry leaves – 8 – 10, chopped

Mustard seeds or rai – 1/2 teaspoon

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Chaat masala powder – 1 teaspoon

Black pepper powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon

Oil – 1 teaspoon + to fry

Salt to taste

Eno fruit salt – 1/2 teaspoon

Method

1. Grind the cooked rice with curd, lemon juice and 1/4 cup water.

2. In a bowl mix ground rice, semolina or suji, grated ginger, chopped cilantro or coriander leaves, salt, cumin powder, chaat masala powder, black pepper powder and grated coconut. Mix well and keep the batter aside.

3. Heat oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds and let the seeds splutter. Now add finely chopped green chilli and curry leaves. Switch off the flame and add this tempering in the batter. Mix well.

4. Just before cooking add eno fruit salt and give a good stir.

5. Heat an appe pan. Pour few drops of oil in every hole.
Pour a spoonful of batter in every hole. Cover and cook on low heat until appe becomes light brown.

6. Flip and turn the appe upside down. Cook uncovered till appe becomes golden brown from both the sides.

7. Serve hot with any chutney or sauce.

Notes
1. You can add 1 finely chopped onion in the batter.

2. If you are making it for kids omit chilli. Or to make it more spicy add one more finely chopped green chilli.

If you tried my recipe, you can share your food pictures with me in the social network sites by using hash tag, #batterupwithsujata
I would love to see your creations.

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Laal Maans

Laal maans.
A spicy and lipsmackingly delicious mutton curry from Rajasthani cuisine. A fiery hot and laal or bright red coloured curry. This spicy, rich, aromatic and red mutton curry is made of yoghurt, onion, garlic, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and mathania chillies. But it you don’t have mathania chillies, you can use Kashmiri red chilli. Use chilli according to your taste. If you want it hot add red chilli powder or chopped green chillies. My family members can’t eat too hot so I have used less chilli.

Laal maans is a meat curry from Rajasthan, India. It is a mutton curry prepared in a sauce of yoghurt and hot spices such as red Mathania chillies. This dish typically is very hot and rich in garlic, the gravy may be thick or liquid and is eaten with chapatis made out of wheat (usually eaten in summers) or bajra (a millet grown in Rajasthan and eaten in the winter months.
Rajasthani cuisine was influenced by both the war-like lifestyles of its inhabitants and the availability of ingredients in this arid region. Food that could last for several days and could be eaten without heating was preferred. Scarcity of water and fresh green vegetables have all had their effect on the cooking. It is also known for its snacks like Bikaneri Bhujia, Mirchi Bada and Pyaaj Kachori.
Source

This month in Shhhhh cooking secretly challenge facebook group we members are sharing different dishes from the cuisine of Rajasthan.
This month my partner is very talented blogger Pavani Gunikuntla who blog at Pavanis kitchen. I always love her healthy and easy to make recipes.
Visit her space for different types of healthy and mouthwatering recipes. Before giving secret ingredient we always ask our partner about her choice. And I have wanted to make this laal maans. Everyone in my family loves it and I wanted to share the recipe for my readers. So as secret ingredient Pavani gave me curd and green cardamom and I gave her red chilli powder and cumin seeds. Do visit her blog to check the delicious Dahi kadhi recipe she made with these ingredients.
Shhh Cooking Secretly a group started by Priya of Priya’s Versatile Recipes, is where every month food bloggers are paired up and give each other 2 secret ingredients to cook with according to the theme chosen. If you’re interested in joining this exciting group then please leave a message in the comment section. Thank you.

Normally mathania chillies are used to make this mutton curry. But We don’t get this chilli in our state. So I have used Kashmiri red chilli powder. This spicy mutton curry is goes well with steamed rice, jeera rice, pulao, roti, naan, bajra roti or any bread. Picture courtesy my daughter Suchismita .

Recipe

Mutton – 500 gram

Onion – 4, thinly sliced

Black cardamom – 2

Green cardamom – 4

Cloves – 3

Cinnamon – 1 inch piece

Bay leaf – 2

Mustard oil – 1/2 cup

Curd – 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Ginger garlic paste – 2 tablespoon

Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Kashmiri red chilli powder – 3 tablespoon

Ghee or clarified butter – 2 tablespoon

Warm water – 1 & 1/2 cup

Cilantro or coriander leaves and onion slices to garnish

Method

1. Heat mustard oil in a pan or pressure cooker.

2. When the oil becomes smoking hot remove from heat.
Let it cool down for a minute. Add bay leaf black cardamom, green cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and slices onion. Heat again and fry till the onion becomes brown.

3. Add mutton pieces, salt, ginger garlic paste and all the dry spices. See notes for other options for chillies. Saute till oil leaves the sides.

4. Add well beaten curd and mix well. Saute again till dried up and oil separates.

5. Add warm water and pressure cook till mutton pieces becomes tender.

6. Let the pressure settle on its own.
Open the pressure cooker and heat again. Check the seasoning and adjust as require. If require add little more water or if you want more thick gravy boil for a few minutes more till you get your desired consistency.

7. Add ghee and mix.

8. Remove from heat. Garnish with chopped cilantro or coriander leaves and onion slices.
Serve with hot steamed rice, jeera rice, pulao, puri, roti, naan, bajra roti or any bread.

Notes
1. You can add some finely chopped green chilli with sliced onion if you want more spicy and hot curry. Or you can use hot variety red chilli powder. Use chilli according to your spice tolerance.
2. If you have red Mathania chillies or kashmiri dry red chilli either dry roast and powder or soak in water for 20 – 25 minutes and grind and use instead of kashmiri red chilli powder.

If you tried my recipe, you can share your food pictures with me in the social network sites by using hash tag, #batterupwithsujata
I would love to see your creations.

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Bedmi Puri

Bedmi puri.
A very famous breakfast dish of North India.
Crispy spicy delicious puri usually served with hing jeera aloo sabji or curry. But these hot fluffy puri can be also serve with tea or only pickle. Puri taste spicy and absolutely delicious so you don’t need anything with it. Not only breakfast but you can also enjoy it as a teatime snack.
Its very easy to make. If you have soaked dal or lentil, you can make it in a jiffy. Just mix everything and make a dough and fry. Simple isn’t it 😊

You can get some more kachori recipes on this blog.

1. Hing kachori with potato curry

2. Biscuit roti or kachori

3. Instant kachori

4. Radhaballavi with dum aloo or spicy potato

Monday again and this week’s 204 #Foodiemonday bloghop theme is #NashtaTime suggested by Priya Iyer who blog at The world through my eyes.
Visit her space for many delicious traditional recipes. I have already tried many of her recipes.

If you don’t have udad dal or you don’t like then you can also make it with moong dal or yellow lentil. Follow the same process. Puri also remain crispy when cool so its perfect for your tiffin or lunch box. Make aloo or potato curry to serve with puri but you can also serve it with any pickle or achar or serve as a snack with tea or coffee. This Kachori can be also made with stuffing. Stuffing with udad dal can be made and stuff in whole wheat flour dough like this hinger kochuri.

Recipe

Dhuli udad dal or skinned black lentil – 1/2 cup

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Green chilli – 2 – 3 or to taste

Souf or fennel seeds – 2 teaspoon

Whole wheat flour or atta – 2 cup

Salt to taste

Hing or asafoetida – 1/4 teaspoon

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Suji or semolina – 5 tablespoon

Oil – 3 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon

Water – 3-4 tablespoon or as require

Oil for deep fry

Method

1. Rinse and soak the udad dal or skinned black lentil in sufficient water overnight.

2. Next day drain the water and rinse again.

3. Grind ginger, green chilli and fennel seeds or sounf. Now add rinsed and drained black lentil in the grinder. Grind with the help of little water and make a coarse paste. Don’t make too smooth.

4. Add the lentil mixture to the atta.
Add salt, hing, 3 tablespoon oil, cumin powder and coriander powder.

5. Mix well. Add very little water to make a smooth but stiff dough. Dal paste has water so add water carefully.

6. Smear the dough with 1 teaspoon Oil and cover. Keep aside for 20 – 30 minutes.

7. Now Knead the dough again. Make small balls.

8. Roll with a rolling pin with the help of little oil. Don’t make too thin like puri. Roll into slightly thick puri.

9. Heat sufficient oil to deep fry the puri. When oil heated slide rolled puri in oil. Press the puri gently with a slotted spatula.

10. When it fluff up and becomes golden brown, flip and fry the other side.

11. Remove from oil and place on paper towel. Fry all the puri in this method.

12. Serve hot with aloo or potato curry. Get the recipe of potato curry here.

Notes
1. Moong dal or yellow lentil can be used instead of black lentil or udad dal.
2. If you like your puri more hot, you can add 1/2 or 1 teaspoon red chilli powder in the dough or use more green chilli.

If you tried my recipe, you can share your food pictures with me in the social network sites by using hash tag, #batterupwithsujata
I would love to see your creations.

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Dal Corn Paneer Pakoda / Lentil Sweet Corn Cottage Cheese Fritters

Dal corn paneer pakoda or mixed lentils, cottage cheese and sweet corn fritters.
Rain makes everything beautiful. Don’t you like pitter patter sound of rain and cold breeze of this season? I know you also love this season with more greenery. In Bengali we call it bristi bheja din.

And we need some delicious fried foods like fluffy hot kachori, pakoda chop, cutlets and different types of fry with steaming hot drinks in monsoon, right? So here is an easy to make delicious crispy crunchy pakoda or fritter made with three types of dal or lentil, sweet corn, paneer or cottage cheese, onion, green chilli and some spices. You can add 1 – 2 eggs in the batter if you want. I have wanted to add some finely chopped cilantro or coriander leaves and one egg. But both was not in my pantry when I was making it and it was raining heavily so made it whatever I had. And everyone loved the taste. So no need of eggs and cilantro 😊
Enjoy the rain and this pakoda with a cup of tea or coffee or any hot drink of your choice. Photo credit my daughter Suchismita.

This week’s our 203 #Foodiemonday bloghop theme is #RimJhimBarse. Have you heard the beautiful song Rim jhim barse paani? This week very talented Preethi Prasad who blog at Preethi cuisine suggested the theme.
Visit her blog for many authentic and innovative recipes.
This week we all the members of bloghop sharing monsoon special recipes.

You may like some more fried recipes on this blog.

1. Biscuit roti or kachori

2. Dhuska

3. Mochar chop or banana blossom croquettes

4. Hinger kochuri or hing kachori

5. Dimer chop or devilled eggs

6. Radhaballavi

7. Parippu vada or lentil fritters

8. Falafel

9. Paneer or cottage cheese croquettes

10. Mix veg cutlets

11. Aloo chop or potato fritters

Serve the fritters with any sauce or chutney or dip. You can get some chutney and dip recipes here.

1. Mango sesame chutney

2. Water chestnut or singhara chutney

3. Onion tomato chutney or dip

4. Peanut chutney or dip

I have used moong dal or yellow lentil, masoor dal or red lentil and chana dal or Bengal gram in these fritters. And sweet corn and cottage cheese or paneer made these fritters more delicious. Little rice flour made the pakoda crispy. So enjoy the fritters with all the goodness of lentil, cottage cheese and sweet corn.

Recipe

Moong dal or yellow lentil – 1/3 cup

Masoor dal or red lentil – 1/3 cup

Chana dal or Bengal gram – 1/3 cup

Sweet corn – 1/2 cup, boiled

Paneer or cottage cheese – 1/2 cup, grated or mashed

Rice flour – 4 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Green chilli – 2 – 3, finely chopped

Ginger – 1/2 inch piece

Onion – 1 large

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Chaat masala – 1 teaspoon

Oil for frying

Method

1. Rinse well and soak all the dal or lentil in sufficient water for 3 – 4 hours.

2. Drain the water and grind the dal with ginger and green chilli. You can use little water for easy grinding, but don’t make it runny.

3. Crush boiled sweet corn in food processor. Don’t make fine paste it should be course.

4. Finely chop the onion.

5. In a bowl mix dal or lentil paste, boiled and crushed sweat corn, mashed or grated paneer/cottage cheese, finely chopped onion, rice flour, salt, cumin powder and chaat masala powder. You can add 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro or coriander leaves if you have. Mix everything well.

6. Heat sufficient oil to deep fry. When the oil heated drop spoonful of batter in the oil. Press gently with the spoon to make flat.

7. Or with your hand make small balls and flatten with your fingers and drop in the hot oil. Fry on low flame.
Turn over and fry the other side till golden brown.

Remove from oil and place the fried pakoda or fritters on a paper towel.
Serve hot with any chutney or sauce.

Notes
1. Use chilli according to your taste. You can use more green chilli if you like it spicy.
2. Instead of grinding with dal or lentils grated ginger and finely chopped green chilli can be a used. Or use 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste if you like garlic flavour.
3. You can add 1 – 2 egg in the batter if you want.

If you tried my recipe, you can share your food pictures with me in the social network sites by using hash tag, #batterupwithsujata
I would love to see your creations.

Instagram

Kathal Paneer Kofta Curry Or Raw Jackfruit And Cottage Cheese Balls In Gravy

Kathal paneer kofta curry or raw jackfruit and cottage cheese balls in gravy.
Gravy is rich creamy and delicious without cashew nuts or almond. Only nutritious melon seeds are used to thickened the gravy.
Low calorie and protein, vitamins and mineral rich melon seeds are not only excellent for thickened the gravy but also enhance the taste.

Melons derive their rich colour from beta carotin, which is good for eye.Dried melon seeds contain unsaturated fats and fibers. Watermelon seeds are rich in lysine, which can work wonders for diabetics.

Summers are here! And if there is one thing we can be thankful for in this scorching weather, it would have to be all the delicious fruits the season brings with it. A variety of Melons are seen at this time of the year, being sold by fruit vendors across the country at local vegetable markets.
Summer melons, be it musk melon, watermelon or honey dew melon, are packed with a dozen health benefits. But while relishing on the juicy flesh, have you been discarding the seeds laden with nutrition and health benefits? According to Healing Foods, it strongly recommends loading up on these miniature nutritional bombs you have ignored all your life. It notes, “Eat the seeds: The dried seeds contain unsaturated fats and fibers, makes nutritious addition to savoury dishes”.

Macrobiotic Nutritionist and Health Practitioner, Shilpa Arora says, “Everything begins with the seeds. These are living foods that give each cell in our body a renewed energy. All seeds are loaded with enzymes that aid digestion and absorption. In fact they have more enzymes than the actual fruit in the concentrated form.”

She goes on to say, “Summer melon seeds are great source of energy like magnesium, which is vital for a healthy heart. It is great for diabetics as it is loaded with essential amino acids like lysine and tryptophan. Melon seeds also provide a wonderful cure for insomnia because tryptophan induces relaxation and sleep.”

To read more about health benefits of melon seeds click here.

You may like some more kofta recipe on this blog.

1. Methi paneer kofta in palak gravy or fenugreek and cottage cheese balls in spinach gravy

2. Paneer kala chana kofta curry

3. Mint paneer kofta

4. Matar kofta

5. Aloo kofta curry

6. Soya kofta

7. Malai kofta

Monday again and this week’s 198 #Foodiemonday bloghop theme is Eid With Foodies.

My contribution is this delicious and easy to make kathal paneer kofta curry or raw jackfruit and cottage cheese balls in gravy. You can use your appe pan to fry the kofta in less oil. Fresh cream can be added in the gravy, I didn’t. If you don’t have melon seeds then you can use cashew nuts or almond or poppy seeds paste instead of melon seeds.

Recipe

For kofta

Kathal or jackfruit – 250 gram, boiled

Paneer or cottage cheese – 1 cup, crumbled

Besan or chickpea flour – 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Ginger – 1 inch piece, grated

Green chilli – 1 – 2, finely chopped

Bhaja moshla or roasted mixed spice powder – 1 teaspoon, get a recipe here
https://batterupwithsujata.wordpress.com/2018/03/18/roasted-mixed-spice-powder-or-bhaja-moshla/

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder – 1/2 teaspoon

For gravy

Onion – 2, medium

Garlic – 4 – 5

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Tomato – 2, large

Green cardamom – 3

Clove – 3

Cinnamon – 1 inch piece

Salt to taste

Sugar – 1/2 teaspoon

Melon seeds – 3 tablespoon

Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Garam masala powder – 1/2 teaspoon

Kashmiri red chilli powder – 2 teaspoon

Slit green chilli – 2, optional

Oil – 3 – 4 tablespoon

Water – 2 cup

Method

1. Soak the melon seeds in warm water for 15 minutes.

2. Grind onions, garlic and ginger into smooth paste.

3. Grind tomatoes, green cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and melon seeds separately.

4. Mash the crumbled paneer or cottage cheese well to make smooth.

5. Squeeze the water of boiled kathal or jackfruit.

6. Mix with mashed paneer, besan or chickpea flour, salt, grated ginger, chopped green chilli, bhaja moshla or roasted mixed spice powder, cumin powder and garam masala powder.

7. Mix everything well and make small balls.

8. Heat oil in a pan. Fry the balls till golden brown from all the sides. Place the fried balls on a paper towel. If you want, you can use appe pan to fry the kofta in less oil. Or use your air frier to make kofta balls brown.

9. In the same oil fry onion, garlic and ginger paste till onion mixture starts to change it’s colour.

10. Now add ground tomatoes, green cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and melon seeds paste.

11. Saute and add salt, sugar, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala powder and kashmiri red chilli powder.

12. Saute till oil leaves the sides. Add water and 2 slit green chilli. Let it boil.

13. When it starts to rolling boil reduce the heat. Cook on simmer for 15 – 20 minutes.

14. Add fried kofta and cook for 2 minutes more.

15. You can add 1 – 2 tablespoon cream if you want. Remove from heat.

16. Garnish with cilantro or coriander leaves.
Serve hot with steamed rice, roti, paratha, naan, puri pulao, jeera rice, fried rice or any bread.

Notes

1. Cashew nuts, almond or poppy seeds paste can be used instead of melon seeds.

2. You can use your appe pan or air frier to fry the kofta in less oil.

3. Use chilli according to your taste.

f you tried my recipe, you can share your food pictures with me in the social network sites by using hash tag, #batterupwithsujata
I would love to see your creations.