Hara Bhara Kebab

Ingredients

Potatoes: 4-5 medium sized, boiled

Green peas: 1 cup, boiled

Spinach: 1 bunch

Green chilies: 1 tsp, finely chopped

Coriander leaves: 2-3 tsp, finely chopped

Ginger: 1 tsp, finely chopped

Chaat masala powder: 1 tsp

Salt: As per taste

Corn flour: 2-3 tsp

Oil: For deep-frying

Method

Grate the boiled potatoes and mash the boiled green peas. Cook spinach leaves in salted boiling water for 2-3 minutes and wash the partly cooked leaves in cold water and squeeze out the excess water before finely chopping the leaves. Mix grated potatoes, peas and spinach and add chopped green chilies, chopped coriander leaves, chopped ginger, chaat masala powder and salt. Add corn flour to the mixture for binding. Divide the mixture into 25 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball and then press it in between your palms and flatten it. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the kebabs in hot oil for three to four minutes.

Note: If you are too diet conscious, you can shallow fry the kebabs on a tawa. To make kebabs look dark green, you can add more spinach leaves, but have to add more corn flour for a good binding.

Chickpea Soup

Another simple Middle East recipe which I learnt recently is Chickpea Soup. It is served along with salads, olives, bread and yoghurt. It often forms the centerpiece of simple peasant meals. It is easy to make and very nice to have in winter days and never lasts long at my home. You can make it versatile by adding almost any vegetable to it to suit your taste. You can either add pasta or chopped spinach or broccoli or mushroom or carrot or any other vegetable. And as the name itself says, it is soup, healthy, plus no oil is used! So, forget about your dieting and enjoy this soup.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas: 2 cup, washed and drained

Onion: 2, chopped into small pieces

Potatoes: 2 boiled, peeled and cut into ½ inch cubes

Water: 8-9 cups

Salt: As per taste

Turmeric powder: ½ tsp

Cumin powder: 1 tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Chili powder: 1 tsp

Pepper powder: ½ tsp

Lemon juice: 1-2 tsp

Method

Soak chickpeas in water overnight. Drain and rinse thoroughly. Take eight cups of water in a large saucepan and add chickpeas and onion. Bring it to a boil, and simmer it for 1 hour (The more it cooks the more well the soup becomes as the chickpeas become softer and the liquid gets thicker and the soup develops a cohesion that it would otherwise lack). Then add potatoes, salt, turmeric, cumin, coriander, chili powder and ¾ cup of water. Bring it to a boil and simmer again for 1 to 1 ½ hours stirring in between. Check for seasoning and add pepper powder and lemon juice before serving.

Note: It is a good idea to taste the soup before adding lemon juice. Chickpea broth has a natural sweetness that you may prefer to leave untouched.