VEGGIE CHEESE SANDWICH

 VEGGIE CHEESE SANDWICH

These days  people frequently debate the amount of proteins needed by those with a predominantly vegetarian diet. The whole issue of proteins has assumed greater significance in the last few years. We largely eat vegetarian food at home. To supplement our diet, I often make Veggie Cheese Sandwich for breakfast or as an evening snack with tea. 

I generally use Amul Cheese Slices  - which is rich in protein and is sugar free. It is a good source for calcium and milk proteins. It is said to contain 18-20 gms of protein in 100 grams. Please be aware that processed cheese is high in saturated fats and sodium. Therefore it must- like everything else- be eaten in moderation.

Two big advantages of making these sandwiches : 1. They can be made easily and 2. They can be made quite fast. 

You can be creative in your choice of veggies and seasoning. Sometimes, I use green chutneys as a filling, sometimes boiled potatoes too. We love this easy cheesy sandwich which is healthy and tasty too! 

Fun Fact: as a proud Indian, I am partial to Amul products. Did you know Amul processes 35 million litres of milk daily empowering 3.6 million dairy farmers across 18,600 village co-operatives? Amul products are exported to over 50 countries all over the world. 

INGREDIENTS:

• Bread Slices ( I prefer wheat or brown bread)
• Veggies: Tomato, Onion, Capsicum, Coriander Leaves
• Cheese: Amul Processed Cheese slices
• Seasoning: Catch Chaat Masala, Salt
• Butter: Amul Garlic and Herb Buttery Spread  or butter of your choice

METHOD:

Wash the veggies, wipe them dry and slice them

Spread a layer of butter on the inside of the bread slices

Then place the Amul Cheese Slice,  on top of it place the tomato slices, onion rings, and capsicum pieces 

Season with Catch chaat masala, a little salt, and a few finely chopped coriander leaves

Cover this with another slice of buttered bread

I used the Prestige Sandwich Toaster with fixed sandwich plates to toast the sandwiches

Alternatively, you can toast the bread sandwiches on a lightly greased tawa or griddle 

Once one side gets done, flip and toast the other side 

Serve hot with tomato sauce ( I use Maggi Hot and Sweet Tomato Chilli Sauce) for breakfast or as an evening snack with tea/coffee. 

PHOVA CHATNI

 PHOVA CHATNI

I remember my mother used to often make a tasty snack for us when we were kids called, " Phova Chatni."  This name comes from the main ingredient which is Beaten Rice. We call this "Phovu" in my mother tongue, Konkani. "Chatni "is appended as this snack is both sweet and spicy. However, please don't mistake this to be a chutney served as accompaniment for dosa, idli etc. 

Beaten or Flattened Rice is readily available all over the country. It is called Avalakki in Kannada, Poha in Marathi, Aval in Tamil and Malayalam and Chira in Bengali. 

Elsewhere in this blog, you will find recipes for other dishes made with Beaten or Flattened Rice, such as:-

• Masale Avalakki
• Bajjile Phovu or Roasted Beaten Rice
• Poha Idlis

"Phova Chatni" is an easy to make snack for evening tea. To make this, we should use the thin variety of beaten rice which we call " Paper Avalakki" or "Nylon Avalakki" in Kannada and "Patla Poha" in Hindi.  You can tweak the amount of sugar and sambar powder used to make this dish to suit your taste.

 This dish always brings back happy memories of my childhood with my siblings. I hope you will try this out and like it too. 

Ingredients:-

• Beaten Rice/ Poha/Phovu   (Thin Variety) , 2 and 1/2 to 3 cups
• Fresh Coconut Gratings, 1 cup
• Sambar Powder, 1 and 1/2 tsp or to taste
• Sugar, 3 tsp or to taste
• Salt, to taste

Method:-

Place the beaten rice and the fresh coconut gratings in a large bowl.

Using your fingers, mix the beaten rice with the coconut gratings till the beaten rice becomes soft

You can sprinkle a little water if the coconut gratings are a bit dry 

To this, mix in the sugar, salt and sambar powder

Mix well till the poha gets well blended with the coconut gratings and all the other ingredients. 

Serve as a snack with tea/coffee

CABBAGE VADI

 CABBAGE VADI

One vegetable that it popular all over India is cabbage. It is called "Patta Gobhi" in Punjabi, "Bhand Ghobi" in Hindi, Khobi in Marathi and Elekosu in Kannada. There are many health benefits of cabbage as detailed in this informative slide show from WebMD. 

We make many dishes at home using cabbage. Today, I have selected some of the less commonly made but very tasty dishes of cabbage featured in this blog, like :-

• Cabbage Chutney
• Cabbage Stuffed Capsicum
• Cabbage Kheer
• Cabbage Lollipop

Today's recipe is for Cabbage Vadis, which is tasty snack from Maharashtra. I have adapted this from Patta Gobhi ki Vadi in Ray Kitchen. 

This can be had steamed, or shallow or deep fried if you want them to be more crisp. I chose to shallow fry them today. 

We enjoyed this snack with a hot cup of tea! 

Ingredients:-

• Cabbage, 250 gms or  shredded, 2 cups 
• Garlic Cloves, 7 
• Green Chillies, 3
• Ginger, 1 " piece
• Besan (Chickpea Flour), 1 cup
• Rice Flour, 2 tbsp
• Rava (Semolina), 2 tbsp
• Til (White Sesame Seeds), 1 tbsp
• Ajwain (Carom Seeds), 1/2 tsp
• Hing (Asafoetida), 1/4 tsp
• Turmeric, 1/2 tsp
• Coriander- Cumin Powder, 1 tsp
• Oil, 1 tsp
• Water, 1 tsp
• Fresh Coriander Leaves, 1/2 cup
• Cornflour, 3 tbsp
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, as required for frying + for greasing the plate 

Method:-

Wash and shred the cabbage

Finely chop the coriander leaves

In a small mixer jar, grind together garlic cloves, green chillies, and ginger to a paste without adding any water. Keep aside

Keep the shredded cabbage in a bowl and add coriander leaves and the freshly ground paste. 

To this add besan, rice flour, semolina, salt, sesame seeds, carom seeds, asafoetida, turmeric powder, and coriander-cumin powder with 1 tsp of oil

Mix thoroughly with your fingers. The cabbage will release a little water on its own. If the mixture is still too dry, add 1 tsp of water, and mix to form a soft dough

Grease a plate with oil and spread this dough evenly on to this plate

Place the plate with the dough in a steamer and cook the cabbage mixture for about 12 to 15 minutes on medium flame till it gets done

Switch off the gas, remove the plate and allow it to cool

With a knife cut the steamed cabbage to form squares (vadis) and demould them

The Cabbage Vadi can be had as they are or can be shallow fried or deep fried, if desired, to make them  more crisp

In case you can choose to fry, take a bowl with 3 tbsp of cornflour and make a slurry adding 1/4 cup of water

Dip each of the vadis in this slurry and deep fry in a kadhai or shallow fry on a tawa

Serve the Cabbage Vadi with a chutney of your choice or with Tomato Ketchup