Shami Kebab

When I eat something really good at a friend’s place, I immediately asks for the recipe and most of the time inspiration gets buried deep inside without any attempt, but sometimes especially when the recipe is too good to pass, I try it out. There are many such recipes in my blogs which were inspired from friends and family and this Kebab is a result of one such inspiration. When I went to my friend Z’s place, she served some delicious Shami kebab which was her grandma’s special. Shami kebab is a Pakistani kebab and I remember her telling me that she grew up eating this a lot. She was so generous to share her recipe with me. I also did some online search and they were all pretty much the same, expect few changes. I  was really happy the way it turned out and  and this was one of my starter for my New year party with blogger friends Nisha, Suchi and Manjiri and they all loved it too :)

Ingredients ( makes 24 kebabs)

For Kheema paste

Lamb (minced) – 500gm

Chana Dal – 125 gm/ 8 tbs

Potatoes – 2 small ( diced)

Ginger- garlic paste – 2 tsp

Cinnamon stick - 3” stick

Cloves – 3

Cardamom – 2 nos

Fennel – 1 tsp (optional )

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Peppercorn – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Red chilly powder – 1 tsp

Water – 1 cup

Salt

Other Ingredients

Onion – 2 medium

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Coriander leaves –  few sprigs (finely chopped )

Mint leaves – few sprigs ( finely  chopped )

Lime juice – 2 tbs

Egg – 1 large

Oil – for shallow frying

Method

1. Soak Chana dal in boiling water for 1 hour.
2. In a big saucepan add all the ingredients listed under ‘kheema paste’ and cook for 35-40 minutes until water dries and all the ingredients are cooked through.
3. Let it cool down and then grind them into a fine paste.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients listed under ‘ other ingredients’ expect the egg to the kheema paste and knead until its mixed well.
5. Divide the paste into 24 equal sized balls and flatten it out, dip them in beaten egg and shallow fry flipping the sides for 3-4 minutes or until firm and brown.

Aloo tikki

Simple recipe with few ingredients is what everyone likes. I was chatting the other day with my little sister  who  used to try a lot of my recipes when she got married, but few months before we had a new arrival in our family who is keeping her busy all the time. Since then she doesnt do much cooking . She was telling me  that when she checks my blog and find lengthy ingredients she give up straighaway and another reason was  most of the ingredients that  is not easily available there. There might be lot of people like her who want to do simple cooking with readily available ingredients so I am going to really work on that and post some simple recipes and post under the label simple cooking :)

This Aloo tikki defintely falls in that category, it takes only about  30 minutes if you pressure cook your potaoes and with few ingredients  you can serve this is as a starter when you are running out of time :)

Indredients (makes 10 tikkis )

Onion - 1 small(finely chopped 0

Boiled Potato - 5 ( Medium )

Green peas (boiled ) - 3/4 cup

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Redchilly powder - 1/2 tsp

Chaat masala - 1 tsp ( use a mixture of  garam masala and coriander powder if you dont have chaat masala )

Coriander leaves - finely chopped

Bread crumbs - 3 tbs (optional )

Salt

Oil ( for shallow frying )

Method

• Mash the potato and keep it aside.
• Add rest of the ingredients and mix well.
• Make small balls out of it and flaten  it a little bit in between the palms.
• In a frying pan add oil and shallow fry the patties on a medium flame for about 4-5 minutes  until they are firm and hold their shapes without falling apart.
• Serve hot with some tomato ketchup.

Stuffed Pepper/Capsicum

Watching cookery shows or anything related with cooking , baking or dining is something that me and my Hubby love to watch together, all other times we will be fighting for remotes."Come dine with me" is a programme which airs in U.K in which four strangers go to dine at each others place and secretly score them. I have seen many contestants making stuffed pepper for their starter course .There are many recipes like that which attracted me . I even buy the ingredients but never makes it,finally when the ingredients go beyond the use by or best before date,I chuck it in the bin when S is not around. About a month ago I decided to give this a try and bought peppers but when the peppers were nearing the use by dates I used it in my daily cooking and finished it off.I bought peppers again last week and kept it in the fridge for few days but this time I got a mood to try it out as we had friends for dinner yesterday,I was not very sure about the results as I never tried this before ,but trust me we all liked it.

Ingredients
Pepper - 4
Cuscous - 3/4 cup
Vegetable stock /chicken stock - 1 cube
Water - 1 cup
Onion -1 small
Carrot- 1 grated
Paneer -1/2 cup grated
Salt
Pepper
oil for brushing

Preparation
In a saucepan add some oil and saute the chopped onions,when onions are soft add grated carrot and cook.Finally add grated paneer,season it with salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute.
In another saucepan pour 1 cup of water and add the stock cube.When water boils add cuscous and cook it covered until all water is absorbed. Add the cooked cuscous to the paneer mixture and mix well.
Slice the top of the pepper ,remove the seeds and core.Stuff the pepper with the filling. Brush the outer skin of pepper with oil and bake it in a preheated oven at 200 degree centigrade for 20 minutes.