Kidney bean patty burger | Vegetarian Burger | Bean burger | Spicy burger

I'm introducing burgers to my son. Though he is staying in the States from the last one year, he is totally off to American food. He prefers Indian anytime. Although it is good for his health, it becomes extremely difficult when we travel. To make him get used to the burgers, I keep making burgers often.

Instead of the regular potato patty, I try with different patties each time. This time it was a kidney bean burger. Kidney bean is a great protein source. Although you could use canned beans, I prefer to use dried beans for obvious reasons.

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: Around 10 mins
Makes around 7-8 burgers

Ingredients:

For the patty:
Kidney beans : 1 cup, raw or 3 cups of cooked beans
Finely chopped bell pepper: 2 tbsp
Onion: 1 med sized, finely chopped
Finely chopped coriander leaves: 2 tbsp
Bread crumbs: from 2 slices of bread (about 1/4th cup)
Carom seeds | Om kalu: 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder: 1 tsp
Lemon juice: 2 tsp
All purpose flour/Maida: 2 tbsp, optional
Salt: As needed
Oil: About a teaspoon for each patty

For assembling the burger:
Burger buns: 7-8
Slices of tomato: 2 on each burger
A slice of cheese on each buger
Lettuce or baby spinach
Any dressing of your choice (refer notes below)

Method:
Soak the kidney beans overnight. Drain the water.  Add the kidney beans + water + 1/2 tsp of salt to the pressure cooker and cook it for about 4-5 whistles.Let the cooker cool down.
Once the pressure is released from the cooker, remove the lid & drain the water from the beans. You get approximately 3 cups of cooked beans.
Mash the beans gently. To the mashed beans, add in the ingredients mentioned for the patty (except oil & AP flour).
If the mixture is gooey & sticking to the hands, add in a tablespoon of flour at a time to adjust the consistency.

Heat a griddle. Make the patties & shallow fry the patties on both sides on a medium heat.

Remove the patties from the griddle & immediately arrange the burger.

Cut the burger bun in half. Add a layer of  greens first (I have used baby spinach here).
Follow the greens with the cheese slice (I did not have the slices, hence used grated mozzarella. What matters is the cheese & not the form, isn't it ;)  )
Place in the patty. Add a tablespoon of dressing.
Finally a slice of tomato, and cover with another slice of the burger bun.
Press in the burger & serve immediately.

Notes:

• The above mentioned ingredients are a just a guideline. You could vary accordingly & it will be delicious anyways :)
• Any dressing of your choice could be used. I prefer mustard while my family loves mayo. 
• For the above burger, I have mixed equal quantities of mayo + tomato ketchup as dressing!

Methi Poori/Menthya Soppu Poori

Poori is a deep fried Indian bread made with wheat flour or plain flour/maida.

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: Around 30 mins to fry all the pooris.

Ingredients: (Makes around 20-25 pooris).
For the dough:

• Wheat flour/atta/godi hittu: 1 cup
• AP flour/maida: 1 cup
• Methi leaves/Fenugreek leaves/menthya soppu: 3 cubes (I used frozen. 3 cubes is around a cup of fresh methi leaves).
• Salt: Around 1 tsp
• Water: 0.75 cups, a little more or less.
• Ajwain/Carom seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Hot oil: 1 tbsp
• Yogurt/Curd: 1 tbsp

For deep frying the pooris:

• Around 250 ml of cooking oil.

Method:
For the dough:
Sieve the wheat flour & maida seperately.
Add the sieved wheat flour, AP flour & salt to a big mixing bowl. Mix the flours well. Make a pit at the center of the flour.
Pour in the hot oil & mix well until the flours form little crumbs.
Now, add in the methi leaves, salt, ajwain, yogurt & mix well. Slowly add water & make a smooth yet stiff dough.
Let it rest for 30 mins.
Make grape sized balls from the dough.
Dust the dough balls & roll the dough balls using a rolling pin. Make around 5 inch circles of medium thickness. 
Heat the oil in a broad pan. When the oil is hot enough, slide the rolled circles in the oil. 
Deep fry them on both the sides until golden. The poori will puff up.
Remove the fried poori in a slotted spoon. Drain it on a paper napkin. 
Repeat the same with the remaining dough. 
Serve it hot with a side dish of your choice. 

Notes: 

• All purpose flour could be replaced with wheat flour.
• To check whether the oil is hot enough, take an apple-seed sized dough & slide it in the hot oil. If the dough immediately rises up in the oil, understand that the oil is hot enough to deep fry the pooris. 

Here are some side dishes that go well with poori.

Aloo sabzi

Palak paneer

Vegetable saagu

Methi matar malai

Rainbow guliappa | paddu | Colorful paniyaram recipe

...or Color color guliappa as my son calls it :)

Guliappa is a bite sized snack or a breakfast item. It is usually made with left over dosa/dosai batter & is known by many other names like paddu, gundpongalu, paniyaram, gulittu or appe. Aebleskiver pan or paddu pan is used for making this delicacy.

In order to add more nutrition to my son's tiffin box, I try adding various vegetables to it. Here is one such simple effort of mine & my son loves this rainbow guliappa. It is just a fancy name to attract my little one to eat his dose of vegetables :)

Ingredients:

Left over dosa batter: 2 cups

Finely minced vegetables: 2 cups (Refer notes # 1)

Salt: According to taste.

Finely grated ginger: 1/2 tsp

Special utensil:

Aebleskiver pan

Oil: few drops on each mould.

Method:

• Mix the finely minced vegetables with the left over dosa batter, adjust the salt & mix thoroughly.
• If needed, add a couple of tablespoons of water to the batter.
• Throw in the ginger & mix well.
• Heat the pan, add few drops of oil on each mould.
• When the pan is hot enough, add 1.5 tbsp of batter on each mould & cook it covered. Since, we have added loads of vegetables, it is very essential to cook it on a low-medium heat to ensure the vegetables are completely cooked. Takes around 2 mins to cook. Flip the guliappa & cook on the other side too.
• Serve it hot with a dip of your choice. 

Notes:

1. Choose varieties of vegetables for this. Since it is called rainbow guliappa, you should see an array of colors. I add whatever I have handy & I don't miss on beetroot. Most of the times, I add carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, red onion, jalapenos (only a half or less!), capsicum, beetroot & potato!
2. Never seen an aebleskiver pan, you can find them in one of my previous posts here.