Cheesy Vegetable Fritters

Fritters / Chops/Cutlets made of Chhana (Fresh & fluffy Paneer), grated Cheddar Cheese and any finely chopped vegetables

Simple, fast and delicious....that's the other name of this dish.

Ingredients :
Chhana / Paneer from 2.5 litres full cream milk
Grated processed cheese  (used Amul) - 4-5 cubes or as many as you want
Any finely chopped vegetables : I used carrot, beans, capsicum, finely sliced babycorn, sweet corn kernels, mushrooms
Chopped garlic
Chopped Onions
butter / oil
Tej pata
Crushed peppercorns
Salt
Pepper powder
Oregano powder
Cornflour
Bread crumbs
Oil for frying

Procedure :

1. Curdle boiling milk with lemon/vinegar to make Chhana/Chhena/Paneer/Cottage cheese. Drain away the whey and press it lightly to retain the softness and fluffiness of the Chhana.


2. In a kadai, heat the butter. Add tej pata & crushed pepper corns into the heated butter, followed by chopped garlic and onions. Fry till golden brown.

3. Now add the chopped vegetables in descending order of hardness.....carrot, beans, baby corns ...capsicum etc...all in medium to high heat. If using mushrooms, better to saute them separately as mushroom will give out loads of water and make the other veggies soggy. We want the veggies to retain their crunchiness


4. Mix the crunchy fried veggies with the soft paneer and toss the mix in the kadai to mix well.

5. In the hot mix, gradually add the grated cheese and keep stirring. The cheese will melt and assimilate into the rest of the chhana-veggie mix.


6. After cooling, shape the doh-like chhana-cheese-veggie mix into friiters. Dip into a thin batter of cornflour+water and then roll in bread crumbs.

8. Shallow fry and serve with sauce, chutney or as it is....

Fish Fry

Fish Fry or Fish Finger is one of my favourite starters! And when I saw a 2.25 kg Bhetki on my weekend market trip, I ordered it to be cut into fillet.....

So here goes the recipe for Fish Fry.....Fish finger recipe would be the same....only difference is the starting point-instead of square or rectangular fillet, the fish has to be cut into thin strips of 3/4" x 3" dimension approximately....





Ingredients : What I used
Bhetki fillet - about 12 - 15 pieces of 2"x2.5" dimension (no hard and fast rule though!)


A. For marination
* Ginger paste : 1 tbsp
* Garlic paste : 1 tbsp
* Onion paste or juice of onion : 2 tbsp paste or 3-4 tbsp juice (I used paste)
* Green chilli paste - 1 tsp (optional)
* Coriander leaves - chopped fine (optional)
* Chilli flakes - 1 tsp (optional)
* Vinegar or lemon juice - 3-4 tbsp
* Freshly ground black pepper - 1 tsp
* Salt - to taste


B. For the coating :
*Arrowroot powder / Cornflour - 3-4 tbsp
*Bread crumbs : 2 cups OR Bread Slices (stale ones preferred) - 5-6 nos. (see below to check out how to prepare breadcrumbs @ home)


Procedure :
1. Marinate the washed and cleaned fish pieces in a mix of all ingredients at 'A'. I refrigerate the marinated fish in an airtight box overnight.




2. Prepare the breadcrumb as shown below ##

3. In a flat bottomed bowl, mix the arrowroot/cornflour with water to make a paste of thin consistency.

4. In a flat plate, take the bread crumb and make an even layer.

5. Take each marinated Fish piece, dip it into the thin batter of arrowroot/cornflour , immediately followed by rolling in the bread crumb to form an uniform coating. Repeat for all the fish pieces.

6. In a deep flat bottomed frying pan, take the oil, heat it and fry the bread crumb coated fish pieces. Take out the fish fries and place them on a kitchen tissue to soak off the excess oil.

7. Serve with Salads and/or Mustard sauce (Kashundi) or any other sauce of your liking!

# Preparing Bread Crumbs @ Home :
-Take the stale breads (Fresh bread contains lots of moisture and hence is not too suitable for making crumbs)
-Place them in a flat tray in the microwave oven. Heat it in microwave for 2 minutes on medium heat. After completion of 2 minutes, keep it in the microwave for another 2-3 minutes for the bread slices to harden.
-Take out the hardened bread slices, break them into small pieces and put them in a mixie/dry grinder.
-Just run it for 5-10 seconds, to get fresh bread crumbs instantly!