Fried Prawn Patties

So, this recipe is finger licking good. The good thing about this  is that its versatile. So, while I've used prawns here, the recipe lends itself fabulously to chicken, meat and even vegetarian options. You surely must try it out now. No excuses!

Here are the things you need,

For the patties:

Rice flour - 1 cup

Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Water - 1 1/2 cups

Salt - 1 tsp

For the filling:

Cooked prawns - 250 grams

Onion - 1 (Finely diced)

Garlic - 3-4 cloves (Finely diced)

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil  for deep frying

In a blender, mix together the grated coconut and fennel seeds thoroughly.

Bring the water to boil in a large bowl.

As it boils, add in the rice flour, the coconut-fennel mix, salt and mix well.

Remove from heat and knead the mix into a soft dough.

Make fist sized balls of dough and keep aside.

Heat a little oil in a pan and add the diced onion and garlic and allow it to saute.

Then add the salt, turmeric and chilly powder to it till the raw smell of the spices disappear.

Now, quickly add the prawns to the pan and mix well.

Since the prawn is already cooked, we only need to keep the pan on heat until all the spices and prawns are well mixed.

Heat oil in a deep bottomed dish. The oil must be really hot so that when we fry the patties, it does not soak up excess oil.

While the oil is heating up, spread a little oil in you hands and flatten out the dough balls into approximately a pancake size using your hands. 

Scoop a little of the prawn mix into the center of the dough and bring the edges of the dough together. Seal the edges well by pressing on it hard, so that no oil gets inside the patty as we fry it.

Now, drop the patty into the oil and fry it until it turns nice and golden brown.

Serve.

While, I've chosen to do a half moon kinda shape for the patty, you could mold them into balls, squares or basically any shape that you fancy. The key here however is that no matter what shape you choose, remember to seal the edges cause otherwise oil will enter the filling and your patties will become soggy.

Creamy Spinach

Here is yet another recipe to turn those reluctant veggie eaters into religious veggie eaters. Yum! Creamy Spinach!

Here are the things you need:

Spinach - 1 bunch, washed and dried
Onion - 1 (Roughly diced)
Garlic - 2-3 cloves (Roughly diced)
Lemon - One half
Cream - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tsp
Salt - To taste

In a pan, heat oil and sweat the onions and garlic.
Then add the cream and butter to the mix along with the salt and allow the mix to reduce slightly.
Once the reduction has begun, add the spinach to it and let the leaves wilt down.
Once the spinach has begun to wilt, remove the pan from fire.
Squeeze one half of the lemon on to the spinach and toss it well so that the sauce spreads on the leaves evenly.

This dish works perfectly with almost any main course and better still, almost any veggies can be used instead of the spinach. All you need to do is keep in mind the difference in cooking time of the different veggies.

Pic courtesy : Diana's kitchen