We invited Get Ahead readers to share quick-fix office recipes with us -- easily-prepared foods that takes less than an hour to whip up before you head to work in the morning. We've been flooded with responses and as part of an ongoing series, present four lunch recipes that you can carry in your dabba.
Romi Chatterjee sends us this recipe for Vegetarian Indian Samosas:
Ingredients:
- 2 onions, minced
- 1 tbsp coriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 pound potatoes, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
- 10-ounce packet frozen peas, thawed and drained
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Dash of salt and pepper to taste
- 9 sheets phyllo pastry, thawed
- Olive oil
Method of preparation:
- Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, sautee the onions in a bit of oil until they are soft, about six to eight minutes.
- Add the coriander, cumin and cayenne, and cook for another minute. Remove from heat and add the potatoes, peas and cilantro, stirring to mix well. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
- Stack three or four sheets of phyllo together, and slice into four even rectangles with a pair of kitchen shears. Continue with the rest of the phyllo, then cover with plastic wrap.
- Place two or three tablespoons of the potato and peas mix in a corner of the dough, then roll the corner towards the centre. Fold in the left and right corners, then roll up again.
- Place each samosa on a baking sheet, and lightly brush the tops with olive oil. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
Note: You do NOT need to pre-cook the potatoes as long as they are chopped into small enough pieces.
Next up is this recipe for Mangalorean-style Kachori (Biscuit Roti) from Pradeep Suresh Pai:
Ingredients:
For the outer cover:
- 1 cup sooji (semolina)
- 3 tbsp maida (refined wheat flour)
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt to taste
- Some water
For the filling:
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut
- Pinch of hing (asafoetida)
- 2 tsp sooji
- 2 tsp besan (gram flour)
- 1/2 tsp mustard
- 1/2 tsp urad dal (black gram)
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 3 green chillies
- Small piece ginger
- 1 tsp oil
Method of preparation:
- Soak the sooji in a little water for 15 minutes, till its absorbs all the water. Add salt, oil and knead in the maida to make it into a tough ball as hard as you would do for puris.
- For the filling, finely chop green chillies, ginger, curry leaves. Heat oil in a pan and make a seasoning of mustard, urad dal, green chillies, curry leaves and hing. Mix together the seasoning, ginger, coconut, sooji and besan. Adjust salt and mix thoroughly.
- Heat the oil for deep frying the biscuit rotis. Divide the dough to form smaller balls of ping-pong ball size. Working on one at a time, roll into small circles.
- Place two tsp of filling and fold the outer cover like you would for puranpoli or paratha.
- Roll into three or four inch diameter circles. Deep fry till golden brown on both the sides.
Anand sent in this recipe for Mast Paneer:
Ingredients:
- 250 gm fresh paneer (cottage cheese)
- 250 gm green beans (long fallian)
- 2 tbsp curds
- 1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
- 2 green chillies
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp chilly powder
- 1 tsp dhaniya (coriander) powder
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1/2 tbsp amchoor (dried, powdered green mango)
- Salt to taste
- Coriander leaves to garnish
Method of preparation:
- Heat the oil in a kadai (pan/wok) and add the jeera. When jeera becomes brown, add turmeric powder (haldi), red chilly powder and 1/2 spoon salt. Add green chilly (cut into small pieces) Now add curds and mix well. Put green beans (cut in small pieces) and cover the kadai for 10 mintues.
- Next, mash paneer and add into kadai. Stir well for 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining masalas -- chilly powder, dhaniya powder and salt to taste.
- Mast Paneer is now ready to eat -- garnish with coriander leaves.
Do you have any quick-fix preparations that you'd like to share with us and other readers? It has to be something appetising and easily whipped up (in under an hour). Simply mail in your tiffin recipe ideas to getahead@rediff.co.in and we'll publish them right here on rediff.com
Channel your inner chef and help people economise without compromising on their meals!