Adzuki Beans & Brown Rice Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

Blogging Marathon# 33: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Combo Dishes - Tikkis/ Burgers
Dish: Adzuki Beans & Brown Rice Burger with Sweet Potato Fries
It has been unseasonally warm for the past couple of days and we are totally enjoying this weather. I took my mom, my almost 3 year old niece and my 1 year old to New York city (NYC) yesterday. We live about 20 minutes away from the city, but never go there to actually see places. I usually go there on business, either for a meeting or a seminar, never as a tourist.

I always wanted to take the NYC bus tour and finally did it yesterday. Its fun to sit on the open top double decker and see the sights of the city. I enjoyed the tour, but I want to do it again without the kids, so I can enjoy the city even more :-)

Well we came back home ravished and good thing that I had these adzuki bean-brown rice burgers frozen and ready to cook. All we had to was to bake some Sweet Potato fries and chop up some veggies for topping and in less than 30minutes we had a filling and delicious lunch.

Whole Foods sells Adzuki bean-brown rice burger. I never bought them but wanted to try that combo for a long time. Adzuki beans need only 2~3hours to soak and cook pretty quickly. In addition to the beans and rice, I added some bread crumbs, flour and a flax egg for binding. I flavored the burgers with Indian spices like kasoori methi and kitchen king masala. My focus group (my mom, sister and husband) liked them.

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Chana Dal Kebabs (Vegetarian Kebabs with Chickpeas)

Blogging Marathon# 30: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Get it Rolled
Dish: Chana Dal Kebabs

Day 2 of BM# 30 and today's dish under 'Get it Rolled' theme is Chana dal Kebabs. When you think of kebabs, you think of skewers and meat. Here's some Wiki gyan about Kebabs - 'Kebab is derived from the Arabic word 'kabab' which means to 'fry'. I especially like this story about the origin of kebabs -- Persian soldiers used their swords to cook meat on open fire and hence started the 'kebab' way of cooking meat.

Well since this is a vegetarian food blog, I decided to make some kebabs with beans. This recipe is inspired from one of the Telugu cooking shows. Original recipe used only chickpeas, but I had some cooked mixed beans (from this dal biryani I made earlier) which is used instead. These kebabs were filling and delicious.

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Dal Biryani

It's been a while that I sent an entry to Susan @ Well Seasoned Cook's famous My Legume Love Affair (MLLA) event. This month's edition is being hosted by lovely Nupur @ One Hot Stove. I love legumes and they are integral part of my cooking. My 5 year old LOVES dal chawal and I'm very glad that I can sneak in any veggie in to a dal and he'll eat it without complaining. So much for little victories :-)

This Dal Biryani recipe is adapted from one of the Telugu cooking shows that I recently watched. I really loved the idea of using dal in biryani, it makes it a complete dish with the required carbs, protein and fat. It is filling and delicious to boot.

The original recipe was for 'Panchratan Dal Biryani' with 5 different legumes. But I remember a nutrition expert on one of the other cooking shows saying that 'adding more good things to a dish is not necessarily good for health'. She mentioned that using a lot of different beans/ nuts/ oils/ seeds (anything for that matter) slows down the body from absorbing the good nutrients from each of the ingredient. I don't know if that is true or not, but I used only 3 legumes -- Chickpeas, Adzuki beans and Moong beans. But the recipe is versatile and any sturdy legume that doesn't become mushy when cooked can be used.

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Kale, Adzuki Beans & Potato Curry

I read an article in Vegetarian Times (March 2009 issue) that Kale and Adzuki beans are in the top 10 Super food list (# 6 & 7 respectively). Cooking kale increases its antioxidant level, but over-doing has the reverse effect. So this curry is super healthy and tastes pretty good too.

Kale is a sturdier green compared to spinach and does not cook down to a mush and as mentioned before overcooking makes it not so healthy also. This is a dry curry that goes well with rotis or rice and pappu (dal).

Ingredients:

Kale – 1 bunch, chopped (about 3-4 cups)

Potatoes – 3 medium, diced

Adzuki beans – 1 cup, soaked overnight and cooked (I pressure cooked for 4 whistles)

Onion – 1 small

Green chilies – 2, slit

Ginger + Garlic paste (g+g)– ½tsp

Turmeric – ¼tsp

Red chili powder – ½tsp

Garam masala – 1tsp (I used Kitchen King masala)

Amchoor powder – ¼tsp

Mustard seeds – ½tsp

Cumin Seeds – ½tsp

Salt – to taste

Method:

• Add g+g paste, turmeric and potatoes. Cover and cook on medium flame until potatoes are 3/4th cooked; about 8-10 minutes.
  
• Add kale and adzuki beans, chili powder, garam masala, amchoor and salt. Cover and cook till kale is wilted and potatoes are completely cooked through.
  
• Check seasonings and serve warm or at room temperature.

Adzuki Beans – Kale Curry

This is a hearty and delicious curry that is very good for health too. Adzuki beans (red chori in Hindi) are small red colored beans that are high in protein (about 17grams in one cup of cooked beans) and are very good source of magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese and B vitamins. Kale is considered to be highly nutritious vegetable with powerful anti-oxidant properties and is anti-inflammatory.

Ingredients:
Adzuki Beans – 1 cup, sorted, rinsed and soaked overnight or at least 8 hours
Kale – 1 bunch, roughly chopped
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Tomato – 2 medium, chopped
Chole Masala – 2tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Amchoor – ½ tsp
Turmeric – pinch
Garlic – 2 cloves, crushed
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Pressure cook the soaked beans for 3-4 whistles (or add 3¼ cups water to 1cup soaked beans; cover and simmer for 45 minutes).
  
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large pan; add onions and sauté till light brown. Stir in turmeric and garlic and cook for 2 more minutes.
  
• Add the tomatoes; cover and cook till they turn mushy. Now add the masala, red chili powder and salt. Mix well and cook for 1 minute.
  
• Next add chopped kale; cover and let it wilt. Add the beans with ½ cup water; cover and cook again till the curry reaches the desired consistency. Serve with rice or roti.

This is my entry to Protein Rich monthly event hosted by Sangeeth @ letusallcook.