Hara bhara Kebab

Hara bhara kebab, the name says it all. A delicious starter in the menu of almost all the Indian restaurants ☺

Hara bhara kebab is super healthy and makes a perfect starter for any party. The preparations can be done well in advance, right from preparing the mixture to shaping the kebabs. You just need to fry them before serving. These kebabs can be used as patties for burgers or sandwiches. The picture above are of deep fried kebabs which I made for myself otherwise I mostly shallow fry them in a non stick pan (a few pictures below). One can even use appe pan to prepare these delicious healthy kebabs 🙂

Ingredients:

1/2 cup blanched and chopped spinach
1/4 cup peas, boiled
1/2 cup paneer, crumbled or grated
1/2 cup potatoes, boiled and grated
2 tbsp capsicum, finely chopped
2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
1/4 cup roasted besan
5 garlic cloves, grated
1 inch ginger, grated
2 green chilly
1 tsp roasted jeera powder
1 tsp chaat masala or amchoor powder
Salt to taste
Oil as needed to fry
Some cashews to garnish

Method:

For blanching the spinach, boil water in a pan, add clean and chopped spinach to it. Let the spinach boil for good 5 minutes in high flame. Switch off the gas. Keep some cold water in a bowl ready and transfer the blanched spinach to it. This will prevent further cooking of the spinach and the green color will be intact. Once the spinach has cooled down, strain it. After a few minutes, using ur hands squeeze out excess water from the spinach. You can use the strained water in making gravies or chapatis. Blanching part is done.

*I boiled two big bunches of spinach and used half a cup of blanched spinach*

* I don’t prefer to puree the spinach as I just love the crunch. I would recommend you the same as well.

Now take all the mentioned ingredients in a bowl and mix using ur clean hands. You can use a masher and mash everything too a little. Do a taste test and adjust the seasonings. Keep the prepared mixture in the freezer for 10 minutes. The mixture is not going to be very tight, it will be a little loose. Don’t tempt urself to add more besan. Freezing it will help you shape the kebabs easily.

After 10 minutes of freezing, take out the mixture. Grease ur hands with little oil and start shaping the kebabs. Once the shaping is done, garnish each kebab with cashews, press it a bit so that it sticks on to it and doesn’t comes out while frying. Put the prepared kebabs in the freezer again for 10 minutes. Now heat some oil in kadhai and deep fry the kebabs or shallow fry them in a pan till they are golden brown. Serve hot with chutney of ur choice and some onion rings on the sides.

Notes:

* Make sure to squeeze as much water as you can from the spinach otherwise the kebab mixture will be very watery and you may have to add some extra roasted besan to get the right consistency which can spoil the taste.

* I always use refrigerated boiled potatoes to make these. Just boiled potatoes can make the mixture a little more runny.

* Use only roasted besan otherwise the taste will be very different and you might not like it.

*If the mixture is a little difficult for you to handle, thn add some more roasted besan or some breadcrumbs. But don’t add too much.

* Garnishing these with cashews makes the kebabs a little presentable. You can skip it totally.

* If not making it immediately, cling wrap the kebabs after shaping it and keep it in the fridge. Fry as and when needed.

* Add more green chilly if you want it spicy.

Please do share a picture if you try this out. You can connect with me on Facebook or Instagram.