Recipe: Smoked Eggplant Mash, toasted croute Patty (By Chef Jolly)

Welcome back! Hope you tried your hand at making them chickpea patties, and found the taste every bit worth the time spent making them. So as promised, I am back with recipe number 2, shared by Chef Surjan Singh Jolly at the Canola Bloggers Meet. This one is called Smoked Eggplant mash, with toasted croute.

So here we go!

Portion Serves 4

Ingredients

250g eggplant (large), smoked over coal ambers

2 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2 tbsp garlic clove, finely chopped

2 red onions, peeled and finely chopped

3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 sprig coriander leaf washed and finely chopped

Salt to taste

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

3-4 toasted bread strips

Method:

1. Wash the eggplant, wipe it dry and place it on a char-grill/roasting tray and roast in a pre-heated oven at 250 degree C for 20 minutes or until the eggplants bake skin on.

2. Peel the skin and wash it under running matter, if you wish you can remove the seeds inside.

3. In a pan, add canola oil and all the ingredients listed above, except for the toasted bread strips.

4. Mix it all well and cook for 3-4 minutes.

5. Check for seasoning and serve the eggplant mash a spread on toast.

6. You can also this mash as a sandwich filler.

The Canola Bloggers Meet was organised by Canola Oil in association with Blogadda. For more information about Canola, you can check this website.

Recipe: Pan-fried Chickpea Patty (By Chef Jolly)

Hi there! In my last post about Canola bloggers meet, I had promised to share two interesting quick snacks recipes shared by Chef Surjan Singh (aka Chef Jolly) and here I am with one of them. So get ready to make super-quick-to-make and super-health-to-eat Pan-fried Chickpea Patty! Yes, Chef Jolly has given an interesting twist to your regular chickpea (kabuli chana) and turned it into a patty with a difference. Cooked in canola oil, it's light on the stomach and yet very filling.

So here we go!

Ingredients:

100g chickpea (Kabuli chana), boiled soft
50g malai paneer/curd cheese
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 tbsp caraway seeds or cumin seeds
1/4 tbsp black cardamom seeds, crushed
1 medium spiced green chilli, finely chopped
30g coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice,
1/2 tbsp asafetida powder
Salt to taste

Chef Jolly at work

Method:

1. Coarsely blitz boiled chickpeas using a food processor and add roasted caraway, curd cheese, black cardamom seeds, green chilli, coriander leaves. Mix well.
2. Add 1 tbsp canola oil in a hot pan and temper asafetida.
3. Add the chickpeas mix and blend again with salt to taste and lemon juice for tanginess.
4. Make small balls (table tennis ball sized balls), and use the centre of the palms to flatten them.
5. In a hot, non-stick bottom pan, pour remaining canola oil to pan-fry the patties golden brown evenly on both sides and serve it hot with a side dip, relish or chutney.

Alternatively, you may glaze it with canola oil spray and oven bake it at 200 degree C for 10 minutes on each side to serve it with a tangy dip.

And here it is - ready to it!

The second recipe is coming in the next post. Stay tuned. :)
The Canola Bloggers Meet was organised by Canola Oil in association with Blogadda. For more information about Canola, you can check this website.

Canola Bloggers Meet: To Understand Canola Better

Canola, the premium priced cooking oil being market by Canada is slowly and steadily making inroads into the Indian market. While the leading chefs and decision makers from the food industry are gradually acknowledging and promoting the health benefits of this oil, average Indian family still seems sceptical about Canola's relevance in their kitchen shelves. And this is why representatives of Canola Council of Canada are travelling across potential markets to spread awareness about Canola oil and promote its exposure in different types of cooking. To this effect, they recently organised a bloggers meet where health benefits of Canola oil were discussed in great detail.

If you remember, last year Canola had tied up with renowned chef Kunal Kapoor for a Cook for Cause event, where I got to be a part of the team of bloggers who cooked for the lively kids from the NGO Katha, an NGO that works in the field of community development, child welfare, education and literature. This year, besides the informative session of Canola facts, it was popular chef Surjan Singh (aka Chef Jolly) and his interesting recipes that added the fun element to the otherwise focussed-on-facts event.

Now before delving into the finer details about health benefits of Canola oil, here's a recall of the canola oil trivia I have shared before.

• Canola Oil comes from the crushed seeds of canola plant. These seeds are tiny and resemble poppy seeds, though they are brownish-black in colour.
• Canola and rapeseed plants look similar but their oils are very different. Canadians researchers used traditional plant breeding to eliminate the undesirable components of rapeseed and created 'canola' - a contraction of Canadian and ola.
• Researchers say canola is very stable oil that doesn't break down at high temperatures, so it's ideal for sautéing, stir-frying, deep-frying and other high-heat applications.
• Its smoke point - the temperature at which it begins to smoke and degrade - is one of the highest of all cooking oils at 242 degree centigrade.

As mentioned above, the focus of this meet was spreading awareness about the health benefits of Canola oil, and Canola panel, represented by Mr. Bruce Jowett, Vice President of Marketing Development, Canola Council of Canada, Ms. Ritika Samaddar, Registered Dietician and Nutritionist and Chef Jolly.  While Mr. Jowett shared interesting insights on the latest consumer research on edible oil consumption patterns, Ms Samaddar talked about the various health and nutritional benefits of canola oil and how it helps you get fitter.

Here are some pointers that will help with a better a understanding of how canola oil works is good for health - 

• Low is saturated fats - Canola oil is slow in saturated fat. Saturated fat raises the bad LDL cholesterol in the blood and has been linked to increased risk of coronary heart diseases.
• A source of omaega-6 fat - Omega-6 must be consumed in diet and is important for the brain and for the growth and development of infants.
• High in omega-3 fat - Omega-3 fat must also be consumed in our diet, as it helps protect against heart attacks and strokes.
• High in mono-unsaturated fat - Mono-unsaturated fat may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by lowering bad LDL cholesterol in the blood and helping control blood glucose.
• Cholesterol and trans fat free - Trans fat raises bad LDL cholesterol and lowers good HDL cholesterol.

While Mr. Jowett and Ms Samaddar emphasized the health benefits of the oil, Chef jolly explained about the texture and taste of the oil, explaining how the oil adapts to most Indian cuisines and leaves no lingering smell. He also prepared two interesting snack items,which were cooked in canola oil, and also shared the recipe of the same (sharing the recipe in the next post). The event was rounded off with high tea, with a sumptuous spread of delicacies cooked in canola oil.

Chef Jolly cooking with canola oil

High tea spread cooked in Canola oil

The Canola Bloggers Meet was organised by Canola Oil in association with Blogadda. For more information about Canola, you can check this website.