Protein Packed Nuggets: Daal Cutlets

There was a point in my life (read: pre-internet India) when I knitted ten or eleven sweaters in a year with my mom. Most of my cousins have sweater me and my Mom knitted. This is the hobby I took as a tribute to my grandma. She was a excellent knitter. Back in 60's she would knit using English instruction books and manipulate the pattern as per her need. I started knitting using some of her needles and books. I kept on knitting on and off ever since. I pursued another hobby for few years and knitting took a back seat.

Last year I started knitting again, thanks to Desi Knitter. I think it was about 2 years ago I stumbled upon her blog and was amazed by her creativity. I love knitting, crochet, embroidery and everything related to that. I restarted a small project that I had frogged after seeing her shawls and socks. I completed it but did not start until very recently. I wanted to see what she is up to these days and visited her blog again and commented for the first time. Meanwhile I had to stop going for my pottery class due to various reasons and I needed a new 'thing' to keep me busy and her blog did the trick. Now I regularly visit the space and inspire myself to challenge myself. I also met these two fellow knitters and found out about Ravelry.com. Got excited, immediately created a profile and started adding my projects in there. I also came to know about few yarn shops in the area and started visiting them for my supplies.

My recent creation is a scarf for a friend of mine which I completed in record time of 3 days! Here is how it looks -

Lets come to today's recipe of Bean Cutlets. I started making these few years ago as falafel patties. I have tried various combinations of beans and spices and all turn out great. I took these for a potluck with few of my dearest friends and all of them loved it. So this is to you girls!

1 cup dry mixed beans (I use black eyed peas, black garbanzo beans, Lentils, Mung beans, Moth beans)

4-5 slices of bread (I use wheat bread)

2 tsp Malwani Masala

1 tsp cumin seeds

salt per taste

Water

Oil as needed

Preparation -

Pick over and soak the beans in enough water (about 4 cups) over night.

Drain the beans and add to the pressure cooker. Add 1/4th cup water, pinch of salt to the beans. Pressure cook until soft.

Drain the water from cooked beans if any and let it cool down for 10-15 minutes.

Add cooked beans, bread slices, malawani masala, cumin seeds and salt if needed to food processor. Coarsely grind everything.

Make sure everything is mixed well and make 1" diameter patties.

Spread few drops of oil on a griddle and heat it before lining the patties. Let the patties cook thoroughly before flipping. Add few drops of oil before flipping if needed.

Cook other side.

Serve warm with chutney or serve as falafel patties.

Tips -

1. These can be made ahead of time. Just reheat in microwave or oven before serving.
2. These taste great with Dill-Cucumber-Yogurt sauce too but I prefer it with green coriander chutney.
3. Try just little bit of cumin seeds and garlic as seasoning instead of any other seasoning its just amazing.