(Lima) Beans and Delhi Cha(a)t

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Weekend Herb Blogging: Red Beet

I am returning to Weekend Herb Blogging (WHB), hosted by Kalyn of Kalyn'’s Kitchen, after a long while. This is one event I always feel glad to attend, and even when I can'’t participate, I make sure to read the entries that come in week after week. Thanks to Kalyn for creating a platform that helps us get acquainted with an amazing array of fruits, vegetables and herbs from across the globe.

My entry for this week is the red delight called beet. While researching for my post, I came across some wonderful facts about this root. In ancient times, Romans used it to cure fever and constipation, besides other diseases. Hippocrates, the father of medicine, advocated the use of beet leaves as a binding for wounds.


Among the sweetest of vegetables, beetroot has considerable amounts of Vitamin C in the root area, while the upper portion contains a good amount of Vitamin A. The health benefits of beet include protection against heart disease, congenital defects and certain types of cancer, mainly colon cancer. More information on this power-packed root can be found here.

My recipe using beetroot is a yummy snack called beet chops. This is similar to fish chop I blogged about earlier, except for the stuffing, which, as you can guess, is made of beet. Well, that'’s the main ingredient. I also used some carrots in my recipe. This is a popular snack item of Bengali cuisine and tastes delish. Let'’s get down to it then?


Beet Chop:

Ingredients:

Beet: 2-3 big, grated
Carrot: 2 big, grated
Bay leaves: 2
Tomato: 2, pureed
Garam masala powder (Dry grounded cardamom, cloves and cinnamon): ½ tsp
Cumin seeds: ½ tsp
Ghee (clarified butter): 1 tsp
Raisins, cashew nuts
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
And a paste of:
2 onions
1 inch ginger block
6-8 garlic cloves

For outer cover:
Potatoes: 4-5 big, boiled, mashed
Bread slices: 3-4
Egg: 1
Bread crumbs
Salt, pepper

Method:

The Stuffing:

1. Heat oil in a wok and add the cumin seeds and bay leaves.
2. Add the onion-ginger-garlic paste and garam masala powder. Stir a bit.
3. When the masala starts drying, add the grated beet and carrot. Stir well. Add salt.
4. Lower heat, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the water starts drying.
5. Remove cover, stir constantly, and add the ghee. Let the mix dry completely.
6. Add the raisins and cashew nuts and mix well.

Your stuffing is ready. Remove from heat and let it cool.



Making the Chop:

1. Mix the mashed potatoes, bread slices, salt and pepper. Add an egg and bind into a dough.
2. Take a roundel of the dough and make a cavity.
3. Fill the cavity with the stuffing and seal the edges.
4. Shape into a chop (we made round ones; you can give it an oval shape too, or make it flatter, if you like).
5. Roll the chop over bread crumbs and deep fry them in batches.
6. Serve hot with onion rings and tomatoes or sauces/chutneys of your choice.


The chop is extremely delicious what with the soft and sweet texture of the beet alongside the savoury taste of potato, bread and salt. It'’s one of my favourite snacks, and I hope you will savour it too. Enjoy!

Sury

posted by Sury at 9:02 PM

29 comment(s):

Very interesting. I've never eaten anything quite like this, but it does sound wonderful. I love learning about new foods.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:14 PM  

hi.. foodies... love it ...don't need to say that... but seriously looks tempting!
Anita

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:03 PM  

Sury..Its an interesting post & i love ur way of presentation

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:39 AM  

Thanks everyone!

Kalyn, these chops taste yum if the filling is cooked properly. I hope you can try them out sometime :)

Anita, I agree. Tempting, aren't they? :P. Good to see you drop by after so long :)

Annita, thanks so much for the kind words. I must say the same applies for your wonderful posts :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:56 PM  

sury, this brings back memories of childhood :) my mom would make these awesome chops for evening 'jol-khabar' with tea. i must make these one of these days!

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:00 PM  

Glad they brought back nice memories, Rums. And yes, you must try them, if only for old time's sake, no?

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:41 PM  

wow,

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:28 PM  

Thanks for dropping by and commenting, Lakshmi, even if it was short and sweet! It gave me the chance to discover your blog. Fantastic work! I am adding you to our links right away.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:37 PM  

My husband is a beet lover. Hoping to try it soon.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:08 PM  

Do try, RP and let me know how it turns out :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:31 PM  

I wonder if beet root realy lowers fever? I have a fever now, so I'll try it.

India and Peru are two of the most interesting culinary worlds. I love this site!

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:57 AM  

And I love yours, Roger! Great blog. I will add it to our links right now.

Beet is so good for you that consuming it never hurts. Do try a boiled beetroot salad for your fever period. Just boil the beet, slice it, add some lime/lemon juice, salt and pepper. I hope you feel better soon :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:30 AM  

Hi Sury,

Amzing recipie for a beetroot! I've know only a few traditional recipies of them.. thanx for sharing!

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:37 PM  

Glad you like it Shalini, and thanks for dropping by! Am adding your blog to our links here :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:58 PM  

Hello Sury!
That's a very interesting recipe: I always like to find new ways to prepare local vegetables, and that sounds perfect. BTW, I don't recall having ever encountered cabbages of any kind in Indian recipes. Is it because it's not grown at all in your country, or it's not a popular vegetable?

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:01 PM  

Hi Véronique! A very warm welcome to our blog. Do let me know how the beet snack turns out, in case you try it.

Cabbages--oh yes, of course, we do make quite a few delicacies with them. It's grown here and is a regular part of Indian kitchens. Now that you mentioned it, I'll keep in mind to post some cabbage recipes here.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:23 PM  

Hi Sury,
Nice to see new recipe with beetroot which is good for health.I just make subzi with beetroot.But U r recipe is katta-meeta.Iam going to try it.It will be a good snack in the evenings.
Thanks for ur recipe.
Vineela

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:11 AM  

Thanks, Vineela. Yes, while making a subzi of beetroot is common across Indian kitchens, I think the beet chop is a Bengali specialty. It tastes very nice too, so do give it a try when you can :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:54 AM  

I buy beets only for cutlet and most of the time I have left overs. I will end up throwing them .This recipe is very interesting. I Have bookmarked it, will try it soon sury.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:43 AM  

I hope you can try it soon, Priya! Do let me know how it turns out.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:36 PM  

This sounds delicious.Thank you for such a lovely dish.
I bought beets for this,but now that I was reading it again,I noticed the deep fry part.
Can you suggest an alternate way?Is shallow fry ok?Or may be the filling can be put in a toast in sandwich maker?

Thanks,
Anwesha.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:15 AM  

Hi Anwesha. Welcome to the blog! Yes, it would be perfectly fine to make the chops flat and shallow fry them. And the toast idea sounds fantastic! The entire magic is in the stuffing, not the coating, so you can do whatever you feel with it. We usually eat the stuffing with chapatis and paranthas too. Do let me know how it goes :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:10 AM  

I saw some beets the other day in the store. Now, I have a recipe for which to try them. Thanks!

Paz

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:17 PM  

You are welcome, Paz! I hope you like it :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:17 PM  

Lovely recipe. I can imagine the sweet, salty, spicy taste with the beet filling!! Yumm..

cheers!

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:13 AM  

You said it, Saffron Hut. I hope you can try it out in your kitchen :)

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:36 AM  

Sury!

The Beet Chops came out delicious! Made them today. Though I omitted the carrots. Your ingredients lists says tomato puree of 2 tomatoes but you haven't mentioned where to add it in your method part. Another thing, is there any other alternative to adding an egg to bind the dough? The smell of the raw egg was a bit too overpowering for me and was wondering if it could be substituted with something else.

By Blogger Shilpi, at 10:59 AM  

Thanks for the feedback, Shilpa. I am glad you liked it! Duh me, you need to put the tomato puree after the beet has been fried a bit.

As for the egg, yes, you can replace it with corn flour. Thanks again, for dropping by and letting me know. :)

By Blogger Sury, at 12:50 AM  

Thanks for the prompt reply, Sury. Happy Pujo and Shubho Bijoya!

Shilpi.

By Blogger Shilpi, at 5:33 PM  

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