Published on 12:00 AM, September 11, 2018

Snacking Away

Aren't we always on the lookout to prepare snacks for our friends, children and colleagues?  Most of us have encountered days when a close one drops in without a call and we wonder what to offer besides tea and coffee. To avoid such dilemma we can always prepare snacks ahead of time and store it in the freezer. So if anyone pops in unannounced, we can easily treat them with these tasty snacks.

DESHI FLAVOURED SCONES

Ingredients

250g self-rising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tsp salt

125g butter

2 tsp grated ginger

2 green chillies, finely chopped

20g fresh coriander

1 large egg, beaten

4 tbsp buttermilk

1 tbsp liquid milk

2 tbsp mustard seeds

Tomato Sauce, as required

Method 

Preheat the oven to 300° F. Line 2 baking trays with baking sheets. In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, and add in baking powder, salt, garam masala and butter. Mix the ingredients till they resemble breadcrumbs.

Put in ginger, chillies, coriander, one beaten egg and buttermilk, and mix well to form a soft dough. Roll out on a floured surface to about 2cm thickness. Use 3.5cm plain round cutters to cut out 15 – 20 scones from the dough. Place these scones on the baking trays.

Brush each with milk, and sprinkle a few mustard seeds on top. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden and risen. Enjoy each scone with a generous helping of chilli sauce or hot tomato sauce.

Serve warm or cold, based on preference.

 

SHAMI KEBAB

Ingredients

500g boneless, fatless beef or mutton

½ cup yellow split pea (chana/booterdaal)

2 eggs (beaten)

2 tsp ginger, chopped

2-3 clove garlic

6-8 pepper corn

2-3 cloves

1 tsp roasted cumin powder

½ tsp coriander powder

4-6 dry roasted red chilli

2 cardamom pods

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1 bay leaf

½ cup onion sliced

¼ cup bread crumbs, or as necessary

1-2 tbsp chopped mint leaves (optional)

Salt to taste

Oil for deep fry

Method

Soak yellow split-pea in water for 4-5 hours, or overnight. Cut into small pieces, clean and wash beef and chanadaal.

In a heavy bottom pan put the meat, chanadaal, ginger, garlic, bay leaf, cinnamon, pepper corn, clove, cardamom, salt and water. Cook until the daal and meat become well cooked and the water is completely dried up. (You can use a pressure cooker for this).

Fry onion in oil till it becomes light golden brown. Remove fried onion from oil. Grind all ingredients together except breadcrumbs and eggs to make smooth paste. Put the paste in a mixing bowl. Add eggs and bread crumbs (for egg add little at a time, because we do not want a too soft dough which will be hard to shape) and mix well.

Make small round flattened balls from the mixture. You can even freeze kebabs after giving the shape. Heat oil in a pan in medium heat and when oil is ready, put kebab in oil. Put 4-5 kebabs in the same way (depend on your pan size and do not overcrowd the pan) and fry them till golden brown colour come out on both sides.

Serve shami kebab as a snack, or with pulao, biriyani, khichuri, rice, naan, or paratha.

Savoury Honey Melt

Ingredients

2 slices beef bacon

1 tsp Dabur Honey

1 tsp mustard

1 big slice of cheddar cheese – cut in half

¼ cup thinly sliced pears

1 tsp butter, softened

Method

Heat bacon as directed on package. Spread bread slices with mustard, Dabur Honey, cheese, pears and bacon. Spread the outside of the bread with butter. Cook in a skillet or on medium heat (microwave) for 3 minutes or until golden brown on both sides.

By LS Desk

Photo: LS Archive/Sazzad Ibne Sayed