Recipe for vegan kebabs made using Nutrela Soya Chunks and sweet potatoes, with oat flour as the binding agent.
Kebabs are primarily meat based dishes, either served as appetisers or along with rotis in the main course. Vegetarian or vegan kebabs are usually an afterthought and a sort of apology for the vegetarian diners. Oh, let’s throw in some potato or paneer or a mix of both and come up with a kebab – you get the drift.
A lot many ingredients lend themselves to delicious vegan kebabs – be it mashed starchy vegetables, beans, lentils and soya chunks or granules. For vegetarians, paneer makes a good addition to the above ingredients. Getting them to the right texture and flavouring with the right mix of spices leads to memorable vegan kebabs, that taste like some thought was put into them.
More vegetarian kebabs: Paneer and Raw Banana Kebab
Delicacies prepared by Chef Pankaj
Last week, Pankaj Bhadouria of Masterchef India fame, in association with Nutrela was demonstrating a few vegetarian kebabs using Nutrela Soya Chunks, in Lucknow, the land of Kebabs. I caught the event on Facebook Live and her kebab recipes used a variety of spice pastes for maximum flavour. Soya Chunks, not unlike paneer, have the capacity to take on any flavours you choose to blend into the dish. They don’t have much flavour of their own, so it is indeed important to infuse it with spices and aromas, while using them in any recipe. This also means that these soya chunks pretty much blend into any Indian cuisine you choose to cook. This event was about making kebabs in Lucknow, but you could well make stuffed parathas from the North or Kotthu Parottas from the South by using soya chunks.
Nutrition notes:
Soya chunks are a rich source of protein. A 15 gram serving size provides 7.8 grams protein at a mere 52 calories and is 99% fat free. Soya chunks are a versatile ingredient, and can be included in various dishes right from breakfast to dinner. With 2 grams of fibre per serving, it provides a good satiety (filling effect). The high protein and fibre content make it a good food choice for diabetics.
Also read: Ajwaini Arbi ke Tikke
I usually use soya chunks in curries. My egg and Nutrela curry is a super hit with both vegetarians and non vegetarians. It also makes a very hearty curry with potatoes and peas. My other favourite way of using Nutrela soya is to combine the granules with poha to up its protein content. I even make vegetarian ‘sausages’ with a mix of soya chunk mince, mashed paneer and potatoes and my kid totally approves of these mock sausages 😀 😀
When Nutrela asked me to come up with a kebab recipe, I thought, why not add sweet potatoes and use oat flour for binding instead of bread crumbs. The result was a kebab, crisp on the outside, melt in mouth on the inside. I also stuff these kebabs with 1/2 teaspoon of hung yogurt, to make a variation of dahi ke kebab.
Love Paneer? You’ll love these Aloo Paneer Tikki
Vegan Kebabs with Soya and Sweet Potato
Ingredients
- 50 grams Nutrela soya chunks ~1 cup
- 1 medium sweet potato ~ 120 grams
- 1/2 tsp biryani masala or garam masala
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1.5 tsp grated ginger
- 3 green chillies
- 1 tsp fennel powder
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp green cardamom powder
- pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 3 tbsp oat flour
- salt
- 2-3 tbsp cold pressed peanut oil for shallow frying
Instructions
- Fill 1 litre water in a pot. Season with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp of biryani masala or garam masala. Immerse the soya chunks in the boiling water. Allow to boil for 5-6 minutes. Drain in a sieve, pressing down with the bottom of a cup to remove all moisture from the rehydrated soya chunks.
- Peel and roughly slice the sweet potato. In a small pan, take 1/2 cup water. Season with a pinch of salt and garam masala powder. Boil the sweet potato slices until a knife passes through easily.
- Drain any leftover water, mash with a fork or round spatula and remove into a bowl.
- In a mixer jar, blend the garlic, ginger, green chillies and fennel to a paste. Heat 1 tsp oil (or ghee) in a small pan. Saute this paste for 2-3 minutes on a medium flame. Add this to the sweet potato in the bowl. In the same pan, dry roast the oat flour until lightly fragrant.
- In the same mixer jar, crush the soya chunks until coarsely mashed. Add to the bowl.
- Combine with this the toasted oat flour, spice powders, adding around 1/2 tsp salt. Knead to get a smooth mixture. Check seasoning, and add a pinch more salt if you like.
- Divide into 8 portions. Roll into balls, lightly flatten into patties. arrange in a dish, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Coat a frying pan with oil. Once the oil is hot, shallow fry the patties on one side for 6-8 minutes.
- Flip over and fry the other side also for 6-8 minutes until golden and crisp on the outside.
- Serve with tamarind chutney.
Hara Bhara Kebab is one of my favourites! Check out the recipe for Soya Hara Bhara Kebab from my from Richa on her blog – My Food Story.
There’s a fun contest that Nutrela is running. Check details here and take part by submitting your best Nutrela Kebab Recipe. This is my submission to the contest:)
This post was brought to you in association with Nutrela – Get lots of recipes on their Website and follow them here — Faceboook | Twitter | Youtube
Great recipe! Can’t wait to try it out!