Parsley | ashstylegourmet's Blog

Ashu's-Parsley Pesto/Chutney — Ashu’s-Parsley Pesto/Chutney

Today sharing with you all my Parsley pesto recipe, I have started making this only recently, from the last 2-3 years. I have always loved the Basil pesto in all the dishes that it is used, but it is not easily available in the nearby stores around my residence. Parsley is abundantly seen in every vegetable selling supermarkets, hence always on hand, and always in the list of purchased vegetables. While staying in India I always made the coriander chutney or coriander-mint chutney for any savory snacks, but this is one pesto that is equally loved by my kids. It has a strong and distinct flavor and has a different taste and hence quite a change for us from the regular green coriander and mint chutney (dhania & pudina).

Parsley has been added to my food list and cooking only after I started living here in the UAE. Parsley is used in many dishes in the middle east. It is seen in salads, well known being the Tabbouleh in which it is mixed with Bulgar wheat (will keep that as a separate post for future 🙂 ).

The recipe I am sharing is how I make this Parsley pesto in my kitchen, adjusted to our taste preferences and hence the selection of ingredients too. This may not be the traditional way of making the pesto. I used the pistachio nuts the first time I made this, pine nuts were not in my kitchen pantry, and hence have continued using them every time I make this pesto. The taste, different flavors and texture of the ingredients makes the dip a much relished condiment in my house, kids love it with sandwich, flat-breads, and toasted baguette slices. You can add it to your egg omelette too. When my elder sister visited my place this year, she too loved the dip, hence this post is also for all my family and friends who would like to use Parsley in regular meals but might have double thoughts whether to use or not because of its strong flavor. Go ahead and try it out and see if you like the taste. Parsley is a very good antioxidant, also good source of Folic acid, Vitamins C and A etc.

PARSLEY PESTO/CHUTNEY

INGREDIENTS:

Parsley: 1 bunch

Pistachios: 50 gm (increase the quantity if you want more nutty taste)

Green Chili: 2 small (Adjust it to own taste prefrence)

Garlic: 3 cloves

Olive oil: 3 Tbsp

Lemon: 2 Medium-sized

Salt: To taste

METHOD:

Clean and wash the Parsley leaves. Chop them roughly.

Put the chopped parsley leaves, chilies, garlic and pistachio nut in a mixer pot and grind to make a smooth paste.

Ashu's-Parsley pesto — Ashu’s-Parsley pesto

Add the lemon juice and olive oil after every few whisks, it becomes easier to grind to paste. Finally add the salt and give the final whisk. Remove the contents into a bowl, check the taste and adjust if more lemon or oil is needed.

We can add the extra oil, if required, when using as a dip.

The above picture shows what was made for dinner last Sunday along with the Parsley pesto as a dip, I will make that as the next post, so do visit to find out what the new recipe would be :). Our weekend starts, wishing you all a good day and a happy weekend to those who reside in this part of the world.

Enjoy!

ashu.

When the weather turns a bit cold, one looks forward to making hot, deep fried foods. When the day dawned, I had not planned or even thought about trying out anything new in the kitchen, this recipe just happened. I would also not say that it is cold out here now as compared to the rest of the world. This morning while sipping the hot tea in front of the TV screen and flipping the channels on the TV remote, I came across the word croquette in one of the travel shows. It was definitely a mouth watering moment and the thought to make it in my kitchen got rooted in the mind. It is always fun to try out making something different from whatever ingredients I can use that are available in the fridge or at home when such instances occur. I had some of these left-over ingredients in the fridge and the Herbs, Cottage Cheese (fresh Paneer) and Sprouted Legume Croquette recipe got shaped and taste was good.As I was happy with the taste and it was also approved by my foodie Jr. so here I am sharing it with you all. The herbs used are parsley and coriander (coriander and mint combination would also go well). The breadcrumbs used were extremely fine. I usually dry the leftover bread and use this for making breadcrumbs for coating. I used the mixer pot and ground it fine so the outer coating of the croquette was smooth. The corn flour was used for dusting and dipping the croquette and then breadcrumbs for coating. The outer coat was crisp with a soft inner side. The herbs gave it a lovely green colour, appealing to the eye when it was cut in half.

Do leave your thoughts if you find it tempting enough to try out and enjoy making it in your kitchen as much as I did in my kitchen.

Herbs,Cottage Cheese and Sprouts Croquette:

Ingredients:

Cottage Cheese (Paneer)-100 gm

Legume Sprouts (Green Gram)-100 gm

Boiled Potato: 1

Herbs: Parsley and Coriander -50 gm (or 2 Tbsp each, finely chopped)

Green Chillies: 2 long (as per taste)

Corn Flour: 2-3 Tbsp

Bread Crumbs: 150-200 gm( left over can be stored for later use)

Cumin: 1Tsp (Dry Roasted)

Flax seeds: 1Tsp (Dry Roasted)

Salt: To taste

Oil: For frying

Method: Do assemble all the ingredients before starting the recipe, this saves time in the preparation. Combine the herbs, cumin, flax seeds, chillies, sprouts in a mixer pot and grind to get a coarse mix. The ingredients should be dry as the grinding results in obtaining a slightly wet mix if wet herbs or sprouts are used. Remove this mixture in a bowl and crumble the Paneer cubes ( or if using a paneer block then grate it) in this mix. Mash the boiled potato and add to the mix, add 2 tbsp of cornflour. Add the salt as per ones taste. Mix all the ingredients and if the mixture is still a bit moist then add breadcrumbs as needed. If all ingredients used are dry then the mixture might not require breadcrumbs, hence use your discretion for adding the breadcrumbs. I have added breadcrumbs to the mixture.

The mixture should be firm and hold together. Make small even-sized balls of the mixture and give them croquette shape, and keep them in a plate.

Take some cornflour in a plate and coat each croquette with the flour.

In a bowl mix 1 Tbsp corn flour with water to make a paste and then dip each flour coated croquette into the paste and remove immediately, then coat them with the fine breadcrumbs. Dust away the extra coating of the crumbs.

Heat cooking oil in a Kadai on high flame. Once the oil is hot, then deep fry the croquettes on high-to-medium flame until they get cooked inside and we get the desired golden brown colour on the outside coat. Remove them from the pan and drain on a kitchen tissue roll so that the excess oil gets absorbed.

Serving Options: They can be served with a sweet, tangy tomato ketchup or chilli sauce, or a chilli mayonnaise too. The dip to serve are many, choice is yours!

Nutritional Information : When making a dish or recipe I try to incorporate all the three components of food, i.e. proteins, carbohydrates, and fat in it. In this dish too the Paneer and Legume Sprouts provide the protein part, the potato and cornflour the carbohydrates part, the flax seeds (click-flax seeds) the essential fatty acids. If one wishes to reduce the fat content then instead of deep frying , pan frying with less or 1-2 tsp oil can be done. The cumin, flax seeds, chilli and herbs add the required flavours, tastes, and not to forget-the fibre!

Home cooking ensures best quality ingredient use and one has the free hand to alter the recipe by adding ingredients of choice. Hence friends, a healthy eating approach starts right at home in your kitchen, give some time and make your daily cooking an intelligent choice and an enjoyable experience. Happy Cooking.

Enjoy!