Evening Snacks For Vegetarian

1. Ginger Garlic Paneer

Paneer dishes are always popular and delicious. Whatever the occasion might be, there is always a dish made with paneer. This is a simple to make, tasty snack with pieces of paneer marinated in a ginger garlic sauce. Serve with ketchup or mint chutney.

Ingredients

1. Paneer - 100 gms, 
2. 3/4 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste 
3. 1/4 tsp Tomato Sauce
4. 1/4 tsp Soy Sauce
5. 1/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder
6. 1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
7. Salt as per taste 
8. Oil as required

Method

• Chop the paneer into small cubes.
• Mix the ginger garlic paste, tomato sauce, soy sauce, salt, red chilli powder and garam masala powder in a bowl.
• Add the paneer pieces and mix well until evenly coated.
• Keep aside for 15 to 30 minutes.
• Heat oil in a deep frying pan over medium flame.
• Drain excess marinade and fry the marinated paneer pieces until golden brown.
• Remove and transfer to a serving dish.
• Serve at once.

2. Soya Bites

Ingredients

1. 1 cup aloo mash, ½ cup water.
2. ¼ cup nugget soya granules - soaked in hot water for 20 minutes, strained and squeezed.
3. 3 tbsp oil.
4. 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera).
5. 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste (½" piece ginger and 3-4 flakes of garlic).
6. 1 onion - chopped.¼ tsp haldi.¾ tsp salt.½ tsp red chilli powder.
7. ½ tsp garam masala.
8. 1 tsp dhania powder.
9. ¼ tsp amchoor.
10. 3 tbsp tomato puree.
11. 1 tbsp corn flour.
12. 1-2 tsp lemon juice or to taste.
13. 1 bread slices - grind in a mixer to get fresh crumbs.
14. some satay sticks or bamboo skewers.

Method of Preparation

• Heat 3 tbsp oil. Add 1 tsp jeera. Let it turn golden.
• Add ginger-garlic paste. Stir for a few seconds. Add onion. Cook till light brown on low heat.
• Remove from fire and add masalas - haldi, garam masala, red chilli powder, dhania powder, amchoor powder and salt.
• Return to fire and add tomato puree. Stir.
• Add nuggets and stir for about 10 minutes till well fried and absolutely dry. Remove from fire. Cool.
• Mash the nuggets well. Add aloo mash, corn flour, bread crumbs and ½ cup water. Add lemon and seasoning to taste.
• Flatten a ball of this mixture on a wooden skewer. Do not make it too broad as the mixture might fall off if done so.
• Deep fry to serve. Serve with ketchup.

3. Aloo Masala Sandwich

Ingredients

1. 8 slices of bread, any kind you prefer
2. 2 cups of boiled and mashed potatoes
3. ¼ tsp of red chilli powder
4. ¼ cup of finely chopped onions
5. ¼ tsp of turmeric powder
6. ½ tsp of roasted cumin, powdered
7. 1 tsp of lime juice
8. 3 tbsp of finely chopped coriander leaves
9. 4 tbsp of butter, preferably salted, at room temperature
10. Salt to taste

Instructions

• Place the mashed potatoes in a bowl
• Add all other ingredients (except bread and butter) to this and mix well
• Taste test this mixture to make sure you are happy with the spice, sourness, and salt levels
• Remove the crust from the bread slices, if you'd like
• Take one slice and butter a side generously
• Place about 2 tbsp (or more) of the aloo masala on the buttered bread slice
• Cover with another slice and butter the top of this slice
• Heat up your griddle or tawa
• Place the sandwich, buttered side down on the heated pan
• Butter the other side now
• Press down gently with a spatula and grill the sandwich until both sides are crispy and golden brown
• Cut the sandwiches diagonally and serve warm with chilli sauce or tomato ketchup.

4. Bhel Puri

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of puffed rice 
2. 1/4 cup of finely chopped, deseeded ripe tomatoes 
3. 1/2 cup of finely chopped onions 
4. 1/4 cup of boiled, roughly mashed potatoes 
5. 1 tsp of grated ginger 
6. 1 cup of crushed chaat papdi (papad) 
7. 1.5 cups of nylon sev 
8. 3-4 tbsp of green chutney 
9. 2-3 tbsp of red chutney 
10. 1/2 tsp of black salt (or to taste) 
11. 1/2 tsp of garam masala or chaat masala 
12. 1/4 cup of roasted peanuts (salted or unsalted) 
13. 1/4 cup of chopped coriander leaves 
14. 1 tbsp of lemon juice (more or less to taste)

Instructions:

• Prepare the chutneys first. You can do this a few days before and store them in the refrigerator too.
• For green chutney, grind together mint leaves, coriander leaves, cumin seeds, chaat masala, lemon juice, and rest of ingredients to a smooth paste with water. You can find detailed recipe for green chutney here.
• Once you have the chutneys ready and have boiled the potatoes, putting together the bhel puri is a breeze.

To assemble the bhel puri:

• Reserve half a cup of sev and add all other ingredients to a wide bowl.
• Give it a good mix and taste test to see if the sour vs sweet vs spicy is good and suits your taste. Adjust the ingredients (add more sweet chutney, salt, etc) to make it perfect.
• You can serve in paper cones or simple bowls with generous amounts of sev and coriander leaves for garnish.