Here are a few recipes for some nutritional bites

This monsoon, it’s worth a try to look beyond Indian monsoon delicacies and try out some new nutritional bites

Walnut-Crusted Goats’Cheese Balls

Ingredients:

Toasted walnuts, finely chopped: 100g

Zest of 1 lemon

Chives, chopped: 1tbsp

Soft goats’ cheese: 250gm

Preparations

Mix the walnuts with the lemon zest and chopped chives. Using a teaspoon, roll the goats’ cheese into 14 balls and evenly coat each in the walnut mix.

Falafel with walnuts

Ingredients

Dried chickpeas: 250gm

Breadcrumbs: 30gm

Walnuts: 50

Garlic: 3 cloves

Onion: 1/2

Parsley: 1 sprig

Cilantro: 1 sprig

Cumin: 1 tsp

Sunflower oil

Black pepper

Salt

Mixed lettuce as a side

For the yogurt sauce:

Mix plain yogurt and 2 tablespoons olive oil

A sprig of mint, pepper and salt

Preparations

Leave the chickpeas to soak in cold water throughout a night. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Wash the parsley and cilantro, dry with paper towels and chop the leaves finely using a sharp knife.

Grind the drained chickpeas into a grinding with bread crumbs, onion, walnuts, garlic and herbs. Add the cumin, salt and pepper and let it stand 30 minutes. Form balls of dough and fry in batches in a pan with hot oil until golden brown.

Prepare the yogurt sauce whisking all the ingredients. Serve the falafel with salad and yogurt sauce.

Walnut cupcake

Ingredients

Eggs: 2

Soft olive oil: 125gm

sugar: 125gm

Skimmed milk: 160ml

Wholemeal flour: 270gm

Yeast powder: 2 tsp

Walnuts, chopped: 35

Ball of mozzarella: 1

Dried tomatoes: 3

Arugula: 20gm

Olive oil: 2 tbsp

Pepper

Salt

Preparations

Preheat the oven to 175 °C. Drain the mozzarella cheese and chop finely. Chop the tomatoes and the arugula.

Whisk the eggs with the sugar and the soft olive oil until obtaining a smooth and foamy mixture. Add milk and sifted flour with the yeast and continue blending using an electric blender for two minutes until getting a light cream texture. Add the walnuts, the mozzarella, the dried tomatoes and the arugula, all finely chopped. Add salt and pepper and mix lightly.

Having 12 cupcake backing liners, fill them with the mixture. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 175 °C, until they have risen and feel firm to the touch. Remove them from the oven, let it cool a few minutes and stand on a rack to cool completely.

For the topping: Whisk the ricotta with a pinch of salt and pepper. Finely chop the small tomato. Use a spatula or the back of a spoon to cover the cupcake surface with ricotta. Decorate with dried tomatoes and chopped walnuts and arrange a piece of arugula on each of them. Serve immediately.

Cranberry Wellness Bowl

Ingredients

For salad:

Rocket leaves: 1 cup

Lollo Rosso leaves: 1 cup

Corn kernels: 1/3 cup

Mixed lettuce leaves: 1 cup

Spring onions, sliced: 1/3 cup

Sprouted chickpeas: 1/2 cup

Dried cranberries: 1/2 cup

Medium size sweet potato, cooked: 1

Carrots, grated: 1 cup

Feta cheese: 1/3 cup

Salt to taste

Pinch of roasted cumin-fennel powder (optional)

For dressing:

1/2 cup dried U.S. Cranberries, 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. 1/3 cup Spring onions sliced, 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoons maple syrup.

For garnishing:

Pepper to taste and a few dried cranberries.

Preparation:

Toss all the ingredients for the salad in a bowl.

Take all the ingredients of the dressing and blend.

Toss the salad with the dressing.

Serve garnished with black pepper and dried U.S. Cranberries.

(Recipes Courtesy: Vicky Ratnani and Sabyasachi Gorai)