Couscous pudina pulao

What you need:

1 cup couscous (cooked according to directions), and cooled by spreading on a plate
5-6 leaves of mint
2 cardomoms, 4 cloves, 5-6 green chillies, small piece dal chinni
1 tbsp of coconut(fresh or frozen)
Finely diced onion, beans, carrots, potatoes and frozen peas
1/4 tsp jeera, 1 tsp oil, salt to taste and cilantro to garnish

What to do:

Grind together the mint leaves, 1 cardomom, 2 cloves, green chillies and the coconut to a fine paste, adding little water.

In a shallow pan, add the oil, jeera. Now add the remaining spices (1 cardomom, 2 cloves and the dal chinni piece). After a few seconds, throw in the diced vegetables, staring with onions and frying the onions to a golden brown color. When the veggies have softened a bit, add the ground mint paste. Saute for a few minutes until the moisture content of the paste is lost, and the mixture has well blended with vegetables. Add salt.

Now mix the cooked vegetable blend with the couscous, and add cilantro to garnish.

For extra taste, you can add fried onions and cashews.

Serve with raita.

Brown Rice Tikkis

What you need:

1 cup cooked brown rice
Finely diced, onion, carrots, beans, cabbage, 2-3 green chillies, frozen peas, cilantro to garnish
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp chilli powder
Corn starch( 1 tsp) or handful of poha washed in water ( and drained).
Salt to taste, 1 tsp oil, 1 tsp jeera, 1/2 tsp turmeric

Method:

In a shallow pan, add some oil. Add the jeera, tumeric, and green chillies. Saute for a few seconds. Add the onion and fry until golden brown. Now add the remaining vegetables, and sautee for a few minutes. Add the cilantro. Lower flame, and keep covered for 10 mins.
Then add, the garam masala, chilli powder and salt. Turn off flame and keep the mixture aside.
Take the cooked brown rice, and add to the cooked vegetable mixture. You can add a little corn starch or the wet poha which is mashed (basically these act as binding agent).

Make small balls from the mixture, and pat them into tikki patties. Shallow fry them on a skillet.

Serve hot with ketchup/chutney.