This is one of those, ‘spur of the moment – Mummy’s yummy recipes’ that I made for my daughter. She loves cheese (unfortunately, only kids, can afford to love them), so as I was making the aloo palak (potato and spinach) subzi. I mixed the palak with some grated cheese for the yummy palak (spinach) cheese pakodas!
Though the deep frying part of the recipe is not a very healthy idea for a regular eating habit, we can balance the harm by giving our families, especially the kids – vegetables, fruits and milk products which will give good nutrition to the body. There are other ingredients that one can add if the cheese part of it is too much. You can try combining paneer, bread or boiled and mashed potatoes etc., with the palak/spinach.
Brief information on Palak and cheese:
Palak otherwise known as Spinach is an excellent source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and mainly Iron. It is a good source of dietary fibre and protein too. Cheese is very good for children, especially the ones who throw tantrums to drink their milk. Cheese is a good source of calcium which helps build strong bones and teeth. For grown-ups too, cheese is good to prevent Osteoporosis, there are regular and low-fat cheese products which are available in the market.
Hope you will enjoy the palak cheese pakodas!
Ingredients:
- 4-5 palak leaves (remove stock and chopped fine)
- Grated cheese –1/2 cup ( Use the brand and type of cheese you prefer)
- A little salt (as cheese has its salt content)
- Oil for deep frying
- ¼ cup of besan(gram) flour
- Salt to taste
- ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
- 1/2 tsp Chilli powder(if making it for kids leave out this ingredient or add a little black pepper powder)
- ¼ tsp Amchoor powder( Dried green mango powder)
Method:
- Par boil the palak for few seconds. Now mix well the semi cooked palak with salt, besan (gram) flour, turmeric powder, chilli/pepper powder and amchoor powder. The water content in the palak is enough to mix the ingredients.
- Make small balls of this mixture. In the centre make a hole and fill in the grated cheese. Now flatten the ball slightly.
- Heat a pan with enough oil for deep frying.
- When the oil is hot, fry the balls on medium heat till light golden.
- Serve hot with tomato ketchup.
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4