When Christmas is around, everything is scarlet red, pure white, and lush green. Speaking of lush green, how does having some delicious Hara Bhara Kababs to beat the chilly weather outside sound? It’s a super healthy and easy to prepare recipe that’s got all the goodness of the fresh green vegetables. I had these kababs for the first time at a friend’s house and my kids totally loved them. So when we came back home, my elder one asked me to prepare these kababs sometime and I prepared them the next weekend for them. In the first attempt, I made a mistake of grinding the spinach finely which made my kabab dough very soggy and I had faced difficulty in forming the shape of kababs. I had to mix a lot of bread crumbs and flour to get the mixture to a proper consistency. However, I learnt my lesson from that experience, and now I can prepare perfect Hara bhara kababs that are a definite favorite at my house, and hopefully will be at yours too!
The best thing about these kababs is that you can prepare them a day or two prior to your day of consumption and store them in the freezer. All you need to do is take them out of the freezer just 30 minutes before you deep or shallow fry them in the oil and serve. The difference that I found in shallow and deep fries are that the shallow fried kababs are soft and melt-in-mouth, while the deep fried ones have got a more crispy texture and taste good even after they’ve cooled down. I normally shallow fry them to consume at home and I use deep frying only when I need to prepare them in huge quantities and carry these kababs to parties and get-togethers to consume later. So, you can always decide the quantity depending on your requirement and the time you have on your hands.
My twins helped me make the patties; that just proves how easy of a task this really is! Though the shapes didn’t turn out exactly round, it’s always nice to see the little ones lending you a hand with the chores at home!
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Hara Bhara Kabab Recipe:
Wash, peel and cut potatoes into cubes. Add salt and boil them in the pressure cooker up until you hear 1 whistle. Later, drain the water, mash the potatoes, and keep them aside.
Heat oil in a saucepan, add cumin seeds, coriander seeds and dry red chilis. You can also use fresh green chilis instead of dry red chilis. Since I like to have some nice red flaky texture on my kababs, I prefer to use only dry red chilis. Once the chilis are nicely roasted, add some roasted chana dal. Roasted chana dal helps in binding the ingredients together and to get a better texture. You can also use some chickpea flour (besan) or corn flour if you don’t have the roasted chana dal at home.
Add in all the green vegetables you want to add to your kababs. I generally add peas, spinach and fresh coriander. You can add some green bell peppers too. Make sure to drain the spinach leaves, before you add them to the pan, to prevent any excess moisture. You can also blanch the spinach leaves in water and then add the purée to your vegetables. But to make the process quick and easy, I directly added the spinach to my vegetables. Stir the vegetables till the moisture is absorbed from them and they’ve cooked well. Turn the heat off and let the vegetable mixture cool down.
Now add the spinach and green vegetable mix to the blender and grind them into a coarse paste. Don’t add any water while grinding and make sure to grind it into a thick paste.
Add the ground vegetable mix to the mashed potatoes. Add spices such as cumin powder, coriander powder, chat masala and salt to taste. Mix it well so that the spices get coated evenly into the vegetable mix. I didn’t add any red chili powder as I already added enough dry red chilis in the beginning. If you are using less or no red chilis then you can always add the red chili powder to your vegetables. Take a small amount of the green vegetable mix into your palms and press it to shape into a patty. You can decorate it with a cashew on top, to make it look more appealing to the eye.
You can also stuff it with some grated paneer in the centre, if you want to. If your vegetable mix is too sticky and you’re not not able to make kababs out of them, then try adding some bread crumbs to the mix to better shape the kababs. Sprinkle some bread crumbs on top, if you want a crispy texture on the outside.
After making the patties, place a wide skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Shallow fry the patties using a small amount of oil, till they turn golden brown in color on both the sides. Remove the patties from the pan and drain them on a kitchen towel. Sprinkle some chat masala on top and serve them immediately. These shallow fried patties are very soft and melt-in-mouth when consumed immediately. Though, the shallow fried ones are low in calories, but it takes a bit of effort and time compare to the deep frying.
If you need to prepare the kababs in huge quantities, like for pot lucks, kitty parties and all, I suggest you deep fry the kababs, as it makes the frying process quick and easy for you. And the kababs also taste better when you reheat and eat them later. I tried both shallow and deep fry methods, either was they taste delicious. It’s all depend on the quantities you require and time that you have in your hand.
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Serve them hot with some green chutney or tomato sauce by the side. Enjoy the melt-in-mouth, healthy and tasty hara bhara kababs!
| Prep Time | 30 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
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- 2 medium sized potatoes peeled, boiled & mashed
- 2 cups spinach leaves
- 1 cup peas fresh or frozen
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 6-8 dry red chilies (adjust as per your spice tolerance)
- 2 tbsp roasted split chickpeas/chana dal or 2 tbsp chickpea flour or corn flour
- 1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves
- 1/2 cup green bell pepper or capsicum (optional)
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp chaat masala
- salt to taste
- cashews for garnishing (optional)
- bread crumbs (if needed/ as required)
- Oil as required
Ingredients
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- Heat oil in a saucepan, add cumin seeds, coriander seeds and dry red chilis (or green chilis).
- Once the chilis are nicely roasted, add some roasted chana dal.
- Add in all the green vegetables you want to add to your kababs like peas, spinach and fresh coriander. You can add some green bell peppers too.
- Make sure to drain the spinach leaves, before you add them to the pan, to prevent any excess moisture.
- Stir the vegetables till the moisture is absorbed from them and they’ve cooked well.
- Turn the heat off and let the vegetable mixture cool down.
- Now add the spinach and green vegetable mix to the blender and grind them into a coarse paste. (Don’t add any water while grinding)
- Add the ground vegetable mix to the mashed potatoes.
- Add spices such as cumin powder, coriander powder, chat masala and salt to taste. Mix it well so that the spices get coated evenly into the vegetable mix.
- Take a small amount of the green vegetable mix into your palms and press it to shape into a patty.
- You can decorate it with a cashew on top, to make it look more appealing to the eye.
- If your vegetable mix is too sticky and you’re not not able to make kababs out of them, then try adding some bread crumbs to the mix to better shape the kababs.
- Sprinkle some bread crumbs on top, if you want a crispy texture on the outside.
- After making the patties, place a wide skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Shallow fry the patties using a small amount of oil, till they turn golden brown in color on both the sides.
- You can also deep fry, airfry or bake the kababs in the oven.
- Remove the patties from the pan and drain them on a kitchen towel.
- Sprinkle some chat masala on top and serve them immediately.
- Serve them hot with some green chutney or tomato sauce by the side.
- Enjoy the melt-in-mouth, healthy and tasty hara bhara kababs!
