10 Vegetarian Snacks for Ramzan during Lockdown

Pious month of Ramzan is approaching and the whole world is facing COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the countries are practising lockdown and the countries where COVID-19 is under control are giving some relief from lockdown. Muslim community observe fasting from dawn to dusk. Both Seheri and Iftar meals contain variety of snacks, drinks, appetizers and desserts, sweet dishes that is served at home, mosques or other places. During lockdown everybody is observing social distancing so Iftars are organized within family and have to do preparations of snacks for Ramzan from easily available materials and ingredients. Here lets have a look at 10 Vegetarian Snacks for Ramzan during during Lockdown.

1. Falafel
2. Dahi Bhalle
3. Bhalla Papdi
4. Rajma Aloo Cutlets
5. Aloo Tikki
6. Corn flakes chaat
7. Creamy fruit chaat
8. Chana chaat
9. Mixed fruit chaat
10. Mixed Vegetable Kababs

Falafel

Falafel is a Middle Eastern healthy and wholesome snack of Egyptian origin prepared from ground chickpeas alongwith various herbs, onion, garlic and spices served hot with hummus or Tahini (sesame paste).

This makes one of the best Iftar snack because of its taste, flavour and wholesome quality.

Traditionally Falafel is deep fried ball or flattened patty prepared from ground chickpeas and spices but many healthy variations like baked ones and addition of different vegetables and flavours are also there.

Recipe of Falafel

Ingredients

• 2 cups dry chickpeas – you must start with dry, do NOT substitute canned
• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 1 1/2 tbsp flour or chickpea flour
• 1 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• Vegetable oil for frying

How to make Falafel

1. Wash and soak chickpeas for overnight. They will double in size as they soak.
2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas well.
3. Pour them into your food processor along with the chopped onion, garlic cloves, coriander, flour or chickpea flour (use chickpea flour to make gluten free), salt, cumin, ground coriander, black pepper, red chilli powder
4. Pulse all ingredients together until a rough, coarse mix forms. Scrape the sides of the processor periodically and push the mixture down the sides. Process till the mixture is between the texture of couscous and a paste.
5. Once the mixture reaches the desired consistency, pour it out into a bowl and use a fork to stir; this will make the texture more even throughout. Remove any large chickpea chunks that the processor missed.
6. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
7. Fill a wok/skillet with vegetable oil to a depth of 1 ½ inches. Heat the oil over medium heat.
8. Meanwhile, form falafel mixture into round balls or patties using wet hand. The balls will stick together loosely at first, but will bind nicely once they begin to fry. You can add chickpea flour to the mixture for better binding.
9. When the oil is at the right temperature, fry the falafels in batches of 5-6 at a time till golden brown on both sides.
10. Once the falafels are fried, remove them from the oil on paper towels.
11. Serve the falafels fresh and hot; they go best with a plate of hummus and topped with creamy tahini sauce.

Recipe notes:

• If your falafel is too hard/too crunchy on the outside, there are two possible reasons– 1) you didn’t process the mixture enough– return the chickpea mixture to the processor to make it more paste-like. 2) the chickpeas you used were old. Try buying a fresher batch of dried chickpeas next time.
• The falafel balls can be frozen and can be used after few days also.
• This healthy falafel recipe goes well with Tahini sauce( sesame sauce) but can also be served with chutney or ketchup.

Dahi Bhalla

After day long fasting during Ramzan body needs refreshing and hydrating food that is also filled with lots of flavour and taste.

Dahi Bhalla is all time favourite snack or starter either for Iftars during Ramzan or during Holi, Diwali, Navratri.

Dahi Bhalla is one of the most loved Indian street food prepared from fluffy lentil balls drizzled with sweetened curd, tangy chutneys and chaat masala.

Dahi Bhalla Recipe

Ingredients

For the bhallas:

• 1 cup urad dal (black gram lentils without skin)
• 1/2 moong dal (green gram lentils without skin)
• 2 teaspoon cumin/jeera
• 1/2 teaspoon aesofotida (Hing)
• Oil (for deep frying)
• Salt to taste
• 4 cups lukewarm Water

For Dahi mixture

• 3½ cups Curd (yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon Red Chilli Powder
• 2 tablespoons Roasted Cumin Powder
• 1 tablespoon Black Pepper Powder (optional)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped Coriander Leaves
• 1/4 cup Sweet Chutney (date tamarind chutney)
• 2 tablespoon Green Chutney
• 3 tablespoons Powdered Sugar or to taste (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon rock salt

For Green chutney:

• 1 cup coriander leaves
• 1/4 cup pudina leaves
• 1 Green chilli
• 2 tablespoon chopped ginger
• 1/2 tsp black rock salt to taste salt
• 1/2 tsp garam masala (With black cardamom, mace, nutmeg, zeera, laung)
• 1 Lemon (juiced)

For Sweet Dates and Tamarind chutney:

• 150 gms tamarind pulp (soaked in 1 cup water)
• 12-15 Dates
• 1/2 tsp saunth powder
• 1 tsp degi mirch
• salt as per taste
• 1/2 tsp black rock salt
• 1/2 tsp garam masala (With black cardamom, mace, nutmeg, zeera, laung)

For garnishing:

• Pomegranate
• Sev

How to Make Dahi Bhalla

Prepare bhallas:

1. Soak moong dal and urad dal for 4-5 hours.
2. Place it in grinder and grind into a smooth paste by gradually adding 1-2 tablespoons water at a time as required (approx. 1/2-cup total water). Amount of water required may vary according to the quality of dal. Do not add too much water otherwise batter will turn watery; it should have thick lumpy consistency and there should not be any broken dal pieces.
3. Whisk the dal together till it becomes light and fluffy. Add cumin, salt and hing. The batter is ready.
4. Heat oil in a deep frying pan over medium flame. When oil is medium hot, take a medium lemon sized portion of batter in between your fingers or a spoon and gently drop it into the oil. Drop 4-5 portions at a time. Deep-fry them on medium heat until light golden brown and crispy. Take them out from oil and transfer into a bowl having lukewarm water. Make vadas from remaining batter in similar way.
5. Soak them for about 7-8 minutes. Oil droplets would start floating on surface and vada would turn soft.
6. Take them out from water and press gently between your palms and remove excess water. (This will also drain-out excess oil)
7. Transfer them to a plate.

Prepare Green chutney:

1. In a blender mix together coriander, mint, green chilli, ginger, black salt and salt.
2. Add garam masala and lemon juice. Mix.
3. Green chutney is ready.

Prepare Sweet chutney:

1. Soak the tamarind pulp in water for 25-30 minutes. Squeeze it with your hand to extract all the pulp. Strain tamarind water.
2. Prepare a paste with dates.
3. Hot 1 teaspoon oil in pan over medium flame.
4. Add cumin and let it crackle.
5. Now add tamarind water, dates paste, saunth powder, degi mirch, salt, black salt and garam masala and cook for few minutes till it thickens.

Assembling Dahi Bhalla

1. Beat curd with sugar and salt with hand beater until smooth.
2. Take 4-5 fried and soaked vadas in a deep serving plate or a bowl. Pour generous amount of curd evenly over it until fully covered. Top it with 2-teaspoons sweet chutney and 1 teaspoon Green chutney and sprinkle red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder and black pepper powder.
3. Garnish dahi bhalla chaat with coriander leaves, pomegranate and sev.

Recipe Notes:

• To veganize dahi bhalla, use cashew curd.
• To make bhalla softer transfer fried vada immediately into the water and make sure that they are fully submerged in it.
• Sweet and Green Chutneys can be added more if required. These chutneys can be stored and used in other chaats like Bhalla papdi, Aloo Tikki, Rajma Aloo cutlets
• Rock salt (black salt) acts as taste enhancer.

Bhalla Papdi (Chaat Papdi)

Bhalla papdi is another delicious and refreshing North Indian street food/ snack that is prepared with fluffy lentil balls (vada/bhalla), curd, papdi.

This evening snack makes perfect Iftar snack during Ramzan and savoured by children, adults as well as elderly.

Ingredients

• 1 cup urad dal (black gram lentils without skin)
• 1/2 moong dal (green gram lentils without skin)
• 2 teaspoon cumin/jeera
• 1/2 teaspoon aesofotida (Hing)
• Oil (for deep frying)
• Salt to taste
• 4 cups lukewarm Water
• 5-6 cashews (crushed)
• 1 medium potato boiled and cubed
• 6-8 Papdi
• 3½ cups Curd (yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon Red Chilli Powder
• 2 tablespoons Roasted Cumin Powder
• 1 tablespoon Black Pepper Powder (optional)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped Coriander Leaves
• 1/4 cup Sweet Chutney (date tamarind chutney)
• 2 tablespoon Green Chutney
• 3 tablespoons Powdered Sugar or to taste (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon rock salt
• 2 tablespoon coriander leaves finely chopped
• 2 tablespoon pomegrante (anar)
• 1 teaspoon chaat masala

How to Make Bhalla Papdi

1. Soak moong dal and urad dal for 4-5 hours.
2. Place it in grinder and grind into a smooth paste by gradually adding 1-2 tablespoons water at a time as required (approx. 1/2-cup total water). Amount of water required may vary according to the quality of dal. Do not add too much water otherwise batter will turn watery; it should have thick lumpy consistency and there should not be any broken dal pieces.
3. Whisk the dal together till it becomes light and fluffy. Add cumin, salt and hing. The batter is ready.
4. Heat oil in a deep frying pan over medium flame. When oil is medium hot, take a medium lemon sized portion of batter in between your fingers or a spoon and gently drop it into the oil. Drop 4-5 portions at a time. Deep-fry them on medium heat until light golden brown and crispy. Take them out from oil and transfer into a bowl having lukewarm water. Make vadas from remaining batter in similar way.
5. Soak them for about 7-8 minutes. Oil droplets would start floating on surface and vada would turn soft.
6. Take them out from water and press gently between your palms and remove excess water. (This will also drain-out excess oil)
7. Transfer them to a plate.
8. Beat curd with sugar and salt with hand beater until smooth.
9. Take 4-5 fried and soaked vadas in a deep serving plate or a bowl.and add 4-5 Papdi. Pour generous amount of curd evenly over it until fully covered. Top it with 2-teaspoons sweet chutney and 1 teaspoon Green chutney and sprinkle red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder and black pepper powder.
10. Garnish with coriander leaves, pomegranate and chaat masala.

Recipe notes:

• Grated Beet root and radish alongwith onion rings can be used for Garnishing.
• Don’t whisk the curd in electornic whisker otherwise it will become very thin.
• Sweetened curd adds on to the taste.

Rajma Aloo Cutlets (Aloo Rajma Tikki)

Rajma Aloo Cutlet is a delicious tea time snack and a modified form of normal potato cutlets packed with goodness of kidney beans (Rajma).

Rajma Aloo cutlets goes well with tea and seved hot with seet ans sour chutney or ketchup. Rajma Aloo cutlets can also be sandwiched in burger buns to make easy breakfast or evening snack.

Mostly kids love this type of snack.

Recipe of Rajma Aloo Cutlets (Rajma Aloo Tikki)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Rajma (Large Kidney Beans) soaked overnight (6-8 hrs.) and boiled
• 2 medium Potatoes (Aloo) boiled and peeled
• 2 Green Chillies finely chopped
• 2-3 tablespoon Coriander (Dhania) Leaves finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon Ginger finely chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon Red Chilli powder
• 1/2 tablespoon Coriander Powder (Dhania)
• 1/4 tablespoon Cumin powder (Jeera)
• 1/2 tablespoon Garam masala powder
• 1/2 tablespoon Amchur (Dry Mango Powder)
• 1 tablespoon Gram flour (besan) roasted
• 2 tablespoon breadcrumbs
• Salt as per taste
• Oil for frying (deep) How to make Rajma Aloo Cutlet Recipe (Tikki/Patty)
• Drain-out excess water from boiled rajma. Use this water in dals, currys or soups.
• Mash rajma along with boiled mashed potatoes, red chili powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, chopped green chili, ginger, salt, amchur powder, minced coriander leaves and besan, breadcrumbs.
• Check the salt and spices and adjust to suit your taste.
• Make a uniform mixture.
• Grease your palms with oil and take small portions of the rajma patty mixture, flatten them to shape it into a circular disc. Proceed the same way with the remaining portions of the cutlet mixture.
• Now take a pan and heat oil over medium flame. Place a few Rajma Aloo Cutlets at a time and cook the cutlets evenly on both sides until crisp.
• Serve the Rajma Aloo Cutlet along with tomato ketchup or a chutney .

Recipe Notes:

• You can use vegetables like peas, carrot, beans also to enhance the taste.
• While preparing the mixture cool the boiled potatoes and rajma for better results.
• Quantity of breadcrumbs can be increased to increase crispiness.
• Rajma Aloo cutlets can be sandwiched in burger buns or bread to make easy breakfast or picnic recipe.

Aloo Tikki

Aloo Tikki is a popular North Indian snack (Chaat)and street food prepared with boiled potatoes and spices.

It is basically a spicy potato patty which is either deep fried or shallow fried and served with sweet, spicy and tangy chutney, curd.

Aloo Tikki with chutney and curd is a great option for Iftar snacks in Ramzan cherished mostly by females of the family.

Sometimes the tikkis are also stuffed with stuff like spicy lentil mix or nuts etc. that adds on to the taste and flavour.

Ingredients

For the Tikki

• 5-6 Medium Potatoes boiled (Refrigerated for 2-3 hours)
• 1/4 cup Poha
• 3 tbsp Rice Flour
• 2 Green Chilli finely Chopped
• 1 tbsp Fresh Coriander leaves finely Chopped
• 1 tsp Ginger Grated
• 1 tsp Black Salt
• 1 tsp Red Chilli Flakes
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp Dry Mango Powder (Amchur)
• Oil for frying

For the filling (stuffing)

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/4 tsp Hing
• 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 tsp Ginger
• 2 tsp Green Chilli Chopped
• 1/2 cup Chana Dal (soaked for 30 minutes and steamed)
• 1/4 cup Peas Boiled (optional)
• 2 tablespoon Cashewnuts crushed
• 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
• 1 tbsp Coriander Seeds Coarsely Crushed
• 1 tsp Dry Mango Powder (Amchur)
• 1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
• 1/2 tsp Black Salt
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp Fresh Coriander Chopped

How to Make Aloo Tikki

For the tikki

1. Mash/ Grate the boiled potatoes in a bowl.
2. Soak the poha in 2 tbsp water for 10-15 minutes.
3. Add mashed potatoes, soaked poha and all the other tikki ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

For the filling

1. Heat oil in a pan on medium flame.
2. Once the oil is hot, add hing and cumin seeds and cook for a few seconds.
3. Add ginger and green chilli and fry for a minute.
4. Add cooked chana dal , peas and and cashews, slightly mash them.
5. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder, dry mango powder, garam masala powder, black salt and regular salt and cook for 2-3 minutes.
6. Addchopped coriander leaves and mix well.
7. Remove the pan from heat and let the filling cool down.

Assembly

1. Grease your hands with oil and divide the potato mixture into 7-8 equal parts.
2. Make each part into a ball and then press gently to make a tikki.
3. If making the tikki with stuffing, press the ball with your fingers to make a 3-4 inch circle.
4. Keep 1 tbsp filling in the centre and bring the ends together.
5. Roll into a round and then gently press to make a flat tikki.
6. Make all the tikki in the same manner.
7. Refrigerate the tikki for 30 minutes.
8. Heat oil for frying the tikki in a pan.
9. When the oil is hot, add the tikki and fry on medium heat until tikki are browned and crisp from all the sides.
10. Remove the tikki for the pan and serve hot with coriander mint chutney.

Recipe Notes

• Don’t use freshly boiled potatoes to make Aloo Tikki. Boil them and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before using to make crispy tikki.
• Using some poha and rice flour to make aloo tikki makes them extra crunchy and absorbs less oil.
• Aloo Tikki can be prepared without the filling too.
• Fry the tikki in ghee instead of oil for extra indulgence.

Mixed Fruit Chaat

Seasonal fruits mixed together and served makes a good, healthy and fulfilling snack.

A bowlful of fruit chaat during Seheri in Ramzan is a energy booster for the whole day of fasting.

This is one of the best ways to introduce different fruits with different taste and colour to children and develop healthy eating habit.

Its always best to have fruits during day time.

How to Make Mixed Fruit Chaat

• Take fruits of your choice and wash them properly and then cut them into cubes.
• Mix them in a large bowl and add chaat masala/ black salt.
• Few drops of lemon juice adds on to taste and nutritional value.

Bananas, apples, papaya, pomegranate make very good fruit chaat.

Combination of water melon, Dragon fruit, kiwi and musk melon also tastes good.

Chana Chaat

Chana chaat is another power boosting snack that is prepared with boiled chickpeas.

During Ramzan Chana chaat is a very fulfilling and healthy snack to have retaining its nutrition with taste.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Kabuli chana (soaked and boiled)
• 1/2 cup Kala chana (soaked and boiled)
• 1small onion finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• salt as required
• 1 tablespoon coriander leaves finelychopped
• 2 tablespoon aloo bhujia (optional)
• 1 medium tomato finelychopped
• 1 green chilli finelychopped
• 1 teaspoon chaat masala
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 tablespoon raw peanuts

How to make Chana Chaat

1. Take a pan and heat oil over medium flame and roast peanuts.
2. Take a large bowl and add boiled chickpeas, chopped onion, tomato, coriander, chillis, aloo bhujia, peanuts chaat masala, coriander leaves.
3. Add lemon juice and mix well.
4. Serve with fresh fruit juice.

Recipe Notes

• Add some salt while boiling chickpeas. And use the water remained after straining boiled chickpeas in curries or dal.
• Here I have used both kala chana nad Kabuli chana. You can use either of them.

Corn Flakes Chaat

Corn Flakes chaat is a simple twist or modification for eating corn flakes. Health and diet concern people find it to be one good diet snack to binge upon during Ramzan maintaining the calories and taste also. This turns out to be a very tasty and light yet healthy snack.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Corn flakes
• 1 medium chopped onion
• 1 medium chopped tomato
• 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon dry roasted peanuts
• 2 tablespoon roasted gram (bhuna chana)
• 1/4 teaspoon chaat masala
• 1/4 teaspoon rock salt/ black salt

How to Make Corn Flakes Chaat

1. Take a large bowl and all the ingerdients, mix well.
2. Add lemon juice and mix and serve.

Recipe Notes

• Add corn flakes in the end to retain their crunchiness.
• Roasted peas can also be used.

Creamy Fruit Chaat

Creamy fruit chaat also known as fruit cream is an easy to make, healthy fruit salad in cream that can be served as dessert also and makes a healthy dessert during Ramzan.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup Heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• 1 ½ cups Mixed fruits (mixture of banana, apple, grapes, pomegranate, strawberry)
• 1 tablespoon Raisins
• 1 tablespoons Almonds (crushed)
• 1 tablespoons Cashew nuts (crushed)

How to make Creamy Fruit Chaat (Fruit Cream)

• Take heavy whipping cream in a bowl. Keep this bowl and whisk it. Keep it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
• Once chilled add sugar in that.
• Start beating it till you get soft peaks. Do not overbeat.
• Now keep this into the fridge.
• Right before serving, chop the fruits.
• Add fruits and nuts into the whipped cream.

• Mix well to combine.
• Garnish with dry fruits and pomegranate
• Serve cold.

Recipe Notes:

• You can use fruits of your choice
• To get good flavour add few drops of rose water or vanilla essence.

Mixed Vegetable Kababs

Mixed Vegetable Kababs make a very good evening snack and equally flavourful and delicious like non vegetarian Kababs.

During this COVID 19 lockdown few of my Muslim friends might be finding it difficult to get meat to prepare Ramzan special recipes here’s a tasty recipe I am sharing that can equally match non vegetarian kababs in taste, flavour and aroma.

Ingredients:

• FOR PRESSURE COOKING:
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled & cubed
• 1 carrot, peeled & chopped
• 6-7 beans, chopped
• 2 tbsp sweet corn
• 2 tbsp peas / matar
• 5-6 florets gobi / cauliflower
• ½ tsp salt OTHER INGREDIENTS:
• ¼ cup corn flour
• 1/2 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder
• ½ tsp garam masala
• ¼ tsp cumin powder / jeera powder
• ½ tsp aamchur / dry mango powder
• ½ tsp ginger garlic paste
• 2 tbsp mint / pudina, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped
• 1 tsp kasuri methi
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp bread crumbs
• oil for roasting How to Make Mixed Vegetable Kabab

1. Take all the vegetables in a pressure cooker and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles over medium flame with 3 cup water.
2. Drain excess water and take cooked vegetables in a large mixing bowl and mash smooth.
3. Add in ¼ cup corn flour.
4. Add spices, ½ tsp ginger garlic paste, 2 tbsp mint, 2 tbsp coriander, 1 tsp kasuri methi and ¼ tsp salt.
5. Mix well making sure all the spices are combined well.
6. Add 2 tbsp bread crumbs and combine well.
7. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
8. Take small portion of mix to make flat patty or any other desired shape.
9. Prepare such patties and keep them aside.
10. Roast the kebabs on hot tawa greased with oil.
11. Brush with oil and roast on medium flame.
12. Take out of tawa when kababs turn brown and crispy. Sprinkle chaat masala and green chutney.

Recipe Notes:

• Add vegetables of your choice to make kebab nutritious.
• The mixture can be refrigerated and used for a week to prepare kabab.
• Alongwith potatoes you can use soaked and boiled chickpeas (kala chana) and soya granules.