Broccoli and Cheese Tikkis

This is again a recipe I had noted down a while back, but don't know the source. You see, everytime I visit Mumbai, I pass my daytime browsing over my neighbor's vast collection of recipes. They are 2 sisters, V & T and I've known them since childhood. I call their mom Aai. All are excellent cooks. During my visits, they always cook delicious new dishes for me. In the daytime, when they are at work, I borrow their cookbooks to browse thru & note down some recipes. When I come back to the US, I try these out. Now with my blog, I have more incentive to try out all such recipes.

Here's how I made these Broccoli and Cheese Tikkis:

1 cup finely chopped broccoli

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 clove garlic

1/2 tsp ginger - grated

2 tbsp corn flour

3/4th cup shredded mild cheddar cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1/2 tsp red chilli pwd

Salt to taste

Oil

Saute the onions in 1 or 2 tsp oil for 2 mins on medium high heat. Add ginger and garlic and fry for 2 more mins. Then add the broccoli, salt and red chilli pwd. Cook for about 5 mins. Take off heat and add the cornflour and cheese. Mix well. While the mixture is still warm, shape into small balls. Roll each in the bread crumbs and flatten slightly. Shallow fry on non-stick pan with few drops of oil.

This made about 14 bite-size tikkis. My 5 yr-old daughter loves broccoli, the smiley-face ketchup accompanies her tikkis, while it is the mint-coriander chutney for M & me.

The cheese and broccoli in this dish are both calcium-rich foods. The cheese packet said 1/4 cup serving provides 20% of the daily calcium requirement. Elsewhere on the web, I read that 1 cup broccoli provides 15% of the daily calcium requirement. Hence I am sending these tikkis to the Calcium rich food event at the Art of Cooking Indian Food.