Palak Rajma Oats Lollipop (Non-Fried)
A very healthy, protein-rich, non fried lollipops that are great as starters or snack.
Ingredients
To cook Rajma
- 1 cup rajma
- 2.5 to 3 cups water - , to soak Rajma
- 3 to 3.5 cups water - , to pressure cook Rajma
To blanch Palak
- 2 cups palak - , tightly packed
- 2 cups water
To make Palak Rajma Oats Lollipop
- 0.5 cup rolled oats - , finely powdered
- 1 tsp red chilly powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 0.5 tsp cumin powder
- 0.5 tsp amchur powder
- salt - to taste
- cooking oil - , as required
To roll the Lollipops (refer notes)
- 3 to 4 tbsps gram flour (besan)
- water - , as required
- a pinch of turmeric powder
- a pinch of salt
- 0.5 cups rolled oats - , coarsely powdered
To serve the Lollipops
- 10-15 nos toothpicks
- tomato ketchup
Instructions
- Soak rajma in water for 7-8 hours or overnight. The quantity of rajma would have almost doubled.
- Drain the water and pressure cook the soaked rajma with fresh water upto 3 or 4 whistles so that they are soft when pressed. Let the pressure release on its own. Drain the water and use it for any other purpose (in a curry or to knead chapati dough). Do not discard this water.
- In the meantime, thoroughly wash palak leaves multiple times. Boil 2 cups water in a saucepan / kadai. When it comes to a boil, add the washed palak leaves and let it boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off the stove.
- Drain the water and immediately put the palak leaves under cold water and set aside. This helps in retaining the color of the leaves.
- Transfer the rolled oats to a mixer jar.
- Finely powder it and set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, take cooked rajma and mash it well using a masher or with your hand.
- Do not make it completely smooth, but coarsely mash some of them. This will give you a nice texture when you bite the lollipops.
- Next, finely chop the blanched and cooled palak leaves and add them to the bowl. Alternately, you can puree the spinach and add it.
- Add the prepared oats powder and mix everything.
- Add in salt and all the spices mentioned under 'To make Palak Rajma Oats Lollipop'. Mix all the contents thoroughly so that it forms a soft non-sticky dough. You should be easily able to shape it into small balls. If your dough is sticky, you can add more oats powder. Make small lemon sized balls and set aside.
- Now, you will have to make a thin paste of gram flour. For this, mix gram flour with salt and turmeric powder. Add water as required and whisk well to form a lump-free, thin paste. Set aside.
- Next, make a coarse powder of rolled oats and set aside. Coating the lollipops with oats gives a nice crunchy texture to them. (refer notes)
- Now, heat a paddu / appe / paniyaram pan and add few drops of oil to each of the cavities.
- Dip each of the balls in gram flour mixture
- Roll them gently over oats so that they are uniformly coated.
- Gently place the balls inside the oiled cavities of the paddu pan. Cook them in low-medium heat until light brown in colour.
- Flip the lollipops around so that they cook well on all sides.
- Once they are done, transfer them onto a paper towel to remove excess oil. Gently prick each of them with a toothpick so that they resemble a lollipop. Serve with tomato ketchup.
Notes
- You can increase or decrease the quantity of finely powdered oats based on the consistency of the dough. You should be able to form non-sticky balls.
- You may use cornstarch or all purpose flour instead of gram flour, if you do not have it.
- Lollipops can be also be coated with semolina or bread crumbs or crushed corn flakes instead of oats.
- If you would like to skip the whole process of rolling the lollipops in gram flour and oats, you may do so. But, the outer texture of the lollipops might vary.
- You can adjust the level of spices as per your taste.
- Ginger-garlic paste and finely chopped onions can also be added to the dough, if you wish to.
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