Soya Veggie Balls 2

Soya Veggie Balls are the blissful union of colorful vegetables and greens with high protein soya granules in an attractive, healthful and power-packed form. Serve them as is like an appetizer at a party or as filling inside your bread or roti/paratha roll.

Ingredients (makes around 23-25 medium sized balls):

• Soya Granules (1/2 cup)
• Beetroot (1 medium)
• Potato (1 large)
• Sweet Potato (half of a medium sized one)
• Zucchini (small piece)
• Collard Greens (or any other greens) (2 large leaves)
• Carrots (a handful baby carrots)
• Broccoli (4-5 medium sized florets)
• Onions (1/3rd of a large yellow onion – you may use red or white onions or even green onions instead)
• Ginger (small 1 inch sized piece)
• Green chilly (1 medium sized one)
• Lemon Juice (1 tbsp)
• Cumin Seeds (1 tsp)
• Asafetida (hing) powder (1 pinch)
• Cumin Powder (1 tsp)
• Coriander Powder (1 tbsp)
• Chaat Masala (1 tbsp)
• Red Chilly Powder (1/2 tsp)
• Salt (to taste)
• Ghee (1.5 tbsp)
• Rice Powder (1.5 – 2 tbsp)

Method:

• Pressure cook the vegetables, except onion and greens, until well done (not mushy). Mash and keep aside.

• In a pot, place some water for boiling. When the water starts boiling, add the soya granules to it and a pinch of salt. Let the granules cook for a few minutes (at least 5-7 minutes). Switch off the flame. Rinse the granules in cool water. Squeeze the granules to take out excess water and keep aside.
• Chop onions. Make a paste of ginger and green chilly.

• Chop greens and keep aside.

• Heat some ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds and asafetida.

• When seeds crackle, add onions, ginger and green chilly paste.

• When onions are cooked, add chopped greens and cook for a few minutes and switch off the flame.
• Add the mashed vegetables, salt and dry masalas to the onions-greens mixture and mix well.

• Add cooked soya granules and mix well.

• Add rice powder, turn on the heat on a low flame and mix well.

• The mixture will start to come together because of the rice powder. Keep mixing to give the rice powder some time to cook. Switch off the flame.
• Add lemon juice and mix well. Keep the mixture aside to cool.

• When the mixture has cooled down enough, shape into balls using your palms.

• In an appe/appam pan, add a little bit of ghee and keep the flame on medium heat.

• Add the balls into the holes. Let them cook for a few minutes.

• Flip the balls so that the other side gets to cook. I used the tiny wooden pick like thing that came with the appam pan to flip the balls.

• Cook for a few minutes, till you have a nice roasted look all over.
• You can serve these as is, topped with some chaat masala if you want. Here is an idea of a lunch packed for my kid.

• You may also use these soya veggie balls as filling inside a roti or paratha roll.

Tastes (Rasa):

Sweet (rice flour, soya, ghee, carrots, beetroots, potatoes), sour (lemon juice, chaat masala – amchur), salty (salt), bitter (greens), pungent (chillies, ginger, cumin), astringent (asafetida).

Doshic Influence:

Soya is generally avoided in Ayurveda since it is considered to be difficult to digest, while some Ayurvedic experts allow it in moderation. Soya beans are in general considered to be good for vata. For my family, I use it sparingly, but occasionally in some recipes, after ensuring that they are well cooked and adequately spiced. If you want, you can skip the soy in the recipe completely. Ghee is an appropriate tridoshic medium for cooking. Digestive spices from all 6 tastes enhance the taste, and digestibility of this recipe e.g. cumin, coriander, chaat masala (black pepper, amchur, rock salt), asafetida and lemon juice. Fresh ginger is great for deepana (igniting the agni/digestive fire) and digesting toxic build-up (ama pachana), especially during the fall/vata season.

Effects on the Mind (Gunas):

Soya is considered somewhat tamasic and rajasic to the mind. Don’t overdo the pungent spices like chillies, sour ingredients like lemon and salt.