I happened to overhear a conversation about my blog the other day. I wasn’t eavesdropping or anything like that, I just happened to “pass by” ;) Ok the discussion was about different food blogs and they happened to mention MM. I was actually a bit surprised to hear their observation.. they thought MM was a Veggie food blog!! I was quite taken aback!
On one side I’m getting mails saying that I dont have enough Veg recipes and asking me to post more and on the other end, my blog is considered as a Veg blog! I’m stumped! To each his / her own…
Veg or non veg, this recipe is a hit with everybody! Last December I was on a “deep frying” phase. It’s not something I normally do. Anything and everything, I deep fried! I was unstoppable and I even doubted whether somebody cast me under a spell or something, yes.. it was that bad.
So this recipe happened during that phase and I’ve no regrets! Mushroom and spinach is one of my favourite combos. Now add cheesy white sauce to that combo, even better! Try, deep frying this combo in breadcrumbs, fabulous! That’s what this is :)
You can make this in advance, so it’s an ideal make ahead appetiser / starter for your party.
Here is the recipe:
Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion, spring onion, celery and minced garlic. When onion becomes soft add chopped mushroom.When mushroom is cooked, add chopped spinach leaves. Add salt and pepper to this and remove from fire…
In a saucepan, melt butter. Add plain flour to this and roast till the raw smell goes 3-5 mins. Make sure the flour doesn’t brown. Add milk gradually and keep stirring. Add cheese and cook till it melts…
When it reaches a thick sauce consistency, add it to the mushroom and spinach mixture…
To make the batter, mix all the ingredients well in a large bowl using a balloon whisk or blend them in a blender until everything is blended without lumps. Heat a small frying pan onto medium heat; pour ½ a ladle of batter to form circles of 5” diameter. Just cook the pancake on one side ONLY and take them out…
Keep the filling on the uncooked side of the pancake. Place the filling as a line on the side facing you. Fold the left and right sides of the wrapper/pancake over the mixture…
Gently pull away the edge of pancake facing you and roll over the filling. Continue to fold the roll. Seal the edges…
Dip the shaped roll in lightly beaten egg whites and then roll it in breadcrumbs until fully coated…
Heat a frying pan filled halfway with oil. Fry these rolls in the oil until golden and crisp…
- Onion – 2 small-med,chopped
- Celery – 1 tbsp, chopped
- Minced / grated garlic – 1.5 tspn
- Chopped spinach – 1 cup (I used frozen spinach)
- Chopped mushroom – 2 cups
- Chopped spring onion – ½ cup
- Pepper powder – ½ tspn
- Salt
- Oil – I used sunflower oil
- Salted butter – 1 tbspn
- Plain flour (maida) – 1 tbspn
- Milk – ½- 3/4 cup
- Grated cheese – ½ cup (I used mozarella)
- Plain flour – 2 cups
- Eggs – 2
- Water – 2.5 cups
- Salt
- Breadcrumbs – 1.5 – 2 cups
- Oil – for deep frying (I used sunflower oil)
- To make the filling:
- Heat oil in a pan and add chopped onion, spring onion, celery and minced garlic. When onion becomes soft (no need to brown it) add chopped mushroom.
- When mushroom is cooked and water is dried, add chopped spinach leaves. Add salt and pepper to this and remove from fire.
- In a saucepan, melt butter. Add plain flour to this and roast till the raw smell goes 3-5 mins. Make sure the flour doesn’t brown. Add milk gradually and keep stirring.Add cheese and cook till it melts. When it reaches a thick sauce consistency, add it to the mushroom and spinach mixture.
- To make the pancakes / wrapper (recipe adapted from here)
- To make the batter, mix all the ingredients (plain four, eggs, water and salt) well in a large bowl using a balloon whisk or blend them in a blender until everything is blended without lumps. Heat a small frying pan onto medium heat; pour ½ a ladle of batter to form circles of 5” diameter. Just cook the pancake on one side ONLY and take them out.(The pancake will be cooked on both sides this way).Place them in a plate rubbed with oil.
- To make the rolls:
- Keep the filling on the uncooked side of the pancake. Place the filling as a line on the side facing you. Make sure to leave some gap around the edges .Fold the left and right sides of the wrapper/pancake over the mixture. Gently pull away the edge of pancake facing you and roll over the filling.
- Continue to fold the roll. Seal the edges using the flour paste mentioned in the notes. When you fill one spring roll, you can start making the next one.
- Dip the roll in lightly beaten egg whites and then roll it in breadcrumbs until fully coated. Heat a frying pan filled halfway with oil. Fry these rolls in the oil until golden and crisp.
- Serve hot with Tomato Ketchup or Sweet Chilli Sauce
I made a thick paste with plain flour (maida) & water and used it to seal the sides of the pancake after filling them.
I got around 15 pancakes from the above qty.
The number of pancakes may vary depending on the size of pancake you make. If there is left over pancake batter you can make these coconut pancakes.
I kept the shaped rolls refrigerated for 3 days in an airtight container. Though I didnt try freezing it, I guess you can freeze it 2- 4 weeks. Thaw it before frying.
You can also use this filling with puff pasty if you prefer a baked version.