Tea Time Snacks are a delightful way to elevate your tea breaks with flavorful treats. Options like Vegetable Burger and American Chopsuey bring a modern twist, while classics such as Vegetable Samosa, Mini Samosas, and Instant Samosas are perfect for quick bites.
Pair these savory delights with a Sweet Dates Dip for a touch of indulgence. Whether you enjoy traditional favorites or explore new flavors, these Tea Time Snacks are sure to make your gatherings more enjoyable and your tea time extra special.
1. Vegetable Burger
The following recipe makes 4 vegetable burgers.
Ingredients
- Buns – 4 no’s
For the Patties:
- Carrot and beans – 1 cup, minced
- Potato – 1 cup, peeled and cubed
- Bread slice – ¾s of a slice
- Lemon juice – ¾ tsp
- Chilli-ginger – ½ tsp, ground into paste form
- Garam Masala powder – 1 tsp
- Breadcrumbs – 1 cup
- Refined oil – To shallow fry
- Water – 1 tablespoon
For the Salad Cream (A substitute for mayonnaise):
- Fresh cream – ½ cup
- Salad oil/ refined oil – 2 tbsp
- Sugar – 1 tsp, powdered
- Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp, powdered
- Lime juice – 1 – 2 tsp
- Salt – To taste
- Pepper – ¼ tsp, powdered
For the Coleslaw:
- Salad cream – ½ the quantity of the above recipe
- Cabbage – 1 cup, shredded
- Carrot – ½ cup, grated
For the Burger:
- Tomato Ketchup – 4 tbsp
- Lettuce leaves – 12 nos
- Tomato – 4 nos, horizontally and thinly sliced
- Cucumber – 1 no, sliced into thin rounds
- Big onion – 3 nos, horizontally sliced into thin rounds
- Cheese slice – 4 nos
Method
- Steam the minced carrot, beans and potatoes, kept separately, for 10 minutes until firm, yet cooked.
- In a bowl, mash the potatoes.
- In a bowl, keep the slice of bread (¾ size). Add a tbsp of water. Crumble the bread. Drain the water.
- Now, combine the crushed bread, carrot, beans, garam masala, green chilli-ginger paste, lime juice, salt with the mashed potato. Form into a dough.
- Keep a platter of breadcrumbs, spread out, ready.
- Divide into 4 equal portions. Shape into balls.
- Take each ball. Flatten and place on the breadcrumbs’ bed.
- After coating both sides, place on a chopping board. Press slightly. Flatten with a steel (mini) bowl. Use a knife to even out the sides of the circle. Invert and shape further. Repeat this process thrice.
- Finally, moisten your hands with boiled water and compact the patties. Place all the patties on a plate.
- In a flat, rimmed non-stick pan, warm refined oil. Once the oil is warm, place each pattie.
- Deep or shallow fry till deep golden, firm and crisp over medium-low flame, keeping the temperature even. Place the fried patties in a tissuelined colander.
- On a skillet smeared with oil, place two horizontal halves of each bun. Once the surface is lightly roasted, it is ready.
- For the salad cream, beat the fresh cream till thick. Separately, pound the mustard and sugar with a mortar and pestle. Add this, along with the salad oil, pepper, salt and combine. The mayo sub is ready.
- For the coleslaw, grate carrots and cabbage. Combine with some salad cream. The next step is assembling the burger.
- On a serving platter, place the lower half of the bun. Apply tomato ketchup and a light coating of salad cream. Keep three lettuce leaves and spoon the coleslaw over this. Place the patty on this. Keep the onions, tomatoes and cucumbers around. Keep a cheese slice over this. Now, spread a little salad cream on top. Close with the top half of the toasted bun.
- Your veggie burger is now ready to be devoured! Serve immediately with Coke and fries.
Vegetable Burger: Keep all the parts ready and assemble the burger and serve immediately with ketchup and fries.
2. American Chopsuey
American Chopsuey, light on the stomach, yet filling good for a ravenous appetite.
The following recipe serves 3.
Ingredients
- Noodles – 200 gms
- Onion – 1 (sliced)
- Carrot- 1 cup (julienned)
- Cabbage- 2 cups (shredded)
- Tomato ketchup – 1 cup
- Ripe pineapple – 1 cup (chopped)
- Beans – ¼ cup (diagonally sliced)
- Green chilli – 1 (slit)
- Corn flour – 1 cup (dissolved in 2 cups water)
- Capsicum – 1 cup (julienned)
- Orange food colour – 1 tsp (if liquid)
- Refined oil – 1-½ cups + 1 milk ladleful
- Salt – To taste
- Sugar – 3 tablespoon
Method
- Break the noodles into finger-sized sticks.
- Boil the noodles in hot water and a spoon of refined oil.
- Drain water, deep fry in oil till crisp. Once one side is crisp and golden, turn over and continue deep-frying, approximately 20 minutes over high flame.
- Heat a milk ladleful of oil in a pan and sauté onion, green chilli till golden. Tip in cabbage, carrot, beans, pineapple. Saute for 5 minutes.
- For the sauce, in a pan, mix tomato ketchup, corn flour solution, capsicum, sugar, salt. Add the Orange food colour. Stir well. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Mix the veggies (add the oil used to saute too) with the sauce.
- Pour the veg sauce into a platter, sprinkle crispy noodles on top.
- Serve hot.
American Chopsuey can be served immediately and is a filling mini-meal.
3. Vegetable Samosa
Samosa, easy-breezy, can be prepared super fast. Spectacular in taste.
The following recipe makes 8 small Samosas.
Ingredients
- American flour (‘maida’) – ¾ cup
- Baking soda – 2 tiny pinches
- Water @ room temperature – ¼ cup or less approx.
- Potato stir-fry – ½ cup
- Hot oil – 1 tsp
- Salt – A pinch or two
Method
- In a bowl, add flour, soda bi-carbonate , salt, sizzling oil. Knead into breadcrumbs texture.
- Add water slowly and knead for a couple of minutes into a smooth dough.
- In a plate, keep the potato stir-fry.
- Mash well with a rice ladle.
- Divide the dough into 4 balls.
- Roll out into thin, round circles.
- Slice in half.
- Dab water on the edges.
- Place a small spoonful of filling (mashed potato) and enclose into a triangle, sealing the damp edges.
- Slice away along the edges to form the perfect triangle.
- Set aside for 2-3 hours.
- Heat oil till medium and place each samosa case.
- Deep fry till golden and crisp over low – medium heat.
- Scoop into a tissue-lined dish.
- Serve immediately accompanied by a sauce with a cup of piping hot tea.
Samosas: Use immediately
4. Mini Samosas
Mini Samosas make the most perfect bites around teatime.
This recipe makes around 30 mini-sized Samosas.
Ingredients
For the outer pastry cases:
- Plain, white semolina / “rava” – 2 cups
- Salt – To taste
- Ice-cold water – To knead, about ½ cup
- Refined oil – 5 tbsp
- Soda bi-carbonate – ¼ tsp
For the vegetable filling
- Carrot – 1 large, minced
- Beans – 10 no. s
- Potatoes – 2 large nos.
- Big onions – 2 medium, minced
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Kashmiri red chilli powder – 1 tsp
- Roasted cumin powder – ½ tsp
- Garam masala powder – 1 heaped tsp (or veg. biryani -pulav powder)
- Salt – To taste
- Lemon juice – 2 tsp
- Pomegranate juice – ¼ cup
- Green peas – ¼ cup, boiled (optional)
- Refined oil – 2 tbsp
For dusting
- Refined flour / Maida – 5 tbsp
- Oil – ½ cup
- To deep fry Refined oil – 2 cups
Method
- Clean, mince and steam the carrot, beans and potato for 15 minutes. Mash the vegetables lightly and add salt.
- In a heavy-bottomed wok, warm the oil. Add minced onions. Saute until these acquire a burgundy tinge.
- Now, add the masala powders. And salt.
- Stir well until combined.
- Saute until the masala powders emit a roasted fragrance. Add the lemon juice and stir.
- Finally, add the pomegranate juice. Stir well. Keep aside to cool.
- Next, refrigerate in a lower rack.
- Take the plain, off-white semolina. Even lightly roasted will do. In the small mixer jar, powder the semolina to a very, very fine powder.
- In a bowl, add the semolina. Now, sprinkle the soda bi-carbonate, salt, refined oil and mix well with a tablespoon.
- Add ice-cold water gradually and mix/ knead into a dough. Cover the bowl with a moist towel. Set aside for 30 minutes.
- Make 4 portions of the dough and process in the mixer for 1-2 minutes until the dough turns really soft, elastic and malleable.
- Divide into 5 balls, keeping the bowl covered with a damp cloth.
- Roll out into the thinnest layers of discs, as THINLY as possible. It will resemble a very fine and thin, translucent elastic film.
- Using a pizza cutter or knife, trim away all the sides so a rectangular or square shape is formed. Place on a tray.
- Brush with the oil and sprinkle maida flour all over.
- Repeat with each disc, taking care to stack them one over the other.
- Heat a tawa. Place the flour disc set gingerly and cook for a span of half a minute over low heat so there are no dark speckles on the surface.
- After which time, tilt the skillet and gently flip over. Peel off the cooked disc. Repeat until all the discs have one side cooked and the other, as such.
- Take a measuring tape. Slice the disc in one-third size using a sharp knife. You will have a long strip like a film roll.
- Place all the strips together. Keep a small bowl of water.
- Take a strip. Moisten the uncooked side of the strip completely.
- Place a teaspoon of the vegetable stuffing in the middle in a triangular shape.
- Fold both sides of the strips so as to enclose the filling in a topmost point.
- Turn this naturally formed triangle and fold the edges at the base, pressing to seal.
- Rolling as you wind to seal the edges, cutting parallel to the corresponding edge where there is a dough excess. Press and compact well. Ensure that all the three points of the triangle are enclosed and pointed.
- Place on a tray. Repeat this with all the strips.
- At this point, you can take the adequate number of samosa cases and refrigerate the rest of the samosa cases in an airtight container.
- Heat oil in a wok. Using a ladle, stir the oil well, once it heats up to ensure proper, even distribution of heat. So dark blotches are not formed in the Samosa crust.
- Place the samosas and deep fry over a low to medium flame.
- The Samosas can be taken out once these are light golden and crisp, biscuit-like at the edges.
- Arrange the Samosas on a serving tray. Keep mint-coriander chutney/ tomato sauce on either side. Enjoy with a hot cup of tea!
- To re-heat, microwave for 20-25 seconds.
Mini Samosas: Store the non-fried samosas in an airtight container and freeze for upto a week. Take out, thaw and fry in medium-hot refined oil.
5. Instant Samosas’ Sweet Dates Dip
Ingredients
- Sweet, thick, dates syrup – 2 tablespoon
- Honey – 1½ teaspoon
- Lemon juice – 1½ teaspoon
- Roasted cumin powder – A pinch
- Kashmiri red chilli powder – 3 pinches
- Water @ room temperature – 1 tablespoon
- Salt – A pinch
Method
- Combine the listed ingredients and adjust flavors to your preference.
Serve fresh with mini samosas.
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