Hara Bhara Kabab is a popular appetizer or snack made with spinach, potatoes, peas, spices, and herbs. Loaded with green veggies, hearty, healthy, and delicious! It tastes great with some ketchup, green chutney, and masala chai.
Being aware of food taboos and dietary restrictions ensures you can accommodate diverse preferences.
Table of contents
These easy-to-make, vegetarian spinach peas patties are jammed with aromatic Indian flavors and wholesome ingredients. The crispy outer layer and melt-in-mouth center make this hara bhara kabab super delightful and addictive!
These easy vegetarian hara bhara kabab are hearty, healthy, and are sure to satisfy the palate. Ready in under 35 minutes when made from scratch.
Traditionally, hara bhara kabab is deep-fried, shallow-fried, grilled on a Sigdi (hot coal stove) or in a tandoor (clay oven). In this recipe, I have shallow fried them, you can also cook them in an oven or air-fryer.
No matter how you cook them, these lush green veg kababs are sure to delight all kabab lovers.
About this Kabab
This recipe makes Restaurant Style Hara Bhara Kabab. If you have ever visited an Indian restaurant, you might have seen Hara Bhara Kabab in the starter section of the menu.
Kebab or Kabab is a popular snack in India that is generally prepared with minced meat, onions, and spices. Since a majority of the Indian population is vegetarian, there are also many popular vegetarian kababs. Such as this hara bhara kabab, dahi ke kabab, beetroot kabab, sweet potato kebabs.
This recipe makes a vegetarian and gluten-free version of hara bhara kabab that is packed with healthy greens. This divine vegetarian variant can also be made vegan with slight modifications.
With this easy and fail-proof kabab recipe, you can make the best-tasting hara bhara kababs each time at home. You just need to follow the simple instructions and tips and tricks given on this page, and you are ready to devour the hara bhara kabab in the comfort of your homes.
They have a smoky flavor when char-grilled, so the only thing you might miss in this recipe is the smoky flavor. Although, you can still give them smoky kabab flavors. To make them smoky, you can cook the fried patties directly over the hot coals.
What is Hara Bhara Kabab?
Hara Bhara Kabab or Indian spinach peas patties is a super tasty, flavorful North Indian snack or appetizer prepared with lots of fresh spinach leaves, green peas, mashed potatoes, and spices. They are additive-free, nourishing, wholesome, and quickly boost energy!
Here, the word hara means green, bhara means loaded, and kabab means patties or cutlets in the Hindi language. Green-loaded patties would be the literal translation in the English language.
This kabab uses only green-colored vegetables and herbs, such as spinach, green peas, and cilantro. Hence, they are named Hara Bhara Kabab. Packed with greens, this kabab is really nutritious and satisfying. Serve them with green coriander chutney, ketchup, or any of your favorite dip.
In India, people love to have fried snacks with the evening tea or as a snack — be it kababs, pakoras, namkeen, tikki, chaat or mathri. We all love savory and spicy snacks with sweet milk chai. And this kabab is really enjoyable with tea.
It is one of such dishes which can be served for many meals such as brunch, snack, or even an appetizer. They can also be served as lunch when wrapped in a tortilla/roti.
They are a nice way to add greens to your diet. The surprising thing about these kababs is that even the fussy eaters love them!
On this page, you will get step by step photo recipe, and video instructions to make easy and simple hara bhara kabab at home in just 35 minutes.
This kabab
✓ is quick simple-to-make
✓ can also be made vegan
✓ is crammed with the goodness of greens
✓ can be served as an appetizer or snack
✓ is also excellent for brunch and after school snack
✓ can also be used as filling for wrap or patty for burger
✓ is satisfying and keeps satiated for hours
✓ is suitable for vegetarian and gluten-free diets
Hara Bhara Kabab Ingredients
Hara Bhara Kabab is made with some basic ingredients. To make this Kabab you will need:
Green vegetables: Greens are the key ingredient of this veg kabab. I used fresh spinach leaves, green peas, and cilantro (coriander leaves). For a variety, you can also add green beans, green bell pepper, or even broccoli to this kabab.
Paneer: Adding grated paneer gives this kabab a melt-in-mouth texture and rich flavor. If you are vegan, then swap paneer with grated tofu which is suitable for frying.
Potatoes: This recipe uses freshly boiled and peeled mashed potatoes as a binder. If you are in a hurry, then you can swap them with packaged instant mashed potatoes. They would just work fine.
Spices: I have used some whole and powdered spices in this recipe. The spices I have used are roasted cumin powder, black pepper powder, black salt, amchur (dry mango) powder, chaat masala powder, salt, and garam masala powder.
Breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs are added to the mixture for binding. I also rolled them in breadcrumbs before frying them. They give a nice flavor and a crispy texture to this kabab. I have used gluten-free breadcrumbs. But you can also use regular breadcrumbs.
Green chilies: They add a hot spicy taste to the kababs. I have added 3 green chilies, you can adjust the number of chilies according to your taste.
Ginger & Garlic: I have added fresh ginger and garlic for making the green vegetable mixture. But you can also replace them with homemade ginger-garlic paste.
Oil: Oil is used for deep frying and sautéing the green mixture. You can also use ghee for frying.
Cashew halves: Kebabs are topped with cashew halves before frying. However, topping kababs with cashews is optional.
For more spinach (palak) recipes, you may check this palak patta chaat, aloo palak, and dal palak.
How to Make Hara Bhara Kabab
Making Hara Bhara Kabab is straightforward if you follow these basic 7 steps to relish this kabab.
Step 1: Preparation: Boil, peel, and mash potatoes. Also, roast gram flour. Collect all the ingredients and keep them on the counter.
Step 2: Sauté cumin, ginger, garlic, green chilies, green peas, and spinach in 2 teaspoons of oil.
Step 3: Cover and cook until spinach wilts. Add cilantro and mix. Let it cool
Step 4: Blend spinach mixture (without adding water) into a coarse paste.
Step 5: Add spinach paste, mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, grated paneer, and powdered spices to a bowl and mix.
Step 6: Shape patties and roll them in bread crumbs. Top each patty with a cashew half and fry until golden. Done!
Step 7: Serve hara bhara kabab hot with ketchup or dip of your choice.
For a full list of Hara Bhara Kabab recipe ingredients and step-by-step photo and video instructions, please see the recipe box on this page.
How to bake hara bhara kabab
Baking hara bhara kabab is very simple.
To bake, line a baking tray with parchment paper. Then place 5-6 kababs in the prepared tray and brush or drizzle both sides with oil. Place the tray in the center of the oven.
After that, bake hara bhara kebab at 180°C/356°F in a preheated oven for about 20-35 minutes or until they turn golden and crisp.
Remove the baked kebabs from the tray and let them cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes and then serve.
Serving suggestions
Hara bhara kabab is best tasting when served hot straight from the pan. They are crispy when they are hot, but they get slightly soft after cooling.
Snack: You can serve them hot with some green coriander chutney, mint coriander chutney, or tomato ketchup. When serving as a snack, accompany them with a cup of hot masala tea or coffee goes really well with this fried snack.
Hara Bhara Kabab Burger: You can use these hare bhare kababs as a burger patty. To make a hara bhara kabab burger, spread some mayonnaise and ketchup on both sides of the bun.
Top the bottom burger bun with melting cheese and toast both pieces of burger bun in a pan with butter. Once the cheese melts, remove them from the pan and top the cheese side with sliced veggies and lettuce. Cover with top bun and enjoy.
Hara Bhara Kabab Sandwich: You can also make a hara bhara kabab sandwich by smearing chutney or ketchup on both the bread slices and after that place a kabab between those two bread slices. Toast them in a toaster, panini maker, or grill in a grill pan.
Hara Bhara Kabab Wrap: Place hot kababs on a chapati/tortilla. Top with lettuce and veggies of your choice. Drizzle with your favorite salad sauce or ketchup. Roll to make a wrap. Slice into two and enjoy.
Hara Bhara Kabab Chaat: You can also make hara bhara kabab chaat by topping smashed hot kababs with green chutney, tamarind chutney, thin sev, onions, tomatoes, plain yogurt, cumin powder, chili powder, and salt.
Variations
Sweet Potatoes: If you don’t want to use potatoes, then you can swap them with boiled sweet potatoes.
Blanch or steam: Instead of sautéing green peas and spinach, you can also blanch or steam them.
No Onion Garlic Version: There is no onion in this recipe. To make these kabab completely without onion garlic, avoid adding garlic to this.
Flour: Instead of adding roasted besan, you can also add rice flour or soaked poha. You can even add cornflour.
Tips & tricks to make the best Hara Bhara Kabab
Potatoes: I have added 3 medium-sized mashed potatoes, but you can surely add less if you want a soft sticky mixture.
Rolling kababs: A coat of breadcrumbs gives kabab a crispy outer layer. If you don’t want to roll them in breadcrumbs, then you skip it. You can also use crushed corn flakes or crushed chips for rolling kababs.
Spices: This recipe makes spicy kababs, if you don’t like too many spices then you can skip adding 1-2 spices. Or adjust the number of spices as per your taste.
Spicy Kabab: If you want hotter tasting kababs, increase the number of green chilies. You can also swap green chilies with red chili powder.
Nuts: If you want a rich and nutty taste, you can also add cashew nuts or walnuts to the pan while sautéing spinach and peas.
Onions: I didn’t add any onions in this recipe, but if you like onions then you can add chopped onions to the pan while sautéing greens.
Frying Temperature: When shallow frying kababs, keep the heat to medium. Do not fry them on low heat or high heat. After dropping hara bhara kebabs, only flip the kababs when one side is golden, this way they will come out crispy and won’t break.
Lemon juice: If you don’t have amchur powder, then you can add about 1 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Mixture consistency: If your kababs are breaking while frying that means they have some moisture. So you need to add more binding agent to the mixture.
Ginger Garlic paste: I added fresh ginger and garlic in this recipe, but ginger-garlic paste can also be used here.
FAQs
Can I make Hara Bhara Kabab in advance?
Yes, you can do that. In fact, this is a nice option when you are making them for a party or a get-together. Make the kababs and arrange kababs in a single layer on a plate. After that, cover this plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
The next day, leave kababs at the kitchen counter for about 1 hour and then shallow fry them right before serving. You can refrigerate uncooked kababs for up to 2 days.
How to store fried Hara Bhara Kabab?
To store, line an airtight container with some parchment paper and store fried kababs in them. When you want to eat, simply reheat them in a pan or bake them in an oven at 160°C for 10 minutes.
Can I freeze Hara Bhara Kabab?
Yes, you can make frozen Kabab. There are 2 ways you can freeze this kabab:
1. Freeze raw kabab:
To freeze raw hara bhara kabab, simply line a freezer-safe pan with parchment paper. After that, place kababs in a single layer on the prepared tray and then freeze them for about 2-4 hours or until frozen.
Once the kababs are frozen, transfer them in a ziplock bag and freeze them for up to 2-3 months. When you want to eat, simply thaw them at room temperature and shallow fry, bake, or air-fry them.
2. Freeze fried kabab:
Line a freezer-safe tray with parchment paper. After that, arrange fried and cooled kababs in a single layer and freeze for 3-4 hours. Once frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe container or a ziplock bag. You can freeze for up to 2 months.
When you want to eat, thaw kababs at room temperature and bake at 150°C for 12-15 minutes.
Hara Bhara Kabab (Step-by-step photo instructions)
Making Hara Bhara Kabab
- Roasting Besan (Gram Flour): Add 1/4 cup gram flour (besan) in a wide pan. Roast on medium heat until it releases a nutty aroma and changes color to light brown. Keep stirring continuously to prevent it from burning. Once roasted, turn off the heat and transfer roasted besan aside. Let it cool.
- Boiling Potatoes: Add enough water to a pot. After that, place the whole potatoes in it. Boil potatoes covered over medium heat until they are soft and cooked through. To check doneness, prick the boiled potatoes with a fork or insert a knife. If the fork slides gently, then they are done. Let them cool completely, and then peel the potatoes.
- Next, grate peeled boiled potatoes using a grater and keep them aside. You can also mash them using a potato masher.
- Sautéing greens: Add 2 teaspoons of oil to a pan and heat over medium heat. Once hot, add cumin seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds. Next, add chopped ginger, chopped green chilies, and chopped garlic. Sauté for 1 minute.
- Then add green peas and sauté for 2 minutes. Now add spinach, toss well. Turn the heat to high and cover the pan. Cook for 30-40 seconds.
- Then uncover the pan and cook for 1 more minute or until spinach shrivels. After that, turn off the heat and add cilantro. Mix well, and keep it aside to cool.
- Making the green paste: Add sautéed spinach and peas mixture to the blender and blend to make a coarse paste without adding any water.
- Making kabab mixture: Add the green paste, boiled mashed potatoes, breadcrumbs, and grated paneer to a large mixing bowl.
- Also add black salt, roasted cumin powder, ground black pepper, amchur powder, chaat masala powder, garam masala powder, and salt. Mix well until combined.
- Lastly, add grated nutmeg and mix all the ingredients again to make a non-sticky and firm dough. Taste for the spices, add more salt if needed. If the mixture seems too sticky, then you can add more mashed potatoes or breadcrumbs.
- Shaping Kabab: Grease your palms with oil and pinch out a small portion of hara bhara kabab mixture. Roll it into a smooth ball and then Now gently flatten the ball to give it a smooth kabab (patty) shape. Roll the kabab in breadcrumbs. After that, place split cashew on the top and press. Shape all the patties and then keep them aside.
- Frying Kabab: Heat oil in a broad non-stick or cast iron pan. Once the oil is hot, switch the heat to medium and slide kababs gently into the hot oil. Shallow fry kababs from the bottom, until they are golden from bottom.
- Now flip the kebabs using a spatula and fry from both sides until they are golden and crispy, keep turning over as needed. After that, drain the fried kababs on a kitchen towel-lined plate. Shallow fry the rest of the kababs.
- Serving: Serve hara bhara kabab hot with tomato ketchup or with green coriander chutney.
Recipe Card
Hara Bhara Kabab [Recipe]
★★★★★
(Rating: 5 from 4 reviews)
| Prep time 🕐 | Cook time 🕐 | Total time 🕐 |
|---|---|---|
| 35 mins | ||
| Category ☶ | Cuisine ♨ | Serves ☺ |
| Snacks | Indian | 12 Kababs |
| Nutrition Info ⊛ | Serving size ⊚ | |
| 87 calories | 1 |
INGREDIENTS
For Hara Bhara Kabab
- 1/4 cup gram flour (besan)
- 150 grams spinach (palak)
- 3-4 medium-sized potatoes
- 1 cup green peas (matar), fresh or frozen
- 1 cumin seeds (jeera)
- 2-3 green chilies, roughly chopped (to taste)
- 1.5 tablespoons, ginger roughly chopped
- 1.5 tablespoons, garlic roughly chopped
- 3/4 cup grated paneer
- 1 cup gluten free breadcrumbs (or regular)
- 1/3 cup cilantro (coriander leaves), roughly chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon black salt (kala namak)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black or white pepper
- 1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon chaat masala powder
- 1 teaspoon amchur (dry mango) powder
- 3/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
- Salt, to taste
- 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 18-20 split cashew nuts
- Oil for frying + 2 teaspoon
- Salt to taste
INSTRUCTIONS:
Making Hara Bhara Kabab
- Roasting Besan (Gram Flour): Add 1/4 cup gram flour (besan) in a wide pan. Roast on medium heat until it releases a nutty aroma and changes color to light brown. Keep stirring continuously to prevent it from burning. Once roasted, turn off the heat and transfer roasted besan aside. Let it cool.
- Boiling Potatoes: Add enough water to a pot. After that, place the whole potatoes in it. Boil potatoes covered over medium heat until they are soft and cooked through. To check doneness, prick the boiled potatoes with a fork or insert a knife. If the fork slides gently, then they are done. Let them cool completely, and then peel the potatoes.
- Next, grate peeled boiled potatoes using a grater and keep them aside. You can also mash them using a potato masher.
- Sautéing greens: Add 2 teaspoons of oil to a pan and heat over medium heat. Once hot, add cumin seeds and let them sizzle for a few seconds. Next, add chopped ginger, chopped green chilies, and chopped garlic. Sauté for 1 minute.
- Then add green peas and sauté for 2 minutes. Now add spinach, toss well. Turn the heat to high and cover the pan. Cook for 30-40 seconds.
- Then uncover the pan and cook for 1 more minute or until spinach shrivels. After that, turn off the heat and add cilantro. Mix well, and keep it aside to cool.
- Making the green paste: Add sautéed spinach and peas mixture to the blender and blend to make a coarse paste without adding any water.
- Making kabab mixture: Add the green paste, boiled mashed potatoes, breadcrumbs, and grated paneer to a large mixing bowl.
- Also add black salt, roasted cumin powder, ground black pepper, amchur powder, chaat masala powder, garam masala powder, and salt. Mix well until combined.
- Lastly, add grated nutmeg and mix all the ingredients again to make a non-sticky and firm dough. Taste for the spices, add more salt if needed. If the mixture seems too sticky, then you can add more mashed potatoes or breadcrumbs.
- Shaping Kabab: Grease your palms with oil and pinch out a small portion of hara bhara kabab mixture. Roll it into a smooth ball and then Now gently flatten the ball to give it a smooth kabab (patty) shape. Roll the kabab in breadcrumbs. After that, place split cashew on the top and press. Shape all the patties and then keep them aside.
- Frying Kabab: Heat oil in a broad non-stick or cast iron pan. Once the oil is hot, switch the heat to medium and slide kababs gently into the hot oil. Shallow fry kababs from the bottom, until they are golden from bottom.
- Now flip the kebabs using a spatula and fry from both sides until they are golden and crispy, keep turning over as needed. After that, drain the fried kababs on a kitchen towel-lined plate. Shallow fry the rest of the kababs.
- Serving: Serve hara bhara kabab hot with tomato ketchup or with green coriander chutney.
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NOTES:
- I have added 3 medium-sized mashed potatoes, but you can surely add less if you want a soft sticky mixture.
- This recipe makes spicy kababs, if you don't like too many spices then you can skip adding 1-2 spices. Or adjust the number of spices as per your taste.
- If you want a rich and nutty taste, you can also add cashew nuts or walnuts to the pan while sautéing spinach and peas.
- When shallow frying kababs, keep the heat to medium. Do not fry them on low heat or high heat. After dropping kebabs, only flip the kababs when one side is golden, this way they will come out crispy and won't break.
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Author: Anupama
Recipe Source Link: https://www.mygingergarlickitchen.com/hara-bhara-kabab/