Hara bhara kabab (Veg kabab)

Hara bhara kabab are a popular healthy and delicious appetizer cum snack made with spinach, potatoes, peas, spices and herbs. These vegan and gluten-free spinach potato patties are filled with a burst of Indian flavors and are super addictive! These easy vegetarian kababs are hearty, healthy and are sure to satisfy the palate. Serve them with a cup of Indian chai, green chutney, mint chutney or with your favorite dip.

In this post I share with you 3 easy methods to cook these kebabs – pan fried, baked and air fried.

About hara bhara kabab

Hara bhara kabab are North Indian vegetarian kabab patties made with spinach, boiled potatoes, herbs, green peas, flour and spices. The word ‘Hara’ means ‘green’ in Hindi and ‘bhara’ means ‘filled’ and kabab is a piece of meat or vegetable that is most commonly char grilled.

So hara bhara kabab are vegetarian kababs that are filled with the goodness of greens. These are a popular appetizer in the North Indian restaurants. These are super-duper delicious with a damn good smoky flavor since they are grilled in tandoor, a clay oven.

But not all restaurant serve the best hara bhara kababs. A lot of times you will also find them super soggy, greasy and tasteless.

My recipe

My easy recipe will help you make the best hara bhaara kababs at home, better than what you may encounter in a lot of restaurants. The only thing you will miss is the smoky flavor as we are not making this on fire or smoking them.

These are a good and quick energy boosting snack that even the fussiest kid is going to enjoy them. I make these quite often for my kids as an after school snack. Sometimes we also put these spinach patties in burgers and my boys absolutely love them. You may check this link for more kids’ friendly healthy snacks recipes.

For more kabab recipes, you can check
Veg seekh kabab
Dahi kabab
Chicken kebab
Reshmi kabab

For more palak recipes, you may check this spinach curry, easy palak rice and dal palak.

How to make hara bhara kabab (stepwise photos)

Preparation

1. Clean and pluck 120 grams of palak (about 3½ to 4 cups). Add them to a large pot of water. I usually sprinkle some vinegar & salt over the leaves. Rest for a while and then rinse them in ample amount of water. Repeat rinsing thrice and drain them to a colander until the excess water drains up completely.

2. Boil 300 grams potatoes until fork tender, meaning they should be just cooked and not mushy. If using a pressure cooker, cook them for 3 to 4 whistles. To cook in Instant pot, cut each large potato to 2 pieces & place them on the trivet. Pressure cook them for 6 mins. Cool them and peel.

3. Pour 1 teaspoon oil to a pan. Fry ¾ inch ginger (chopped) and 1 to 3 green chilies for 30 seconds. I used only 1 as my kids’ can’t eat hot foods.

4. Add 1 cup green peas. Saute on a medium high flame for 4 to 5 minutes until soft & tender. If the peas are not tender, you will have to cover and cook for a little longer. Since we are not going to deep fry the patties, peas will not be cooked much further.

5. Add spinach and saute on a medium high flame until the leaves wilt completely. Ensure there is no water when you add the spinach to the pan otherwise it will let out too much moisture.

6. Cool these completely.

7. Transfer all the sauteed ingredients along with the half cup coriander leaves to a grinder jar. Ensure there is no water in the coriander leaves otherwise the puree will be too moist.

8. Blend all of them to a smooth paste.

Making dough

9. Crumble the potatoes in the mixing bowl. Transfer the spinach peas puree. Ensure potatoes are completely cool. Then add the following

• ¾ teaspoon garam masala
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon chaat masala or 1 tablespoon lemon juice

10. Add 2 tablespoons roasted gram flour (sattu or roasted besan). [Tip: To make sattu, add 2 tablespoons roasted gram to a grinder jar and powder.]

Also add ¼ cup bread crumbs or poha powder. [Tip: To make poha powder, add half cup poha to a grinder and powder it.] Check recipe notes for more substitutes & tips.

11. Mix all the ingredients to make a non-sticky & fairly stiff dough. Otherwise the kababs will turn soft and soggy from inside. If the mixture is not stiff enough or you want the patties to be very crispy, then add more bread crumbs or poha powder. [Tip: If it turns sticky, then add more flour or poha or bread crumbs. But I do not add any more].

12. Divide the dough to 10 equal portions. Roll them to balls. If your dough turns sticky, grease your fingers. I did not do it. Place the dough ball on your palm and flatten them to 2½ to 3 inch kabab. If you see the edges crack, join them. Keep them on a plate. You can even coat the patties in dry bread crumbs. Press them well and set aside for 5 to 7 minutes for the crumbs to stick well.

Making hara bhara kabab

13. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a fry pan. Spread it well. When the pan is hot, place the kababs. If the pan is not hot enough, the kababs will stick to the pan.

For baking in oven and air frying, check instructions in the recipe card below.

14. When they are roasted to golden and crisp on the bottom, flip them gently and fry on the other side as well. I had to add another half tablespoon oil after flipping. A high flame yields fairly browned but crispy patties in little time.

Serve hara bhara kabab with a sauce or yogurt coriander chutney. We served with mint chutney and homemade tomato ketchup. These can also be served as patties to make a burger.

Serving suggestion

Hara bhara kabab are best when served just out of the pan since they are crispy. They tend to loss the crispness when cooled down because they are not deep fried.

They can be served any time of the day with a Green chutney or a Pudina chutney.

If you have kids who love burgers, then they may like these hara bhara kabab as patties in veg burger. I spread some hung curd inside the burger. But you can also use some tomato ketchup or eggless mayo.

Hara bhara kabab are my kids’ favorite and they love these in their burgers.

You can also make a yummy chaat by adding dates tamarind chutney, sev, onions, tomatoes topped over it.

Variations

Hara bhara kabab translates to kababs that are loaded with greens. So these are made with lots of spinach, green peas, coriander leaves and potatoes. Here are some variations I often make to the recipe

1. I am a health nut and prefer to reduce the consumption of potatoes even for my kids, so sometimes I make these with sweet potatoes.

2. Usually hara bhara kababs are made with roasted gram flour or besan. I feel it is a bit of work to do it on a low flame. So I replace it with powdered poha. You can also use fiber rich red poha.

3. If the peas are not young, then I steam them along with potatoes.

4. If you are on a low oxalate diet then blanch the spinach in 3 cups of boiling water. Drain completely and blend them with peas.

Related Recipes

Recipe card