Kwik Fix Series # 3 - Peas Pulav

Back after a short break! Actually we are about to move to a new city and at the verge of winding up things here. So I should say, I'm missing the enthu to try out new recipes. But that's never going to keep me away from my blog and will try to update with some simple recipes.

It's gonna be really hectic till we move and set up our new home. But still, it's lot of fun. New place and new friends. Looking forward to it and if we get settled in a place for a long time, it would start boring after a while; specially when it is not your native place. It is like, we are changing home every 6 months! I started loving to go around and look for new communities and it is altogether a great hobby ;) Better to look at it this way!


This is one more addition to my kwik fix series and it is really quick and easy. If you do not have the time for a side dish, you can have it with plain curd. I normally serve it with a north Indian gravy. I would say there are 100 different ways of making a pulav and each method gives one new taste. This is one such version and I would post variations in the time to come.

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 1 cup
Peas - 1/2 to 1 cup
Jeera - 2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tablespoon
Cloves - 3
Cardomom - 1
Slit green chillies - 3
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak the rice in 1.5 cups water for 5 to 10 min and cook.
2. Microwave the peas until done; if you do not have a microwave, cook it on stove top till done.
3. Heat ghee, add jeera, cloves, cardomom and green chillies. Fry a bit and mix peas.
4. Cool the rice a bit and mix with peas. Reheat and serve hot. Jeera, ghee and peas adds a great flavour and this simple dish is sure to impress everyone.

Kwik Fix Series # 2 - Schezwan Fried Rice

Do you believe in love at first sight? No, I am not up to a romantic story. I am quite aware that this is a food blog and I must ideally post culinary related stuff. I am actually talking about a dish with which I fell in love at the first sight. I have written enough about my fervour for Chinese food.

I remember having Schezwan Fried Rice in a Singaporean restaurant at Chennai about a decade back. Till then, I never knew such a dish existed. It looked colorful and I loved the tangy and spicy taste of the dish. It's a fiery hot dish for spice lovers like me. From then on, I got hooked to it.

This is actually a quick dish to make and you can accomplish a great meal in limited time frame. Easy for even a novice cook. So, here comes my second recipe under the kwik fix series.

I haven't used readymade Schezwan sauce for the recipe. I made my own spice mix and if you don't have a food processer, you can use the ready sauce; that way making it bachelor friendly. For any Chinese food, fry the vegetables on high flame till crispy for a short time.

Ingredients:
Basmathi rice - 1 cup
Carrots, Beans, Cabbage finely chopped - 3/4 cup
Spring Onions - a few
Soya sauce - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Oil 1 tablespoon
Grind to a paste
3-4 redchillies soaked in water for 15 min, half garlic

Method:

1. Soak the rice in water fo 10 min and cook with double the amount of water in an electric rice cooker. If you are using a pressure cooker, use 1.5 times water.
2. Heat the oil and melt the sugar. Add a red chilli broken into two. Finely chop the bottom thick portion of the spring onions and fry it in the oil. Reserve the top portion for garnishing. Add the ground paste and fry a little
3. Add the veggies and fry on high flame. Mix the soya sauce and salt and fry till the veggies are crisp and cooked.
4. Switch off and mix the rice. Reheat and garnish with spring onion.

Serve hot. You can make this in 30 min. By the time the rice is cooked, you can finish the frying part and do the mixing.



Sending this off to Monthly Mingle - Ravishing Rice hosted by Nags of Edible garden originating from Meeta's blog.

More kuzhambu

is loosely translated to yoghurt gravy and is popular among iyers.

I am updating my blog after a long break (a week) mainly because I was away on a vacation. I returned two days back but certain amount of laziness crept in and I was in a laid back mood. My own blog seems unfamiliar after the break and I had to try really hard to defy my laziness and break the silence. That explains how hard I work to get myself active. :)

Had an awesome holiday. Everything went on fine except for the awfully bad food. Being a vegetarian, I had to resort to cheese pizza and fries all the time. The cheese and potato made me really sick. Sick enough to transform me from a potato lover to a staunch hater of it. I despise the very sight of potatoes. Hope I will get back to the normal self after a week or so. I just wanted to gain access to my own sweet kitchen and started craving for healthy home food. I really wonder how some Indians could change their food habits and thrive on pizzas and like. It's never an healthy option and I think I can never change my food habits anytime anywhere. Infact, I am really proud of Indian food varieties. I see non-Indians falling crazy for Indian food and that explains the goodness of our food culture.

But being a foodie, I like trying diff varieties now and then. I started loving mexican food since it offers more choice for even veggies like me.

Coming back to the post, this is a typical south Indian food made regularly at home. I made it this time with lady's finger. You can even use pumpkin, taro (arbi) or chayote squash(chow chow).

I have given two methods though I posted the pic for the first method only. First is the Tanjore style and second, Kerala style.
Finally, my blog looks updated and I am glad for getting back on track.




Ingredients:

Okra - 5 chopped
Thin Yoghurt or sour butter milk.(If the yoghurt is not sour, mix half a tsp tamarind paste)
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Hing - 1 pinch
For Paste
Coconut - 1.5 tablespoon
Red chillies - 2 medium sized
Fenugreek - 1/2 tsp
Soaked thoor dhall - 2 tsp
Channa dhall - 2 tsp
Dhania - 1 tsp
Fry the channa dhall, dhania, red chillies and fenugreek till light brown in a tsp of oil and grind together with coconut and thoor dhall.
Seasoning: Curry leaves, mustard, fenugreek 1/2 tsp, coconut oil or sesame oil or mix both.
salt to taste

Method:
1. Fry the okra in oil till crisp. Generally it is deep fried, but suddenly I turn calorie conscious and hence used a little oil to fry. Mix a little salt and keep aside.
2. Mix yoghurt, turmeric, hing, salt and ground paste.
3. Season the ingredients under seasoning, mix the curd and okra. Simmer a little and don't boil; otherwise the curd might break. That's the standing instruction for anything cooked with yoghurt.
Your gravy is ready to serve. Good to go with rice.

Method 2: Grind coconut, 1 tsp of cumin, 3 green chillies and use the paste in the similar way as method 1.

PS: For veggies other than okra, just boil and add. Don't fry.

Chole Masala

It's time for some authentic Punjabi food. Are you looking for the recipe of the famous Chole Masala? You have landed, rightly here! I have seen several versions of the recipe using tea for inducing black colour. I sort of, don't like the idea and omitted it conveniently.Well,convenience both in terms of cooking and eating.

When did I actually fell in love with the dish? The best channa masala I have had till date, surprisingly does not come from a dhaba. It is indeed from my fav Saravana Bhavan. However, I have had it in the hotel's Chennai branches a couple of years back and not sure whether it is the same now. During my college days, I used to have a plate of cutlet channa from the restaurant atleast once a week, while walking back home from the bus stop. The plate was served, garnished with a chilli, slices of onion, a ring of tomato, a wedge of lemon and chopped coriander. Nothing to beat the taste. In an effort to recreate the magic, I tried this recipe and I should say, it tasted different yet wonderful. Mine is closer to the Dhabha taste and therfore I can rightfully claim that it is authentic chole masala. May be, the dish at Saravana Bhavan was tweaked a bit to be able to go as a chaat.

Kabuli channa is rich in proteins and that makes this a nutritious food. You can have this with batura, poori, roti or even with bread or cutlet as chaat. Garnishing with onions and lemon really does the trick and enhances the taste.

Ingredients:
Boiled channa - 3 or 4 cups(Soak the channa overnight and pressure cook till completely done)
Onion - 1 big
Tomatoes - 2 Medium
Cilantro - Handful
Green chillies - 3 medium
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Chole masala - 1 tsp
Ginger and garlic - just enough to make a teaspoon of paste
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste
Kasoori methi - 1 tsp(Optional)
To garnish: Chopped coriander, sliced onions, Lemon wedge

Method:

Paste 1: Onions(Optional), ginger and garlic. (Read this if you are grinding onions)
Paste 2: Cilantro, green chillies and tomato
Paste 3: Grind a handful of boiled channa

1. Heat the oil and season with Jeera.
2. Add paste 1 and fry till light brown. If you are not grinding onions, add chopped onions and fry. Now a days, I have resorted to chopping onions.
3. Add paste 2, turmeric, dhania powder and chilli powder. Cook till done.
4. Add the cooked channa and a little water. Add salt, chole masala, kasoori methi and boil. Mix Paste 3.
5. Serve hot with pooris, bhatura or rotis. Don't forget to garnish with onions and lime.



Tip: Add half a tsp of chaat masala if you are serving as bread channa or cutlet channa.

Sending this to Sunday Snacks - Chaats hosted by Pallavi.

Keerai (greens) molagootal

This is a traditional Palakkad iyer dish which is quite famous at my home. One irony about the dish is, though it is called molagootal, we don't add any molagu(pepper corns)to it. I see lot of people mentioning about pepper in their molagootal recipes. But the authentic recipe doesn't have any pepper and this is highly nutritious, non-spicy food, good for everyone.Molagootal is made using ara keerai and since I get only spinach here, I made use of it. Other famous molagootals are cabbage,mixed veg(raw banana,carrot,yam,potato,chow-chow), just chayote squash(chow-chow), yellow pumpkin and you can always be creative and come up with your own combination. I'm tired today to post anything eloborate and so limiting myself to a simple recipe. This can be made in a jiffy specially with the kind of spinach you get here. It's so clean and fresh unlike Chennai where we got to spend a lot of time in cleaning up greens. But of kors, you don't get so many Indian varieties here. That's a trade-off and I am actually quite happy that I get a lot of Indian veggies here. I never expected so much.Spinach is a great source of iron,vitamin A,B and C and this is one great way to consume it without losing the nutrition. This has spinach,dal and coconut making it tasty,healthy and nutritious. Now let us get cooking.

Ingredients:

Spinach - 2 cups finely chopped

Thoor dhall - half a cup cooked

coconut - 1 to 2 table spoons

Red chillies- 2 medium

jeera - 2tsp

urad dhall - 2 tsp

Mustard - 2 tsp

coconut oil - 2 tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Method:

1. Cook the spinach and mix the cooked dhall.

2. Grind coconut,chillies and jeera into a paste and add to spinach.

3. Boil till frothy and season with urad dhall, mustard, asafoetida in coconut oil base.

Use the same method to make any molagootal substituting spinach with a diff veggie.

Goes well with vetha kozhambu or rasam rice. Also, plain rice and pickle makes a good combo to spice up this non-spicy dish.

Mushroom Pulav

I never had a liking for mushrooms during my childhood days. Infact I thought its something non vegetarian and detested it. (No offence meant. Just that I am a pure veggie) Once i had a small bit of mushroom from a soup and thought it's not that bad afterall. But later on I came to know that its so healthy and decided to include it in my diet now and then. It's only after having mushroom pulav at saravana bhavan, that I started developing a taste for it. I got completely hooked on mushrooms and specially relish the mushroom pulav at Saravana Bhavan. slurp! So yummy it is! I always wanted to reproduce it in my kitchen and failed in my attempts. However, I wouldn't call it a miserable failure as I still managed to cook it drool-worthy, in my own ways. So far I haven't managed to make any big disasters. Touch wood! This time, I wanted to exactly re-create my fav food and guess what? it's all success! I gave a lot of thought to it and first tried to list down the ingredients. I didn't miss even the presence of few mint leaves and set out to cook my 'all time fav' mushroom pulav. Do you wonder how many dishes will I add to my 'all time fav' list? I already said I am a foodie. (check out my blog's tag line. Well, u can call it an ad-break) This time around, my efforts are fruitful and I present to you 'Mushroom pulav'. However, I reduced the amount of ghee. The hotel people drown the rice in ghee which doesnt sound nice to me. So, how much ghee to add, I leave it to your discretion .

Ingredients:

Mushrooms - 1 cup
Basmathi rice - 2 cups
Ghee - 1 tablespoon
Mint leaves - 10
Cashews - 10
Cloves - 2
Jeera - 3 tsp
Slit green chillies
salt to taste
Chopped coriander - to garnish

Method:

1. Soak the rice for 10 min and cook with 1.5 times water.
2. Cook the mushrooms with a little water separately till done.(There shud be no moisture)
3. Heat 3 tsp ghee, add the cashews and fry.
4. Season with Jeera, cloves, add chillies and mushroom(no raw mushroom). Add mint leaves, salt and fry till the mushrooms are crisp.
5. Cool the rice a bit and mix it with the mushroom mixture. The grains should be separate. Strictly no sticking together.
6. Reheat the pulav after mixing and add the chopped coriander. Add a dollop of ghee and mix well. You can add more ghee if you are not calorie conscious or if you are making it to attract kids.
7. Serve hot with onion raitha

Onion Raitha: Mix finely chopped onions, curd and black salt. Black salt does the trick.




Tips:

1. I think the thing that made the difference is adding cooked mushrooms. Before, I used to add raw mushrooms after seasoning ingredients and I think the water that mushrooms oozes out spoiled the taste a bit. So this time I cooked the mushrooms beforehand and just fried quickly in ghee with the seasoning. Thumbs-up!
2. I feel the mint leaves make the best combination with this pulav and will not suit any other pulav.(like peas) However it's my personal choice.
3. I didn't add garam masala to my recipe. I liked it without the spices and may be you can add a tsp of garam masala.

Disclaimer : Don't hold me responsible if you can find any difference after tasting the same at the hotel. I afterall made it by just relying on my taste buds!

Sending this to CFK- Rice event hosted by Trupti originating from Sharmi's website.

http://recipecenterforall.blogspot.com/2009/04/announcing-cooking-for-kids-rice-event.html

Tomato Rasam

I jus luv this anytime. For those of you who do not know what rasam is, its a kind of south Indian soup with spice and lentil. But it is normally not served as a starter and you generally have it towards the end of your main course before curd rice. Rasam is something traditional which aids in digestion after a heavy meal and we south indians make it almost everyday. A south Indian thali is not complete without rasam. We can actually make several kinds of it and the recipe varies with each household. I bet no two persons make it in a similar way. Even if you follow the same method, the final product might actually taste a bit different. I would say it takes lot of expertise to make a perfect rasam. What else could comfort you more than a perfect rasam on a cold night or when you are down with fever or a bad cold? One can have a wonderful feast out in a restaurant or a star hotel but I feel this particular thing is best made at home. As a kid, I was fussy about food and my mom always had a tough time making me eat. But even then, I used to feast on a plate of rasam rice with a papad to go with, as if it were the ultimate food on earth. I give here the recipe for one type of rasam I regularly make at home. Will post more in the days to come.

Ingredients:
Ripe Tomatoes - 2 finely chopped
Cooked thoor dhall - 1 cup
Tamarind - half lime size
Rasam powder(see the method below) - 4 tsp
Jaggery powder (optional)- 1/2 tsp
Fresh spice powder - 3 tsp (powder 1 tsp pepper corn and 2 tsp cumin without roasting)
Salt to taste
Asafoetida - 1/2tsp
Coriander to garnish
ghee,curry leaves and mustard to season

Rasam powder:
Dhaniya seeds - 1 cup
Thoor dhall - 1/4 cup
Pepper - 1/4 cup
Cumin - 1/4 cup
Fry the ingredients on a dry tawa and powder with 5 red chillies.I do not prefer storing this for a long time. Generally I make this every week.

Method:
1.Add the tomatoes to half cup water and boil for 5 min till it becomes soft.
2.Add asafoetida,rasam powder,tamarind pulp,jaggery,salt and boil till the raw smell goes.
3.Add 2 cups of water to the cooker dhall, mash well and add to the rasam.Heat for a short time till it becomes frothy. Do not boil it.
4.Switch off the flame, add the fresh spice powder(do not store, make it fresh everytime) and chopped coriander.
5.Season with mustard and curry leaves fried in ghee.

Tips:
1. Always make the rasam in a narrow, tall and thick bottomed vessel over slow fire.
2. Do not boil the rasam; just heat it till frothy.
3. Do not store the rasam powder for more than 15 days. The aroma and flavour gets lost.
4. The composition I have mentioned is to suit my taste. Adjust the ingredients and customise if required. Avoid jaggery if you do not like the mild sweetness.

Shahi Paneer

I have an exciting array of recipes up my sleeve, waiting to get posted sooner or later. This one in particular has been staying in my digi cam for a little over two months and finally managed to find its way to my blog. Yet another paneer dish waiting to reach your taste buds! Well, only if you wish to make it for yourself. So much for just writing the recipe!

Shahi means royal and this is definitely royal with rich ingredients. This is actually similar to paneer butter masala except that I add curd to it. But i have seen some people adding curd to PBM also. So I am not sure about the actual differences between the two but I have slight differences in my recipes. Well, it doesn't really pain to add one more recipe to my database without much effort. I mean in terms of remembering a new set of ingredients and method that an extremely different recipe would call for.

I'm really proud or rather happy for having been born in such a country which has so many food varieties. I'm enthralled by the extreme diversity of food culture in India. It differs from state to state and sometimes even within a state like how we have the Chettinad cuisine which is different from the normal Tamilnadu cuisine. Well, this deserves a separate blog entry and I do not want to dilute its intensity by writing more about it in this post.

INGREDIENTS:

onions 1 or 2
tomatoes 2 medium sized
paneer cubes 10 to 15
Sliced ginger and garlic - 1 to 2 tsp
curd 1/2 cup
coriander handful
chilli powder 3 tsp
dhania powder 2 tsp
garam masala - 1 tsp
jeera powder 1 tsp
fresh spice powder 1/2 tsp (cardomom,cinnamon,cloves)

for frying
butter 50 g
oil 1/4 cup

soak and grind to a smooth paste
cashew 2 table spoon
khus khus 1 table spoon

METHOD

1. Slice the onions, fry till light brown in 2 tablespoons of oil,grind to a fine paste and keep aside.
2. Cut tomatoes and ginger into small pieces, fry then in the same oil, grind to a smooth paste and keep aside.
3. Heat oil and butter, add the onion paste, thinly sliced garlic and fry till dark brown.
4. Add the cashew khus khus paste and fry well.
5. Add the tomato and ginger pulp and cook well.
6. Add the dry powders
7. Finally add the curd and cook well
8. Add 2 cups of water, fresh spice powder,coriander and then the paneer.
9.Serve hot with cream

Gobi Manchurian

Gobi manchurian is a chinese dish tweaked a bit to suit the Indian palate. I love to have it tangy and hot. This along with a plate of chinese fried rice is absolutely scrumptious. When I was working at Chennai Infosys, this used to be the featured lunch menu on fridays at the food court. It would be either manchurian/plain fried rice or schezwan fried rice on the menu and I would be eagerly waiting for the lunch time :) I grabbed my share hot-hot and if there were any early bird prizes, I would have won hands down. To tell the truth, the food was not so great and people who knew abt out chennai food court would endorse. But, a tiny piece of paper with 'chinese food' written on it is enough to amuse me and I also believe even the baddest cook can manage to cook it reasonably well. Incidentally, paper was also invented in China. Oh, I don't eat paper by the way. However, I should confess that I have never tasted authentic chinese food and people who have tried it say it is nowhere close to what we get in Indian restaurants. I am still contented with the Indo-chinese food and do not even want to visit a chinese restaurant. Ingredients:
Cauliflower - 1 cup
Rice flour,corn flour,maida - 1:1:1 (1.5 table spoon of each aprrox)
Capsicum - 1
Onion - 1
Oil to fry
salt to taste
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Orange color - 2 pinch (optional)
Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
Tomato ketchup - 1 tablespoon
Soya sauce - 2 tsp
Spring onions to garnish.

Method:
1. Break the cauliflower into medium size florets. Clean them by immersing in salted water for 5 min. I use lukewarm water but I have heard people telling it is better to use cold water as against some people telling hot water. So i choose to be moderate and use lukewarm. Someone please enlighten me as to which is the best. I always eat my caulifower with 100% belief that it's worm-free. I don't want to be paranoid here and lose the charm.
2. Make a batter with all the three flour,water,chilli powder,color,salt and ginger garlic paste.The consistency should be such that it sticks to the florets coating thoroughly. Deep fry in hot oil.
3. Cut the onion and capsicum into cubes.
4. Heat oil, fry the onions and capsicums till tender. Add the fried florets, tomato ketchup and soya sauce. Mix well and garnish with spring onions. Serve immediately with chinese fried rice.
I feel this is good to go with the rice and not much as a starter.


Click here for the chinese fried rice recipe. This time I tried a small variation. Reduced the amount of soya sauce to 1.5 tsp and added a tsp of white pepper powder. It just tasted as heavenly as before. One other tip is while frying veg for fried rice, do it over high flame quickly to get it crisp.
This is off to the kids lunch event as I find it good enough to fascinate the kids.

http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/03/monthly-mingle-31-kids-lunches.html http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-monthly-mingle.html

Macaroni hot pot

One more in a row to go for the kids lunch event. This is the first event I am participating after starting my blog and hence very enthusiastic about it. It is lot of fun. As and when I cook something which is fit enough to be eaten by kids, I send it off as an entry. Thanks Srivalli, for being such a good host. Eagerly waiting for the round-up!
This is cooked as a one-pot meal and with ingredients like cheese, butter, pasta etcetera, it is sure to impress everyone at home. But this is something to be served straight from the stove (oven) when the cheese is melty. What more do you need for a weekend lunch?

Ingredients:

Macaroni - 1 to 2 cups
Mozarella cheese - as you wish
Onions 2
Capsicum - 2
Butter - 2 tablespoon
tomatoes - 2
Tinned corn - 1/2 to 1 tin
For White sauce
maida - 1 cup
Milk 1/2 cup
Butter 1 tablespoon

Method:

1. Boil macaroni in hot water till tender.
2. Drain and keep aside.
3. Fry the chopped onions till tender and pink in the melted butter.
4. Add the macaroni, salt and 2tsp chilli powder. Mix well and keep aside.
5. Fry capsicum and tomato along with the corn.
6. Melt the butter, fry the maida, add the milk little by little and stir till the white sauce thickens.
7. Grease a baking tray and spread the macaroni. Top it with capsicum, tomato and spread the white sauce. Sprinkle the tomato sauce and cheese. Bake at 180 deg for 15 to 20 min or microwave high for 3 min.

Sure to melt in your mouth!
http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/03/monthly-mingle-31-kids-lunches.html http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-monthly-mingle.html

Paneer Bhurji & Kathi roll

I feel paneer and potato are similar in more ways than one. Both are versatile and universally acclaimed. Of course, paneer is mostly used by Indians but still those who taste it once, will crave for it ever. Not to mention, both of them starts with the letter 'p' :) I'm leaving the potatoes here and going ahead with paneer to make a very simple and quick dish - paneer bhurji. You can use your creativity to come up with various other recipes using this as the base.

Paneer is Indian cottage cheese which is a rich source of protein good enough to substitute for meat. I have also mixed a handful of spinach in this recipe for extra nutrition. It is always better to mix a variety of vegetables/ingredients to get all possible nutrients in a single meal.Not only that, this strategy can be used to make your kids(sometimes even adults) eat things which they normally resist. But ofkors, the ingredients should blend well to make the meal tasty.

Ingredients:
Grated Paneer 2 cups
Jeera - 2 tsp
Onions - 1 or 2 finely chopped
Tomatoes - 1 (grated)
Chopped spinach - half a cup
Crushed green chillies - 2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Chopped Coriander to garnish
Salt to taste

Method :
1. Heat oil, season jeera, fry the onions.
2. Add the chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry.
3. Add spinach, fry half a minute and add the tomatoes.
4. Add the dry powders after the tomatoes get cooked.
5. Add paneer and a little water and cook till done. Be careful while adding salt as the paneer might be salty already. I made use of the masala paneer available in the Indian grocery. Give it a try.
6. Garnish with coriander and serve with rotis.

Serving tips:
1. You can use this to make paneer kathi rolls. Spread the paneer on the rotis and roll them tight to make the kathi rolls or wrap. You can heat it once on a tawa if you wish to. This can be used for travel or pack lunch boxes. It can be served anytime of the day. This is also a way to use your leftover rotis. You can also use this idea to conceal veggies which your kids don't eat otherwise.


2. You can stuff this inside dosa to make paneer masala dosa. The other way is, arrange 2 or 3 layers of dosa with paneer in between, roll them tight, slice them into pieces and serve. You can pour some curd on the top and serve as curd dosa similar to curd vada.

3. You can make paneer sandwiches by filling this in between bread slices and toasting it or even make stuffed paneer parathas.

Needless to say, this goes to the kids lunch event.

http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/03/monthly-mingle-31-kids-lunches.html http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-monthly-mingle.html

Dum aloo gravy

comes as a follow-up of the aloo fry I made few days ago. Dum aloo has potatoes simmered in tomato gravy along with Indian spices. I have made this the Punjabi way. I guess for the Kashmiri style, dry fruits are stuffed inside potato balls. Somehow, the idea does not appeal to me and I feel dry fruits are made for sweets and desserts. I like to have it the spicy way. Here's one more recipe that gets into the punjabi, aloo label. Go for it!

Ingredients:

Potatoes or baby potatoes - 1/2 kg

Onions - 2

Tomato - 2

Curd - 2 tablespoon

Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Dry roast and grind to powder:

Dry Chillies - 3

Pepper - 2 tsp

Dhaniya - 2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Cinnamon - 1

Cardomom - 1

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes, Cut into small cubes, deep fry in oil till golden brown and keep aside.

2. Add oil and fry the chopped onions or onion paste till light brown. Read this if you are using onion paste.

3. Add the tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt and cook.

4. Add the fried potatoes and spice powder. Add curd and a little water and simmer the gravy.

5. Garnish with coriander.

And I forgot to tell you, this is the one that enlightened me about the use of onion paste - my previous post.

Coconut Milk Pulav

which is a little different from the normal spicy pulav vareities. The colorful, sweet, nutritious, non-spicy and yummy dish is an ideal meal for kids. Why am I suddenly concerned about cooking for kids? Read through the post.




Ingredients:

Basmathi rice - 1 cup (Soaked in water for 10 min)
Coconut Milk - 1 cup
Carrot - 1 sliced diagonally
Peas - half a cup
Cloves - 2
Green chillies slitted - 1 or 2
Cashews fried in ghee - 5 to 10
Butter - 2 tsp
Jeera - 2 tsp
Chopped coriander to garnish
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat the cooker vessel, add the butter and season with jeera and cloves.
2. Add the soaked rice and coconut milk. Add half a cup of water.
3. Add the veg, chillies, salt and cook till done. (10 to 15 min in medium flame) Don't use the weight.
4. Garnish with chopped coriander and fried cashews.

Serving Tip : Remove the cloves and add a dollop of ghee. Serve with potato wafers and curd.

I made this for dinner yesterday and only then did I notice this event. What a coincidence!!!
And now you get the drift as to why I was talking about kid's lunch.
Sending my recipe to the events.

http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/03/monthly-mingle-31-kids-lunches.html
http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-monthly-mingle.html

Veg Kurma

is a rich, creamy vegetable gravy which dates back to the 16th century. This goes well with north indian roties and south indian appam, puri and idiyappam. It makes an awesome combo with pulav and biriyani varieties as well.

Ingredients:

Beans -20 nos

Peas 1 cup

potatoes - 2

Carrots - 2

Tomatoes - 1

Coconut milk - half a cup

Turmeric powder 1tsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp

Butter- 1 tablespoon

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Paste 1:

Onion - 1

Green chillies - 4

Coriander leaves- handful

Paste 2:

Cocunut -2 tablespoon

Cashews 5 to 10 soaked in water for 15 min

Method:

1. Chop the veggies finely

2. Heat butter, season with fennel seeds, add paste 1 and fry

3. Add the vegetables and a cup of water. Cook for a while and add the coconut milk. Add more Water as per your requirement.

4. Add the chopped tomatoes, dry powders and cook for 2 min

5. Add Paste 2 and cook till the gravy thickens

PS:

1. You can add a piece of ginger and few garlic cloves to paste 1.

2. You may include a tsp of garam masala with the dry powders

Brinjal Curry

Brinjal or egg plant is something hated by most people. But for those of you who love the vegetable, it offers a wide cooking scope. Right from enna kathrika to bahara baingan, you can make wonders with it. As of now, I'm limiting my post to a simple brinjal curry. Much ado about nothing :)

Ingredients:

Brinjal - 5( moderate size)

Red chillies - 2 or 3

Dhaniya - 1 tsp

Channa dhall - 3 tsp

Urud dhall - 2 tsp

Peanuts - 4 tsp

Tamarind extract made out of a small ball

Mustard - 1 tsp

Oil - 4 tsp

salt to taste

Method:

1. Fry red chillies, dhaniya, dhall, peanuts with a little oil and powder it. (a little coarse)

2. Slice the brinjal length wise. Heat 1 tsp of oil, season with mustard and add the brinjal.

3. Cover the veg with tamarind pulp and cook till they become soft and water evoporates.

4. Add the remaining oil, the ground powder and salt and fry till you are satisfied :)

Tips:

1. You may also add 2 tsp of coconut and a few curry leaves.

2. You may substitute sesame seeds for peanuts.

3. It is always good to use gingelly oil for better taste(for brinjal) and I think it is an healthy option too(well any oil cannot be healthy still...)

Veg Biryani

is an exotic rice dish popular in middle east and south asian countries. Hyderabadi Biriyani is quite famous among food lovers. It is a mix of basmathi rice, yoghurt, vegetables, meat and spices. My Biriyani has everything but meat and yet tastes as spicy as a non-veg Biriyani. Maybe you can add pieces of mushroom or paneer to give a better effect. This recipe has a lot of ingredients with a laborious preparation yet worth trying.

Ingredients :

Basmathi rice - 1/4 kg

Onions 1

Beans 100 g

Carrots 1

Peas 1/2 cup

Yoghurt 1/2 cup

To be soaked in curd :

Chopped tomatoes 1 or 2

Dhania powder - 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Slit green chillies - 4

Mint - few leaves finely chopped

Coriander - a handful finelychopped

Bay leaves - 2

Cardamom - 2

Cloves - 3

Cinnamon - 2

Saffron - a pinch

Grind to a fine paste

Ginger - a small piece

Garlic - 1

Green chillies - 3

Method

1. Wash and soak rice for 10 min( Always soak the basmathi rice before cooking to get longer grains)

2. Fry in melted butter along with 1 teaspoon of saunf and bay leaves till light brown.

3. Cook with 1.5 times water. If you pressure cook, wait till pressure builds up(abt 5 min) and then open the lid. Add salt and cook on low fire.

5. Cut veg into thin long strips and pressure cook without water.

6. Cut onions into thin long strips and fry in a little melted butter or oil till tender.

7. Add other boiled veg and then curd paste and fry till the gravy is dry and mix with rice.

8. Grease a heavy vessel with a little ghee and add the rice. Cover and keep it on low flame for 10 min. You can even place it in a pre-heated oven for 10 min.

9. Garnish with chopped coriander, fried cashews and paneer. You can also add fried bread pieces.

Kovakka or Tindora Fry

Another dry curry!
Tindora is something common and cheap, back home. I do find a lot of them even here. Are you bored of making the same old fry using salt and chilli? Here I come with 2 variations. Simple yet yummy.

Variation 1

Ingredients:

Tindora- 20 nos

Shallots (small onions)- 10

Red chillies - 2

Oil - 1 table spoon

Mustard - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Method :

1. Cut the tindora length wise into thin strips.

2. Fry the shallots and red chillies in a teaspoon of oil, grind and keep it aside.

3. Heat the oil, temper the mustard and add the tindora.

4. After it gets slightly cooked, add salt and the ground paste.

5. Fry them well and the curry is ready to serve. Goes well with rice.

Variation 2

Ingredients:
Tindora- 20 nos (sliced length wise)
Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Pav Bhaji Masala - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 table spoon
Jeera - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil and season with jeera.

2. Add the chilli powder and tindora in that order.

3. After it gets cooked, mix the salt and pav bhaji masala. This does the trick and gives a north Indian flavor which makes it suitable for rotis.

Tip : You can also mix half a cup of boiled channa. Ofkors remember to adjust salt and chilli accordingly.

Aloo fry

which is something different from the normal pan fried potatoes. The masala used is similar to that used for dum aloo. This is in a dry form and maybe you can vary this to make a dum aloo gravy. I will try that soon and post it. This goes well with roti, rice and typical south indian gravies also - a welcoming change.Ingredients:
Baby Potatoes 1/2 kg
pepper 1 tsp
dhania seeds 1tsp
Garlic 4
Ginger 1 big piece
Red chilli powder 2 tsp
Haldi 1/2 tsp
Jeera 2 tsp
Spice powder - Cardomom,cinnamon,cloves 2 each fried over a dry tawa and powdered
Oil for frying
Salt to taste
Coriander to garnish

Method:
1) Pressure cook the potatoes
2) Peal and prick the potatoes with a fork
3) Grind pepper,Dhania seeds,garlic and ginger to a fine paste
4) Smear the potatoes with salt,turmeric,chilli powder,the ground paste and keep aside
5) Heat oil and season with jeera
6) Fry the potatoes till golden brown
7) Add the spice powder and garnish with chopped coriander

Great side dish for more kozhambu and my mouth is watering as I write this :P

Pumpkin Puli Pachadi (sour gravy)

This is a dish from palakkad regularly made at home. Pumpkins can be substituted by lady's finger. Generally it is made using either of the two.

Ingredients:

yellow pumpkin chopped into pieces - 1 cup

tamarind paste - 1 tsp or tamarind extract from a lemon-size ball

coconut - 1 tablespoon

mustard seeds - 1 1/2 tsp

Green Chillies - 4

Urad dhall - 1 tsp

Coconut oil - 1 tsp

salt to taste

Coriander to Garnish

Method:
1) Boil the yellow pumpkin with 2 cups water till soft

2) Add the tamarind paste and salt. Check for the water content and add some more if required 3) Grind cocount,half a tsp mustard(Hold the rest for seasoning) and green chillies into a smooth paste

4) Add the paste and boil till frothy(Don't boil too much after adding coconut)

5) Temper the mustard and fry the urad dhall in the oil and season the gravy

6) Garnish with chopped coriander

Panner Butter Masala

Paneer Butter Masala is a rich, creamy and yet spicy preparation of paneer in a tomato gravy . It is basically a punjabi dish and anyone would crave for it. Though it looks and sounds a bit complicated with so many ingredients, it is a relatively easy preparation and you can make it restaurant-like so quickly.

Ingredients:

Onions - 1/4 kg

Tomatoes - 1/4 kg

Paneer cubes - 1 cup

Khus khus and cashew paste 2 tablespoons

Dry powders
Turmeric powder 1 tsp

Chilli powder 2 tsp

Dhaniya powder 2 tsp

Garam Masala powder 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Spice powder

(To be fried in oil and powdered)

cardomom, cinnamon, cloves 4 each

For Frying

Oil 1 tablespoon

Butter 1 tablespoon

For seasoning

Jeera 2 tsp

Bay leaves 2 to 3

Coriander 1/2 bunch

Kasoori methi a pinch

For garnishing

Fresh Cream 1 table spoon

Method:

1. Heat oil and butter and season with jeera and bay leaves.

2. Fry the chopped onions till dark brown

3. Now add khus khus cashew paste and fry well.

4. Add the dry powders

5. Mix well and add the grated tomatoes

6. Add salt and simmer till the oil comes out

7. Add about 2 cups water and panner cubes

8. Sprinkle the spice powder and chopped coriander

9. Decorate with cream and serve hot.

Tips:

1. It is gud to add grated tomatoes to give a nice texture.

2. Kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) really does the trick. Try to add them without fail to give a nice aroma and flavor

3. Home made paneer recipe : Raw milk - 1 litre ; Sour curd-1 cup; Lime juice

Boil the milk and add curd and lime juice.

Stir till the whey water is clear

Strain in a thin cloth

Place a weight on the top and keep for sometime.

( I have always used ready-made paneer and I find it equally good. If you could invest so much time and patience, try this :) )