Kadai Paneer

Kadai Paneer is a Punjabi curry with fried paneer & bell peppers simmered in freshly ground masala. Addition of kasoori methi renders a magical flavor & aroma to any punjabi curry specially, the paneer ones. This is a dry curry suitable for rotis. Kadai means wok and the curry is typically served in a kadai. I love the way in which Indian curries are served in a cute copper kadai in restaurants. Getting one such kadai, tops my list of to-buy items during my next visit to India.

I would like to cook up a Punjabi curry, fill-up the kadai and click a nice picture for my blog.

Hope my dream gets realized.

See, what all dreams a foodie can have!

Ingredients:

Bell peppers 2 cut into cubes(Diff colors)
onions 2 finely chopped
tomatoes 3 (blanched, skin peeled and made into a puree)
curd 1 cup
paneer 1 cup or 250 g cut into cubes
butter or oil 1 tbsp
bay leaves 2
chilli powder 2 tsp
Garam masala powder 1 tsp
dhania powder 2 tsp
salt to taste
kasoori methi 1 tsp
prepared kadai paneer masala 2 tsp

Kadai Paneer Masala:

Dhania seeds 1 tbsp
pepper 1/2 tsp
red chillies 6
methi 1/2 tsp
cinnamon 2 tsp
jeera 1/2 tsp

Dry roast in a tawa, powder and keep aside.

Method:

1. Heat oil and butter and fry onions till brown, adding sliced garlic (1/2 tsp) and bay leaves.
2. Now add the ginger garlic paste and fry well.
3. Add the dry powder and fry. Add salt.
4. Add the tomatoes
5. Fry the paneer and capsicum and keep aside
6. Let the tomatoes boil and leave out the oil.
7. Add the curd and boil for sometime.
8. Now add the paneer and capsicum
9. Lastly add the finely chopped coriander and methi(fresh) or kasoori methi

Serve hot with rotis

Kala Channa Masala

Another Punjabi treat! I had a lot of kala channa (black chickpeas) in my pantry and wanted to use it, quickly. So, decided to make kala channa masala in the same line as chole masala that's made with kabuli channa. It did taste yummy and a bit different from the normal gravy. This would taste great with idiyappam too.

Let's quickly get into the recipe.

Ingredients:

kala channa (black chickpeas) - 1.5 cups (soaked overnight and cooked)

Potatoes - 2 medium, diced

Tomatoes - 2 medium

Onion - 1 big, finely chopped

Slit green chillies - 2

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1.5 tsp

Kashmiri Chilli powder - 1.5 tsp

Dhania Powder - 2 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Chole Masala - 1 tsp

Jeera - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Chopped cilantro to garnish

Ghee - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil, season with jeera. Add the chopped onions,green chillies and ginger garlic paste. Fry till dark brown.

2. Add the diced potatoes. Sprinkle a little water and cover till half cooked. Add chopped tomatoes.

3. When the tomatoes turn soft, add turmeric, chilli powder, dhania powder, cumin powder and salt. Add the cooked channa and a cup of water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes.

4. Add chole masala, garam masala, cover and cook till oil separates.

Garnish with chopped cilantro, add the ghee and serve hot with puris/rotis/pulav varieties.

Sending this to My legume Love Affair 16 th helping @ cook sister originating from Susan's blog.

Aloo Gobi Masala

Aloo Gobi - another lip smacking authentic Punjabi curry . Slurp! I am addicted to Punjabi Khaana as much I am to my very own south Indian delicacies. Every time I think about Indian food varieties, I am flabbergasted. I would best describe India as 'foodie's paradise'.

Aloo gobi would top my Punjabi favorites list. This is the first ever North Indian gravy I had, as far as I remember. Naan and Aloo Gobi would be my standard order, on our occasional restaurant visits, in early 90's. Those times, I used to be a fussy eater and I never had it in me to try paneer or mushroom. Not anymore! I never even wanted to try brinjal or Bindi in restaurants. Going all the way to a restaurant, I didn't want to try the usual vegetables that are used in south Indian cooking. Gobi was a rare, rather a no-no at our home then, fearing that it might contain worms. Well, it was actually true those days. Now a days I feel they are better; may be owing to the proper usage of pesticides. Hoping that they just make proper use!

The bottom line is gobi was, is and will be my favorite and I just am addicted to aloo gobi masala. Even now, If I have no clue what to order, I end up ordering this. So far, no restaurant has disappointed me.

If you have not tasted this yummy dish so far, please grab a plate and see for yourself, the greatness of it.
I have not added onions in my recipe. It's my personal choice and you can add sliced onions after seasoning with jeera. But, no tomatoes please for the authentic taste.

Ingredients:
1 medium cauliflower
3 medium potatoes
Turmeric powder - 1.5 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1.5 tsp (If you using red chilli powder, use slightly less quantity)
Dhaniya Powder - 2 tsp
Slit Green Chillies - 2 medium
Jeera - 2 tsp
Crushed ginger - a small piece
Amchur - 1 tsp
Chopped cilantro to garnish
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tablespoon

Method:

1) Break the cauliflower and cut the florets into uniform medium sized pieces. The flowers should retain the shape on cooking. Peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes.
2) To the crushed ginger, add dhaniya powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder, a little water and mix everything well. This is to ensure uniform absorption of masala by the vegetables. If you add dry powders directly, it might stick to the florets unevenly.
3)Heat the oil, season with jeera. Add the green chillies. Then add the above mixture and wait for less than a minute till the oil separates.
4) Add the cauliflower and potatoes. Cover and cook till half done. (10 minutes on low to medium flame) Stir once carefully without breaking the florets. Add salt and cook till done.
5) Mix in the amchur powder and cook for a min.

Switch off and garnish with cilantro. Serve hot with rotis / pulav varieties. This time, I served with mushroom pulav.


Tip:In step 4, instead of adding raw potatoes and cauliflower, you can fry each of them separately till light/golden brown in a separate pan before hand and add it. This gives a better taste.

Carrot Halwa

Halwa is a traditional sweet introduced to Indians by the Moghuls. But, it is the creativity of Indians to use various vegetables for making halwa. When it comes to food and food varieties, Indians top the list with so many states, culture and eating habits.

Halwa is actually a wide spectrum and can be in various forms; gelatinous, translucent, viscous, crumbly, dry etc.. It can be hard with definite shapes or soft and crumbled.

This particular form of halwa is famous among sikhs of Punjab and they call it Gajar (carrot) ka halwa. I feel this halwa tastes better when hot or warm rather than setting it cold. Icecream and warm carrot halwa makes a heavenly dessert. This is found in most Punjabi Dhabas. If you could spot the red Delhi carrots, make use of it. I have heard that gives the best taste.

This is also an easy sweet and you can never go wrong. Ideal recipe, when you are inviting guests. You can simmer the carrots and milk on one stove and by the time you are done with other items, this will be ready for the final touches. If you feel the grating part is tiresome, get hold of your husband/brother/son to do the job, just as I do ;)


Ingredients:

Grated Carrot - 3 cups
Sugar - 2 cups
Condensed milk - 1 tablespoon
Khoa - 1 tablespoon
Milk - 1 1/2 cups
Ghee - 1 tablespoon
Cashewnuts and raisins fried in ghee - a handful

Method:

1. Fry the grated carrots in a tsp of ghee.
2. Add the milk and simmer the carrot for about an hr (Cook over low flame)
3. Mix the condensed milk, khoa and sugar. Keep stirring till the sugar melts and blends with the rest.
4. Add the ghee and when the halwa becomes thick and leaves the sides of the vessel, remove and garnish with nuts.




Tips:

1. Frying the carrot in ghee is to get rid of the muddy flavor. It gives a nice aroma and taste.
2. If you run short of time, pressure cook the carrots with milk. I prefer simmering and the taste is awesome.
3. Condensed milk and khoa are optional. Use them for extra flavor. If you do not have both or one of the two, add extra sugar. I used unsweetened khoa.

Palak Paneer

I have spoken enough about my affinity towards greens. I consume a lot of spinach in various forms and I can beat popeye handsdown, if at all there is a competetion. Needless to say, it is highly nutritious and helps boosting your iron levels. If you are anaemic, include spinach in your every day diet or rather alternate days. I feel it is not good to have anything overdose. But this is a good source of calcium and iron and do remember to include this on a regular basis.

Palak Paneer is an interesting dish and a good way to consume spinach. It is a traditional north Indian dish where spinach is cooked in an onion-tomato gravy. It has a rich, creamy and smoothy texture sure to impress anyone. Try this melt-in-the-mouth recipe sometime.

Ingredients:
Palak - 2 bunches
Grated tomatoes - 2 medium
Oil for frying - 1 tablespoon
Panner cubes - 10
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Grind to a paste
Jeera - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 big piece
Garlic - 3 pods
Red Chillies - 3
Onions - 1 big
Cinnamon 1 small stick
Cardomom - 2

Method:
1. Fry the paneer and immerse in hot water
2. Heat the oil and season with jeera
3. Add the ground paste and fry well
4. Add chilli powder, turmeric, salt and tomato pulp. Fry till the oil oozes out
5. Cook the palak separately and make into a fine paste after squeezing the cooked water
6. Add the palak and cooked water to the tomato gravy and cook till oil separates
7. Add the fried paneer and cook for 5 more minutes

Serve hot with roti.

Tip: If you are using yellow onions, do not grind it raw. Chop it, boil with palak and grind it together with palak. If you want to know why, click here

Sending this to SWC -Cooking With Greens hosted by Soumya.

Baingan Ka Bartha

Baingan(brinjal/eggplant/aubergine) is a vegetable despised by most people. Infact I too hated it as a kid. Later on, when I tasted dishes like enna kathrika and brinjal chutney, I thought its not bad after all ; well, going a step further I concluded it's also another yummy veg. For that matter, any food can taste yummy if you only cook it right. One might do wonders with brinjal or even end up making a disastarous potato meal (potatoes are supposed to taste yummy in any form). Cooking is all about what you add when. If you add the right ingredient at the right time, you can make delicious meal with just anything. You know I am a foodie and don't get surprised when I occasionally throw such words of wisdom :)

Coming to the brinjal story, I got hooked to it when I first tasted brinjal chutney. It is usually made with smoked brinjal and smoking adds a great flavour to the otherwise boring brinjal. The north Indian version of it is today's hero - Baingan Ka Bartha. It is a punjabi dish made with smoked brinjals cooked in Indian spices. It is traditionally made in a charcoal stove and since I couldn't get hold of one, I managed with my electric stove. The idea is to char the brinjal and add a smoky flavour. You can even make use of your conventional oven. This is the first ever time I am trying this and I should say I'm impressed with the results. I haven't even tasted this in hotels for the mere fact that I didn't wanna order brinjal when there are umpteen yummy dishes. This time when I saw those big eggplants in the produce section, I wanted to make the best out of it.

I have added peanuts to the recipe since peanuts and brinjal make a lovely pair. I don't think it is added in the authentic recipe. This goes well with both rice and rotis. One warning here is, the chance that you might like this dish is remote due to the smoky flavour. Try at your own risk!

Ingredients:

Big eggplant - 1
Onion finely chopped - 1
Tomatoes finely chopped - 2
Jeera - 2 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste(or crushed ginger and garlic) - 1 tsp
Small green chillies - 3 finely chopped
Peanuts- a few
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Finely chopped coriander, onion and tomato to garnish
salt to taste
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Lemon juice - 1 tsp(optional)

Method:

1. Smoke the eggplant thoroughly over the stove or by using oven.
2. Remove the skin and mash it.
3. Heat oil, season with jeera and fry onions, green chillies, ginger and garlic.
4. Add tomatoes and peanuts; when cooked, add the dry powders.
5. Add the mashed eggplant and cook till dry.
6. Mix the lime juice and garnish with the ingredients mentioned.

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.

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

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.

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 :) )