Spicy Paneer Masala

When I was thinking wat different I could do with paneer today, I remembered the recipie my sister in law gave me for Kadamba Sadam (will post the recipie later). My husband tasted it's gravy and said you make this gravy alone one day. So I thought instead of a plain gravy why not try adding something to it. I had paneer in the frig. This dish came about. It was so tasty that I thought I should make it more often since it is very easy. It took about 30 mins to make this......

Ingredients:

Paneer 100gms

Onions 3 nos

Tamarind water 1/4 cup

garlic 7-8 cloves

coconut 3 tbsp

green chillies 2 nos

turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

sambar powder 2 tbsp

cardamom 2nos

cloves 2 nos

bay leaf 1 no

cinnamon stick 1 no

jeera 1 tsp
For tempering:

mustard seeds

urad dal

channa dal

red chilly

curry leaves

Method:

1. Cut onion and paneer into cubes.
2. Cook the paneer pieces in hot water for 5-10 mins till they are just soft. Drain and keep aside.
3. Grind the coconut, green chillies, jeera, garlic into a fine paste without adding much water.

4. Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, red chilly and curry leaves.
5. Now add the inion and fry till it becomes transperent.
6. Now add the tamamrind water and bring it to boil.
7. When the raw smaell of the tamarind water goes, add the sambar powder, turmeric powder, hing and salt.
8. Let it boil for 3 mins. Now add the ground paste and let it cook for another 3 mins. If the gravy is very thick add little water because after adding paneer it will become more thick.
9. Now add the paneer pieces and keep for about a minute.
10. Remove from fire and serve hot with Rotis or Phulkas

Note: Adjust the amount of sambar powder depending on how spicy it is and your taste.

Vegetable Uttapam

This is one of those dishes that my husband likes to make. It is easy and also very tasty. when finished looks like indian pizza...... I have used dosa batter already available. But I have it a bit thick and not the usual thin consistency. You can also make this with left over idli batter which is 2-3 days old.

Ingredients

Idli / Dosa Batter                               4 cups

Finely chopped vegetables

(Onion, Tomato, Capsicum)               2 tbsp each

Grated cheese                                    1 tbsp

Oil to grease

Method:

1. Heat the dosa tava to medium heat and keep the flame in medium.
2. Pour about 2 ladles of dosa batter and spread it to a thick dosa.
3. Immediately sprinkle the vegetables on top when the batter is still wet.
4. Pour oil around and after it cooks flip it onto the other side.
5. Flip the dosa again sprinkle grated cheese and remove.
6. You can serve this with tomato sauce or with chutney.

Note. Instead of cheese you can also sprinkle dosa milagai podi along with the vegetables. It gives a different taste.

Mixed Green Chutney

Chutney is my favorite side dish. This craze of mine grew after I came to Hyderabad. Here we get different varieties of chutney made with all possible vegetables you can think of. But this one is simple green chutney that my mom taught me.

Ingredients

Pottu kadalai or Putna dal                   4tbsp
Grated coconut                                    3tbsp
Fresh coriander                                    1 bunch
Pudina                                                  1 bunch
Curry leaves                                         a handful
Garlic                                                   5-6 cloves
Ginger                                                  1 inch piece
Green chillies                                        3-4 nos
Lime juice                                             3-4 tsp
Salt                                                      to taste
For tempering:
Oil
Mustard seeds
Urad dal          

Method:

1.      Wash the coriander and pudina leaves and drain any excess water.

2.      Put all the ingredients in a mixie including lime juice and grind to a smooth paste. Add little water if necessary.

3.      Remove it into a bowl and add a tempering of mustard seeds and urad dal.

Note:
Alternatively you can add tamarind soaked in water instead of lime juice

Poha Biriyani

Poha Biriyani
Poha or Aval as it isknown in Tamil is one of my favourite dishes, since it is very quick to make. I simply like to have it any time of the day: breakfast, lunch or dinner.... This is one interesting mix of biriyani and poha. I wanted to have biriyani that day but was too lazy to go about making it by its eloborate procedure. so i substituted rice with poha and got a simplified version which tastes quite similar.
Hope you guys like it.

Ingredients:

Poha 1 cup

Beans, Carrot, cauliflower, cabbage,Peas

(chopped into small pieces) 1 cup

Onion (cut into slices) 2 nos

Tomato (chopped into small pieces) 2 nos

Green chillies (finely chopped) 3 nos

Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp

Cardamom 2 nos

Cloves 2 nos

Bay leaf 1 no.

Cinnamon 1 inch stick

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil 1 tbsp

jeera 1 tsp

Groundnut (roasted and crushed roughly) 3 tbsp

Method of preparation:

1. Soak the poha in water and drain the water and let it dry. This depends on whether oyu have thick or thin poha. If you have thick let it soak for 5-10 mins before draining the water. If you have the thin varietysoak it and drain it immediately.
2. Add salt to the poha and mix it well. Let it remain till themasala is ready.
3. Heat oil in a kadai. Add jeera, cardamom, cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon stick. Then add the ginger garlic paste, green chillies. let it fry well. Now add the onion. Fry till it becomes transparent.
4. Add tomatoes and fry till it turns pulpy. Now add all the vegetables one by one and fry them. Add turmeric powder and part of the salt.If required sprinkle some water and cover it and cook.

5. Once the vegetables have cooked and there is no water left in the kadai, add the poha little by little and mix gently.

6. Finally add the crushed groundnut and garnish with coriander. serve hot with raita or simply curd.
Note:
You can add some red chilly powder and garam masal powder if you want extra spice.

Intro

You all must be wondering this just another blog of another home cook. Quite true.... but this is an attempt to record my successful experiments, findings, discoveries in the kitchen and also share it with friends.

I would like to dedicate this blog to two people who have inspired me in different ways to become the cook that I am today. Firstly to my mother who introduced me to different flavours, cuisines and showed me that cooking is as much pleasure as having good food. It was her interest in cooking that has become a fascination for me. My second dedication is to my dear husband for whom I'm the world's best cook. He has always been supportive and encouraging in my experiments (even if some of them are horrible!!).

The recipies I have posted here are from various sources. Some handed down by my mother, some shared by friends and relatives, some inspired by the television shows and the list goes on....
Hope you like my effort and try all the interesting dishes. Feel free to post your reactions before and after trying them...