Paneer Parathas

The kids are home. It is the summer vacation - One is sick, the other volunteering and the third chilling with me! I am on FB and checking out my updates as I hear "amma, what's for dinner" queries brewing in the background. I lay my eyes on some mouth watering paneer parathas that our blogger friend Divya or ChefinYou has posted. She is a versatile chef and has many interesting tips on her page, as I did find out clicking on to her blog. I was making karela subzi anyway and I thought this would make a great combo! It does not take beyond 15 minutes for prep time (she was not kidding) and beyond 20 to make about 10 of these delightful parathas. My kids, mother-in-law and hubby loved it. Will be blogging the Karela subzi next.

For about 10 partathas

Ingredients

2 cups of chakki atta (stone ground wheat flour)

11/4 cups of warm water

1 tsp of salt

2 tsp of oil

(I used my mixer to make the dough)

For the stuffing

1 cup of cubed paneer

3 green chilies finely chopped

1tbsp of fresh cilantro

Method

I did as Divya suggested

I Soaked store bought paneer in hot water, drain after a few minutes and proceeded to crumble it 

Knead or use mixer to make the dough soft, yet firm 

Keep covered until you get the paneer crumbled, salted, and chilies and cilantro added

Make lemon sized balls of the dough

Roll out into rounds bigger than your palm, as Divya puts it

Make a smaller ball of the paneer and place in the center of the rolled out dough

Fold the dough over the paneer ball and pinch out any extra dough

Dust the rolling area with flour and roll out the paratha to the size of a tea saucer

Heat pan and add a smidgen of butter

Place the paratha on the melting butter and cook - repeat on both sides and with each

Serve hot with sides of your choice - In my case I made some incredibly tasty Bitter gourd masala subzi - heavenly!!!

Sneak peak of next post

Enjoy and thanks Divya :)

I will leave you also with this wonderful declaration made by my little one

Jalapeño -Paneer in Orange Juice

There are few Indians and non Indians who dislike Paneer - Not only is it a favorite cheese, but is also versatile in its ability to soak in any and all flavors that it's infused with. Of course, I would like to try something different with it. So I decide I will marinade in deliciously sweet and sour tangerine juice - I proceed to make fresh juice, dice up some onions, tomatoes, some paneer, and fresh jalapeños. Using a small amount of oil (olive or mazola) I stir fry the tomatoes, onions and jalapeños. I drizzle a tad bit of oil on the paneer and take a table spoon of bread crumbs in a plate and roll the oiled paneer in it, just to keep it from crumbling (ironic to use crumbs to prevent crumbling lol)  Anyhow, I add the paneer to the  stir fry along with salt. Then when everything is browning, I add the orange juice and allow the sizzling to happen. The bread crumbs facilitates the soaking of the juice.
Garnish with cilantro and fresh cut jalapeños  - Voila and Ta-dah!  This takes all of 15 minutes to make, cutting veggies included. Enjoy the tantalizing flavors of this dish - they dance on your tongue long after you're done eating - And that is a promise :)

Your ingredients

Orange Juice

Cucumber Raita

This is not a dish to be taken lightly, simple though it may seem to make. You need the perfect texture of yogurt, and sweet, tender and non-bitter cucumbers to make the right kind of raita. You need that 1 perfect chili that will spice it up just so and you need that perfect dash of salt that makes you want to crave this popular side dish. Raita is a dish that is served on the side with spicy pulaos or biryanis to cool your system even as you spice it up. South India has an equivalent for this called thayir pachadi.

Things that can go wrong and prevent you for making that perfect raita
you can make it
too watery (juice from the cuke)
too thick
use a yogurt that is gooey
make it too sour
over salt
make it too spicy - defeating the purpose of it
cucumbers can be too seedy so much so you miss the raita for the seeds!
and so on...you can tell I've seen them all which has really put me off raita quite a bit, unless I make it myself (sorry to sound vain, but it is the truth)

Ingredients

• 2cups of Danon plain yogurt (do not use the whey)
• 3-4 small sweet seedless cucumbers
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 green chili cut big 
• mint/ curry leaf/sprig to garnish

Method

1. Add a pinch of salt and whip the yogurt into a smooth consistency
2. Grate your cucmber
3. Squeeze all the excess juice out of it (you can drink it or use as an eye pack)
4. Add to the yogurt and mix in well
5. Add chopped chili and stir in
6. Place the mint on the raita for garnish and chill until ready to serve. (I used tender curry leaves from my plant for this - it smelt so delicious)

NOTE: I have also used some Patatas Bravas and a Tzatziki spice mixes from Oil & Vinegar for decoration on top - they also lend beautiful flavors to the raita

Kadi-Pakora with Spinach

 Clearly there are two parts to this dish. And by themselves, each can be a stand alone dish. The pakora and the Kadi -Pakoras are fried/baked fritters usually made with besan/chickpea flour and veggies like onions and chilies. They can also be made with spinach as this recipe explains. The second part of this recipe is the Kadi, which is also called Mor Kozhambu in the south with a few differences. Kadi is essentially a yogurt based sauce to which you add some chickpea flour, herbs and condiments for spicing it up. I present to you both recipes, both extremely simple and I hope the pictures I present make you salivate enough to want to make this right away :)

This can be had by itself as a HOT snack :)

Ingredients

For the Pakoras

• 1lb of frozen fresh spinach
• 2tbsp chickpea flour
• 2 spicy green chilies
• 1tsp caraway seeds
• salt
• grated ginger (optional)
• oil to fry

For the Kadi

• 2cups of plain yogurt
• 1tbsp channa dal (or chickpeas)
• 2 fresh (and spicy green chilies)
• 1tsp whole black pepper
• 1tsp cumin
• A pinch of asafetida
• Cilantro - 2tbsp chopped (optional) I use it liberally because i LOVE the smell of it
• Salt

For Garnish

• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1tsp coconut oil
• 1tsp mustard seeds (small ones preferably)
• 1sprig of curry leaves

Method

Preparing the Pakoras

1. Cook spinach with small quantity of water if fresh or thaw out if frozen
2. Drain the water
3. Add salt, green chilies, caraway seeds and besan and mix until it is of thick and "ball-able" consistency. Add the ginger in along with the rest of the ingredients if you are using it.
4. Make the balls and keep

Prepare your Kadi

1. While your spinach is cooking, soak all ingredients except for the yogurt and salt in about 1/2 cup of warm to hot water for about 15 -30 minutes
2. Grind finely in mixera
3. Add salt
4. Place on stove in a pan and cook until it thickens.
5. Allow it to cool for a few minutes
6. Whip the yogurt into a smooth thick paste
7. Add to the pan and mix in well.
8. Add the garnish
9. Now heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the pakoras
10. Drop them hot into the kadi and serve immediately

Note: if you are not serving right away, hold off on making the pakoras until you are ready to eat.
If your spinach remains soggy, you could add more besan or powdered cashews (about 5 -10 nuts)
Enjoy this classic north Indian dish with freshly cooked white fluffy and incredibly aromatic basmati rice :)

Ricotta Rasmalai

When Italy meets india, expect fireworks, folks :) Or a fantastic treat - This is not an uncommon recipe or method of making Rasmalai, one of Eastern India's most popular desserts, now a favorite all over India- for those who have seen my other Rosemalai post, you will know that this method is quite different from the one I used the last time I made this dish.  I found this 1)a lot easier to prepare and 2)taste wise too, it was more appealing to me. So whachya waiting for - let's get cracking with making this super duper dessert.

Prep Time <10 mins
Cook Time 45 mins

Ingredients for the Malai

1. 2 cups ricotta cheese
2. 3/4 - 1 cup of white granulated sugar
3. 1tbsp of powdered cardamom

Ingredients for the Ras

1. 1 can Carnation condensed milk (sweetened)
2. 1 can of evaporated milk (unsweetened)
3. 3 cups of 1% milk
4. 1 tsp crushed/ strands of saffron

Method

• Set oven to 350
• Drain any excess water from the ricotta by hanging in a cheese cloth or turning the tub over a cheese close draped in a colander
• In a mixing bowl, gently mix in the ricotta, sugar and cardamom
• Pour into a greased square pan
• Cook in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until you see a faint golden color appear on the surface
• Cool it down
• In a pan, empty the contents of the condensed milk and evaporated milk and set on a slow flame
• Stir in the ingredients until they flow smoothly together
• Now add the milk and allow it to boil
• Add in the saffron and boil for 5-7 minutes
• You must find the the milk reducing in quantity by now
• Cut the ricotta into squares or diamond shapes
• NOTE- If you find there is some water beneath the baked rasmalai - just tip the pan and pour out excess water
• What I did was - cut the pieces of ricotta and placed them in ramekins, ready to serve and poured the ras or milk over it - cooled it down on my counter and placed them in the fridge to serve chilled
• This can be served hot or cold 
• Add sliced almonds or crushed pistacho (unsalted) on the top for added elegance
• Enjoy 

Lacha Parathas or South Indian Parottas

So… in my last recipe of kuruma, I mentioned parottas (parathas) that I had at Kanchi hotel, some of the best I recall. My hugely popular blogging buddy Jay of Tasty Appetite had blogged these incredible looking parottas (south Indian style) and I was craving them the moment I saw them. Kuruma leftovers today – the kids have the day off from school, which is good, because we have all been down with some viral infection with stomachs hurting, throats that were sore, headaches and general fatigue – as I was saying leftover kuruma warranted some nice parottas and that’s what I made – it turned out well even if I did not use as much oil as the recipe suggested, but otherwise I stuck to Jay’s recipe fully.

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

3tbsp oil

1sp of sugar

1 pinch of salt

1pinch of baking soda

1cup of warm water and some as “kneaded” ;)

Preparation

Add all the ingredients in a mixer and let it mix in a gentle pace at first and when all the dough has come together increase the mixer speed to medium and let it knead for about 5- 10 minutes, stopping every now and then for a spoon of water here and there if you need to bind all the flour.  At about 8 minutes, I took the speed to max and had the ball of dough going nuts :)

Remove from mixer, make a tight ball, put in a vessel and keep closed for about 30 minutes to an hour

When time is up, put back in the mixer and knead for another 3 minutes. Remove and make lemon-sized balls – I got about 11 of those evenly distributed.

Now take a plate and add 1 -2 tsp of oil and roll these balls in the oil and set aside

Once they are all greased roll them the size of a chappati, peel off the surface and make folds with them much like a sari as Jay suggests. Once pleated, hold the ends to stretch them out to the max, because they have a tendency to shrink back. Keeping the length, place one end at the center and roll the dough around to make a pinwheel.  Once they are all done we start to roll them out again.

Here is a trick

To keep the circles and layers intact, oil the bottoms of the pinwheels to give it some elasticity as you roll while dusting the top with dry flour to allow you to keep the stretch going. Again, once they are the size of a chappati, put them on a pan/tawa, basting them with a lightest brush of oil. Let both sides brown before you remove from the pan and place them in your serving platter.

Serve with spicy kuruma or side dish of your choice – Thanks Jay!

This is off to Sweet Karam Kapi's Flavors of Tamilnadu Event

Paneer-yarams with Creamy Fennel dip

Just when I thought I'd exhausted all my ideas for leftover idli atta, of course, kuzhi paniyarams struck me. When I posted on Facebook for ideas with Fennel greens, I had a wonderful list of things I could do with it from a bunch of friends, each one of them gems which i plan to make-
But the easy and delicious one which was immediately executable was Priya's suggestion of a dip - Then I decided I would also chop the greens and the bulb and use for the kuzhi paniyarams - had a block of paneer sitting around and decided to grate that into the kuzhi paniyarams making for delicious paneeryarams :)) Nothing like a little twist to tradition, what say?

I used
1/2 a bulb of fennel,
2 stalks of fennel greens,
1/4 red onion, 1 green chili,
1/2 tsp of turmeric
3/4 cup of grated paneer,
1/4 cup of grated cheddar.
I lightly sauteed the fennel, greens, onions. turmeric and chili in 1 tsp of olive oil.

Batch 1

First batch I made, I tried to do a sandwich with the cheeses. It tasted great but made for messy pouring - so I simply incorporated the paneer & cheddar into the batter and poured the second batch like that - result = awesomeness!

Batch 2

Fennel Dip
3 short stems of fennel greens chopped fine
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1tbsp low fat yogurt
1tsp of Tzatziki herb mix
1tsp salad spice mix (this is like paprika)
mix in and serve with hot Paneeryarams.

Showcasing dip and my peeling nail polish :)

Sweet Potato Kofta

Kofta has always been a No No anytime I’ve been to a restaurant because the only kind you get is the “malai” koftas, meaning – cream koftas – They are heavy, lumpy and doughy and even in the very best restaurants are either over soaked and soggy, melting into the sauce OR you have the kinds that never soak and are hard and tasteless that stand alone, unrelenting.  And then over the past year that I’ve been blogging, I have seen some memorable koftas that have inspired me to come up with this one.

Definition of Kofta from the Oxford Dictionary

noun (plural same or koftas)

•   (in Middle Eastern and Indian cooking) a spiced meatball.

Origin:

From Urdu and Persian, literally 'pounded meat'

Look how far we have come from its actual meaning if we have wholly adapted this dish to a vegetarian palate

To the best of my knowledge these are deep-fried and soaked into hot sauce/gravy

So the kofta served by itself, is rather like a cutlet, along with a pita, a falafel and served with gravy the kofta curry we know so well to be an Indian gourmet dish.

Things that I like about my kofta

1)    I used a healthy substitute to the usual potatoes by using sweet potatoes

2)    I liked using Garbanzos for a fiber and low fat factor

3)    I did NOT deep fry it and that did NOT compromise on the taste an iota

4)    My gravy was just as healthy in that I used my standard gravy companions onion and tomato with chilies and some spices – adding NO cream whatsoever getting that creamy texture by cooking the veggies first and adding no more than 10 -12 pieces of cashews. The end result was immensely pleasing and I felt mighty triumphant that I had made this dish – finally – in my home and realized how cinchy it is to make it.

Bu But it would be remiss of me to not give credit to my new dippy pan that has inspired me to make several wonderful preparations.

I encourage you to try this combo at home and see for yourself how incredibly tasty these come out.

Off to the recipe

Add caption

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes

1 can of garbanzo beans

Green chilies – to taste

1 Red chili

Cilantro – 1tbs crushed

Sage- 2 leaves

About 1tsp of oil

Mustard seeds (optional)

Cumin seeds (optional)

2 tsp of curry powder

Preparation

Cook and mush the sweet potatoes

In a food processor, add washed and drained garbanzos and make a crumbly powder

In a pan, heat the oil and splutter mustard and cumin seeds

Add the chilies, herbs and the curry powder to the oil followed by the potatoes

Add the crumbled garbanzo

Add the salt and mix all the ingredients well

This mixture should be soft but thick now

Get the pan ready by placing it on low heat

Add some nonstick spray to the holes and ½ tsp of oil in each slot

I used an ice cream scoop to dole out the mix into the holes

Let the one side brown and gingerly flip over and brown the other side as well

Wait for it to get well cooked on both sides before removing from the slots

You can serve this as stand alone patties or cutlet dish with some raw onions and ketchup

You can use it as a Falafel and stuff into a pita and sink your teeth in verily

Or you can make kofta &curry with it, which was my original intent

For the sauce, simple sauté 1 big red onion and 1 can of diced tomato with required amount of spices (clove, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, red chilies, garlic (optional) and about 10 cahsews.

Let it simmer and cool before grinding

Pour the sauce in the desired serving bowl and then arrange the koftas in the sauce.

Serve with naan or rotis

Now Serving with love (: