Cilantro Pilaf (HarDaniya Pulao/Kothamali Pulao)

Happy Happy NAVARATHRI to all my friends and followers. Wish you much prosperity in health, happiness and of course wealth. So Golu is up and the first of the Sundals I made was a green split moong dal (pacha paasiparuppu sundal) and it was a happy success with all. I will blog this soon. But today I present to you my cilantro pulao which I made several weeks ago and has been languishing in my notes waiting for its turn to be blogged. I had to make some Kothamali chutney the wet thick kind and steamed some veggies and sauteed them like a curry. I added paneer to make it more "fancy" then made some steaming hot basmati rice and mixed in the chutney and the veggies and sauteed once more with onions and cashews. This is a one-pot meal and is a perfect Sunday brunch idea. You can avoid the onions and still have it taste amazing during this festival time.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of basmati rice (rice cooker cooked)
• your choice of veggies
• 1 cup of cubed paneer
• 3tbsp cilantro chutney

Method

1. Add chutney to rice and mix in well with a fork
2. Cook the veggies with desired spice and salt in a separate wok
3. Add to the rice and chutney mix
4. Garnish with cashews or more fresh cilantro

Cilantro Chutney recipe
Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs of cilantro fresh washed thoroughly, ends of stalks trimmed
• 5-8 red chilies (depending on how spicy your red chilies are)
• Urad Dal 1/4 cup
• 1tsp asafetida
• 1tsp soft tamarind paste
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• Salt

Method 

1. Heat oil add the urad dal, chilies, asafetida and tamarind paste
2. Then add the cilantro and stir until cilantro softens and the urad is roasted brown.
3. Cool and grind coarse in a food processor

Mix the rice with the chutney

The veggies with paneer

In a bowl

In a cool copper pot

on your plate

Priya's Pakodas - pakoras, if you will!

These are my quick fix pakodas -what in tamil will translate to 'dhedeer' pakodas  -
First Caveat - Not part of a healthy diet plan, but a devilishly good indulgence every once in a while - After all, it is the weekend - so indulge :-)

Prep time - 10 time, actual making time -20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup of  Besan ( or chickpea flour)
1 cup of rice flour
1 big red onion finely chopped
1/2 finger length pice of ginger finely chopped
4 finely chopped green chillies
1 pinch of asafoetida
3-4 pinched curry leaves
salt 1-1/2 teaspoons  ( taste batter before adding more)
1 tablespoon of butter
2 cups of oil to fry them in

Preparation

I hate to mix the onions raw into the batter - so I fry it lightly in 1 table spoon of olive oil and then add them to the flours. knead the onions into the flour after adding the other ingredients - melt the table spoon of butter and add to the mix and knead some more - my trick is to add very little water - The end result should be that the batter should be loose, and somewhat dry and textured not soggy.

Heat oil; start adding the batter in loose balls into the oil; fry until golden; finished product should look crunchy, edgy and mouth-watering. Again, I will post pictures of these when i make them next.

Secret tip:  None :-( sorry!

Creamless Muttar Paneer

http://akilaskitchen.blogspot.com/2010/10/event-announcement-dish-name-starts.htmlThis is my first blog post so please bear with me. I, like the millions of us out there, have become a lot more health conscious and this reflects in my cooking. If there is one thing I've had to be consistent about the last 17 years, it's been cooking - esp now that I have a teenage son with a thunderous appetite  - just kidding - not!
For starters, I am going with a very popular dish. I have never liked the creamy, rather tasteless Muttar Paneer that is served in the Indian restaurants in America.
A small clarification to myself, mostly - Paneer that is fried out of its wits is what's uinhealthy. Paneer per se although high in fat also has some protein. The fat is amplified by the frying of it! Moral being - don't fry the crap out of the paneer!

FYI to all my American friends - Paneer is now also available at Whole Foods. Although the Indian store may be a dash bit cheaper.

Here is my healthy, simple make-under-15 minutes recipe
Ingredients:
1 can of Hunt's diced tomatoes
1 pack of Nanak's or other paneer
1 pack of frozen peas (microwave thawed)
1/2 tsp of turmeric
2 cloves garlic
1 onion diced big
1/4 inch bark of cinnamon (optional)
2 green chilies
2 red chillies
2 cloves
few black seeds of cardamom
1 tablespoon of Olive oil
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp of sugar
1/4 teaspoon of rosemary (for final garnishing)

Preparation
In a big pan, heat olive oil lightly, add the garlic, onion and spices (except the rosemary) and fry for a couple of minutes
When the onions are turning golden, add the diced tomatoes and let it all simmer. Let cool for a few minutes and then grind well in a blender.
In the same pan add the peas and the paneer. Dribble a little olive oil over both and stir lightly. Then pour the blended concoction over the peas and paneer and let them soak in the sauce on low heat for a few minutes. When the sauce is bubbling, turn the stove off
.
Pour in an attractive dish and then garnish with rosemary and it's ready to serve.
Secret tip: If the consistency of your sauce is not what you desire -or - for a "creamier" look, dry grind 10 roasted cashews and add to sauce.

Try it out and let me know how it turns out: I made this today and garnished with cilantro - just as good as Rosemary!

Baby will be waking from nap any time ... gotta run. Until next time, alvida