Monday, December 24, 2012

Paneer butter masala-Roti side dish recipe

I always never tried things that uses Paneer for the only reason I do not know how to make paneer or related dishes until the D day…The studious me wanted to try things that I have not tried before and all of a sudden I made paneer at home and it was a super flop…I did not use muslin cloth and that was a disaster…From then I understood where my mistake was and tried couple of times and the third time the paneer was just awesome…

The only thing I felt is for 1/2 a liter milk I got only 7 to 8 medium sized cubes :(…I will write a post on making paneer sometime :)I was meaning to try paneer butter masala and naan for quite sometime and yesteday I had the chance of making it…The paneer butter masala that I made tasted divine(at least for me :p") and it tasted like the one we eat at restaurants :)I am so happy and contended with the result.

 

 



Paneer butter masala


Ingredients:


Paneer 15 medium sized cubed pieces
Butter 2tbsp
Tomato 8 medium sized
Onion(not the shallots but the big one) 2 medium sized
garlic 6 flakes with skin peeled
salt as required
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tsp
Garam masala 1 tsp
Red chili powder 1 tsp
Fresh cream(optional) 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves 1/4 cup
Cashew paste 2 tsp


Method:


1.Peel the skin of the onion and dice it to 4 pieces.Add the onion and tomato(do not cut the tomato but wash it and place it as such) in a wok and add water till it gets immersed…Boil it for 5 to 7 minutes till they are cooked…After that switch off and then drain water and cool it…Remove the skin of the tomato and grind the onion,tomato and garlic to a fine paste.

2.Take another wok add butter,once it gets heated add the ground tomato onion garlic mixture followed by turmeric powder,coriander powder,red chili powder,garam masala,cashew paste and salt…Mix it well so that all the masalas are well blended with the ground paste.

3.Fry panner in butter till it becomes golden color and drain the butter…Add the fried panner to boiling water for 5 minutes and drain it…This ensures panner remains soft..

4.Once the gravy(ground paste) is cooked well add the fried panner and mix well and cook it for 5 minutes till paneer is blended with the masala…Add fresh cream if adding and mix it well…Switch the stove off and decorate it with coriander leaves :)

Notes:

You can also use ghee in place of butter but well we cannot call it as panner butter masala :p Jokes part when you run out of butter you can use ghee in place of it…I do not find any major difference in it :)

I did not use fresh cream or milk…My gravy itself was thick and so I did not use it…

Do not skip cashew paste as it gives a lovely color to the dish and makes the dish more creamy :)

Friday, December 21, 2012

Medhu vadai/Ulundu vadai-Urad dal Patties recipe/Easy patties recipe

 

 

 

 

I was not a big fan of vada until sometime and always long for my ma’s rice flour vada(recipe will be posted soon)…The rice flour vada is always cripsy and whenever there is a function I make it in a jiffy as it does  require the easy available ingredients…Urad dal vada was never my forte and always missed some thing and when I was investigating I found I was adding excess water which spoiled the entire recipe…This time I was cautious not to make the mistake and my new wet grinder helped me a lot in making the recipe a grand success.Now off to the recipe.

 

 




Medhu vadai

Ingredients:


Urad dal 1 cup
Green chilies

2 medium sized finely chopped


 

Curry leaves a sprig finely chopped
Asafetida 1 tsp
Onion finely chopped 1/4 cup
Salt as required
oil 3 tbsp or as required




Method:


1.Wash and soak the urad dal for 1 hour.After that drain water and grind it to a thick batter using your wet grinder or food processor…Sprinkle only very little water…Add required salt…I normally add rock salt and while adding salt the batter would become watery and so be careful while adding salt and water…Ensure the batter is thick and not loose…


 


2.To the batter add asafetida,curry leaves and chopped onions and mix well.

3.Smear oil in your hand and take banana leaf or milk cover…Smear some oil over it…Take some batter and put it in the leaf or cover…Pat it gently so that it forms a circle…Make a hole in the centre…


4.In a wok add oil and wait till it gets heated…Once it is ready for frying carefully tilt the leaf or cover in your hand and carefully drop the vada in the oil…Wait till both the sides of the patties turn golden color…Drain oil and serve it with any chutney :)

Medhu vadai 1

Notes:



1.If the batter is bit loose you can go ahead and add rice flour.

2.For the second vada smear the leaf or cover will water or oil and then start making it…


3.You can add coriander leaves,carrots and cabbages and make the vada more healthy :)

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Avial-Vegetables in mildly spiced coconut gravy

Avial is one menu that you could see in almost all the functions…I was not a big fan of avial before but considering the nutrients and the richness I have started to love it like anything…Whenever I think my intake of veggies are low then I put up all the available veggies and make this avial…Avial pairs up well with Adai but we always use to have it as a side dish for our sambhar rice :)The preparation is very simple…you do not require any special ingredient but wrap up with the ones available in your pantry :)

 



Avial 

Ingredients:


Mixed vegetables 2 cups(I used carrots,potato, brinjal ,radish,raw banana,beans,yam
Grated coconut 1/4 cup
Green chilies 2 medium sized
Salt as required
Coconut oil 1 tbsp
curd 1 tbsp



Method:

 



1.Wash and cut the veggies into strips length wise…I use to have it this way :)


2.Add the veggies and required water and salt in a pressure cooker and let it cook it for one whistle not more than that as it may turn mushy.



3.Release the pressure and make sure that water content is very low and veggies was cooked fine…

 

 

 



4.Meanwhile grind the grated coconut and chilly to a coarse paste.Mix this paste with curd and keep it ready.



5.Switch on the stove and place the pressure cooker…Do not close it but add the coconut curd mixture and give it a quick stir and let it boil for 2 minutes..

6.Switch off the stove and add coconut oil and mix it well…

7.Serve it with sambhar rice or rice of your choice.

 



Where I went wrong in this recipe:



I did make some mistake during my previous attempts and would like to share it which would help others…

 



1.I added more water and when I released the cooker I could see the water content was high so always add only eno

ugh water for the veggies to boil not more than that…



2.But what can we do if the water content is high?No worries…Mix a tsp of rice flour in coconut curd mixture and add it to the avial…This way the gravy will turn thick…


3.Avoid pressure cooking for more than 2 whistles as the veggies would turn mushy.



Saturday, December 1, 2012

Rava ladoo –Easy sweets recipe

 

 

 

 

I always thought Kesari is one of the easiest recipes of all but naah Rava ladoo can equally compete with it…I never dared to try sweets all alone but my mom is an expert when it comes to making sweets…She boosts me saying I can make it all by myself and that boosting always helps me a lot…I called her for this recipe and she gave me the exact proportions and I did this easy peacy sweet for diwali…The satisfaction I got after seeing the round cutey whitey balls was just no par and I can never put it in words…Now off to the recipe.

   

 

 

 

             Rava ladoo                                                                                                        

Ingredients:

Rava/Sooji 1 Cup
Sugar 1.5 cup
Cashews 1 tsp
Ghee 1 cup or plus or minus as per the need

 

 

Method:

1.Dry roast rava in a non stick pan…Roast it till nice aroma wafts in your kitchen.Swtich off and cool it and subsequently powder it..Make it as fine powder.

2.Powder the sugar to a very smooth powder…I always give it in rice mill and make my job easier :)

3.Roast cashews in ghee and set aside…


4.Take a wide plate…Mix sugar and rava powder well…Ensure both are mixed well…Add the roasted cashews to it and mix well.

5.Heat ghee in a wok and wait till vapour starts to come out of the ghee…switch off the stove…Pour it in the sugar rava mixture and mix it using a saptula…When the mixture is luke warm hold the powder in your hand and make a ball out of it…Use both your palms to make the perfect round.

NotesMore the ghee,the more perfect the shape would be.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

A for Aavin milk :)

I was meaning to visit the "Aavin milk depot" situated just opposite to Marina beach but did not get a chance for long...Today I got a chance and visited the place.

This place offers you the essential milk products such as milk powder,paneer,standardised milk,Toned milk,Yogurt,Dates with Khoa,khoa,falvoured milk,ordinary milk,Badam milk ,cooking butter,ghee ,you name it and you will see it there...

I ordered an ordinary milk and a cold coffee with an icecream topped...Both the cold coffee and the milk tasted yum...They offer you milk shakes and sandwiches too :)

Though the place is in the main road,the ambience inside was just too serene and the taste of the products that I tasted was also yummilicious...I am yet to try many products there...The cost is also reasonable...


I have decided to frequent this place often :)

Disclaimer:

This is not a paid review and it is totally related to my opinion about the products that I tasted there :)

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Kettle's tea tasting and tea brewing program and my experiences


When I was skimming through my face book page ,I got to know about Kettle's  tea tasting and tea brewing workshop" from Nithya's fbpage...I am not a frenzy lover of tea nor have attended any of such 
programs but all of a sudden I navigated to the link and commented asking Kettle to "Count me in "...Was also a surprise to see me in the finalist list :)It was just a treat for me...

                Ok now that I was in the attendees list ,I was on glee...But I was bit skeptic about attending  the program for myriad reasons..Firstly it's been an eon since I visited my native and my mom 
had also requested to come to my hometown on 27th which accidently is my Thatha's thavasam...I was pondering about it and finally I  re-planned my hometown visit to November...extremely sorry mom :(
I was almost waiting to attend the program and my little boy Pranav fell ill on 27th...I was bit hesitant to attend it, as I was also bit low because of Pranav's health...My  hubby and in-laws assured me to take
due care of my son and so I made up my mind to attend the program...

                I took an auto from my place(Triplicane) by 2.30pm and was meaning to be punctual at the venue as the program was scheduled to start by 3.30pm...Heck with the traffic and I managed to find Kettle 
only by 3.15...

                The person at the reception was so cordial and I completed my registration...Preethi the host welcomed me with a cute smile and that was an ice breaker I tell ya :)I have never attended such programs and it was pretty new for me...All news faces and I was pretty excited...

Preethi gave us an intro about the tea and process related to it...Kettle offers different varieties of tea which included Green tea, Black Tea, Organic white tea and Oolong Tea...These are the major 
varieties and we have many sub varieties in the main variety..

Then we were served with Black current iced tea...It tasted divine...While we were busy tasting the tea, a demo was introduced and we flocked there...The trick to make a magic tea is to  choose the best
variety of tea leaves..Kettle has a good number of such tea leaf varieties...We were shown the different tea leaves and we smelled the aroma too:)The brewing process was shown in the demo...A special tea 
pot with a strainer was used...The tea leaves were added in the strainer of the pot and boiling water was added...For 1 serving roughly 3g of tea leaves was used...The water level can be 120 ml...This is 
just a rough estimate and may vary depending on the flavour and the nature of the tea variety...The water was  in tact with the strainer and the essence of the tea leaves  got merged with the water and the vessel
was kept un-disturbed for approximately 3 minutes and then it was added in the serving glass..Sugar syrup and lime juice may be added as an option…



Then we were served with Black tea with Demarara sugar...While I was sipping my tea I was given a plate full of potato wedges, sandwich and puffs...Loved every bite of it...


We had good number of demos...Saw the brewing of Hibiscus tea and also tasted it...We were then served with Green tea and a banana walnut cake dripped with chocolate sauce was waiting for us :)I relished it a lot...Then we tasted Organic white tea...Finally  We were served with "Mystery Tea" was asked to name the tea...The winner was awarded a gift voucher...And yeah the mystery tea was "Apricot tea"...

To be honest I could not differentiate between Black current iced tea and Apricot tea...Also I could not differentiate between Green tea and an Organic white tea...

Black current iced tea,Hibiscus tea and Apricot tea tops my list though...

Kettle is situated in a serene place of Shanthi colony, Anna nagar...The ambience is just too good..They serve tea with all smiles...If you are a  tea lover who would love to have  a best tea of it’s kind  then Kettle should be in your must go list...

We were given a small goodie bag which had  the tea leaves and I chose Hibiscus tea leaves...

I made a biggest mistake of not taking my digi cam and so could not click any...

It is one experience I can never forget in ma life for it gave me a chance to see many new faces, it gave me a chance to taste the finest varieties of tea, it gave me a chance to visit a new place and above all it gave me a chance to update ma blog which would be dormant otherwise...

Thanks Kettle for this lovely opportunity...Cya soon :)

Sunday, September 2, 2012

I am back!!!

My blog seems to be dormant for quiet a while :)I just wanted to break my hibernation and so writing this...

I am just in the marathon of trying new recipes and the dishes...I could not either take a snap of my dish nor post it in my blog...My computer has got some odd problems which I hope will be rectified soon...

Last week I was at "Nalas Aapakadai" for a treat!of course it was not mine and it was by one of my colleagues...It is a famous non-veg restaurant...Being a hard core vegetarian,I ordered kid's special aapam,Masala kulcha and Sheek Kebab...ended it with pepsi :)

I did visit Deccan Plaza with my hubby...Wish to review the restaurants some time soon...
And did I tell you...My moong dal kurma have won Tarla Dalal "Dal Contest"...I shall post the recipe with pic sometime :)

I will try my level best to come back to ma good old self soon...

If you like my blog please connect with me through my fb fan page.

Fb fan page:moicuisinecorner.blogspot.com

Thanks all for your support!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Restaurant review-Barbeque nation

Itz been an eon since I wrote anything...To break my hibernation I try every possible ways and finally came out with a restaurant review.You shall expect these type of post in future too :)


We were planning for team lunch and we had many choices. Finally we zeroed it to “Barbeque Nation”.

“Barbeque Nation” is situated in T-nagar and you will not hear the hustling bustling sounds or the horn as the place seems to be serene.

English numbers were being played(I think so as I was not sure of the verses) when we entered the hotel…The ambience was good with mild music all around.

If you are a person who would love to have a great starter then this restaurant should be on your list. As I am a vegetarian I can review on the vegetarian dishes of the restaurant. The restaurant offers vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian dishes J

We went for buffet and we were asked to choose a mock tail /milkshakes and I went for “Mango Rapture”(A medley of mango, vanilla ice cream, coconut etc) and it tasted divine. Then came the main part “The starters”. A griller was placed before us and “Tikkas” were linked in skewers and placed above the griller. The smoky flavour brought an extra taste to the dishes.

We tasted different tikkas ranging from Paneer, Mushroom, Potato, Bells pepper, pineapple to apple tikkas. The tikkas were marinated in mild masala and were fried and grilled. The smoky flavour sure added a different taste to the dish.

Next we were served with “Falafel”…It was spinach and chickpea falafel…I don’t like falafel and so did not opt it for the second time…

Falafel was followed with “Roasted Potato(with skin) in Mayonnaise sauce” not sure if I heard the name right as the person who served it recited the name in a jiffy. It was one divine dish that I tasted in recent past…I was just drooling on it though it was served only in small quantities…The starter section came to end and we were ready to take the main food J

I was tasting or trying different dishes/cuisines for the past few days and the main course did not attract me much JThe main course had Dhal Makhani, Aloo capsicum, Vegetable hakka noodles, Veg Briyani, Vegetable Raitha, Cheese balls in garlic sauce, Aloo peanut chaat, Russian raitha, Tossed raitha and another 2 raitha varieties whose names I completely forgot J Also we had fresh curds, curd rice, plain rice, pappad et all.

The lunch came to an end with desserts…We had gulab jamun, Phirni, vanilla icecream,caramel flavoured cake, orange cake and some more as I totally forgot the names…

The food was good and I loved it…Please do visit the restaurant once and you will definitely fall in love for the smoky tikkas that are directly cooked in fire…This restaurant will be my obvious choice the next time when I love to have an elaborate starter for my lunch

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

I am back :) and here ya go with "Masala Pepsi"


Hello Friends,

Been a while since I updated ma food blog...Ask me the reason?oh yay...I am back to office after ma maternity leave and I am juggling between work and life :) And with the little time I get I always like to spend it with my kiddo...

Sorry I could not keep tab on my own blog or could not read any of your blogs...Hope to catch them all very soon...

Though I could not blog,trying new recipes with my MIL or eating out has been a part of ma life :)I would love to be regular to blogging and hope to post as much as I could...

Masala Pepsi

I was introduced to "Masala Pepsi" by my hubby till then I had no clue...For the first time the name sounded odd for me but instantly I became addicted to the drink though...

Ingredients:

Pepsi-3/4th of a tumbler
lemon juice-1 tsp
jaljeera powder-1 tsp


Method:

1.Take a tumbler and  add lemon juice and jaljeera powder.stir well.
2.To the above mixture add pepsi and stir well.Voila masala pepsi would be ready for serving.

P.S Sorry I could not post a pic of Masala pepsi.

Note:
1.I know it is not a recommended drink when it comes to health point but I would love to taste it once in a while though...