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.