Paneer Butter Masala

This next paneer based dish is a north Indian delicacy that is absolutely mouth-watering. This dish is rich in cream & tomato gravy, however I have gone easy with the butter. Best tasted when served with Indian bread but also goes well with fried rice!!

Ingredients

• 200 gms paneer cut into cubes
• 1 onion medium finely sliced              
• 8-10 cashew nuts
• 1 tomato finely sliced
• 1 tsp. tomato paste
• 1 tsp. chilli powder
• 2 tsp. Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tsp. ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp. garam masala powder
• 1 tsp. kasori methi leaves
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 capsicum cut into cubes
• 2 tbsp. Fresh cream
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. veg oil
• Orange colour (optional)

Boil some water and add paneer cubes for 5-8 minutes.

In a non-stick pan, add 2 tbsp. oil; add onion and sauté till onions are translucent. Add tomatoes and cashew nuts till tomatoes are done.

Remove from heat and let it cool. Grind the mixture with ½ cup of water to a paste.

To the same pan, add butter and 1 tbsp. oil. Add chilli and kasmiri chilli powder and sauté for a minute. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for a minute. Add the grounded paste and sauté for a while. Add the tomato paste.

Add honey, garam masala powder and kasoori methi leaves and stir. Add capsicum and paneer cubes; add ½ -3/4 cup water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes on a low flame. Check in between and stir. Cook till capsicum is cooked. (You can add colour at this point. I dint use because for the colour I have used Kashmiri chilli powder).

Add fresh cream and just bring to boil on a high flame. Remove from heat and garnish with cream.

Creamy Chicken

This next dish was also found from one of my Bengali friends (Suparna)who had made this creamy chicken dish to go along with some delicious potato pulao. Since I got so smitten with this dish, I tried out cooking this. Unlike my earlier experiments, in this case I decided to stick with the original recipe & so you will not find any tweaks here. The only difference over here is that I usually prepare this to go with my version of the naan (already posted here). The cashew paste & cream just enhances the richness of this dish. A load of thanks to Sup to introducing me to this creamy chicken!!

Ingredients

Marination:

• 750 gms chicken
• 2 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
• 1 tbsp. yogurt
• 1 chicken stock cube/ salt

For the gravy

• 2 onions medium ground into paste
• 1 tbsp. ginger garlic paste
• 3 tsp. pepper powder (or more)
• 2 tbsp. cashew nut powder
• 2 tbsp. fresh cream
• 2 tsp. cardamom powder
• 2 tbsp. flour (optional)
• 4 tbsp. veg oil

Marinate the chicken for 3 hours or more.

Optional- Into the marinated chicken add flour and mix.

In a deep bottom non-stick pan, add the oil and fry the chicken pieces in batches until golden brown on both sides. Drain them on a paper towel and set aside.

Heat 2 tbsp. oil in the pan and discard the rest. Add the onion paste and cook for about 5-8 minutes till onions are cooked. Add ginger garlic paste and pepper powder and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Stir constantly.

Add the chicken pieces and cashew nut powder and chicken stock cube/ salt. Stir for a minute. Add 1 ½ cup water; cover and cook for 10 minutes. In between, stir every 2-3 minutes, because the gravy might stick to the bottom. That’s ok. If you want a loose consistency, you can add little more water.

Add fresh cream and just bring to boil on a high flame. Check for salt. Add Cardamom powder and mix completely.

Remove from heat and enjoyyy.. !!!!

Frozen Strawberry Treat

Being an avid strawberry fan, it’s usual to see my fridge stacked with them during the off season. So when the heat peaked up recently over here, I ended up making this next dish with these stacked up strawberries. What came out can’t be termed as either a frozen yogurt or ice cream, so I am just going to call it a treat!!! And this treat is sure to bring down the temperatures for both adults & kids alike!!!

Ingredients

• 1 cup Strawberry fresh or frozen
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tbsp. lime juice
• ¾ cup water
• ½ cup whole milk
• 1 cup low fat yogurt plus tbsp. fresh cream (I used Amul fresh cream)   

In a deep bottom pan, place the strawberries, water, sugar and lime juice. Bring to boil till the strawberries look mushy mushy for about 5-8 minutes on a medium flame. Mash the strawberries while cooking with a masher or with the back of the spoon. Check for sugar.

Remove from heat and add yogurt, cream and milk and mix completely. I had added 1 tsp. raspberry essence to get the colour. It’s optional.

Transfer the mixture to a freezer proof container. Chill for 3-4 hours or until set. Yummmy…..!!!! 

Egg Curry

This next dish is one of those ever reliable dishes – easy to make & hard to go wrong ever!!! The only time consuming factor over here is to get the eggs boiled. Back in Kerala I grew up eating Iddiyappams & Vellappams with this dish. Again this egg curry goes well with rice and chapatti!!!

Ingredients

• 5 eggs boiled and shell removed
• 1 tbsp. Veg oil
• 2 tsp. chilli powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 2 tsp. coriander powder
• 2 tsp. ginger garlic paste
• 1 onion medium finely sliced
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 tomato finely chopped
• 1 green chili – split/finely chopped
• 1 – 1 ½ Veg stock cube
• 1 tsp. garam masala powder
• 2 clove
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 small cinnamon bark
• 3-4 pepper corns
• 200 ml coconut milk ( thick)
• Water as required.
• Chopped coriander- a few

In a deep bottom non-stick pan, add oil and add clove, cardamom pods, pepper corns and cinnamon bark and sauté on a medium flame. Add the chopped onions, curry leaves, ginger garlic paste and sauté till onions turn translucent.

Add chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and garam masla and sauté for a while. Add Chopped tomatoes and cook till tomatoes are done. Add the veg stock cube and mix well. Add coconut milk and stir. Add a little water if you want to loosen up the consistency.

Divide the eggs in to two and slowly put them in to the curry. Do not drop them. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add chopped coriander leaves. Enjoyyy!!!!

Pizza Night

Who hasn’t loved to hog on a pizza!!! This was my second venture in trying out baking a pizza & even though my version of the sit didn’t come out like one of those PIZZA HUT style pizzas, this one is definitely worth the try. The tricky part here is in the usage of yeast. If your yeast doesn’t get frothy enough, your pizza dough won’t rise and you shall lose out on that crispy crust. This is where my Sis in law, Anki (Agna Avinash) helped me out in getting a frothy yeast mix. The toppings & sauces are up to your wish. For my pizzas I tried out the marinara & barbeque sauce while the toppings were the same in both cases.

 Ingredients

• 3 ¼ cups plain flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 package of ¼ oz. of active dry yeast
• 1 ¼ cup lukewarm water
• 2 tsp. of sugar
• Oregano Leaves to sprinkle
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

Baking sheet or pizza tray

In a bowl, add yeast and sugar in to the water and whisk until dissolved. Let it rest in a warm place for 10 minutes until frothy or double in size.

 Sift flour and salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in yeast liquid. Stir in oil.

 Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.

Place in a bowl greased with oil and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and punch down the dough. Roll out the dough to form a crust for on a large pizza. (Well if u get a good circle then way to go!!!! You can also make individual small pizzas too….Transfer prepared crust to lightly greased and sprinkled with flour on baking sheet or pizza pan. Push up the edge a little to form a ridge to retain the filling.

Add your pizza sauce, cheese, and favourite toppings.

I used: corn, onions, capsicum, olives, mushrooms and sausages (optional).

Bake at 425 F/ 220 C for 15 to 20 minutes.

Monitor pizza crust, especially the bottom of the crust as it bakes. It will turn brown when it is done, plus the cheese will be melted and brown on top. Remove from the oven and let it cool down for at least five minutes before you attempt to slice it.

Enjoyy!!!

Kolhapuri Chicken

This next dish, which is a Maharashtrian delicacy, is rich in spice, aroma & flavour. All the spices here are initially roasted & then powdered before being used for cooking. Additionally as most of the time with me I tried out coconut milk here too. However this is an optional ingredient & can be replaced with water as well.

Ingredient’s

For marinating:

•  1 kg chicken
• 2 tablespoons yogurt
• 1 tablespoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoon red chili powder (more or less)
• 2 tsp. ginger garlic paste
• Salt
• 2 tsp. garam masala powder

For the main Sauce:

• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 3-4 cloves
• 1 cinnamon bark
• 3 cardamom pods
• 3-4 peppercorns
• 2 onions medium chopped
• 2 tsp. ginger garlic paste
• 3 tbsp. coconut grated
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 ½ tsp. chilli powder
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp. veg oil plus 4 -6 tbsp.
• 200 ml coconut milk (thick)
• Coriander leaves to garnish

Heat a deep bottom pan with oil (4-6 tbsp.). Fry the chicken pieces. You need to get only brown patches on both sides. Keep the pieces aside.

In the same pan , keep 2 tbsp. oil and discard the rest of oil .Add cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, pepper corns and sauté for a while. Add grated coconut and sauté for a minute. Add onion, ginger garlic paste and sauté for about 3-4 minutes.

Add chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder and sauté for a minute, it will be dry. That’s ok.  Add tomato paste and sauté for a while. Take off from the heat and let it cool.

Grind them nicely by adding ¼ cup water.

In to the same pan, add the grinded mixture and bring it to a boil on high flame. Add the chicken pieces and coconut milk. And mix completely. Check for salt. Add ¼ - ½ cup of water. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. You can add more or less water  to adjust the consistency.

Open the lid and cook for 5 more minutes. Remove from flame and garnish with coriander leaves.

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Cabbage Manchurian

Ever since I had tried out this next dish from a local thattukada, I have always wanted to try out the Cabbage Manchurian. Earlier I have already listed out a Mushroom Manchurian & going forth I am thinking of trying out the Gobi variant. There are just some tweaks amongst all these dishes like in this case I have opted for making it a gravy dish. However if required we can always dry this one out for a quick appetizer!!!

Ingredients

• 1½ cups finely chopped/shredded cabbage
• 2 tbsp.  flour
• 2 tbsp. corn flour
• 1/2 tbsp. rice flour
• 1 tbsp. ginger-garlic paste
• 3 chillies finely minced/chopped
• ½ tsp. black/ white pepper powder
• Water as required 3-5 tbsp.
• salt to taste
• oil for deep frying 

For sauce:

• 1/4 cup onions, finely chopped
• 1 ½  tbsp. finely minced garlic
• ½  tbsp. finely minced ginger
• 2 finely chopped green chillies
• 2 tsp. soya sauce
• 2 tsp. chilli vinegar/ plain vinegar
• 2 tbsp. tomato sauce/tomato paste
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Ajinomoto (optional)
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 ½ – 2 tbsp.  finely chopped coriander leaves/ spring onion greens

Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy bottomed vessel.

In a bowl, combine flour, corn flour, rice flour, salt, ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, pepper powder, salt and finely chopped cabbage. Sprinkle little water to make a thick mixture. Add water little by little. And mix everything with your hand and make small balls.

Carefully place each ball into the hot oil. Deep fry the balls till brown on both sides. Remove onto paper towel and keep aside.

Mix 1 tbsp. of corn flour with ¼ cup water and keep aside.

Keep 1 tbsp. of oil and discard the rest. Heat oil in the same pan and once the oil is hot, add the chopped garlic, ginger, chillies and onions. Sauté for a while for about 3-4 minutes.

Add soya sauce, sugar and tomato paste and stir for a while. Add 1 cup of water. Close the lid and bring it to boil on a high flame. Add the corn flour water and stir until the gravy thickens. Add the fried cabbage balls and mix slowly. Add chopped coriander leaves/ spring onions.

Serve hot with Fried rice!!!!!