Paneer 65

For Blog Hop Wednesday-Week 6, I cooked from Divyaz Easy Recipes. As I was browsing through her recipes, I got hooked by the Paneer 65. The dish is quick and simple and makes a yummy appetizer.
I have made few changes in the spice powders to suit my family's taste.

Ingedients:

1. Paneer - 250 gms, cubed

2. Red chilly powder - 1 to 2 tsp
Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp
Cornflour - 2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Curd/yoghurt - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

3. Oil to deep fry
4. Lemon juice - optional to drizzle

Preparation:

1. Cube the paneer to medium size pieces. I used store brought paneer, so I soaked it in hot water for 5-10 mins to soften.
2. Mix all ingredients under item 2 and coat the paneer cubes well with this paste. Keep aside for 15-20 mins.
3. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying and add the paneer cubes. Fry till all sides are golden brown. Drain to kitchen tissue. You may add a dash of lemon juice before serving.

Serve hot.

This is my entry for Blog Hop Wednesday-Week 6 and Anyone can cook

Double Ka Meetha

Another Blog Hop Wednesday is here and this time I have a sweet treat from Vaishali's blog  - Ribbons to Pastas. Apart from recipes, Vaishali's blog has a lot of crafts which shows how creative she is. Vaishali has a unique range of Sindhi recipes in her blog which are very new to me. I wanted to try a traditional dish, but unfortunately I couldn't spend much time in the kitchen. My daughter is down with viral fever for more than a week now and she clings to me all day and night. This leaves me with very little time to cook and do other household chores. Regular visitors of my blog would have noticed my absence for a week. So I looked for an easy recipe in her blog and finalized on Double Ka Meetha, a Nawabi dessert which is similar to a bread pudding. I am so very glad that I tried this, it was a sweet treat to the taste buds. It is a tasty and easy dessert option when you have guests and can be made the previous day and refrigerate if you would like to serve chilled. We had half of it while still warm and I refrigerated the other half portion and relished it the next day. I liked the cold one more :-)

I had to make a few changes to Vaishali's recipe due to the unavailability of ingredients mainly Khoya. I used Nestle Coronation Evaporated Milk instead of boiling and thickening milk, which made it much easier. View the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

Bread Slices - 5
Evaporated Milk - a 400 gm tin
Sugar - 1/4 cup or to taste
Cardamom powdered - a pinch or two
Saffron - a pinch
MTR Badam Feast powder - 2 tbsp (Optional. I just added it for the badam flavour)
Nuts and raisins roasted in ghee - to garnish
Ghee or Oil - to deep fry

Preparation:

1. Cut out the edges of the bread and then cut each slice to four. Deep fry the bread pieces and keep aside.
2. Heat the evaporated milk in a pan or in microwave. Add sugar, cardamom, saffron and the badam feast powder and stir well.
3. Arrange the bread slices in an oven safe dish. I used a glass roasting tray for this. Pour the prepared milk and top it with the nuts and raisins roasted in ghee.
4. In an oven pre-heated at 180 C, bake it for 5-7 mins.

Serve warm or refrigerate and serve chilled.

This pic goes to Black and White Wednesday

Off this goes to Blog Hop Wednesday - Week 5,  Diwali Special - Sweets& Savouries at Tickling Palates and Diwali - Festival of lights at Anu's healthy kitchen

Also goes to Khushi's My Diwali My Way

Carrot Rice

Another Blog Hop Wednesday is here and this time I'm paired with Rajani of My Kitchen Trials. Her blog has a variety of simple and easy recipes. Carrot being my daughter's favourite, I decided to try the Carrot Rice. The picture of the colourful rice tempted me a lot and when I made it, my daughter loved it too..Carrot rice is perfect for a lunchbox.
So, here is the recipe. I didn't have paneer in stock, so I had to do without it. May be next time :-)

Ingredients:

Carrot finely grated - 1 cup
Cooked rice - 1.5 to 2 cups (Basmati or Sona Masoori or Ponni)
Onion - 1, finely chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 3/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Chilly powder - 3/4 tsp or more
Salt
Coriander leaves to garnish.
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add onions and salt saute  till they start turning light brown. Add ginger garlic paste and combine.
2. Add carrots and saute for a couple of minutes. Now add chilly powder and curry leaves and mix well. Add the cooked rice and fold in gently. Switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve warm...Raitha goes well with this rice.

Sending this to Blog Hop Wednesday an event initiated by Radhika and  to Anyone can cook: Series 33 and to Friday Potluck

Puli Kuzhambu

The second Blog Hop Wednesday is here and this time my partner is Sangeetha of Sangeetha's Kitchen. It was my first visit to her blog and I directly went to the Recipe Index and got lost in the long list of yummy recipes. It was very difficult to choose a single dish to try, because there were many I liked. I was more attracted to the tamilnadu style recipes and finally decided to try Puli Kuzhambu. I have tasted this at 'Annachi' restaurant in Bangalore a few years ago and I still remember my taste buds relishing its tangy and spicy taste. In this recipe, Sangeetha has not added any vegetables, but she mentioned that Okra,Brinjal,Drumstick etc can be added. I decided to go with Okra. Me and my husband loved this kuzhambu and it was a treat to our taste buds...

Ingredients:

Sambar onions/shallots - 8 to 10, peeled and sliced

Garlic - 6 to 8 cloves, peeled and chopped

Okra/Ladies Finger - 8 to 10 (optional). 

Tamarind - a lemon sized ball

Tomato - 1 small, finely chopped

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilly powder - 1.5 tsp

Coriander powder - 2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp for frying okra

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek/Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp

Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp

Pepper corns - 3 nos

Sesame oil - 1 to 2 tsp (I didn't have it, so I used sunflower oil itself)

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Salt to taste

Getting ready

1. Soak tamarind in warm water for 10-15 mins and extract the juice.

2. Trim the ends of okra and cut to 1 inch pieces. In a non stick pan, add 1tsp of oil and fry the okra peices for few mins till they are coated well with oil. Keep aside.

Preparation:

1. Heat 1 tbsp  oil in a pan and splutter mustard and fenugreek seeds. Add jeera,hing and pepper corns and saute till you get  the aroma.

2. Add onions,garlic and curry leaves and saute till onion becomes transparent. Add tomatoes and saute till they are soft.

3. Add turmeric,chilly and coriander powders and saute on low flame taking care not to burn it.

4. Add the tamarind juice, and 1 to 1.5 cups of warm water and bring to boil. Add salt to taste.

5. Cook on medium flame for about 10 minutes and the gravy thickens.

6. Now add the okra pieces and drizzle sesame oil and cook for few minutes. The oil starts appearing. As Okra takes very less time to cook, do not overcook as it turns mushy. Kuzhambu is ready, you may garnish with chopped coriander leaves

Serve with hot rice and pappad.

So, here it goes to Blog Hop Wednesday - Week 2. Meet the other blog hoppers here...

Also Sending to Herbs and Flowers - Garlic event hosted by Vardhini this month. Herbs and Flowers is a monthly event initiated by PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds

Mushroom Pepper Fry

Mushrooms are my favourite and I always have a pack or two in my fridge. Cooking with mushrooms is very quick and easy and it can be used in a variety of ways. Mushroom Pepper fry is spicy and yummy and tasted very different from the other mushroom dishes I make.This recipe is from my blog hop pal Priya Sreeram of Bon Appetit. View her original recipe here. She has lot of yummy recipes in her site, do check it out... Thanks Priya, for this wonderful recipe.Serves best with roti, naan, pulao, fried rice etc...

Ingredients:

Button or Closed cup mushrooms - 150 gms, diced

Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 1, diced (I used 1/2 each of yellow and red to make the dish colourful)

Onion - 1 large, diced

Green chillies - 2, slit

Garlic - 2 to 3 cloves, chopped

Tomato - 1, chopped

Black Pepper powder - 2 tsp (adjust as per the spice level)

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Fennel seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - a few

Coriander leaves chopped - to garnish

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the fennel seeds. When they sizzle, add garlic, green chillies and curry leaves and sauté till you get the aroma. Now add the pepper powder and sauté for few seconds. 

2. Add onions,capsicum and salt and sauté for few minutes. The aroma while they get fried is awesome, but I choked a little :-). Add the tomato and when it becomes soft, add turmeric, cumin and coriander powders and combine well.

3. Add mushrooms and keep stir frying while it cooks. Mushroom releases water and if you want a little more gravy, you can add some water. Do a taste check and adjust the spiciness. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Linking this with Blog Hop Wednesdays-Week 1,a new challenge initiated by Radhika of Tickling Palates. Each time, bloggers paired and they need to cook and present a recipe from their partner's blog. Radhika has put a lot of effort in forming groups and pairing them. Meet all my blog hopper friends here...

Also linking with Anyone can cook: Series 28

Also sending to  Let's Cook: Sabzis for rotis 

I am taking taking this to Friday Potluck Dinner-2 hosted and Show and Tell

Linking to Food Palette Series - Black @ Torview

Linking to Joy from Fasting to Feasting-IV at Yummy Food

Please do visit and send your entries for my Ongoing event - Fusion Food:Pasta