Palak Paneer

Palak or spinach is a leafy vegetable packed with iron and calcium.And it is also the favorite vegetable of our own 'Popeye':-)
Paneer is most common cheese in India ,also called as farmer's cheese or cottage cheese,is made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice and then strained to collect the whey.Readymade paneer is also available in the market,I most commonly use the Amul paneer,but you can make it at home with the following method
paneer--by Mona
Paneer--by Mahanandi

Palak Paneer is usually the star dish in a vegetarian party. Tastes great both with rice and bread.
A tip that might come in handy is that,after a meal your palak paneer will run out of paneer and you will be left with only palak:-),so what you can do is spread it on a pita bread and grill it,or else you can use it as a dip.....it is up to you,whichever way you like!
I had it with meethi Daal and chawal,the other recipe of palak is Palak gosht which is out of the world if it is teamed with khatti daal and chawal(drooooooool), hey guys can you name few such combinations in your comments, like tala hua gosht, khatti daal, chawal,..tomato gosht, meethi daal, chawal...and the likes..
Ok the recipe goes like this...

Ingredients

1 Spinach 3 bunch
2 green chillies 10(accd to ur taste)
3 garlic 6-7 flakes
4 ginger half an inch
5 salt
6 cumin 1 tsp
7 aniseed powder(saunf pdr) 1tsp
8 ghee 3 tbsp
9 bay leaf 1
10 Cilantro half cup chopped
11 tomato paste 3 tbsp
12 onion 2 medium finely chopped(you can also blend it)
13 Paneer 2 cups
14 oil 3 tbsp
15 black pepper half tsp
16 garam masala 1 tsp

Method:

--Wash the spinach,cut the leaves from the stems,discard the stem and put the leaves of spinach in a pot along with green chillies ,ginger and garlic along with a cup of water and boil till the leaves are wilted,say ,for about 10 minutes .Let it cool.
--Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the paneer cubes,till they turn golden.
--Blend the boiled spinach along with cilantro in a blender.
--Now heat ghee in a pot,throw in the bay leaf and cumin seeds,when it starts spluttering ,slip in the finely chopped onion,fry till it gets translucent,now add pepper,garam masala,saunf powder,tomato paste and salt,fry for some time and then add the blended spinach mixture,when it starts bubbling slip in the paneer cubes.
--Cover and simmer for about five minutes.
--Your Palak Paneer is Ready..serve hot with rice or chapatis!

Qubooli

Qubooli-chana dal flavoured in a yogurt and onion curry, layered with basmati,cooked in the aroma of cardamom,cinnamon and caraway seeds.
This recipe used to be our eid special,prepared for brunch with the traditional sheerqorma. Mom used to prepare it with dahi ki chutney(raita) and shikampur(minced meat patties with a filling of onion and yogurt,shallow fried). The festive air used to make it all the more tasty.
This is a very tasty one dish meal,and biryani equivalent for vegetarians :)
Now for eid generally I make mutton/chicken biryani,coz thats what is the PUBLIC DEMAND(read, husband demand),but cooking it in normal days makes me think of eid day back then when eid meant dressing up and looking good and doing hafta vasooli(eidi), making the most of being younger to people who can shell out cash(;)), wow I used to be rich after eid,with all the eidi collected(I was the youngest of all so,I didnt need to give it to anybody).
I was not able to cook this particular dish after marriage as I did not know the recipe,I missed it,but could not find a recipe close to what I ate.
which remindsme of a sher...arz hai
'rang laati hai mehandi sookh jaane ke baad,yaad aati hai khaane ki khaane se door jaane ke baad:)'(altered from original)
then recently found it in a google search and was more than happy to find it, I was in TN then, I made it, and it was an instant hit there,loved and relished by all,hope you like it too...




Ingredients:
1)Basmati Rice-2 cups
2)medium size onions-2(fried to golden brown)
3)chana dal-1/2 cup
4)yogurt-1/2 cup
5)ginger garlic paste-2 tsp
6)garam masala-1tsp
7)salt
8)cardamom 3,cinnamon-1 inch long stick,caraway seeds-1/2 tsp
9)turmeric-1/4 tsp
10)red chilli pdr-1 tsp
11)cilantro-1 cup chopped
12)8-10 green chillies chopped
13)Saffron,ghee
14)1 big lime

Method:
--Boil Dal till almost done,not mashed up,but whole.
--Wash and soak rice,put water,cinnamon,cardamom,caraway seeds,half of the cilantro,grren chillies and salt in a pot,cover and boil.
--In the meantime,heat ghee,whisk yogurt,ginger garlic paste,turmeric,red chilli powder,salt and ghee,cook till oil separates.
--Add daal and cook till dry,add garam masala and fried and crushed onion,squeeze out the juice of lime,mix well and keep aside.
--Add soaked rice to the boiling water,cook till 3/4th done, strain.
--Before putting it in layers,spread some oil,on the bottom of the pot,so that rice does not get stuck to the bottom .
--Now put half of the rice in the pot(first),then the dal mixture(second layer),then again the rest of the rice.
--soak saffron in 1/4 cup warm milk(if u dont have saffron use food colour)
--Spread blobs of ghee on the top rice layer,then sprinkle saffron milk,all over the top layer.Garnish with cilantro.
--cover it tightly with aluminium foil,then with a lid.
--cook for 10-15 mins on low flame(sim).
--Let it stand for 10 mins before serving,then mix the layers well and serve.
--Enjoy with Raita, tamate ka masale ka saalan or mirchi ka saalan.

Tamate ka Masale ka saalan

This particular gravy is an accompaniment to biryani or bagaara khana or khubooli, mirchi ka saalan is used more often, but the taste is equally good and is wayyy easier, this comes in the genre of bagaare baigan..or mirchi ka saalan, the ingredients for this recipe are simple so,it can be made anytime with great results, you can make this recipe a bit interesting,by adding boiled eggs instead of tomatoes,when this is accompanied with bagaara khaana or any vegetarian main dish,as this would add the protein element to the menu:)
This recipe is going for RCI Authentic Hyderabadi cuisine, First I was confused,first I thought of Lukhmi, then I dropped that idea, then Qubooli, but due to some reasons could not make it, so here I am with this gravy.
If you are IN for tangy taste then, you will love this dish and also it is very easy, I guess it will take less than half an hour to be prepared(without distractions).You can make an extra batch of the grounded mixture and freeze it, so that the next time you have to make it, it will be a breeze
So the recipe goes...

Ingredients:
1)tomatoes 4 nos
2)dessicated coconut 3 tbsp
3)peanuts 2 tbsp
4)sesame 1 tbsp
5)onion 1 small
6)mustard seeda 1/2 tsp
7)cumin seeds1/2 tsp
8)roasted cumin powder 1 tsp
9)tamarind size of a lemon
10)ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
11)chilli powder 1 tsp
12)turmeric 1/4 tsp
13)salt
14)oil


Method:
--Roast coconut,peanuts,sesame separately till each turns to light brown colour.
--grind coconut,peanuts,sesame to a fine paste,use required amount of water to grind it.
--Heat oil in a saucepan,then fry the tomatoes(you can cut the tomatoes in quarters or you can slice them) for about a minute, then take it out and keep aside.
--Now in the same oil,put mustard seeds,cumin seeds and fry till the mustard stops spluttering and cumin turns brown,then add onion, fry till it turns transparent.
--Then add g/g paste,red chilli powder,turmeric,salt and then put the grounded masala(coconut,peants,sesame).
--saute this till the smell of coconut and peanuts leaves(bhoonofy it really well!),keep stirring as this masala tends to stick to the bottom a lot.
--After sauting it really well,stir in the tamarind pulp,let it come to boil.
--now let the saalan come to the desired consistency before leaving in the tomatoes.
--So when the gravy comes to the desired consistency, drop in the fried tomatoes,cover the lid and let it simmer for about five mins on a low flame,till the oil leaves from the sides.

Enjoy it with Biryani, bagaara khaana...khubooli.
This recipe goes to RCI Authentic Hyderabadi cuisine hosted by Mona of Zaiqa.

kheema pulaao and brinjal fry

I am late, I am late!

who says this? The rabbit in the Alice in wonderland cartoon! And I am joining him...I wanted to take part in a number of blog events..meeta's monthly mingle for 1 dish meal...I prepared that but never found time to post the recipe and the entry to the monthly mingle, now that march is long gone its no use, but the recipe is nevertheless a must try!
And you know the cartoons are doing a lot of impact on me no wonder I am talking in that way..thats evident from my first line... Sameeha(or for that matter all kids)is crazy about cartoons, just to keep her busy till I am done with my cooking,I used to put the tom and jerry cartoon, Now she has a huge collection of it...barbie, tom and jerry ,looney tunes,cinderella 1,2,3.mermaid 1,2....I have never seen so many cartoons....all we got those days was an hour of cartoon,...jungle book..or disney hour,duck tales,talespin...but now kids have cartoon network 24 hrs...
Huda on the other hand has learnt to stand up on her own,all these days she was holding the furniture and stuff to pull herself up, now she is doing it by herself,and yesterday she took first steps, only 3 steps...but on her own between two sofas....17 April 2008...I wanna write it down before it slips out of my mind... she is now enjoying attention from everybody,she understands if I tell her "badmaash" and starts whining whenever I say that:-) looks like she will start walking in a couple of weeks.

Last weekend we went to the desert safari with our family friends ,It was really fun, we made a tent,did barbecue...it was really fun, and the weather was also very good!
Anyways coming back to the food part, this recipe I learnt from my neighbor who is from mumbai, exactly this time last year we shifted to this house,huda wasn't there that time,that is when she brought this for us,and I liked it a lot and asked for the recipe and from that time made many times....along with that I made brinjal fry and cucumber raita...
I hated brinjal,except for the bagara baigan. So, I never tried to learn anything with brinjal. But,sometime back when we visited my husband's friend's house, who is from pakistan, we tasted this, and it was a super hit instantly,and is easiest thing you can make, and it can be eaten as a side dish with rice and dal or any curry, or you can have it with roti...and also you can have that by itself....super easy and super yummilicious...do try it out at least once.. even if you are a brinjal hater!

Brinjal Fry :
ingredients

2 large brinjal
chat masala
oil for frying
method
--wash the brinjal, and slice it! again wash it
--in a large bowl spread out the brinjal an sprinkle the chat masala generously, and toss the bowl so that each slice of brinjal gets the coating of chat masala, alternately if you think that each slice will not get sufficient coating,apply the chat masala to each slie that will be a long process
--heat about 1 cup of oil in a frying pan,when it is hot lower the flame and put the brinjal slices one by one,fry one side without turning for a minuite and then flip and fr the other side, fry till its dark brown.
--take it out on a paper towel so that excess oil is drained,repeat with the rest of the brinjals
--Enjoy it with roti, or as a side dish or by itself!!



Kheema pulaao

ingredients

kheema 400gms
basmati rice 500 gm
2 onion
1 tomato
2 inch cinnamon stick(2)
4 cardamom pods(2)
1 tbsp zeera
1 inch ginger or you can use ginger paste
2 flakes garlic
1 tsp red chilly powder(adjust to your level)
salt
1/4 tsp haldi
3/4cup whole masoor daal(whole red lentils or akhi masoor daal or daal moth)
1 cup yogurt
cilantro 1/2 cup chopped
mint2 sprigs
green chillis2-3
5-10 peppercorns

method
--wash and soak the rice.
--Soak the whole red lentil for at least an hour,finely slice the onion ,fry till golden, drain it on a paper towel.then crush it well.
--In a blender, blend ginger,garlic,zeera,cardamom,cinnamon,tomato. keep aside.
--wash the kheema well.
--In a saucepan heat oil,when its sufficiently hot,put the blended mixture,fry for sometime,then put chilly powder,salt,haldi,then put the soaked lentils, then fry it for some time,then put the fried and crushed onion to it,fry for sometime, then put kheema.
--Bhoonofy the kheema well, and then add yoghurt and mix well.
--Fry till the water evaporates,then put about half a cup of water and clantro.
--cover and cook till all the water evaporates,and both kheema and the lentils are cooked well.

--In another thick bottom saucepan, put about 15 cups of water,to it ad mint leaves,cilantro,green chillies,cinnamon,cardamom,peppercorns and salt, cover the saucepan with a lid.
--when the water starts boiling ,out the soaked rice to the boiling water.
--cook the rice till it is 3/4 done
--drain the rest of the water
--Now,transfer half of the rice in another large plate,layer the kheema over the rice in the saucepan, then again layer the remaining rice in the plate over the kheema layer.
--now put blobs of ghee on the rice layer.
--cover it it tight with the lid
--put it on high heat for about2 mins,then lower the flame and cook til vapours ooze out of the lid.
--turn off the flame and let it stand for about10 mins, then mix the layers well andserve hot with raitha.