Paneer Butter Masala

Being a vegetarian, I think it's very understandable when I say that I love paneer. It's one staple that's always stocked in my freezer along with that packet of frozen parathas. Paneer is also probably the one thing that I would take with me if I would be marooned in an island. My love for paneer can be traced back to this one restaurant in my hometown of Pondichéry: Hotel Surguru. When it opened back in the late 90's, it took the small city of Pondichéry by storm. That was the place where I ate stuffed nan and paneer butter masala for the very first time. And since then, paneer and I have shared a relationship that's stronger than many bonds I've formed since then.

I tried to re-create the recipe many times over the years and although all of those attempts were good in it's own way, they always lacked that kind of "restaurant" taste that I craved. When I stumbled upon this recipe on Nags website...it was like a BINGO moment for me. The one thing about her recipe that I did change was the use of the cream. I remember from some vague memory of a PBM version that using cashew paste was the trick. So I decided to substitute the cream with the cashew paste. So Nags, this one's for you...I enjoy your blog a lot and I'm happy that I tried this recipe of yours. It's a favorite of VJ's and Kupy's now and it's a joy to see them gobble it all down like kids.

Ingredients:

Paneer cubes - 2 cups

Onion - 1 medium sized

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Tomato - 1 medium sized

Tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp

Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - 1 tbsp/a generous pinch

Milk - 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts (whole/broken) - 1/4 cup

Bay leaf - 1 small

Oil - 3 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Set the paneer out to defrost and cut into cubes.

2. Chop the onions, puree the tomato and make a paste of the cashew nuts with little milk or water.

3. Heat the oil in a pan. Add th ebay leaf first, followed by the onions and 1/2 tsp salt. Fry until the onions are browned.

4. Now add the ginger-garlic paste and fry until the rawness fades away.

5. Add all the masalas (chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder) and fry for 30 secs.

6. Now add the tomato puree, tomato ketchup and the kasuri methi. Mix well and cook for about 5 minutes until it is all well blended. You can also fry the mix a little extra in this step until the tomato leaves oil. This is for the people who don't enjoy the tangy taste of the tomato puree. But I haven't tried frying extra and I'm not sure how it would be.

7. Add the milk and lower the fire. Cover and cook for 5 mins.

8. Finally add the paneer, cashew paste and salt to taste. Mix well and cook for another 5 mins with the lid.

Serve hot with oven baked nan (which I am definitely going to try sometime) or phulkas.

Source:

Minimally adapted from http://www.cookingandme.com/2009/10/paneer-butter-masala-restaurant-style.html

And this time you don't get the usual lame lines, 'cause I can now take pics with my Panasonic LUMIX...Ha! :)

Tirunelveli Sodhi + Chepa Kezhangu Varuval + Ingee Chutney - Virundhu Saapadu Series

My native place is the city of Tirunelveli; famous for its temples (Nellaiappar Kovil), the Thamirabarani river, Rmkv and most importantly it's cuisine. As a kid, I never realised how distinct amma's cooking was and the way we mixed our ingredients giving it that unique flavor. It will always be reminiscent of home and amma and everything that goes with it. I have been to Tirunelveli about 5 times in my whole life and on each visit it was for a wedding or some other religious trip. And all such trips have one major component in common; the food. Amazing , delicious, mouth watering yet simple vegetarian food. Rice is our staple and the curries that go with it are countless with each curry having a vegetable stir-fry (poriyal) as it's accompaniment.

On that note, I am going to introduce a typical Tirunelveli dish called Sodhi. It's a coconut milk based curry and it's kind of the Indian version of the Thai Green Curry. And yes, that's the reason I love Thai food. Sodhi is served during the Maru Veedu function of a Tirunelveli Saiva Pillai wedding. When amma makes this at home, ingee chutney (ginger chutney) is a given for the simple reason that coconut milk and rice is a heavy meal and the ginger chutney balances the taste and is easy on the stomach. But my most favorite dish that goes with sodhi is the cheppa kezhangu varuval (tarro root/eddoe).

Amma and appa used to literally take the entire morning in the pre-prep for making sodhi. They extracted the milk from two fresh coconuts by hand and later on using a mixer/blender. But now, thanks to consumerism, when I want to make sodhi I go to the nearby super market and buy a can of coconut milk.

What follows is a recipe that's as authentic as a sodhi recipe can get.

Sodhi

Ingredients:

Coconut milk - 1 can

Moong dal/Paasi paruppu - 2 tbsp

Potato - 1 small sized

Carrot - 1

Drumstick (if available) - 1/2

Eggplant/Aubergine/Brinjal - 1 small sized

Onion - 1/2 medium sized

Green chillies - 2 spicy hot

Curry leaves - a few

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Coconut oil - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Wash and cook the dal in 1/2 cup water in a vessel.

2. Slice the onions, slit the green chillies and chop the vegetables in big peices. Add the coconut oil in another vessel and splutter the mustard seeds in it.

3. Add the curry leaves, green chillies, onions and turmeric powder and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. 4. Now add the vegetables and fry for another 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cooked dal to this, 1/2 cup water and cover and cook until the vegetables are done.

5. Add the coconut milk and water as needed to get a thin pouring consistency like sambhar or rasam. Now add salt to taste and let it come to just one boil. DO NOT OVER BOIL as the coconut milk will break/curdle.

Cheppa Kezhangu Varuval

Ingredients:

Cheppa kezhangu/Arbi/Tarro Root - 6 medium sized

Gram flour/besan - 4 tbsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste

Oil - to deep fry

Water - as needed

Method:

1. Wash the kezhangu in water until all the mudiness is gone and place in a vessel with enough water to cook it. Alternatively, you can also cook it in a pressure cooker - 2 whistles should do the trick.

2. Once cooked, let it cool and then peel it. Cut into half (lengthwise) and then into wedges (again going lengthwise).

3. Place in a plate or wide vessel. Mix the besan with the chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. 4. Sprinkle on the kezhangu and mix until they are lightly coated. Repeat if necessary and add water if it is too dry.

5. Heat the oil to almost-smoking temperature in a kadai. Lightly slip in the pieces one by one and deep fry until they are a nice golden brown. Remove using a slotted spoon onto a paper towel.

Ingee Chutney

Ingredients:

Ginger - 8 inch piece

Red chillies (dried) - 2

Urad dal/uluntham paruppu - 1 tsp

Channa dal/kadalai paruppu - 1 tsp

Mustard seeds/kadugu - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - a few (optional)

Method:

1. Cut or slice the ginger into rough pieces. Do not chop finely.

2. Heat oil in a small kadai and splutter the mustard seeds. Add the urad dal, channa dal, curry leaves and fry until lightly browned.

3. Add the ginger and fry for 2 to 3 mins. Remove and set aside to cool.

4. Once cooled down, blend in a mixer with salt to taste until it's a smooth paste.

Source:

Amma, aachi and possibly countless other mother's, daughters, daughters-in-law etc. from other Tirunelveli Saiva Pillai homes :)

Palak Paneer

I love spinach and various other leafy greens. One of my all time favorites is amma's keerai chaaru and keerai poriyal. But the greens we get in Southern India is actually thandu keerai or amaranth greens. I discovered spinach or pasalai keerai quite late as it wasn't that easily available in our little town. I've tried palak paneer in various versions when I began my cooking spree at the age of 12. But my favorite recipe that felt as close to the dhabas or restaurants of Northern India was a recipe from a friend's mother. Although I don't remember the recipe to the 't'; I tweaked it quite a bit and use it as my standard palak paneer recipe.

Ingredients:

Palak/Spinach - 2 bunches (fresh) or 1 medium bag (frozen)

Paneer - 250 gms

Onion - 2 medium

Tomato - 1 medium

Garlic - 2 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Green chillies - 2 (spicy hot)

Red chillies (dried) - 2

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Dhaniya powder - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Methi seeds and coriander seeds - a few (optional)

Cumin/Jeera - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Cream - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Steam cook the spinach (fresh) with just a sprinkling of water and let it cool. If using frozen spinach, cook on HIGH in the microwave for 6 to 8 mins and let it cool.

2. Grind the onions, garlic, ginger and green chillies into a paste. Puree the tomatoes. After the spinach has cooled, blend until smooth. I use my Magic Bullet for all of this and it's ideal for students. I "heart" my Magic Bullet.

3. Heat the oil in a thick bottomed vessel and add the onion-ginger-garlic-green chillies paste. Fry until lightly browned and all the rawness of the onions is gone. Now add the tomato puree and let it cook until oil separates. Add the masalas and cook for 2 mins.

4. Then add the pureed spinach, season with salt (to taste) and cook for a maximum of 5 minutes. It is important not to overcook the pureed spinach as it will lose all its nutrients. Add the paneer to the gravy, stir it slightly, cover and let it sit on the hot stove.

5. In the meantime, heat the ghee in a small kadai and splutter the jeera, methi and coriander seeds. Then add the red chillies and fry until it starts losing its red color and turns a little brown. Top the palak paneer with this tadka and add a swirl of cream around it and serve hot with phulkas or steamed rice.

Source:

A friend's mom's recipe.

Channa Chaat Salad

It's been 4 loooooooong months since I hit the gym; all thanks to having to move to Germany where I could never find the time to work out (read as: lame excuses). And this term has NOT been easy on me at all. Quite the opposite; I hardly find time to make a decent meal. So it was a welcome relief to go to the gym this week. I was having a particularly harsh and bitter week with respect to work, school and the umpteen other things I've taken up and it got too much too handle. When I'm stressed out, the only way to de-stress is to work out. And this is something I learnt from VJ. After quite a rigorous work-out today, I got a call from Karan as I was walking to the car in the parking lot. He wanted a recipe! From me! It made me go "awww" :)

So Karan...here goes the recipe for you. It'a minimum fuss recipe that's healthy as hell and tasty as heaven :)

Ingredients:

Channa dal (white or black) - 1 cup

Red onion - 1 medium or 1/2 of a big one

ROMA Tomatoes - 2

Potato - 1 medium

Green chillies - 1

Coriander (freshly chopped) - 1 tbsp

Lemon juice - 1 tsp

Chaat masala - 1/2 to 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Soak the channa dal for 6 hours and cook with 1 cup water in a pressure cook. Wash the potato thoroughly and place it in the same cooker in a separate bowl or within the dal and cook for 2 whistles, take off hot stove and let the pressure release.

2. Remove from the cooker and once it's cooled down I let it sit in the fridge till evening. This helps to keep the channa dal and potatoes firm enough so that the salad doesn't get to a mashed up semi-solid texture.

2. Finely chop the onion, tomatoes, green chillies and coriander.

3. Take the potato and channa dal out of the fridge. Peel the potato and cube into pieces. It's not necessary to bring it back to room temperature but you can choose to do it that way. I like this salad a little cold especially on sweaty summer nights. It makes for an amazing meal in itself.

4. Take a large salad bowl (or any large bowl; you can also just use the cooker itself). Place the chickpeas in it first then add the onions, tomatoes, green chillies, coriander, chaat masala, red chilli powder and salt. Toss until the flavors are blended. Check to make sure the seasoning is right.

5. Now add the potatoes and lemon juice and toss once more albeit lightly to make sure that you don't disfigure the potatoes. Check again for seasoning and you're ready to dig in. You can (or rather should) vary the seasoning to your taste.

Personally for me this is a nice meal in itself especially after a work out. It used to be a favorite during last Spring. I still love it but hardly get the time to make it anymore. But apparently it goes well with puris as per Karan's update :)

Source:

None to cite. I pretty much made this up as I went. If you have a concern, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

Amma's Rasam + Beans Poriyal - Virundhu Saapadu Series

Every Vinayagar Chaturthi it's a dad-daughter ritual between me and appa to go buy the Vinayagar from the market place. Every street has rows over rows of Vinayagar murtis in different avatars. And I always chose the fattest and cutest Vinayagar. Appa would carry him home on the pooja thaali and thus begins each Vinayagar Chaturthi. I've lost count of the number of Vinayagar Chaturthi's I've missed since I moved out. This year was particularly difficult because I've had a long period of home-sickness that doesn't seem to go away; even with my sister visiting me so often. So this year, I made a promise to myself that I would try and re-create the "virundhu saapadu" that amma and appa make for every festival at home. This is the first post in that thread and I sure do hope to see more in the coming weeks.

This weekend Kupy got me started with the rasam + beans poriyal combo which is a go-to lunch for me when I'm sick. Which by the way I am though; caught a nasty cold over the end of the week and had to miss school and work on Friday. So Kupy decided to make amma's famous rasam and we picked up some beans at the Farmer's market on Saturday; Sunday lunch was thus fated in a way.

What follows is ONE of the ways to make rasam and personally for me, the ONLY way to make rasam :)

Rasam

Ingredients:

Tamarind - lemon sized ball or 1/2 teaspoon instant paste

Tuar dal - 1/4 cup

Tomatoes - 1 roma tomato

Garlic - 2 cloves

Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Hing/Asafoetida - a generous pinch

Ghee - 1 teaspoon

Rasam powder - 2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Water - as needed

Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Soak the tamarind in some warm water for about 15 - 20 mins. Crush and extract the tamarind seeds and pulp to get tamarind water (should measure to about 1 cup). Alternatively, take a cup of water and dissolve upto 1/2 tsp tamarind paste.

2. Place a rounded bowl on the stove with the tamarind water and some salt. Wait for the first boil.

3. Cook the tuar dal in enough water (1/2 to 3/4 cups) and mash well with a rounded spoon.

4. Add the cooked tuar dal to the tamarind water along with rasam powder and pepper powder.

5. Crush the garlic. Cut the tomatoes into large pieces and microwave for 1 to 2 mins on HIGH. Add this to the mix along with the crushed garlic. Add salt to taste and let it boil for about 10 mins on MEDIUM. By this time all the spices should have blended well. Taste to make sure that the flavoring is right.

6. Take ghee in a small kadai and splutter mustard seeds in it. Then add the hing and curry leaves. Add this tadka over the rasam and stir it in. Garnish with freshly chopped coariander leaves.

Beans Poriyal

Ingredients:

Beans - 250 gms

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal (split) - 1/2 tsp

Dried red chillies - 2

Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Coconut (shredded) - 2 tbsp

Oil - 1/2 to 1 tsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Wash and finely chop the beans into small round pieces.

2. Place the beans with 1/2 cup water in a pan/vessel. Cover and cook until the beans is soft yet firm to the touch.

3. Remove the beans in a bowl.

4. Heat oil in the same pan/vessel and splutter the mustard seeds. Break the red chillies into 1/2 inch pieces and add to the oil along with the spli urad dal. Mix for 10 seconds or so until the urad dal is slightly browned. Be careful not to burn them at this point.

5. Now add the cooked beans and mix well. Add the red chilli powder and salt and mix well. Taste to make sure the seasoning is right.

6. Let it fry for about 5 minutes while stirring continuously. Remove from stove and add the shredded coconut. Mix well and serve with hot rice and rasam.

Source:

Amma :)

Of Pancakes, Low Calorie Syrup and Labor Day

I have no idea why I even thought that this Fall Term would be an easy-breezy one. If anything, its been worse than the CORE term. But the Labor Day weekend was a welcome break from it all and more so because my sister was home :)

Somewhere along the week we had picked up a packet of instant pancake mix and decided to indulge ourselves to a typical American breakfast on Labor Day. The best part was that we had Low Cal syrup sitting at home for oh-so-long. I also managed to finally get my hands on the camera and tested out some shots. As per VJ, I did a pretty good job. What do you think?

Step 1: Mix batter with 1% low fat milk.

Step 2: Use a non-stick pan and ladle out generous dollops of batter on to heated pan.

Step 3: Flip them over after a minute or two to get nice golden brown pancakes.

Step 4: Remove in a plate and reach out for the low cal syrup

Step 5: Generously top your pancakes with 1 tbsp of low cal syrup and you're ready to start the day with a guilt-free yet tasty breakfast :)

'Om Sweet 'Om

I'm back home!!!

We still have boxes to unpack to be officially moved-in and I have a barely functional kitchen now. VJ and myself made my famous alu ki sabzi and plain steamed rice for dinner yesterday after a hectic day of cleaning, unpacking, more cleaning, more unpacking and more cleaning and more unpacking...

I tested out the new camera and it's amazing. Can't wait for my photographer to follow me around the kitchen for pics while making endearing yummy noises :)

So on this encouraging note...I promise to be back soon with more recipes.