Italian Style Paneer

There's this little shop in Gurgaon that sells all sorts of milk products. It was on my first trip there that I discovered masala paneer. I thought it was a great idea and bought some. I just cut the paneer into slices and toasted them. Then Arundathi wrote about dressing up paneer in this post. Inspired by all of this, I decided to make herbed paneer, Italian style.

1 litre Milk

1 tbsp Lime Juice

1 tsp Garlic, chopped

1 tsp Chilli Flakes

1 tsp Mixed Herbs (Basil, Parsley and Oregano)

1/2 tsp Salt

Bring the milk to a boil. As it starts boiling, add the garlic, chilli flakes, herbs and salt. Add the lime juice and allow the mixture to curdle.

Drain the solids into a cheesecloth and keep it under a heavy object so the liquid drains. Alternatively, you could use a paneer maker that is available in the market these days.

Cut the resultant block into cubes and add it to pasta salads or pasta dishes. I am sure it would be great in sandwiches and as a pizza topping.

Paneer Methi Malai

On New Year's Day, S and I drove to Karnal to get our car serviced. It is said that the best service station of Tata Motors is in Karnal. We gave the car to the service station folks and then went to the Karnal Haveli. The owner of the service station was gracious enough to offer us his car. It was quite cold and we were very hungry when we reached the place. We ordered some typically Punjabi food and relished every morsel.

One of the dishes we had was called Paneer Methi Malai. It was lipsmackingly delicious. I wanted to recreate the dish at home. A couple of weekends ago, I decided to try my hand at it. The resultant dish was great. We lapped it up with some hot phulkas.

2 cups Fenugreek Leaves, washed and chopped

½ tsp Cumin Seeds

1 cup Paneer, cubed

½ cup Milk

2 tbsp Cream

¼ tsp Sugar (optional)

1 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

To be ground to a paste:

1 Onion

2 Green Chillies

½” piece Ginger

2 cloves Garlic

2 tbsp Cashews

1 tsp Poppy Seeds

Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the fenugreek leaves and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk, cream, sugar, salt and paneer cubes. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Serve with rotis.

Hara Bhara Paneer

Depending on what time of the day we go shopping for vegetables, we come back with varying amounts of fresh coriander. If we’re the last customers of the day, I think “Uncle”, as S and I call him, would give us as much coriander as the other vegetables we’ve just bought from him. While it looks pretty and I’m super excited with my freebie, I have no clue how to use up these greens. Most folks at work tell me to make chutney out of this. But there’s a limit to how much chutney we can consume. I once made it and spiced up this colour coordinated salad. The next time I made the chutney, I put on my experimenter’s hat and ended up with this dish.

1 cup Paneer Cubes
1 cup Coriander Leaves
2 pods Garlic
1" piece Ginger
2 Green Chillies
Salt to taste
1 tsp Oil + Oil for shallow frying
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida

Prepare the chutney by grinding the coriander leaves with the garlic, ginger, green chillies and salt together.

Heat a skillet. Toast/shallow fry the paneer cubes on this using a few drops of oil. Keep aside.

Heat the teaspoon of oil and add the cumin seeds and the asafoetida. When the cumin crackles, add the chutney and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the paneer cubes and mix well. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Serve as a side with rotis or between slices of bread as a toasted sandwich. It tastes great whichever way you eat it.

Pizza Style Sandwich

Thank God I overcame my fear of yeast last year. I have been baking bread, pizza and rolls regularly since then. Each time I make a yeast bread, I wonder why I hadn't started earlier. Pizzas have become weeknight regulars at our place. The weather ensures that my dough rises to the occasion. I baked a pizza a couple of weeks ago and had some sauce leftover. (Lightning does not strike liars, does it?) No, I didn't have sauce leftover. I kept aside some sauce so I could make sandwiches for breakfast later on.

4 slices Brown Bread

1 tbsp Butter(optional)

2 slices Low Fat Cheese

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced

2 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely

1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of green, red and yellow capsicum)

2 tsp Chilli Flakes

1/8 cup Sweet Corn

1/8 cup Paneer, cubed

3 pods Garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Olive Oil

Salt to Taste

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, paneer, and corn and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To proceed:

Place a slice of cheese on a slice of bread. Place 2-3 tbsp of the sauce over it. Cover this with another bread slice. Repeat with the other 2 bread slices as well. If using butter, apply some butter to both sides of the sandwich (outer sides) and grill in a sandwich maker.

This is great at breakfast time as long as you are able to eat pizza in the morning. (My brother and I can eat pizza at any meal and as many times.) Else, you can have it as a snack or a light meal.

This is off to Anupama's Sandwich festival.

This is Day 5 of the Recipe Marathon and my fellow bloggers have posted:

Siri: Hash Brown Melts
Lakshmi: Mango Fool

Arundathi: Bell Peppery curry

Srivalli: Andhra Mutton Pepper Fry

Dhivs: Fried Herb Mozarella

Swati: Aloo n Gobhi

Divya: Carrot rice

Ranji: Banana Chips

Bhags: triangularly yours

Pizza and a milestone

I have been baking for a really long time. And I started baking with yeast only in the last 3 months. I've tried a variety of buns and breads and have been more successful than I thought I'd be.

Amma makes the yummiest pizza I've ever eaten. And I'm not the only one to think this. My best friend was visiting India for the first time in the 2.5 years since she moved to the U.S. A couple of weeks before she landed in Madras, we were on the phone with her and Amma asked her what she should make for her when she's here and she said, "Pizza" without thinking twice. Amma asked her, "Aren't you tired of eating Pizza there?" and she said, "But nothing is like what you make, Aunty!"

I'd never ventured to try and decided that eating Amma's pizza each time I visited my parents' place was more than enough. I do end up going at least 4 times a year so I can't really complain. (Even though this is at their dinner table every week.) But Amma was always asking me why I couldn't make this myself. I was scared of how it would turn out. And she'd say, "You make all kinds of bread, how can this intimidate you?" Anita also suggests that one can start baking breads with the easy pizza base. I finally summoned the courage to try this out last weekend. I started chopping vegetables to make pasta and halfway through decided to make pizza. I didn't have mushrooms in the fridge (it's usually a staple in our fridge, but when it is selling at Rs. 250 a kilo, I don't have the heart to use it as often!) and added whatever I could find. So, I did deviate a lot from Amma's original pizza sauce recipe. I'm not complaining!

For the dough:

1 1/2 cups Flour
1 tbsp Yeast
1/8 cup Oil
1/2 tbsp Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Water, boiling
1/4 cup Milk

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced
2-3 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely
1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of red and yellow capsicum)
2 tsp Chilli Flakes
1/8 cup Broccoli, cut

1/8 cup Sweet Corn

1/8 cup Paneer, cubed
3 pods Garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Olive Oil
Salt to Taste

100g Mozzarella Cheese, grated

1 tsp Olive Oil

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flour and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, paneer, corn and broccoli and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate.

Spread the dough over the plate. (You could roll the dough using a rolling pin. I prefer doing this by hand.) Spread the olive oil over the dough. Spread enough sauce over the base. Sprinkle the cheese over the pizza.

Bake in a hot oven (400 F) for 20 minutes. When done, cut into wedges. Enjoy your meal.

This is a recipe I've been wanting to try and post for ages. It took 6 months of food blogging to get this very special recipe out. I just completed half a year of blogging and have all of you in the food blogosphere to thank for making a smooth sailing for me. Along with family and friends, you've all egged me on. Thank you all for your support and love.

Palak Paneer

It has been ages since I posted anything here. I made my last post a week ago and didn't even upload the picture on to it yet. I haven't had a chance to transfer photos from my camera to the laptop. I haven't even had a chance to take pictures of stuff I'm making these days. While I am admitting so many things, I must also admit that I haven't been visiting too many blogs. So, please don't take offense if I have not visited any of you recently or if I haven't left any comments.

And thanks to all of you who've dropped by asking if I'm fine because this blog has never witnessed such low posting levels. I have been known to make 17 posts in one day, so to have an entire month go by with just 13 posts would classify as an all time low. I am fine. I am just terribly busy with work and reach home just in time to make dinner at the earliest. There have been days when a glass of milk and a cracker have been my dinner. I think all will be well very soon and that I'll be back to posting on a regular basis in about 2 weeks' time.

I have a simple recipe to share with all of you. Palak paneer is a dish I love (with or without the paneer really). It's one of those fun ways of eating spinach.

1 bunch Spinach, cooked and pureed

1 Onion, ground to a fine paste

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

1 tsp Ginger Paste

1 tsp Garlic Paste

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/4 tsp Chilli Powder

2 tbsp Curds

1 tsp Oil

Salt to taste

1/2 cup Paneer, cubed

Heat the oil and fry the onion paste for a few minutes. Add the ginger, chilli and garlic pastes and fry for a minute. Add the salt, chilli and turmeric powder and fry for a couple of minutes before adding the spinach puree. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add the paneer cubes and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Add the curd and mix well.

Serve hot with phulkas.

I'll be back as soon as I can with recipes that are lying in my drafts folder.

Paneer Paratha

Another very simple stuffed paratha that makes for a light meal. Breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner, I can eat these at any time of the day.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
1 cup Whole wheat flour
1 tsp Oil
1/4 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste

For the stuffing:
100g Paneer, crumbled
1 tsp Ginger paste
1 tsp Green Chilli paste
1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped
Salt to Taste

Oil for frying

Flour for rolling

Take a little water in a bowl. Add the salt, sugar and oil. Mix well until the sugar crystals dissolve. Add the flour and mix well. Knead the dough, adding a little water at a time as needed. Keep aside.

Mix all the ingredients for the stuffing.

Roll out small portions of the dough. Place a little bit of the stuffing in the centre and bring the edges together and seal. Roll these using a little flour taking care to ensure that the filling doesn't spill out.

Toast on a tawa on medium flame using a little oil for each paratha. Enjoy with tomato sauce or curd and pickle.

This is one of my entries to the RCI: Punjabi Cuisine which is being guest hosted by Richa of As Dear As Salt.

Also, since W is for Whole Wheat Paneer Parathas, this is my fourth W entry to Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables.

Paneer in Coconut Milk

I found this recipe in one of Tarla Dalal’s books. I can’t remember which book it was, I can’t remember the name of the recipe, come to think of it, I don’t even actually remember the recipe. The book is at Amma’s place and I make this recipe from memory. It turns out just as nice as I remember it. I add the paneer pieces as they are and don’t fry them first as the recipe calls out.

This dish goes very well with rotis and can be prepared in a matter of minutes if you have the ingredients ready.

Ingredients:

200g Paneer, cubed
200 ml Coconut Milk
1 Onion
1-2 Green Chillies
2 pods of Garlic
1” piece of Ginger
1 tsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
Salt to taste

Grind the onion, green chillies, ginger and garlic together to a paste.

Heat oil, add the cumin seeds and the asafetida. When the cumin seeds crackle, add the onion paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and salt and bring to a boil. Add the paneer cubes and cook for a couple of minutes. Serve hot with rotis.

Mutter Paneer

This is one of those dishes that I had eaten many times, but had never attempted to recreate. I set out 2 days ago to recreate the Cilantro Peas on Arundathi's foodblog. I didn't have the time to go back and check the recipe, but I cleaned a whole lot of coriander leaves and told myself I will just make it from memory.

I usually make a peas curry with ground coriander and coconut milk. I will put the recipe up sometime. I wanted this to be a variation. Then I remembered that I had fresh paneer at home. So the experimental side of me took over. The end result was a lipsmacking dish that I simply had to share with all of you.

Ingredients:

200g fresh Paneer, cubed

1/2 cup Peas, cooked

1 tbsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

100 ml Tomato Puree

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/2 tsp Coriander Powder

1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

1 tsp Kasuri Methi

To be ground to a Paste:

1 Onion

2 pods Garlic

1/2 cup Coriander Leaves

Salt to Taste

Heat oil in a kadhai and add the cumin and asafoetida. When the cumin seeds crackle, add the onion coriander paste and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the chilli, turmeric, cumin and coriander powders and fry for a minute. Add the tomato puree and the kasuri methi and bring the mixture to a boil. Add salt, paneer and peas. Garnish with coriander leaves if you like. And eat this with rotis.

The addition of coriander leaves to the masala gave the dish a unique flavour and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Paneer Butter Masala

At a time when North Indian food wasn’t easily available in Madras, I fell in love with the combination of Naan and Paneer Butter Masala. When I was attending the Canning and Preservation classes conducted by the Ministry and Food, Amma gave me Rs. 20 one day and told me to have lunch outside. I relished the Naan and Paneer Butter Masala combo that I had at Gitanjali restaurant in T. Nagar. I still remember that day!

I have never attempted to make Naans as I am certain that it will be beyond me (even Amma hasn’t been very successful, so as if I stand a chance!) But sometime during my two and a half weeks of unemployment in Gurgaon last year (when I moved here after marriage), I decided to make something special for S. After all, I was sitting at home all day doing nothing but job hunting. A good meal is the least I can prepare. So I decided to make Paneer Butter Masala and Jeera Rice.

When I looked up recipes, I found that despite the name, butter was almost non existent in the dish. That got me even more excited. Less butter = less guilt. This recipe I picked up from Tarla Dalal’s book and modified the proportions. I have even ditched the butter altogether since the first time I made it.

Here’s a recipe for a side dish that is an absolute favourite. Although I am big vegetable and fruit lover, this remains one of those happy foods of mine.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp Oil (Or ½ tbsp butter and ½ tbsp Oil)
1 Onion, ground to a fine paste
1 cup Paneer, cubed
¼ cup Tomato Puree
¾ cup Slim Milk
½ tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Kasuri Methi
1 tsp Sugar
Salt to taste

Heat the oil. Add the onion paste and fry for a few minutes. Add the turmeric and chilli powder and fry for another minute. Add the tomato puree and salt. Mix well until the mixture bubbles. Add the milk and bring to a boil while stirring. Add the kasuri methi, sugar and the paneer pieces. Cook for 5 minutes. Garnish this with coriander leaves if you wish and enjoy with rotis or naans.


Thanks to a restaurant Vilas Venue at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad that was very close to where I stayed, I have made variations of this dish: Mushroom Butter Masala and Babycorn Butter Masala. The best part is that this dish is ready within minutes.

Soya/Paneer Capsicum

This is what happens when you forget that you have a blog and then remember when most of the food is gone that you have to take a picture. This is a dish that I made twice in the same day. With paneer in the morning and with soya in the evening. I remembered to take a picture of the dish when my guests had finished eating most of what I'd made. A pretty simple dish that I made without referring to any cookbook. Just going by taste and figuring out the ingredients that might give it the flavour I want.

Ingredients:

1 cup Soya Chunks or Paneer Cubes

2 Onions, sliced

1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste

1-2 tbsp Oil

2 Tomatoes, blanched and sliced

2 Capsicums, sliced

1 tsp Cumin Powder

1 tsp Coriander Powder

1/2 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Turmeric Powder

1-2 tbsp Tomato Puree

Salt to Taste

Chopped Coriander leaves for the garnish

If you are using soya chunks, prepare them as per the instructions on the pack.

Heat the oil in a kadhai and fry the onions along with the ginger-garlic paste. Add the capsicum slices and the sliced blanched tomatoes. Fry this for a bit. Add the spices and salt and fry for 1-2 more minutes. Add the tomato puree and a little water if need be. Add the soya chunks or paneer pieces. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes and then garnish with coriander leaves.

This dish goes very well with phulkas and we have eaten it with rice as well (Rice always saves me cooking time and effort!).