Palak Paneer

When I was a kid, my mom told me ,spinach was good for me. When is Mom ever wrong? Spinach offers twice as much fiber as other greens. So when you want a salad that's going to fill you up, go for the spinach variety. Spinach is a nutrition superstar, even a fairly good source of iron. It's loaded with vitamins and minerals, some of which are hard to find in other foods.

The A and C vitamins in spinach plus the fiber, folic acid, magnesium and other nutrients help control cancer, especially colon, lung and breast cancers. Foliate also lowers the blood levels of something called homocysteine, a protein that damages arteries. So spinach also helps protect against heart disease.  You want to know more details about Palak, please see the link :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinach

Palak Paneer (Hindi: पालक पनीर, Urdu: پالک پنیر) is an Indian and Pakistani dish consisting of spinach and Paneer cheese in a curry sauce. It is a popular vegetarian dish.  My version of Palak Paneer:

Ingredients:

Spinach                                     – 2 large bunches

Paneer                                    – 250gms, cubed

Green chillies                              – 4 no

Ginger Paste                              -   1 tbsp

Lemon Juice                                 - 1tbsp

Cumin seed                                  - ¼ tsp

Cream                                         – 1 tablespoon (optional)

Salt                                            – to taste

Oil                                              – 2 teaspoons

Sugar                                           – 1 tsp

 Chilled water                             A large bowl

Coarsely Powdered:
(Cinnamon, Cardamom,Cloves)          1 tsp

Method:

• Remove stems and wash the spinach thoroughly.
• Bring a large pan of salted water to a running boil. Blanch the spinach in salted boiling water for two minutes. Do not cover the pan.
• Strain the spinach and transfer it into bowl of chilled water and refresh it.
• Grind spinach into a fine paste along with green chillies and ginger paste. If you want the spinach puree thicker, blend a couple of seconds only.
• Slightly dry fry the masalas and powder it. Keep aside.
• Dice Paneer into one inch by one inch by half inch pieces. Keep aside.
• Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. When they begin to change color, add masala powder and fry for few minutes. Add the spinach puree and stir. Add a dash of salt
• Remember that spinach has its own natural salt so the dish needs relatively little top-up.
• As soon as the gravy comes to a boil, add the Paneer, sugar and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
• Stir a couple of times – very gently, you don’t want the Paneer to crumble. Add water if required.
• Before switch off add  lemon juice and cream (optional)
• Serve piping hot with chapatis,Pulka

Brown rice Bisi bele bath

  I already previously posted the BBB in my blog. This time I have used brown rice instead of white rice. And I made some changes in these recipes.  I made this recipe as simplest as one and made it very quickly.  Its very healthy and tasty too.Try this one and give your feedback.

Ingredients:

Brown rice                             1 cup

Toor dhal                               ½ cup

 Frozen Mixed vegetables         1 cup (Carrot, lima beans, and peas)

Potato                                   2 no (peeled and cut medium pieces)

Tomato                                  1 no (chopped finely)

Turmeric Powder                     ¼ tsp.

Green chilies                          4 no
Bisi Bela Bath Powder              2 tbsp.

Tamarind   juice                       2 tbsp.

Melted Ghee                            2 tbsp.

Jaggery powder                        1 tsp.

Salt to taste

For Seasoning:

Ghee                                       1 tsp.

Cahewnuts                               4 no

Curry leaves                              few

Dry coconut                               2  tbsp
Green Bell pepper                     1/2 no

Method:

• Mix all ingredients (expect Jaggery) in a pressure cooker and add enough water and cook it till 3-4 whistles.  Lower the heat and cook for 5 minutes.
• Switch off the stove. Let it cool down. After that, take out the rice from pressure cooker and slightly mash it well. Keep aside.
• Heat the pan with ghee and fry the cashews, curry leaves, dry coconut till brown. Keep aside.
• Transfer the cooked rice into pan, add little ghee/oil and Jaggery (if you want more spicy, you can add  more BBB powder, chili powder) and mix well.  Add little water and cook it till boil.
• Now add all fried seasonings and fried bell pepper in it and mix it well.
• Serve hot with raita.

Note: Add more ghee according to your preference.

Tomato Theeyal

I always do small twist to recipes and make a new recipe. That’s my habit. Sometimes it will come out very well. Sometimes it comes out a big flop.  Thanks to Paddy for being my guinea pig. But this tomato Theeyal came out very well.

Theeyal means “burnt dish” (Burnt coconut).  It is one of the traditional dishes from Kerala. Most preferred Theeyal is suran & onion.  I already showed you how to make zucchini Theeyal in my old recipes. Here I tried  to make tomatoes Theeyal. I skipped tamarind and I used  only  tomatoes. It came out very well. . But the procedure remains same for all.

Ingredients:

Big Tomatoes 4 no (cut into small pieces)

Green chili - 3 no

Grated Coconut ¾ cup

Red chilies – 3 no

Chili powder 1 Tsp

Coriander powder – 1tsp

Curry leaves

Coriander leaves for decoration

 Coconut Oil  - 2tsp

Salt to taste

Method: 

• Heat oil in a kadai and add the chopped ¾ of tomato pieces, and chilly. Sauté it well.  Keep it aside.
• Roast the grated coconut, and curry leaves in a kadai (roast it in low flame) till it turns brown colour. Then  lower the heat then add chili powder and coriander powder and fry for 1 minute.
• Remove it from fire, allow it to cool. Add the above tomato mixture in it
• Grind it all together well without adding water.
•  Heat oil in a kadai and sauté the left over tomatoes Fry for few minutes
• Now add this paste into the sautéed tomato mix and add water and salt.
• Boil it till the raw smell goes and ooze out the oil in top.
• Serve hot and garnish with coriander leaves.

Paneer Bhurji

     Always Paneer is a family favorite. Paneer bhurji is a vegetarian version of egg bhurji. This bhurji is good for vegetable roll. This one is the easiest to make among all the other Paneer dishes.

Ingredients-

Paneer                                      2 cups crumbled

Ginger paste                              1 tbsp

Green chillies                             3 finely chopped

Tomato                                     1 no (chopped  finely)

Sweet peppers                           ½ cup (chopped finely)

Salt-                                          to taste

Coriander powder                        ½ tsp

Red chili powder                         ¼ tsp

Fresh Garam masala                    1 tsp

 Butter/Oil                                  2 tsp

Jeera-                                       1 tsp

Coriander leaves-                      Chopped fine to garnish

Method-

• Heat Butter in a frying pan. Add the Jeera followed by ginger, and green chillies.
• Then add the sweet peppers and sauté for few minutes.
• Add the, salt, coriander powder and garam masala and chili powder and tomatoes.
• Fry till they are soft and pulpy. Now add the crumbled Paneer and mix well.
• Fry for 5 minutes till the Paneer blends into the masala.
• Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.

Paneer Bhurji

Millaghai Sambhar (CHILIES SAMBHAR)

I made this Sambhar with different type of green chilies.  I used only chilies as a main vegetable for this Sambhar.

Ingredients

Different type of green chilies –each one (Jalapenos, Banana chilies, Paprika chilies, Anaheim chilies)

Tomato                               - 1 medium sized finely chopped

Sambar powder                     - 3 full teaspoons

Turmeric powder                    - 1/4 teaspoon

Tamarind                              - a small lemon size (soaked in water)

Toor dhal                              - 1/4 cup

Asafetida                              - 1/4 teaspoon

Salt                                        to taste

Seasonings:

Oil                                         – 1 tsp

Mustard seeds                         – 1 tsp

Dried red chili                          - 1 cut into half

Curry leaves                              - a few

Method:

• Wash and cut the chilies as lengthwise.
• Pressure cook the Toor dhal with turmeric powder and set aside.
• Extract about 1.5 cups of tamarind water from the soaked tamarind and set aside.
• In a small, deep pan, heat oil, add mustard seeds. After the mustard splutters, add Asafetida, all chillies, dried red chillies and curry leaves and fry for few minutes.
• Then add the chopped tomatoes and wait for them to cook well.
• After the tomatoes get cooked, add the tamarind water, cooked Toor dhal and salt and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it starts boiling, add sambhar powder and boil for about 10 minutes and turn off the stove. 
• It tastes good with rice, Idli’s, Dosas, and any such tiffin items. 

Pavarkkai Pitla (bitter gourd in tangy lentil sauce)

Bitter gourd is a tropical vegetable, which is cultivated mainly in the Asian and African countries. It is also known by the name of ‘Karela’ and has a rough, warty. 
 Health benefits: Improved Stamina and Energy, Great Immune Booster, Improves circulation, Lowers Hypertension and good for Diabetes.

This is another mouthwatering dish comes from South Indian kitchen. I love Pavakkai – yes! Of course I love it so much that I eagerly drink its juice like my mom does. One of my favorite bitter gourd dishes is Pavarkai Pitla.

Ingredients

Oil for sautéing – 1tsp

Medium bitter melon – 2 no (Chopped)

Toor dal - 1/2 cup (cooked)

Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp

a lemon sized ball of tamarind dissolved in water

Salt to taste

Spices for grinding:

Oil – ½ tsp

Whole Black Pepper1/2 tsp

Chana Dal 1Tbsp

Urad Dal 2 tsp

Asafetida – ¼ tsp

grated fresh Coconut  ½ cup

1 Sprig fresh Curry Leaves

Seasoning/Tadka:

Ghee/Oil 1 tsp

Mustard Seeds 1/2 tsp

Red chili  - 1 no

1 Sprig fresh Curry Leaves

Method:

• Cook the dhal in a pressure cooker. Keep aside.
• Wash and dry the bitter gourd. Remove ends, cut in half lengthwise, remove the seeds if they are mature and slice thinly into semicircles.
• Soak the chopped bitter gourd in salt water and after a while drain it and squeeze out the pieces. This removes most of the bitterness.
• Roast all spices for grinding in a tiny bit of oil, add coconut and the curry leaves last and cook until coconut is golden. Cool and grind using a blender into a fine paste with about 1/4 cup of water.
•  Sauté the bitter melon slices with 1 tsp oil, a pinch each of turmeric and salt for 5 minutes and
• Cook the bitter gourd in tamarind water. Bring to a boil and cook until veggies are tender.
• When the bitter gourd is cooked, add the cooked dal & coconut paste. Combine well. Stir again. Let it simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and set aside.
• For the tempering:  Heat the ghee/ oil, and Pop mustard seeds and curry leaves, red chilies in a teaspoon of hot oil/ghee and pour it over the Pitla.  Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. 
• Serve hot with plain rice with other vegetables dishes.

Killumilagai Sathuamuthu/Pinched Chili Rasam

This is very simple and easy.  I made some changes from traditional recipe. Within 15 minutes  you can make this rasam.

Ingredients:

Tamarind                                 – one small lemon size

Tomato                                    – 1 no

Salt                                          to taste

Jaggery                                    – ½ tsp
Grated ginger                            - 2tsp

Turmeric powder                         1/4 tsp

Curry leaves                             – 2 stems

Water                                      – 2 cups

Seasoning:

Red chili                                   - 2 no

Black pepper                           – ½ tsp

Jeera                                      – 1/4 tsp

Mustard seeds                             – ½ tsp

Ghee                                          – 1 tsp 

Method:

• Remove the pulp from tamarinds.  Add 2 cups of water.
• Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and add to the tamarind water.
• Add salt, turmeric powder, curry leaves, ginger to above. Boil it well.
• Heat the 1/2 tsp of ghee in a frying pan add seasonings (expect black pepper, Jeera, curry leaves) and fry for few minutes.
• Add to the boiling tamarind water. Boil for 3 minutes.
• Finally heat ½ tsp of ghee and fry the pinched red chili powder, curry leaves, black pepper and Jeera. Pore over to  rasam.
• Serve with hot rice.