Paneer in cheese and garlic sauce

Crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, these delicious pieces of cottage cheese (paneer) tossed in a delightfully cheesy garlic sauce and served with perfectly cooked veggies is a perfect starter for a fulfilling meal. Aah! trying my hand on a restaurant style description. Tell me if I am doing good??? Enjoy people! winter time! keep smiling! keep fooding!

Ingredients for Paneer and vegetables:

Paneer (150 gms) (cut into small squares)
Capsicum (1 medium sized)
Onion (1 medium sized)
Plain flour (1/2 cup)
Black pepper powder (1 tsp)

Butter (1 tbsp)
Oil for frying
Salt to taste

Ingredients for cheese sauce:
Cheese cubes  (3 cubes) (grated)
Milk (1 1/2 cup)
Garlic cloves (3 cloves grated) (5-6 cloves finely chopped)
Plain flour (1 tbsp)
Black pepper powder (2 tsp)
Dried Oregano (1 tsp) 
Green chilli sauce (1 tbsp)
Butter (1 tbsp)
Salt to taste

Method for Paneer and vegetables:

1. Cut the paneer in small cubes.
2. In a small bowl mix the flour with water, salt and pepper.
3. Coat the paneer cubes with the batter and deep fry the paneer cubes till golden brown, and keep aside.
4. In a sauce pan heat the butter and add the capsicum and onion to it and cook for 5 minutes.The vegetables should be cooked Al dente. 
5. Set the vegetables aside.

Method for cheese sauce:

1. Using the same sauce pan you used for cooking the vegetables, heat butter and add the grated garlic to this, stir this 2-3 times nicely once the garlic gets a slightly golden colour add the flour, stir the flour well too and let it cook till the flour becomes slightly golden; note this will hardly take any time so you have to be very quick. 
2. Add the milk and stir well.
3. Let the milk cook for a minute and add the cheese slowly while stirring continuously. Dissolve the cheese completely into the sauce.
4. Add the freshly ground black pepper, dried oregano, green chilli sauce, chopped garlic and salt. Cook for 2 minutes and turn the flame off.
5. Before serving mix the vegetables and paneer and pour the sauce over them. Serve hot:)

Pakora Curry

The craving for something chatpata is a never ending saga of my life, and my love for pakoda's is almost insatiable! And i think it wont be wrong of me to assume that many of you share this love interest of mine. So here is a chatpata pakoda curry recipe which is sure to satisfy your 'desi taste buds'.

Ingredients for pakoda:

Onion (1 small) (finely chopped)

Green chilli (2) (finely chopped)

Coriander (2 tbsp) (finely chopped)

Besan (gram flour) (1 cup)

Water (1/4 cup)

Salt

Ingredients for curry:

Onion (1 big)

Tomato (1 small)

Coriander (1 tbsp)

Red chilli powder (1 1/2 tsp)

Coriander powder (1 tsp)

Turmeric powder (1/4 tsp)

Garam masala (1/4 tsp)

Ginger Garlic paste (1 tsp)

Oil (2 tbsp)

Salt

Ingredients for tadka (tempering):
Curry leaves (5-6 leaves)
Zeera (cumin) (1/2 tsp)
Rai (black mustard seeds) (1/2 tsp)
Oil

Method for pakoda:

1. In a bowl mix all the ingredients well, you might need to adjust the water, the batter has to look like it looks in the picture.
2. Heat the oil in deep bottomed pan on medium heat for deep frying.Once oil is hot enough, add spoonful of pakoda mixture. Make sure that oil is hot enough. If it is not hot enough then the pakoda will absorb too much oil. (Tip : to test if the oil is hot enough put a little bit of batter in the oil and if the batter floats the oil is perfect for your pakoda.)
3. Fry it till the pakoda becomes golden brown on both sides. Turn it around while frying for even cooking.
4. Fry a few pakoda's at a time,but do not over crowd them.
5. Remove it on paper towel.

Method for curry:

1. In a mixture jar grind together onion, tomato and coriander.
2. In a saute pan add the onion tomato mixture and cook till the mixture starts turning golden.
3. Add the ginger-garlic paste, Red chilli powder, Coriander powder,Turmeric powder, Garam masala and salt.Mix well.
4. Cook well till the oil starts separating.
5. Add a cup of water and let it simmer for 2 mins.
6. Add the pakoda's just before serving the curry.

Method for tadka (tempering):

1. Heat oil in a small vessel, after the oil is hot enough add the curry leaves, cumin and mustard seeds to the oil.
2. Heat till the seeds start to crackle and pour it over the curry.

Serve hot with garma garam chapati's or steamed rice:)

Green Olive hummus

The perfect middle eastern dip just a little oomphed up! Minus the tahini and plus some beautiful green oliviness, This hummus recipe is quick, simple and Uh-mazing!! 

Ingredients:

Chickpeas(boiled or canned (water separated)) (1 cup)

Green olives (pitted) (16)

Garlic cloves (9-10)

Habenero chili sauce (2 tsp)

Lemon juice (2 tsp)

Coriander (2 tsp)

Olive oil (8 tsp)

Method:

1. In a food processor bowl or a grinder jar combine all the ingredients and process till you get a smooth texture.
2. Add about 2-3 tbsp of water that was used for boiling the chickpeas if you think the mixture looks thicker than you want it.
3. Once done process it for a further 30 sec this ensures your hummus has that perfect smooth texture.
4. Scrape out the hummus from the food processor and serve at room temperature or even cooled and a generous drizzle of olive oil just makes it that little bit better:) dip away! enjoy:)

Vegetable and corn soup

With the winters finally arriving in town, we are going to have to up our cooking game because with the cold comes the hunger! It is also a very good time to eat healthy to boost your immunity; given the holidays dawning up you are bound to eat those little extra calories, so here is a recipe that's low on the calories and up on the health scale, my vegetable and corn soup recipe because nothing beats the wintry chills like a pipping hot bowl of soup!

Ingredients:

Corn kernels (1 cup)
Onion (1 medium sized) (roughly chopped)
Ginger (1 inch piece)
Mixed Vegetable (1 bowl of finely chopped vegetables)
(Carrot, capsicum, cabbage, spring onion, corn kernels)
Coriander (1 tbsp) (finely chopped)
Milk (1 cup)
Black pepper Powder (1 tsp)
Soya sauce (2 tsp)
Green chilli (1-2) (finely chopped)
Water (2 cups)
Olive oil (1 tbsp)
Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a deep bottomed pan heat 1 tsp of oil and saute the onion.
2. Add the ginger and 1 cup corn kernels to the onions and cook for a minute on medium flame.
3. Add the milk and water to this and cook the 10 mins or till the corn kernels are nicely cooked.
4. Let this cool and run it in a food processor to get a smooth soup. Make sure to not have any chunks of ginger left behind. Grind nicely and set aside. 
5. Now heat the remaining oil in the pan and saute all the vegetables for 2-3 mins while stirring well. Add the soup to the vegetables.
6. Now add the black pepper powder (freshly ground pepper is recommended), soya sauce, coriander, green chilli and salt.
7. Cook for 5 mins on low flame and serve hot. Add some fried noodles before serving for that added crunchiness (don't add if you are watching the 'calories'). Enjoy :)

Kachori (Stuffed Puff pastry)

Kachori or Kachodi is a popular Indian snack, often served with different chutneys and curd. A crisp and flaky pastry filled with moong daal (golden gram) and spice mixture. There is a little bit of hard work involved here, i won't lie but the end result is worth it completely, i assure. As to this particular recipe, there is this small yet beautiful village in Satara, Maharashtra called Phaltan, that is where my mother was born and brought up. Also where I spent almost all my summer vacations while i was in school, the one thing I never miss eating while I am in Phaltan is this amazing 'kachori'. This man, the second or third generation of the family making these amazing puff pastries, works alone to keep the recipe a secret! Every time I have been there I have had to wait at least for an hour because of the constant rush of people and the fact that he works alone and prepares every order to the perfection, which is irritating sometimes when you are drooling because of the fragrances but the moment you put the kachori into your mouth, you are in another world completely! I have had kachori's from a lot of places but this one is out of the world, so I had to get the recipe but even after trying all my contacts and every way to persuade him to let out the recipe, the man did not budge:( so i decided to do a dissection of the kachori and find out what goes into its making, and to the content of my heart i have almost nailed it!! i have eaten atleast 7 of these and can't move anymore, So here it is for you guys to enjoy too:)

Ingredients for the dough:

Maida (plain flour) (1 and 1/2 cup)

Roasted rawa (semolina) (1/4 cup)

Ghee (2 tsp)

salt (1/4 tsp)

water (as needed)

Oil (for frying)

Ingredients for the filling:

Moong daal (golden gram) (1 cup) (soaked in water for 2 hours)

Green chili (3)

Coriander (1 tbsp)

Ginger (1 inch piece)

Red chili powder (1 tsp)

Saunf (fennel seeds) (1/2 tsp)

Zeera (cumin) (1 tsp)

Garam Masala (1/2 tsp)

Coriander powder (1 tsp)

Hing (asafetida) (a pinch)

Salt (to taste)

Oil (2 tbsp)

Ingredients for imli chutney:

Imli (tamrind) (3 tbsp)

Gud (jaggery) (3 tbsp)

water (1 cup)

Ingredients for green ragda:

White vatana (yellow peas) (2  cups) (soaked in water overnight)

Turmeric powder (1 tsp)

Green chili (4)

Coriander (1/2 cup)

Chaat masala (2 tspn)

Pani puri masala (2 tspn)

water 

Salt

 Moong daal before and after cooking. That's how you want it to look once its cooked.

Roll out small portions of dough into a small circle, the size shown in the picture.Place one spoon full of the moong daal filling in the center. Bring together all the sides and seal tightly.

Roll the filled portion again into a circle, but ensure that the filling does not spill out. Fry these in hot oil on medium flame until golden brown from both sides, and you are good to go.

Method for the dough:

1. Mix the flour, semolina and salt together in a deep bowl.
2. Heat the ghee for 1 min and pour it over the flour. Rub the flour with both your hands to form a bread crumb like texture.
3. Add the water and knead into a soft but firm dough.
4. Cover with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside for 15 mins.

Method for the filling:

1. Drain the moong daal and grind it coarsely in a mixture.
2. Remove from the mixture jar and keep aside. In the same jar grind the rest of the ingredients for the filling except for the asafedita, salt and oil. 
3. Heat oil in a deep bottomed non-stick pan and add the chilli mixture to it and add the asafedita and mix well.
4. Saute for 2 mins and add the moong daal to it.
5. Mix well and add 1/2 cup of water to it. Continue to cook on medium flame while stirring in  between.
6. Cook till the daal is soft.
7. Switch off the flame and let the filling cool.

Method for green ragda:

1. Pressure cook the white vatana along with turmeric powder and 1/4 tsp of salt, till the vatana is completely cooked.
2. Grind the chili and coriander.
3. Mix the chili and coriander in the ragda along with the rest of the ingredients and keep aside.

Method for imli chutney:

1. Soak the tamrind and Jaggery in the water for an hour.
2. Squeeze the tamrind and remove from water, the jaggery must have dissolved in the water by now.
3. Mix well and keep aside. 

Method for making the kachori:

1. Divide the dough into 12-15 equal portions and keep aside.
2. Roll out each portion of the dough into a small circle.Place one spoon full of the moong daal filling in the center.
3. Bring together all the sides, seal it tightly.
4. Roll the filled portion again into a circle, but ensure that the filling does not spill out.
5. Make the rest of the kachori’s in the same way.
6. Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel. And fry 2 kachori's at one time till nicely golden brown on both sides.
7. Serve immediately, make a hole in the kachori fill it with both the chutneys and serve. Enjoy:)

Carrot-Beet-Tomato Soup

Personally, I am not a big fan of eating beetroot raw, so I have to keep finding ways to make it delicious, because we can settle for nothing less! So I figured out one of the best ways to eat this extremely healthy root, and that is to turn it into a soup. My amazingly smart mother is always telling me to somehow, anyhow eat beet which I keep trying to avoid but after this recipe I will be happy to be eating it as much as she asks me to:) Moreover it's a very easy recipe so it's a great thing to add to the regulars on your menu. The combination of health without much hard work is my type of thing, wondering if I should have named my blog the lazy fooding;)

Ingredients:

Carrot (1 small) (shredded)

Beetroot (1 1/2) (pealed and roughly chopped)

Ripe Tomato (1 big) (roughly chopped)

Red Onion (1 small) (roughly chopped)

Coriander (1 tsp)

Mint leaves (1 tsp)

Ginger-Garlic paste (1 tsp)

Garam masala (1/4 tsp)

Red chilli powder (1/2 tsp)

Chaat masala (1/4 tsp)

Dry oregano (optional)

Olive oil (1 tbsp)

Salt to taste

Method:

1. In a pressure cooker heat 1 tbsp of olive oil, add the onion and saute for a minute.
2. Add the ginger-garlic paste and and give it a nice stir and add the rest of the ingredients except the oregano.
3. Mix everything and add one and half glass of water and mix again.
4. Cover the lid and pressure cook on medium flame. Take 3-4 whistles and turn off the gas.
5. Once done, let the soup cool for a bit and process in a food processor.
6. Reheat the soup before serving. You may add some boiled macaroni to the soup when reheating to make the soup more filling. Sprinkle dried oregano before serving. Enjoy:)

Palak pakoda (Spinach fritters)

Hungry at 5 pm and can't find much in the fridge, to top that, its drizzling outside and I have loads of work pending to do. So I go back and look at the fridge with hopeful eyes, as if expecting something to pop up magically! And my eyes fell on the spinach I got last night, after thinking for a moment I was already sifting through some gram flour and what a delicious batch of fritters these turned out to be. A perfect companion for your tea. And yeah, just so you know I hardly got any of these, the other hungry souls in my house devoured them as fast as they were made! just a tip : hide some for yourself before putting them on the table.

Ingredients:

Spinach leaves (2 cups)(roughly chopped)

Gram flour (1/2 cup)

Green chilli (4-5)

Garlic cloves (3)

Ajwain (carom) (1/2 tbsp)

Chaat masala (1/2 tbsp)

Oil for frying

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Grind the chilli, garlic and ajwain together and keep aside.
2. In a big bowl mix the spinach leaves, gram flour,chaat masala, chilli mixture and salt. Add 1 tbsp of water or a little more if needed, but you don't want a runny batter you want it to be thick and a little sticky. mix well so that the spinach is nicely coated with the flour and masala. 
3. Heat the oil in the pan on medium heat for deep frying. 
4. Once oil is hot, add spoonful of pakoda mixture. Make sure that oil is hot enough. If it is not hot then it will absorb too much oil. 
5. Fry it till it becomes golden brown on both sides. Turn it around while frying for even cooking. Fry a few pakoda's at a time,but do not over crowd them.
6. Remove it on paper towel. And serve hot. Enjoy:)