Veggie Paneer

Well..I am a typical cancerian..Loves Paneer :)
Yesterday was my new experiment..with two main thoughts in mind - Should use Mint leaves assuring that their aura stays ( no frying like palak..i love mint smell) and with Paneer ..not in pieces form.

Ingredients:
1.Capsicum-1 big one -chopped in small pieces
2.One packet of Paneer-200 gms -grated
3.Carrots - 3 in number - Grated
4.Two onions - Sliced
5.Standard Masalas, anardana and pudina powder
6.tomato- one small- just small..as i dont want puree..- finely chopped
7.Mint keaves - 1/ 2 bunch i used.. chopped..but not so small that the essence is lost in full recipe
Procedure:

Same standard one i feel :)
1. Fry onions and tomato in oil with dry solid masalas..and then add capsicum
2. Once done..add carrot..and fry and add other masalas..then add mint leaves and paneer.
3.Add garam masala,pudina and anardana powder
4.Just cook for some 2 min..thn cover it with lid and turn off gas
5.Remove after some 20 min..It is ready to eat.
6.Dont cook it much as mint should be smelling in recipe :)

Loved by my brother-in-law..hubby dear is not here..so no comments from him :)

Here is how it looks.

Spicy Egg Curry

Well..Did not know what to name it..So just left it like that..
The story behind..yesterday I was talking to one of my friend who tasted as well as appreciated my first hand recipes in BVL,Canada.She is herself a wonderful cook and I am asking her to document her recipes too for us to try.She makes mostly south indian dishes so i feel thts the reason she appreciated everything i cooked coz it was more of north indian. But the sweet thing is..she reminded me of all my recipes we tried in BVL and I got enthu to experiment with those standard recipes (I used to cook in BVL with my mom's telephonic instructions,so they were all tried and tested..just the cook was new ;)).
She used to love Egg Curry-so thats the first cooking I did..after talking to her..Well,.tough test..my brother-in law also likes egg dishes..and he has not eaten any kind of egg dish prepared by me till now...so this wud decide if I am going to cook any new egg dishes in this kitchen :).And  the verdict is ..he liked it..yipee!!

Ingredients:
1.Three Hard boiled eggs - Poke them with fork so that gravy goes inside,or can cut in half and put.
2. Besan(corn flour) -1 spoon
3. Tamarind - we need one bowl of tamarind water..little thick one..
4. All my basic ingredients -onion,tomato,dry red chillies,all dry masalas
5. 1/2 bowl of milk
6. Refined oil
7.Pudina Powder -(I make myself at home with dry pudina leaves)
8.Anardana powder
Procedure:
1.Heat dry red chillies,Jeera,dhaniya -add onions (puree form) to it and fry till transparent.
2.Add tomatoes (in puree form) and add dry masalas and cook it.
3.Once cooked,add tamarind water to it.
4. Add corn floor to milk and beat it to avoid any lumps.
5.Put the milk with cornfloor in the dish.
6.Cook for sometime so that raw smell of cornfloor goes off.If gravy is too thick,either add milk or water.
7.Then i added pudina powder  and anardana powder.

The dish is ready :)

Bread Egg Pakoda

Well..the pictures tell the recipe itself..n i admit it is nothing new or great..but what everyone liked about this dish in my family is the presentation...I mean u eat egg+Omellete quite often..but here the omelette is around the bread so u dont realise tht u r eating dry bread...and as compared to Egg pakodas....which r deep fried..this doesn't take oil at oil..as it is cooked on non-stick simply as omellete..

About the important part in this one is...as such the bread does not absorb egg quickly and cant make it thick manually also..n if soaked for long..bead breaks...so just dip and take out to non-stick pan..n then put the egg liquid (with veggies specifically..as it stays on bread) on top....n need to cook on little less flame n for little more time.,.as the egg inside the bread also needs to be cooked well..otherwise it tasted raw..but if  u wnat to give half egg fry kind feel..thn may b u can execute it faster :)..i did both coz of choices of my family members :)) 

Pulao Biryani

Did not know what to name it..was reading some biryani recipes but found them very difficult..so started with this easy experiment with much less ingredients and less complexity..

Ingredients:
1.Basmati rice - i used Regular Basmati - Soaked them in water 1 hr before
2.Dalchini
3.Laung
4.Cardemom-3-4 pieces
5.Potato - in small cubes
6.Onion- sliced
7.Capsicum - Finely chopped
8.Refined Oil
9.Jeera

Procedure
1. Fry onions,Capsicum,Laung,Dalchini,Potato,cardemom in refined oil.
2.Add saoked rice and fry them for some time.
3. Keep adding little water each time n cook slowly.
4. once almost near to cooked,cover lid and wait 5-6 min and shut down the gas and keep the lid closed.
5.Once whistle goes off itself,then open the lid.

Serve hot..it really smelled very nice and was very tasty also.My hubby loved it .
Waiting for brother-in-law's comments :).

Well my hubby dear n borther-in law loved it..but suggested that i shd put the laung,dalchini in powder form..they feel it is a big task to remove them while eating.Need to try tht now.

Next day i actually added more vegetables..beans..carrots also..n added garam masala..salt n little of chilli powder also..before just closing the lid...i put two hard boiled eggs cut in half..this made the dish very spicy kind and awesome combo with cucumber raita :)

Bharwan Karela

Well...finally another recipe..I had experimented it many a times but most of the times my hubby dear wont like it and my brother-in-law ate but did not appreciate it much.
So, this is my new experiment today..none of them have tasted but still posting it..will post their comments later :)

Ingredients

1. Karela - Bittergourd

2.Onion- finely chopped

3.Sugar-1-2 spoons

4.All dry masalas - Salt,red pepper,Coriander powder,aamchoor,haldi,garam masala

5.Palak - 2-3 leaflets-washed and finely chopped

6. saunf - the big and thicker one

7.Mustard oil

Procedure

1.I prefer cooking them in non-stick pan,consumes less oil and no fear of getting it burnt or stick.. :)

2.Cut the long karela to two parts -or as per sizes u want and make a slit in each.

3.Put some oil in the pan and fry Karela with lid covered.Keep changing the sides of karela till it gets little - little dark on all sides.It shd b almost cooked.Now remove them and let them cool.

4. If the karela is more ripen,the seeds can be taken out while slit is made.Otherwise,when the karela is cooled,open slit and remove the seeds.Seeds contribute to sour taste mainly.

5.If there are large number of seeds (cooking in large quantity),then you can grind them and use this powder also.Though I hv not tried it till now.

6.Now after you have removed karela from pan,put chopped onion,palak leaves,dry masalas,saunf,sugar and fry them.And then let it also cool down.

7.Now once both are cooled,put the fried masala in the slit of karela.

8.Now put the filled karela in pan-no need to add any oil now.cover with lid.No need to turn the karelas now.,..it was already cooked.Just let the masala absorb.

9.Hope u like it.

Hare Bhare Mushroom

My Brother-in-law's favourite dish is Mushroom.So,now the next experiment was adding my green Spinach and Fenugreek to Mushroom also :).
Ingredients:
1.Mushrooms - Cleaned and cut in two parts (I do center partition to one mushroom :)).
2. Fenugreek and Spinach leaves-Cleaned,wahsed and finely chopped
3.Green Peas-Slightly boiled
4.Onion and Tomatoes- Sliced
5.Thick curd- 2 spoons
6.Dry Masalas - Salt,coriander powder,Haldi, Garam masala
7.Refined oil for frying Mushrooms
8. Fenugreek seeds,mustard seeds,Jeera and dhaniya seeds
9.Garlic and Ginger paste
Procedure
1.I feel that mushrooms have a high tendency for germs and need to be really cleaned well.So,before I use them in recipe,I fry them in refined oil...Not deep frying but fried enough that they are almost cooked..The oil will become dark or black as mushroom leave their impurities in it,so you should not re-use the same.
2.Remove the mushrooms from oil and spread them on tissue sheets and keep changing sheets 2-3 times till mushrooms leave all the soaked oil.
3.Now take fresh refined oil and put all the seeds and chopped leaves,garlic-ginger pastes, onions,peas,tomatoes and once little fried,add dry masalas and Mushrooms.
4.After cooking for some time,add curd and cook for 2-3 minutes only (u should not spoil the taste of curd).
5.Garnish with coriander leaves

Palak Aloo curry

My hubby does not like potato in an other form except Aloo Parantha. But I keep Paranthas only for holidays.
So,this recipe got evolved in the process of finding place for Aloo,Palak and methi leaves in our dinner.
Ingredients:
1. Fenugreek,Spinach Leaves-Washed,cleaned and finely chopped
2. Curd- Would prefer the thick and sweet kind curd from Nestle or Amul - For gravy
3. Onion and Tomatoes - In puree form ( I have small blender to make paste of fresh onions and tomatoes)
4. Methi seeds, mustard seeds,Dry Red Chillies and Tez Patta,Jeera and Dhania Seeds - For tadka
5.Garlic and Ginger paste
6.All the main dry masalas - Coriander powder,garam masala,salt,Haldi,red chilli powder
7.Aamchoor (Dry Mango Powder) - For special taste
8. Baby potatoes - Boiled -not mashed..
9.Refined Oil
10.Vinegar


Procedure:
1.Heat refined oil in a pan and add methi seeds,mustard seeds,dry red chillies and Tez Patta,jeera seeds and dhaniya seeds.
2.Once sputtering starts,add onion paste with garlic paste and ginger paste.I prefer to use more of garlic and ginger pastes for good flavour and nutrition wise.
3.Once onion is slightly yellowish,add tomato paste and chopped leaves and fry till the raw smell of leaves is little less.Add Vinegar also (just a spoon...it helped me for reducing the spinach smell and for good taste)
4.Add all the dry masalas and cook for some time..
5.Now add curd to the pan.Incase it is very thick,beat it before you put it in pan otherwise you will see white patches in curry and the taste will also not be good.
6.Add Aamchoor powder and cook for 5 minutes.
7.Now take a fork and put holes in the potatoes (medium size) and put the tomatoes in the curry.
8.The potatoes should submerge in curry and the curry should enter the holes (thts why the size of potatoes should not be very small).
9.Cover with lid and now cook on low flame for 10-15 minutes.
10.Garnish with Coriander leaves.:)
Here it is ...

Green Parantha

It is another addition to Palak (Spinach) Recipes but I call it green Parantha (not Palak Parantha) as it has many more green ingredients apart from Palak (Spinach).

1. Fenugreek(Methi),Spinach (Palak),Mint (Pudina),coriander leaves - Cleaned and finely chopped
2.Onion - Finely Chopped
3.Dry Mango Powder (Aamchoor)
4.Anardana Power - I have washed Anardana, dried and then grinded it.I store it as a seperate ingredient for my recipes. Not completely powder as it should give crunchy taste to recipe.
5. Ajwain (Carom seeds) - Helps in digestion
6. Salt to taste.
7. garam masala,Coriander powder,cumin seeds/powder,chat masala
8.Wheat Flour
9.one spoon of refined oil.

Procedure
1.Put all ingredients in a big flat bowl.
2. As salt is added,all vegetables will leave water,so mix flour with ingredients without adding any water in the beginning.
3.Add water only if required. The flour will anyways get very very soft and sticky so adding little of extra water will make it difficult to make parantha,so be very careful.Keep it less of flour and more of green,that is the basic intention of making this healthy parantha.
4.But anyways the final dough will be more softer and sticky than the normal dough for other paranthas.
5. Make flat roti with this dough (u may need more flour while rolling if it gets stick while rolling).There is no filling in this paratha,so call it roti only :).
6. Don't make it too thin or too thick (thicker than normal roti and thinner than a filled parantha).
7.Cook it on tawa on medium flame on both sides and cook it well otherwise the raw smell of all green leaves may irritate u :).
8.Once well cooked - You can use refined oil on tawa also or while serving,keep a cube of butter on dry paratha (I feel it is more healthier and tastier this way).
9.Just to ensure,this doesn't look much good but believe me it is really tasty and highly nutritious and much less on calorie content than the normal paranthas.
10.You can have it with curd,pickle or butter..as u like.

Just if you need more -use the filling of paneer parantha with this dough..but then use more of flour while making dough so that the dough is not wet and your parantha does not break or tear off while rolling with paneer filling.

Need to get a photo of it now...will post it soon....

Palak Macroni

Decided to use Palak (Spinach) in my recipes more frequently as it has very high nutritional value.Personally,I can't tolerate Palak Paneer (though Paneer is my favourite) and Palak in any other form of recipes my mom used to prepare usually.So,there is a lot to explore and experiment in this area :).

Ingredients:
1.Fenugreek (methi), Spinach (Palak Leaves) - Cleaned and Washed and finely chopped
2.Tomato,Carrot, Capsicum - Finely Chopped
3.Onion - Finely Sliced
4.Vinegar and Soya sauce - As per taste
5. Macroni - Soak in normal water
6. Dry Mango Powder (Aamchoor), salt to taste,Coriander Powder,mustard seeds,garam masala, haldi,cumin seeds - All as per individual's taste and approximation.
7.Refined oil
8.Water - to cook the vegetables fast till soften
9. Fresh Coriander leaves for garnish

Procedure
1.Add Refined oil to the pan and add mustard seeds,cumin seeds and fry sliced onions till they get slightly transparent.
2.Add other vegetables with salt and vinegar and little water and cook all the vegetables well on low flame.
3.Add the remaining dry masalas with soya sauce and cook for few minutes and make sure it is not completely dried nor much watery.
4.The Macroni kept in water would have swoolen till now so just boil it a little more for few minutes and once it is soft enough for eating (make sure it doesn't get so soft due to boiling that it gets crushed to paste),
5.Drain the water and add the macroni to the pan and mix well.
6.Cook for few more minutes and server hot with coriander garnish.

Here it is...

Pudina Chutney

To start with..this side dish goes with all meals..either dry Sabzi or Curry..especially if the main meal has not come out well..this really brightens my hubby's mood and helps in finishing the meal :)

Ingredients: 

1. Dry Mango Powder ( Aamchoor) - For Khatta taste

2. Mint Leaves (Pudina)

3. Curd(Preferably the Packed ones From Nestle,Amul etc) - The thickner in the chutney

4. Vinegar - As presevative and little sour taste

5. Anardana - for crunchy  and khattaTaste

6. Sugar - Only sweetner in the recipe-gives Khatta Meetha Feeling

7.Chat Masala - Little only..to add a salty feeling..

Procedure

1. Add all the ingredients in grinder and grind till you crush all the mint leaves.

2. Taste it to assure the kind of flavour that suits your taste buds and  add ingredients accordingly.

3.Keep in fridge in air tight container and it doesn't get spoiled for more than a month also. Though the fresh smell of mint goes but taste stays.

Here it is ...