Tangy Aloo

Ingredients: Serves 2

2 medium Potato, boiled and cut into small pieces

1 Medium tomato, cut into wedges and then halved

1 Medium Onion, cut into wedges

Few Curry Leaves

½ teaspoon mustard seeds

1 dried whole red chilli

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder to taste

¼ teaspoon coriander powder, garam masala, turmeric each

2-3 tablespoon water

Juice of half lime

1 tablespoon oil

Recipe:

Put a wok on medium flame, pour oil and wait till its warmed up.

Add mustard seeds, dried red chilli, onion and sauté till onion have lightly turned brown. Then add curry leaves. And sauté for 1 minute.

Add tomato and all dry spices. Sauté them for around 3-4 minutes with lid on.

Add potato and water. Give everything a nice gentle stir. Water is added to help all spices and ingredients blend together.

Leave it to simmer till water has completely dried up. After which add lime juice and give a final stir. Tangy aloo are ready.

Note:

Eat them with rice or chapati.

Alternatively use them as stuffing in grilled sandwich.

Mash them together nicely and then use them as dosa masala.

Instead of water, add curd and you have tangier aloo with gravy.

Shahi Paneer

I have been eating Shahi paneer forever. In parties, restaurants, at every relatives place etc. Shahi paneer is a must for any food menu. Now everyone has their own way of cooking it. Some add almond paste instead of cashew paste, some other add cream. Some people fry paneer before adding to the gravy, but I like it without frying it as frying makes paneer chewy.

This recipe is inspired from the n number of different shahi paneer I ate over the years. Base of the recipe is the one that my mom makes. To which I added some of my ingredients and came up with this recipe. Incidentally the first time I tried to make it, I got distracted and burned the whole masala as I left it on high flame. Lesson learnt that always sauté masala on low flame, or never leave it unsupervised if using high flame.

Ingredients: Serves 4-5

200 grams cottage cheese / paneer, cut into cubes/ triangles

2 Onions

3 medium Tomatoes

1 green chilly

1 inch ginger

½ cup cashew nuts paste

1 small bay leaf

2 cloves

2 black cardamom

Small piece of cinnamon

½ teaspoon cumin seeds

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder to taste

¼ teaspoon coriander powder

¼ teaspoon garam masala powder

½ teaspoon sugar

1 ½ - 2 cups water

2 tablespoon oil / ghee

1 teaspoon kasuri methi

Recipe:

Grind onion, ginger and green chilli together into fine paste. Add some water in the grinder to assist the process.

Now in a wok on low flame, add oil, add onion paste, cumin seeds, bay leaf, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Sauté this paste till the time onion has just started to change the color. This will happen after around 4-5 minutes on medium flame. Keep the lid on during this and also keep stirring the mixture for even cooking after every couple of minutes.

Meanwhile grind tomatoes into a fine paste. And add this tomato paste in the wok after the above step. Also add salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder and give everything a nice mix. Then leave it to sauté for another 5 minutes at least on medium flame. Again keep stirring after every couple of minutes.  

Now add sugar and mix it nicely. Then add water and leave the gravy to simmer for another 4-5 minutes with the lid on.

After this add cashew paste, mix evenly, and simmer the gravy for another 4-5 minutes. Now add kasuri methi by rubbing it between your hands over the wok. Give a gentle stir and let it simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

Add paneer pieces to the gravy and leave it to simmer for another 1-2 minutes. Shahi paneer is ready. 

Note:

You can use paste of any other dry fruit you may like, for ex: almond. Or instead of paste of any dry fruit add cream. 

Similarly use any other dried herb instead of kasuri methi.

Tamarind Rice

South Indian cuisine is my personal favourite, when it comes to Indian food. I love making sambhar, idli and coconut chutney. My coconut chutney has in fact become very popular in family. However, this is my first attempt at tamarind rice today. And it turned out great. My mom me and my dad all loved it, hence sharing the recipe with you.

I had heard of tamarind rice before but never ate it anywhere until recently when I saw it in the menu of a South Indian restaurant and ordered it. It came with vegetable raita and some kind of spinach curry. Didn’t like the curry, raita was okay, but the star was tamarind rice. I instantly fell in love with it, and wanted to give it a try immediately.

With my tasting capabilities, and also with the help from my mom I analysed the ingredients, added some of mine and came up with the below recipe. And it tastes just fine. J

Ingredients:

Boiled Rice

½ cup tamarind pulp

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

¼ teaspoon coriander powder.

Pinch of asafoetida

¼ teaspoon each of fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds

1 ½ table spoon Gram Daal/ Chane ki daal

Few curry leaves

1 whole dried red chilli

2 Tablespoon oil

3-4 tablespoon water

Recipe:

In a pan add oil, on low flame leave it to warm up for few seconds.

Add fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, whole red chilli and daal, and roast till daal has turned lightly brown. Keep flame medium.

Now add curry leaves, salt, chilli, coriander powder, asafoetida and sauté for a couple of minutes. Its ready when you are able to smell curry leaves in the air.

Add Tamarind pulp along with water and leave it simmer on lowest flame for atleast 5-6 minutes. Its ready when fenugreek seeds has puffed up, soft in testure and so is daal.

Mix some of this tamarind masala with boiled rice, quantity will depend as per your taste. Refrigerate the remaining masala for later use. Eat it with masala papad or vegetable raita.

Sunset Cake

So I have been making Kalakand for 2-3 years now, and it has been liked by everyone, my friends and family. I made it first time as an experiment and it was a success. The only problem I face that was during curdling the milk. But with a little help from my mother I managed it.

I once made and took Kalakand to my office and just two hours into the shift it was all gone. Everybody appreciated it.

Having nailed the basic Kalakand recipe, this time I wanted to experiment again with it, and thought of adding an ingredient, which turned out to be Apple. Why Apple only? I don’t know, it just popped in my head, hence. Anyways, recipe was a success too. J

Ingredients:

For Kalakand:

1/2 kg milk in two places, total 1 kg milk, full cream

1 apple chopped

3 table spoon sugar

Few strands of saffron

2 green cardamoms

½ lime juice

For caramelised apple:

1 table spoon butter

½ inch cinnamon

½ apple, sliced into ½ cm width

2 table spoon ground sugar

Recipe:

For Kalakand:

Pour ½ kg milk in a pan. Put it on high flame and leave it boil. Just when it begins to boil and rise, add lime juice. This will curdle the milk and turn it into creamy granules form known as chhena. Drain the water out using a sieve or muslin cloth. Leave the chenna aside to drain all the excess water.

Meanwhile take the other half kg milk and put it on slow flame, add sugar, saffron and cardamom in it. When sugar has dissolved, add chhena to the milk and bring it to boil. Then put the flame on medium and let the chhena simmer in hot milk. Keep collecting the cream from the sides of the pan using a spatula. After 4-5 minutes milk will start to thicken. Add chopped apple to this and leave it to simmer. Aim is to vaporise the milk completely, so that all that left is creamy apple and chhena. When milk has almost vanished mash the apple chunks with the back of spatula so that everything comes together. When milk has vaporised fully, leaving just a little, Kalakand is ready.

For Caramelised apple:

Add butter in pan on low flame, let it melt, then add cinnamon stick and give it a stir. Add apple slices. When slices have softened add sugar powder and gently move the pan. Do not stir. When sugar has turned brown, give the pan a toss so that apples are covered completely in caramel. It’s ready.

Plating or Presentation:

In a round bowl, spread the caramelised apple slices in the bottom, over which layer the Kalakand and press it so that everything is compact. Leave it this way for minute then turn it over on a plate, your Kalakand cake is ready to munch on. J

Note:

Try experimenting it using some other fruit. However use non citrus ones only. 

Parat-e-Subz

A deep fried delicacy, which has seasoned blanched vegetables at its core, covered with mashed potato and finally coated with chips crumbs for spicy crispiness.

The technique for making it is very similar to my other recipe Paneer Recipe that I shared last month. However the inspiration for this recipe is Scotch egg, and I tried to accomplish the same technique of cooking with layering different elements over one another, and successfully achieved it. The difference here is that it is made of ingredients easily available, with cherry on the cake being its super simple to prepare. So do give it a try.

Ingredients: Serves 4

For Potato Mash:

3 medium sized boiled potatoes peeled

Crumbs of 2-3 slices of bread

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

1/8 teaspoon garam masala

1 green chilli chopped

Green coriander as much as you like

For stuffing:

1 cup any mix vegetable. I used Cauliflower, capsicum and carrot, totalling to one cup quantity

1/8 teaspoon Rock salt

1/8 teaspoon Black pepper

1/8 teaspoon Roasted ground cumin seeds

1/8 teaspoon Chaat masala

Water for boiling

For batter:

2 tablespoon corn flour

4-5 tablespoon water

For outer crisp layer:

1 large packet of chips, I like uncle chips so used them, you can try any other as per your preference.

Oil for deep frying

Recipe:

For Mash:

Mash potatoes. Add all dry spices, crumbs, coriander and chilli. Mix together well and refrigerate till further use.

For Stuffing:

In a microwaveable bowl, add all vegetables and water. Water should just cover the vegetables. Microwave this on maximum temperature setting for 3-5 minutes. Check after 3 minutes if still raw microwave for another minute or so. Veggies should be half boiled and not soggy.

Once done take them out and drain water out. Spread the veggies on a half of kitchen towel and dab with the remaining half to absorb the excess water.

Now add veggies back to the bowl, sprinkle all the dry spices together on veggies and mix well.

For batter:

Mix corn flour and water together. It should be of running consistency.

For outer layer:

Grind chips in a food processor, and spread them on a plate.

Method:

Make around 1 inch ball of the mash then spread it on your palm till its ½ cm thick.

Put some stuffing on it and cover it with the mash, beginning with one end and going around till stuffing is fully covered with mash. Again roll it lightly with your hands to make a perfect round.

Dip this ball in the batter from all sides.

Then roll it on the chips crumble. Chips should stick to it completely. Then deep fry it.

Serve hot with coriander chutney.

Note:

You can use maida/ all purpose flour alternatively for batter.

In place of chips, ground corn flakes can also be used.

Paneer Tikka

Every Punjabi, I believe, has a blood relation with paneer tikka. It’s the soul of everything that a Punjabi does, be it a wedding or an escort for their one glass of Patiala peg. ;)

Being a Punjabi myself, I remember indulging paneer tikka ever since the very beginning of my childhood. Dad always ordered it from a local restaurant and then my whole family used to have it together. Now, I make this at home, dad eats all the paneer pieces, mom eats all capsicum and I eat all onion. J

Traditionally, it is made in a cemented tandoor / oven in the bottom of which are bright red burning coal that give it a distinct burnt or charred flavour. With electric ovens the task has become easier however that original taste is always missed. This is what I have tried to achieve in this recipe by charring tikkas on nude flame. This recipe is mine, inspired from many others over the years. Hope you like it. J

Ingredients: Serves 2-3

200 gram cottage cheese or paneer, cut into 1 – 1½ inch pieces

1 medium sized capsicum, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 medium sized onion cut into four pieces

For batter:

4 tablespoon gram flour or besan

1½ tablespoon corn four

 5 tablespoon yogurt

½ tablespoon oil

Paste of 6-7 slices of garlic and 1 inch ginger

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

1/8 teaspoon each of Garam masala, chaat masala, rock salt, coriander powder, turmeric, dried mango powder.

For garnish:

Lime juice and chaat masala

Recipe:

In a microwave friendly bowl, add gram flour and corn flour sieved. To this add all dry ingredients and mix well.

In another bowl add yogurt, garlic, ginger and mix well.

Add this yogurt to dry ingredient along with oil and whisk to make smooth batter.

Now add paneer onion and capsicum to this batter and gently mix so that batter covers vegetables and paneer completely. Now keep this mixture in refrigerator for 15 – 30 minutes. Take the mixture out and let it come to room temperature.

Then microwave it for 4-5 minutes at highest temperature, after which take the bowl out.

Now skewer the veggies alternatively, onion paneer capsicum, and char them above nude flame on the stove. With help of pliers, hold one end of the skewer and roast tikka on the flame from all sides.

Paneer tikka is ready, garnish them with lime juice and chaat masala.

Note:

If you don’t have skewers, try tooth picks they work the same way, however just be cautious not to burn yourself as it’s made of wood and will burn when put on fire.

You can make tikka of any other vegetable in the same way.

Holi Special Dessert

This dessert recipe is created by me; however its inspiration came to me from one of the recent episodes of Masterchef, wherein Chef Ranveer Brar had put an awesome dessert in front of the candidates as pressure test. His dessert had orange jelly as one of the elements and I thought that I should also try something with orange jelly.

Unlike Chef Ranveer’s dessert which was very difficult to make, my dessert is very simple, perfect for home cooking and has four different elements combined to make one dessert. Each element is very easy to prepare and final outcome looks great. Not only kids but adults too will surely crave for it.

Ingredients: Serves one

For Orange Jelly:

One cup fresh orange juice

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoon agar-agar flakes

For Choclate Cake:

1 tablespoon maida

1 tablespoon Butter

1 tablespoon sugar.

3-4 tablespoon milk.

1/4 teaspoon or a pinch of baking powder

1/8 teaspoon or a pinch of baking soda

½ tablespoon cocoa powder

For Sugar Hokey Pokey Candy:

2 Tablespoon sugar

3-4 Tablespoon water

Pinch of soda bicarb

For Milk Sauce:

3 tablespoon sugar

1½ tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon water

5-6 tablespoon milk

Recipe:

For orange jelly

Pour juice in a pan and put on low flame, add sugar, and stir till sugar dissolves. Add agar-agar, put on high flame and bring a boil. Then leave it to simmer for 4-5 minutes. Remove from flame and leave to cool down a little. Then divide the juice in two containers equally, shape of container is your choice. I used round ones. Juice will set into jelly at room temperature. Once it has started to settle move containers into refrigerator, and leave there till final presentation.

For Cake

Mix together all dry ingredients maida cocoa powder baking powder baking soda (sieved) and sugar. Add butter, milk and whisk nicely. When all lumps have disappeared, grease a microwave friendly bowl, pour batter in it. And microwave it for one minute at highest temperature, microwave for another minute if not set.

For Hokey Pokey Candy:

Mix together sugar and water, put on high flame. Let the water boil and bubble nicely, after around 4 minutes on flame it would have changed into thick syrup and will just begin to caramelise. Its colour will be slightly changing to golden brown, right then remove it from flame, add soda bicarb and whisk quickly, golden froth will start forming. Immediately empty the contents on a greased foil or parchment paper. Leave it set for couple of minutes.

For Milk Sauce:

In a pan mix together water sugar and butter and put on low flame. When butter has melted and sugar has dissolved put on high flame. Once it has boiled once, add half milk and keep stirring on high flame, it will start to thicken then add remaining half of milk, stir again till it has turned slightly thick. Perfect consistency would be when it is thick yet of pouring consistency, because when it cools down it will turn solid like a milk candy.

Presentation:

Take out jelly from the container. On one jelly in the center of the plate, place chocolate cake and then place another jelly on it, like cake is sandwiched between jellies. Crush hokey pokey candy roughly and place few pieces on top of the dessert. Then drizzle generously with milk sauce. Dessert is ready to be served.