Paneer Butter Masala

Paneer Butter Masala:

Paneer..I love to eat this any day anytime without getting bored. Paneer is a kind of cheese which is very high in protein. Add paneer to any curry or any rice dish and it will for sure increase the taste of the dish. Here I present a dish which is very popular in my home town. It can be served with Roti, Tortillas or rice.

Ingredients:

• Fried Paneer: 1” cubes-25
• Butter: 4 teaspoons
• Garam Masala powder: 1 teaspoon
• Garlic Paste: 1 teaspoon
• Medium sized onions: 1
• Fried full Cashew nuts: 25
• Medium sized tomatoes: 4
• Red chili powder: ½ teaspoon
• Salt for taste
• Water: 8oz

Preparation:

• Cut the paneer into 1” cubes and fry it in a pan without any oil until it darkens in color or fried paneer can be bought in the regular Indian stores in US.
• Blend Onions, tomatoes, Cashew nuts into a smooth paste in a blender adding water as needed.
• Heat the butter in a pan, Add the garam masala powder to it, when the color of the masala powder changes to brown, add the garlic paste and fry until you smell the odor strongly.
• Add the blended paste of onions, tomatoes and cashew nuts and the remaining water.
• Close the pan with a lid and let this cook until you see butter floating on the top of the pan.
• Now add the fried paneer pieces, salt and Red chili powder to the pan. Cook it for 5 more minutes or until the paneer is soft.
• Delicious dish of paneer butter masala is ready to be served with roti, Tortillas or rice. Hope you enjoy it!!

Warnings:

• Add salt, red chili powder, garam masala and garli paste according to your taste.
• Don’t fry the garlic paste for too long as this will make the dish taste bitter.

Alterations:

• Tofu can be used instead of paneer.
• Tomatoes can be replaced with tomato paste. Peas can be added to the dish when adding paneer if you like.

Vegetable Pulao

Vegetable Pulao:

Pulao is a blend of rice and vegetables and is a healthy dish as it includes a variety of vegetables. It can be prepared with no big trouble and can be served with raita and curry.

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice: 3 cups
• Medium sized carrots: 2
• Green beans: 20
• Peas: 1cup
• Green onions: 2 bunches
• Cardamom: 6
• Cloves: 5
• Cinnamon stick: 4”
• Jeera/cumin seeds: 1 teaspoon
• Small green chilies: 6
• Oil: 3 teaspoons
• Salt for taste
• Water: 4 ½ cups

Preparation:

• Cut Green beans, carrots and green onions into very tiny pieces and slit green chilies vertically. Wash rice and keep it aside.
• In a deep frying pan or deep sauce pan, heat 3 teaspoons of oil and add cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, jeera/cumin seeds and fry them. When they start to turn light brown in color, add the green chilies, and cut vegetables. Fry for 2 minutes.
• Add the washed rice to the vegetables and add water and salt to it. Now transfer the whole contents of the pan into an electric rice cooker and let it cook.
• Mouth-watering vegetable pulav is ready to be served. Take pleasure in it with raita or curry.

Warning:

• Add salt and green chilies according to your taste.
• Add the water according to the directions of the label of the rice variety you are using.

Alterations:

• Add onions in place of green onions to make it taste different.
• Add cashew nuts to make to tastier.
• Cook in deep sauce pan or pressure cooker if you don’t have a rice cooker.
• Frozen mixed vegetables can be used instead of fresh vegetables in order to reduce the preparation time.

Triangular dumplings/Samosa

Triangular dumplings/Samosa:

Samosa is a very common and relished snack in India. It is served in almost every occasion in all parts of India. It is a triangular shaped dumpling filled with potatoes and peas curry. Though it is commonly filled with potatoes it can also be filled with many other varieties of vegetables. I will present here a recipe of samosa which is filled with potatoes and peas. Samosa is a good accompaniment for evening tea and can be served with tomato sauce.

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour/ maida: 1 cup
• Potatoes: ½ lb
• Peas: 1 small cup
• Mint leaves: few
• Ginger paste: 1 teaspoon
• Green chili paste: ½ teaspoon
• Lime juice: 1 teaspoon
• Oil for frying
• Salt for taste
• Water for mixing flour

Preparation:

For the outer layer:

• In a bowl sieve the all purpose flour/ maida, add salt and 2 teapoons of oil to it. Mix it thoroughly so the oil mixes well with the flour.
• Now adding very little water as needed, knead the flour into a ball. Cover it and keep it aside for ½ hour.

For the filling:

• Bake/ boil the potatoes and peel the skin. Cut the potatoes into 1” pieces and keep aside. In a sauce pan heat 1 teaspoon of oil, add the mint leaves, ginger paste and green chili paste to the pan and fry it for 1 minute.
• Add the cut Potatoes, peas and salt to the pan and stir. Close it with a lid and let this cook for 3 min. When the filling is not very hot garnish it with lime juice.

Preparing and frying the samosa:

• Now make the kneaded all purpose flour/maida into 2” size balls and roll them out round and flat of about 6” circles with a roller.
• Cut the rolled rounds into two semicircles. Now on one of the semi circle apply water on half of the straight side of the semi circle. Make it a cone by sticking the watered half to the other half of the straight side.
• Fill the cone with the prepared potato and peas stuffing and stick the opening side by applying water as needed to make it triangle shaped.
• Prepare all the remaining samosas accordingly and keep aside. The quanties mentioned will make about 15 samosas.
• To deep fry the samosas heat oil in a frying pan. Add the prepared samosas to the heated oil in the pan and fry them until they turn light brown in color. Serve them with hot tea and tomato sauce.

Warnings:

• Add salt, ginger paste, green chili paste and lime juice according to your taste.
• Make sure to stick all the sides of the samosas by using water, if not the stuffing will come out once the samosas are put in the oil for frying.

Alterations:

• Add garlic paste when adding the ginger paste while preparing the stuffing if you like.
• Stuffing can be prepared using any kind of vegetable you like or even leftovers can be used.

Carrot desert/gajar ka halwa

Carrot desert/gajar ka halwa:

As you all very well know, carrots are good for health. They are a good source of vitamin A. Carrots can be eaten in a variety of ways: salads, juice, curries or even as baby foods. Grated carrots are also used in making cakes and even puddings. Until now I’ve been presenting here with various recipes for rice, curries, chutneys etc. Today I’m going to give you a recipe for desert/sweet made with carrots which serves for 4 people. Though preparing Carrot dessert/gajar ka halwa is time consuming, trust me, it is worth the pain. I hope you love it.

Ingredients:

• Carrots: 1lb
• 2% Milk: ¼ gallon
• Sugar: 3 cups
• Cardamom: 4
• Cashew nuts: 15
• Raisins: 15
• Ghee: 10 teaspoons

Preparation:

• Wash, peel and grate the carrots and keep it aside.
• Now in a deep frying pan, heat the 9 teaspoons of ghee. When the ghee is heated, add the grated carrots and fry for 15 min on medium flame.
• Now add milk to the pan with fried grated carrots and let it boil. Keep stirring frequently so that the food doesn’t stick to the bottom and get burnt.
• After almost all the milk is absorbed by the carrots, add the sugar and powdered cardamom.
• Now let it cook in simmer until all the moisture evaporates. Garnish it with cashew nuts and raisins fried in ghee.
• Carrot Desert/gajar ka halwa is ready to be served. This can be enjoyed hot or cold. Hot Carrot Desert/gajar ka halwa can be served with vanilla ice cream to make it even tastier.

Warning:

• Make sure the pan is thick in the bottom; otherwise the food will be burnt.

Alterations:

• Use full fat milk or half and half milk for less cooking time and even better taste.
• Few strands of saffron can be used instead of cardamom powder.

Onion and tomato Raita/Perugu pachadi

Onion and tomato Raita/Perugu pachadi:

Raita is a side dish which can be prepared using many kinds of vegetables. Raita is made with curd/yogurt as main ingredient. Curd/Yogurt is a very a good alternative for milk which will help you increase your metabolism. It tastes good as a side dish for roti, paratha, Biryani or any kind of rice dishes.

Ingredients:

• Curd/Yogurt: 4 scoops
• Small sized onions: 1
• Medium sized tomatoes: 1
• Coriander leaves to garnish
• Salt for taste

Preparation:

• Chop onions and tomatoes into very tiny pieces.
• In a bowl mix the cut onions, tomatoes, salt and curd/yogurt.
• Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Warnings:

• Add the onions according to your taste.

Alterations:

• Onions can be replaced with cucumber if you don’t like the taste of onions.

Tomato Rice

Tomato Rice:

Rice is regular staple food in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh. Rice dishes are very appetizing. Tomato rice is a dish which can be very easily prepared. Today I will present here with a recipe of tomato rice. This can be served with raita or even with just plain curd.

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice: 3 cups
• Medium sized tomatoes: 8
• Medium sized onions: 1
• Ginger and garlic paste: 1 teaspoon
• Cardamom: 3
• Cloves: 5
• Cinnamon stick: 4”
• Jeera/cumin seeds: ½ teaspoon
• Oil: 2 teaspoons
• Red chili powder: 1 teaspoon
• Salt for taste
• Water: 4 ½ cups

Preparation:

• Cut the onions and tomatoes into small pieces and keep it aside.
• In a frying pan add the 2 teaspoons of oil and heat it. When the oil gets heated add the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, jeera and fry till they turn light brown in color.
• Now add the ginger garlic paste and onions to the pan. Let it fry for 2 mins.
  Add the tomatoes salt and red chili powder to the pan.
• Wash the 3 cups rice and it to the pan and add the 4 ½ cups of water to it.
• Simmer the flame and close it with a lid. Cook it until the rice is fully cooked.
• Delicious tomato rice is ready to be served. Enjoy it with raita or curd/yogurt.

Warnings:

• Add salt, red chili powder, ginger and garlic paste according to your taste.
• Do not add more water as this will make the rice sticky and tasteless.

Alterations:

• Add tomato paste instead of tomatoes.
• After adding rice and water to the pan all the ingredients can be transferred to an electric rice cooker or pressure cooker.
• Any other variety of rice can be used instead of basmati rice.