Dahi Nariyal wali Bhindi/Okra in coconut and yogurt sauce

es I am back. I realize it is unusual for me to go without a post for a fortnight and thanks to many of my readers that missed me. Lets just say life gets in the way sometimes. Here I am with a simple homey bhindi/okra dish the recipe of which I've had for a really long time in my diary (remember the little 'yellowing' notebook). As I sat back and thought about my history of cooking, nostalgia struck and hence the thought of getting to my good old diary. I remember having taken down this recipe during my college days from a magazine. I still remember it was a dish by the famous Indian celebrity chef Tarla Dalal whose recipes were a regular feature in the magazine.

Read more »

Paneer Methi Makhani

hat to make for dinner tonight? A thought that haunts me immediately after having finished with lunch. Asking hubby usually is returned with "just make anything" or "can we order some takeout" (he is sweet I know)! Hmmm... I usually know I will make rotis but what do I make to go with it. I do try to come up with something new every now and then but being a vegetarian sometimes limits your choices. I face a similar situation when I find myself deciding on what to take for a potluck, or a get-together that would be different and not the same old regular veg preparations.

Now paneer is most everyone's favorite but how many times can you make and serve the same butter masala, jhalfrezi or parathas for that matter. So in my quest for making something different yet elegant, simple yet exotic and healthier than other paneer recipes and of course quick 'n easy, I combined two of my absolute favorite ingredients- paneer and methi. I did not want to make the regular white gravy loaded with cashews and cream so opted for a very easy and quick makhani or butter-less masala version. I was more than pleased with the results and the fact that it was an addition to the list of answers for the eternal question of what to make for dinner :)

Read more »

Paneer Tawa Masala

ot starting with my usual gaga about my fascination with paneer everytime I post a paneer dish, let me cut straight to the chase. The idea occurred to me when I was making my Tawa Pulao dish that I posted a few days ago. Why not make paneer with the same masala combination! This gives the dish the sophistication of paneer yet the charm of street food, making it taste like paneer bhaji chaat (drooling yet?) and equally suitable as a snack as it would for dinner. The other cool thing about this dish is that it is ridiculously easy to make, literally fifteen minutes from start to finish if you had all the ingredients. The fact that you can whip up this flavorful dish in a jiffy makes it a very suitable roadside street food. If you walk the streets in India, you would find road side food vendors with huge iron griddles on open flame cooking this away with reckless abandon for a queue of hungry people that have their eyes fixated on the sheer skill with which the chef tosses the dish around on the griddle while they talk about the movie they just came out of. So without further ado, here goes.

Read more »

Gobhi Masala / Caulifower cooked with cashew and spices

"What to make for dinner tonight?" A thought which haunts me immediately after having finished with lunch. Asking hubby usually is returned with "just make anything" or "can we order some takeout" (he is sweet I know)! Hmmm... I usually know I will make rotis but what do I make to go with it. I do try to come up with something new every now and then but being a vegetarian sometimes limits your choices. I face a similar situation when I find myself deciding on what to take for a potluck, or a  get-together which  should be  different and not the same old paneer and regular veg preparations.
Now cauliflower is everyone's favorite but how many times can you make and serve the same aloo gobhi, bhaji or parathas for that matter. So in my quest for making something different yet elegant, simple yet exotic and of course quick 'n easy, I tried to glamorize the cauliflower here a little.. hubby was pleasantly surprised and I was more than pleased with the results and a new find :)

Read more »

Paneer Mushroom Masala

This dish is a  heavenly combination of paneer and mushrooms and is my hubby's favorite curry. As he tells me, during his bachelor days when he was in Pune, India he always had this at a local restaurant (practically for every meal!). Hubby is an mushroom lover and me a paneer fanatic so this is a total win win :) especially when  simmered in a spicy tomato based creamy gravy with the earthy mushrooms and the big chunks of fried paneer. Truly, there is a unique burst of flavor in every single bite and your taste buds just sing... The problem with these dishes with creamy gravies when served in a restaurant is that they serve them loaded with butter and cream which tastes delicious but we all know is not very good for health. So I wanted to make it without all the these fattening ingredients... No cream no butter no loads of cashews... and came up with this recipe. Do give it a try. You will not be disappointed.
Read more »

Paneer Calzone (whole wheat)

Friday is my most favorite day of the week. You have the whole weekend ahead of you. Also friday nights are mostly pizza nights( which my little daughter loves)... which means Pizza Hut delivery or if we have the enthu hubby and I make it together at home. Last friday I thought I should do something different and decided to make a Calzone. Of course I had to put in a desi touch to it. I remember a while back they introduced a Calzone on the Pizza Hut menu. I saw the commercials and flyers and always wanted to try it but unfortunately they never came up with a vegetarian version.
A calzone ("stocking" or "trouser" in Italian) is a sort of folded over pizza or turnover with filling. It is originally from Naples, Italy. It is made of ingredients similar to pizza, folded over and shaped like a crescent sealed on one edge, and baked. The typical calzone is stuffed with tomato and mozzarella, and may include other ingredients usually associated with pizza toppings (sourced from Wikipedia).

I love the half moon envelope shape... they make for a cute and fun  presentation.
Calzone may be filled with a variety of vegetable combinations, cheeses and meats of choice. It is typically served with marinara sauce on the side for dipping. Here, I made them with my whole wheat pizza dough recipe (so they are healthier) and for the filling I used  the world famous indian cheese paneer sauted with some tandoori spices. The spicy tangy filling was definitely the highlight of this yummy calzone. It was a great dinner and made a yummy filling lunch the next day. They will be fun to take on picnics too and great as an after school snack for kids. We had this as an evening snack, but it was quite filling and so yummy that we ate more than what you you typically call snack portion :D. So much so that we didn't eat any dinner. It is an easy and interesting one pot meal and is simply delicious.

I know I am going to make this often.

Read more »

Hyderabadi Bhaghare Baingan / Eggplant in sesame peanut sauce

Hyderabadi cuisine refers to the cuisine from a region in the south-eastern part of India. It  is highly inspired by the Mughlai cuisine.The word "Nawabi" is as synonymous with the Hyderabadi cuisine as "Shahi" is with Lucknowi. Hyderabadi recipes are famous for their rich taste and unique use of ingredients, roasted spices and aromatic flavors. This eggplant dish has all these components and more... baby eggplants simmered in roasted peanuts, sesame, coconut sauce with lots of indigenous spices cooked to perfection. It is utterly lip-smacking... even if you are a eggplant hater you can't ignore this one. It is very easy to prepare and has a very rich creamy taste which will compel you to make it again and again :) or if you have an eggplantoholic hubby as mine..  he will compel you to make it again and always. Also you can bribe him with this to get him to take you shopping for the whole day or spa or just whatever. I have used it for this trick a few times lol.. shhhh....:D

Read more »

Kathal (Jackfruit) Biryani

If you have been following my posts recently you are probably familiar with my kathal (jack fruit) adventure. So as promised, here is my second dish in the kathal series.
This dish also was very timely as my brother was visiting for Raksha Bandhan and he is a die hard fan of chicken biryani. So I had to make that for him (will post the chicken biryani sometime soon). Being vegetarians, I couldn't leave us, specially dear hubby, biryani deprived... and I took it as a challenge to make something as good, if not better. Jack fruit biryani seemed the most logical choice. Followed my mom's recipe for chicken biryani just replacing the chicken with jack fruit and it turned out great. Both hubby and bro were happy and I got to use some of my huge pile of jackfruit, win win :).This recipe is simple and easy yet incredibly delicious.

Here's how I do it.

Read more »

Paneer Bharvan Bhindi (Paneer stuffed Okra)

Humble okra gets a  glamorous makeover with this recipe and gets a "WOW" from whomever you are serving it to. A very innovative and always popular recipe from my mom's cook book (the best there is). This recipe came to existence one day when some special guests arrived and mom had only bhindi in the fridge... which is not always considered the best vegetable to offer to special guests at our home. So she made some paneer added some masala in it and stuffed the okras and boom... okra got a makeover. Guests loved it. My papa became its biggest fan and now he always asks mom to make these whenever we have guests over. In fact if we were out of bhindi, he would go and get some from the market. He just loves it :). Mom used to fry the bhindis first then stuff them then saute again with the masala in a makhani kind gravy (which I will be posting soon). I use my microwave for this and it becomes so quick and easy. It is great for lunch and dinner when paired with either rice or roti..have served as an appetizer too.

Here goes the recipe (see notes for the 'microwave-only' version) -

Read more »

Paneer tikka kathi rolls

 

I love the idea of wraps n rolls... fun easy and a welcome change from the usual. These rolls make a complete meal by themselves. Great for picnics, casual lunch parties, these are always the first ones to go. They are also great for a nice cozy weekend brunch. All the goodness of paneer tikka, spicy marinated roasted paneer with tomatoes, onions bell peppers rolled inside a soft toasty chapati roll. B L I S S.
Here's how I make it-

Read more »

Potato Jackfruit (Aloo Kathal) curry with Poori

It is amazing how we take certain things for granted. Growing up, Kathal (pronounced cut-hull) or Jack fruit used to be abundant during the summers. Mom used to make an amazing curry. So coming to the US, I was pretty disappointed that folks here did not even know what a jack fruit was let alone sell it. We had to go without it for a couple of years. To my absolute amazement, I found that they sold the canned variety in some oriental grocery stores. They were good to satisfy our craving for kathal but did not even come close to the taste of the fresh ones. The other day I decided to search for it on the web and found that there actually is a local farmer that has jack fruit trees and he sells the fruit at his store. The catch, his store was about a hundred miles from where I am. This past weekend, hubby and I decided to take the trip. Believe it or not, we drove a hundred miles (two hundred including the return!!) but it was all worth it as we came back with a huge 10 pound jack fruit :D (so much for my carbon footprint but hey 'am not gonna do this everyday... besides he charged me 20 bucks for it so that's a good deterrent for doing it very often)

Now I have 10 pounds of jack fruit that I want to use as I cannot afford to let it go bad. So get ready to see some kathal creations from me. Here is the first in the series. The most common and traditional kathal preparation in our household. It is a traditional kathal and potato curry with spicy onion gravy. The kathal is pan-fried to get a nice caramelization and then simmered in a nice spicy sauce. I just ate some and feel like having some more as I am writing this. It is best paired with pooris . In case you are not aware what a poori is it is a deep fried puffed unleavened bread. They are an absolute treat to eyes and taste buds alike!!

This is my Mom's recipe, so here goes

Read more »

Paneer butter masala

I asked him on the phone if he liked paneer and he said "Ugh! I have had so much paneer lately that I can't stand it anymore" and I went "oh! crap". This was one time during the courtship days before my husband and I were married. He later explained in 'great detail' how he has been eating paneer practically every day sometimes twice for the last two years of his bachelor lifestyle. In those days he was in Pune, India and always ate out and being a vegetarian and eating out you pretty much end up choosing something with paneer. While I empathized with his situation, I also realized I might not be able to eat my favorite paneer. I had to do something.
A few days after we got married and came to the US, I figured he might have gotten over his paneer-phoebia and made this paneer butter masala. He loved it. Apparently the brief break and (as he tells me) the great dish had brought him back. Paneer was back as an ingredient in our household. So here is the recipe of the comeback paneer dish that I now make (I always tease him by reminding him of his anti-paneer days).
Paneer butter masala probably needs no introduction. I am yet to see an Indian restaurant that does not have it on its menu. The big juicy paneer cubes in a creamy spicy gravy is an absolute delight. Me being me however, I make it with very little oil and no cream and butter at all (no butter in butter masala? funny eh!) So here goes...

Read more »