Kadhai Paneer/Indian cottage cheese with bell pepper

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The weather is getting warmer.  There is an occasional bird chirping on the tree and signs of struggling but strong sprouts peeking through my snow covered back yard. I am itching to fold the blankets and woolies and stash them away. It's about time winter called it quits and gave way to spring.  What do you say?  My eyes are sore trying to will those struggling sprouts to break free and come forth.    All this mental wait for spring coaxes me to brighten my cooking!

 So, today's recipe is adapted from the world famous Punjabi cuisine and this will surely brighten your dreary days. Rich in flavors this cuisine is a delight. Tandoori chicken, Chicken tikka, Chole-Batura, Dal makhani, Kebabs. Makki-di-roti and sarson -ka-saag to name a few are the popular ones. Milk and milk products are an important part of their cuisine and kadhai/kadai paneer is no exception. I love this recipe especially for its simplicity, unlike most other paneer recipes.

I hope you will enjoy this paneer with the dash of spring colors.



Ingredients:

Paneer cubed- 400g
Bell pepper (green-cubed)- 1/3 cup
Bell pepper (red-cubed)- 1/3 cup
Tomatoes- 3 (finely chopped)
Ginger grated- 1 Tsp
Garlic grated- 2 Tsp
Coriander powder- 2 Tsp
Red chilli powder- 1 Tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder- 1 tsp
Chopped green chillies- 2
Kasuri methi(dried fenugreek leaves)- 1 1/2 Tbsp
Salt- To taste
Oil- 1/2 cup
Chopped coriander leaves-2 Tbsp

Method:

1.Cut the paneer and bell peppers into one inch cubes.
2.Shallow fry the paneer cubes till they start turning slight golden brown.Keep aside.
3.Now throw in the bell pepper cubes into it and fry them too, for 3-4 minutes and transfer onto a kitchen tissue paper.
4.Meanwhile heat 2 Tbsp of oil in another pan and saute the ginger and garlic.
5.To this add the chopped green chillies and tomatoes, cover and cook till the oil starts separating .
6.Add in all the spice powders except kasuri methi and saute for a couple of minutes.
7.Add the kasuri methi and mix well.
8.Now add the fried paneer and bell pepper to it and mix well.
9.Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes.
10.Throw in half the chopped coriander leaves, mix well.
11.Garnish with rest of the coriander leaves, serve with roti or naan.




Contributor: Namitha

Entered in Jay's 'Relish Paneer' Event

Banana Nuts muffin

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What do you do, if you have some over ripe bananas and some left over nuts? I would make some muffins that melt in my mouth for breakfast.
When did you have or see muffins for the first time? In India we get sugar loaded version known as cupcakes, which are far from healthy. This being my experience when I first moved to Germany, a few years back and my first travel outside India, I saw muffins and confused them for cupcakes. I thought it bizarre people eat cupcakes with their morning coffee. My curiosity got the better of me and I tried it myself. Instantly, realized why it was good to be served for breakfast. The muffins were sweet but just enough and the fruity flavor was apt to kick start my day. I was hooked. Among my many adventures with muffins I came across banana muffins with nuts and I was smitten.
Now I bake them regularly and thankfully the whole family shares my delight for muffins. I hope you will enjoy the following recipe too. It is simple, not too banana-ish, yet with a bite of nuts in between and healthy to boot. Now, tell me how you make banana muffins. I am waiting to hear from you.



Ingredients:

Butter-1/2 cup
Sugar- 3/4 cup(or 1/2 if you do not like sweet)
Eggs- 2
Really ripe bananas(large)mashed- 2
Cinnamon powder- 1/2 tsp
Flour- 2 cups
Salt- a pinch
Baking powder- 3/4 tsp
Baking soda- 1/2 tsp
Buttermilk- 1/2 cup
Walnuts- 1/2 cup



Method:

1.Mash the bananas well.
2.Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together.
3.Beat the butter and sugar until it is smooth and fluffy.
4.Add eggs one at a time and beat well to mix.
5.To this mix the cinnamon powder and beat in.
6.Finally mix in the buttermilk by beating well.
7.Fold in the flour mixture alternately with mashed bananas and walnuts.
8.Meanwhile prepare the muffin pan by spraying the cooking oil or by lining with paper liners. Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.
9.Spoon in the prepared dough into the muffin pan.(this gives you 18 std. muffins)
10. Bake for ~20 minutes or when a skewer inserted comes out clean.


Note:
1.This is just mildly flavored, banana muffins, just perfect for my family's liking.You could add one more banana if you wish.
2.This measurement is for 18 standard muffins or 12 extra large muffins. If you need only 12 muffins take only 1 1/2cup flour and change all the other ingredients proportionately.
3.This could be served warm or cold.


Contributor: Namitha

Chicken Curry - 1

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    Curry as you know is any vegetable, fish or meat in a gravy.  And chicken curry can be made with different gravies. The difference between the gravies are the ingredients used to make them.  I would call the most basic one to be of onion and tomato.  The variations from the basic is when consistency and richness is changed by addition to the basic.  Fesh cream, coconut milk, cashew nuts ground to a paste, spinach or other leafy vegetables pureed or poppy seed paste etc to name a few. We will continue to update our blog with the variations in future.

  I am sharing the tomato and onion gravy spiced with curry powder and garam masala today.  By curry powder here I mean  coriander powder, paparika, turmeric.  'Garam masala' is a blend of whole spices like cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and fennel seeds.  Then again there are many more spices which are added and deleted as per taste and cuisine.

   I will share the way I make garam masala in my next post.

   The timings below are all approximate and even the powders mentioned are how I like it.  Depending on your tolerance towards the spices add and subtract.  Remember, thickening of the gravy is from the onions, tomato and coriander powder make your variations keeping this in mind.  At home we like the curries to be so spicy that it hits our senses so to speak. 

Ingredients:
Chicken             - 1 pound
Onions               - 2 medium
Garlic                 - 1 whole chopped coarsely it yields around 1/4 cup
Ginger                - a big piece when coarsely cut yields 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Chilli powder      - 1 tbspn
Black Pepper     - 1/4th tspn
Coriander           - 3 tbspn
Garam masala    - 1 1/2 tspn
Tomato              - 2 medium size ones that you get on vine and which are sour
Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup packed chopped fine
Oil                      - 4 Tbspn (use according to your convenience as long as you can saute the onions golden brown)
Salt                    - 1 tspn or as per taste (use your judgement use half and only remaining after tasting)

Method:

1.  Saute onions till translucent and starting to turn golden
2.  Add ginger,garlic and saute
3.  Add all the powders and saute till oil leaves the pan or if you are using less oil on a low fire make sure you cook the powders till the raw smell leaves
4. Add tomato chopped and saute and stirring make sure oil leaves pan before you add chicken. The moisture from the tomato allows you to see the oil seperating so wait patiently and do this process on medium low
5. Add the washed clean and dried chicken and mix well.  At this point on a medium low heat again let the chicken cook until you see water leaving the chicken. Stirring intemittently.
6. I would cook the chicken in  its own water for approximately 20 - 30 minutes or until all the water has dried up and the chicken is cooked in its gravy.
7. Once the water has dried add 1/4th to 1/2 cup of boiling water and stir
8. Let the water combine well to make a thick gravy


Notes:
1. I make sure the chicken cooks on the stove on a medium low fire for 30-45 minutes.  This ensures we recommended cooking time for poultry is reached as well as the spices have permeated the meat.
2. Kashmiri chilli powder available in Indian stores are less hot compared to the paparika.  As such you may opt for this chilli powder to keep the color and consistency and keeping the curry mild.

Contributor: Sunitha