Palak(Spinach) Paneer

Ingredients:
Palak (Spinach) - 1 bunch
Onion - 1 medium sized chopped finely
Tomato - 1 medium sized chopped finely
Green chillies - 2/3 slit lengthwise
Salt
Milk
Cream (optional)
Paneer (Cottage cheese) - 100 gms - cut into small cubes
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp
Butter/Ghee - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder (haldi) - 1 tsp
Kasoori Methi (dry methi) - 1 tsp

Method:
Wash and pressure cook Palak with 1 whistle by adding very little milk. Blend it in a blender. Take little butter in a pan, add cumin seeds, when it splutters add turmeric powder and green chillies. Add chopped onion. When the onion are translucent add chopped tomatoes. When the tomatoes are cooked and start leaving butter add the blended palak and salt. Add cubed paneer. Mix well till it boils slightly. Roast the kasoori methi in a pan till it is light brown. Crush it between your palms and add and cook for 5 minutes. Add cream if desired.

Palak (Spinach) Parontha

Before we got married, my husband used to stay as a PG with a family in Pune, India. That Aunty used to make lovely palak parontha's. My husband used to love them, so I had to learn how to make it. Aunty is no more with us, but we do remember her whenever we make the parontha's. It is very rear that people make Palak paronthas.

Ingredients:
Spinach (palak) - 1 bunch
Onion - 1 small
Green chillies - 3/4 chopped finely
Salt
Ajwain (Carom seeds)
Fresh Cream/Milk
Wheat Flour
Butter

Method:
Wash and finely chop palak, add onion, salt, ajwain, fresh cream/milk. Mix all together, now add required amount of wheat flour, little by little so that you can bind all together. Add water if required. Make the dough little hard as palak leaves water so the dough becomes lose. Divide into small portions and roll out into round parontha's using rolling pin, but little thick. Roast the parontha's on a preheated pan by applying butter on both sides. Serve hot with yogurt (Curd) and pickle.

Palak Pakora and Pudina Chutney

It was a rainy day and wanted to eat garam garam (hot) pakoras and drink hot chai (tea). I was planning to make onion pakoras, but my husband suggested to try palak pakora. So I tried it out and it turned out to be mouth watering.

Palak Pakora

Ingredients
Palak (Spinach) - 2 cups
Gram flour
Onion - 1 small chopped into small pieces
Ajwain seeds (Carom seed)










Salt
Green Chillies - 4 chopped
Chat powder - (optional)
Coriander (Cilantro)- chopped
Oil for frying

Method:
Wash and chop spinach small. Mix all the ingredients except for Gram flour and oil. Add gram flour little by little till you are able to mix it like a paste. You can add water if required. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the pakoras till light brown. Enjoy!

Pudina Chutney (Mint)
Ingredients:
Pudina - 1 bunch
Onion - 1/2 small
Green Chillies - 3
Ground Nut - 12 pieces
Tamarind - small piece or Pomogranate seeds (anardana) 1 spoon
Salt - as per taste
Sugar - 1 tsp

Method:
Mix all the above ingredient and grind it roughly by adding water as per the required consistency.

Tips:
1. Ajwain has lot of medicinal values. More
2. Pudina(Mint) is good for digestion and also serves as a mouth freshner

Zucchini

Ingredients
Zucchini - 3 medium sized
Onion - 1 small (chopped into small cubes)
Ginger - 1/2 inch - cut into small pieces/grated
Tomato - 1 small (chopped into small cubes)
Coriander leaves chopped
Salt
Turmeric powder (haldi)
Jeera powder (Cumin powder)
Oil
Cumin seeds

Method
Wash zucchini and remove the top and tail part. Peel off the skin. Chop into medium cubes. Take oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, once it splutters, add ginger. Now add chopped onion and saute till it becomes transparent. Now add chopped tomatoes, salt, tumeric powder, jeera powder and stir till it leaves the oil. Now add zucchini and cook it on slow flame till it is well done. You can close the pan with a lid and if required add little water. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Goes well with roti or rice.

Shahi Lauki/Kaddu Kofta

We had been to a party at friend's place. There she had made shahi paneer. The gravy was very tasty. I love kofta, but the gravy that I used to make never tasted that good. So one day in the evening I was wondering what do I cook for dinner. Just then I thought why not try lauki kofta in shahi paneer gravy. It turned out very tasty

Ingredients:
For Kofta
Lauki/Kaddu small
Paneer 50 gms
Khoya/Mawa - 25 grams
Boiled Potato 1
Besan - 2 table spoon
Salt
Red chilli powder
Ajwain - 1 tsp
Almond (Badam) pieces(optional) - 1tsp
Cashew pieces(optional) - 1tsp
Oil for frying

For Gravy
Onion - 1 big
Tomato - 1 big
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Garlic - 2 cloves
Tomato Puree (optional) - 2 teaspoon
Salt
Shahi Paneer Masala (MDH or any other brand) - 2 teaspoon
Tumeric powder (Haldi) - 1 teaspoon
Sour Cream (optional) - 2 teaspoon
Whipped Cream (optional) - 2 teaspoon
Oil
Coriander leaves

Method:
For Kofta
Wash and peel the skin of the lauki. Grate it and remove the water by pressing lauki between your palms. Mash the paneer and the mawa. Mix all the ingredients for kofta together. Make small balls, pat it lightly on your palm and deep fry.

For Gravy
Pressure cook Onion, ginger and garlic in cooker by adding little water, one whistle is good. Boil the tomato separately in microwave or in a pan by adding water till the skin starts peeling. Grind the onion, garlic, ginger by removing the water. Take oil in a pan, add the onion paste and keep stirring till it becomes brown and water dries out. Now grind the tomato by removing the skin and water. Add the tomato paste and stir till it leaves oil. Add shahi paneer masala, salt, haldi and stir for 2 minutes. Add little water to get the required consistency.

Just before serving mix kofta in a bowl and add the gravy, garnish with chopped coriander. Serve hot with roti or rice.

Tips:
Shahi Paneer
Make the same gravy as above and instead of kofta add paneer pieces and mix well.

Bharleli Bhindi

Ingredients:
Bhindi (Okra) -Ladies Finger
Oil
Jeera (Cumin seeds) 1 tea spoon

For Stuffing
Besan - 2 table spoon
Dry coconut powder - 2 table spoon
Rasam powder - 2 spoon
Salt
Red chilli powder
Haldi (Turmeric powder)


Method:
Wash and dry the bhindi. Cut off the top and tail. Slit from the top to 1/4 inch before the tip so that the bhindi remains intact. Mix all the stuffing incredients and stuff 1/2 tea spoon in each bhindi. Take oil in a pan, add jeera till it spluters. Now gently add the bhindi and stir fry it in low flame. You can close the pan with a lid for few seconds, taking care that it does not moist the bhindi. Keep stirring until the bhindi is well done on both sides. If you have extra dry stuffing add it to the bhindi and stir for 2 minutes. Serve with roti or rice .

Ragda Pattice

Ingredients:
For Ragda:
Yellow Peas (Vatana) (Soaked in water)
Fresh grated Coconut
Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
Rasam powder/Garam masala
Jaggery (Gud) - optional
Salt
Mustard seeds
Cumin seeds (Jeera)

Pattice:
Potatoes - 3-4
Green Peas
Vegetables like Carrot, French beans, Corn ---- (optional)
Bread slices
Salt
Green Chillies Paste
Coriander leaves chopped
Semolina (rawa) - optional

For Serving:
Onion - cut into small cubes
Thin Sev (Lenthil noodle snack)

Method:
Ragda:
Make a smooth paste of coconut, tamarind, rasam powder. Pressure cook the soaked yellow peas. Mix the paste with the boiled yellow peas. Add salt, add jaggery if desired. Add water as per the thickness desired. Boil till all is mixed well. Season with mustard seeds and cumin seeds.

Pattice:
Boil and smash potatoes. Boil green peas. Boil vegetables like Carrot, French beans, Corn if desired. Take 2 to 3 slices of bread, remove the sides. Dip the bread in water and squeeze and remove the water. Mix the bread with the smashed potatoes, boiled green peas and the rest of the vegetables. Add salt, green chilli paste (grinded or cut small) and coriander leaves. Mash well till smooth. Take 2 bread slices and powder it in a mixer to make bread crumbs. Make small balls out of the potato mix and press it in your palm to flatten a little. Dip the pattice (flatten potato mix) in the bread crumbs or semolina and shallow fry it on a pan by adding little oil. You can also deep fry. Shallow fry till it is light brown on both sides.

Serving Method:
Take a small bowl, add 2 pattice, cover it with ragda. Garnish with the thin sev and chopped onions.

Masala dosa Potato curry

Ingredients:
Potato - 3-4
Green chilli - 3-4
Turmeric powder (haldi)
Mustard seeds
Onion - 1 (cut into small pieces)
Oil
Salt

Method:
Boil and smash the potatoes. Take oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When it splutters add green chilli and onions. When the onion becomes translucent add turmeric powder. Add smashes potatoes, salt. Mix it well for 5 minutes. The filling for masala dosa is ready.

This will go well with puri also.

Sambhar

Ingredients

Towar dal 1/2 cup
Tamarind - small lemon size
Turmeric powder (Haldi) - 1
Asafoetida - 1/4 spoon
Onion (small whole onions taste good) - cut into slight big pieces
Tomato - 1 (cut into slight big cube)
Potato - 1
Cauliflower - few florets
Brinjal (egg plant) - 2 small
Carrot - 1 (cut in small length wise)
Capsicum - 1 (cut in small length wise)

For Paste
Coriander seeds - 1 spoon
Chana dal - 1/2 spoon
Methi seeds - 1/4 spoon
Fresh Coconut grated 1/2 cup
Red chillies whole - 2
Oil

For the seasoning
Cilantro (Coriander leaves) - chopped small
Curry leaves
Mustard seeds
Ghee (optional)

Method:

Paste:
Fry coriander seeds, chana dal, methi seeds, red chilli whole in oil. Grind all this along with fresh coconut till it is smooth paste by adding some water.

Pressure cook towar dal and potato. Cut the boiled potato into cubes. Prepare tamarind pulp by soaking it in hot water for 10 minutes. Take tamarind pulp in a vessel, add turmeric powder, salt, hing and vegetables and boil until cooked. Add potato, paste and cooked dal. Boil for few minutes till all is mixed well.
Take oil/ghee in a small vessel for seasoning, add mustard seeds and when it splutters, add curry leaves. Pour this seasoning in sambhar. Add chopped coriander leaves.

This goes well with plain rice or idli and dosa.

Variations
1. Sambhar without coconut:
Follow the same procedure above, instead of adding the paste, add MTR Sambhar masala (or any other brand) in the begining to the tamarind pulp and vegetables while cooking.
2. You can make sambhar with only drumstick (vegetable).

Coconut Green Chutney

Ingredients

Fresh/frozen fresh grated coconut – 1 cup

Green chillies – 3-4

Cilantro (Coriander leaves) – ½ cup

Ginger – ¼ inch

Yogurt (Curd) – 1 tsp

Salt (as per taste)

Sugar – 1 tsp (optional)

For seasoning

Oil – 1 table spoon

Mustard seeds

Red whole chillies 2 (optional)

Method:

Grind all the ingredients by adding little water (as per the consistency you like) to a smooth mix/paste. Take oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds and when it splutters add whole red chillies if desired. Pour the seasoning over the chutney. It is ready to seve.

Variations:

1. You can add few ground nuts

2. Instead of adding coriander and ginger you can add phutana dal (roasted chana dal)

Idli/Dosa batter

Uttampam

Mom's food beats everything in the world.My Mom makes wonderful dosas and idli. I grew up eating idli and dosa.The most important part of making fluffy idli and crispy dosas is the proportion of rice and dal. This is the secret of her recipe.

Ingredients

1 measure parboiled rice/idli rice (don't use idli rawa)

½ measure urad dal (white lentils/ split black lentils without the skin)

Salt as per taste

Soak dal and rice overnight or atleast 4 hours in water.

Method (For Idli):

First grind dal to smooth paste by adding minimal amount of water, transfer to a container. Now grind parboiled rice/idli rice to slight rough texture by adding minimal amount of water. Mix it will the grinded dal. Add salt as per taste and leave it overnight or whole day. Making idli once the batter is fermented, so that it becomes fluffy. Steam for 15 mins on medium flame while making idli.

Method (For Dosa):

First grind dal to smooth paste by adding minimal amount of water, transfer to a container. Now grind parboiled rice/idli rice to smooth paste by adding minimal amount of water. Mix it will the grinded dal. The batter should be semi-liquid so that it is easy to spread when you make dosas. Add salt as per taste and you can make dosas right away. If you leave it overnight or whole day to ferment, you can make crispy dosas. Take the batter into a flat bottomed round spoon, pour it in the center of the pan (tava) and evenly spread it into a thin layer. Add little oil and turn it when cooked. Cook on both side. Do not cover with a lid.

Tips:

1. I usually grind the rice to very slight rough texture so that I can use the same batter for both idli and dosa
2. Grinding the dal first and then rice makes it easier to clean the food-mixer/blender. The dal gets stuck, but if u grind rice later then the dal comes out easily.
3. You can also make uttapam      with the same batter by adding some chopped onions + tomatoes + green chillies + coriander leaves
4. You can make masala dosa with potato/paneer filling/left over sabzi
   
5. If you don't have idli stand, you can make idli in microwave small bowl and keeping it for 1 minute.
   

Dal ke paronthe

Ever wondered how to finish the left over dal? This is the best way to utilize the left over dal and yet enjoy it. My mother in law (MIL) makes delicious parontha’s. Dal parontha’s are one amongst my husband’s favorites. It is very easy and quick to make and quite filling. You can have it for breakfast or it serves as lunch or dinner too.

Ingredients:

Left over dal
Wheat flour
Onion – 1 small (chop into small cubes)
Green chillies - 2-3 (as per taste) (chopped into small pieces)
Ajwain (Carom seeds) 1 tsp
Coriander leaves (chopped)
Ghee/butter/smart butter (optional)

Method:
Take the left over dal and add all the above ingredients except wheat flour. Now add wheat flour gradually so that you are able to knead it into dough. Basically dal is the replacement for water. Make small balls and roll it into thick roti. Apply ghee/butter/smart butter on both side. Serve hot with yogurt and pickle.

Tips:
Ajwain (Carom seeds) is very good for digestion.
Parontha tastes good with Amul butter too. I love it.

Mummy ka kada (Kada for cold)

My mother in law (MIL) believes in homemade remedies a lot. She makes kada whenever somebody has cold and it has got tremendous effect.

Ingredients:

Cloves – 2-3

Cinamon stick or cinamon – 1/4 inch

Saunf (Fennel seeds) – 1 tsp

Cardomon (Elaichi) – 2

BADI-ELAICHI (Cardomon –brown)(optional) – 1

Ginger – ¼ inch

Jaggery (Gud) – 1 tsp

Pepper powder ¼ tsp

Water 3-4 cups

Method:

Make a Powder of the above ingredients and add it to water and boil it. It is more effective when you have it warm or hot.

Vada Pav

On a rainy day, in a dull weather, you cannot go out and are stuck at home. One of the hot snacks, that comes to your mind is vada pav. I still remember those college days when we used to go to Joshi vade wale in front of Balgandharva, Pune, India. The mouth watering hot vada pavs was one of my favorites. In Atlanta, we miss all those small tapari's and the fun of going out and eating Indian food. My husband one day came home and said, feel like eating vada pav. So I thought why not give it a try. So with all my enthu started to search the net for the perfect recipe and ended up taking a mix of recipes on all the websites. It turned out to be yummy. I was successful in tangling his taste buds and he said "very close to what we used to have in Pune".

Ingredients
Potaotes - 4
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Garlic - 2-3 flakes
Green chilli - 5
Curry leaves - 10
Mustard seeds - 1/2 spoon
Turmeric powder (haldi) - 1 spoon
Salt
Besan (Gram flour) - 5 table spoon
Red chilli powder - 1/2 spoon
Chat masala - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
Oil for frying
Pav or bread


Method:
1. Grind ginger, garlic and green chillies together into a paste.
2. Peel and mash boiled potatoes.
3. Add ginger-garlic-green chilies paste, coriander leaves, and salt to it.
4. Then take 1 teaspoon of oil in a kadai. Add mustard seeds. As soon as they start spluttering, add turmeric powder & curry leaves. Add the mashed potatoes & mix it properly.
5. Make small flat balls of this potato mixture by pressing in your palm.
6. Now add some salt & turmeric powder to the gram flour . Mix it together. Add some water to make a thick batter without any lumps.

7. Heat some oil in a pan. Dip the balls in gram flour and deep fry till golden brown. Fry some green chillies
8. Slit the Pav keeping the base intact & spread Garlic Chutney. Place the vada into it. Eat it with the fried green chillies mixed with salt.



Tips:
Garlic chutney or groundnut chutney is readily available in Indian stores. It can also be made at home. Add some sweet tamarind chutney to give it the sweet and spicy taste.

Chilly Paneer

We had been to dinner at a friend's place and there they had made chilly paneer as one of the starters. It was yummy. I thought it will be time consuming to make that, but when I asked for the recipe, I found out that it was very easy. So I tried making it and now this has become one of the best starters.

Ingredients:
Paneer (Cottage cheese) - 250 gms
Onions - 2 medium
Capsicum (Green Pepper) - 2 medium
Red Chilli Sauce (I have tried with Ching's red chilli sauce)
Soy Sauce
Tomato Ketchup
Corn starch - 4 spoons
Maida (All purpose flour) - 1 spoons
Oil

Method:
Cut Paneer into small cubes or rectangles as per your wish. Mix 2 spoons of corn starch and 1 spoon of maida and add some water and make a thin paste. Dip paneer pieces into this and deep fry till light brown in color. Or you can directly deep fry paneer pieces without dipping into corn starch mix.

Cut onions and capsicum length wise. Take some oil in pan. Add onions and saute on high flame for 2 mins or till onion becomes translucent. Now add capsicum and saute for 2 more minutes.

Now add paneer pieces when the capsicum (green pepper) has become soft.

Saute for few minutes till all is mixed well. If you like some gravy, mix corn starch in water and make a thin paste and add it. Mix well till the paste is mixed well with paneer and onion and capsicum. Now add tomato ketchup 1 spoon at a time.
Now add red chilli sauce 1 spoon at a time.Taste and see if you get the sweet and spicy taste. As per your taste increase the amount of ketchup to make it sweet and red chilli sauce to make it spicy. When you have reached the right balance of sweet and spicy taste add some soy sauce. Mix all well and chilly paneer is ready to serve. Serve hot.

Some tips:
This tastes better when you mix the ketchup, red chilli sauce and soy sauce just before you are about to serve. I fry the paneer and keep it ready and also saute the onion and capsicum. I mix all together just 5 minutes before I have to serve.

Homemade Tomato Jam

Ingredients:
Tomato - 6 medium sized
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee - 2 table spoon
Cardamom (Elachi) powder - 1 spoon

Method:
Boil tomatoes in water till the skin starts peeling off. Remove the skin and blend it in blender to get the pulp out of it. Measure the pulp and put it in a pan, add 1/2 the amount of sugar as the pulp. Add ghee. Keep it on slow flame and keep stirring occasionally. Close it with lid incase the tomato spills out. Let it simmer till it becomes thick like jam. Add cardamom powder and stir well for 5 mins. Jam is ready. It tastes good with bread or plain roti. This is my Mom's recipe, she used to make when we were small and my brother and I love it.