Spinach cooked with cottage cheese...

I love Paneer (cottage cheese) and any recipe tastes great with it! Especially if you are not a huge fan of spinach, then try making it with paneer and boy you will love it. This recipe is very popular in northern India. Here is my take on palak paneer- Enjoyyyyyyy

Ingredients- Spinach (about 500 gms), cottage cheese (cubed- about one big cup)

For the Gravy- you need 2 onions (finely chopped), garlic (3-4 cloves-crushed and chopped), grated ginger (about a small tablespoon), medium sized tomatoe (finely chopped)- the spices that go in are- cinnamon stick, cumin seeds, bay leaves, a little bit of ajwain (carom seeds), garam masala, corriander powder, amchoor powder (dried mango powder), dried red chillies (2 pieces) and of course my favorite chopped corriander leaves!   

Preparation is simple- We need to wash the spinach leaves, and boil them a bit in water till they become soft- once they are soft blend them in a mixer to a paste and keep it aside- Now get the gravy ready- In a wok, pour oil (liberal dose), and once it becomes hot add the cumin seeds, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, a bit of ajwain or carom seeds-When the garlic is golden brown add the chopped onions, dried red chillies and roast them till they are golden brown. Toss in the chopped tomatoes and keep mixing the ingredients till the tomatoes blend with onions and becomes a paste. 

Now comes the spices- Put in the garam masala, corriander powder(about a big tablespoon each) and amchur powder (just a dash of it). Cook the ingredients till the masala blends and the mixture starts to become a thick consistency of a gravy. Add salt according to taste. 

Add in the blended spinach to the gravy and cook till spinach loses its raw taste and takes in the spices. Add the bowl of cottage cheese towards the end and cook it on a low flame for around 5 minutes. Before removing it from fire, add a big tablespoon of butter and blend in till the butter melts. Garnish it with chopped corriander! There is a slight variation in this recipe- Usually, the cottage cheese is deep fried (separately) in oil before mixing it with spinach. I simply love to keep the flavor of cottage cheese and mix it without frying it in oil. 

Serve it with hot rotis- yum!

Spice up your world....

I wanted to highlight some of the spices used in Indian cooking- 

Garam masala- (hot masala powder)- well, the recipe differs from region to region and I am pretty much sure that you will get a decent brand from your local market- Garam Masala is a culmination of various spices like- cumin seeds, shahi jeera or black cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, cardamom (Green, black and brown varities), nutmeg, coriander seeds, fennel seeds (may contain traces of garlic powder, ginger powder, turmeric powder, red chilli powder- depending upon the brand). Using Garam masala will add good authentic Indian flavor to your food.

Another powder which I most commonly use is the hot curry masala powder. This is similar to garam masala but has a different and strong flavor than Garam masala- This masala not only contains similar spices to that of Garam masala but also asafoetida, mustard seeds, caraway, coriander seeds and brings in a little bit of color to your food (because of turmeric).

Corriander powder- I love using this one and tend to add it to almost all my cusine because of the exotic flavor it brings to the food.

Turmeric powder- Bring that lovely color to your food with turmeric powder- it is really good for health! 

To get a tangy taste to your recipe you can even use amchur powder (made from dried, ground mangoes)- A dash of this powder in vegetables wouldn't hurt and gives a nice tangy flavor-

Bay leaves gives you an exotic aroma to any gravy or rice and I do use it a lot along with green cardamom-

I love adding a bit of Ajwain seeds (Carom seeds) for medical reasons- It helps reliving gas from your stomach- 

There are many more masalas that can be used to bring a good flavor- I have often seen that sticking to the basic ones really helps and you can keep trying out different ones till you feel a particular combination gets your taste buds tingling! There is no hard and fast rule for the masalas- My mom always used to tell me- Keep it simple for the real flavor to come through :)

Mushroom Mattar

I am not so fond of mushrooms- When I tried my hand at this north Indian recipe, I have started enjoying Mushrooms and this one is real simple and tastes great with rice or naan! 

                               Mushroom and peas cooked in a gravy-

Ingredients- Sliced mushrooms (about half a kilo), 1 cup frozen peas (thawed and ready to use)

For the Gravy- 3 onions finely chopped, 1 tomato finely chopped, cinnamon stick, cumin seeds, bay leaves, pinch/dash of cardomom powder for flavor, crushed garlic 2 big pieces, a little bit of chopped ginger, garam masala, curry masala powder, corriander powder, chopped green chillies (about 2) and corriander leaves for garnishing-

First step is the Gravy- In a wok, add liberal dose of oil. Once the oil is hot,  add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, one bay leaf, green chillies, crushed garlic and ginger. Allow the oil to absorb the garlic and ginger. Add the chopped onions and fry it till the onions lose their raw taste and becomes translucent. Put in the tomato and fry it till it mixes thoroughly with onion and forms a paste. Now comes the masala- add a spoon of garam masala, corriander powder, curry masala powder and allow the contents to cook into a thick paste.

Add salt according to taste. Now pour in two glasses of water to make it to a thick pouring consistency liquid gravy. Toss in the chopped mushrooms and peas to this gravy and allow it to boil till the ingredients blend well. Towards the end, add a dollop of butter and chopped corriander to enhance the taste!

Vibrant Vermicelli

With the football fever around you hardly feel like cooking at home- We land up ordering pizzas before the game. Absolutely sick and tired of eating pizzas, I decided to do some fast cooking- I remembered having a packet of vermicelli (rice noodles or fedelini) and decided to toss it up with some vegetables in fridge- Took me half an hour to prepare and simply vanished within seconds when served :)

Ingredients- Grab all the vegetables that you can find in your fridge- Peas, carrot, beans, Cauliflower, broccoli... cut them and keep it aside. Empty the packet of vermicelli on a hot frying pan and dry roast it till it is light brown. In a wok, heat some oil. When the oil is hot - toss in cumin seeds, peanuts (optional), cashew nuts, green chillies or red dried chillies and fry it till golden brown. Now toss in the vegetables and give a good swirl. Add salt according to taste. Once the vegetables are tender, pour in two cups of water (for two cups of vermicelli) and allow it to boil. When the water is boiling add the roasted vermicelli and allow it to cook with the vegetables. When the vermicelli is cooked and water has completely dried up add in some butter or oil and give it a good toss. This will stop the noodles from sticking to each other and give an enhanced taste. Before serving, add in chopped corriander leaves and enjoy your football game! Tastes great with hot chilli sauce-

spicy powder....

        

I love the spicy powder with my Idli/dosa- For those who wonder what exactly is this powder, here are the full details- Spicy powder or gun powder (nick name) is a powder made of lentils and dried red chillies- Mix it with oil and it can be used as a sauce with south Indian dishes like dosa and idli. I tend to add this powder when making vegetable stir fry as it adds special flavor with appropriate spice! All you need is two kind of lentils- Channa dal (also called as split chick peas without seed coat) and white urad dal (white lentils). We need one cup each of the above lentils dry roasted till golden brown. Now comes the spice- dry red chillies. I use 5 big ones- If you need the powder to be really spicy add more and vice versa for less spice. Dry roast these red chillies and set aside. In addition to the above ingredients, dry roast 50 to 70 grams of sesame seeds. Grind all the dry roasted items to a fine powder and viola you have the spicy powder! Check out my spicy idli's- This powder sure adds a special spicy kick :) - 


Check out this version from one of the blogs I follow- http://eq-myblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/molaga-podi-or-red-chilli-powder-is.html