Paneer Masala

Paneer recipes are favorite for many. We can prepare paneer in different styles. Here I am going to make a simple paneer masala which don't require much effort and can be prepared in 20 minutes if you have the paneer cubes readily available. To make fresh paneer at home follow the recipe "Home made fresh Paneer - Indian cottage cheese"

The ingredients required for making paneer masala are as below.

Paneer cubes- 250gm
Onion chopped - 1 big
Tomato choped - 1
Garlic pod - 3
Ginger - 1 inch
Green chilli - 2
Milk Cream or Malai - 2 tbsp (Optional)
Salt - As required
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2tsp
Coriander Powder - 1tsp
Garam Masala Powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp or as required
Coriander leaves

Grind chopped onion garlic and ginger together in a blender. Make a smooth paste and keep it aside.

Heat the kadai and pour oil into it. Add the onion-ginger-garlic paste and green chilli into it and saute. Saute till the paste turn color to light brownish and add chopped tomatoes. Stir till the tomatoes are soft.

Add  turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt into it and stir for a minute. Pour little water into this mix and cover the kadai and cook for sometime. Stir it in between. Once you see that the oil is getting separated then add the paneer cubes. If the gravy is too thick then you can add little more water. Add garam masala. Cover the kadai and cook in low flame for about five minutes. Switch of the flame and add the milk cream or malai into this gravy. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

The milk cream is optional. If you like a little bit creamy taste then do this else just garnish with coriander leaves.

Tips:

Fry the paneer cubes in little ghee before mixing with the gravy. This gives a golden color to the paneer and little crispiness also.

For the cream just take the malai from the milk. Boil milk and keep it covered for an hour. Now you can see the malai formed on top of that.

Easy Egg dum Biriyani

An egg dum biriyani is an excellent weekend meal with raita and pappd. The ingredients to prepare this dish is as below.

Ingredients:-

Basmathi Rice - 2 cup
Egg boiled and peeled  - 3
Onion - 2
Tomato - 2
Green Chilli - 4
Coriander Leaves crushed - 2 tbsp
Pudina leaves crushed - 2 tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Curd - 1 cup
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp
Biriyani Masala - 2 tbsp (Optional)
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Lime - 1
Salt - As required
oil - 2tbsp / as required
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon stick - 2
Cardomom Green - 2
Cardomom black - 2
Dried Chillies - 3
Bay Leaves - 2
Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp

Method to prepare Rice:

Cook basmathi rice in water with bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, cardomom, salt and oil. Drain the water once the rice is almost 70% cooked and keep it aside.

Method to prepare biriyani Mix:

Heat kadai and pour oil in it. Saute the remaining garam masala's like bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, Fennel seeds. Now add the chopped onion and saute till the onions are soft.

Add the ginger garlic paste and green chillies and saute till you get a nice aroma. Now add tomatoes and saute till its soft.

Once this is ready add crushed coriander leaves and mint leaves and saute for a minute. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and Biriyani Masala powder(I used Everest biriyani Masala). Stir it for a minute and add curd into this mix. Stir it continuously till the oil get separated from the masala. Check the salt.

Peel the eggs and give small vertical cuts on all the sides of the egg and add to this mix. Cover the pan for a minute. Switch off the flame.

Layering and Steaming the biriyani:

Now take a wide kadai and first pour some of above prepared biriyani mix into it. Layer it with some of the cooked rice and sprinkle little bit powdered garam masala (I used Everest). Cut lemon and squeeze little bit on top. Now again layer with biriyani mix and then rice. Repeat this step until all the rice and biriyani mix gets over.

Optional Step:- Take a kadai lid and seal it with aatta on the edges in a way that when you cover the kadai with this lid the steam will not go out of the kadai. If you are in a hurry then just cover the kadai with lid and follow the remaining steps.

Now cook this on a medium heat for two minutes and then put a tava on the gas stove and keep this kadai on top of that. Cook in a low flame for 10 minutes and switch off. Remove the lid after five minutes and enjoy the tasty egg dum biriyani with your favorite raita or pappad.

Tips:-

Add fried raisins or cashews to the biriyani to make it rich.
The last step layering and steaming can be done in oven also. Instead of Kadai use an oven proof vessel.
You can scramble 2 eggs and mix it with rice while layering, this gives a very good taste.
You can cut the egg into half and add to the rice.

Vegetable Rava Upma

Here is another easy breakfast recipe, the vegetable rava upma. Many people don’t like upma but if you add some vegetables like carrot and beans then definitely it will be a hit. Here I am going to prepare upma with the ingredients listed in the below table.

S. No	Items Required	Quantity
1	Rava	1 cup
2	Musturd seeds	1 tsp
3	Urad dal	1 tsp
4	Dried Red chilli	1
5	Ginger Finely Choped	1 tsp
6	Green Chilli finely chopped	1
7	Onion dinely chopped	1
8	Tomato finely chopped	1
9	Salt	As required
10	Curry Leaves	Few Leaves
11	Water	1 n 1/2 Cup
12	Carrot Finely chopped	1 small
13	Beans finely chopped	4
14	Oil	1 tsp
15	Grated Coconut(optional)

Chopped Veggies for the upma preperation

Step 1: 

Heat a kadai and pour oil. Once the oil is hot add mustard seeds, Urad dal , dried red chilli and allow it to splutter.

Step 2: 

Now add the finely chopped onion, green chilli and ginger into it. Add curry leaves also.

Step 3:

Once the onion becomes soft add chopped tomatoes and cook till tomatoes are soft. Add carrot and beans and sauté again till all the vegies are cooked.

Step 4:

Now add water into this mix and put salt as much as required. Allow it to boil. Once the water comes to boil then add rava slowly into this and stir continuously. It’s important to stir otherwise the lumps will get formed.

Step 5:

Once the rava absorbs all the water, add grated coconut into it. If you don’t like to add coconut then leave this step as it is optional. 

Step 6: 

Cover and cook the upma for 2 minutes. Dont forget to stir in between.

Step 7:
The tasty tasty upma is ready to serve now. You can serve it with chutney, Achar, Sauce, banana or sugar.

The final product : The Vegetable Upma

Sooji Halwa

Hello Ladies,

Today I would like to write down a recipe which is very easy to prepare and your family will love it. So here we go...

S. No	Items Required	Quantity
1	Rava / Sooji	1 cup
2	Water	2 Cup
3	Cashew, Badam & Rasins	As Required
4	Sugar	5 tbsp
5	Ghee/ Dalda	2 tbsp

Heat a kadai and pour Ghee into it. You can use dalda if you are health conscious, but trust me.... halwa prepared in Ghee tastes better.

Once the ghee becomes hot add the rava and stir it continuously. Stir it till the rava becomes brown in color. Dont burn the rava. Now add the required water in it and stir again. Cover the kadai for 2 minutes and now add sugar into it and stir. Once all the water is evaporated add the dry fruit of your choice and switch off the flame. Now cover it for one minute and now the tasty halwa is ready to serve.

The Tasty Tasty Aaloo Parata @ home

I love aaloo parata. I have not seen a single person who don't like aaloo parata in my friends circle. So here is the simple steps to make tasty aaloo parata.

Things you require to prepare aaloo parata is as below.

S. No	Items Required	Quantity
1	Whole wheat/aatta	2 cups
2	Water	1 1/4 cups
3	Salt	as required
4	aaloo	3
5	Green chilli	2
6	Coriander leaves	handful (finely chopped)
7	fennel seeds	1 tsp
8	Cumin Powder	1/2 tsp
9	Coriander powder	1 tsp
10	Salt	as required

Make soft dough same as for chapathi. For more details refer to my post "Beginners guide :- How to knead the perfect dough for chapathi". Make balls of dough similar to the size of a lemon and keep aside.

Pressure cook the potatos until smooth and peel off the skin and mash it in a bowl. Add finely chopped green chilly, salt, coriander leaves, fennal seeds, cumin powder and coriander powder to the mashed aaloo and mix well. Now your stuffing for the parata is ready.

Now take the small balls of dough and make a hole in the middle. Now fill the above stuffing in this and seal it properly. Roll it out very carefully and in between dip the parata to the extra wheat flour to avoid sticking. Make sure that the sealed part is always on the top.

Heat the tawa and keep the paratta on it. When you find small bubbles gets formed on the parata just turned it with the help of a stick and apply oil.

Press the parata with the stick and cook it till its done. Remove from tawa and place it in a kitchen tissue paper. 

Have this tasty aallo parata with curd, achar or sauce according to your taste. So girls, prepare this at home, eat healthy and save money. 

Tips:-

Don't fill too much stuffing in the dough.

Beginners guide :- How to knead the perfect dough for chapathi

I love chapathi's especially with chicken curry :) But i always hate the idea of making chapathi's just because I need to knead the dough. But after marriage there is no excuse of not making chapathi just because you are lazy and don't want to knead (he he) so here I am. My first attempt of kneading the aatta turned to such a bad experience that I couldn't make even one chapathi with that dough :D.

But now after many years of marriage, making dough is such an easy thing and part of my daily work. I just thought of sharing this post here to make life easier for the beginners.

Here I am giving the steps which does not require oil. If you are particular about putting oil in the dough then you can add it any time during the process.

S. No	Items Required	Quantity
1	Whole wheat/aatta	2 cups
2	Water	1 1/4 cups
3	Salt	as required

Mix aatta and salt in a wide mixing bowl.

Now pour little bit water and start mixing the dough. Keep adding water and keep kneading. Don't pour too much water at a time. Take your time and knead till all the flour comes together.

Now the tricky step is here. Wet your hands and knead the dough. Don't take too much of water else it will be difficult to knead and the dough will become sticky. If that happens add little more flour and knead. 

Now spread the dough with your hand and roll it back half. Now wet your hands again and knead it. Continue this till your dough becomes smooth and soft.

Now cover the dough with a lid or you can cover it with a cloth. Let it set for 30 minutes and you can make fluffy and round chapathi's/roti's now.

This is not a difficult task girls. Practice it and I am sure you will master it :) 

Tips:-

Add oil in the mix for making poori dough. For poori knead the dough with less water.

Egg Parata or chapati egg Pizza? -- whatever, but it is very tasty

This is an awesome tasty breakfast you can prepare with very less time. This taste fantastic and kids will love this for sure. I named it egg parata J

First kneed the aatta/wheat flour same as for chapathi. I believe everybody knows how to make the dough for chapathi. Else please refer my post “Beginners guide :- How to knead the perfect dough for chapathi”.

Now beat the eggs in a glass and add pepper powder, salt and then cut the onion, tomato and green chilli as small as possible (the same way we cut for preparing egg omelette) and mix with it. Mix everything nicely and keep it aside.

Take small balls of aatta and make 2 thin chapathi. Heat a tava and cook the chapathi till small blisters appear. Don’t overcook. Keep these two half cooked chapathi’s aside.

Take a tava and pour some oil and keep one of the half cooked chapathi on that. Now pour the egg mixture on top of the chapathi and keep the other chapathi  to cover it. Cover the pan and cook for 1 minute. Now turn the chapathi to the other side and cook.

Remove this cooked egg parata from the tava and keep it in a plate. Now cut the egg parata to 4 pieces and enjoy with tomato sauce. Isn’t it yummy????

S. No	Items Required	Quantity
1	Wheat flour/aata	1 cup
2	Salt	as required
3	Water	as required
4	Onion	1
5	Tomato	1
6	Green Chilli	2
7	Egg	4
8	Oil	2 tbsp / as required
9	Pepper powder	1 tsp / as required

Tips :-

Add veggies like capsicum, carrot, beans and paneer with the egg mix to make this parata more delicious.