Monthly Archives: December 2013

Paneer Capsicum Masala

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Paneer Capsicum Masala

Paneer is one of the favorite vegetarian curries at the restaurants. This Indian version of cottage cheese is full of protein. It is a different story that the rich and heavy gravy they prepare at the restaurants almost negates the health benefits. I have tried making restaurant style paneer curry at home many times and this recipe comes closest. For me paneer and capsicum are the best combination. Fresh paneer and capsicum are key to a yummy curry.

I do not get fresh paneer here and I rely on frozen paneer when I have guests at home. Put the frozen paneer in hot water for 3-5 minutes and you have soft paneer ready to cook. Now comes the tricky part. Restaurant style gravy but in a slightly healthier version. I leave out the butter for sure. Second substitution I make is, to reduce the quantity of cashew nuts to half and add melon seeds.

I prepare the gravy in advance and freeze it in batches. Every time I want to cook paneer ki sabji, I just take one batch of gravy and defrost it and cook it with panner and the vegetables of my choice. I have the curry ready in minutes.

This curry can be served with hot roti, naan, or with jeera rice. Do not forget fresh cut or pickled onions and some fresh non spicy green chillies.

Paneer Capsicum Masala

Ingredients

Serves 4

  • 1 ½ cup paneer
  • 1 cup mixed bell peppers chopped into square medium sized pieces
  • 1 small onion chopped

For Gravy

  • 1 big tomato roughly chopped
  • 1 small onion roughly  chopped
  • 20-22 cashew nuts
  • 3 inch piece of ginger chopped
  • 4 cloves of roughly garlic
  • 1 green chilli
  • 2 tbsp melon seeds
  • 1 ½ tbsp kasoori methi
  • 3 tsp chilli powder
  • 1-2 tbsp fresh cream (optional)
  • ¼ tsp turmeric powder
  • ¼ tsp cumin seeds
  • 4 tbsp oil

Recipe

Heat 3 tbsp oil in a kadhai or a deep pan. Add green chilli, ginger, and garlic. Once the garlic is lightly browned, add onions and saute. Cook till onions are translucent. Add cashews and melon seeds and cook till the cashews are lightly browned sauteing in between. Add the tomatoes, salt, and red chilli powder and mix well. Cook till oil separates and tomatoes are mushy (2-3 minutes). Switch off the gas and let this mixture cool. Once it is cool, grind this to a fine paste and keep aside.

You can store this gravy in the freezer for future use too.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadhai or thick bottomed pan. Add cumin seeds. Once the seeds pop, add onions and cook till they are translucent. Add bell pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add paneer and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the gravy and mix well. Add little water if the gravy is too thick. Cook for 3-4 minutes or till oil separates. Garnish with fresh cream and chopped coriander and serve with hot rotis or rice.

Eggless Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes

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Eggless Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes

Merry Christmas! It is eggless chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for the Christmas. It’s a rainy Christmas in Singapore and with all the neighbors gone, our floor is even gloomier so I just needed something to cheer me up. What better than baking a cake! I like to bake cakes more than eating them. The smell of a freshly baked cake just lifts up the spirits and makes me happy. Baking or rather eggless baking has always been very satisfying for me. As kids, we never had any cakes for birthdays or any occasion for that matter. It was not a Marwadi thing or rather not a middle class thing to afford. But being the odd one out always, I have been trying to bake since my school days. From pressure cooker cake disasters to decent cakes in convection oven, I have tried lot of baking at home. Now that I have a wonderful oven in my kitchen, I experiment even more.

I don’t know what it is with eggs and baking. The more things I want to bake the more I need to research on how to bake an eggless version of it. Once you try these cupcakes you will agree that eggs don’t matter really. For me the most important lessons of baking are Follow the recipe point to point; PREHEAT the oven – however excited you are to put your cake in; ALWAYS use the best quality and exact measurement of Ingredients.

I have made chocolate and vanilla flavors as few members in my family prefer vanilla flavor to chocolate. Really! If you wish to make all chocolate cupcakes, just double the quantity of cocoa powder and mix it in the whole batter or if you wish to bake only vanilla cupcakes, leave out the cocoa completely and double the quantity of vanilla essence.

One thing to keep in mind while baking them is that every oven has a different baking time. Best would be to bake the cupcakes for 15 minutes and check them once and then continue baking as required. These mini cupcakes go well with tea, or as a dessert after a meal or just eat them when you like. You can choose to ice them or just eat them warm.

Eggless Chocolate and Vanilla Cupcakes

Ingredients

Makes 40 mini cupcakes or 25 normal cupcakes

  • 1 ½ cup plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 3 tbsp cocoa powder
  • ½ cup hot water
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • ½ cup oil (preferably rice bran)
  • ½ cup curd (Indian curd)
  • ½ tbsp. vanilla essence

Recipe

Mix flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a bowl and pass this mix through a sieve once or twice so that the soda gets mixed with the flour.

Combine hot water and sugar and beat them on medium speed till the sugar is almost mixed in water and you see very small grains. Add the curd and oil and blend on high speed for 2-3 minutes. Add half of flour mix and blend on low speed. Add rest of the flour mix and blend on low speed till the flour is mixed into the liquid ingredients and there are no lumps. Make sure to scrape the edges in between. 2-3 minutes should be enough to mix the dry and liquid ingredients well.

Divide this batter into two portions. Add vanilla essence to one portion and cocoa powder to another one. If you find the batter with cocoa too stiff, add one table spoon hot water at this time.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a cup cake mould or put cupcake liners in a cupcake mould. Spoon the vanilla mixture in half the liners and cocoa mixture in half. Fill only 3/4th of the liners. Tap the mould lightly on a flat surface. This is to get rid of any air bubbles in the spooned batter. Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes or till a skewer comes out clean when you put it in the cupcake.

For a variation you can also spoon alternate layers of chocolate and vanilla.

Once the cakes are baked, cool them completely and decorate with the icing of your choice.

Icing

I have used Betty Crocker’s Dark Chocolate icing and Cooked Flour frosting from leelabeanbakes.com.

In India, you can get the ready butter cream icing from Pillsbury. It is easily available at supermarkets like FoodWorld and Spencers. You can also try whipped cream or Nutella  Icing. Happy baking!!

Dahi Vada

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Dahi Vada

Dahi vada or Dahi bhalla is an Indian chaat. It is a deep fried lentil dumpling, soaked in thick yogurt and topped with garnishes like sweet chutney, chilli powder, cumin powder, and coriander. Dahi vadas are not as difficult to make as they look. Lentil dumplings are fried and soaked in salted water and then in thick yogurt and garnished just before eating. The secret to light and fluffy dahi vadas is to beat the batter in circular motion for 3-4 four minutes just before making the vadas.

In some parts of India, especially in Delhi and Gujarat, the yogurt used for soaking the vadas is sweetened. I prefer the unsweetened yogurt and like to add the sweet chutney as a topping. There are different versions of dahi vada around the country and this is my family recipe. It might appear bit different from the other recipes you find on Internet. My mom prefers to add some spices like chilli powder and some cumin powder to the yogurt in which the dahi vadas are soaked.

In Hyderabad, during the month of Ramzan, you can find roadside stalls selling dahi vadas in the evenings when people break the fast. I have blurred memories of  the vendors shouting funny slogans to attract people to their dahi vada stalls. These vendor sell dahi vadas with different toppings. Red chilli powder, cumin powder, and sweet chutney are common toppings for dahi vada. People even add chaat masala, grated coconut, sev, mint chutney, and pomegranate as toppings.

Dahi vada tastes best when it’s chilled. This is a fixed side dish at my place for the Diwali dinner. It can be served as a snack or as a side dish with meals.

Dahi Vada

Ingredients

Makes 15 dahi vadas

  • 2/3 cup urad dal soaked for 5-6 hours
  • 3 cups yogurt beaten
  • 1-2 tsp salt
  • 1-2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1-2 tsp cumin powder
  • 1-2 tsp black salt
  • ¼ cup tamarind chutney
  • 1-2 tbsp chopped coriander
  • Oil for frying

Recipe

Drain water from the soaked urad dal and grind it to a smooth paste using as little water as possible. Transfer the paste to a mixing bowl. You can add a pinch or two of soda at this stage if you wish. But this is optional.

Heat oil in a deep pan or kadhai. Wet your palms. Drop around a tablespoon full of the dal paste and shape it round. Carefully slide the vada into hot oil. Do this for rest of the vadas. Fry on medium flame till the vadas are golden brown. Another option is to use a wet table spoon and carefully drop vadas into the hot oil. Remember to dip the spoon in water before taking the paste for each vada.

Put the vadas on a paper towel to drain excess oil. Take around 1 ½ to 2 cups of water in a bowl. Add around two tsp of salt and mix. Now add the fried vadas to this water and let them soak for 30-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the yogurt with salt, and little red chilli powder. Squeeze out the vada from salt water after 30-40 minutes. Dip the vadas in the beaten yogurt and refrigerate for 30-40 minutes if you like the dahi vada chilled.

Just before serving take the vadas in serving dish. Top it with little more yogurt. Garnish with pinch of black salt, cumin powder, and red chilli powder. You can adjust the garnish as per taste and quantity of the vadas. Add tamarind chutney and chopped coriander.

Masala Khichdi

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Masala Khichdi

Khichdi is a preparation of rice and lentils and is a comfort food. It is also a common baby food or food for people who are sick as it is a very basic and healthy food without any or much spices. It is a very quick recipe too. Rice and dal are pressure cooked with salt and turmeric and its done.

I was never a khichdi fan until I had this wonderful spicy or masala version of khichdi. In Bangalore, we were local guardians to a wonderful girl from Gujarat who was in Bangalore to study Pharmacy. Her mom made this Khichdi for us when she came to drop her to Bangalore. Since then, Masala khichdi is a regular on our menu.

Since then I have also tasted this dish at few restaurants where it is called dal khichdi. I still love this simple and quick masala version made by Ridhhi’s mom. This can be a quick and filling meal if you are tired to cook roti sabji or you just want a healthy one pot meal. You can eat this masala khichdi with pickle, curd, papad or have it the gujju way with a glass of chilled chaas (buttermilk).

Masala Khichdi

Ingredients

Serves 3

  • ¼ cup rice
  • ¼ cup mung Dal
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • ¼ tsp mustard seeds
  • ¼ tsp cumin seeds
  • 8-10 curry leaves
  • 2 inch piece ginger grated
  • 2-3 cloves garlic chopped (optional)
  • 1 green chilli slit
  • 1 dry red chilli broken
  • 2 tbsp groundnuts
  • 1 small onions chopped
  • 1 small potato chopped
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp red chilli powder
  • ¼ tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 3 cups water
  • 2 tbsp fresh chopped coriander
  • Salt to taste

Recipe

Wash rice and dal 3-4 times and soak them in 3 cups of water for 5 minutes.

Heat oil in a cooker. Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Once the seeds pop, add curry leaves, dry red chilli, and green chilli. Add ginger and garlic and sauté. Add groundnuts and sauté. Add onions and cook till they are translucent. Add potatoes, red chilli powder, turmeric, coriander powder, and garam masala and mix well. Add the washed rice and dal with water. Add salt and mix well.

Close the lid and pressure cook for four whistles. Once the pressure is released, open the cooker and mix well. Mash the khichdi with the back of the spoon while mixing. Add chopped coriander and mix well. Serve hot with curd, pickle, and papad.

Ragda Patties (Aalu Tikki Chaat)

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Ragda Patties (Aalu Tikki Chaat)

Ragda patties is a famous street food from India. Potato patties are topped with boiled green peas, onions, tomatoes, spices and sweet and spicy chutneys to make this mouth-watering street food (Chat). This dish has variations according to regions and this recipe is of the ragda patties (called cutlet or ragda katlis) you can find on the streets of Hyderabad. Boiled green peas tempered with basic spices is called ragda. You can also use dry white peas for the ragda if you wish.

Potato patty known as aloo patty or cutlet is made with boiled potatoes and very few spices. Some people add fillings to these patties. Common stuffing for patties includes finely chopped carrots and French beans or roasted gram flour with spices. I have not used any stuffing in the recipe here. I like to play around with the toppings more than the stuffing.

Tricky part for people who do not cook often is the topping as per taste instruction. But this really has no other way. Some people like their chat sweet, some like it spicy. So you really need to experiment with this one. I like my cutlet with yogurt and lots of sev. I enjoy my cutlet piping hot with chilled yogurt on top.

Normally, this dish is served in layers of patty, ragda, and the toppings. If you want to eat it the hyderabadi way, Crumble the patty on a hot griddle, add some ragda and little panipuri water. Give it a nice mash or mix. Add the spices and chutneys for topping and mash again. Now take it in a plate and top it with yogurt, coriander, and sev. This is hyderabadi ragda katlis for you. Enjoy!

Ragda Patties (Aalu Tikki Chaat)

Ingredients

Serves 4

For the Ragda

  • 1 cup dried green peas (hara batana) soaked overnight
  • ¼ tsp mustard seeds (rai)
  • ¼ tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
  • ¼  tsp asafoetida (heeng)
  • ¼ tsp turmeric
  • Salt to taste
  • Ghee/oil for shallow frying

For the Patties

  • 4 potatoes boiled, peeled, and mashed
  • 2 tsp corn flour
  • 2 tsp ginger and green chilli paste
  • 1 tsp finely chopped coriander
  • Salt to taste

Toppings/Garnish

  • 1-2 tsp red chilli powder
  • 1-2 tsp black salt
  • 1-2 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 tsp chopped coriander
  • 7-8 tbsp nylon sev
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 1 tomato finely chopped
  • 7-8 tbsp tamarind chutney
  • 7-8 tbsp mint chutney
  • 10-12 tbsp fresh yogurt beaten with some salt

Recipe

For The Ragda

Pressure cook the peas with little salt and 2 ½ cups of water for 5-6 whistles.  Heat oil in a kadhai. Add mustard and cumin seeds. Once the seeds pop, add turmeric and asafoetida and the boiled peas. Add around one cup of water and mix well. Mash the peas a little with the back of a spoon. Simmer for 7-10 minutes or till the ragda thickens and keep aside.

For the Patties

Combine the ingredients for patties and divide the mixture into eight portions. Shape each portion into flat round disc.  Heat a thick griddle. Put ¼ tsp ghee and place a patty. Smear some more ghee on top of the patty and turn it over after a minute. Move it to the side of the griddle. Follow the same procedure for all the patties. Keep turning the patties every 1-2 minutes till they turn brown on both sides. Keep aside.

To Serve

Place two patties in a bowl or a deep plate. Add close to 1/4th of the ragda, 2 tbsp yogurt, 2 tsp onions, 2 tsp tomatoes, few pinches each of red chilli powder, cumin powder, and black salt. Add the tamarind chutney and mint chutney as per taste. Top it with chopped coriander and nylon sev and serve.

Naan Roti (Naan Bread)

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Naan Roti (Naan Bread)

Naan is one of India’s many famous foods after tikka masala and samosa. It is a tear drop shaped, oven-baked (called tandoor in India) flat bread made with all-purpose flour (maida). It is also known as naan bread and is served with curries or kebabs. Making naan at home is not as tough as it looks. You do not need the tandoor. You can make it in oven or even on a thick griddle. Most of the ingredients are easily available and you can even add the topping of your choice to make it more flavorful.

Just make sure to rest the dough for enough time and cover it well while resting. Some people use eggs for a softer naan but I don’t see any major difference in the softness with or without egg if you use milk to make the dough. You can experiment with the shape and toppings. You can add nigella seeds (kalonji), sesame seeds, kasuri methi, garlic, olives, or fresh herbs like coriander and mint.

As with other recipes on this blog, this is my family recipe of naan. There are different ways of making the dough and cooking the naan. You can make it in an oven, use any thick bottomed utensils like kadhai or cooker, or a clay griddle. My mom makes naan on the griddle used to make rotis at home and she even cooks the naan like she cooks the rotis. Naan can be served with tikkas, kebabs, dal, and curries. It is best eaten hot.

Naan Roti (Naan Bread)

Ingredients

Makes 6-7

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour (maida)
  • ½ cup milk
  • ¼ cup curd
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 3 pinches soda (appx half of 1/4th tsp)
  • 1 ½ tbsp. oil
  • Little water

Recipe

Take flour in a wide big dish. Make a well in the centre and add salt, sugar, soda, curd, oil, and milk. Make a soft pliable dough using little water at a time. Keep it aside covered with a wet cloth for one hour. Knead it again for few mins (3-4) and divide into 6 rolls.

Take one roll at a time and roll it into a 6-7 inch disc on a lightly floured surface. At this stage you can add the seasoning you prefer. Roll it once or twice for the seasoning to stick to the dough.

Cook it in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees until it is crisp and light brown. Brush liberally with butter/ghee.

If you do not have an oven you can cook it on a griddle too just like you would cook roti. Brush it liberally with butter/ghee and serve hot.

Panipuri

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Panipuri

Panipuri for me is the best food on earth. It is a Crisp semolina puri filled with green chana and sour and spicy water. It is a very popular chat (type of snacks in India) in India and you can find it in any region you go. Every state has its own version of panipuri. It’s Golgappa in Delhi, Puchka in Calcutta and Gupchup in Hyderabad. I have eaten panipuri at various places but Gupchup wins it hands down for me. Not that I don’t like golgappa or puchka, but nothing can match the hot chana and cold water filled gupchup you get in Hyderabad.

Making the puri for panipuri at home can get little tricky. You need to roll out the dough thin and keep in moist always. But if you are living outside India and don’t get the puris readily available, it is worth the effort.

To make the puris fluffy, press the puri with back of a slotted spoon till it puffs up. Make sure the oil is hot and you fry them on a medium flame. You can even make flavoured puri by adding ¼ tsp of your choice of dried herbs.

Coming back to gupchup, the hot green peas filling is what sets it apart from other versions of panipuri. It is a very simple filling of boiled green peas cooked in very basic tempering. There are other fillings too like potato and Bengal gram (kala chana), sprouts, boondi, onions etc. If you like your panipuri sweet apart from the sour and spicy taste, you can add little sweet tamarind chutney along with the filling.

Panipuri is a comfort food for me and my sister. We can eat it anytime of the day. There are lot of famous street side vendors in Hyderabad where you can try this chat. If you are health conscious and don’t have a very strong immune system to eat roadside food, try this homemade panipuri.

Panipuri

Ingredients

For Puri (makes 25 puris)

  • ¼ cup maida
  • ¼ cup semolina
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil for frying

For Water

  • ½ cup tightly packed mint
  • ¼ cup loosely packed fresh coriander
  • 2 green chillies
  • 2 tsp black salt
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 cups tamarind water
  • 2 cups water

For Filling

  • ¼ cup dried peas soaked for 6-7 hours
  • 1tsp oil
  • ¼ tsp cumin seeds
  • 2-3 pinches turmeric
  • Salt to taste

Filling 2

  • 2 potatoes
  • ¼ cup Bengal gram (black chana) soaked for 6-7 hours
  • ½ tsp chopped coriander
  • ½ tsp green chilli paste
  • Salt to taste

Recipe

For Puri

Combine the ingredients for puri with little water and make a firm dough. Cover with a damp cloth and keep it aside for 20 minutes. After twenty minutes, knead the dough again and divide into two rolls. Roll out each portion into thin circle and cut small (approximately 1 ½ to 2 inches) round puris using a cookie cutter or a sharp round cap.

Heat enough oil to fry the puris and fry few puris at a time, till they are crispy and brown on both sides.

Store the puris in airtight container.

For Water

Grind mint, coriander, and green chilli to a smooth paste. In a jug or vessel, combine this paste with all the other ingredients for water and mix well. Taste for salt at this time and adjust salt as per taste. Chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

For Filling 1

Pressure cook the soaked peas with salt for 3-4 whistles or till the peas are very soft and mushy. Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. Once the seeds pop, add the cooked peas and turmeric. Check for salt and cook for 2-3 minutes.

For Filling 2

Pressure cook the potatoes with little salt for 3 whistles or till soft and mushy. Peel and keep them aside.

Pressure cook the Bengal gram (black chana) with salt for 4-5 whistles or till they are soft. Mix together, the potatoes, chana, and green chilli paste. Check for salt and add more if required. Keep the filling aside.

For serving

Punch/crack a hole in the puri. Add the filling of your choice (appx 1 tsp in a puri). Fill it with the prepared water and eat it right away.

Pongal (South Indian Khichdi)

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Pongal (South Indian Khichdi)

Pongal or Kara pongal (as known in Bangalore) is the south Indian version of Khichdi (a dish prepared with rice and lentils). This is a popular breakfast dish in south India and you can find it at any tiffin center. At my place, this is a quick recipe which my aunt makes when we crib about lunch or when we are hungry at odd times like 4-5 pm. This is her recipe of Pongal. Dal and rice are pressure cooked and a tempering of cashewnuts, black pepper, curry leaves, and cumin seeds in ghee is added to complete this yummy and quick breakfast.

Pongal and Vada served at the Tirupati Tirumala temple is the best Pongal I have ever eaten. Long time ago, when the Tirumala temple was not so commercial, common man could taste this pongal. You can still try your luck if you visit the temple for morning prayers. The most important thing to keep in mind for this recipe is to do the tempering (tadka) in ghee ONLY. That is what gives it the wonderful flavour. Remember to eat this hot and fresh. This can be served with coconut chutney and sambhar.

Pongal (South Indian Khichdi)

Ingredients

Serves  4

For Pongal

  • 3/4th cup rice
  • 1/4th cup moong dal
  • ½ inch piece of ginger grated (optional)
  • 4 cups water
  • Salt to taste

For Tempering

  • 3 tbsp ghee
  • 1 tbsp peppercorns
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 12-15 curry leaves
  • ¼ tsp asafoetida
  • 10-12 cashewnuts

Recipe

Combine the ingredients for pongal and pressure cook for 4 whistles on low flame. Once the pressure is released, open the cooker and mash the pongal with back of a spoon.

Heat ghee in a pan. Add cumin seeds. Once the seeds pop, add curry leaves and asafoetida. Add peppercorns and cashew nuts and sauté till the cashews are lightly browned.

Pour this tempering on the pongal and mix well. Serve hot with coconut chutney.