Palak Paneer August 25, 2008

I must attribute this recipe to KB. A few years back she found this wonderful Palak Aloo Matar recipe. We were students then; and a hot tasty meal would really revive our spirits in the job hunting phase of our life. While she claims that she does not make it anymore, I have adapted the recipe to make palak paneer and it works wonderfully well. I have tried and tested on quite a few people, including my mother-in-law and everyone has loved it.

Ingredients:

- One bag frozen spinach/Two fresh bundles of spinach/One big salad pack of Baby Spinach

- Medium Sized Tomato (1)

- Green Chillies (4 – 5 small)

- Garlic (2 medium sized cloves)

- Onion (1/2)

- Jeera powder (1 tsps)

- Coriander powder (1 tsps)

- Garam Masala (1/2 tsps)

- Paneer (cube-able)

- Oil (2 tsps)

- Jeera (1/2 tsps)

Method:

1. Cut the paneer into bite sized cubes and set aside (I usually like to cut them the way they serve in restaurants – a little bit longer in length)

2. Heat one to one and a half cup of water in a vessel, along with the spinach. Keep the vessel covered. Allow the spinach to wilt and cook.

3. Cool the spinach and grind along with tomato, chillies and one clove of garlic

4. Now heat oil, add jeera for tempering and garlic. Heat till the flavor of the garlic effuses in the oil and before it turns brown. Now add onions. Saute till the onions are translucent, but not shrunken in size.

5. Add the spinach mixture to the vessel.

6. Add the Jeera Powder, Coriander powder, Garam Masala and Salt to taste

7. Add the paneer cubes, lower the heat and keep on the stove for 2 minutes

Wonderful palak paneer is ready to be eaten with hot parathas!

The original recipe calls for adding pre-boiled green peas and potatoes (for the Matar and Aloo part). Don’t have paneer in the refridgerator? Add the peas and the potatoes over the sauted onions, prior to adding the spinach mixture. Tastes equally delicious!

Well known benefits of spinach:

* contains Iron – beneficial for building energy

* promotes Gastro Intestinal health

We used to eat a lot of spinach prior to the E-coli scare. It took us a long time to trust spinach again. Note to self: Need to get back to eating it twice a week again.

Leftover Rice Bites August 14, 2008

Mom says it is an art to cook with leftovers. Quite a few times, even though we don’t intend it, we have leftover rice.

So bookmarking this recipe to try in the future:

http://365daysveg.wordpress.com/2008/04/16/leftover-brown-rice-bites/

Which reminds me, I need to get my grandmom’s recipe with leftover rice “Phodni-cha Bhaat” up on this blog!

Traditional Fish Curry August 3, 2008

Grandmom’s recipe! I would say grandmom’s are the best cooks. The flavor that they can generate from the same list of ingredients as we do, just cannot be compared. They are too good! Very recently, I decided to be courageous and asked her the recipe for this fabulous fish curry that she used to stir up. I followed it step by step, and I can say that I did a good job. Of course, I am a bit more generous with the chilli powder for the authenticity. But every single person I have tried this recipe on, has been impressed.  

Ingredients:

Dry Coconut – 3 heaped tbls

Garlic Cloves – Two Medium Sized

Tilapia

Green Chillies – 2

Chilli Powder – 3/4th tsps

Tamarind – medium sized coin

Method:

1. Cut the tilapia into 2 inch X 2 inch pieces. Coat with salt, turmeric and chilli powder. [I prefer to do this when I buy my fish. I think the turmeric disinfects it, and the salt and chilli powder sink into the very last bit to give it a uniform taste.]

2. For the vaatan, roast the dry coconut powder till it is light brown.

3. Grind it with the garlic cloves, and small quantity of water to a fine paste. Now apply half of this paste to the fish.

4. Soak tamarind of the size of a coin in small amount of water. Extract the tamarind paste and rub it on the fish.

5. In a flat bottomed vessel heat oil

6. Split the chillies from the middle, without breaking it into two pieces, and add it to the hot oil

7. Pour this hot oil on top of the fish

8. Now add the fish to the vessel, such that it is all in one layer, pour the remainder paste, and cook on Medium heat. (Note: Do not stir the fish, it will break easily. If you find that the fish is sticking to the bottom, sprinkle some water.)

Enjoy this recipe with hot chapatis or naan!