Creamy Palak Paneer (Cottage Cheese in Creamy Spinach Gravy)

The part of the country where I come from palak or spinach is not common. So it wouldn't be hard to believe when I say, this is my first attempt at this very popular North Indian delicacy; not that I haven't had the dish before, just that I haven't cooked it till now despite of it being one of my favorite dishes!

My refrigerator is often loaded with different cheese varieties, because I admire cheeses and love to experiment quite a lot. I enjoy very few vegetables and thankfully spinach is among them. So since I had both the main ingredients for this dish, I thought of making it today.

Usually my maid makes decent palak paneer, however, I wanted mine to taste a little different and hence I browsed and bumped into this recipe; coming from the master chef himself, it did not give me any reason to not try this one. So, the recipe below is adapted from here but with a simple twist of my own.

Time spent was mere 10-15 minutes and the outcome was totally exhilarating! 

Ingredients:

Spinach - 1 loose bunch, stems removed, blanched in salted boiling water, refreshed in chilled water, drained

Paneer - 250 grams, cut in cubes and slightly pan roasted in a teaspoon of butter

Green chilies - 3, chopped

Garlic - 6 cloves, crushed

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Lemon juice - 1/2 tablespoon

Fresh cream - 2 tablespoon

Oil - 2 tablespoon

Salt to taste 

Preparation:

1. In a mixer, puree together the spinach and green chilies. Keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan and splutter cumin seeds. To this add crushed garlic and saute for a couple of minutes, taking enough care not to burn it.

3. Add the spinach puree and salt to taste. Add water, if needed and bring it to boil. Add the roasted paneer pieces, followed by lemon juice and let it simmer for another 3-5 minutes.

4. When done, stir in the fresh cream, mix well, heat through and remove from heat. 

5. Serve with roti, naan or plain steamed rice.

Spicy Minced Meat

Ever thought of making something that can be used in a number of ways? Something that can be used for making patty, filling for roti, savory pies, tarts, wraps or added to pasta or rice, sauces, frittatas, casseroles and more! Well, this minced meat recipe is just right to go with anything you have in mind.

Since I work and operate from home, I do most of my cooking in the evening and hence I am always in the look out for make ahead dishes; 3/4 of which can be made the previous day and all I am left with is mere assembling in the morning! And this recipe is also the outcome of one such experimentation. Although I had intentions to use it for today's breakfast, I ended up finishing it yesterday itself; used it for layering puttu and had it for lunch and dinner!

Very easy to prepare, this is one such dish that gives you the liberty to play with flavors. This recipe is perfected to satiate my taste-buds and I am sure others will have their own.

Ingredients:

Olive oil - 2 tablespoon

Onion - 1/2 medium, chopped finely

Garlic - 6 cloves, crushed

Mutton mince - 250 gram, cleaned and drained

Italian herb mix - 1 tablespoon

Dried paprika flakes - 1 teaspoon

Freshly ground pepper - 1 teaspoon

Tomatoes - 2 small, cut into cubes

Lemon juice - 1-2 tablespoon

Chicken stock - 100 ml

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup, chopped finely

Salt - only if needed, I did not use because chicken stock compensates for it

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan in medium heat and add onion and garlic and stir fry for a couple of minutes.

2. Turn heat to medium-high and add the minced meat. Using a wooden spatula, continuously stirring to break up the mince. Cook until the mix turns brown.

3. Add the herbs and spices, followed by tomatoes. Let it cook for a while until tomatoes become partially mushy.

4. Pour the lemon juice over, followed by the chicken stock. Let the stock boil and then reduce heat and let it simmer until the stock is used up and meat is thoroughly cooked.

5. Check and adjust salt and seasoning. Add the chopped coriander, mix well and remove from heat.

6. Use this spicy minced meat for preparing patty or wraps or whatever you think it can be used in.

Drumstick Leaves in Yellow Dal Curry (Muringakai Ela Parippu Curry)

Back in Kerala, at least in my sweet village, we have and love the concept of individual houses with beautiful front garden loaded with flowering plants of all kinds and an even interesting never-ending backyard brimming with home-grown produces! For this reason, an average village home daily diet often contains a lot of fresh vegetables, most of which are the leafy variety and our very own coconut, in its various forms. Drumstick tree is one of the common varieties spotted in all houses mainly because it doesn't require much of a care. Apart from the fruit of the tree, the leaves are also used widely in Kerala cooking, as it is said to have many medicinal properties.

Well, now this has made me nostalgic and if allowed some time before we get into the recipe details, here is a quick tour of my home sweet home in Palakkad. After years of city life in Kochi, my parents shifted to our native place to spend their retired life. And what best can one ask for in retirement life than what you are about to witness in the photos below! Since my husband is on a transferable job, I do not get the liberty to frequently visit or stay long in my house, but whatever little bit I have spent here has been truly inspiring moments. I often envy my sister; she lives in Kerala and can visit this paradise whenever she wants! Shared below are some of the clicks from my sister's collection. Thank you Renu for this!

The pathway that opens up to our areca nut, coconut, pepper and plantain garden!

Exclusive plantain garden, a recent addition by my father

Would you believe, if I say, our house overlooks this scenery!

Now back to business! Vizag, especially the area where we live, too has its share of greenery, however, as I have seen the best, nothing comes close to that. So the other day, I wanted to prepare Dal Dosa and back in my village, we put loads of this drumstick leaves when making it. As this tree grows wild, I asked my maid about it and she readily said she will get it for me. I was thrilled, I made the dosa many times, however, did not manage to click a pic; had I done that I would have ended up missing the fun of eating it hot and crispy. With the leftover leaf, I went ahead and made this curry.

Ingredients:

For the Curry:

Toor dal (yellow dal) - 1/4 cup, soaked, cooked with a pinch of turmeric and salt, and mashed

Drumstick leaves - 1 stuffed cup

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Onion - 1/2 small, chopped

Green chilies - 2, chopped

Cumin seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Oil - 1 tablespoon

Salt to tate

For Tempering

Oil - 2 tablespoon

Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoon

Curry leaf - a few leaves

Dry red chili - 1, halved

Preparation:

1. Grind together coconut, onions and cumin seeds in a blender with very less water to make a fine paste. Keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan and stir fry the drumstick leaves for a couple of minutes. 

3. To this add the cooked dal; add water if needed and mix well.  

4. Stir in the ground coconut paste, mix well. Check for salt and allow it cook for another couple of minutes, but not allowing the curry to boil. Check seasoning and switch off

5. For tempering, heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, and stir in curry leaf and chilies. Pour this over the curry.

6. Serve it with rice or even with roti.

Green Bean & Mushroom Salad With Orange Juice Dressing

These days I enjoy making salads for lunch and dinner, not only because they are light (I seriously need to keep my weight on watch) but I love the part of inventing my own salad dressing! Like an artist play with different colors to create one that he has in mind, I play with flavors, mix and match to get what satiates my taste buds.

Green bean is my all-time favorite, especially when it comes to boiled or stir fries. This is one wonder vegetable that is so versatile to contain any seasoning that you impart. And quite recently I have started developing a taste for mushrooms, and hence I had a pack of white mushrooms handy, I made good use of it! Well, in terms of secondary ingredients used this one is not too different from the Honey Glazed Roasted Grapes & Chickpea Salad I made last week. 

Ingredients:

Green bean - 8, cleaned and cut in 2 inch pieces
White mushroom - 250 gram, cleaned, sliced lengthwise
Potatoes - 1 small, cut into cubes
Chicken salami - 3-4 pieces, cut into bite sized pieces (optional)
Oranges - 2 (1 in segments and the other juice extracted)
Garlic - 5 cloves, crushed
Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Lime - 1/2
Salt to taste
Honey - 1 tablespoon

Preparation:

1. In a pan, dry roast the salami. Keep aside.
2. Heat oil in the same pan, add crushed garlic and the veggies along with salt to taste. Saute for a couple of seconds.
3. Add half the orange extract and cover and cook for another couple of minutes.
4. Sprinkle pepper powder over, stir well to combine. Remove from heat.
5. Add orange segments, squeeze over the lime, drizzle honey and finally the leftover orange extract on top. Toss it nicely and serve!

 

Simple Egg Biryani (My Humble Easter Treat)

If there is a rice dish that I can finish a bowl full in one go then that is biryani! The rice, the texture, the outburst of flavors - there is just nothing this lacks. Whenever I visit my hometown, along with parotta this is something I dare not miss. Each part of Kerala has its own version of biryani but my favorite is the one they sell in Kannur railway station (reason - it has 2 eggs in a pack) and the one we get at Biryani Hut in Kochi. 

Being alone at home, these days I spend more time FB-ing and that's when I came across the actual connotation of Easter. It was an interesting read and of what I remember, it said about a pagan goddess and the connection of Ishtar (how Easter is pronounced) eggs and bunnies to fertility and sex. Just because I learned something interesting, I wanted to make the occasion special and I went ahead with an egg biryani, to celebrate it my way! In fact, this has been something I have been wanting to make for a while and since Pradeep is not a big fan of eggs, I sort of postponed it.

Until now I have been under the impression that I suck at biryani preparation. But, (you may find it on the verge of boasting) I feel I am pretty food at it! Well, this is my 2nd successful attempt and I hope many more will follow.

Not many ingredients, not much time investment, but the results is an absolute treat to your taste-buds.

Ingredients:

For Rice:

Basmati rice - 1/2 cup, cleaned, soaked for 30 min and darined

Whole spices - 1 teaspoon

Ghee (clarified butter) - 1 tablespoon

Salt to tate

Water - 1 cup

For Egg Masala:

Egg - 1 hard boiled and shell removed

Onion - 1 medium, sliced

Tomatoes - 2 small, diced

Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 teaspoon

Green chilies - 2, sliced

Yogurt - 2 tablespoon

Garam masala - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric powder a pinch

Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon, chopped

Salt to taste

Olive oil - 2 tablespoon

Biryani masala - 1 teaspoon

For Assembling:

Onion - 1 small, sliced and crispy fried

Lime - 1 small

Coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon, chopped

Mint leaves - 1 teaspoon, chopped

Preparation:

For the Rice:

1. In a pressure cooker, add ghee and saute the whole spices for a few seconds. Add the rice, stir fry until translucent. Pour water followed by salt to taste, stir and cover and pressure cook until done. Let it cool and transfer to a bowl.

For the Egg Masala:

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add sliced onions and saute it until browned. Add the chilies, tomatoes, ginger-garlic paste and saute for a while. Add the turmeric powder and salt; mix well. Let it cook until the tomatoes turn mushy.

3. Add the herbs, followed by yogurt, garam masala and coriander powder and mix well.

4. Cut the boiled egg into half and place yolk-side down on the pan and cover with the masala. Let it cook for a few minutes, turn over. Switch off and keep aside.

Assembling:

5. In the same pressure cooker, add a layer of egg masala, followed by rice, half of biryani masala, half of the fried onions, half of the herbs and a generous squeeze of lime. Again top it up with another layer of egg masala, rice and finish off with the rest. Cover and in very low flame, cook for 10 minutes. Switch off and let it be so until pressure is fully released or it is time to serve.

6. To serve, transfer rice into a bowl, top it with egg halves, sprinkle a bit of pepper powder (optional) and keep a slice of lime by the side. Enjoy! :-)