Easy Spicy Kadai Paneer

Preparation Time: 45 minutes
No of servings : 3-4
Spice Level : 3 out of 5
Ingredients:

Ingredients

• Paneer/Cottage Cheese : 250g
• Tomatoes : 5 (finely chopped)
• Green Chilies : 2 (chopped)
• Garlic : 7 (Crushed or finely chopped)
• Ginger : 1 1/2 ” crushed
• Green Bell Pepper : 2 (thinly sliced)
• Whole red chilies : 5-6
• Coriander seeds : 11/2 tbsp
• Dry Fenugrek Leaves : 2 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder : 1/2 tsp
• Coriander Leaves : 1/4 cup
• Salt to taste

Method Of Preparation:

1. Heat Oil in a kadai and add crushed ginger and garlic.
2. Saute it until the raw smell disappears.
3. Now add the chopped tomatoes and fry them till it become soft.
4. Roast the coriander seeds and red chilies and grind them into coarse powder.
5. After 10 minutes once the tomatoes become soft add the coarse powder.
6. Cook until the whole mixture becomes thick and starts to leave oil.
7. Now add the sliced capsicum and chopped green chilies.
8. Saute the capsicum for 7-8 minutes.
9. Now add garam masala powder and salt to the above mixture.
10. Now finally add the paneer and cook the paneer for 5 minutes in the masala.
11. Finally add kasuri methi/dry fenugrek leaves, coriander leaves.
12. Mix and saute for 2-3 minutes.
13. Remove from heat and serve it hot with Rotis or Naan.

 

Courtesy:-http://www.spicytasty.com/veggie-entrees-sides/spicy-kadai-paneer/

Step by Step Homemade Tandoori Roti On Stove Top

  Step by Step Homemade Tandoori Roti On Stove Top

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Tandoori Roti speaks of dhaba food and is a healthy Indian bread made of whole wheat flour. Traditionally, it is cooked in a tandoor or clay oven, a very rustic and traditional Indian bread.

Today, we are making tandoori roti at home, yes!! when you have that craving for Punjabi dhaba food; you can make it right in your kitchen...how would you like that; homemade tandoori roti!!

Tandoori roti is a bit thicker than roti/Indian flat bread. I love to have with chicken tikka or butter chicken, though my son loves it buttered up, my daughter loves it plain. I have been making tandoori roti for sometime now, at least whenever kids have a restaurant craving; and boy! are they pleased!!

The bread is made of whole wheat flour, little flour, curd, salt, and water.....once the dough is made, it is best to allow it to rest for a while....and then knead again for a softer and smoother dough......

Since we do not have a traditional clay tandoor at home; I am making this on the stove top; and yes!! its easy and quick!! too....I hope you will love it and try it!!

Author: Nisa Homey
Serves: 3-4
Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour/atta: 1 1/4 cups
Plain flour: 1/4 cup.
Baking Soda: A big fat pinch.
Sugar: 1/2 tsp.
Oil: 1 1/2 tbsp.
Curd/yogurt: 1/4 cup.
Water: To bind and knead.
Water: To brush
Method:
Dunk all the ingredients into a bowl...

Or into a food processor and blitz, use the steel blade...(you can also knead with your hand)

With the mixer running, pour little water through the feeder, maybe 1/3 cup or so....until the dough is gathered.

Plop it in to another bowl and knead with preferably oil greased hands....until the dough is smooth and soft....then cover and leave it for about 20-30 min.

Divide the dough into equal parts....slightly bigger than ordinary flatbread or roti.

Put it into the same bowl with little wheat flour (this is just to coat and not to get sticky)

Meanwhile, heat a tawa or a pan....and simmer the fire...take some water in a small bowl and keep aside.
Take one ball and lightly flatten it into a circle with your fingers.....sprinkle flour if needed.

And then roll out with a rolling pin.

Note that, you should roll out according to the size of your tawa or pan, and it should be slightly thicker than than ordinary roti/chappati.

Brush water on one side of the flattened dough.

Put the watered side on the hot tawa or pan.....raise the heat to high.....and let it stay for a few seconds...not longer, because the heat will release the dough from the pan...we need the dough to be sticked to the pan....so a few seconds would be fine.

With flame on high, turn the tawa upside down....since the dough is sticked to the tawa it will not fall down and we can cook the other side over the flame....decrease and increase the flame as needed...tilting and moving the tawa...(do not use a nonstick pan)

Until the other side is cooked and charred a bit.

Put the tawa back on the flame, for another minute....decrease or increase flame as needed....so that the other side will get cooked....once done, remove from the tawa.

Do the same with the rest....and ta...da...super easy!! super quick!! tandoori roti....is ready for you!!

Brush butter/ghee on top and serve.


Courtesy:http://www.nisahomey.com/2013/11/tandoori-roti-on-stove-top.htm

Oil Free Dry Orange Pickle

Sundried Bitter Oranges (Narnga Batte/Kanchi Batte)

Varada November 11, 2013 Baby/Kid friendly, Konkani Recipes, Sundried items

‘Narnga’ or ‘kanchi kaayi’ or ‘heraLe kaayi’ is a kind of bitter orange available in some(or all) parts of India. These are slightly bitter in taste, we have not seen anyone eating the ripened fruit. We always get the green ones which are used for sundried items or pickle. This is the season on Narnga here, so I prepared a big batch of narnga batte this year. Every year we get few of fresh narnga from our neighbors.
Narnga/Naranga batto/batti is one thing that almost all Konkanis like. These are usually given to the people who are suffering from fever and lost their taste. These are spicy, saltly and sour. They taste heavenly when consumed with rice congee(Pej/ganji). These are a must in most of the Konkani houses throughout the year. My kids and all the other kids who visited us loved these with congee.
We also make a tasty chutney with it. Thanks to Pelicano, we think it is called bitter oranges.
Ingredients:
5-6 narnga
Salt
1/2 cup chilli powder
1/2 tea spn asafoetida powder or a big piece of asafoetida stone
Method:

Cut narnga into thin pieces. Remove the white pit and seeds, discard them.

In a ceramic jar, put the pieces and salt enough to cover pieces. Close the lid tightly and leave it in a dry place for about 15 days to one month till the skin becomes slightly soft. Every day open the lid and mix the pieces to make sure salt gets to all pieces.

Take out the pieces. Add chilli powder, asafoetida to the pieces, mix very well.

Sundry the pieces till they are completely dry.

Store in dry air tight container. They get darker and darker in color as time passes, after almost a year, they get black but they still can be used.

Courtesy: http://www.aayisrecipes.com/konkani-recipes/sundried-bitter-oranges-narnga-battekanchi-batte/

Litti Chokha- One of the most Authentic recipes I came across

City Food – Julia Child Cooks Litti Chokha in Mayur Vihar-I

The Delhi Walla       February 27, 2011      Julia Child's Delhi

 Born to a mother who came originally from Dhanbad in Bihar and then migrated to Calcutta , now Kolkatta, Litti was something whch I had tasted when very young.She then got married to my father, born in Karachi  brought up later  in Mumbai but born in Karachi , migrated to Mumbai, India

An excellent and the best cook I have come across, my mother loves feeding and making food. I still recollect , how she would ask the watchman in our bunglow, who is from Bihar to get cowdung , Tagara( the vessel in which they mix cement)to make the litti and chokha. Her sattu comes from Calcutta sent by my Aunt( Mami) and then she mixes all the spices.

 The recipe mentioned below is the closest  and the most authentic .

 

The great chef’s life in Delhi.
[Text and pictures by Mayank Austen Soofi]
Meet the Julia Child of Mayur Vihar, Phase-I, a neighborhood near Akshardham Temple in east Delhi. A graduate in science from Bihar’s Ranchi Women’s College, Ms Child came to Delhi in 1982 following her marriage to Madhurendra Prasad Sinha, a journalist. For three years, the couple lived in a one-room apartment in Malviya Nagar, south Delhi. It was through her husband’s books that Ms Child was introduced to Russian authors such as Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Maxim Gorky. After the family increased and she moved across the Yamuna to a duplex apartment, her present house, Ms Child discovered children’s writer Enid Blyton – in the bookshelf of her daughters, Nimisha and Namya. “My daughters are caring,” she told The Delhi Walla. “One morning my younger one spotted an injured hariyal (yellow-footed green pigeon) on the pavement. She immediately carried it to the bird’s hospital in Chandni Chowk.” Mother-like to Romeo, the family’s three-year-old golden retriever, Ms Child is currently reading Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. And yes, she cooks. Here is the recipe of her ‘litti chokha’.
Living away from Bihar for so many years, I rarely speak in Magahi, my region’s dialect. The daughters grew up in Delhi and they talk in Hindi and English. But the family remains wedded to its traditions – on the dining table. I make litti chokha at least once a month in summer and every week in winter. If Bihar were a country, this two-dish combination would be its national food. Originating as a cheap meal for travellers, it can be rustled up quickly. Cooking it is an excuse to connect to Bihar.
Litti
½ kg atta flour
½ kg sattu (flour made of roasted chickpeas)
1tbsp carom seeds
1tbsp black salt
Salt to taste
Chopped green chillies (optional)
I ginger root, peeled and sliced into julienne pieces
2 whole garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp coriander leaves
250 gm ghee
½ tea cup water
Pour sattu flour in a bowl. Put in all ingredients – except atta – into the bowl and mix. Add enough water to make the mixture just sticky. Cover the bowl with a lid and keep it aside. Pour atta on a platter, add 1 tbsp ghee and knead a firm dough. Make thick round patties from the dough. Press each patty at its center to make a deep depression. Scoop in the sattu mixture and seal it by pressing in the dough. Cook the patties in the tandoor, or bake them in the oven (200 degree Celsius for 45 minutes) till golden brown. Heat ghee in karahi. Dip litti in ghee before serving. (Since it is very crumbly inside, you may break each itti in halves and add more ghee.)
Chokha
½ kg aubergines
250 gm tomatoes
250 gm potatoes
2 medium-sized onions, chopped
Chopped green chillies (optional)
Salt to taste
1tbsp mustard oil
4-5 garlic cloves
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Boil potatoes. Roast them straight on the flame, one at a time. Remove the potato from the burner when its skin starts to turn black and crackle. Repeat the process with aubergines and tomatoes, except you don’t have to boil them. Just one twist before you roast aubergines: use knife to make half a dozen slits into each aubergine, and stuff the slits with garlic cloves. Once the roasted vegetables have cooled, peel off the skin and mash their flesh together. Use your hand. Add the rest of the ingredients, including oil. Mix well. Serve with litti.
Julia’s empire

Making litti – atta flour

Making litti – sattu flour

Making litti – adding the details

Making litti – scooping in



Making litti – ready to be baked

Making litti- waiting

Making litti – baked

Making litti – dipping in ghee

Making litti – cracking it open

Making chokha – roasting the vegetables

Making chokha – let the roasted vegetables cool

Making chokha – peel, mix and mash





Litti Chokha, a family tradition
 

 Courtesy:http://www.thedelhiwalla.com/2011/02/27/city-food-%E2%80%93-julia-child-cooks-litti-chokha-in-mayur-vihar-i/