Showing posts with label Starters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Starters. Show all posts

Grilled Spicy Tilapia Fillets


I had not cooked this fish anytime earlier and its been while since we had fish. I wanted to switch to diet that has more fish and vegetables instead of any other meat (chicken, prawns or crabs) so we got this from Costco. They sell it skinless and boneless big fillets so i instantly thought of trying grilling them. Yesterday we had barbeque planned and so it was perfect time to experiment.

Grilled Spicy Tilapia Fillets
Ingredients
2 Tilapia Fillets
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
3/4 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/2 Lemon
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Apply salt, red chilli powder, jeera powder, coriander powder, garam masala and lemon juice to the fillets.
  • Massage the fillets by rubbing these spices and lemon juice for couple of minutes. Keep aside for 45minutes to an hour
  • Heat the grill and apply oil spray on both sides on the fillets and grill them for about 3-4 minutes each side.

Notes
If you don't have grill, you could cook them on pan over medium heat too. Grill gives nice finish.
I served this with mint chutney that i made from fresh mint from my patio garden as starter and ate most of it :) In fact out of two fillets only half i could save for next day and click photo :) I used that half in salad with the mint chutney as dressing. Perfect lunch :)

Puri for SPDP (Shev Batata Dahi Puri)


Since we came here, we weren't able to get the puris for making SPDP - Shev Batata Dahi Puri which is among favorite chaat items for Ajoy. Using paani puri's puri for SPDP doesn't seem right and I am sure it wouldn't taste as good either. So I decided to give try making these puris. Tried few times and now I think I have got the recipe right which gets best results, and is certified by many friends who had chance to taste :)

Puri for SPDP (Shev Batata Dahi Puri)
Ingredients
1 Cup Maida
2 Spoon Rawa
1/4 Cup Melted Butter
Oil
Salt

Method
  • Mix Maida, Rawa and salt together.
  • Add in melted butter and mix well.
  • Add in 1/4 cup water and knead soft dough.
  • Grease the dough with 1/4 spoon oil and cover and keep aside for an hour.
  • Make round balls and roll them thin and big. Cut using cup or cookie cutter into small round shapes.
  • Heat oil and fry the puris on both sides over medium flame till light brown on both sides. Take out on kitchen towel and let it soak oil from puris.
  • Heat oven to 350F/175C and bake the puris in it for 10 minutes.

Notes
I have noticed that if you roll the puris thin then they wont bubble up and that's how you want them for SPDP.
Also I baked the puris again because that make them crispier, that is any rawness and moisture left after frying goes away and puris.

Cabbage Broccoli Kabab


You may notice that the last recipe I posted used Cabbage too.. Its because, this is left over from the last week's Cabbage :) I had lot of left over Broccoli too.. So last evening I decided to make a mix vegetable out of it but it was only when I actually started making it I thought this would make great Kababs. They are really tasty and very easy and quick to make. I made them in half an hour.

Cabbage Broccoli Kabab
Ingredients
2 Cups Cabbage
3 Cups Broccoli
1 Tomato
1 Spoon Oregano
1 Spoon Jeera
1 Spoon Mustard
1 Spoon Chaat Masala
1/2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Lemon
1 Spoon Coriander Leaves
1 Spoon Pudina Leaves
2 Spoon Maida
1 Spoon Rice Powder
A Pinch of Asafoetida
1/4 Cup Cashews
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Heat half spoon of oil and add in tomato puree.
  • Add in oregano and red chilli powder and cook till completely done. Keep aside.
  • In a pan, heat another spoon of oil and let mustard, jeera splutter. Add in Asafoetida.
  • Add in Broccoli chopped into small pieces and cook with constant stirring till broccoli is almost done
  • Add in finely chopped cabbage, pudina leaves, coriander leaves and cook till cabbage turns light brown.
  • Add in earlier cooked tomato paste, lemon juice and salt to taste and cook for another minute. Take off heat and let it cool down.
  • Add in maida, rice powder and chaat masala. Mix well. Make balls with these mixture and press them between palms with a cashew.
  • Heat pan and add 2 spoons of oil and cook on both sides till they are brown.

Notes
I even had tomato paste ready for I had made it for Rice Bowl last week. I had made double quantity and had used half of it. Its a great item to store in fridge for quick flavoring

Eggplant Bhaji


Pakoda - Bhaji is quite famous in Maharashtra. All weddings must have these, when guests are invited, you have to have this item. Its been quite long time since we had bhaji so i decided to make them on Monday but decided to give it a twist. Given that eggplant is so easily available here i thought why not use it. The experiment was quite successful so here is the recipe.

Eggplant Bhaji
Ingredients
2 Cup diced Eggplant
1 Onion
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/2 Cup Besan
Handful Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Mix in diced eggplant, diced onion, chilli powder, besan, turmeric powder, jeera powder, coriander powder, finely chopped coriander leaves and salt to taste. Add in some water to make the paste.
  • Heat oil. Add couple of spoon of oil to the paste and mix well.
  • Take a small lemon sized ball from the paste and flatten it a bit
  • Fry on medium heat till done on both sides. Serve immediately

Notes
Normally i would wait around 5 minutes after mixing all ingredients but before adding water. The salt with all the veggies secrets water so if you wait your paste doesn't end up loosing consistency later on while you are in the middle of frying.

Tandoori Gobi


Today before meeting everyone were discussing about the barbeque and since then i couldn't stop thinking of making tandoori something. With gobi in the fridge i decided to go for it. The dinner was yummy just because of it.

Tandoori Gobi
Ingredients
1 Cauliflower
1 Cup Curd
1.5 Spoon Chilli Powder
1 Spoon Corriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/4 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/2 Spoon Garam Masala
1/4 Spoon Tandoori Masala
1 Spoon Chaat Masala
2 Green Chillies
2 Spoon Ginger
10 Garlic Cloves
Oil
Salt to taste

Method
  • Cut the cauliflower into medium sized florets and add it in water. Add salt and microwave for 7 minutes. Separate out from water and keep aside.
  • In a mixer add in ginger, garlic, ginger and 2 spoon of curd. Make fine paste.
  • In a bowl add the above made paste, remaining curd, chilli powder, jeera powder, corriander powder, turmeric powder, garam masala, tandoori masala and salt to taste. Mix well.
  • Add in the cauliflower florets in it and mix well. Keep in fridge for atleast 2 hours
  • Heat the pan and add in oil. Spread out cauliflower florets and cook on medium heat till one side is completely done. Flip and cook the other side. Cook from all sides possible and then take out.
  • Garnish with chaat masala and serve with mint chutney, onions and lemon

Notes
I had cooked cauliflower for 5 minutes but i think 7 minutes would be perfect to make it nice and soft.
You can grill the cauliflower on barbeque, if doing use skewer to pierce through 3-4 cauliflowers.

Tandoori Prawns


Its been a while since Seattle saw sun barring couple of days last week so having barbeques in patio is long gone time. But this is my effort to feel like those beautiful sunny evenings.. I came up with recipe on my own as I started adding spices but the taste was so good that i cant wait to fry remaining prawns tomorrow night.

Tandoori Prawns
Ingredients
3/4 Kg Prawns
1 Spoon Tandoori Masala
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Spoon Corriander Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Ginger Paste
1/2 Cup Thick Curd
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Clean the prawns shells and marinate it with salt.
  • Add in ginger paste, chilli powder, corriander powder, jeera powder, garam masala, turmeric powder and mix well. Keep aside for atleast half an hour.
  • Add oil to a pan and heat it really well.
  • In the earlier marinated prawns, add in tandoori masala and curd. Mix well. Add this mixture onto the heated pan.
  • Let the prawns cook on medium heat without flipping or stirring them till the side is completely done. Then flip them and cook the otherside too. Take of the heat and serve.

Notes
Cooking on medium heat and not flipping the prawns serves as great trick to get that tandoori-charred-smoky flavour that any authentic tandoori dishes have.

Okra Fry


The Inchin bamboo garden here serves this dish and its Ajoy's favorite. Of course it was Milind who introduced us to this dish given his liking for Okra. I wanted to try this out when he was staying with us but somehow it just remained a wish. Today finally I try this and I am glad I did. The dish turned out very nice. Worth making it multiple times.

Okra Fry
Ingredients
5 Cups Okra
4 Spoon Maida
4 Spoon Corn Flour
1 Onion
1 Green Chili
3 Dried Red Chillies
2 Garlic Cloves
2.5 Spoon Soy Sauce
1/2 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 Spoon Garlic Paste
Oil
Salt to taste

Method
  • Mix in Maida, corn flour, red chili powder, garlic paste and salt to taste toegether.
  • Add in water and make a running consistency batter for pakodas.
  • Add in handful of okras in the batter and take them out into hot oil.
  • Fry them in oil on medium - high heat till the okras are golden in color. Keep aside on tissues to drain the oil. Fry all of the okra pieces similarly.
  • Heat couple spoon of oil and add thinly sliced onion, green chili and garlic cloves. Saute till it turns light brown in color
  • Add in dried red chillies crushing them by hand, soya sauce and saute.
  • Add in fried okras and stir. Serve immediately
Notes
If you are going to serve this to guests, it would be good idea to keep fried okra ready but saute them in the sauce only just before serving that would help in keeping the crunchy, crispiness of the okra.

Prawns in Garlic Butter Salad


I have started to enjoy salads so much that every week i almost crave for one if i dont eat one. So here is a simple butter garlic garden salad with prawns that i made that tasted awesome.

Prawns in Garlic Butter Salad
Ingredients
8 Large Prawns
2 Cup Broccoli
2 Cup Green Beans
1 Cup Sweet Corn
1 Avocado
3 Cup Iceburg Lettuce
1 Onion
1 Cup Sweet Bell Pepper Sliced
1/4 Cup Cherry Tomatoes
6 Garlic Cloves
1/4 Spoon Oregano
1/2 Spoon Black Pepper Powdered
1 Lemon
Mozzarella Cheese for garnishing
Salt to taste
Butter

Method
  • Heat pan and add in broccoli and green beans with some butter. Cook till they are smoky in color. Mix in salt to taste and keep aside.
  • In same pan add in sweet bell pepper and some more butter and cook it for a while.
  • When pepper seems almost done add in sliced onion, salt to taste and cook till onions turn light brown.
  • Mix it with green beans and broccoli and keep aside.
  • In same pan add in prawns and garlic diced coarsely and some butter and cook them turning often on low-medium heat till prawns are done. Mix in salt and keep aside
  • Microwave sweet corn for two minutes and keep aside
  • Divide the lettuce into two bowls.
  • Add in half mixture of green beans, brocolli, pepper and onions in each bowl.
  • Add in diced avocado half in each bowl.
  • Add in prawns and garlic dividing half in each
  • Add in cherry tomatoes and corn half in each bowl.
  • Sprinkle lemon juice, black pepper powder and oregano half in quantity on each bowls contents evenly.
  • Garnish it with shredded mozzarella cheese

Notes
I used Lemon as the dressing instead of ranch or anything else. If you like you can add ranch or other dressing that you like. But i thought the salad tasted awesome just with natural flavours from lemon.
Except prawns i cooked everything else on high flame giving it a crunchy texture. For prawns i added them on high heat and then reduced the heat so that i could give them smoky taste and color yet cook them nicely.

Fried Chicken


When we were in Bangalore, KFC was our favorite joint. We also have couple of stories that took place in the KFC :) So quite a lot of memories. But since we came here, we haven't been to KFC once, though MacD is regular joint instead. But the fried chicken is something that went missing from our meal since then. So today I knew what I wanted to cook. I was earlier thinking of frying boiled chicken but then decided against it after a second thought. Bing just confirmed my thoughts :)

Fried Chicken
Ingredients
5 Chicken Leg Pieces
1 Egg
3/4 Cup Maida
5 Spoon Bread Crumbs
1 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1/4 Spoon Oregano
1/4 Spoon Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Garlic Paste
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • With a sharp knife, give slits to the chicken pieces
  • In a warm bowl of water, add 1/2 spoon red chili powder, oregano and pepper powder with salt.
  • Add the chicken pieces and soak them in it for an hour.
  • In a bowl, beat egg with garlic paste, remaining half spoon red chili powder, coriander powder and salt.
  • In another plate mix maida with bread crumbs and salt.
  • Take out the chicken pieces out of water and drain the water.
  • Dip each leg piece in egg mixture to coat it completely and then in maida mixture to cover it with maida coating.
  • Heat oil to medium high.
  • Add each leg piece and fry till golden brown in color.

Notes
Soaking the chicken in water, tenderizes it a bit adding to the taste. I used mild spices to soak them in instead of dipping it in plain water.
I fried chicken on medium high heat instead of very high or very low. That helped me get the chicken that wasn't too dark in color and yet it was completely cooked.
I made extra bread crumbs while making Paneerbhara Kabab and stored them in air tight container. You can refer to it for how to make bread crumbs.

Paneerbhara Kabab


Today when I opened fridge, found that I have around 2 liters of milk and it is getting expired tomorrow. Gave a lot of thought on what I should be using it before I loose it. Last few times I had been making sweets but this time I wanted to make something spicy and that is when I came up this.

Paneerbhara Kabab
Ingredients
2 Liter Milk
5 Spoon Vinegar
1 Cup Corriander Leaves
2 Spoon Pudina Leaves
5-6 Green Chillies
2 Bread Slices
1/2 Spoon Chaat Masala
Salt
Oil

Method
  • Boil Milk in a thick pan
  • Mix a cup of water with vinegar and add it to the milk to separate whey from it.
  • Strain it and wash it with cold water.
  • Hang it in a dry cloth for around half an hour to remove as much as water as possible
  • Preheat oven to 350F/180C
  • Bake bread slices for 5 minutes at 350F/180C, Flip the sides and bake for another 5 minutes
  • In a mixie, grind the bread to breadcrums. Save aside
  • Grind corriander leaves, pudina leaves and green chillies to fine paste without using water.
  • In a plate mix the paneer that was hanging, the above green paste and salt
  • Make small lemon sized balls and roll them in bread crums
  • Heat oil and fry the balls in it over medium-high heat.
  • Sprinkle chaat masala and serve with ketchup

Notes
If you want you can make it with grated paneer instead, but it tasted awesome with this fresh made paneer and the softness inside the crispy covering was delicious.
For the corriander-pudina-green chillies paste I didnt use any water. The water that was on leaves after washing them was good enough.

Chicken Satay


Chicken Satay is one of our favorite stater in Thai cuisine. So this time when we got the chicken from costco, I decided to give this a try. I had made this earlier but it was over even before I could click photo :) So now this time I made sure we click photos before making the strike.

Chicken Satay
Ingredients
400g Boneless Chicken Breasts
1 Spoon Brown Sugar
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Spoon Corriander Powder
1 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1 Spoon Black Pepper Powder
2 Spoon Oil
2 Spoon Soya Sauce
2 Spoon Lemon Juice
1/2 Cup Milk
Salt to taste

Method
  • Make thin and rectangular slices of the chicken
  • Add brown sugar, garlic cloves, corriander powder, jeera powder, turmeric powder, black pepper powder, oil, soya sauce, lemon juice and salt and mix well. Keep aside in refrigerator for 4 hours
  • After 4 hours, attach the strips of chicken on to scewer sticks, 2 pieces on one stick.
  • Bast the chicken with the milk.
  • Heat a non stick pan and cook the chicken with scewers on medium flame by flipping them over continuously every 2-3 minutes till done.

Notes
I read in lot many recipes to add fish sauce to the marination, but I investigated a bit and found that it is some what salty liquid and usually used instead of salt. Hence instead of going to asian shop for fish sauce I used normal table salt instead.

Chilli Prawns


I was looking to make something quick yet something different from the normal preparation (Prawns Masala) and then I came up with this.

Chilli Prawns
Ingredients
300g Cleaned Prawns
1 Spoon Garlic Paste
1 Onion
4 Green Chillies
4 Spoon Dark Soya Sauce
2 Spoon Tomato Ketchup
2 Spoon Corn Flour
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Marinate the prawns with garlic paste and salt.
  • Deep fry them in oil few at a time for a minute
  • In same oil, add halved green chillies, onion and cook them with constant stirring
  • Add soya sauce, ketchup and again cook for couple of minute
  • Add prawns and stir for another minute
  • Mix corn flour in two cups of water and add it to the cooking prawns
  • Cook for 3-4 minutes till gravy thickens and prawns become tender

Notes
Well I didn't have spring onions to garnish otherwise I might have added it a bit for garnishing.

Tandoori Chicken


One of the best starters we both love. In hyderabad I use to prepare this with Everest Chicken Tandoori Masala but this time I made it with my mix of masalas. It tasted awesome.

Tandoori Chicken
Ingredients
6 Chicken Leg Pieces
3/4 Cup Curd
2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Spoon Garam Masala
2 Spoon Ginger Paste
2 Spoon Garlic Paste
4 Spoon Lemon Juice
1/2 Spoon Chaat Masala
2 Spoon Oil
1/2 Cup Butter
Salt to taste

Method
  • Make horizontal cuts on the chicken pieces
  • Apply 2 spoon lemon juice and 1 spoon red chilli powder to it and keep aside for 30 minutes
  • In a bowl mix curd, garlic paste, ginger paste, 1 spoon red chilli powder, 2 spoon lemon juice, garam masala, oil and salt
  • Apply the above marination to chicken and store in fridge for 4-5 hours
  • Preheat oven to 395F(200C)
  • Melt the butter and sprinkle some on the chicken and bake it for 15 minutes
  • Turn the chicken to face other side and sprinkle more butter on both sides. Bake for another 15 minutes
  • Again turn the chicken and sprinkle remaining butter and bake for another 10 minutes
  • Sprinkle chaat masala and serve with onions rings and lemon wedges

Notes
Instead of leg pieces you can use 700g mixed pieces as well.
In restaurants, they use color to make it look reddish but I didnt have it neither did I intended to use it.
I baked it over this bakeware set. It helps in dropping off extra marination, butter in the tray.

Corn Sikh Kabab


We get lots of corn out here and I think its good source of fiber and roughage :) So we eat in abundance. But its normally after roasting it and sprinkling salt and lemon. This time I decided to try something different with it and here is the recipe I came up with.

Corn Sikh Kabab
Ingredients
4 Cobs with the corn
2 Potatoes
4 Spoon Corn Flour
6 Cloves of Garlic
2 Green Chillies
1 Onion
1/4 Cup Corriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Butter or Ghee

Method
  • Add water to corn and cook over medium flame for around 25 minutes or till the corn is cooked. Keep aside to cool down
  • Pressure cook potato in the cooker and keep aside to cool down
  • In a mixie grind garlic, green chillie and onion to smooth paste
  • Grate the corns, Mash the potatoes and mix them
  • Add the grinded mixture, finely chopped corriander leaves, corn flour and salt to taste.
  • Make the elongated kababs from this mixture.
  • Preheat oven to 400F/200C
  • Grease the baking tray with butter/ghee and spread the kababs
  • Bake at 400F/200C for 15 minutes
  • Flip the sides of the kabab and bake for another 15 minutes. Server with tomato ketchup

Notes
While making the mixture I tried to use less spicess as possible so that i can retain the taste of the corn and it worked well with hint of onion-garlic-chilli paste. But if you like you can add other masalas as well.
Just for completeness, the given quantity of corn flour worked best for my kabab mixture to be firm. You can add more or use less according to the consitency of the mixture.
You can also cook the kababs over tawa on medium to low heat but oven cooking worked best as i could manage other work while it was getting cooked :)

Garden Salad


This was salad that I did impromptu with all the ingredients I had at home. The result tasted good and lettuce too this time was quite good.

Garden Salad
Ingredients
1 Cup chopped Lettuce
1/2 Cup Pineapple
1/2 Cup Mango
1 Boiled Potato
1 Tomato
1 Fresh Red Chilli
1/2 Spoon Oregano
1/4 Cup Pickled Cucumber
2 Spoon Vinegar
Salt to taste

Method
  • Add chopped lettuce to the bowl
  • Add chopped pineapple and mango in it.
  • Add finely chopped tomato in it.
  • Remove the cover from boiled potato and add the small cubes in the bowl
  • Add finely sliced red chilli in it
  • Cut the pickled cucumber into small pieces and add in it.
  • Add Salt to taste, oregano and vinegar
  • Mix well and serve.

Notes
I had cut all the stuff and added to the bowl and then around half an hour before dinner I mixed in oregano and stuff well. I thought otherwise all the flavors might get mixed in each other and wont taste as good as I would like :) and that proved right because the next day in lunch box it didn't taste as good as it was for dinner :)

Onion Bhaji


I prepare these kind of bhaji very few times as I always loved those Crab style bhajis more than these. But when I felt like eating these last weekend, I prepared them and turned out quite well.

Onion Bhaji
Ingredients
2 Onions
1/2 Cup Bason
1/4 Cup Corriander Leaves
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Corriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Jeera Powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Finely chop onions and add the salt to it. Keep aside for 5-10 minutes
  • Add Bason, corriander leaves- finely chopped, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, corriander powder, jeera powder and mix to form the paste. Add water if needed.
  • Heat the oil in a pan, and add a spoonful of it into the paste.
  • Mix the paste well and fry the Bhaji's of small size to crispy brown colour.

Notes
I normally apply salt to onion and keep aside as that helps in seperating water and then the paste doesnt loosen after some time.
Since I add the heated oil I dont use eating soda, heated oil is good enough for giving crispiness

Green Salad


When I came to US there were so many new ingredients that were easily available that I decided to try something different than I have always tried :) So here was my experiment with the first salad. I would name it Green Salad for I used Green Leaf Lettuce :)

Green Salad
Ingredients
10 leaves of Green Leaf Lettuce
1/2 Cup Grape Tomatoes
1/2 Pineapple
1/4 Cup Corn
10 Cucumber Pickels
5 Jalapenos
1/2 Spoon Oregano
2.5 Spoon Ranch Dressing
Salt to taste

Method
  • Cook the corn in boiling water or microwave in a cup of water for 5 min. Drain the water and keep aside.
  • Cut the green leaf lettuce into medium sized pieces
  • Halve the grape tomatoes and add them to leaf lettuce.
  • Add Pineapple after chopping it to small pieces
  • Halve cucumber pickle and add to it
  • Add chooped jalapenos and corn that was set aside.
  • Add Ranch Dressing, Oregano and Salt. Mix well and serve.

Notes
This was something quick, healthy and yet tasty. The ranch dressing and oregano went well together :) Need to try some other fruits, vegetables and dressings. :)

Palak (Spinach) Pakoda


It been more than a month since I prepared this but due to all sort of logistic issues in moving out of hyderabad I got little busy and couldnt post the recipe even though I had clicked the photos. So today I am going to post all 5 recipes that were pending. New ones will come as and when I try them :)

Palak (Spinach) Pakoda
Ingredients
1 Bunch of Palak
1/2 Cup Bason
1/2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
A Pinch of Jeera Powder
1/2 Spoon Corriander Powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Wash Palak leaves and keep aside.
  • Mix bason, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, jeera powder, corriander powder and salt to taste with water to form a paste
  • Heat oil in a pan
  • When its slightly warm, add a spoon of oil into the bason paste.
  • When oil is hot, dip the two palak leaves at a time in the bason paste and add it into the pan and fry the pakoda on the golden colour
  • Repeat for remaining leaves

Notes
I used smalled leaves of palak and the pakodas turned out amazing. Especially the palak was crisp and tasty because of its freshness and tenderness.
Also I dipped two palak leaves at a time so that the pakoda has its taste and still not too much of spinach which wont get crisp.

Chilli Paneer


I love chinese and its been ages since I had it outside. Yeah we had gone for it couple of weeks back but whatever we had ordered wasnt upto the mark and hence didnot count :) Hence yesterday I thought lets give it a shot at home. I have earlier tried these stuff at home as well, but then the taste wasnt authentic. But yesterday I can say I mastered it. So here is the recipe for you.

Chilli Paneer
Ingredients
400gm Paneer
1 Onion
6 Chillies
15 Garlic Cloves
A Pinch of Black Pepper Powder
2 Spoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 Spoon Tomato Ketchup
1 Spoon Corn Flour
2-3 Strands of Spring Onion
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Cut the paneer into medium sized cubes and fry them in oil over medium heat till light gold in color. Keep aside
  • In same oil fry onions till translucent.
  • Add chopped chillies and garlic and cook till fragranant
  • Add black pepper powder and Soy sauce and cook for a minute
  • Add paneer cubes and tomato ketchup. Cook for 2-3 minutes
  • Mix corn flour in a cup of water and add it to the paneer mixture.
  • Add more water if needed and cook the paneer with closed lid for 3 minutes.
  • Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve

Notes
Chop the green chillies in slanted fashion for this so that you get the same look and feel that you see in restaurants.
Do not fry paneer till its completely crispy from outside. You want to keep it as soft as possible and yet fry it so that it gets the proper texture.
Also if you are looking for it as starter which is dry, add little less water and cook for some more time if required so that the final result is dry :)

Stuffed Bhendi(Lady's Finger) Fry


Since long time ajoy had been asking for bhendi deep fry. Not the vegetable and now he took one more step ahead to get the bhendi that was tender and nice when he was suppose to go and get Curry Leaves :) So I thought lets grant his wish but instead of just frying bhendi pieces lets give it some extra taste by stuffing it. And here is what i came up with and it was lovely.

Stuffed Bhendi Fry
Ingredients
1/4 Kg Bhendi(Lady's Finger)
1 Tomato
1 Onion
1/2 Spoon Garlic Paste
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
1/2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera
1/4 Spoon Corriander Powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Wash bhendis and pat dry by tissue.
  • Remove the head and tail for the bhendis and give them a slits.
  • Apply salt and keep aside.
  • In a pan heat little oil and let jeera splutter in it
  • Add grated onion to this and cook till onion turns golden in colour
  • Add garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, corriander powder to it and stir well.
  • Add grated tomato to this and salt to taste and cook for 4-5 minutes till mixture is cooked well. Keep aside for cooling down
  • Stuff this little mixture to bhendis one by one
  • Heat oil in a pan and fry the stuffed bhendis on medium heat.

Notes
Giving slits that do not slit the ends is the best way so that while frying bhendi doesnt open up.
For best results, fry only from the opposite side of stuffing and also arrange the bhendis in a row so that they dont turn the direction while frying. Once the side is cooked completely, just turn them for a minute max and take out to the tissue.