Matar Paneer

Paneer is perhaps the only kind of cheese most commonly eaten in India. It has a sweet smell, kind of rubbery with a mild flavor and the best form of protein source for vegetarians in their diet next to Soya protein(TSP_TVP). It is a block of condensed milk solids made my curdling milk (low fat or high fat) with acid, then strained with a muslim cloth and left to set under a weight until it is set into a block of white smooth textured cheese.

The first time I tasted Paneer was when I was in my teens during my school days. At the lunch break, I and my class mates would sit under the trees for shade in fresh air in the school playground with napkins spread on our laps and share our tiffin boxes passing about a spoonful of what each one of us had brought that day until we all had a sample of everyone else’s to taste. There are always memories associated with food. Since then, I love to add paneer in my food.

Vacuum-packed paneer is available ready made, either frozen or fresh, at most of the Indian stores. I love to prepare my own Paneer whenever possible as I find it more soft, fresh and delectable. The procedure is effortless. You can later cut it into cubes and store them either frozen if you plan to use it after a while or refrigerate it in a plastic wrap to use it the next day.

Homemade Paneer – Indian (Unaged) Cheese

Ingredients:

• Milk (low fat or high fat) - 2 litres
• Buttermilk – 4 cups

Homemade block of Paneer – Indian (Unaged) Cheese

Method:

• Line a sieve with a moistened muslin cloth and put it in sink.
• Bring milk in a large saucepan to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
• Add the buttermilk, and lower the heat. Keep stirring the milk for a few minutes until you see the milk has curdled completely.
• Carefully strain the curdled milk through the sieve lined with the muslin cloth. Let drain.
• Later, lift the edges of the cloth and tie the corners of the cloth into a bag completely enclosing the curds. Place it back in the sieve. Set aside under a heavy weight for about 3-4 hours to press to a flat shape about 2 cm thick. 

The following is a curry I prepare quite often using paneer and frozen peas. The rich and subtle spicing in this curry is worth trying out. You will all love this gluttingly delicious side dish.

Matar Paneer – Indian Cheese and Peas curry

Ingredients:

• Home-Made Soft Paneer/Cottage Cheese – 200 gms, cut into bite sized cubes
• Fresh or Frozen Peas/Matar – 2 cups
• Dry Roasted Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
• Dry Roasted Cumin seed powder – 1 tbsp
• Onion – 1, large, finely chopped
• Tomato paste - 6 tbsp
• Salt – to taste
• Red Chilli powder – 2 tsp
• Canola Oil – 2 tbsp

Matar Paneer – Indian Cheese and Peas curry

Method:

• Por oil into a large frying fan with lid on medium heat and as soon as it warms up add the chopped onion. Stir fry it till lightly browned, then add the tomato paste, coriander and cumin seed powder and mix well
• Add the cubed paneer, red chilli powder, salt, peas, half cup water and gently mix. Close the lid and let it cook for about 5-8 minutes. Serve warm. 

Suggested Accompaniments: Serve it warm along with freshly prepared Rotis.

Luv,
Mona

Qush-Rang Kaddu ka Saalan and some Panicky Situations..

I will never forget what I went through on April 30, 2008, those moments of acute angst!

It was one of the most dreadful days I had ever faced. Like everyday when I had logged into my wordpress account (I was posting an entry to Click-Au Naturel!) I noticed there were so many error messages saying that my ‘wp-posts’ and ‘wp-categories’ table has somehow suddenly crashed and they were all nothing but Greek and Latin to me. That gave me moments of panic and fearfulness, I was not able to post anything, my ‘entire blog’ had crashed and I had no idea how I would rectify the mess. It was all horrible. I quickly mailed some of my contacts including couple of bloggers and the company which hosts my blog and WordPress for help. Everyone was with me supporting me and asked me to have faith. I had given up my hopes and thought I had lost it all, my blog, which I had built with deep and ardent affection.. all my love..

My hubby too was upset for me and he tried to help me by every possible way. At around evening, he opened my blog on a browser window and voila! my blog was all alive, and everything was working. When I saw that, my happiness knew no bounds and I was so happy, thrilled and relieved. I was all in tears and very gratuful to those who quickly worked on my blog. I pray and hope that no blogger has to face this ever in their life!

Right now I am so much more in love with my blog. I have put in so much effort to build up this website, which sort of defines me and is a medium to express my love for cooking with the world I live in. This is when I was thinking of the precautionary methods we all bloggers should be ready with every moment for situations like these and I found some very informative posts here, here and here. I request all the bloggers to always maintain a backup of their entire blog, a database backup and a backup of their actual blog on a very rugular basis, may that be daily, weekly, or monthly or after every new post they publish.

Anyways, Life is back to normal again, and I thank my God immensely. I had been to the grocery mart a few days back and saw these very beautiful looking Bottle Gourds and I quickly bought them home. I had not ever before seen such cute little brightly colored bottle gourds in my life. I was sending these to the Click – Au Natural Event yesterday when it all happened!

Two Kaddu or Bottle Gourds 

I was in the mood of experimenting in my kitchen and I searched my refrigerator for ingredients. I found some Halal Chicken Sausages, Frozen peas ..  and I quicky came up with this idea and it was one brightly colored and appealingly delicious curry. We had it along with Roti.

Khush-Rang Kaddu Ka Saalan – Bright Colored Bottle Gourd Curry 

Ingredients:

• Bottle Gourd – 1, approx 400 gms, peeled and cut into quarters
• Chicken Sausages – 4
• Frozen peas – 2 cups
• Canola Oil – 2 tbsp
• Dried or Fresh Curry leaves – 4-5
• Ginger – 1 inch, finely chopped
• Yellow Onion – 1, large, sliced thin
• Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
• Red Chilli Powder – 2 tsp
• Turmeric – 1/3 tsp

Khush-Rang Kaddu Ka Saalan – Bright Colored Bottle Gourd Curry 

Method:

• Pour oil into a saucepan at medium high heat and as soon as it warms up, throw in the sliced onion, as they begin to brown up, add the chopped garlic and chopped chicken sausage and curry leaves and stir fry it for a minute more.
• Add the quartered bottle gourd, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric and pour in some water and cover the lid. Let it cook until the bottle gourd is tender (You can add more water if needed, but do not add too much water, the curry should be pretty dry when done).
• Open the lid and add the frozen peas and let it cook for 5 minutes more. Taste and check it if the spices are adequate for your taste and add more if needed. Remove it from heat and Serve it warm.

Suggested Accompaniments: You can have these with any kind Rotis for a filling meal and a cup of flavored yoghurt.

I’m glad I got my entire blog back and am very very thankful to my hosting company who worked on retrieving my blog and bringing it back to life and in action again! I’m thrilled!! 

Luv,
Mona

Qaeema Aloo Matar

The weather has not been good at all. Been playing games with us since the temperatures actually started to be in the two digits. Its has suddenly become so very hot, this being just the Spring in Canada and not Summer yet. Weather has been too topsy-turvy for the past two to three weeks, resulting in me catching Flu. It was terrible. Now I feel alright and thank my God for the good health again. It sure is a precious bounty-Good health.

I have not even been cooking since the past few days, but yesterday as I began to feel alright, I prepared Qaeema Matar Aloo and had it with some warm Phulkas. It was so good. Good home cooked food is always very comforting and gives solace.  

 

Qaeema Aloo Matar – Ground meat with Peas and Potatoes Curry 

For this recipe, you can use the ground meat of Veal, Lamb or Goat, whatever is available. It turns out equally delicious and I have tried this recipe with all the above mentioned meats.

Qaeema Aloo Matar – Ground meat with Peas and Potatoes Curry

Ingredients:

For Gravy:

• Canola/Sunflower Oil – 4 tbsp
• Yellow Onion/Pyaz – 3 medium, finely chopped
• Tomato – 1, large, chopped
• Red Chilli Powder/Lalmirch Powder - 1 tbsp
• Salt – 2 tsp
• Potato – 2, medium, peeled and quartered
• Tomato Ketchup – 2-3 tbsp (I use Heinz) OR Tomato Chilli Sauce – 2-3 tbsp

To Cook Qaeema/Ground Meat:

• Canola Oil/Sunflower Oil – 2 tbsp
• Qaeema/Ground Lamb/Veal/Goat meat – 700 gms, washed and drained
• Turmeric Powder/Haldi – 1 tsp
• Garam Masala – 2 tsp
• Soya Sauce – 1 tbsp
• Lemon Juice – 4 tbsp
• Matar/Frozen peas – 1/2 to 1/4 cup
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese - 4 tbsp (optional)

Method:

• Pour 2 tbsp oil into a non-stick heavy bottomed sauce pan at medium high heat and throw in the finely chopped onions as soon as the oil warms up. Keep stirring them until they are lightly browned.
• Add the chopped tomato, red chilli powder and salt and mix well. Let it cook until its mushy.
• Add the quarted potatoes and a little water and close lid for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and keep aside.
• In an another saucepan, pour the rest of the oil, and add the freshly washed ground meat and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir to break lumps and add turmeric powder, garam masala, soya sauce, lemonjuice amd keep stirring until the water starts evaporating and the raw smell of the meat wards off.
• Pour in the reserved gravy of tomato onions and potato and mix the whole thing together. Let cook on low heat and when the water has almost evaporated, add frozen peas and give it a stir.
• Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese, and serve hot.

Suggested Accompaniments:Serve it hot with Basmati Chawal / Naan/ Afghani Roti, along with a dollop of butter.

Tip: Leftovers? Use up this left over curry as the filling for Samosa for some very delicious Snacks.

Luv,
Mona

Haleem

Haleem, is a stew or a porridge made by slow cooking the lentils, meat and broken wheat together. Its one of the most nutritous one-dish meals anyone can have. Its perfect for a cold weather, or a starving stomach.

Murgh/Chicken Haleem garnished with fried onion slices, halved lime and sliced green chillies  

It is mostly a Hyderabadi dish, usually had by Hyderabadi muslims at Iftaar or dinner in the holy month of Ramadhan. I remember back in India, stalls and shops, especially for the month of Ramadhan would be set up and people would gather in big crowds to have it then and there, or parcel it and take home for everyone at home. The crowds and the stalls which would especially be seen in the month of Ramadhan in Hyderabad was a sight to watch, remember and recollect always. Missing India and my Dear Parents now ! sob

This dish needs some pre-planning and is a little bit time consuming. But you will definitely love it once you try it. It is a balanced, delicious and famous Hyderabadi one dish meal.

I have been trying out many ways of preparing this delicious one dish meal and here is my modified simpler version of the dish. Do give it a try friends..

Haleem – Slow Cooked Lentils, Wheat and Meat/Vegetables Porridge

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

For Nonvegetarian Version-

Lamb Meat, boneless or with bone - 300 gms, washed and cubed (or) Chicken meat, boneless or with bone – 300 gms washed and cubed (I suggest using meat with bone) (you could also use minced chicken or lamb/veal meat)

For Vegetarian Version-

Fresh/Frozen chopped mixed Vegetables -300gms (you can use chopped vegetables like Cauliflower/PhulGobi, Peas/Matar, Carrots/Gajar, Capsicums/Shimla Mirch, Green Beans/Phalli) 

Remaining Ingredients:

Broken Wheat/Bulgar Wheat/Dalia – 1 1/2 cups
Split Bengal Gram/Chana Dal – 2 tbsp
Split Yellow Lentils/Masoor dal – 2 tbsp
Split Yellow Lentils/Toor dal – 4 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Turmeric/Haldi – 1/2 tsp
Canola oil - 1 tbsp
Butter – 1 tbsp
Deep Fried Crisp Onions/Tali huwi pyaz – 1 cup
Ginger-Garlic paste - 4 tbsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp
Coriander seeds – 2 tsp, dry roasted and powdered
Cumin seeds – 2 tsp, dry roasted and powdered
Garam masala – 1 tsp

For Garnish:

Mint leaves/Pudina – a few
Cilantro/Kothmir – 4 tbsp
Green chillies/Hari Mirch - 4, finely chopped of slit
Fried Onion/Pyaz – 1 cup
Juicy Lemon/Lime – 4, halved
Butter – 2 tbsp (optional)

Method:

-Wash and soak the Bulgar wheat and the lentils seperately overnight or for atleast 3 hours, in generous amount of water.
-For a Non-vegetarian version, pressure cook the meat in surplus amount of water with a pinch of salt and turmeric till tender. Chicken Meat will cook faster than Lamb meat. Once the meat is tender, shred the meat and keep aside in a bowl, Throw away the bones and measure and reserve the stock. If using minced meat, cook it in a little oil, salt and red chilli powder until browned evenly. Keep aside.
-In a non-stick 7 quart Dutch oven at medium heat, pour oil and butter. As it gets warmed up throw in the fried onion. Add ginger-garlic paste, coriander and cumin seed powder, red chilli powder, salt and turmeric. Add the drained broken wheat and lentils and mix well. Pour in the reserved meat stock. If you are preparing a vegetarian version, you can add vegetable stock or just plain water. You need to add a total of 8 cups of liquid to the saucepan. Let it boil once then simmer and let it cook covered, until the lentils are tender and the wheat mushy, about 1 1/2 hours, stirring it once in a while taking care it doesnt stick to the bottom of the dish.
-Stir in the garam masala and add the frozen/fresh chopped vegetables, or for a non-vegetarian version, the reserved shredded meat or minced meat, and mix well. Let it cook covered till the vegetables are tender and oil comes to surface, about 5 -8 minutes. You can add a little water if needed. Remove the dutch oven from heat. Let it cool down slightly.
-Once cool, pour the entire thing into a food processor and process for a minute. Pour back into the dutch oven, add a little water, and let simmer covered for 5 more minutes.
-To serve pour the Haleem into individual plates with a laddle and garnish each plate with a few mint leaves, cilantro, green chillies, fried onion, halved lemon and a dollop of butter(optional) for a deliciously nutritious meal.

Luv,
Mona