Paneer Do Pyaaza

Paneer Do Pyaaza or Paneer do Pyaza step by step instructions:

Paneer Do Pyaaza is a combination of soft paneer (cottage cheese) cubes and loads of crunchy onions.

It is a very simple yet delicious and rich recipe. I have been following this recipe since many months and it always comes out to be awesome!

Although paneer is not of our liking but “Paneer Do Pyaaza” turns out to be super yum. And the secret is that there is more of onions and less of Paneer ;-). Also, the tomato and onion gravy with various spices imparts a wonderful flavor to the recipe.

Let us start cooking!!!

Ingredients:
Cottage Cheese (Paneer): Made from 350 ml of milk (will make around 7-8 one inch pieces of paneer)
Onion: 2
Tomato: 3 medium
Green Chili: 1 (finely chopped)
Ginger: 1 tsp
Garlic: 1 tsp
Cinnamon: 1 inch
Bay leaf: 1
Cardamom: 1
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Asafetida: 1 pinch
Red chili powder: ½ tsp
Coriander powder: 2 tsp
Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp
Kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves): 1 tsp
Fresh cream: 2 tbsp
Sugar: ½ tsp
Clarified Butter (Ghee): 2 tbsp
Fresh coriander: 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
Salt as per taste

Method:
1. Finely chop 1 onion and 1 tomato.
2. Make the puree of 2 tomatoes.
3. Cut 1 inch pieces of another onion.

4. In a pan heat ½ tbsp. of ghee.
5. Add the onion inch pieces.

6. Sautee till they turn slight brown. Remember we have to keep them crunchy only. Take them out on a plate.
7. Now add the remaining 1-1/2 tbsp ghee to the pan. Add cumin seeds and asafetida. Let the cumin seeds fry for a few seconds.
8. Add green chili, bay leaf, cardamom and cinnamon stick. Fry till they impart fragrance.
9. Now add ginger and garlic. Fry until the raw smell has gone.

10. Add the finely chopped onions.
11. Fry till translucent.

12. Add red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt and sugar.

13. Mix well.
14. Now add the chopped tomatoes and tomato puree.

15. Fry until the tomatoes release the oil.

16. Now add paneer cubes and fried onion pieces. Mix well.
17. Add kasuri methi and fresh cream. Mix.

18. Garnish with fresh coriander.
19. Serve hot with roti.

Tips:
1. If required, add water to achieve the desired consistency.
2. Cloves and black peppercorns can also be added.
3. I prefer making paneer at home only. Quantity of onions should be double than the quantity of paneer.

See you soon with a new recipe till then Happy Cooking!!!

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Stuck Glasses

Hello friends!!!

I was arranging my glassware cabinet today and came across these stuck glasses, and immediately thought that this should be my post today.

So today’s post is not about food but it’s about how to separate stuck glasses.

I assume that many among us must have faced this kind of situation. And in many cases, we end up in breaking the glassware. :-(

Separating stuck glasses is an easy affair. It will take just a few minutes of yours. Just a bit of science and we are done. Yay!!!

What we need?
Some ice cubes
Hot water
And that’s it :-)

The procedure is as follows:
1. In the top glass, add ice cubes.
2. Put the bottom one in a bowl filled with hot water.

3. After half minute or less you will be easily able to pull out the stuck glasses.

Basically, the temperature plays the vital role here. As we all know heating expands and cooling contracts an object, which did the job for us!

So the same theory can be applied to any of your stuck glassware. Now no more breaking of your lovely glassware.

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Vegetable Dahi Vada

Vegetable dahi vada step by step instructions:

Dahi vadas are very tasty but preparing the vadas requires some amount of time. What if you are able to make instant dahi vadas and that too very healthy?

Yes, today we will see how to make vegetable dahi vadas. For the outer covering, we will be using bread.

Let us start cooking!!!

Ingredients:
Tomato: 2 medium (deseeded and finely chopped)
Cucumber: 1 small (deseeded and finely chopped)
Cabbage: 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
Onion: 1 medium (finely chopped)
Kidney beans (rajma): 2 tbsp (boiled)
White bread: 6 slices (brown edges removed)
Red chili powder: ½ tsp
Chaat masala: 1 tsp
Curd: 1 cup (beaten)
Green chutney: 6-7 tbsp
Date and Tamarind (Imli) chutney: 8 tbsp
Salt as per taste

Method:
1. Take tomatoes, cucumber, onion, cabbage and kidney beans in a bowl and mix well.

2. Now add salt, red chili powder and chaat masala to the mixture prepared above. Mix well.
3. Take one slice of bread and dip in water. Take it out immediately and remove excess water by pressing it in between your palms.

4. Take a tbsp. of the mixture and put it on the bread.

5. Close the bread and form a ball out of it.

6. Similarly, do for the remaining bread slices.

7. Now take one vada in a bowl. Put curd, green chutney and tamarind chutney over it.

8. Garnish with red chili powder.

9. Serve immediately.

Tips:

1. Don’t keep the bread in water for too long otherwise the bread will become very soggy and proper vadas won’t be formed.
2. Add salt to the vegetable mixture only when you are preparing the vadas.
3. I was falling short of coriander leaves, so did not add. You can add it for enhanced flavor.
4. You can take any veggie of your choice.
5. Kidney beans can be replaced by chickpeas or sprouts.

See you soon with a new recipe till then Happy Cooking!!!

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Aloo ki Puri

Aloo ki Poori (Aloo ki puri) step by step instructions:

Normal puris are so delightful to eat. (Check out my Puris recipe here).
But if you are craving for some interesting spicy puris then surely make “Aloo ki poori”.

Let us start cooking!!!

Ingredients:
Potatoes: 2 medium (boiled, peeled and grated)
Wheat flour: 1 cup
Ginger paste: 1 tsp
Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
Green chilies: 2 (finely chopped)
Red chili powder: ½ tsp
Coriander powder: 2 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder: ½ tsp
Asafetida: a pinch
Carom seeds (ajwain): ½ tsp
Clarified butter (Ghee): 2 tbsp
Water: 1 tbsp (or as required to knead the flour)
Lemon juice: 1 tsp
Salt as per taste
Oil for frying the puris

Method:

1. In a big plate mix together flour, potatoes, ginger, coriander leaves, green chilies, red chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt, asafetida, cumin seeds, ghee, carom seeds and lemon juice.

2. Add little water and knead. The dough should be stiff.

3. Cover the dough and let it rest for half an hour.
4. Make small equal balls of the dough.

5. Heat oil in kadai.
6. Grease the rolling pin and board.
7. Take one ball and start rolling it.
8. Make circles of around 3-4 inches in diameter or when the circle is around 3-4 mm in thickness.

9. Put the puri in hot oil.
10. Let it fry from one side and then flip and fry from the other side.

11. Similarly do for other balls also.
12. Hot and crispy aloo ki puris are ready.
13. Serve hot with pickles, curd etc.

Tips:
1. Be careful while kneading the flour as we want the dough to be stiff.
2. Keep the flame on high. Low flames tend to absorb more oil.
3. Some oil is required while rolling the puris otherwise the puris might stick to the rolling board.

See you soon with a new recipe till then Happy Cooking!!!

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Onion Tomato Tikkar

Onion Tomato Tikkar (Pyaaz Tamatar Tikkar) step by step instructions:

Tikkad or Tikkar comes from Rajasthani kitchen. Tikkar is like a stuffed paratha but the way of stuffing is bit different.

With the goodness of multigrain flour and makkai flour, tikkars are very healthy option.

Let us start cooking!!!

Ingredients:
Multigrain flour: ½ cup
Maize (Makkai) flour: 1 cup
Clarified butter (ghee): 2 tbsp
Onion: 1 big (finely chopped)
Tomatoes: 2 medium (deseeded and finely chopped)
Ginger: 1 inch piece (grated)
Garlic: 1 tsp (grated)
Green chili: 2 (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp (finely chopped)
Salt as per taste
Water: approx. 2 tbsp (for kneading the flour)
Clarified butter (ghee) for paratha
Wheat flour for rolling the tikkar

Method:

1. In a bowl mix together onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, green chilies and coriander leaves.
2. In a big plate take makkai flour and multigrain flour.

3. Add salt and ghee to the flour.
4. Mix with the help of your fingertips.
5. Now add half of the mixture (prepared in the first step) to the flour.

6. Mix together the flour and mixture nicely.
7. Now add water and knead dough just like that of parathas.

8. Cover and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
9. Make 8 equal balls of it.

10. Take one ball. Apply some dry flour and roll it a little.

11. Take a spoonful of mixture and evenly spread it on the rolled roti and press.

12. With the help of rolling pin gently roll the above portion into a circle. (Some mixture will stick to the rolling pin hence try to roll very lightly).

13. Heat a griddle.
14. Put the tikkar on the tawa (the stuffing side facing the tawa)

15. Cook the tikkar on hot tawa (griddle). Apply ghee on both the sides and cook till both ends turn golden brown.

16. Similarly repeat for other portion of dough.
17. Rajasthani tikkar is ready.

18. Serve hot with chutneys, curd.

Tips:
1. If you the tikkar less spicy then remove the seeds of green chili.
2. Take sufficient dry wheat flour to roll the circles.
3. We are keeping the stuffing on the top, so rolling can be a bit tricky but with practice it comes perfect.

See you soon with a new recipe till then Happy Cooking!!!

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Besan Barfi

Besan (gram flour) Barfi/Besan Burfi or Besan ki Mithai step by step instructions:

Happy Janamashtmi to all!

Besan barfi is that one mithai which I make very frequently. And the whole credit goes to my hubby as he is very fond of besan barfi.

I personally don’t prefer making that besan barfi which is dry in texture. Hence the procedure which I follow (yes, learned it from my mom; she is the best cook I’ve ever met) is long but the outcome is heavenly and is so very perfect in texture, just the way I and my hubby like it.

So without wasting any single minute do try it and let me know your feedback.

Let us start cooking!!!

Ingredients:
Gram flour (besan): 1 cup
Clarified butter (ghee): ¼ cup
Water: ¼ cup
For the syrup
Sugar: little less than a cup
Water: ½ cup
Cardamom (Elaichi): 9-10 (ground)
Saffron strands: 10-12 (dissolved in 1 tsp warm water or milk)
Clarified butter for frying
Almond slivers for garnishing

Method:
1. In a plate take gram flour and mix in the clarified butter.

2. Mix well.
3. See that when you press the besan in your palm and open up the palm, the besan should be in the form of ball. (The same method by which we prepare the dough of samosas)
4. Knead it with the help of water. Add little water at a time. The dough should be stiff.

5. Make 5 equal balls out of it and press them in the shape of disc (muthiya).
6. Poke the discs with the help of knife.

7. Heat ghee in a kadai.
8. Put one besan disc and fry on very low flame until brown from both the sides. It will take around 8-9 minutes.

9. Similarly fry all other discs.

10. Let them cool and break them into pieces.

11. Grind them evenly but not very finely.

12. Take 1 tsp of ghee in a kadai and put the ground besan into it.

13. Stir continuously for approximately 10 minutes or until you see a color change.

14. Take out that in a plate.
15. Now in a kadai take sugar and water.

16. Make 1-1/2 thread consistency sugar syrup (chasni). (You should be able to see a thread while dropping the syrup from a spoon or while checking it in between your thumb and index finger). (The images below are just one click before or after the main image. Could not capture the main image.)

17. Add cardamom powder and saffron water.
18. Now switch off the gas and add the ground mixture we just prepared.
19. Mix well. Make sure no lumps remain.

20. Do not worry if you see that it is more like a halwa rather than a barfi. Check image.

21. Now let it rest in the kadai for at least an hour.
22. Grease a dish with ghee.
23. After an hour you will see that the mixture has thickened up to certain extent.

24. Pour it in the plate.
25. Tap the plate gently.
26. Garnish with almond slivers.

27. Now let the plate rest for 4-5 hours or more depending on whether the barfi has settled or not.
28. After that mark the pieces and take out on a plate. (The barfi will mix if it has not been cooled properly)

29. Just look at the texture of it. Besan barfi prepared this way is the best I can say :-)

Tips:
1. The dough should be stiff like that of poori dough.
2. Always fry the muthiyas on low flame.
3. It is compulsory to cook the ground mixture; it gives a much better taste.
4. Be careful about the consistency of the sugar syrup; if thin then the barfi shape won’t come and if very thick then just be careful of your teeth ;-)
5. Always take the kadai off the flame while mixing sugar syrup and mixture as the barfi can become gooey if you keep the flame on.
6. Besan has a tendency to absorb water so when you find the mixture to be runny after mixing with syrup, do not worry. This barfi takes time to settle down and form a real barfi.
7. Do not wait for the mixture to become tight in the kadai itself. Remember to pour it in plate as soon as you find it thickening up.

See you soon with a new recipe till then Happy Cooking!!!

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