Shahi Paneer

Paneer is by far my most favorite Indian dish ingredient. Paneer or Cottage Cheese can be found in Indian grocery stores in the chilled section. This past Sunday night I wanted to cook something delicious without having to step out of my apartment to go grocery shopping. Luckily for me, I always have Paneer in my fridge and I never don't want to eat it. So, I decided to check out Paneer recipes on my favorite food website- www.foodgawker.com and found a recipe that I liked but gave it my own twists.

I am my worst critic and am never completely satisfied with the end result. This time around, I actually ended up loving the dish. This recipe is called Shahi Paneer, which in English means Royal Cottage Cheese. If you do end up trying it out, I hope you will concur that it is indeed a Royal dish. :)

Recipe:
Prep Time- 15 minutes
Cooking time 30 minutes.
Serves: 3 people

Ingredients:
Paneer: 1 and 1/2 cups of cubed paneer
Onion: 3/4th
Tomatoes: 3
Garlic-Ginger Paste: 1/2 tblsp
Green Chili: 1/2
Moti Elaichi (Big Cardamom)
Red Chili Powder: 1 tsp
Salt: To taste (Start with 1 tsp)
Pepper Powder: 1/2 tsp
Milk: 1/4 cup
Oil/Ghee/Butter:3 tblsp
Sugar: 1/4th tsp

Steps:
1) Cut the onions, tomatoes, green chili into small cubes.
2) Heat 1 tblsp of oil/ ghee in a pan/wok for 2 minutes.
3) Add cardamom, green chili, ginger garlic paste and stir for 1 minute. Then add the onions and stir until transparent.
4) Add tomatoes, stir and cover the pan until tomatoes are soft.
5) Let this mixture cool for 5-8 minutes. Once cooled, blend it in a mixer. Next strain this completely (straining is important). Also, while you let the mixture cool, start boiling water and keep the paneer immersed in hot water. Immersing the paneer in hot water makes the paneer really soft. Make sure you don't leave it in hot water for more than 8 minutes.
6) Heat the remaining ghee in the wok and add the strained tomato-onion mixture. Add salt, red chili and pepper.
7) Fry until the oil seperates and becomes a thick paste.
8) Drain the paneer cubes and add into the mixture. Stir carefully.
9) Add Sugar
10) Add the milk and stir for about 2-3 minutes.

Ta-da! You are done. Serve with Roti/Naan or with Basmati Rice.
Enjoy :)

The Goodness of Dal

I have never been a huge fan of Dal (Lentils). Mostly because, as a kid, I was forced to have Dal almost every day of my life. I have been living away from home for the past 5 years. Needless to say, in these 5 years, I have had very few encounters with Dal. Every now and then, I would have Dal at restaurants or whenever I visited my parents back home.

I was recently inspired by one of my good friends, Neha to start cooking Dal. Her arguments were simple- It is really fast to cook and is really healthy. I finally gave in and let her show me how easy it was to make it. Funnily enough, the day she was showing me how to make Dal all hell broke lose. A 45 min max cooking time turned into a 2 hour long fiasco because I ended up dropping Dal all over the kitchen and cleaning the mess up. But I saw her point- its one of the simplest, fastest things to cook and extremely tasty and healthy if you don't spill all the Dal on the floor that is :).

After a month later, I finally cooked some Dal myself and totally loved it.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Dal (I used Toor Dal, but you can use any Dal)
1 Small Onion
1 Tomato
4 tbsp of Shan Dal Mix
1 tbs Ginger Garlic Paste
1 Green Chili
3 tbsp Oil/Ghee/Butter
Salt to taste
Red Chili powder to taste
3-5 Cups of water (Depending on what consistency you like)

Steps:

This is what it should look like after Step 5

1) Rinse the Dal (lentils) thoroughly. Soak the Dal in water for 15-20 mins. Do this first and then start the prep.
2) Cut the onions, tomatoes and green chili.
3) Heat the oil in a pressure cooker for 2 minutes.
4) Add the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes on medium flame. Then add the ginger- garlic paste, a pinch of salt and mix for 1 minute.
5) Add the tomatoes, green chili and mix for 2 minutes. Add the Shan Dal Mix and stir for 2 minutes.
6) Add the soaked Dal and water. Add Salt and Chili powder to taste (optional).
7) Cook in pressure cooker until 2-3 whistles.
8) Serve with Basmati Rice.

Serves up to 4-6 people.

Try it for yourself and let me know what you think. Enjoy!! :)