PANEER CHICKEPEAS CURRY

This is one of the delicious side dishes for chapathi. Other than white chickpeas, brown small chickpeas are more suitable for this gravy. Chickpeas must be soaked overnight in lots of water. In the morning the water must be drained, washed again twice in lots of water and pressure cooked with enough water before cooking.

பனீர் கொத்துக்கடலை மசாலா

Ingredients:

Paneer- 250 gm
Small brown chickpeas- 1 cup
Cumin seeds- half sp
Curry leaves- 1 arc
Chopped coriander-half cup
Turmeric powder- half sp
Sliced onion-2
Chopped tomato- 2 cups
Salt to taste
Oil- 4 tbsp

Grind the following ingredients in to a fine paste:

Small garlic flakes-5
Shredded coconut- 1 cup
Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
Shredded ginger- half sp
Chilli powder- 1 tsp

Procedure:

Soak the paneer pieces in warm water for 20 minutes and then drain the water.
Soak the chickpeas overnight, discard the water in the morning, pour fresh water and pressure cook them.
Heat a kadai and pour the oil.
Add the cumin seeds and when they start to splutter add the onions with the turmeric powder and the tomatoes.
Cook well until they are mashed and the oil floats on surface.
Add the greens and cook for a few seconds.
Add the chickpeas with enough salt and 2 cups of water.
When the chickpeas are absorbed in the gravy pour the ground paste with the paneer pieces.
Let the gravy boil for some minutes until it is thickened to desired consistency.
Hot paneer chickpeas curry is ready for chappathies as well as parottas.

Mom's berry & cream cheese cake

BLUEBERRY CREAM CHEESE CAKE

(COPYRIGHT CARDAMOM KITCHEN LLC 2010)

Serves 12-16

INGREDIENTS

For cake:

Dede Wilson's recipe for yellow cake, reduced by 1/2

For blueberry topping:

1 pound fresh blueberries

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

For cream cheese frosting:

1/2 cup heavy cream, chilled

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar

4 ounces of cream cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

Place mixing bowl in the refrigerator.

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Prepare yellow cake in 8-inch baking pan or oven safe glass dish. Cool on wire rack.

Combine blueberries and sugar in a sauce pan. Add water. Bring to a boil on high, stirring now and again. Lower heat and simmer until juice thickens, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Cool.

Combine heavy cream and 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar in chilled mixing bowl. Beat until cream forms soft peaks, about 10 minutes.

Beat cream cheese in another mixing bowl. Carefully fold whipped cream into cream cheese.

Spread cream cheese frosting on cake. Top with blueberry sauce.

Vegetable Stuffed Wheat Naan

First let me say a BIG THANK YOU, to all my readers and friends who took time to watch the cookery show on TV or the  video I shared through face book/mail. I was overwhelmed seeing the comments. These are moments which I will always cherish. Now on to the recipe. I have made Naan with all purpose flour/maida before. Later I have tried with half and half of maida and wheat flour. This time I made with whole purpose flour only. I could not feel any difference in taste. It was very soft. To make it a complete meal on its own, tried stuffing some sauteed and slightly spiced veggies too. With a cup of home made curd and a dash of pickle, a sumptuous meal is ready.  

You need

For the dough

• Wheat flour - 2 cups
•  Oil - 1 tblspn
• Salt- 1/2 tspn
• Instant yeast - 1 tspn
• Lukewarm water to prepare the dough

For the stuffing

• Crumbled paneer-1/2 cup
• Onion- 1 nos, finely chopped
• Carrot - 1 nos, grated
• Green chilly - 1 no, finely chopped
• Kasuri methi - 1 tblspn
• Chili powder - 1/2 tspn
• Salt to taste
• Kitchen king masala - 1 tspn
• Oil - 1 tblspn

 Method

Dough

Mix all the ingredients mentioned for dough, except water. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Leave the dough to double. Punch down and leave for a second rise. If you are not using instant yeast, prove the yeast in warm water and sugar and then add.

For stuffing

  

Heat oil in a kadai. Add green chilly and chopped onions. Saute till onion is transparent.
Add grated carrot, crumbled paneer, red chilly powder and salt. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
Add kasuri methi and garam masala. Mix well and leave it to cool.

Adjust the green chilli and red chilli powder to suit your spice levels. You can omit the green chilly altogether if you don't want to bite into the chllies, especially if you will be serving the kids.  I like it, so have added.

To prepare naan

   

Divide the dough into five portions. Shape each portions into balls. Take one and roll it into a 2 inch circle. Place 2 tablespoons of the filling on the centre. Gather the edges and shape into a ball again. Carefully roll into oval shaped rotis. Pull the naan on one side to get a tear shape.

   

Heat a tawa. Apply water on one side of the naan, preferable the down side, while you rolled it. Stick the naan on to the hot tawa. Show the tawa upside down over the flame. Keep moving it to ensure even cooking. When it is fully cooked, the naan will fall off easily. Alternatively you can cook directly on the tawa as we do with rotis.  With the 2 cups of flour, I got 5 naans.

This will make a good lunch box option, since it stays soft for a long time. This can be baked in an oven too. But I haven't tried it, since I find the stove top method easy.

 Note: Make sure the tawa is hot while sticking the naan.