Ginger Coconut Chutney / Thogayal

We usually go out to relax ourselves. This includes visiting some temples as well. We all would be in a very happy mood from the day the itinerary is planned. My dad will be taking care of the travel while my mom is responsible for packing food. Most of the time, she prepares one pot meals and quick snacks as it is easy and quick to prepare.



As my mom knows only South Indian recipes, her menu includes lemon rice or coconut rice or tamarind rice as one of the the main items. Also she prepares coconut ginger chutney as a condiment for these rice varieties. Though many at my home are not fond of variety rice for picnic, just because of this chutney they can have this rice. It is a kind of spicy and tangy chutney most often prepared for variety rice, idly and dosa. It can also be eaten without seasoning. However, if you want to store it for a day or two, it is good idea to sauté it and store it in a clean, airtight, dry container. You can keep this chutney up to two days after its sauteed. If you are not doing so, it is best to consume immediately after the preparation.



Basic Information:

Preparation Time: <15 minutes

Makes: 1 cup (approximately)

Ingredients:



For chutney:

Fresh Coconut - 1/2 cup, finely sliced

Ginger - 2 inch piece

Garlic - 5 nos, small size cloves

Dry red chilli - 4-5 nos

Tamarind - 1 no, small gooseberry size.

Salt - to taste



For seasoning:

Oil - 3 teaspoons

Mustard seeds - 1/4 teaspoons

Curry leaves - 1 string

Asafoetida - a pinch

Method:

1) Soak the tamarind in 1/4 cup of warm water for 10 minutes. Peel the skin of the ginger and cut into small

pieces.

2) Put coconut, ginger, garlic and dry red chilli in a mixer/blender. After a second, add soaked tamarind along with water. Make a fine coarse paste of it.

3) Add salt as per your taste and blend it again for a second.

4) You can serve it this stage without seasoning.

5) If you want to store it for one or two days, follow the below steps.

6) Heat oil in small frying pan/ kadai. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves.

7) When mustard seeds splutters, add the ground coconut paste and saute for 2-3 minutes or just it turns in its colour. Do not over saute it.

8) Serve it with idly, dosa or as a condiment (Thogayal) for steamed rice.

Note:

1) Add tamarind as per sour taste. My tamarind has less sour taste and hence added a small size of gooseberry. Usually I add about a blueberry size of tamarind.

2) Add more water if want this chutney in liquid consistency.

Ginger Tea

Happy New Year everyone! I am posting my first recipe for this year that is simple yet addictive and refreshing - Ginger tea.  Most of you love it. Don't you? Tea can be prepared using different aromatic ingredients like cardamom, cloves, ginger, cinnamon.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

Tea leaves - 3 tsp

Water - 1 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Sugar - 3 to 4 tsp

Grated ginger - 1/2 tsp 

and/or

Crushed Cardamom - 3

Method:

In a pan, add 1 cup of water, grated ginger and/or cardamom and bring it to a boil. 

Add tea leaves and let it boil for 1-1.5 minutes. Filter and set aside.

Boil milk in another pan and add the tea decoction and sugar. 

Stir and serve hot with biscuits or snacks.

I have tried a few tea brands. Some of my favorites are - Wagh Bakri, Three roses, Society, Taj Mahal.

How to make Paneer / Homemade Paneer / Homemade Cottage Cheese

Most of the time, I use paneer purchased from store for preparing paneer based recipes. Only when I get time or if extra milk bottles/packets are available, only then I go for home made paneer. Since paneer preparation is considered too easy, until now I never thought of posting it in my blog.



Later, one day, I prepared paneer butter masala using home made paneer and packed it for lunch. When I shared it with my team members, they all liked it very much. Many in my team, who are very fond of eating paneer actually are not aware as how it is prepared. So, now I have decided to post a simple method of preparing paneer. Hope this how-to helps many to prepare a low fat fresh paneer at home.

Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Idle Time: 2-3 hours

Makes: 1 and 1/4 cup cubed paneer



Information:



Milk - 1 and 1/2 liters (I used 4% fat milk)

Lemon Juice - 2 tablespoon (See notes)

Method:



1) Take a wide pan and heat milk in it.

2) When the milk is gently boiling, reduce the flame and add the lemon juice slowly. Based on the citric taste in the lemon, you might require more or less lemon juice till the whey separates from the chenna. Make sure the milk is not vigorously boiling. At the end, you can see clear whey separated from chenna.

3) Using a muslin/cheese/clean white cloth, filter the whey from chenna. Make sure your cheese cloth is large enough to hang it.

4) Wash the chenna in running cold water for 2 minutes. It helps in removing the citric taste from it. Put a knot to the cheese cloth and hung in the kitchen counter or just above your sink.

5) Let it be for 30 minutes.

6) After 30 minutes, squeeze the extra water using your hand.

7) Place this in a plate/bowl and put a reasonably heavy weight on it. I used my cutting board and on top of it, I kept an empty hot pack. Make sure not to put very heavy weight on it, otherwise the paneer becomes hard.

8) Keep it aside for 2-3 hours. However this duration might vary based one the weight you used for pressing the paneer. Heavier weight quickens the paneer preparation. However, one has to check the firmness at random intervals .

9) After 3 hours, cut the chenna into cubes or as per your desired shape.

10) Use immediately or store it in a zip lock bag or in a container and refrigerate it till you use it future for any gravy.

Notes:

1) You can also use sour beaten curd instead of lemon juice. You might require more curd and based on it, the taste and colour of the paneer differs. I tried once using curd but it didn't suit my taste. The above method suits me best.

2) You can use the whey in making gravy if you prefer. Most of the time I discard it as I always use lemon to make paneer.

3) The amount of paneer depends upon the fat content in the milk. I got 1 and 1/4 cup of cubed paneer from the quantity of milk I used.

4) Until now, I never stored home made paneer for more than 5 days. So I am not sure about the shelf life after 5 days. Try to use within a week of preparation.

5) If you use, lemon juice from concentrate, you might require additional one or two tablespoons to curdle the milk.



Click here to see the list of paneer dishes prepared by me.