Paneer Peas Masala

Cooking Time : 30 mins
Serves           : 2

This Recipe was in my draft for a long time, but couldn't post it due to my tight schedule.. Today i thought of writing a post somehow in my busy schedule.. Paneer is my favourite recipe and I make it often. This goes well with Chapathi/Roti, Naan.

INGREDIENTS:

Paneer	250 gms
Salt	To Taste
Peas	Handful
Onion	2
Tomato	2
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Powder	1 tsp
Green Chilies	2
Curd	2 tsp
Kasturi Methi	As Required (Optional)
Coriander Leaves	As Required
Sesame Oil	As Required

To Grind:

Ginger	1"
Garlic	4 cloves
PepperCorns	1 tsp
Coriander Powder	1 tsp
Garam masala	1/4 tsp

STEPS:

1. Cut Paneer into small equal cubes and keep aside. 
2. In a Pan, heat Sesame Oil and saute Onion till it turns to light golden brown. remove from the flame and keep it aside. In the same pan, saute Tomatoes and remove from the flame. Grind the items mentioned in "To Grind" section to a fine paste along with the Onion and Tomato.
3. In the same pan, heat enough oil and add green chillies, ground paste, Peas and stir for few mins. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, Salt, Kasturi Methi and stir well. If required add some water. 
4. Wait til the Oil gets seperated. At this stage, add curd and stir well. Add Paneer cubes. 
5. Allow to boil for few minutes in medium flame.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves, Green chillies and serve hot.



Tips:
• Add freshly ground ginger-garlic paste to get good taste.
• You can also take Tomato Puree.
• Wait till the ground paste separates from the oil properly so that the raw smell won't be there after cooking. 

Rajastani Mini Ghevar Topped with Kesar Rabdi

This is the first time I am going to participate in SNC Challenge, a very successful event organised by Divya from youtoocancookindianfood blog. Manjula from Desi Fiesta Challenged South team with a traditional Rajastan Recipe - Ghevar topped with Kesar Rabdi. Ramya from LemonKurry challenged North team with VadaCurry. As I am from South team, I have to make Ghevar.

I have never heard of this traditional recipe so far. When I went through Manju's Recipe, I felt that it is a big procedure to complete this successfully. But Surprisingly, It turned out great for me. The main thing we need to take care while preparing this is the Maida batter consistency and the oil should be hot enough to prepare ghevar. I really loved the sweet and even my lil one tasted it and loved it so much. Definitely I will try this again. I had some leftover Kesar Rabdi and I used that for topping my fruit salad and fruit salad tasted great. Thanks Manju for sharing this Recipe. Coming to the recipe...

                                       
To Prepare Batter & Frying :

Maida	1 1/2 cup
Milk	1/4 cup (At Room Temp)
Ghee	2 tbsp
Water	As Required to make a thin batter
Cardamom Powder	a pinch (Optional)
Ghee/Refined Oil	As Required to Fry

For Syrup :

Sugar	2 cup
Water	1 cup
Saffron Strands	a pinch

To Prepare Kesar Rabdi :

Whole Milk	3 cup
Sweet Condensed Milk	1 Tin
Almonds,Pistachios	Crushed - As Required
Saffron Strands	a Pinch
Cardamom Powder	a pinch (Optional)

To Garnish :

Almonds,Pistachios	Crushed - As Required
Saffron Strands	a Pinch

STEPS:

To Prepare Batter:

1. Mix Milk and Ghee together for 2-3 mins.
2. Add Maida to it and Mix well.
3. Add Water little by little to the above mixture till the batter comes to thin consistency. 

To Make Ghevar:

1. Heat enough Oil in a deep bottomed flat vessel. Once it is hot, take the batter in a laddle and pour it in the middle of the vessel from 1 foot height. Make sure that the Oil is hot else the batter would stick to the bottom of the vessel. You can increase the height as much as you can to get good texture. Ghee also can be used in this step for frying purpose.
2. Once you pour the batter, you can see bubbles from the oil. if you see more bubbling, stop for few seconds and continue again because the oil may spill out.
3. Repeat the above till you get the required size of the Ghevar. It actually depends upon the size of the Vessel.
4. When frying ghevar, Make a circle at the centre of the Ghevar with the Skewer once the batter is settled. 
5. Allow the Ghevar to fry till golden Brown.
6. Take the Ghevar out carefully and place it in a paper towel to remove excess oil.

To Make Sugar Syrup:

1. Take 1 1/2 cup sugar and add 1 cup of water to it and bring it to boil. heat it till you get one string consistency.

To Make Kesar Rabdi :

1. Boil the milk in low flame till the Milk is reduced to half the quantity. Add Cardamom powder, Saffron Strands, Crushed Pistachios to it and mix well.
2. Add Condensed milk to the above and bring it to boil. Keep on stirring.
3. Allow the milk to turn thick and remove from the flame and allow to cool.

To Serve:

1. Add the sugar syrup to the Ghevar. Don't keep Ghevar in syrup for long time as it will become so wet.
2. To remove excess syrup, keep the Ghevar tilted in the plate.
3. Top up with Kesar Rabdi and nuts and now Ghevar topped with Kesar Rabdi is ready to eat. Serve immediately.

Soya Chunks Curry / MealMaker Curry

Cooking Time : 30 mins
Serves           : 2

Soya.. As you all know, It is a high source of protein and is highly beneficial for health and is important to have it in our diet. It is a healthy meat replacement ingredient. I have made this curry with the easily available ingredients in your pantry. Adding Peas with Soya chunks serves a good combination. This goes well with Chapathi/Roti.

INGREDIENTS:

Soya Chunks	15 no
Salt	To Taste
Peas	Handful
Onion	2
Tomato	2
Turmeric Powder	1/4 tsp
Red Chilli Powder	1 tsp
Green Chilies	2
Curd	2 tsp
Coriander Leaves	As Required
Gingelly Oil	As Required

To Grind:

Ginger	1"
Garlic	4 cloves
PepperCorns	1 tsp
Cumin Powder	1 tsp
Coriander Powder	1 tsp
Garam masala	1/4 tsp

STEPS:

1. Soak the soyachunks in water. Add salt and boil in medium flame. Once the water starts to boil, remove from the flame. Take the soyachunks from water after 10 mins so that the water will be cooled by that time. Drain the water and squeeze all water from soyachunks and cut it into 4 pieces. Repeat the same for all the remaining Soyachunks. 
2. In a Pan, heat Gingelly Oil and saute Onion till it turns to light golden brown. remove from the flame and keep it aside. In the same pan, saute Tomatoes and remove from the flame. Grind the items mentioned in "To Grind" section to a fine paste along with the Onion and Tomato.
3. In a pressure cooker, heat enough oil and add green chillies, ground paste, Peas and stir for few mins. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, Salt and stir well. If required add some water. 
4. Wait til the Oil gets seperated. At this stage, add soya chunks, curd and stir well.
5. Pressure cook for 2 whistles in medium flame and keep in low flame for 10 mins and remove from flame. Allow the cooker to cool and open.
6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Tips:
• Add freshly ground ginger-garlic paste to get good taste.
• While preparing Soya Recipes, use more oil since soya  requires more oil.
• You can also take Tomato Puree.
• Wait till the ground paste seperates from the oil properly so that the raw smell won't be there after cooking. 

Kollu Sundal / Horsegram Sundal

In my previous post, I have updated Kollu Rasam. This Kollu Sundal is made with the Kollu that I used to prepared for Rasam. This is a very quick recipe and it goes very with Rasam Rice, Dal Rice or can be tasted raw.

INGREDIENTS:

Kollu/HorseGram - Pressure cooked	1 cup
Salt	To Taste
Gingelly Oil	1 tbsp

TO TEMPER:

Mustard	1/4 tsp
Urad Dal	1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves	As Required
Asafoetida	a pinch
Onion	2 tbsp
Green Chillies	2 tbsp

STEPS:

1. In a Pan, heat Oil and add all the items one by one as mentioned in "To Temper" Section. Don't fry Onion too much.
2. Add the Kollu, Salt and stir for a minute. Delicious Sundal is now ready to be served. 

Tips:

• Red Chillies can also be added while tempering.
• Don't fry onion too much. 

Kollu Rasam / Horsegram Rasam

Dear Friends, I am back after my long vacation. Had a good time in my native. After a long gap, I am seeing my page as well... :) Love to post recipes..
I bought Kollu from India this time. I heard many health benefits of it also. So, thought of including Kollu as a part in my menu. As soon as I came from my vacation, I suffered from fever and cold. My mom told that Kollu is good for fever and cold and she asked me to take Kollu flavoured rasam. Kollu rasam tasted too good and I was benefited as well.. Kollu need to be pressure cooked before preparing this rasam. The water  is used to make rasam and with the Kollu, I prepared Kollu Sundal and had as a side dish for Kollu Rasam Rice. Will update Kollu Sundal in my next post. Coming to the Recipe..

INGREDIENTS:

HorseGram/Kollu	1 cup
Tomato	1
Garlic	5 cloves
Rasam Powder	2 tsp
Curry Leaves	As Required
Coriander Leaves	As Required
Tamarind	Gooseberry size
Salt	To Taste
Dry Red Chillies	4
Pepper corns	1/4 tsp
Mustard Seeds	1/4 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds	1/4 tsp
Asafoetida	a pinch
Oil	To Saute

STEPS:

1. Clean Horsegram and pressure cook with 4 cups of water. Extract the water and separate the Kollu. Crush Garlic and Pepper corns.
2. Soak mashed Tomato, Rasam powder, Crushed Garlic, Crushed Pepper Corns. Curry leaves, Coriander Leaves, Tamarind with the extracted Kollu water  and keep aside. 
3. In a  pan, heat 2 tsp oil and add mustard and fenugeek seeds. Once it splutters, add Red chillies and asafoetida. Add the above soaked mixture and let it boil for 3 mins.
4. Add salt in a vessel where you are going to pour this Rasam. Add the Rasam to the vessel and serve.