Quinoa and Rice in a quick Chinese fried rice / Quinoa with lots of Veggies

Again the days have come and gone, more like months have come and gone...and the year is quickly passing by. Though we are still not totally out of the clutches of winter in some parts, in other parts spring has already been showing its beauty. I continue to clicks lots of pictures of flowers as I so fascinated by all the different types of flowers nature has in store! I hope everyone out there is getting to enjoy a bit of the new spring and taking full advantage of it by planting new plants. I haven't started to plant here as yet but I sure to plan on getting on that job soon. Other than that life has been normal as always. Kids and their activities takes up most of the time and I find so less time to myself. The very less time I get, I just feel like relaxing...that's the reason I started spending so less time on the blog. I keep telling myself that I should do more...but...that just keeps hanging. :)

Well no worries, that's how life is I guess and I should just keep going on with it!

The reason I make this dish very so often is to finish any leftover rice. But then there are times when I make it to have as a side dish. Though noodles are kids favorite, I think my favorite has always been the fried rice. While trying to make it healthier whenever I feel like eating it, I started making it with quinoa. But then there come days when there is some left over rice and some left over quinoa. That's when I decide to combine both of them to make  this fried rice. 

Since rice and quinoa blend together very nicely, you cannot really tell which is which. :) That helps with kids!

This dish can be made completely with quinoa or completely with rice. I just like to add lots of vegetables and egg to make it more nutritious. You can add some cooked chicken or shrimp to make it more exotic too :).  Or omit the egg to make a wholesome vegetarian dish. Add some lima beans and sprouts to make even more delicious. Well these are just a few ways in which you can adapt this dish. Its more like a pantry dish where you can put what ever is there in your pantry to make it your type of dish.

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa (cooked and cooled)

1/2 cup rice (leftover rice or cooked and cooled)

3 garlic cloves, chopped small

2 green chilies, chopped small

1/4 cup chopped carrots

1/4 cup peas

1/4 cup chopped beans

1/4 cup chopped bell pepper (you can use a mix of colored pepper if you wish)

1/2 cup of broccoli florets

1/2 onion, chopped

2 eggs, scrambled with pinch of salt and pepper

pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)

1 tbsp oil (can be substituted with sesame oil)

salt to taste

1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce

Chopped scallions for garnish

Method:

Heat the oil in a wok or pan to medium hight heat.

Add the chopped garlic and green chili and sauté for 10 seconds. Add the onions and saute for another 10-20 seconds.

Add the carrots, peas, bell pepper and beans and cook for a minute or two with a sprinkle of salt.

Add the broccoli florets, with a pinch of salt and saute for another 15 seconds.

Add the cooled rice and quinoa, along with the scrambled egg. Saute on high heat to mix well. Add the soy sauce and mix well again.

Garnish with chopped scallions or green onions.

Serve hot. Enjoy!!!

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Avacado Coconut chutney

I just can't believe how fast the days go by when you don't notice...that's what I think! And so slow goes a 'day' when you keep thinking when will the day end!

Well that's how slow a day goes when you are home caring for a sick child at home. My little one was sick..not really really sick...he has been coughing his lungs off for the past 2 days....so he was home coughing, and not eating much. You try your best to get food and fluids into him...but you know how they win over us!

Well he is much better today, so I sent him to school. His main concern (for being a kindergartner) is that he has to 'write'. Yes he has no problem to go to school but all his problem starts when he has to 'write'. Well I did prepare him a little bit, I hope it helps and he will write better today and enjoy his school day with much less coughing!

I am sure everyone make salsa and guacamole at home. Here I just added some Indian ingredients and made it into a chutney which can be eaten with a regular Indian breakfast like idlis and dosas. Actually I have tried it with rice and a bit of ghee and it tastes just as good.

So you all know how good avocado is for you right. That added with some coconut makes it not only healthy but also flavorful too. 

Ingredients:

1 Avocado

1/2 cup grated coconut (fresh or frozen)

2-3 garlic cloves

3-4 green chilies (or less)

1/2 tbsp to 1 tbsp lemon juice

salt to taste

For tempering:

1/4 tsp urad dal / minapa pappu

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp jeera or cumin seeds

1 dry red chili

few curry leaves

1 tbsp coconut oil (you can use extra virgin olive oil or any other oil you prefer)

Method:

Grind the first 6 ingredients into a smooth or a not so smooth (if you like it chunky) textured paste.

Heat the oil in a small pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin and urad dal. Let this start to splutter before adding red chili and curry leaves. This is splutter almost immediately (after adding the curry leaves), remove and add to the chutney.

Serve as a dip or with idlis, Dosas or rice. Tastes good either way with all the healthy and yummy ingredients in one dish! Or if you like slather some on some toasted bread and savor it! :)

Enjoy!!!

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Garlic Mini twisted rolls with Pillsbury Biscuit dough - Semi HomeMade!

 Though I love to bake and eat sweets, I am not completely and sweet person. If I get a chance, I would probably go for spicy dishes first, then to the sweet. But I am won't omit sugar completely! :)

I love sugar, tho I can't eat it now a days...it tempts me so! I try to keep myself away from it basically for health reasons. Especially this season, when we look for comfort food and when we are surrounded by chocolates. I do love me some sugar! But ya, for us who are trying to go healthy and all....I keep it to the minimum. This has been a trial using Pillsbury Biscuit dough, but I would surely try to go for whole wheat if possible. To eliminate the use of any extra butter, I used coconut oil. Now a days this ingredients has been given rave reviews as one of the healthiest ingredient around. I am going to try to incorporate it into regular dishes too, other than only baking, which I have been doing till now!

So with Valentine's day around the corner, and with so many 'sweets' around, I thought how about going for something spicy instead. Something easy, garlicky and spicy too. These Mini Garlic Twisted rolls are made of Pillsbury biscuit dough which comes in a cardboard can. Isn't that easy. All you need is this dough, chopped garlic, chopped coriander and few other stuff which may already be in your pantry. I like to have this as a side dish with a salad or soup. It takes under 20 minutes from start to finish. Just a simple way to whats already available and making use of it!

Time: Less than 20 minutes 

Makes 10 rolls

Ingredients:

2 rolls of Pillsbury biscuits dough

10 cloves of garlic, chopped tiny

small bunch of coriander leaves, chopped

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional) (can use chopped green chili instead)

dry Italian seasoning (optional)

1/2 tbsp coconut oil (can use olive oil instead)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.

Lightly grease a baking sheet and keep aside.

Melt the coconut oil and keep aside.

Open a can of Pillsbury biscuits dough.

Lightly flour your surface and attach to dough pieces. Roll them out to make it long or oblong.

Brush on some melted coconut oil. Put some garlic, coriander and red chili flakes on the dough.

Now roll the dough into a log.

Cut in the center of the log to make two sides for twisting.

Twist both the pieces and make a circle out of it.

Brush again lightly coconut oil of the top. Sprinkle garlic powder and Italian seasoning on the top.

Lay them on the baking sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes.

Serve them hot just plain or with some chutney!

Enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The first one is plain for my little kiddo, second and third are experiments - with 3 rolls and with 1 roll.

I think using one roll makes it too small and using three makes it too big. Two rolls were a perfect size, but surely you can do what you like.

I just went crazy on the pictures - Sorry for that! But this is my first time trying to edit using my Mac and I am kinda lost. I am still learning and I hope to learn soon! It really get frustrating when you try to switch from one operating system to the other.

Coming to my Handiwork -  I made these cute Valentine's Day bookmarks for my kid's classes.
They are made using Paint chips on one side and scarpbook paper on the other. Small hearts punched out on the side and tied up with a ribbon. Arn't they cute!!

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Coconut and Dry red chili chutney

With Holidays around the corner and all sweet and chocolaty all the time is what I see around me. And this is the time I feel like eating spicy all the time. So lets take a different route from the sweet section to the spicy section!
In times of need, you would try anything desperately ...Isn't that right? Well that's how my life works sometimes. Well maybe not every time, but maybe sometimes right.
That applies to when you cook too. what would you do when there is nothing in the house as in ingredients and you decide you want to go big ..haha...well that's how this chutney came up. Little of this and little of that and 'BOOM' a 'chutney' is made. :)
Too much drama know?...well simply said, I prefer to have frozen fresh grated coconut in my freezer almost all of the time. It really comes in handy at time of need. Like this time when I had to make a chutney for our breakfast dosas. And I like like my chutney spicy that's why all the chilies in the recipe. Try it you might enjoy it!
Quick and easy to make, delicious too. Goes good with Dosas, idlis or even hot hot pongal.



Ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh grated coconut (Frozen or fresh works good)
6 - 8  red dry chilies
2 green chillies
2 garlic cloves
less than a marble size of tamarind
salt to taste

Tempering :

1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
1/4 tsp urad dal
1 dry red chili
few curry leaves
1/2 tbsp oil


Method:

Grind together the first five ingredients with a little bit of water. Add the salt.
Heat a small pan with the oil.
Add the urad dal, when it browns add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they start to splutter, add the broken red dry chili and curry leaves.
Add this immediately to the ground coconut and chili.
Mix well and serve with dish of your choice.
Tastes good with idlis, dosas and even upma.
Enjoy!!!

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Potlakaya kobari perugu pachadi / Snake gourd yogurt chutney

As always I have been missing in action :) But I am enjoying my days as my In-laws are here and days have gotten a bit busier than usual. As my daily schedule has changed a bit and we slowly getting used to it, school also got out for summer and with both kids at home hollering at each other and making as much sound as they possibly can, I surely can use a breather from both of them!

Coming to the cooking, I am learning new recipes from my MIL and today's recipe is one of them. I am not sure how many people have eaten to tasted snake gourd in their life! It a very common vegetable in India, but here in US its not that common. Though Indian groceries carry them, they are sometimes not even worth to look at. I usually find them dry, shriveled and not at all worth buying. But whenever they do look fresh, I tend to buy them. I make a simple fry by chopping it into circles. There are couple more varieties of dishes we make out of it. But this recipe of my MIL is my favorite. Using coconut and yogurt along with snake gourd, it makes a very yummy and tasty combination.

We call it Potlakaya perugu pachadi, but it can also be used as Snake gourd raita, since it is made of yogurt.
It is best eaten with hot rice with a drop of ghee. But you can eat it with stuffed parathas where raita makes for a good side dish. Even with rotis and chapathis, it tastes delicious!
The actual recipe calls for sour yogurt, but here it is substituted with a small piece of tamarind. If you don't want to use tamarind, go ahead and use a bit of lemon juice.


Ingredients:

1 small potlakaya / Snake gourd, about 7-8 inches long, cut into pieces
1/4 cup fresh or frozen coconut
15-20 green chillies (use according to your taste, more or less)
2 garlic cloves, cut into pieces
1/4 tsp jeera, cumin seeds

1/2 cup yogurt
some water as needed
a small piece of tamarind (this can be substituted with lemon juice or totally skipped if the yogurt is sour)

Tempering:

2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp Chana dal
1/4 tsp urad dal
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera or cumin
2 dry red chili, broken into pieces
few curry leaves
pinch of hing, inguva, asfoetida

salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves


Method:

In a small pot, add some water, the pieces of potlakaya, cover and cook until it is cooked, not soft but just cooked.
Heat a few drops of oil, add the coconut and chilies and saute until the coconut starts to turn color. Remove aside and cool.
When cooled, grind the coconut, chili, tamarind (optional), yogurt, cooked snake gourd, 2 cloves of garlic and 1/4 tsp jeera together.
You don't have to grind it to smooth, just that you don't have any big pieces. It also shouldn't be of runny consistency. It should be thick and should have consistency like coconut chutney or tomato chutney.

Now for tempering. In a small pot, add the remaining oil and heat. Add the garlic, chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, jeera and let them splutter.
Add the red chili, curry leaves and a pinch of hing. Saute for 10 seconds.
Add this to the ground snake gourd yogurt mixture. Add salt to taste.
Stir in the chopped coriander leaves and its ready to be served.
Serve with hot rice with a drop of ghee. But it also yummy to eat with rotis or chapathis or even even hot hot savory pongal or katte pongali.
Enjoy!!!

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Instant Oats Gunta Ponganaalu / Paniyarams

Reminder: Please remember to send in your Kid friendly dishes to Kid's Delight - What Kids love...for Summer! ENDS July 15th! 

As the long weekend is here, I got some time to relax and enjoy at my mom's house. With my sis also coming over, the kids are enjoying with their pinni and babai! So now I get some time to really breathe, after a hectic last week. Having different kind of breakfasts every morning and then enjoying Mom's cooking too!
Then again comes Monday...well this time its going to be Tuesday and time to fall back into routine of everyday chores and being a driver for the kids. Soon my In-laws will be here and also school vacation is going to start in less than 3 weeks, everything is going to go out of schedule! Late mornings to late bedtimes too! Well lets see what will happen then!

One of the easy and fun breakfast are gunta ponganaalu. Its probably because of the shape and also just like dosas or idlis, they are very easy to make and also very versatile with the flavors you put into it.

All you need is an aebelskiver pan or a gunta ponganaalu pan which is easy available in an Indian grocery store here in US. These are also called appam and a sweet version can also be made. 

But for the breakfast, here is a savory one using instant oats as the key ingredient, which gives lots or fiber and is also light as using this pan, gives us a chance to use very less oil, making it also guilt free.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp ENO fruit salt
salt to taste
1/4 tsp jeera
1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tbsp chopped curry leaves
1/2 onion chopped
1 green chilli, chopped
enough water to make into batter

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together with a whisk so that no lumps are formed.
Heat the gunta ponganaalu pan or the paniyaram pan.
Put a drop of oil in each of the holes.
Pour the batter to fill the holes.
Let it cook for 2 minutes, until it browns the bottom side.
Slowly flip over and let it brown on the other side too.
Serve hot with chutney or even sambar.
Enjoy!!!

Hop over to the other marathoner's kitchens to see whats cooking!

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Stuffed Okra with Coconut and Spices / Bharwan Bendi

 
Hi everyone! Here I am, back again after a long hiatus!
Had some mishappenings on side, which made it difficult to post. Tho I was missing it very much, I had no choice, but to lay dormant for a while.

First, after my computer crashed and was fixed, it crashed yet again, this time taking all my new pictures along with it. I was very much disappointed and frustrated. I didn't want that to happen again, so I didn't copy anymore pictures onto this computer. I didn't want to loose them again! At least my old pictures are still intact and are not effected! I am hoping to get a new computer within the next couple of weeks, so that I can again start taking new pictures again.

Second, my little one had a fall and hurt behind his head. Due to which we ended up spending 5 days in the ICU. He had to have a head surgery to remove the clots which formed due to his fall. One of the biggest nightmares of my life. He really did give us a scare! Thanks to God's grace, he is doing much better now and back to his normal naughty self! Healing time is long, almost 6-10 months, so we just are careful now that he doesn't fall again. But what can we say to 4 yr olds and who can keep them from running around?

Then I had a writer's block or should I say a blogger's block??!!
I wanted to write but just couldn't bring myself to do it! I don't know if it was the crash of the laptop or my kiddo's fall, but I just didn't feel like doing it!
But I couldn't stay away for long, I had to come back! And I am glad I did!
Thinking about food and clicking pictures always makes me happy and hopefully this will lead to a better way!

I am still using my old laptop, but hopefully move on to a newer desktop soon! Then I will start taking to new food clicks, but for now I am posting a recipe from my drafts. I hope you guys will enjoy it!

Bharwan Bendi

Ingredients:

15-20 Bendi / Bendakaya / Okra, Washed and slitted in the middle

1 cup grated coconut (fresh or dried can be used, I used dried)
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp jeera powder
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp amchoor powder
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp chilli powder
pinch of turmeric
salt to taste

Oil for shallow fry

(You can also add thinly chopped onions if you wish, But I like to omit it)

Method:

Wash and dry the okra with a paper towel. Make a slit from the top to the bottom of the bendi, to make a pocket. You can cut the top off or leave it intact, either way is fine, just don't slit it all the way down.

Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl. Taste to see if the salt and spice is right, if not adjust accordingly.

Stuff this mixture into slits of the bendakaya. Stuff all the bendi in the same way.

Heat a tbsp of oil in a shallow frying pan. Shallow fry the okra, a few at a time to avoid crowding the pan. If you crowd the pan, they will not become crisp and they may become soft.

Sprinkle salt on them, just very little, cause we already added salt the stuffing.

Fry till they are brown, flip them over and fry for another couple of minutes.

Remove onto a plate and sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on the top.

Serve as a side dish with rice or roti. I just love to eat them just like that too. Great for snacking I should say!:)

Enjoy!!!

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Spicy Corn Fritters / Corn Pakoras or Pakodas

 Its going to be raining here for the next few days...Rain = winter in CA = kinda cold and chilly too... not pleasant at all...well better than winters in East coast, but East coast is having spring like weather right now!...Grass is always greener on the other side isn't it!

Whats better than to have spicy and crunchy pakodas during the rains...brings back memories of the childhoods days, wen we used to get the yummy pakoras or spicy mirchi bajjis whenever it rains. The days when we were in college, we used get settled by the canteen and have hot hot bajjis and enjoy! Oh I wish those days can come back again!

Well who says we cannot enjoy the yummy pakodis even now...I am always up for some of these yummy fritters anytime. This was sitting in my drafts for quite sometime now. I thought this was a perfect time to post this as I hear the rain drumming on the windows. All I need now is some soft music, bollywood style and I am all set.

Well I wish I had that kind of time to sit now. I will have to make do with the radio in the car as I drive my younger kid to his swimming class!
But you guys enjoy these yummy ones and make sure to parcel me some! :)

Ingredients:

1 cup Sweet corn kernels / Frozen or fresh (I used frozen)
1/2 cup besan / Chick pea flour / Chenagapindi
1/4 cup rice flour
1 small onion, chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste




pinch of baking soda
1 tsp chili powder or masala karam

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
little water as needed

Oil for deep fry

Method:

Thaw the frozen corn in some water and drain the water.
Take half of the corn and grind it into a coarse paste.
Mix the ungrounded corn and the ground corn with rest of the ingredients along with some water. It should not be runny, but should be thick enough to make small balls.
Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying.
Drop small balls of the mixture into the heated oil.
Fry them till they are golden brown. Remove on a paper napkin to drain off excess oil.
Serve hot with some spicy ketchup.
Enjoy!!!

Sending this off to Indian Food Palooza, hosted by, Prerna of Indian Simmer, Kathy of The Colors of Indian Cooking and Barbara of Creative Culinary.

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Dhaniyalu Pappulu podi / Coriander and Lentil Powder

When ever my Mom or my MIL is here they used to make all the podis, garam masalas and pachadis for me. But these days I try to make them myself and learned that they are not very difficult to make.
This is a recipe I got from my MIL. Its called Dhaniyalu podi...My kids call it brown powder :)

Its a simple podi which is like a life saviour to me. My kids like to eat it with anything like idli, dosa or rice. If I give them this chapathi too...they will gladly eat it!
Since it has all the good ingredients like a masala, I even use it in flavoring rice. My younger one will eat it without making a fuss.
Whenever there is nothing much in the house...stir fry some veggies or even an egg to rice and flavor it with this powder and here you have an easy breezy dish ready in a jiffy!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Chanaga pappu / Channa Dal
1/4 cup Minapa pappu / Urad dal
1/4 cup Dhaniyalu / Coriander seeds
20 dry red chilies (more or less)
2 sprigs of curry leaves

1 tbsp Jeera / Cumin seeds
6-7 cloves of garlic
1 golf ball sized tamarind / Chintapandu
Salt to taste

Method:

Dry roast Channa Dal, urad dal til they are slightly brown in color.
Add the coriander and roast them too for a minute or two.
Add the red chilies and curry leaves, roast them all together for another couple of minutes.
Let this cool before adding the cumin seeds.
Grind this along with garlic, tamarind and salt.
This can be stored for a few months in an air tight container.
Serve with idli, dosa, or upma too or with hot rice and ghee.
Enjoy!!!

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Bobbatlu / Pappu Polilu / Bhakshalu / Puran Poli / Sweet Jaggery filling stuffed flat bread

Bobbatlu / Obattu / Pappu Polilu / Bhakshalu / Puran Poli / Sweet Jaggery filling stuffed Indian flat bread.
So many names for a such a yummy treat, but all it is a sweet jaggery filled chapathi...it surely is a treat tho, a speciality of for any festival and mainly for the coming festival - Sankranthi - Festival of Kites and Colors..thats how I remember it!!
Mine here is a very easy version of the very difficult way to doing this...so can call it the not so very traditional Bobbatlu or Bakshalu.
If you want to go even more easy...go for the Halwa polilu....that surely is more easy!

Everyone has their own way of making polis....some add sesame seeds or coconut.
It taste wonderful with any of these ingredients for sure.

As I said mine is the not so traditional, because this is made purely with all purpose flour or maida, instead I used whole wheat flour with very little maida.
Maida helps it stretching the covering for the filling out to as thin as possible. That's why adding little to the dough will help in rolling out thin polis.

These are traditional rolled or palm pressed with ghee, but I roll them out, because it hurts after a while to press them with hand and you really need to use a lot of ghee! They are even fried with a dollop of ghee...more ghee...it tastes the best!
But to keep it on the more healthier side and suitable to enjoy it without guilt, my version has very little ghee and I make it with whole wheat flour.
If you like it more stuffed, just add more filling.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup channa dal , Chenaga pappu
1/4 cup split Moong Dal, Pesara pappu
1 cup broken or shaved jaggery ( more or less)
pinch of cardamom powder, elaichi
2 tbsp grated coconut

For Dough:

11/2 cups Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour, maida
pinch of salt
1 tbsp oil or ghee, neyyi
enough warm water knead into soft dough

To roll out and fry:

enough flour to roll out
oil or ghee to apply on both sides while frying on tawa


Method:

Wash the chenaga pappu and pesara pappu 2-3 times, add 3 times the water and pressure cook it for 6-7 whistles. The dal should be cooked totally and the water should be almost gone.
(But my water wasn't gone....I add more, because I am scared that the dal wouldn't cook completely)

When the pressure is gone and you can open the cooker, add the jaggery to the dal and let it simmer, making it thicker.

Add in the cardamom powder and coconut.

If you think its taking long time for the water to evaporate....transfer it into a microwave safe bowl and heat it microwave, stirring every 2-3 minutes. I figured this method is much quicker than waiting for it to thicken on the stove.

Leave it aside to cool, after it reaches the desired consistency.


Knead the dough using the above ingredients into a soft dough and keep aside for 10 minutes.

Make small golf size balls of the sweet filling and keep aside.

Pinch of golf size balls of the dough and flatten it enough on the edges, leaving it thicker in the middle, as to cover the filling when placed in the middle.

Flatten it in your hand, spreading the filling out in all directions, before rolling it out using the rolling pin. This helps so that the filling doesn't come out of the covering.

Fry it on the hot tawa, until brown spots appear on both sides, apply oil or ghee on both sides and brown it more.

Serve as Naivedhym.

Serve hot with extra ghee.

Enjoy!!!

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Paneer Jalfrezi / Stir fried Indian Cottage Cheese with colored peppers

I hope everyone is doing well and adjusting well to New Year!.. Come on it is the New Year after all. For me well everything is back to routine! School pick ups, swim classes, tennis classes...huh ah...back to routine!

Any new Resolutions you say?....none so far...I will make them as and when I wish and if I can keep up with them that is! Only new thing I have started so far is the new photo Blog or Project 365 - A Photo A Day, named My PicXels. I would really really love to hear your comments and would really appreciate it if you would follow and comment there too!

What I am scared of New year resolutions is that i won't be able to keep them up and see the end of them.

At least I hope to keep up with this and try to post a picture a day from my life! Its really fun and I hope to capture and seal all the beautiful and pretty things I see in my everyday life!

Coming to the recipe today...I think I have not posted many Paneer recipes on my blog. Not that I don't make it...I do...its just that they don't make it to celebrity state I guess! They just finish in the making stage itself.

I love paneer and will eat fried paneer right out the frying pan itself. Let alone it making to the curry stage and then to the photo stage.

Paneer jalfrezi is one of the most easiest paneer dish to make. It will be done in no time if you have all the right ingredients...well the ingredients are also common ones found in an Indian pantry.

I used different colored peppers but you are welcome to try it out with other veggie...I think broccoli and zucchini will also go very good in this dish. But the way I made is the most traditional way and tastes very very good when made with fresh paneer.

Ingredients:

400 gm paneer / Indian Cottage cheese, cut into small cubes
1 small onion, cut into small bite sized squares
1 green bell pepper, cut into bite sized squares
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into bite sized squares
1/2 yellow bell pepper, cut into bite sized squares
2 green chilies, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 tsp whole cumin / jeera
pinch of hing, asfoetida, inguva
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder (add more if you like it spicy)
1/2 tsp dhaniya / coriander powder
1/4 tsp jeera / cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp kasuri methi, dried fenugreek leaves
salt to taste
1 tbsp oil + more for shallow frying the paneer cubes


Method:

Wash and cut all the veggies to bite sized pieces and keep aside.

Cut the paneer and shallow fry them in oil to brown on all sides. Remove onto a paper napkin and keep aside.

Remove the excess oil and add in the cumin seeds and hing. Let them splutter before adding in the tomatoes.

Let the tomatoes, cook down completely as to all the water becomes almost dry.

Add in the onion, green chillies and all the peppers. Saute them with some salt and let them cook till they are almost done.
I like to leave a little crisp in them and not cook them completely thru. If you like to cook them completely, please do.

Add the chili powder and turmeric. Mix it in well.

Add in the paneer pieces and saute to coat the paneer pieces well with the cooked veggies.

Lastly add the kasuri methi, lightly crushed in your palm to bring out the flavor.

Serve hot with Naan or chapathis, or even with some plain or jeera rice.

Enjoy!!!

Linking this to Sweet Heat Challenge # 4 - Let's Rock Indian hosted by Michelle, originally Sweet Heat Chilli Challenge started by Lyndsey.

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Mexican Tortilla Soup

For the last and final day of the marathon, here is my another favorite 'Mexican (Chicken) Tortilla soup'

Another hearty and wholesome soup which can be called a full meal. Made with chicken and black beans, topped with crispy tortilla chips, this one is a sure hit in the winters.
Add or minus more veggies, add a avocado and its just becomes more healthy...nothing can go wrong with that.

Not a very difficult soup to create and you can always use fresh marinated chicken in place of shredded chicken, just make the cooking more more, till the chicken gets cooked.
You can always delete the chicken and add a variety of beans to make it a vegetarian soup. :)


Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Anaheim,  jalapeno chili, chopped up
4 cups chicken broth or veggie broth for vegetarians
1-2 tbsp tomato paste
1 can, diced tomatoes, or 2-3 tomatoes, chopped
Salt to taste
1 can of black beans
1 cup shredded cooked chicken (optional, can add a variety of beans instead)
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp chili powder
Chopped fresh cilantro

1 tbsp lime juice
Few broken pieces of tortilla chips or freshly made chips out of corn tortilla

Method:

Heat oil in a pot.
Add the onion and garlic. Cook till translucent.
Add the chopped chili, tomato paste and diced tomatoes.
Add the broth and bring to a boil, then simmer for about 15 -20 minutes.
Add the cumin powder, coriander powder and chili powder.
Add salt and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Add the shredded chicken along with black beans. Simmer for another 10 minutes.
Before serving add in the lime juice and chopped cilantro leaves.
Serve topped with sour cream, some Monterrey cheese and the crispy tortilla chips.
Enjoy!!!

Jump on here to see what's cooking on the final day of the marathon in my fellow blogger's kitchen.

Sending this to Srivalli's Soups and Salad's Mela.

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