Mixed Vegetable Palya | Carrot, Beans, Cauliflower and Paneer Sabzi and a Wrap

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My better half is constantly trying to lose weight, or should I say constantly talking about it :p One of the tips thats given everywhere to lose weight is to add more vegetables in our diet. He doesn't like 8 out of 10 vegetables that's available in the market. It's a challenge to try new recipe that he will like and agree to take in his lunch box. keeping both things in mind I keep trying new ways of adding more vegetables in our diet. This is one such dish with a lot of vegetables that tastes good when cooked together.

Carrots, Beans, Cauliflower and Paneer cooked in onion tomato gravy with other spices tastes delicious with Indian flat breads and it can also be used in wraps with a little chat masala and onion roundels. You can also add sour cream and salad leaves to turn it completely into a super delicious roll. Please read on for the ingredients and the recipe.

Ingredients:

French Beans : 20

Carrot: 3

Cauliflower: 1 medium size

Paneer: 1 cup

Big Onion: 3

Tomato: 2

Ginger: 1" piece

Garlic: 5 cloves

Green chillies:2

Peppercorn : 1 tsp

Coriander seeds: 2 tsp

Red chilli powder:1/2 tsp

Turmeric: 1/4 tsp

Hing: 1 big pinch

Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Kasoori Methi : 1 tsp

Oil: 2 tbsp

Salt to taste
Lemon juice : 1/2 Lemon
Coriander leaves for Garnish

Method: 

1. Grind onion, ginger, garlic, pepper corn, coriander seeds and green chillies to coarse paste in a blender.

2. Chop beans and carrot into 1/2" pieces, clean cauliflower and cut into bite size florets, make cubes of paneer and keep aside.

3. Heat oil in a deep pan, add hing, cumin seeds and sauté for 30 seconds. Add in the ground onion paste and fry until the oil separates. About 3-4 minutes.

4. Add crushed kasoori methi and fry for a minute. Then mix in salt, turmeric and red chilli powder and give a quick stir.

5. Add chopped tomato and sauté until tomatoes turn soft and combines with all the spices.

6. Next add in carrot, cook for 3-4 minutes, add beans and 1/4 cup of water and cover and cook for 6-7 minutes.

7. Add cauliflower florets and combine well and cook for 2 minutes before adding the paneer cubes. Cook for another 5 minutes on high flame and turn off.

8. Add in freshly squeezed lemon juice and chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Indian Flat Bread (Roti/chapathi or Parathas) of your choice.

To use it in a wrap spread the veggies on the flat bread and sprinkle chat masala and coriander leaves and throw some onion rings and roll it to enjoy delicious veg roll.

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Andhra Chilli Chicken | Bangalore Restaurant Style Chilli Chicken

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Do you like spicy food? Spicy as in really spicy that will bring tears in your eyes and turn your face red yet you will be relishing the dish.. If you can relate to it then this is the dish for you..:) Go ahead and try this super tasty and fiery hot Andhra chilli chicken - Restaurant style :-)

Andhra chilli chicken is a famous chicken dish from Andhra Style restaurants in Bangalore. This is a fiery hot dish with a lot of green chillies. If you have eaten this in Nandini or Nagarjuna residency in Bangalore you will be able to relate to the spiciness of this dish. After many iterations I have come up with with this recipe, the taste is very close to restaurant style chilli chicken. 

I add fried onion and long non spicy variety chillies that gives a nice flavor to the dish. You can either replace long chillies with regular chillies or skip it completely.

Ingredients:

Chicken: 1 kg

Sliced Onion: 3

Non spicy variety green chillies: 8-10

Spicy green chillies :8-10

Coriander leaves: 1 big cup

Mint: 1 big cup

Ginger garlic paste: 2 tbsp

Lemon juice: 1 big lemon

Corn flour: 2 tbsp

Turmeric: 1 tsp

Crushed black pepper: 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil: 3 tbsp

Method: 

1. Grind coriander leaves, mint leaves, ginger garlic paste and spicy green chillies to a coarse paste in a blender.

2. Add salt, corn flour and lemon juice to the ground paste and marinate the cleaned chicken for 2 hours.

3. Heat oil in a wok and fry non spicy variety chillies and remove and keep aside.

4. Fry sliced onion in the same oil until golden brown and remove.

5. Fry marinated chicken in the remaining oil until the raw smell disappears (about 10 mins)

6. Add a cup of water, cover and cook for 10-15 mins or until the chicken is cooked.

7. Add fried chillies and onions and mix well, sauté on high flame for 5 mins.

8. Sprinkle crushed black pepper and a little more lemon juice for extra tanginess and turn off the flame.

Fiery hot andhra chilli chicken is ready to serve. 

Notes:

1. Original dish is very spicy but you can reduce or increase the number of chillies as per your taste.

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Palak Paneer |Cottage Cheese in creamy Spinach curry

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My first post of 2016. I wish you all a very healthy and prosperous new year! I hope the year brings all the good things your way. Last couple of weeks had been a roller coaster ride for me professionally and personally that I hardly cooked and clicked. Hectic yearend workload and then my little one's first play school had kind of drained me emotionally:) I was eagerly looking for her first day at school since the time the registration was completed. 

I wanted to see her reaction when she steps into the bigger world out there all by herself although it's just for 2 hours a day. Like most of the mommies I was very emotional but she handled it with ease in the first week. Then started her separation anxiety in 2nd week. Now we are into 3rd week of her play school and things look more or less settled. So far it's been a good year:-) 

I am not a resolutions person but this year I have made a list and the main resolution is to make time for everything that I like this year. That definitely includes making time to post the recipes more frequently and consistently. 

Coming to today's long pending recipe Palak Paneer - it's one of the very famous curries from India, absolutely easy to make and super tasty dish that can hardly go wrong. It tastes really well with Naan/Roti or any other Indian Flat breads. I served it with hot garlic naan with butter on top and sliced onions. 

Ingredients:

Palak/ Indian Spinach : 1 big bunch

Paneer/cottage cheese : 2 cups

Chopped Onion: 2

Chopped Tomato: 2

Ginger garlic paste: 1 tbsp
Red Chilli powder :1/2 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric: 1/4 tsp
Sugar: 1/2 tsp (Optional)
Whole garam masalas : Cinnamon Sticks-2, Cardamom: 3-4 and Cloves. 

Crushed Kasoori Methi : 1 tbsp
Oil: 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method:0

1. Heat water in a big pot and add washed spinach leaves and 1/2 tsp sugar and boil for 4-5 minutes. Once it cools down grind to a smooth puree and keep aside. Sugar helps in retaining the bright green color of spinach.

2. Heat oil in a deep pan and add whole garam masala and saute until the oil is fragrant. Add cumin seeds and saute for 30 seconds.

3. Add chopped onion and saute until golden brown, next add in ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell is gone.

4. Add turmeric powder and then add in chopped tomatoes and saute until tomatoes are soft.

5. Mix in red chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and salt and cook until the oil separates.

6. Add spinach puree and cook on low flame for about 10 minutes. Add crushed Kasoori Methi leaves and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. keep mixing it in between.

7. Now the gravy is ready and its time to add the paneer. You can either add the paneer cubes directly or roast them on a wide pan with a little oil and then add to the gravy. Roasting/deep frying the paneer ensures that the cubes are not breaking after mixing with the gravy but its completely optional.

8. Add in 1 tbsp of whipping cream and serve hot with any Indian flat breads.

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