Palak Paneer

This is not a dish we usually order at the restaurant unless my husband's foreign clients are joining us. It is a mild dish  celebrating spinach and Indian cheese.

I had never made this at home (as it was 'too mild') but when a friend asked for this recipe, I did some research on the web and talked to 2-3 people. Each recipe was different from the other.

One recipe involved raw onion, garlic, green chilli and ginger ground and then fried. Another one said  grind onion and garlic together, tomato and ginger together and grind the blanched spinach with chilli. And one I vetoed as it had garam masala, which I thought was against the mild taste. 

Finally I settled for a recipe given to me by Mrs.Rani Sethi. And we loved it.

Easy on the taste buds and having a rich flavour.

Palak - 2 bunches

Paneer - 200 gms

Ghee - 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp + 1 tbsp

Jeera - 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp

Onion - 1 medium

Ginger - 2 inch + 1 inch

Garlic - 10 small pods

Green chilli - 4 + 3 

Tomato - 4 large

Milk - 1/2 cup

Salt

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp

Kasuri methi - 1/2 tsp

Clean the spinach bunch 2-3 times and remove all the grasses and grime.

Put it into a cooker without any water.

Add 4 green chilli and 2 inches of ginger to it.

Put on the weight and cook for 2 whistles. Turn off flame. No need to reduce flame and cook.

Chop the onion, garlic, rest of the ginger and green chilli.

Heat 2 tbsp of ghee. Splutter 1 tsp jeera and add the chopped ginger, garlic, green chilli and onion.

Cube the paneer and keep immersed in milk.

Once the onion turns pink add the salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder and 1/2 tsp chilli powder. 

Sauté for 1/2 minute and add the chopped tomatoes.

Sauté till tomato becomes mushy.

Grind this onion tomato mix.

Heat 2 tbsp of ghee and fry the purée on low flame covered for 15 minutes.

Purée the spinach with the green chilli and ginger.

Add this purée to the tomato gravy.

Mix well and add the paneer and the milk.

Add crushed Kasuri methi to this.

Mix well. Boil. Simmer. Cook covered for 10 minutes.

Heat 1 tbsp ghee and splutter 1/2 tsp jeera in it.

 Turn off flame and add 1/2 tsp chilli powder to this.

Add this tadka to the palak paneer.

Serve palak paneer with rice or chapathy.

Mullangi sambar / radish sambar

Come December - January , Ooty radish lands in truckloads at the market. My husband loves radish and an all time hit recipe is sambar with radish as the only / chief ingredient.

The long white root is cut into thick rounds or thick batons, cooked in tamarind gravy with sambar spices and served hot with rice and thoran. 

Ingredients:

Radish - 2 , cut into thick rounds

Turdal / toovar parippu - 1/2 cup

Salt

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - 1 tsp

Tomato - 1 medium, cut into 4 (opt)

Green chilli - 2

Drumstick /Capsicum (optional) - 5 pieces

Tamarind - lime sized ball

Tadka:

Coconut (preferred) / refined oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Curry leaf - 6

Red chilli - 1, broken

Sambar masala:

Coriander seed - 1 1/2 tbsp

Chana dal / kadala parippu - 1 tsp

Red chilli - 5

Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp

Coconut - 3 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

(or) 

use Sambar powder.

If you are making fresh sambar powder:

Heat the oil, add all the ingredients except coconut and fry until dal turns red. Then turn off flame and add the coconut. Stir for 1 minute. Cool and grind into a smooth paste. Keep covered till use.

Boil / pressure cook the tur dal till soft.

Method:

Boil water with salt, turmeric powder, asafoetida, tomato and slit green chilli.

When the tomato softens, add the radish.

When the radish gets half done, add the tamarind pulp.

Continue cooking till radish softens.

Then add the cooked dal.

After boiling for 2-3 minutes, add the ground sambar masala.

Boil for 1 minute and turn off flame.

Tadka: Heat the oil and splutter the mustard. Add the broken red chilli and curry leaf. Pour this over the sambar. 

Serve sambar hot with rice / dosa.

Pizza

I was surfing the web, when I came upon a site which claimed a Pizza in 35 minutes. Come on! I know that the dough must be knead, rested, re-kneaded, blind baked... Surely a 3 hour + process.. And why bake pizza when you can buy one?

Then I read an article about store-bought pizza containing MSG - an addictive additive and that many ingredients are not being listed. That got me thinking again of baking a pizza at home.

This pizza recipe surprised me!!

It was a great success. Easy to make. Not at all time consuming and tasted exceptional!!

Recipe courtesy: 

www. centrecutcook.com

Yield : 2 pizzas of 12 inch diameter

Ingredients:

Pizza base / dough:

2 tsp instant yeast

1 cup warm water 

2 1/2 cups maida

2 tsp honey

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp olive oil

Pizza sauce:

Tomato - 8 medium

Garlic - 4 cloves

Onion - 1 medium

Celery - 1 stalk

Salt

Sugar - 1 tsp

Spices (pepper, rosemary, oregano, chilli flakes) - 1 tbsp

Tomato sauce - 1 tbsp

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Flavored oil:

Olive oil - 2 tbsp

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Pepper - 1/8 tsp

Salt - 1/8 tsp

Garlic - 2 cloves , crushed

Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp

Topping of your choice

Cheese - as required

Baking sheet / aluminium foil
Pizza pan or thaali

Method:

Making the dough:

Take a bowl and mix together the warm water and yeast and stir well.

Transfer this into a large vessel and tip in the rest of the dough ingredients.

Form a ball and let rest covered for 10 minutes.

Pizza Sauce:

Heat the olive oil and sauté the onion, garlic and celery on a low flame till onion becomes transparent.Then add the tomato, salt , spices, sugar and ketchup. Mix well and cook covered till the skin of the tomato starts peeling. Purée this sauce.

Flavoured oil:
Mix the olive oil with the crushed garlic, salt and spices.

Baking the pizza:
Preheat oven to 200C.
Prepare a baking tray with a greased baking sheet  / aluminium foil on top.(My tray is 12 inches in diameter.)
Divide the expanded dough into 2 parts and keep one part covered inside the fridge. 
Roll one portion to fit the prepared tray. 
I found it easier to use oiled hand to push out the dough into shape over the oiled sheet /foil.
Lay this over the tray carefully and spread the flavored oil over it.
Bake for 8 minutes.

Spread the pizza sauce on top.

Arrange your topping over the sauce.
Top with grated cheese.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until crust is brown and cheese is melted.
Cut into slices and enjoy hot!!