Green Pepper Pickle (Serves a number of people)

Sorry to have been out of action for such a long while. Didn’t mean to, just happened. Anyway no excuses, but glad to be back.

I do have a lot of recipes written down based on what I prepared for the last several months. But I wanted to get back in the kitchen and into cooking. Having been in the mood for eating spicy food lately, hence whatever I cooked in the last couple of days have been that.

I would like to start off with what I made yesterday, an Indian style pickle made with green pepper. Green pepper was chosen just because by mistake we ended up picking 7 of them during our regular grocery round, which for 2 people is quite a lot.

I borrowed on the basic pickle recipe that goes really well with mangoes and other vegetables, but just gave a a little variation by using black salt instead of regular white salt. Black salt has its own bursting flavor and unique taste that goes along well with chaat masala, and as part of seasonings. I bought some recently, and its going to feature in quite a lot of the dishes that I will be preparing over the next few months.

3 green peppers diced into small pieces (roughly 400g)
1/16 tsp asafoetida
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 ½ tbsp red chili powder
4 tbsp oil
1 tsp black salt
¾ tsp cumin powder
¾ tsp coriander powder

Dice the green pepper into small pieces, after removing the seeds and stem.

On a non stick pan on medium heat, add the oil. As the oil heats up, add the red chili powder, asafoetida, cumin and coriander powder. Stir everything a bit in the oil as the ingredients get cooked and impart their flavor into the oil.

The moment you get a nice aroma of the spices in the hot oil, immediately add the green pepper to it and stir well. We have to make sure that the powders do not burn in the oil. Hence the timing is important.

Add the turmeric powder and black salt, and mix everything well.

Keep cooking on medium flame until most of the water from the green pepper evaporates, it loses its bitterness, and most importantly you see all the oil start separating from the green peppers. Taste the final product to make sure the peppers are cooked well, and shut the flame off.

Store it, and serve as a accompaniment to rice and dal, or stuff it between buttered bread and have a go at it. Enjoy!

Vegetable Biryani (Serves 5-6)

Finally! Over time, after a few tries and not being satisfied at all with the results, I very much loved the last modified attempt at this wonderful dish and I would like to present the recipe for the same.

I had found this recipe several years ago from somewhere on the Internet. Unfortunately I don’t have the original link with me to give the person credit.
I followed it to the dot many times, but it ended up not quite right. Hence I never posted it.

My friends came over for dinner last Thursday, and I decided to give this another shot as it is very simple to prepare and goes great with some cucumber and yogurt raita. Although it was on the spicy side, everyone loved it. My wife is finally happy with something that I made :-).

I have done some modifications over time to this dish.  Here is the recipe. Although the ingredient list below looks very long, trust me, it is very easy to make. Just follow me through here.

6 cloves of garlic, cut into chunks
3 inch piece of ginger root, skin peeled and cut into chunks
3/4 cup of yogurt
3 large onions sliced thin
4 large green chilies
4-5 medium potatoes, skinned and cut into chunks
1 1/4 cups carrots, cut into 1 1/2 inch long pieces, 1/4 inch width
1 1/2 cups green beans, cut into 1 1/2 inch long pieces
1 1/2 cups peas
6 large plum tomatoes, diced
salt
1 cup oil
1 very large bunch coriander leaves
4 cups good quality basmati rice
7 cups warm water
roasted nuts (optional)
6 tbsp milk
large pinch of saffron strands
6 bay leaves
15 black pepper kernels
1 tbsp coriander powder
15 cloves
3 inches of cinnamon bark
1 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
10 pods of cardamom with skin
3 tbsp cayenne pepper

Heat up the milk in the microwave or a gas stove. Add the saffron strands to the hot milk and keep it aside to let all the flavor and color from the saffron get mixed to the milk. This is one of the main ingredients of biryani that gives a fantastic overall flavor and taste.

In a large soup pot or similar vessel add 7 cups of water, 2 1/2 tsp salt, 7 kernels of black pepper, 7 cloves, 5 pods of cardamom, 3 bay leaves, 1 1/2 inch of cinnamon bark and 4 cups of rinsed basmati rice, and boil for 8-10 minutes. After this, just drain away the water and keep the rice and whole spices aside in the same container.

In a large wok or similar pan, on medium heat, add 1/2 cup oil. When the oil heats up, add the onions. Stir cook the onions until they turn golden brown.

Remove half the onions from the wok and set aside in a container. To the remaining onions in the wok, add the cumin seeds, coriander powder, green chilies, 3 bay leaves, 8 black pepper kernels, 8 cloves, 5 pods of cardamom and 1 1/2 inches of cinnamon bark. Stir everything together well for a few minutes. When the onions are well incorporated with the spices, add the potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, salt to taste and 3 tbsp cayenne pepper. Mix everything well and cook them for a few minutes on medium to high heat.

In the meanwhile, blend the yogurt, garlic, ginger and the onions that were set aside until it is smooth. Add this to the vegetables in the wok along with the diced tomatoes. Cook on medium to high heat until the yogurt is completely cooked and you only see the cooked vegetables and the separated oil. Turn off the heat on the gas stove.

In a 13 1/2" x 9 5/8" x 2 3/4" baking foil tray, add one layer of vegetables in the bottom, sprinkle half the finely chopped coriander leaves, and then add one layer of the rice. Repeat with another layer of vegetables, and then rice on top of that. So you have 4 layers in all.

Sprinkle the remaining coriander leaves on top of the rice. Pour 1/2 cup oil evenly over the top layer of rice. Do the same with the saffron and milk mixture, spooning it evenly over the top layer of rice. Cover the tray with aluminum foil.

Heat the oven on 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the foil tray in the center of the oven and bake for around 40 - 45 minutes. The rice would be done with a texture that is perfect for biryani in this time.

Before serving, plate the biryani individually, mix the rice and vegetables well on the plate to incorporate all the different flavors. Sprinkle some roasted nuts on top (optional) and serve hot with yogurt raita, or salad on the side.

Bon appetit!

Health Rating: Medium

Coconut based Vegetable Stew (Serves 2)

It has been a long while since I have gone near the kitchen area with the intention of cooking for the blog. Hence there haven’t been any posts.

I got the opportunity yesterday to do some cooking while my wife and daughter were busy watching TV and I had the kitchen to myself. Tranquility!

I wanted to make something really quick. A peep into the freezer, and I came out with some frozen coconut pieces and a bag of store-bought stew vegetables. Well, it could have been any vegetables for that matter. This bag contained baby potatoes, pearl onions, celery and carrots. I decided to make a coconut based stew.

I didn’t try anything fancy and just kept to the basics with simple ingredients. 

1 lb stew vegetables

1/3 cup cut green beans

1/3 heaped cup coconut pieces

5 green chilies (3 small, 2 medium)

½ tsp salt

1/16 tsp ground pepper

1 tbsp oil

1 cup low fat milk

1 ½ cups water

Small bunch fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Defrost the vegetables to room temperature. If you are using fresh vegetables, boil or steam cook them until they are just done and set aside.

In a deep pan on medium heat, add oil. When the oil is hot, add the vegetables and stir them well. Add ¼ tsp salt and ground black pepper. After a few minutes of cooking, add 1 ½ cups of hot water to the pan. Cook on medium to high heat until the vegetables are well done. With a food crusher, crush the vegetables a bit.

Defrost the coconut pieces. Blend the coconut, with 3 small green chilies, and 1 cup low fat milk.

Pour this blend through a strainer into the pan containing the vegetables. Add ¼ tsp salt and 2 more medium green chilies cut lengthwise to this, and cook on medium to high heat until the stew is boiling for a few minutes.

Turn off the gas, garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with pooris, chapattis or rice.


Health Rating: High

Sauteed Turnips (Serves 6-8)

My wife bought this huge turnip when she went grocery shopping. Mind you, it was an impulse buy! Well, this huge root had been sitting there for a while.

We invited  some friends over for Diwali at the last moment. We kept the cooking simple for the potluck. I decided to try and cook the turnip.

I had never eaten or cooked turnip before. I have to describe the different flavors of this lovely root. I peeled the turnip with a peeler and diced it into small cubes. When raw the turnip has a sweet flavor. I have to keep this is mind for a salad.

I wanted to experiment with this dish by combining fresh rosemary and fennel seeds, two outstanding flavors that raise the bar of food taste wise when added to complementary vegetables. Then I combined these flavors with the common Indian ingredients we all are very familiar with - garlic, ginger and plain yogurt as I wanted to add a nice base to the dish. On to the recipe then.

960 gm diced turnips (after peeling and dicing)
5 cloves garlic
2 inch ginger root
1 tsp fresh minced rosemary leaves
6 tbsp low fat plain yogurt
3 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp fennel seeds
4 tbsp oil
1 ¾ tsp salt
1 tbsp browned butter
2 cups water

Peel the skin off the turnip, and dice it into small cubes (1/4 inch size). This is the most laborious part of making this dish. After this, it is a stroll in the park. Well, not literally:-)

Grate the ginger and garlic and set aside.

In a large frying pan on medium heat, add the oil. When the oil is starting to get hot, add the fennel seeds and stir a bit. Add the ginger, garlic and ½ tsp fresh minced rosemary leaves, and  continue stirring.

Now add the cayenne pepper and just as it starts to release its aroma, add the plain yogurt. Mix everything well. Turn the flame to high and keep stirring as the water from yogurt evaporates and the oil eventually starts to rise. Throw in the turnips, add salt and mix well.

Bring the flame back to medium heat, add water in ¼ to ½ cup increments and cook the turnips. I tasted the turnips when they were slightly cooked. They tasted bitter. Interesting!

When the water in the pan dries up, add some more water. Continue cooking until the turnips are cooked ,but half crunchy and half soft. At this point add the remaining water (around ¼ cup), and garnish with ½ fresh minced rosemary leaves and 1 tbsp of browned butter (ghee). Mix well and serve hot.

I like the crunchy and soft texture as it goes well with rice ,and with bread or chapati. The turnip now tasted a little lemony, with a hint of sweetness and minuscule amount of bitterness, similar to white radish.

Actually i liked it better the next day, when all the flavors had come together.

Karanji (makes around 40 - 50 karanjis)

Happy Diwali to everyone! Diwali, in simple terms is a festival of lights, the lights signifying the triumph of good over evil.

On this occasion we celebrate by wearing new clothes, burst firecrackers where permissible, prepare and share sweet and savory snacks with friends and family. I present one of my favorite Maharashtrian sweets, Karanjis.

Karanji is all purpose flour or wheat flour dough stuffed with a sweet filling and deep fried. Not that healthy, but who talks about health during festivities. And, as long as you eat in limited quantities you should be good (yeah right!).

The constant ingredient in the sweet filling is fresh grated coconut. People add to that their own concoction of complementary ingredients, under an admissible list. Examples of these are jaggery, sugar, semolina, different kinds of nuts, sesame, cardamom, nutmeg etc.

I got the recipe from a dear friend’s wife in India. They are Maharashtrians. I did a lot of modifications to the recipe, and prepared the karanjis based on the ingredients I had available at home.

Let me tell you, they turned out awesome! I apologize for not counting exactly how many karanjis I made, but a good guess would be 40 - 50 karanjis.

For the filling -
2 cups dried medium shredded coconut
1 cup Semolina
2 cups granulated white sugar
7 cardamom seed pods, skinned and seeds ground
1/4 cup finely chopped pistachio nuts
1/4 cup finely chopped cashew nuts
5 tbsp of browned butter (ghee)

For the dough -
3 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp vegetable oil (warm)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3rd cups milk
6 tbsp water

Vegetable Oil for frying

Preparation of Dough
In a large bowl, sift the flour and salt. To this add warm oil and milk little by little and start kneading the flour and liquid to form dough. Continue adding the water and kneading when the milk is over.

The dough that is formed will be a little tough, not soft and moist like pizza dough. The reason is that we have to fry this dough, and if the liquid content in the dough is high it is going to suck in the oil. Put the dough in an air tight container and keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours.

Preparation of the sweet filling


While the dough is in the refrigerator, we can start preparing the sweet filling.

In a pan on low to medium heat, add 2 tbsp of browned butter and roast the semolina until you can smell the semolina aroma and can see some of the semolina just starting to turn slightly brown. Keep stirring the semolina with a spatula through the whole process. Remove from the stove and transfer to a dry vessel and set aside.

Now add 2 tbsp browned butter to the pan, and roast the shredded coconut on low to medium heat, until the coconut aroma starts to fill the room and the coconut is slightly toasted. Remove from the stove and transfer into another bowl and set aside.

Grind the sugar into powder form and keep it aside.

Chop the pistachio nuts and cashew nuts into fine pieces, and roast them in a pan with 1 tbsp browned butter until they are slightly toasted as well.

Mix the semolina, coconut, sugar, nuts, and cardamom powder. This is the filling for the karanji.

Karanjis


After 2-3 hours, take the dough out of the refrigerator. Make small balls of the dough, each one just around half the size of a golf ball. On a flat surface, with a rolling pin and with the help of some dry flour, roll out each of the dough balls into small thin tortillas, about the size of a compact disc.

To each tortilla, add 1 1/2 tbsp of sweet filling at the center (do not overfill, add enough filling according to the size of your tortilla). Then dip your finger into a bowl filled with water, and pat the edges of one half of the tortilla with your fingers to get the edges a little wet. Now fold the other half of the tortilla over the wet edges to form a dumpling that is a semi circle. With a fork press the edges together to seal the stuffing and add some design to the dough.







In a large deep frying pan, add enough oil, around 4 inches deep. As the oil is getting hot, throw in tiny bits of dough. If it goes down and comes up frying, the oil is ready. Don’t get the oil too hot.

Add 3-4 karanjis at a time and deep fry them until golden brown. Drain excess oil from the karanjis by placing them on a paper towel.



Serve when warm. You can store the karanjis in an air tight container for a week.

Spicy Chicken Vindalho (Serves 4)

I would like to apologize for not posting in a long while, as I have been trying to recover from an herniated disc which hasn’t let me in a position to cook. As a temporary solution I now sit on a chair and cook, as I can’t stay from cooking and don’t want to trouble my wife too much :-)

I got the recipe for this dish while looking on Google, and came upon this Goan food blog called http://www.goanfoodrecipes.com.


I used to have a lot of Goan food (very spicy and flavorful with common items being fish, coconut, rice) while in India, and this site appealed to me with its traditional Goan food recipes. So I was curios to take a recipe from here and try it out over the weekend. 
Vindalho or Vindaloo is usually made with pork and malt vinegar. But chicken can also substituted for the pork. I had to make some adjustments to the recipe in terms of the amount of vinegar, and also the oil needed. I also used rice vinegar instead of the malt vinegar. The result nevertheless was outstanding. 


The author was right when he mentioned that this dish reminds you of pickle. Yes, the vinegar and the simple spices make that happen. Let's go straight to the recipe. It is so simple, you can make it even if you are totally wasted! :-) well, almost.

2 lb mixed chicken breast and thighs (boneless)
2 big onions (2 medium sized onions if you are in the US)
2 tbsp paprika powder
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1 inch piece ginger cut small
5 cloves garlic cut small
2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
8-10 black peppercorns
4-5 cloves
2 inch piece of cinnamon bark
4 tbsp oil
salt to taste


Cut the chicken in to one inch chunky pieces and set aside in a large bowl. Add salt to the chicken and mix well.

In a small bowl add the different chilli powders, 3/8 cup vinegar and mix well. Pour this mixture in a blender. Add the ginger root and garlic (both cut into small pieces), cumin seeds, turmeric powder, and blend everything till it forms a fine paste.


Pour this paste into the chicken pieces and mix everything really well. Refrigerate this overnight preferably, or at least one hour like I did.

Cut the onions into chunks and blend them in the grinder as well. 


In a large pan on medium heat, add the oil. As the oil gets hot, add the chicken and the blended onions, mix well and cook for 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of water, 1/8 cup of vinegar, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon, and let the chicken cook on a low flame for at least an hour until the it is well done. Add more water based on the consistency you need, although I would suggest to keep it on the drier side.


Store in the refrigerator overnight to let the all the flavors mingle together and let the meat absorb the spices. Serve hot with rice, or chapati/fresh Italian bread.

Delicious!


Health Rating: Medium


Substitute Ingredient/s: For vegetarians you can substitute the chicken with chunky starchy vegetables such as potatoes. Adding carrots and celery to the potatoes would give it the flavor of a nice stew.


Also note that you will get a fantastic red color if you use authentic red chillies from Kashmir that the original recipe calls for. They aren’t that spicy, by the way.

Alu Tikki (Potato Nibblers) (Serves 7-8)

For our barbecue party I had prepared this appetizer for the kids, and hence kept it simple and not added any hot peppers or chilli powder. 


Alas, by the time the kids could even get a sniff of it, we adults just ate it all up. That is what a lovely evening, lots of beer and wine, and a barbecue does to you :-). 


Good thing is if this ever happens to you, you can always make some more quickly as long as you keep some boiled potatoes ready in the fridge as a back up ;-). Will remember that for the future. Here is the recipe.

5 medium potatoes boiled (do not overcook)

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp Shan Garam Masala or Haleem Mix

1/8 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp coriander powder

Salt to taste

1 small bunch coriander leaves chopped fine

1 cup Panko bread crumbs for patting the potatoes 

In a small pan on low to medium heat, add 1 tbsp oil. As the oil starts to heat up, add the cumin, garam masala, turmeric, and coriander powder and give everything a mix. Turn off the heat after 5-10 seconds ensuring that the spices don't burn up.

Mash the potatoes with your hands until fine (make sure you boil the potatoes just right, and not overcook it). Add the spice mixture and oil, salt, and the fresh coriander leaves and mix everything well. Form the potatoes into little balls, and flatten them in the palm of your hands. You can use some oil on your palms so the potatoes don't stick.

Heat a non stick pan, and add very little oil. Pat the tikkis or nibblers to the bread crumbs, and roast them on the pan, both sides until the bread crumbs turn golden brown. As you cook, add oil as needed. Please don't overdo the oil, though.

Serve hot with coriander/mint chutney and Heinz ketchup. Yummy! Your kid/s will love this simple addictive appetizer. And you will, too :-).

Health Rating: Medium

Ingredient Substitute/s: For adults, to the above recipe add 1 tbsp red chilli powder, and 2 medium seeded jalapeno peppers chopped fine. If you don't have bread crumbs, you can use cream of wheat instead.

Grilled Paneer with Tandoori Masala (Serves 10 - 14)

One of the appetizers from my blog anniversary party, delicious grilled paneer with tandoori masala and veggies. You really can't go wrong with this one, if you follow the recipe accordingly. They got eaten up in no time. Thankfully they were only appetizers.

Paneer (fresh cheese) and tofu for that matter are similar in their ability to adapt to any flavors you add to them. Very common in the northern part of India, it has found its way to all restaurants that prepare Indian food. You can experiment a lot with paneer and be rest assured you won't mess up. But let me warn you, you really can mess up the base gravy to which you add the paneer if you get too boisterous :-)

Usually made by curdling hot milk with lemon juice and draining the water completely away, one does not need to conduct this experiment anymore as nowadays you get good paneer from any Indian store.

2 450g blocks of Nanak Paneer (as always choose the best available in the store)

1 cup strained yogurt (e.g. Greek yogurt)

4 tsp Shan Tandoori Masala powder, and more to sprinkle later

1 tbsp oil, and a little more in a cup for brushing the vegetables prior to cooking

1 inch piece fresh ginger root grated

1 clove garlic grated

salt to taste

2 onions

2 green peppers

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Few yellow lemons cut in quarters

Cut the paneer into 1 inch square chunks or any size suitable for your skewers as long as they don't break up while grilling. Poke some tiny holes in the paneer pieces with a food pick.

In a large bowl add the yogurt, Shan tandoori masala powder (I am big fan of Shan lately), oil, ginger, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Mix everything well to prepare the marinade.

One thing to note here is that the Shan tandoori masala powder has salt in it. When you add additional salt to it, you would think by tasting the marinade that there is enough salt. I would suggest you add a little bit more salt at this point, as the paneer has no salt and once its cooked the level of saltiness is less.

Add the paneer cubes to the marinade, mix well, and store in the fridge for a few hours.

In the meanwhile cut the onion and green peppers into chunks that are similar in size to the paneer. On flat skewers (using round skewers, the paneer and vegetables keep turning and grilling is a pain), arrange the paneer and the onions and peppers alternatively (2 of each or any order you like).

Brush the vegetables with oil and sprinkle tandoori masala powder liberally on the vegetables as well as on the paneer. Place on the grill, and close the lid on the grill. Grill on medium heat (400 - 425) until the paneer is nicely roasted and the vegetables are done and crunchy. If you have no grill, use the conventional oven and bake the same at 400 degrees Fahrenheit until well roasted.

Take off from the skewers onto a serving platter, squeeze a good amount of lemon juice on the paneer and vegetables, and serve hot. Oh yea, total bliss!

Health Rating: Medium

Paneer Fried Rice (Serves 2)

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there and to those who follow this blog. And yes Happy One Year Anniversary to my blog as well.

I remember very vividly, last year on this same day I was in bed, recovering from my first two surgeries. And if I wasn't working, I was continuously watching Food Network on TV. I thought to myself maybe this was the right time for me to start something I had always wanted to - start my own food blog, which would help maintain my sanity as I recovered very slowly from my surgery, and maintain a positive mindset.

I am really happy that I acted on it, and it has been a year since then. It has been worth it. I will continue to get better this year and bring some really good recipes for everyone.

Thanks for your support, to all you readers out there, and my wife and family who have encouraged and pushed me in this endeavor.

Last week in my post, I had mentioned about the two masalas I am very fond of currently. I prepared this fried rice using Priya's biryani masala powder.

150 grams Nanak paneer (room temperature)
1/2 cup french cut beans (pre cooked)
1/2 red bell pepper chopped into small pieces
2 cups cooked (al dente) basmati rice
1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1 1/2 tbsp Priya Biryani Masala Powder
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Buy Nanak paneer from any Indian store. It comes in a 450g block size. Cut off about 150 grams of paneer from this and cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

In a small non stick pan, on medium heat pour around 1/2 tbsp oil and pan roast the paneer cubes until they are golden brown. Set aside.

In a wok or a similar pan, on medium heat, add 1 1/2 tbsp oil, the cayenne pepper and stir a little. Immediately add the red bell peppers, green beans, biryani masala powder, and a pinch of salt and continue to stir until the vegetables are done but crunchy. Add the rice, paneer, and salt to taste, and mix everything well so that all the ingredients get incorporated into the rice and paneer.

Serve this delicious fried rice hot.

Potato Gravy (Serves 2)

My current favorite spice masalas are Shan's Haleem Mix (for cooking meat and pulses gravy) and Priya's Biryani Masala Powder (both available in most well stocked Indian grocery stores). Check out my Amazon store on the side to research them.

If you are planning to stock up, I recommend that you get both of these as they extremely versatile in their purpose and can be used in a variety of dishes, rather than the specific use mentioned in their packaging. Why do I like them so much? because they are really different from the masalas available from the other manufacturers such as Everest and Badshah (should start calling them Bad Shah), and bring a totally new taste to one's palate.

I cooked two quickfire dishes this week, starting off with this really easy but very tasty potato gravy to accompany the puris (mini chapatis deep fried instead on cooking them like tortillas) that my wife made.

I was done making this in 10 -15 minutes or so, and it turned out to be really delicious.

3 medium size potatoes smashed and cut into small chunks
1 small onion chopped fine
1 plum tomato cut into small pieces
1/4 tsp hing (Asafoetida)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tbsp oil
1 1/2 tsp Shan Haleem Powder
Small bunch fresh coriander leaves chopped fine
3/8 cup green peas (precooked)
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 cup warm water

Boil the potatoes the old fashioned way or in the microwave until cooked, smash and cut them into small pieces. Cut the onions and tomatoes, and have them ready as well.

In a pan on medium fire, add the oil, hing, cumin seeds, red chili powder and cook them for a few seconds before adding the onions. Cook the onions until translucent, and add the green peas. After a few minutes of cooking, add the tomatoes, Shan Haleem Mix powder and mix everything well.

After a few minutes, add the potatoes and mix, adding water at the same time. Integrate everything well with a spatula, add the fresh coriander leaves and cook until it has the consistency of a semi liquid gravy.

Turn off the fire and add the lemon juice to the gravy. Mix well and serve hot with puris/chapatis.

Health Rating: High

Mango Kulfi (Makes 24 Kulfis)

We went to a potluck chaat party hosted by one of our friends, consisting of bhel puri, pani puri, pav bhaji etc. (all delicious junk food).

I made my wife's special mango kulfi, which is versatile in that it can also be served as a pie. The traditional way of making kulfi (frozen sweet dessert similar to ice cream) is to slowly cook whole milk and sugar, caramelize them till the milk volume turns to at least half its original size, adding fruits or nuts and freezing them in molds or small pots (matkas).

Being such an arduous task, I stuck to a much easier method thanks to my wife’s superfast recipe.

For lovers of mango desserts or any kind of frozen milk dessert, this is one dessert that you should try out as soon as you can. All you need is a trip to your local Indian grocery store and a few other ingredients, and you can make a batch of these beauties.

1 can Ratna brand Alfonso Mango Pulp (Sweetened) 30 oz (1lb 14oz) (from the local Indian store – don’t settle for any other brand)
1 tub Kraft Cool Whip Lite Whipped Topping 8oz (226g)
1 can Sweetened Condensed milk 14oz (396g) (saves the task of caramelizing)
24 Silver Paper-Lined Foil Muffin Baking Cups
1 ½ tbsp pistachio nuts, minced to small pieces
One large pinch of saffron, crushed into tiny bits

Thaw the Cool Whip for a while so that it is a little soft, by keeping it in normal room temperature for 10 – 15 minutes or so.

In a large bowl, mix the mango pulp, sweetened condensed milk, and the Cool Whip and blend them all together with a hand blender, until smooth and creamy.

Pour 1 ½ ice cream scoop full’s into each muffin baking cup, garnish on top with crushed saffron and pistachio nuts, and freeze for around 3-4 hours.

Serve with pride, knowing fully well that you have a winner at your hands and people will be clamoring over you for the recipe J.

Health Rating: Low

Butter Paneer (Serves 4-5)

I have prepared this dish twice in the near past, and wanted to tweak it until I was satisfied it was ready for posting. This is my take on Butter Paneer, one of the most popular Indian dishes.

Right off the bat, I would like to say that this is not for the faint hearted, and I prepare this dish only once in a while for special occasions. If this were to be cooked very regularly then I might as well be writing my blog from atop my elliptical machine.

I like this dish and make it especially for my wife who adores it and anything with paneer, but doesn't get to eat much of it. This north Indian dish is on the menu of any Indian restaurant you walk into. Although most ingredients are the same there will be some variations. Personally I don't prefer the use of cashew nut paste (used by most) as it makes this already rich dish richer and creamier. I like to let the other flavors and ingredients make their statement too. So I did away with the cashew nuts.

I will also say this. This is a ridiculously easy dish to prepare and let no else, including your mind tell you otherwise. Read on and you will understand. So roll up your sleeves and get to the fun and you will be amazed at your cooking prowess :-)

400 g (14 oz) Paneer (preferably 'Nanak Paneer' or any soft paneer)
2 1/2 tbsp oil
1 large onion diced
6 plum tomatoes, medium sized, diced
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic grated
3/4 inch piece of ginger grated
3 whole cardamoms (unseeded and then ground fine)
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (a.k.a kasuri methi in the Indian stores)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup heavy cream
3/4 tsp honey
handful fresh coriander leaves chopped fine

Paneer is sold in Indian stores in block form. Make sure that the paneer you buy is on the softer side. I usually buy the brand called "Nanak Paneer". There are plenty of others available but they are all harder. This paneer will melt in your mouth as you chew on it.

Cut the paneer into 1/2 inch cubes. On a non stick pan, add 1 1/2 tbsp of oil and roast the paneer in low to medium flame. Once most of the sides are golden brown, turn the heat off. Immerse the paneer in a bowl of warm water with salt to preserve its tenderness while we prepare the gravy.

In a pan, add 1 tbsp of oil and saute the onions on low to medium flame until translucent. Add the tomatoes and saute for another 5 minutes. Let them cool off and then blend the onions and tomatoes in a grinder until smooth.

In a deep pan/wok, on low flame add 3 tbsp unsalted butter (why would anyone make butter paneer devoid of butter?). Then add the grated garlic and ginger, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, cardamom powder, red chili powder, garam masala, dried fenugreek leaves (crush them as you add them) and saute all of this for half a minute.

Add the blended onion and tomatoes, 1/2 tsp salt and saute on medium heat for 5 minutes. Drain the water from the paneer, and add the paneer to this. Saute for a couple of minutes and add the heavy cream, followed by the honey. Mix everything together well. Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Garnish with the coriander leaves.

I would recommend preparing this dish several hours before you serve to enhance its taste. Serve hot with roti, naan or rice, and enjoy this mouth watering dish.

Health Rating: Low

Note: Paneer and methi and all of the above ingredients are available at any Indian grocery store. The dry fenugreek leaves come in a big box. You can sprinkle them in any gravy to give it an additional aromatic flavoring.