Paneer Zaikedar and Jackfruit Dessert------- 100th Post

Hi pals, It's my 100th post! actually it's quite unbelievable to reach such a big number with my snail pace :P First of all I'd like to start off with thanking all my blogger friends for dropping by and leaving such encouraging lines and also, the awards shower from time to time. Secondly, this whole food blogging concept is so enlightening. Before I move further I'd like to thank Shobhaji of Food Mazaa for the wonderful award she generously offered me.


Over the years, visiting numerous food blogs has left me more knowledgeable about food, cooking methods, kitchen tips and many more things. It's an a on going process for life...as they say learning never ceases.....

Today being a celebration post, I've chosen what seems to be the favourite of most of the foodies and undoubtedly the most versatile ingredient to work with...yes, indeed it's paneer. I've selected one of Nita Mehta's paneer recipes and for dessert I've experimented and dished out a simple humble dessert using jackfruit. Without much ado, let me present to you the recipes....

Jack fruit Dessert

Ingredients:

Jack fruit ------------------ 8 - 9 segments, chopped
Coconut grated ------------- 1/3rd cup
Green cardamom ----------- 2
Crushed Jaggery ----------- -2 tbsp ( more or less, depends of your sweet tooth ;P)
Water -----------------------1 cup
Thick coconut Milk ---------- 1/2 cup

Method:

• In a sauce pan cook the chopped jackfruit pieces with 1 cup of water.

• Meanwhile, grind to a fine paste the grated coconut, cardamom, crushed jaggery with just enough water.

• Once the jackfruit pieces are soft and cooked, add the ground paste, coconut milk and give it a nice stir.

• Let it boil for a few seconds and turn off the flame.

• Serve it hot or chilled, both taste awesome

• Note: I've not added any thickening agent as I wanted it runny

Garnishing tips : top the dessert with fresh cream or crushed nuts or just anything out of your creativity :P


Paneer Zayekedar

Recipe Source: Nita Mehta's book - More Paneer

Ingredients:

vegetables:

Onions ------------------- 2 , sliced
French beans ------------- 10-12
Carrots ------------------- 2
Paneer ------------------- 200 gms, 1/2" cubes
Cooking oil --------------- 4-5 tbsp
Bay leaf ------------------ 1
Lime juice ---------------- juice of 1/2 a lime


Paste:

Garlic flakes (Opt) -------------- 6-7
Ginger -------------------------- 1" piece
Saunf ( aniseeds) ---------------- 1 tsp
Jeera ( cumin seeds) ------------ 1 tsp
Dry red chillies ------------------ 3
Dhania powder ------------------ 1 tsp
Cinnamon ----------------------- 1 stick
Cloves --------------------------- 3 - 4
Pepper corns -------------------- 3 -4
Brown cardamom ---------------- seeds of 2 no.

Method:

• Grind all the ingredients of the paste column together with little water.

• Chop the beans and carrots into tiny pieces and cook them in water with a little salt. once cooked drain the water and set it aside.

• Heat oil. Add sliced onions. Cook till golden brown

• Add the boiled vegetables and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.

• Add the ground paste and bay leaf. cook for 1-2 minutes.

• Add 1/4 cup of water or milk. Boil.

• Add salt to taste and paneer cubes. Mix well. Sprinkle lime juice. Mix and serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves.
  

Mango Chitranna - Tangy seasoned mango flavoured rice

Mango Chitranna

Ingredients:
1 -Raw mango, peeled, grated
1 cup -Cooked rice
3/4th cup - Grated coconut
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp -Mustard seeds
1-2 no. -Green chillies
1-2 -Strands of coriander leaves
Salt -To taste

Tempering:
2 tsp -Oil
1tsp -Mustard seeds
1 tsp -Udad dal
1 tsp -Chana dal
1 sprig -Curry leaves


Method:

• Grind into a coarse paste the grated mango, coconut, green chilli, mustard seeds, turmeric powder, coriander leaves ,salt with very little water. Set it aside.


• Heat oil in a kadhai and add chana dal, udad dal, mustard seeds, curry leaves and fry till it splutters.


• Next, add the ground paste to the kadhai and fry for a couple of seconds.


• To this paste that is getting fried add the cooked rice and mix well so that the rice blends in with the paste.(Add salt if necessary)


• Take it off the flame, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with accompaniment of your choice.

Musk Melon (cantaloupe) Smoothie

Musk Melon Smoothie


Ingredients:
1 ---------------small Musk Melon, peeled, seeds removed and cubed
1--------------- cup Yogurt
1/2-------------cup Water
1----------------tbsp Honey (opt)
1----------------Pinch cardamom powder
5-6--------------Ice cubes


Method:

Blend all the ingredients till smooth, add water/honey to suit your taste and consistency of the smoothie. Serve fresh.

Check out this site for health benefits of "cantaloupe", After going through the health and nutritional value of this fruit, am sure people who don't like it ( your's truly too doesn't like it :P) will blindly start liking it :P

Main Course Rice Accompaniment:Cabbage Parpu

Cabbage Parpu

Ingredients:
Medium Size Cabbage....... Roughly chopped
Chana dal .............................. 1/2 cup

To Grind:
Grated coconut ............................. 3/4th cup
Cumin seeds .................................. 1 tsp
Green chillies ................................. 1- 2
Tamarind ....................................... small piece
Turmeric......................................... 1/2 tsp
Salt .................................................. to taste

Tempering:
Mustard seeds................................. 1 tsp
Curry leaves..................................... 1 sprig
Oil....................................................... 2 tsp

Method:

• Clean, wash and pressure cook the chana dal and chopped cabbage separately and set it aside
• Grind to a fine paste the coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies, tamarind, turmeric and salt with enough water, set it aside
  
• Pour the cooked dal in a vessel and mash it a little bit, add the cooked cabbage and a little water and mix well
• Simmer this mixture till it starts to boil, lower the flame
  
• In a skillet, heat 1 tsp oil, add mustard seeds and curry leaves, once it starts to splutter, take it off the flame and pour it over the simmering cabbage - dal mixture and mix well
• Let this mixture boil for couple of seconds and take it off the flame
• Garnish with chopped coriander leaves
• Cabbage parpu is ready to serve. Goes well with rice, chapati, rotis
  

Mallige Idli - Super soft and spongy

MALLIGE IDLI

Mallige in kannada means the Jasmine flower.The name mallige idli is so apt for these idlis as they are as white and soft as the jasmine flower, yes it spongy too ( wonder what the jasmine thinks of the idlis about this aspect ;)

I normally make idlis from udad dal and idli rava (shall blog it too), my Amma makes varieties of idlis, and this one tops the list in my favorite breakfast eats. As it's quite a lot of work to make separate batters for these idlis, mix them and all that ( am a lazy frog ;) ) I used to bring the batter from Amma's place and make it at home. So, I decided that it's time I get out of my "froggyness";P and put some hard work and get good results on my plate :) got the recipe from Amma and made it all by myself. It's the same feeling as Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... from the Coke ad! lol
....read on for the recipe

Ingredients:

Dosa rice 2 cups
Udad dal 1 cup
Thick poha (beaten rice) 2 handful
Methi seeds ( fenugreek seeds) 1/4 tsp


Method:

1. Soak rice, udad dal- methi seeds separately for atleast 5-6 hours.

2. Just before grinding - wash and clean the poha and soak it in water and set it aside.

3. First grind the rice into a paste using enough water (not too fine nor too coarse) empty it in a clean vessel and set it aside.

4. Next, grind the udad dal-methi, and poha ( drain the water from the soaked poha) into and medium coarse-fine paste.

5. Add this batter to the rice batter. Add salt as per your taste and mix well.

6. Cover the vessel and keep it in a cool ,dry place to ferment over night.

To prepare Idlis:

1. The next morning, carefully stir the batter as it would've risen due to fermentation.

2. Transfer as much batter you need for the idli preparation into a smaller vessel and refrigerate the rest of the batter. This way the batter will last for a couple of days, without getting sour.
you can use it as and when you need it.

3. Grease the idli stand groves with little oil and spoon enough batter to cover the groves. I steam idlis in greased steel bowls. Place them in the steaming utensil and steam for 30- 35 minutes or until done.

4. Once the idlis are done, open the lid of the steamer and remove the idlis from it and let it cool for a couple of minutes in the idli stand/bowls .


5. Dish out the idlis using a knife or a butter knife, run it in circular motion around edges of the idlis.

6. Serve the Idlis with any chutney of your choice.

7. Udad dal chutney tastes brilliant with idlis, the recipe for which follows in my next post :P

This recipe goes to Srivalli's Breakfast Mela

Konkani Cuisine- Sweet and Savory Appe (Paniyaram)

Savory Appe

Ingredients:

Dosa rice- 2 cups
Udad dal - 1 cup
Thick Poha (beaten rice)- 2 fistful
Methi seeds - 1/4 th tsp

Method:

1. Wash and clean the rice and udad dal with water atleast 2-3 times, drain the water.

2. Soak the rice, udad dal and methi seeds in clean water for 4-5 hours.

3. Just before grinding, clean and soak the thick poha in water for a 5 minutes.

4. Drain the water and add the poha to the rest of the ingredients and grind it into a fine paste with enough water.

The dough should not be too runny nor too thick.

After grinding empty the dough into a clean vessel add salt as per your taste, cover and keep it over night and let it ferment.


Preparation:

1.Mix the dough well as it would've risen due to over night fermentation.

2. Spoon as much dough u require into a smaller vessel.

3. Now to the dough that you've taken into a smaller vessel add 1 finely chopped onion, 1 sprig finely chopped curry leaves, 2 springs of finely chopped coriander leaves, 1 finely chopped green chilli .Mix well.

4. Heat the appe/paniyaram kadhai drizzle little oil in each groves and spoon the prepared batter into the grove, about 3/4th of each grove is to be filled.



5. Drizzle a little oil on each of the dough filled groves, cover and cook it on medium -high flame, keep checking occasionally.

6. Once the lower side of the doughs are golden brown, carefully turn it over to the other side and cook till done.

7. Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

Sweet Appe


Ingredients:

Dosa rice- 2 cups
Thick Poha (beaten rice)- 1 handful
Cardamom- 2
Crushed Jaggery- 3/4th cup
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak the rice for 4-5 hours

2. Just before grinding, wash and soak the poha in water for 5 minutes.

3. Grind the rice with the rest of the ingredients and poha using enough water into a dough that is not too fine nor coarse

4. Empty the dough into a clean vessel and cover it and let it ferment for at least 5 hours.

Preparation:

Follow the same method as done for the savory appes, the exception here is that u can directly spoon the batter into the appe kadhai as it is already sweetened.

This recipe goes to Srivalli's Breakfast Mela

Decadent Chocolate Cake

Decadent Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cakes are our all time favourite dessert. I love trying out various recipes of the same, be it with or without eggs. What fascinates me is that each recipe has its own unique result. Recently came across a recipe of a gorgeous looking chocolate cake in Good House Keeping Magazine. I fell for the photographs of the cake that accompanied the recipe, so baked it yesterday. Though it didnt turn out as good as I expected it to be, it was good. mmmm... may be because I was a little too anxious to be done with it and also the power was off twice while the baking was in process :(

For the cake:

2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa

1&1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup sugar, (I omitted brown sugar)

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 &1/2 cup buttermilk

For Frosting:

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup butter, softened

2 tbsp icing sugar

350 gms dark chocolate, melted and cooled

To Garnish:

1/2 cup crushed almonds, cashewnuts, almonds

Method:

1. For the cake ; preheat the oven to 170*C. Grease 2 round cake pans. line the bottom of the pan with butter paper;grease and lightly dust the pans with flour.

2. Sieve the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Keep aside.

3. In a large bowl, with a hand beater at low speed, beat the butter and both sugars until well blended.

4. Increase the speed to high; beat for 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy, scraping the bowl with spatula occasionally.

5. Reduce the speed to medium-low;add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add vanilla essence and beat well until well blended.

7. Add a little flourmixture alternately with a little buttermilk, begining and ending with flour. Beat until the batter is smooth, occasionally, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Spoon the batterevenly among the two prepared pans. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

8. Cool the cakes in their pans atleast for 10 minutes.

9. With a small knife loosen the cakes from the sides of the pans, invert it and remove it on a wire rack, peel off the butter paper and cool the cakes for about 45 minutes.

To Prepare the Frosting:

1. In a bowl, combine the cocoa and boiling water, stirring until smooth. Keep aside.

2. In a bowl, with a mixer at medium-high speed, beat the butter and icing sugar for five minutes or until fluffy.

3. Reduce the speed to medium-low add the melted chocolate. Mix well.

4. Then add the cocoa mixture ,beat until the batter is smooth, ocassionally scraping the bowl with a spatula.

To assemble the cake:

1. Place one cake layer, bottom side up, on a cake plate and spread some of the frosting over evenly.

2. Sprinkle some of the crushed nuts over the icing.

3. Top with the second cake, bottom side up. Spread the remaining frosting over the sides and the top of the cake. Carefully cover the sides of the cake with the remaining nuts.