Poori with Aalu palak paneer

Its been ages that I made poori or Puri-the deep fried bread from India. Whenever I made poori before I always made it with Aalu Chooley (Potatoes with Chick Peas) but today I am in no mood for chickpeas. And I have Paneer at hand.
                   So...I started my search for Paneer recipes and I found the same old, same old recipes ever where aka palak paneer, mutter paneer, butter paneer and all. I am soooooooo bored with these recipes. So I kind of combined two recipes and came up with my own paneer recipe and let me tell you, it was finger licking good. Even my 10 month old little guy liked it.

Poori (Deep fried Indian wheat bread)

Puri

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups wheat flower
2. 3/4-1 teaspoon salt
3. water for making dough
4. Oil for deep frying

Sift the flour with salt and mix it into dough with water a little at a time. Add a tablespoon of oil to it, mix well and set aside for 30 minutes. Divide the dough into about 12 equal parts. If you have poori maker or a tortilla maker make pooris in them or roll it the old fashoned way into puris the size of your palm, roughly 6-7 inches in diameter.
                 Heat the oil in a pan and deep fry the pooris one at a time till golden brown. Serve immediately with your favourite potato curry or the Aalu Palak Paneer

Aalu Palak Paneer (Potatos and Cottage Cheese in a Spinach gravy)

Aalu palak paneer

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups 1 cm cubes of paneer
2. 1 medium large potato cubed to the same size as paneer
3. 1/2 cup frozen spinach thawed
4. 1 medium tomato chopped
5. 1 green chilly
6. 1 medium onion chopped
7. 1/4 cup milk
8. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric
9. 1 inch ginger peeled
10. 3 tablespoons oil divided

Here is how to make Fresh Paneer
Microwave on high the potatos, covered for 3 minutes and set aside. Heat 2 tablespoons oil and fry the paneer pieces till they start changing color. Drain and set aside. Add the potato pieces to the pan and fry till they get a nice golden crust, drain and set aside. Grind the onion along with ginger and green chilly. Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the onion paste till it starts to become brown. In the mean while grind the spinach, tomato to paste and set aside. When the onion paste become brown add the spinach paste and stir to combine and fry for 5-7 minutes. Add all the rest of the ingredients, add 1/2 cup of water, stir to combine and simmer on a low flame for 10 minutes. Stir ocassionally. Serve hot or at room temparature with Poori or Roti or rice

Chana Dal Aam and Aalu Turai

I went to the Indian stores the other day and got some vegetables. One of the vegetables I definitely get is Turai, Beera Kaaya, Chinese Okra or Ridge Gourd. There used to be a little Ranch type farmer's shop near the place I used to live when I came to the US of A. In those beginner's days I didn't have a licence and no friends. After 6 months I discovered this place and I loved to walkt to this place which used to be about 1 mile from home. This reminded me of the local vegetable markets back home in India. Oh! how I used to miss those shopping trips...even now so.
             Then, during one of my visits to this shop, I discovered that even orientals eat this vegetable. One day as I was picking up some Turai, a lady in front of me (was a Chinese lady) said "Oh! so, even Indian's eat this vegetable Huh! I love the soup we make with it" . Ofcourse we in India cook it till all the water evaporates.
              Anyway, I also got some raw mango or Kairi, Keri or green mango from the Indian store and I made Chana Dal (Split peas) Aam (mango) . And as I forgot to mention above, I made ridge gourd with potato and served these with plain hot rice

Aalu Turai (Ridge gourd with Potato curry)



Aalu Turai

 Ingredients:

1. 2 medium sized ridge gourd peeled, tasted and sliced into 1/2 cm pieces
2. 1 big or 2 medium potatos, peeled and cut into 1 or 11/2 inch cubes
3. 1/2 cup sliced onion
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, turmeric, red chilly powder, cumin, mustard seeds, coriander powder
5. 2 tablespoons oil
6. 1 green chilly slit
7. Coriander for garnishing

Tasting the turai for bitterness is very important. Otherwise the bitterness will just ruin your curry. After you peel the ridge gourd, cut a small piece of it and chew it (yes raw piece) and if it is bitter cut about an inch and discard it. Repeat the process until you can eat it without getting a bitter taste. I know some people, who don't know how to do it or don't have the patience to do it. Believe me, this step will make your curry taste awesome

In a pressure cooker heat the oil and fry the cumin and mustard seeds till they start to crackle. Add onions and fry till they become tender. Add green chillies and fry for a minute. Add all the powders and stir once. Add the rest of the ingredients, a little bit of water and cover and cook for either 20 minutes or for 2 whistles in the cooker. After the steam escapes, open the cooker and simmer till most of the water escapes or the curry reaches a consistency of your choise. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy

Chana Dal Aam (Mango with Yellow Split peas)

Chana Dal Aam

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup yellow split peas (Chana Dal) soaked in water for 20 minutes
2. 1 medium raw mango peeled and cut into pieces (If you like eating the flesh off the seed, leave some flesh on it and cook it also)
3. 1/2 teaspoon cumin, mustard seeds
4. Few curry leaves, red chillies broken
5. 1/2 cup sliced onions
6. 2 green chillies sliced
7. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt
8. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
9. 2 tablespoons oil divided

In a pressure cooker heat one tablespoon oil and fry the onions till tender. Add sliced red chillies and dal and mango pieces and cook for 2 whistles with 2 cups of water and turmeric. After the steam escapes open the cooker. In a pan heat the oil and fry the mustard seeds and cumin for a couple of minutes. Add red chillies and curry leaves and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add this to the cooked mango dal and add salt and stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes, garnish with cilantro, cook for a couple of more minutes and enjoy



PS: The Turai with potato curry photo does not do justice to its taste. The photo is not very colorful mainly because I have no cilantro in it and also you can't see any cumin and mustard seeds :(  . But the curry is delicious