Palak Paneer Paratha with Tamatar ka Sallan

The other day I wanted to make Palak Paneer and Roti but I thought instead of making them as usual I will make something special. And I made the Palak Paneer Paratha and I am so proud of it, cause each and every paratha puffed up so well. m...m...m...for the sight, for the soul and for the stomach.
            You can just serve this paratha as is with butter on top of it but I made a simple curry with tomatoes. So here is the recipe

Palak Paneer Paratha (Indian Spinach wheat bread, stuffed with Cottage Cheese)

Palak paneer Paratha

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups wheat flour
2. 1 packed cup frozen chopped spinach
3. Oil or butter for frying the paratha
4. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
5. 1 teaspoon salt
6. extra flour for rolling paratha

For the stuffing:

1. 1-2 cups grated paneer
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, amchur powder
3. 1 teaspoon each of madras garam masala

Combine all the ingredients of stuffing and set aside

In a pressure cooker cook the spinach along with the turmeric with a little water for 2 whistles. Let it cool and grind to a smooth paste.

Mix the spinach paste with the wheat flour and salt and add some water if the dough is very tough. Apply a little oil to you palm and roll the dough ball and cover and set aside for 15-20 minutes

Make about 9 parts of the dough and the same with paneer. Roll a little bit and put one part stuffing and close it like a dumping. Set aside till you finish making all the other parathas

Add some flour again on the surface and roll the paratha. Heat a griddle and fry the paratha turning occasionally till dark spots start appearing. Drizzle some oil or butter and flip once. Serve hot

Tamatar Ka Sallan (Simple tomato curry)

Tomato curry

Ingredients:

1. 3 big tomatoes sliced
2. 1 medium small sliced onions
3. 1 or 2 green chillies slit
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric
5. 1/2 tablespoon oil

In a pan heat the oil and fry the onions till tender. Add the green chillies and tomatoes and stir. Add the rest of the ingredients, 1/2 cup water and cover and cook till the tomatoes become juicy and pulpy. Simmer till you get the required consistency of the gravy. Serve with paratha or any other Indian bread

Also at another time I served this Palak Paneer Paratha with Ginger Chutney 

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

Mutter Paneer and Dal Makhani

This is another of those dishes that my brother likes. So I made it and I also made Dal makhani which is my favourite and it may be a little different version from the original...hmmm to be frank with so many websites out there with the recipes for dishes you want, what can you call original? I donno!!!

Anyway, I made the above two dishes and I made cabbage roti with that. This particular roti is not a paratha i.e cabbage stuffed in between the dough but cabbage mixed in with the flour to make dough for the roti. So here comes...

Patta Gobi Roti (Indian bread with cabbage)

Cabbage roti

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups wheat flour
2. 1 cup finely shredded cabbage
3. 1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt
4. water for makeing dough
5. oil for frying roti

In a microwave safe bowl microwave the cabbage covered for 3 minutes with a little bit of water. Set aside to cool.
            When the cabbage gets to room temperature add it to the flor and salt and mix the dough with  little water at a time. Form the dough into a ball, apply a tablespoon of oil to your palm and roll the dough. Cover and set aside for 20-30 minutes.
            Make about 8-9 equals parts of the dough and roll it into roti 1/6 inch thick. Heat the griddle and fry the roti till it gets dark brown spots. Apply canola oil or ghee (clarified butter) and fry for 1 more minute on each side. Enjoy hot with Dal makhani and Matter Paneer

Matter Paneer (Peas and cottage cheese curry)

Matter Paneer (Peas with cottage cheese)

Ingredients:

1. 2 cup of paneer ( 1 cm cubes)
2. 1 cup fresh or frozen green peas thawed
3. 1/2 cup fienly chopped onions
4. 1/2 cup finely chopped tomatoes or 2 tablespoons tomato paste
5. 3 tablespoons oil
6. 2 small or 1 big green chilly chopped
7. 1/2 teaspoon salt, turmeric, red chilly powder
8. cilantro for garnishing

Here is How to make fresh Paneer
In a pan heat 2 tablespoons of oil and fry the paneer pieces till they start changing color. Drain and set aside. Add the rest of the oil and fry the onions till they become translucent. Add the green chillies and tomatoes (if using fresh) and cook till they become pulpy. Add the rest of the ingredients (if using tomato paste add it here) , add 1/2 cup of water, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Add cilantro and simmer it for 5 more minutes. Serve with roti or rice

Dal Makhani (Lentils in buttery gravy)



Dal Makhani

 Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup whole Urad dal with skins (Black gram) soaked in water over night
2. 1/2 cup kidney or pinto beans soaked over night
3. 1/2 cup chopped onions
4. 1/2 cup finey chopped tomatoes
5. 1/2 cup milk
6. 1 big or 2 small green chillies chopped
7. 1/2 teaspoon cumin, salt, chilly powder, turmeric, finely chopped ginger
8. 1 teaspoon coriander powder, mango powder (optional), butter, plain yougurt
9. 2 tablespoons oil

In a pressure cooker, cook the drained black gram and beans with turmeric and 1/2 cup of water for 2 whistles. In a pan heat the oil fry the cumin for a couple of minutes. Add onions and fry the onions till tender. Add green chillie and ginger a fry for a couple of minutes more. Add tomatoes and fry till they become pulpy. Add the beans and lentil mixture from the cooker and mash them a little. Add the rest of the ingredients stir to combine and simmer for 10 minutes covered, stirring occasionally. Top it with butter if using, garnish with cilantro and enjoy hot Dal makhani with roti

Palak Paneer and Sorakaaya pulusu

I got paneer from the Indian store the other day and today I am ready to cook it. So the Palak paneer and sorakaaya pulusu

Palak Paneer (Cottage cheese cooked with Spinach)

Palak Paneer

Ingredients:

1. 1/4 lb or about 2 cups of paneer cubed
2. 3 cups frozen or 1 big bunch of chopped spinach
3. 1/2 teaspoon cumin, turmeric powder
4. 1 teaspoon salt, chilly powder, tomato paste, coriander powder
5. 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
6. 2 tablespoons oil
7. 1 medium garlic chopped fine (don't grate it)

Here is how to make fresh paneer
Put the chopped spinach in a microwave safe bowl, cover it and cook for 3 minutes . (This step is entirely optional and it is just to speed up the cooking time)

In a pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil and fry the paneer pieces for about 5 minutes. Take out the paneer pieces and take about 3 or 4 cubes and crumble them and set them all aside.
In a pan heat the remaining oil and add the cumin and fry for a couple of minutes. Now add onions and fry till they become tender. Add spinach and all the other ingredients, stir to combine and simmer for 6-8 minutes. Add paneer pieces back to the pot and simmer futher for 6 more minutes. Garnish with cilantro, serve with roti or serve with rice along with bottle gourd sour curry

Kaddu ka khatta (Bottle gourd cooked in Tamarind juice)

Kaddu ka khatta

Ingredients:

1. 1 medium small bottle gourd peeled and cut into1/2 inch pieces
2. 3 cups juice from 1 small lime sized tamarind
3. 1 green chilly chopped and 2 red chillies
4. 1/4 cup finely chopped onions
5. 1/2 teaspoon cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, finely chopped garlic
6. 1 heaped teaspoon besan
7. 2 tablespoons oil divided
8. few curry leaves

In a pressure cooker add 1 tablespoon oil and fry the onions till tender. Add the gourd pieces and fry for 5 minutes. Add salt and turmeric and the tamarind juice and cook for 2 whistles or else cook in a pot till the gourd pieces become tender. In a pan heat the remaining oil and fry the cumin, urad dal, mustard seeds, red and green chilly pieces and the curry leaves and fry till they start spluttering. Add the cooked sorakaya pieces, juices and all to this.Add the besan if your are using it. Simmer till oil separates. Garnish with cilantro and enjoy