Indo American Ties!

Today's meal consists of side dishes - no main course!

Paneer tikkas and green bean casserole. Not a very popular combination. I wanted to do something with green beans and the ideal combo with that would have been a non vegetarian steak. The next best thing to animal protein for vegetarians is Paneer! Hence the paneer 'steaks' (tikkas)!

Cheesy green bean casserole

Green bean casserole and Paneer tikkas

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Cheesy green bean casserole

2 cups green beans chopped and boiled with salt water till they are tender

1 + 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 + 1/2 cup fried onions - I chopped the onions and then fried them with a little salt and oil till they turned brown

1 packet cream of mushroom soup packet - Make according to directions - just add a little less water so the end result is thicker than the usual soup.

1/2 cup of milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the beans, cream of mushroom soup, milk, 1 cup onions, 1 cup of cheese, pepper and pour the mixture in a casserole dish. Bake at 400 deg F for about 20 mins. 10 mins before the dish is done add the remaining onions and cheese and let the dish finish cooking. Remove, cool and serve.

Paneer Tikka

500 gm paneer cut into finger sized chunks

For the marinade

4-5 cloves garlic

1/2″ piece ginger, peeled and chopped
 Red chilli powder to taste
1 tsp kitchen king masala
1 tbsp cumin, roasted and ground
1 tsp oil
juice of half a lime
3 tbsp thick curd
Salt to taste

Grind all the above to a paste

Coat the paneer pieces with the marinade and let it sit covered in the refrigerator for a min of 30 minutes.

Ideally you would put them on skewers and grill them. I just roasted them on a non stick pan with a little oil sprayed to prevent them from sticking too much to the pan.

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That's all for tonight folks!

Sunday ka Funda(y)!

Aao sunaun tumhe ande ka funda!

That was the song that was doing the rounds in my head on Sunday morning!! So decided to make an egg frittata for breakfast. It is real simple but it is a complete yummy in the tummy :)

Egg frittata

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Egg Frittata

2 eggs

1 small potato chopped into small pieces

1 small capsicum chopped to pieces (you could add other colors to make your frittata more colorful)
1 onion diced

1 green chilli chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic chopped finely

1 tsp Oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Heat oil in a pan and saute the onions, garlic and the vegetables with a little salt and pepper till they are soft. Now whisk the eggs together with a tsp of milk and then pour it in the pan. Cover and cook till they set. Now sprinkle the cheese on top and bake the dish till the cheese on top melts and turns a little brown. Cool and cut into slices to serve.

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Night we ordered in from Bikanerwala. They have North Indian thalis that I love. They had paneer makhani, Kadhi and Rajma with rotis, paneer peas pulao and Gulab Jamun for dessert. Yumm!

North Indian Thali from Bikanerwala

All in all a very satisfying day!

Weekend Mode. a.k.a Depeche Mode!

Was listening to one of my old cds by Depeche Mode hence the title!
As the regulars to this blog already know by now - weekend mode usually begins by Friday - which translates to eating out or getting imports, basically no cooking! This week it started on Thursday.
Today got food from mom's place - Kofta, Bhindi and Daal.

Daal, Bhindi and Kofta curry

My humble contribution to today's meal was the dessert - Cranberry Muffins.

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Cranberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups chopped frozen cranberries

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup milk

1 cup chopped pecans

Rub the cranberries with the 1/4 cup of sugar and keep it aside.  In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1 cup sugar. Add the butter and rub the dough till it resembles bread crumbs. Whisk the eggs with milk and then add it to the flour mixture and mix till they are well incorporated. Gently fold in nuts and cranberries. Fill muffin tins two thirds full. Bake at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes. 

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On that sweet note - Goodnight my sweets! See you all tomorrow!

Psuedo Travels!

Hi all! No travels today either! You know what that means don't you?! No cooking!
Mil had sent some food over so I am calling it travels to Andhra Pradesh today! :-) She had sent over some masala potatoes and mango pulihora.

Masala Potatoes and Mango Pulihora

So what's the hype about the Prince William and Kates wedding anyways?! Just two people getting hitched. So big deal! There are plenty all over the world doing it. What is the need to telecast it all over the place? Me. I am going to catch some movie on my mitashi!

See you all tomorrow.

No man's (state) land! and some random ramblings...

Today went out for a swim and lunch meet with the ladies and kiddies at the Novotel. The food was good as usual. But the weather... Wow! was it hot!! I wish there were more indoor pools in Hyderabad. It is sheer torture to be out in the sun! Me and my son came back looking like roasted (more like burnt!) chickens!!
So today's dinner was Paneer bhurji and cheese corn chapatis (that my mom had tried out today). Hence the title of today's blog. Today's dinner could belong to any state as I did not travel anywhere specific :)

Paneer bhurji and cheese corn chapatis

I watched a malayalam movie called "Kerala Cafe" yesterday. Very interesting movie - it is actually a collection of 10 short stories by 10 different directors. Very engaging, I must say.
Also watched "It's complicated" starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I like Meryl Streep - Baldwin I couldn't care less. But the movie was good. The best part about the movie was the house that Meryl's character lives in - to die for!! She owns a bakery of her own. She cooks like a pro and has this wonderful vegetable garden behind her house that she picks the fresh veggies to cook from.
Oohh! What I would do to live there! Just perfect!

Well, on that note, I am off to bed to dream about wonderful houses with vegetable gardens and flowers and swimming pools and warm scones and chocolate truffle cakes and.......

From Karnataka with love!

Today I sojourned into the Southern part of Karnataka and came up with Bisi Bele Bhath for dinner.  I did not make anything else as it is a complete meal by itself. It has carbohydrates, vegetables and proteins :) Accompanied by Lays potato chips, it has comfort food written all over it!!

Bisi bele bhath with potato chips

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Bisi Bele Bhaath

2 cups rice

1 cup tuvar daal
2 cups - Beans, carrots and potatoes chopped

1/2 cup green peas
1 Onion sliced thinly and fried till golden brown

3 tbsp tamarind paste or 1 cup of tamarind juice
1 tbsp of jaggery
salt to taste

For the bisi bele masala
4-5 dry red chillies
2 tbsp chana daal
1 tbsp urad daal

1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
1 cardamom

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1/2 cup grated coconut (or you could use the dessicated coconut like I did)

Roast all the above except the coconut in a little oil till they turn fragrant and turn color. Grind it with the coconut and water to make a smooth paste and reserve.

For the final tempering
1 tsp ghee or butter
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp urad daal
1 tsp chana daal

a pinch of asafoetida

a handful of curry leaves
2 dry red chillies broken to pieces

Pressure cook the rice, vegetables and daal in a pressure cooker in separate vessels. Add a little salt and jaggery to the vegetables before you pressure cook them.

Meanwhile add 2 cups of water to the tamarind paste and let it come to a boil. When the water has reduced by half, add the reserved ground paste and cover and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the vegetables and the daal and rice. Adjust the salt and add more water to keep the consistency from getting too thick and cover and cook for a minute taking care to keep mixing it so that the bottom does not get burnt. 

In a separate pan, heat the ghee and add the mustard seeds. After they have crackled add the remaining tempering ingredients and fry till they have changed color. Pour this into the rice mixture along with the fried onions.

Mix well and serve.

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Yummy in the tummy!
See you all tomorrow!

A tale of two states!

Inspired by Chetan Bhagat's book and the more recent Dum Maro Dum (it is based in Goa) - dinner tonight was a fusion of Punjabi and Goan cuisines :)
Beetroot parathas with Goan Egg curry (fish curry with no fish but eggs instead!)

Beetroot parathas and Goan egg curry

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Beetroot Paratha

2 cups beetroots chopped

1 onion chopped

2-3 green chillies

1 inch piece of ginger

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp garam masala

salt to taste

Grind all the above except the garam masala pd to a paste and reserve. Heat a pan and add a tblsp of oil. Saute the ground mixture on low heat till all the water evaporates. Add the garama masala and cook for a minute more. Cool and use this as a stuffing for your parathas. (Take a ball sized amount of stuffing and place it inside the chapati dough and shape in to balls. Roll it into parathas and cook on a griddle till lightly brown on both sides and then add a little oil or ghee and cook till they turn brown)

Goan Egg Curry

4 eggs boiled, peeled and cut in halves lengthwise

2 onions finely sliced

1/2 raw mango cut into chunks

Salt to taste

To be ground to a paste

4 Dry red chillies (use the Kashmiri chillies if you have them - they give a better color)
1/2 a coconut cut into small pieces
1/2 inch piece of ginger

3-4 flakes of garlic
5 - 6 peppercorns
1 tsp coriander seeds
4-5 methi seeds
marble sized ball of tamarind
1/2 tsp turmeric pd
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 green chilli
salt to taste

Grind all the above to a smooth paste and reserve.

Heat oil in a pan and then add the sliced onions and fry till they turn brown. Then add the ground mixture and fry for 4-5 minutes. Add water according to the desired consistency and the green mango chunks and salt and cover and cook till the mango chunks are well cooked.

Tastes great with rice!

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Sat Sri akal! Rati Boren Zavonn!