Ghati Paneer

Woah! Finally exams are over and I can return to blogging with a fresh start. I have so much to blog about. But lets begin with this scrumptious paneer recipe.

I stumbled upon this recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor about 2 years back. It sounded so delicious, I prepared it on the same day. I clearly remember that day. I and Nada had a holiday. As usual she "pleaded" me to prepare something and after a lot of "No, I'm feeling lazy today"s, I decided to prepare this. Though the recipe seemed like a time consuming one, it came together in a jiffy. I quickly finished the photography session and then we decided that we would wait for our younger siblings to return from school before having our lunch. But waiting for two hours was not an easy thing, at least not with this ghati paneer. We ended up finishing up more than half of the curry before the kids came home. I could only be thankful that the elders in my house are not fond of paneer.

This curry is packed with flavors due to the goda masala, a spice mix prepared in Maharashtra. The goda masala recipe that I have included here is not the authentic version(sorry Maharashtrians, I could not find the ingredients) but it worked perfectly for me.

Ghati Paneer:

200 gms paneer, cut into 1/2" cubes
2 large potatoes, cut into 1/2" cubes
4 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seed
2 dried red chillies, broken into half
2 large onions, chopped
2 tsp garlic paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
2 large tomatoes, chopped
salt, to taste
1 tablespoon red chilly powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 tablespoons goda masala(recipe included)
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves

• Heat oil and deep fry patatoes till golden. Keep aside.
• Heat four tablespoons oil in a kadhai.
• Add onions. Sauté on medium heat.
• When onions have browned add ginger and garlic pastes. Sauté for about half a minute.
• Add tomatoes and salt. Lower the flame and cover the pan. Let the tomatoes cook for 4-5 minutes.
• Add all the dry powders. Mix well.
• Cover and cook for about six minutes or till oil separates.
• Add the potatoes, paneer and coriander leaves. 
• Mix, being careful not to break the brittle paneer.
• Serve hot with parathas or chappatis. I had it with some lemon rice. 

Goda Masala:

1 1/2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
2 1/2 tsp white sesame seeds
1/2 tsp cloves
a small piece of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon green cardamom
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon oil

• Heat oil and roast the spices till they turn dark in color. Keep stirring to avoid burning the spices.
• Cool the spices and then grind them to a fine powder.

Star anise and cinnamon flavoured green tea

Life for a “board student”, a student studying in 12^th grade, is like a roller coaster. What with all the running from one class to another, 7 days a week, the loads of assignments, homework, tests, exams and not to forget, the high expectations and pressure from your parents, teachers and loved ones. I hardly get any time to cook or blog, or even come online for 5 minutes in a day.

But I think it is during times like this that you learn to appreciate the small things in life. When you wake up wondering where the book and specs that you had slept on with was and then see it safely on your study table, you know that your mom cares for you. You become happy when you come to know that your test marks are highest among your friends’, not bothering to find out how much the real topper has scored.  The high expectations from your parents make you realize that they trust you and know your capabilities. 

Somehow, this also happens to be the year when we try to do something out of our comfort zone, like how I am trying to be a little naughty now. Enough of the “Miss good who never does anything wrong” image. I have learnt that a little talking and joking during classes  and bunking classes couldn’t hurt. And breaking rules, well, that really don’t sound like a major sin anymore J. So my motto for this academic year is “Enjoy the small moments in life and don’t worry about the consequences”.

We had a “cooking without fire” competition last week. To me at least, the rules sounded crazy. I mean, how can you cook anything without a stove, microwave oven, refrigerator or blender??

I managed to prepare this strawberry and honey salad, hummus sandwiches with tabouleh and chocolate pudding with a mint leaf. They were supposed to represent the green past, barren present and hopeful future. And to top it all, I prepared some truffles.

The results were announced yesterday. When I came to know that I hadn’t won, it hurt. Yes it did. But just for a moment. Coz when I knew that my best friend had won the first place, I was in cloud nine.

I think in all this craziness, it is hot beverages that keep me sane. I seem to have fallen in love with anything hot. And every beverage has its own time. Just before I start studying, I need some green tea. When I need something out of ordinary, I go for hot cocoa. When I am cramming at night, I need huge doses of coffee. And when I need to take a break and just rest with a novel, I go for this special green tea.

I got this idea from a book, Comfort Food. It is one of the best cookbooks I have owned. They have wonderful recipes and all of them shout “Comfort”. Do try to get your hand on a copy of the book.

Star anise and cinnamon flavoured green tea:

1 cup water

1 green tea bag

1 star anise

1 small bark cinnamon

Boil water with a cinnamon stick. Let it cool for 2 minutes. Remove the cinnamon stick and pour the water into a tea cup. Dip a tea bag and a star anise seed. Steep the tea bag for about a minute. Remove the tea bag and serve the tea with the star anise. 

Hummus

For those of you who are new to it, hummus is an Arabic dip which has been gaining popularity worldwide lately for its taste and nutrition. It is basically a paste of chickpeas and Tahini, which is sesame seed paste.

There are some foods that we never eat. We might have never tasted it,but the very sight of it tells you "There is no way you are going to eat it". For me, Humus was one such dish. No, there was nothing wrong with its presentation. Instead it was the way I used to see Nada eat it. Hummus is something that has been a regular on our dining table since my childhood. It was always served with Kubbus(Arabic bread), and sometimes, grilled chicken. And whenever it was served, Nada would plop a large blob of hummus onto her plate, dip her fingers into it and lick it like it were heaven. Ugh!! Disgusting. It was only about 4 years back, when Nada had learnt her table manners, that I decided to give this white paste a try. 

I remember that day very well. It was midnight. All my cousins were at home and we were awfully hungry. A raid in the fridge and Nada emerged with a packet of kubbus and a bowl of cold hummus. And man..was it good!! I couldn't believe what I had missed all those years. Though the dish is usually served at room temperature, I have always preferred it cold, just like how I had it that night.

Growing up in Qatar, Umma never prepared hummus. She never had to, since we get to buy it in every other restaurant there. It is said that we realize the value of something only when we lose it. And that is exactly what happened when we came down to India 11/2 years back. We began to crave for Arabic food, including hummus. Luckily, this recipe that I got from an extremely old Lipton cookbook(yeah..I know..I too am wondering as to why a tea company would publish such a recipe) came to my rescue.

Hummus

2 cups cooked chickpeas* with 1/4 cup of the water it was cooked in

3-4 garlic cloves

5 tbsp olive oil and more for garnishing

2 tbsp tahini

juice of 1/2 lemon or to taste

salt to taste

Grind all the ingredients to a thick grainy paste. Add chickpea water if it gets too thick. Check the taste and add lime or tahini if required. Garnish with of a squirt of olive oil and chickpeas. Serve with any flat bread, preferably kubbus.

*To cook chickpeas, soak the chickpeas overnight and pressure cook till you get the smell of cooked chickpeas- usually 3-4 whistles.

Rasmlai-with egg!!

When I was about 8 years old, I and Nada used to go tho the park in our compound everyday to play with our neighbors. We would play for about 2 hours or till Umma sent for us. On one such day, we were feeling unusually hungry and decided to go to one of our friend, Afia's house to fill our stomach. Afia's mom had prepared these cold juicy rasmalais. That was the first time I tasted rasmalai. And the best too.

My aunt Noorialama keeps taunting me telling me that though I know to prepare dishes from around the world, I am blank when it comes to Indian food, our Desi food. I guess it is true. And it is probably so because I have never really been attracted to Indian food. And even those things that I love are either prepared by Umma or easily available in the stores. So I never attempted them.

But now, I have decided to attempt some real indian food, specially Manglorean food. And what better to start off with than desserts, my forte. This is the same recipe that Afia's mom had used. After that day, I have tasted many rasmalais, but nothing could bet these.

Traditionally rasmalai is prepared with paneer(cottage cheese). I have used a shortcut method which tastes just like the paneer version. The whole dish comes together in 30 minutes. They taste best when they are cold, but if you don''t have the patience, then enjoy them hot.

Just last week I had made tres leches cake, and somehow, I think these Indian rasmalai are similar to Latin tres leches cake. Both of them comprise of a soft cake holding a ton of sweet milk within it. You might laugh at this comparison, but this is just my opinion :)

Egg Rasmalai
makes 12 rasmalais


Ingredients:
1 mug(about 125g) milk powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 tsp oil
1.5 litres milk
1/2 cup sugar(adjust according to your taste)
1/2 tsp caramom powder
1 tsp rose essence
few strands of saffron
pinch of salt

Method:

• Heat the milk along with salt and sugar.
• /in a bowl, sieve milk powder and baking powder together.
• Add the oil and egg and mix well to form a dough.
• Immediately form small balls(keep in mind that the balls will expand while cooking). See to it that there are no major cracks in the balls.
• Keep the balls covered with a cloth till the milk starts boiling, else they will get dried.
• When the milk starts boiling, drop the balls. 
• Increase heat and immediately decrease.
• Cover and let it simmer till the rasmalais are cooked and expand in size.(5-10 minutes)
• To check if the rasmalais are cooked, take a rasmalai and break it open. The whole ball must be uniformly coloured.
• Let them cook for 2 more minutes.
• Switch off the flame. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir carefully. The rasmalai are brittle and can break easily.
• Let the rasmalai cool.Refrigerate and serve cold.

Note: If the dough becomes dry and starts cracking, wet your hands and knead the dough. Keep the dough covered if you are slow in forming the balls to prevent them from getting dried..