Neetu's Cooking Blog: north indian cuisine

Showing posts with label north indian cuisine. Show all posts

PANEER BUTTER MASALA

Paneer butter masala is found on menu of every Indian restaurant. This proves its fan following and popularity. It has a lightly flavoured, smooth gravy.

Paneer butter masala is a all time hit and safe dish to have anywhere in the country. Though the preparations may vary the chef will definitely put his best skills forward to maintain the dish's status.

In the bargain to do so, sometimes a lot of different spices are added to make it flavourful.

Here I share with you this popular recipe which takes less time to make and requires very few ingredients.

Recipe for Paneer butter masala

Ingredients for Paneer Butter masala

200 gms paneer
¾ cup or 3 medium sized tomatoes (pureed)
½ tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
½ tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp melon seeds
2 bay leaves
2 cardamoms
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil

How to make

Cut the paneer into flat cubes or cubes with thickness of 1 cm.

Soak melon seeds in warm water for 20 minutes. Grind it with little water into a smooth paste.

Heat oil and butter in kadhai or skillet. Keep the heat from medium to low.

Put cardamom and bay leaves.

Put ginger garlic paste and saute for one minute.

Add the tomato puree. Cook for 2 minutes.

Add red chilli powder. Saute till the oil separates.

Now add in the melon seeds paste. Mix well. Cook on low heat for 3 to 5 minutes.

Pour half a cup of water. Season with salt. Simmer for 2 minutes.

Drop in the paneer pieces.

Add the kasuri methi. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve with tandoori roti or naan.

KADHAI PANEER

Kadhai paneer is a popular dish on the veg menu of restaurants. This dish has a nice aroma which it gets from the kadhai masala. Kadhai masala is a special spice mix which can be easily made at home.

Refer to my previous post to know how to make kadhai masala. This spice mix can also be used in curries or non-veg dishes.

Kadhai paneer has a thick gravy of coating consistency. In this recipe paneer and veggies are sauted in butter before adding them to the gravy. This process makes the dish tastier.

Kadhai paneer goes very well with tandoori roti or naan or lachcha parantha. This dish will surely satisfy the taste buds of your vegetarian guests.

Recipe for Kadhai Paneer

Ingredients for Kadhai Paneer

200 gms paneer (diced into cubes)
1 big tomato (diced into big chunks)
1 capsicum (diced into big chunks)
½ cup or 2 medium sized onions (grated)
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 cup or 2 big tomatoes (pureed)
½ tsp kasuri methi
2 tbsp butter
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp kadhai masala
½ tsp red chilli powder
¼ tsp shahijeera or caraway seeds
Salt to taste
¼ cup oil

How to make

Sprinkle some red chilli powder and salt on the paneer cubes and toss.

Heat butter in a non-stick pan. Lightly fry the paneer cubes for a minute. Remove the paneer cubes in a plate and keep aside. In the same saute capsicum and tomato pieces on high heat for one minute or until they get little soft. Keep aside.

Ina kadhai or a skillet, heat oil. Add shahijeera to it.

Add the grated onions and ginger garlic paste and saute for 2 minutes.

Put the red chilli powder, turmeric powder and kadhai masala. Saute for half a minute.

Add in the pureed tomatoes. Saute on medium heat till oil separates.

Drop in the paneer, capsicum and tomatoes. Mix well.

Pour half to one cup of water. Season with salt. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Crush the kasuri methi. Add it to the gravy before removing from heat.

Serve with tandoori roti or lachcha parantha.

KURKURI BHINDI/ CRISPY OKRA

Kurkuri bindi is very often seen on buffet menus. It seemed as if I will never be able to get it right with this dish. But believe me it wasn’t that difficult. In fact very few ingredients are required.

The only effort lies in cutting the bhindi into thin strips. Remove seeds that are big in size as shown in the picture. The seeds will make the bhindi soggy.

Once the bhindi is coated with salt and spices, it should be fried immediately. It cannot be left for long. It becomes sticky and also absorbs lot of oil.

Adding rice flour ensures crispyness of bhindi. Original recipe has only gram flour. Feel free to omit the rice flour.

Recipe for Kurkuri bhindi

Ingredients for Kurkuri bhindi

250 gms bhindi or lady finger
1 ½ tbsp gram flour
½ tbsp rice flour
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
Chaat masala to sprinkle
Oil for deep frying

How to make

Cut the bhindi in thin strips. Remove the seeds. Seeds make the bhindi soggy. Tender seeds need not be removed.

Sprinkle salt salt and toss well. The salted Immediately sprinkle the spices, flour and deep fry.

Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder.

Toss again to coat well. This step will ensure that every piece get the flavour.

Now sprinkle the flours. Coat well.

Deep fry in medium hot oil until crisp. Ensure that the oil is not very hot as bhindi will get burnt.

Remove in a plate lined with paper napkin.

Sprinkle with chaat masala before serving.

CHENNA KHEER

Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh has extreme cold and hot weather. During summer weekend outings, we would stop by at this ‘Parag milk’ outlet (local milk dairy in Lucknow) which had a variety of milk products like dahi, flavoured milk and so on. That was where I tasted chenna kheer for the first time and it gained a special place in my heart since then.

I would describe chenna kheer as pure goodness or unadulterated love for milk. It tastes heaven as far as milk lovers are concerned.

Homemade chenna gives the best result, packed paneer or cottage cheese can also be used. Packaged paneer blocks can be grated or cut into minute cubes before adding to kheer. Refer to my previous post for homemade chenna. Cow milk or buffalo milk can be used.

One important thing to do is to put the chenna under running water to get rid of all the lemon juice or vinegar. If this is not done properly, there are chances of the splitting the kheer.

Recipe for Chenna kheer

Ingredients for Chenna kheer

1 + 1 litres of milk
80 gms khoya p
100 gms sugar
½ tsp cardamom (crushed)
Juice of one lemon or vinegar
Dryfruits (optional)

How to make

First put one litre of milk on medium heat. Bring it to boil and simmer till it reduces to half.

Meanwhile, heat another litre of milk for chenna. Refer previous post for how to make chenna at home.

Crumble the chenna and keep aside.

Once the milk is reduced, add the grated or crumbled khoya. Stir until the khoya combines well with the milk.

Add the chenna, simmer for 2 minutes. Dry fruits can also be added at this stage (optional).

Add sugar and cardamom. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve warm or chilled.

MAKHANA KHEER

Makhana or phool makhana or foxnuts are puffed lotus seeds. Rich in proteins and minerals, makhana when combined with milk makes creamy and tasty kheer. Kheer is an indian dessert mainly prepared in north India.

Makhana kheer is prepared while observing fast for nine days of navratre. Kheer is a dessert prepared on almost every auspicious occasion. Makhana kheer is one of the most popular kheer varieties.

The quantity of sugar is just enough as we like it less sweet. Adjust the sugar according to your liking. I haven’t used nuts in the recipe, feel free to add nuts as per your preference. Saute the nuts in ghee on low heat before adding to the kheer.

This dessert is extremely simple to make, rich and creamy in taste. The process is similar to any other type of kheer preparation.

Recipe for Makhana kheer

Ingredients for Makhana kheer

½ litre full fat milk
2 cups makhane or foxnuts
2 tbsp sugar
¼ tsp crushed cardamom or green elaichi
1 tsp ghee or clarified butter
2 tbsp cashew nuts (chopped and fried in ghee)

How to make

Roast the makhanas in ghee on low heat until it slightly changes its colour. This will take 4 to 5 minutes. Keep stirring continuously as it tends to stick and burn very fast. Keep aside to cool down.