Monday 28 October 2013

Paneer Fried Rice










Nowadays I'm always late for posting recipes. I'm a member of Jagruty's potluck party group and I'm supposed to post this on 28th ,that is..today. but, I'm late as usual.With no laptop and managing home and kids singlehanded can be the reason. Jab is out of town since 2 weeks and viral attack at my home made me busy. But I didn't want to miss this. So here is my contribution to the second half of the theme. I had to recreate dish posted by En Samaiyal. ie; Paneer fried rice. It was so easy,healthy and delicious.

ClickHere for the recipe









Monday 21 October 2013

Kesari Rajbhog- Saffron flavored Stuffed Rasgullas for SFC#1

Eid holidays are over and hence the 'shor sharaba'! We had ten days holiday this time and all of us had a blast.  But at the same time, a little bit exhausted too.. I'm too tired to tell you how I feel now or to post any recipe. But I can't wait and 25 minutes more left to yet another day before which I've to post my SFC challenge #1. I've been waiting for this special day , but I was too busy with guests,holiday,school reopening and on top of that my li'l one turned 2 today, Alhamdu lillah! Time goes by really fast and kids grow up fast too. It seems like yesterday I was holding my newborn in my arms and now she has grown up to sing her birthday song all by herself, Masha Allah!

Sweet Fantasy Club is a group managed by Preeti of Simply Tadka wherein, we members post 2 recipes a month- one desi and other international. Rajbhog is a delicious dessert made with Chenna (mashed paneer) and stuffed with Khoya which is later cooked and served in syrup. A succulent recipe to be start with. 


Ingredients:
Courtesy: Sanjeev Kapoor

Chenna/ Cottage Cheese 250 g/2 cups* recipe ahead
Refined Flour/ Maida 1 tsp
 Semolina 1 tsp
Pistachios 15, Blanched and sliced
Almonds 12, Blanched and sliced
Green Cardamom Powder 1 tsp
Sugar 4 cups
Saffron Strands 7 strands
Mawa/Khoya 3 tbsp (made from 1 litre of milk)* recipe ahead
Rose water 2 tsp
Method:
1.Soak pistachios and almonds in hot water for 5 minutes, blanch and slice into pieces.

2.Mix khoya, rosewater ,cardamom and these nuts all together and keep it aside for stuffing.Divide into 14 equal parts.

3.Chenna until smooth and mix in flour and semolina. Divide into 14 equal parts .

4.Take one ball of Chenna, make a well in the centre and stuff one ball of khoya mixture inside. Cover and shape this into a ball.

5. Repeat this until all of the chenna and khoya balls are used up.

6.Bring 3 cups of water and sugar into a boil and make thin sugar syrup.

7.Pour 2-3 tbsp of milk into the syrup and remove scum, if any and add cardamom powder and saffron in syrup. You can add yellow color too.

8.Turn flame to high and add stuffed chenna balls into sugar syrup. Cook for 15 minutes in high flame until they are double in size. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of hot water if syrup turns thick in between.

Refrigerate and serve chilled.

How to make Chenna:

Boil 2 litres of milk and switch off the flame. Let it cool for a minute. Add 2 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to it. The milk starts curdling at this time. You can add more if needed. Strain this milk into a muslin cloth. Pour ice cold water into it and hang for about half an hour or so till all the water drains up. This step is very important. The rasgullas may break if there is moisture in Chenna.


How to make Khoya:

Boil 1 litre of milk in a thick bottomed pan. Keep cooking in slow flame till it turns to semi-solid.  All the water should be dried up.Keep on stirring to avoid burning at the bottom.






Thursday 10 October 2013

Banana Walnut Cake- Eggless by Chance




Accidentally eggless...yes, that's what happened last week. 
Once when I read one of my friend's status that she had forgotten to add eggs, I was shocked thinking how could she forget such an important ingredient while baking. I thought it was ridiculous until I did the same mistake last week. This recipe calls for mixing up all the ingredients together and so I didn't realise my mistake. It was about 15 minutes later, when I was cleaning my kitchen that I found the eggs which I broke into a cup lying on the kitchen counter. I was feeling so helpless and regretted on the fact that I didn't give my son those bananas when he wanted to eat them saying he would be getting those baked into cakes by evening. :( 

I was standing near the oven for the next 30 minutes ,peeping into it every 5 minutes. The cake started rising and I was relieved. The aroma of the banana getting baked was just awesome. I took anticipatory bail from kids saying the cake wouldn't turn as delicious as it should be . They were a bit disappointed. But to my surprise, it turned out delicious. The texture was awesome and the flavor superb! I was thinking if I would've added eggs, then would it have been tasted even better? I don't know.I then decided to post this recipe here and ran to take my cam for the click. 



 Ingredients:

All purpose flour 2 cups
Sugar 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda 3/4 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Bananas 3 medium
Buttermilk 1/2 cup (click here for substitution)
 Shortening/Butter 1/2 cup
Eggs 2 (completely optional)
Vanilla 1 tsp
 Walnuts 1 cup




 Method:

Grease and flour 23 cm baking pan. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add the bananas ,buttermilk, butter, eggs(if using) and vanilla. Beat until well combined . Please don't overmix which may result in dense cake. Mix in the walnuts. Pour this batter into the pan. Bake at 170 C for 35-40 minutes.




I decided to take this to Potluck-party-cyber-style hosted by Jagruti where we celebrate virtual picnic with dishes brought in by the group members.

Monday 28 October 2013

Paneer Fried Rice










Nowadays I'm always late for posting recipes. I'm a member of Jagruty's potluck party group and I'm supposed to post this on 28th ,that is..today. but, I'm late as usual.With no laptop and managing home and kids singlehanded can be the reason. Jab is out of town since 2 weeks and viral attack at my home made me busy. But I didn't want to miss this. So here is my contribution to the second half of the theme. I had to recreate dish posted by En Samaiyal. ie; Paneer fried rice. It was so easy,healthy and delicious.

ClickHere for the recipe









Monday 21 October 2013

Kesari Rajbhog- Saffron flavored Stuffed Rasgullas for SFC#1

Eid holidays are over and hence the 'shor sharaba'! We had ten days holiday this time and all of us had a blast.  But at the same time, a little bit exhausted too.. I'm too tired to tell you how I feel now or to post any recipe. But I can't wait and 25 minutes more left to yet another day before which I've to post my SFC challenge #1. I've been waiting for this special day , but I was too busy with guests,holiday,school reopening and on top of that my li'l one turned 2 today, Alhamdu lillah! Time goes by really fast and kids grow up fast too. It seems like yesterday I was holding my newborn in my arms and now she has grown up to sing her birthday song all by herself, Masha Allah!

Sweet Fantasy Club is a group managed by Preeti of Simply Tadka wherein, we members post 2 recipes a month- one desi and other international. Rajbhog is a delicious dessert made with Chenna (mashed paneer) and stuffed with Khoya which is later cooked and served in syrup. A succulent recipe to be start with. 


Ingredients:
Courtesy: Sanjeev Kapoor

Chenna/ Cottage Cheese 250 g/2 cups* recipe ahead
Refined Flour/ Maida 1 tsp
 Semolina 1 tsp
Pistachios 15, Blanched and sliced
Almonds 12, Blanched and sliced
Green Cardamom Powder 1 tsp
Sugar 4 cups
Saffron Strands 7 strands
Mawa/Khoya 3 tbsp (made from 1 litre of milk)* recipe ahead
Rose water 2 tsp
Method:
1.Soak pistachios and almonds in hot water for 5 minutes, blanch and slice into pieces.

2.Mix khoya, rosewater ,cardamom and these nuts all together and keep it aside for stuffing.Divide into 14 equal parts.

3.Chenna until smooth and mix in flour and semolina. Divide into 14 equal parts .

4.Take one ball of Chenna, make a well in the centre and stuff one ball of khoya mixture inside. Cover and shape this into a ball.

5. Repeat this until all of the chenna and khoya balls are used up.

6.Bring 3 cups of water and sugar into a boil and make thin sugar syrup.

7.Pour 2-3 tbsp of milk into the syrup and remove scum, if any and add cardamom powder and saffron in syrup. You can add yellow color too.

8.Turn flame to high and add stuffed chenna balls into sugar syrup. Cook for 15 minutes in high flame until they are double in size. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of hot water if syrup turns thick in between.

Refrigerate and serve chilled.

How to make Chenna:

Boil 2 litres of milk and switch off the flame. Let it cool for a minute. Add 2 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to it. The milk starts curdling at this time. You can add more if needed. Strain this milk into a muslin cloth. Pour ice cold water into it and hang for about half an hour or so till all the water drains up. This step is very important. The rasgullas may break if there is moisture in Chenna.


How to make Khoya:

Boil 1 litre of milk in a thick bottomed pan. Keep cooking in slow flame till it turns to semi-solid.  All the water should be dried up.Keep on stirring to avoid burning at the bottom.






Thursday 10 October 2013

Banana Walnut Cake- Eggless by Chance




Accidentally eggless...yes, that's what happened last week. 
Once when I read one of my friend's status that she had forgotten to add eggs, I was shocked thinking how could she forget such an important ingredient while baking. I thought it was ridiculous until I did the same mistake last week. This recipe calls for mixing up all the ingredients together and so I didn't realise my mistake. It was about 15 minutes later, when I was cleaning my kitchen that I found the eggs which I broke into a cup lying on the kitchen counter. I was feeling so helpless and regretted on the fact that I didn't give my son those bananas when he wanted to eat them saying he would be getting those baked into cakes by evening. :( 

I was standing near the oven for the next 30 minutes ,peeping into it every 5 minutes. The cake started rising and I was relieved. The aroma of the banana getting baked was just awesome. I took anticipatory bail from kids saying the cake wouldn't turn as delicious as it should be . They were a bit disappointed. But to my surprise, it turned out delicious. The texture was awesome and the flavor superb! I was thinking if I would've added eggs, then would it have been tasted even better? I don't know.I then decided to post this recipe here and ran to take my cam for the click. 



 Ingredients:

All purpose flour 2 cups
Sugar 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda 3/4 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Bananas 3 medium
Buttermilk 1/2 cup (click here for substitution)
 Shortening/Butter 1/2 cup
Eggs 2 (completely optional)
Vanilla 1 tsp
 Walnuts 1 cup




 Method:

Grease and flour 23 cm baking pan. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add the bananas ,buttermilk, butter, eggs(if using) and vanilla. Beat until well combined . Please don't overmix which may result in dense cake. Mix in the walnuts. Pour this batter into the pan. Bake at 170 C for 35-40 minutes.




I decided to take this to Potluck-party-cyber-style hosted by Jagruti where we celebrate virtual picnic with dishes brought in by the group members.