Ingredients you will need:

1. Jeera Butter – 28 Nos.
2. Buttermilk – 4 Cups
3. Dahi (Yogurt) – 4 Cups
4. Grated Ginger – 2 tsp
5. Mint paste – 2 tbsp
6. Finely chopped green chili- 1 tbsp
7. Chat Masala – 2 tbsp
8. Red Chili Powder – 2 tbsp
9. Cumin/Jeera Powder – 2 tbsp
10. Finely chopped coriander
11. Sugar – to taste
12. Salt – to taste

Procedure:

1. Blend the curd, little water until it is smooth. Mix chopped ginger, chopped green chili, mint paste, salt and sugar with the curd in a bowl. Keep refrigerated for at least 30 mins.
2. Soak the Jeera butter in the butter milk for 2 mins.
3. Arrange 7 of them in a plate.
4. Pour the refrigerated curd over them.
5. Garnish with chat masala, cumin powder, red chili powder and chopped coriander.

That’s it. Ready to serve!

Try it out and let me know how you like it.

Then J came along and said he would try to make something out of the paneer. Then he used the preparation of the palak paneer and came up with this mouthwatering dish – Methi Paneer Malai. It was really yummy and tasted very good with phulkas and jeera rice.

As its name suggests this preparation is a combination of slightly bitter methi (fenugreek leaves), soft and delicate paneer and has richness of malai.

 For this preparation you will need :

1. Paneer cut in small cubes  -1 Cup
2. Methi leaves / Kasuri Methi – 1/4 Cup
3. Malai/thick cream – 3 tbsp
4. Finely chopped onion – 2 Medium size
5. Finely Cut Tomato - 1 Medium size
6. Ginger garlic paste  – 1 tbsp
7. cumin seeds – 1tbsp
8. Cinnamon stick – 1/2 inches
9. Cardamom – 2 Nos
10. Cloves – 3 Nos
11. Pepper  -2 Nos
12. Sugar – 1/2 tbsp
13. Turmeric powder  – 1/2 tbsp
14. Red Chili powder  – 1/2 tbsp
15. Garam Masala – 1/2 tbsp
16. Chat Masala – 1/4 tbsp
17. Salt – to taste
18. Oil - 4 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Heat  oil in a pan and add all the whole spices
2. once crackled, add onion and fry till it is slightly brown.
3. Then add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, sugar, red chili powder and fry for few minutes.
4. Add chopped tomato and fry till it is cooked perfectly leaving the oil from the edges.
5. Add cream and fry the masala for 4-5 minutes.
6. Grind the mixure to a fine paste once it is cooled down
7. Again heat a spoonful of oil and add the ground mixture for frying.
8. When the mixture is fried perfectly, add methi leaves or kasuri methi and salt.
9. Finally add panner and let it simmer for 4-5 minutes.

The Methi Paneer Malai is ready to serve.

Every item in a thali(dish) should be diversified in looks and taste so that they balance each other. Most importantly, the menu should be decided in such a way so that it provides all the nutrition. That’s why we have daal, rice, roti, bhaji, raw raita as basic items in a thali.

Ingredients

1. Cauliflower – 1 cup cut florets
2. Green peas – 1/2 cup
3. Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
4. Small Green chili -1
5. Garam Masala – 1/2 tsp
6. Chili Powder – 1/4 tsp
7. Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
8. Curry Leaves 3-4
9. Salt
10. Oil

Recipe

1. Cut Cauliflower into small florets -should be a cup full.
2. Heat oil in a thick pan.
3. Lower the heat.
4. Add cumin seeds, green chili, turmeric powder, curry leaves , cauliflower florets and peas
5. Mix it well so that the florets get coated with the turmeric
6. Add chili powder, coriander powder and salt.
7. Mix well on low flame.
8. Cook covered on low flame.
9. Add little water only if required.
10. Once cooked, remove lid and fry it on high flame so that it gets the smoky crisp taste.

Being in Boston on a rainy day brought back those memories. So I decided to make this delicious snack at home. This is my recipe for crispy yum Vadas. Try it out and let me know how you like it.

Ingredients:

1. Medium Sized Potatoes – 4
2. Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
3. Ginger paste – 1 tsp
4. Garlic Paste – 1 tsp
5. Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
6. Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
7. Salt – to taste
8. Sugar – 1 tsp
9. Lemon Juice – 1 tsp
10. Finely Chopped Coriander – ¼ cup
11. Curry Leaves (Optional) – 4 to 5
12. Oil – 2 tsp
13. Gram Flour – 1 cup
14. Salt – to taste
15. Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
16. Oil

Procedure:

Boiled-mashed potatoes

For the stuffing:

1. Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Keep aside
2. In a thick pan, heat oil, cumin seeds, ginger and garlic paste, turmeric powder, curry leaves(optional).
3. Fry for a couple of minutes & turn off the flame.
4. Add the mashed potatoes, salt, sugar, coriander powder, lemon juice.
5. Mix well and Turn on medium heat.
6. Fry the mix for another 5 minutes on medium heat, and set aside for cooling.
7. After cooling, make small balls of the spicy potato mix.

For the Batter:

1. Take the gram flour in a bowl. Add oil, salt and mix well.
2. Add water slowly to form a thick consistent batter with no lumps.
3. Keep aside for 5 minutes.

Frying Time:

1. Heat sufficient oil for frying in a thick bottom deep frying pan.
2. Test the temperature by dropping little batter in the pan. If the batter rises to the top rapidly, the oil has reached the desired temperature.
3. Now flatten a potato ball slightly, dip it into the batter and gently drop it into the oil.
4. Turn the Vada once it turns golden from one side. Then fry it on the other side.
5. Fry a maximum of 4 Vadas at a time to maintain the oil temperature.

Vada

If you like your Vadas crisp, fry them twice. Once to cook and then the second time to make the Vadas crisp. Serve hot with soft Pav(bread). A special garlic chutney and fried chilies go well with the Vada-Pav.

You can also serve these vadas as a starter dish – you just prepare them smaller than the normal size. (size of a dahi vada)

 
Ingredients:

1. Garlic cloves 2-3
2. Red chili powder – 1 tsp
3. Salt – to taste
4. Vada batter – 5 tsp

There are thousands of varieties of chillies(peppers) all over the world. Some are excruciatingly hot and some are very mild and some even sweet. What is common is the wonderful flavor after chillies are charred.

Use a very mild chili like poblano pepper. Alternately You can pick any pepper with a thick skin having very mild or sweet aroma.

1. Mild green peppers – 6
   

   Stuffed Chilli

2. Cumin seeds – 1/2 tbsp
3. Oil – 1-2 tbsp

For the stuffing you will need:

1. Gram flour – 1/2 cup
2. Dried coconut (Shredded) – 1/4 cup
3. Peanut powder – 1/4 cup
4. Red chili or black pepper powder – 1/2 tbsp
5. Turmeric – 1/4 tbsp
6. Cumin powder – 1/4 tbsp
7. Salt – 1/4 tbsp
8. Jaggary powder or sugar – 1 tbsp
9. Lemon Juice or vinegar – 1/2 tbsp
10. Oil – 1/2 Tbsp
11. Water – as needed

Ready to Serve

1. Slit peppers lengthwise and de-seed.
2. Mix the ingredients for the stuffing and form thick batter.
3. Stuff each the pepper with the batter mix.
4. Heat oil in a thick pan and add cumin seeds.
5. Add the peppers and fry covered for 2 minutes.
6. Turn the peppers carefully and fry for 2 minutes.
7. Once the peppers are charred, add little water in order to cook the stuffing. Keep covered.
8. Make sure the stuffing is cooked by inserting fork in the pepper. If it comes out clean then remove the lid and let all the water evaporate.

Your charred, sweet-savory stuffed peppers are ready to serve. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1. Small Eggplants – 5 to 6
2. Onion paste – 1 cup
3. Ginger paste – 1 tsp
4. Garlic paste – 1tsp
5. Groundnut Powder – 4 tsp
6. Chilli powder – 1 tsp
7. Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
8. Garam Masala – 1/4 tsp
9. Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
10. Finely chopped coriander – 1/2 cup
11. Salt – to taste
12. Oil

Procedure:

Baby Eggplants & Stuffing

1. Mix all above ingredients except the eggplants in a bowl – 1 tsp oil too. Add little water if needed in order to form thick paste.
2. Remove the ends of eggplants, slit into quarters, apply a pinch of salt to the inner side, stuff with mixture and keep aside.
3. In a thick bottom pan heat oil, add cumin seeds and stuffed eggplants.
4. Fry covered for 2 minutes on medium heat
5. Turn carefully to the other side and cover for another 2 minutes so that they get evenly fried.
6. Add the remaining stuffing mix and little water.
7. Cook covered on low flame till the water evaporates and the stuffing turn golden near the bottom of the pan.
8. You may need to turn them while cooking depending on the size of the eggplants.
9. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve with roti or dal-bati.

Bharli Vangi (Stuffed Eggplant)

Chicken Tikka

Things You’ll Need

1. Boneless and skinless chicken pieces or strips – about 1 pound for 3 person servings
2. A knife to cut the chicken
3. A mixing bowl and a spoon or fork
4. Plain yogurt (refrigerated)
5. A teaspoon of turmeric powder
6. Red Chili powder (to your taste)
7. A teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste
8. Cling foil and aluminum foil roll
9. Baking pan and skewers (even bamboo will do)
10. Green or mango chutney
11. Coriander Leaves (optional)
12. Lemon quarters (optional)

Steps

1. Thaw the chicken, if frozen. Take the boneless chicken pieces or strips and cut them into pieces. Make each piece about 1 inch long and wide. You need not be very precise – just make sure they are the right size to fit on a skewer.
2. Add a scoop of plain (preferably refrigerated) yogurt into a bowl. The quantity of yogurt should be just enough to cover all the chicken pieces.
3. Sprinkle a teaspoon of turmeric powder and red chili powder on top of the yogurt. Finally, add a teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste on the top.
4. Stir the entire mixture in the bowl with a spoon or fork for 5 minutes and drop in the chicken pieces one at a time with one hand, stirring the mixture in the bowl with your other hand using the fork or spoon.
5. Cover the bowl with cling foil and let it stand in the fridge for about 30 minutes (but you can leave it in overnight, if you have the time). This allows the chicken to absorb more flavor.
6. Preheat your oven to about 450 degrees when you are ready. Line a pan with aluminum foil and keep it aside.
7. Take the bowl out of the fridge and arrange the chicken pieces on skewers, then place the skewers on top of the pan. Essentially, both ends of the skewers should rest on opposing side walls of the pan so that the chicken is hanging in mid-air above the base of the pan.
8. Bake the chicken for about 10 to 15 minutes. You will notice that fat drips out of the chicken into the pan.
9. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and carefully remove the chicken pieces off of the skewers and into a serving dish. If you plan to consume it in stages, leave the rest back in the oven to keep it warm (but ensure you switch off the oven first).
10. Serve hot with green chutney or mango chutney or eat as is.

Tips

• You may garnish the finished tikka with some coriander leaves.
• If the tikka turns out to be spicier/hotter than your taste, squeeze a lemon quarter over it to reduce the spice effect.
• To make a cooler tikka (called Malai Chicken Tikka), in the marinating mixture, use heavy cream instead of red chili and marinate a little longer. This will make the chicken soft and tender and the absence of chili reduces the spice.
• A Charcoal grill enhances taste.
• One teaspoon of yogurt per chicken piece+3 additional spoons is a good equation when you’re preparing the chicken.
• Go easy on the chili if you are not used to hot spices.

Warnings

• Take great care when using the oven. Remember it can be very hot and can burn you.
• When adding or removing the pan from the oven, remember it can be very hot. Use an oven mitt.