Paneer Pasanda

Ingredients:

500 gms Cottage Cheese (Paneer) How to make paneer
6 Onion (Pyaj)
400 gms Tomato (Tamatar)
1 " long piece Ginger (Adrak)
2 Green Chilly (Hari Mirch)
1 cup Cream (Malai)
1 cup Curd (Dahi)
100 Butter
1 tsp Red Chili Powder (Lal Mirchi)

Fine paste of khus-khus or poppy seeds 25 gms approx, soaked almonds 10-12  and cashewnuts 8-10
1/4 tsp Turmeric (Haldi)
1 tsp Dried Pudina Leaves
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 cup Milk

How to make paneer pasanda:

• Cut cottage cheese in samll pieces.
• Chop onion very finely.
• Grind tomato, ginger, green chilly,.
• Heat butter in a pan.
• Saute onions till pink in color.
• Then add tomato paste.
• Continue cooking it on medium flame till ghee/oil begins to separate.
• Put off the flame.
• Add cottage cheese, cream , curd, paste of poppy seeds, almonds n cashewnuts,salt, red chili powder, turmeric, garam masala, dried pudina leaves and mix well.
• Keep it aside for an hour.
• Put the pan on the flame and then add milk to the mixture.
• Simmer for 5 minutes and then finally put off the gas.

• Take off the fire and serve hot with roti, naan ,kulchha or veg/ kashmiri pulav as desired.

Malabar Prawn Curry

Ingredients



 Fresh tiger Prawns- 250 gms
 Few  fresh curry leaves
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 inch fresh ginger finely chopped
3-4  green chillies sliced
1/2 tsp fresh chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp tamarind paste
300ml thick coconut milk or cream
6-8 fresh garlic cloves , thinly sliced
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Marination:

De-shell & de-vein the prawns one by one properly.
Clean the prawns  in running water.
Marinate the with salt, red chilli powder, turmaeric powder &a small spoon of tamarind paste & keep aside in refrigerator for about an hour for proper marination.

Method

• In a wok or sauce pan heat 2 tbsp of oil until hot.
• Add the  chopped onion, green chillies, garlic and the fresh ginger one by one and saute  for 30 seconds.
• Donot fry them for too long.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and remaining tamarind paste and fry for a further 2 minutes
• Add  warm water and continue to simmer (the consistency should not be too watery , so add warm water slowly, little by little)
• Add the marinated prawns and cook for 10 minutes
• Then reduce the heat to low and add the coconut milk

• You can add 2 tbsps of Eastern Prawn Curry Masala ,for more zing, if desired. 
•  Garnish with coriander leaves of fried Curry leaves
• Stir, taste for seasoning and serve immediately.

Bengali Mutton curry

Ingredients:

1.5 kgs of mutton
3-4 medium size potatoes cut into half.(Potatoes are very essential in cooking this style of mutton gravy)
1-2 tbs of mustard oil for frying potatoes.
6-8 onions

For Marinating the mutton:

garlic 10- 1ginger-1 ½ inch
2 tsp of turmeric powder
1 ½ tsp of salt
4 full (heaps) tbsp  of yogurt
1tsp of garam masala

For tempering :
10- 12 black pepper
3 bay leaf
4 whole cardamom
5 cloves (long)
½ inch long cinnamon stick
1 tsp of sugar
½ cup of mustard oil (Bengalis prefer cooking in mustard oil)
Marinating the mutton:

Fisrt make a smooth paste of Garlic and Ginger by grinding in mixer-grinder , add little bit of water also.Do the same with onions .

Marinate the mutton with Turmeric powder ,salt ,Coriander powder, Yogurt and 1-2 tbs of mustard oil and the garlic /ginger paste and half of the onion paste .Let it sit there for 1-2 hrs.

Heat up a kadai/ heavy bottom Pan ,add 1-2 tbs of mustard oil and fry the potatoes till brown on every side .Take out and keep aside .Dab with a tissue paper to soak excess oil.

Tempering the oil and deep Frying:

Add rest of mustard oil and temper it with Black pepper, Cinnamon stick,Bay leaf , whole Cardamom ,Cloves and sugar .Caramelization Of sugar gives a nice Red color to the Mutton gravy .Fry at low heat for 1 mints . Add the rest of the onion paste, and fry for 3-4 mints till the rawness of the onions is gone.

Add the marinated mutton at this point , deep fry at med for 15-25 mints, TIP-.If the oil comes out by the side of kadai , Mutton is deep fried well .If the mutton is raw it may take few minutes less to deep fry it.

Add fried potatoes and 2 cups of water ( it depends on the gravy you want , if you want a thick gravy don’t add much water).

Transfer the entire fried mutton to Pressure Cooker, add 1tsp of garam masala at this point, one whistle at high and then lower the flame and cook for about 15-17 mints .

Alternately you can cook the entire curry  in a deep bottom pan or kadhai at low for 1hrs and make sure it's covered,the gravy will be very dry or semi-dry.

Let it cool and open the pressure cooker lid  and sprinkle fresh chopped coriander leaves .
Serve hot with rice or poori  .

Chicken Chettinad

Ingredients:

 

 

1kg Chicken

2 tsp Poppy seeds (khus-khus)

1/2 Grated coconut

1 tsp Fennel seeds

1 tsp Coriander seeds

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

6-8 no. Whole red chilies

1" stick Cinnamon

3 no. Green cardamom

2 no. Cloves

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1 no. Onion, large

2 tsp Ginger, chopped

2 tsp Garlic, chopped

1/2 Star anise

1 tsp Red chilli powder

3 no. Tomatoes, medium

1 no. Lemon

10-12 no. Curry leaves

Fresh coriander Garnish.

1/2 cup Oil

Salt To Taste

 

  

Preparation:

 

• Clean the chicken, remove the skin and cut into small pieces.
• Chop the onions and tomatoes separately.
• Roast the whole red chillies, grated coconut, poppy seeds(optional in uae, bcoz its banned here), coriander seeds, cumin seeds, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, star anise, fennel seeds in oil and grind to a paste for 20 minutes along with ginger and garlic.
• Heat oil in a vessel and fry the onions till golden, then add curry leaves and the ground paste and sauté for some time.
• Add the tomatoes, red chili powder and turmeric powder and sauté.
• Add the chicken, mix and cook for 5 minutes and then add 2 cups of water and lemon juice.
• Cover and cook till the chicken is done.
• Serve hot, garnished with coriander leaves and accompanied with steamed rice, rotis or tandoori naan or appam .

Methi Muthiya

                            

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup bengal gram (chickpea flour)
• 1 cup fenugreek leaves (methi) ( frozen methi works too, but make sure you thaw it well before adding it and you need not add water additionally this way)
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder (or as per taste)
• 1 tsp coriander-cumin powder (Jeera-dhaniya powder)
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 tbsp curd (optional)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• salt to taste

Preparation:

 

1 Mix all the ingredients together.

 

2 Bind them together to form a stiff dough. If  muthiyas are too stiff

   add few tsp  of water to loosen it up and if too watery, add the

   flour and rest of the ingredients proportionately to tighten it up. 

   It should allow you to shape it into small sausage shaped pieces 

   or long cylindrical pieces or any shape you desire.

 

3 Deep fry them in oil until golden brown.

 

4 Place them in a paper tissue to get rid of excess oil if any.

 

5 Serve warm as a standalone or with tomato ketchup or mint-

   coriander-green chilli-garlic chutney.

 

 

Roshogolla

Roshogollas are every Bengali's beloved sweet.They are homemade cheese or paneer dumplings soaked in chilled sugar syrup. This recipe is very easy to make and can be made at any time of the year just using a pressure cooker.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 cups water
• Pressure cooker

Method:

For making Paneer or Chenna:

1. Mix lemon juice in half cup of hot water and keep aside.
2. Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, making sure not to burn milk.
3. As the milk comes to a boil, add the lemon juice gradually and stir the milk gently. The curd will start separating from the whey, turn off the heat.
4. Once the milk fat has separated from the whey, drain the whey using a strainer line with cheesecloth or muslin cloth.

5. Wrap the curd in a muslin cloth, and hold under running cold water, and squeeze well. This process takes out the sourness from the lemon.
6. To take out the excess water squeeze the cloth, or press the wrapped paneer under a heavy pan for about one hour.Taking the right amount of water out of the paneer is the most important part of this recipe.
7. To check if enough water is out of the paneer, take a little piece of paneer on your palm and rub with your fingers. After rubbing the paneer for about 15-20 seconds, you should be able to make a firm but smooth ball.
8. Once the paneer is drained, place on a dry, clean surface and knead the paneer for 3-4 minutes until the paneer is almost rolls into smooth soft dough.
9. Knead the paneer by dragging the palm of your hand hard on the paneer. Keep scooping it back to togather and knead more. If the paneer is too crumbly, add a teaspoon of water. Your palm will be little greasy.

Roshogolla:

1. Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll them into smooth balls.
2. To make the balls apply some pressure at the first and then release when forming the balls.
3. Mix the sugar and water in a pressure cooker on medium high heat and bring to a boil.
4. Add the paneer balls and close the pressure cooker. After the pressure cooker starts steaming, turn the heat to medium and cook for about seven minutes.
5. Make sure the pressure cooker is large enough to accommodate the finished Roshogollas, as they will expand to about double in the volume while cooking in the syrup.
6. Close the heat and wait a few minutes before you opening the pressure cooker. Pour cold water over the pressure cooker before opening.
7. Rasgullas should be little spongy. After roshogollas are refrigerated the sponginess will reduce and will be soft in texture.
8. Serve the Roshogollas chilled.

Suggestions:

1. If the Roshogollas don’t turn out exactly the way you want, they are hard or not the right shape, do not worry. There’re many ways to create new dish out of the imperfect Roshogollas!
2. For example, if the Roshogollas are too hard or broken, try cutting them into small pieces and mix with soft vanilla ice cream.
3. You can use the Roshogollas pieces to make kheer, replacing rice with the Roshogolla pieces.
4. Cut the Roshogollas into half & serve them immersed in chilled dryfruit rabdi.
5. Your ultimate goal should be to enjoy your creation rather than getting heart-broken after all this struggle!

 

Aloo Mutter

Ingredients:

3 Potatoes
1/2 cup Peas
1/2 cup Curd
Salt To Taste
3 Green chillies
1 Onion
3 Tomatoes, chopped finely
1 inch Ginger
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1/2 tsp Garam masala
Salt To Taste
2 tbsp Oil
1 Turmeric powder
Handful of Corainder leaves for garnishing

Preparation:

• Boil the potatoes and peas. Cut half the potatoes into big pieces and mash the other half.
• Grind onions, chillies, ginger with little water to fine paste.
• Heat oil, add cumin seeds and fry till they pop up.
• Add the ground paste and fry until it is done.
• Add tomatoes, salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder, garam masala and mix well.
• Add the boiled potatoes, peas, one cup of water. Cover and cook for few minutes.
• Add the beaten curd and cook on slow flame until a thick gravy is formed.

• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice, roti, nan or parathas.