Paneer and Baby corn Jalfrezi (Stir fry)

I have been wanting to try a dish baby corn for a long time now. I also had paneer at home. So, thought of trying this dish which can be had as a side dish for  rice, rotis, naan, paratha, etc. Here is the recipe for it.

 

 

 

Ingredients: 

• Baby corn - 1/2 cup (cut lengthwise)
• Paneer (Indian cottage cheese)  - 1 cup (diced)
• Spring onions - 1 cup
• Finely chopped spring onion greens - 1/2 cup (for garnishing)
• Thinly sliced bell Peppers (Capsicum) - 1cup (green, red, yellow)
• Thinly sliced tomatoes - 1/2 cup
• Oil - 3 tsp
• Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
• Coriander pwd - 1/4 tsp
• Red Chilli pwd - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin pwd - 1/2 tsp
• Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
• Tomato puree - 2 tsp
• Tomato ketchup- 2 tsp
• Sugar - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
• Water - 1/4 cup

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a pan on a medium flame and add the spring onions. Sauté until the onions are nicely cooked.
• Add the bell peppers and sauté until they are soft. In the mean time, add the baby corn, the spices like turmeric, chilli powder, coriander and cumin powders and mix well along with tomato puree and ketchup. Keep stirring until all the ingredients are mixed well.
• Now add the paneer, garam masala, vinegar, sugar and salt and keep stirring.
• Add a few spring onion greens and a little water so that the ingredients get cooked evenly on a low flame.
• Remove from flame and add some more spring onions.

 Paneer and Baby corn Jalfrezi is ready to be served hot!!

 

 

Home made Whole meal Bread

Baking has become one of my passions and the husband likes the smell of fresh baked bread. Needless to say, I enthusiastically tried to bake this wholemeal bread which came out just as perfect :) Here is the recipe... (I weighed the ingredients and hand baked it as I did not have a machine)
 

Ingredients:  

•    Wholemeal Bread Flour - 475 g
•    Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
•    Sugar - 1 tsp
• * Vegetable Oil - 15ml
•    Dry Yeast - 7g or a sachet
•    Warm Water - 300 ml (1 part boiling , 2 pasts cold)

 Preparation :
 
1. Add flour and salt in a large bowl, stir in the sugar and yeast and add oil. Add enough water and mix well to form a soft dough. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth.





 
2. Shape the dough on a baking tray and cover and leave it to rise. Keep it in a warm place for about 30 to 45 minutes until it doubles in size. In the mean time, preheat the oven to 230deg C.
 

 

 



3. Bake the loaf for 15 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 200deg C and bake further for about 15 - 20 mins, or until the bread turns golden brown as shown in the picture. It sounds hollow when tapped underneath. This is the time to remove from the oven. Cool and serve it :)
 

 

 

 

 

** If Vegetable oil is not available, then it can be replaced by 15 g butter

 



Puliyodarai Rice (Tamarind Rice)

It's Pongal time(Sankranthi) and this year's festive season begins... Made this wonderful pulikaichal at home. The process takes about an hour or so.

Ingredients:

• Tamarind Paste - 1 cup (I ground the tamarind and extracted the juice)
• Salt - to taste
• Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp.

(Seasoning)

• Mustard - 1 tsp
• Chana Dhal(Bengal Gram) - 1 tsp
• Red Chilli - 4 to 5
• Asafoetida(powder) - 1/2 tsp
• Sesame Oil - 1/2 cup
• Curry Leaves - a few
• Peanuts - 1 cup

For the Powder:

• Oil 1 - 3 tsp
• Coriander Seeds - 2 tsp
• Urad Dhal - 2 tsp
• Black Pepper - 2 to 3 no
• Asafoetida - 1 small piece
• Red Chilli - 3 to 4  

Preparation:

1. Heat a thick bottomed pan and add some oil.
2. Add the Urad Dhal and red chilli and coriander seeds one after the other and roast it until the dhal turns golden brown.
3. Add the Asafoetida. Remove from flame once the asafoetida gets roasted. Allow the ingredients to cool to be ground later.
4. In the same pan add some oil. Once the oil heats up, add some mustard.
5.After the mustard splutters, add some chana Dhal, red chillies, peanuts and keep frying until the everything turns golden brown.
6. Add the Tamarind juice at this point add turmeric powder, asafoetida powder and salt.
7. Mix well and allow it to cook until the raw smell of the turmeric goes off.
8. In the meantime, grind the cooled ingredients that we had kept aside.
9. Add the powder at this point to the tamarind juice to form a thick paste.

10. In a mixing bowl, add the paste to hot rice and add oil and mix well.

Yummy Puliyodharai rice is ready to be served.

Plum Cake

We had a get together at a friend's home and it was Party time. So, I tried this plum cake recipe. The outcome was a soft, spongy plum cake.

(I used a measuring jug for this)

Ingredients

Plums - 250 g (cut into small pieces and destoned)
Plain Yoghurt - 1 cup
Caster Sugar - 1/2 cup
Veg Oil - 75 ml
All Purpose Flour(Plain Flour/Maida) - 3 cups
Eggs - 2 medium sized
Baking powder - 1 1/2 tso
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - A pinch

Method:

1. Have all ingredients readily measured and Preheat the oven to 180 deg C/350 deg F.

2. Grease and Line an 8 inch cake tin with greaseproof paper,

3. In a mixing bowl whisk together the ingredients such as the yoghurt, oil, sugar and eggs. In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Now, combine the wet and the dry ingredients together until smooth batter is formed

4. Transfer the batter into the greased tin and place the plums on top.

5. Bake for 35-45 minutes until the cake is golden on top. keep testing with a fork whether it comes out clean. This is the time to remove from the oven.

6. Allow it cool and now the cake is ready to be removed and served.. :)

Ready for the Party!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

 

Home Made Pizza (Veg)

 I am so excited to share the recipe that I tried from scratch. I tried a lot of cookbooks and online blogs and finally landed on this recipe. The Pizza was crispy and tasted yummy. Here you go..

 

For Pizza Dough (about 10-12 inch pizza base) 

• All Purpose Flour/Maida - 175gram
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Dry yeast(rapid rise) - 1 tsp
• Water(lukewarm) - 120 - 150ml 

Method:

• Sift the flour and add salt and yeast to it.
• Add lukewarm water to it and mix them together to form a soft dough. Knead it on a floured surface for about 10 mins and cover it with a slightly oiled film.
• Allow it rise for about 1 hr or leave it until the dough becomes doubled in size.
• After an hour or so, punch the dough and knead it for about 2minutes.
• On a slightly floured surface, roll it out to 10-12 in round.
• Place on a greased baking sheet and knock up the edges.

For the topping:

• Chopped Pepper - 1/2 cup
• Chopped Onions - 1/2 cup
• Chopped Tomato - 1/2 cup
• Chopped Mushrooms - 1/2 cup
• Jalapeno - a few
• Tomato puree
• Mozzorella Cheese - 1 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Ground Pepper - to taste. 

Preparation:

• Preheat the oven for about 10 minutes at around 220 deg C/425 deg F.
• In the mean time, over the Pizza base, spread the tomato puree and top it up with the cheese.
• Add the vegetables over the cheese
• Again add some shredded cheese
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the base turns golden brown and crisp.

The Pizza is ready to be served hot.. Have a fantastic Pizza-rella day!!!