Quick Bite : Indian Bruschetta

I baked this partly whole wheat bread with flaxseeds this week. The only problem with baking your own bread is you can't stop eating it. The possible upside is that you can slice your bread as thin as you want to :) I can almost see all those of you who bake your own bread nod your heads solemnly. I usually try and avoid starting my day with bread, but when it's homemade, you are looking for every possible excuse. So this is what I had for breakfast today - thinly sliced bread, toasted on a low heat on the tava, rubbed with a clove of garlic and topped with a simple paneer mixture. This breakfast ticks all the boxes - good carbs, protein, veggies, fibre. Yay!

I've announced my first class on Baking Basics for 21st September. Do check the details on my Facebook page and do write in with your suggestions and queries.

Bruschetta - Indian style

Bruschetta - Indian Style
Serves 1
Time taken - 15 minutes

Ingredients
2 slices of wholegrain bread 
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp finely chopped onions
1 small tomato, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander
1/4 cup paneer, cut into small cubes
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch of red chilli powder

Directions
On a skillet or in the toaster, toast the bread till golden and crisp.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a small wok and saute the onions till translucent (~2 mins). Add the tomatoes, coriander and saute for another minute. Don't fry the tomatoes to a mush. Add the paneer, salt, red chilli powder and stir gently till seasoned through. Remove from heat and keep aside.
Rub the clove of garlic all over the toasted slices of bread(one side).
Divide the paneer mixture equally between the two (or three, depending on size of bread) slices.
Eat immediately.

This makes for a wholesome breakfast or good for lunch too, when paired with a soup.

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The recipe for my best salad ever - Grilled paneer salad with edible flowers

I love cooking for friends. They bring out the best dishes from my kitchen. Ajit & Nandini are always generous with their praise for my salads, often telling me to either open a salad bar or start taking salad making classes. While I've done neither, I love to up my game when I'm making salads for them. You see the effect of positive reinforcement right there :-)

Last weekend, they were planning to get an Asian starter and main course for dinner, so I promised to make an Asian inspired salad. I had made up my mind to use the edible flowers from my garden. Edible flowers are quite the current culinary rage with chefs using them as garnishes in salads, drinks to making whole dishes using them. I wanted to use the beans flowers, rocket flowers, basil flowers along with the baby leaves of Malabar spinach, cinnamon basil (tastes similar to Thai basil), regular spinach and baby bok choy leaves.

I collected the flowers in a little bowl, soaked them in cold water to refresh them and dried them on a tea towel. The baby leaves were washed delicately in cold water and dried on towels. The bigger lettuce, rocket leaves were washed, chopped into bite sized pieces and dried on towels. So yes, salads mean more work than other dishes. Leaves need to be carefully washed and dried, which is half the battle won. You could say that a salad spinner could simply this process so much. I whole heartedly agree, but somehow I haven't got myself one yet. I guess this is why salads are so overpriced in fine dining restaurants - the work that goes into the leaves.



And yes, I used paneer in this salad. Purists can turn up their noses saying "HUH Paneer in an Asian salad"! But hey, it's better to use paneer instead of not-so-good tofu and marinated in Asian flavours, it could beat the pants off any tofu.

Grilled paneer salad with edible flowers
Serves 4-5

Salad ingredients
6 big handfuls of mixed salad greens (prepared as explained above- baby leaves left whole & bigger leaves chopped into bite size)
1 large green bell pepper, very thinly sliced
1 small onion or 3 shallots, finely sliced
2 small carrots, peeled and thinly shaved
2 plums, thinly sliced
200 grams paneer, sliced thickly into 8 long pieces

Edible flowers (optional)
Coriander flowers, beans flowers, rocket flower, basil flowers - soak in cold water, drain and dry on towels. I also used rocket pods.

Marinade for paneer
1 tsp finely grated ginger
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
big pinch of chilli flakes or chilli sauce as per taste
pinch of salt (if needed, as soy sauce has lots of salt)
2-3 lemongrass leaves, crushed
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Toss all the above in a large bowl and gently toss the paneer slices in this. Keep covered for 15-30 mins.

Marinade for salad - add all the following ingredients to a jam jar and shake well until you get an evenly mixed dressing
2 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp honey
chilli flakes
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 garlic clove, finely grated
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander
freshly ground black pepper

Grilling the paneer
Grease hot stove top grill pan / grill / tava. Once the pan is very hot, place the marinated paneer slices (after removing the lemon grass stalks from marinade) in a single layer, press gently with a spatula and do not disturb for 1 minute or so, until the grill marks appear. Turn and grill other side similarly. Remove from the grill pan and keep aside.

To assemble salad
Place the prepared salad greens in a large bowl. Scatter the bell pepper, carrots, plums over the leaves. Pour 3/4th of the dressing and toss gently. Arrange this on a platter. Place the grilled paneer and top with edible flowers. Pour any remaining dressing & marinade over the top.

Verdict
The paneer was the star of the dish, marinated in those Asian flavours and the stunning grill marks. The others lent an excellent supporting role and the dressing brought the whole dish together. A small note of appreciation for the cute flowers who added a lot of prettiness to the dish. We LOVED this dish and wished there was more :)

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Raw Banana & Paneer Kababs

Simple to make and delicious, these kababs were a part of dinner last night. Sufficiently pushed by the good folks who follow my blog's Facebook page, who asked me to share this recipe when I posted a picture - this quick post is for them :) These make a perfect starter, you could make these even smaller for bite sized pieces. I'm sure they'd taste good rolled up in soft phulka rotis.

Recipe for Raw Banana & Paneer Kababs

Makes 10 medium sized kababs

Ingredients

3 small raw bananas

1/2 cup paneer - finely crumbled or grated

fresh coriander leaves, chopped

2 tbsp of finely chopped onion

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

1 garlic clove, grated

a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp of good garam masala powder (by good, I mean fresh and fragrant)

1 tbsp semolina / bread crumbs

3/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil or so to cook the kababs

How to make

Cut the bananas in half (length wise) and pressure cook with peel or boil them until very soft.

Once cool enough to handle, remove peels. These will slip off easily with a squeeze, if the bananas are well cooked. Mash with a fork. 

Add all other ingredients except oil. Pinch off 10 portions, flatten on palm and place in single layer on a plate. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes or covered with cling film until you need to make them.

Grease a non stick tava / grill pan. Cook these on both side with little oil until golden. Serve hot with chutney or Tabasco sauce.

Note

You can use mashed potatoes instead of raw banana and tofu instead of paneer too! Don't use too much onion, i've deliberately used a couple of spoons only, just for flavouring and not as a vegetable.

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How to make paneer and the easiest dish with paneer : Paneer Bhurji

Paneer Bhurji is one dish that is good to have in your repertoire of easy, quick dishes that can be made in minutes if you stock store bought paneer. Also, a great vegetarian side to serve your guests, if you cook predominantly non-vegetarian dishes and you find it tough to handle vegetables.

Making paneer at home- you need

1 litre regular fat milk (3%)

You could also use a day old milk that you can't use in coffee / tea

2- 3 tbsp of white vinegar

A fine mesh sieve or a muslin cloth

Bring the milk to a boil.
As soon as it boils, lower the heat to minimum.

Add 2 tbsp of vinegar and stir it around. In 2-3 minutes, the milk will separate into solids and liquid (whey)- if the whey is not totally clear- then use the remaining tbsp of vinegar and stir for 2 more minutes.

Carefully hold the vessel with a pair of tongs or a thick tea towel and pour the contents through a sieve-collecting the whey in a large vessel.

Lightly press with the back of a ladle to remove excess whey from the solids.

What remains is the paneer.

For any other dish in which you need cubed paneer, you need to use a muslin cloth / clean cotton tea towel. Place the paneer in the middle, cover it on all sides, using the sides of the cloth as flaps.

Place this on a dish and place a heavy weight like a mortar pestle on top of this to flatten it out.

After 15 minutes, cube it and place it in the whey or warm water until you need to use it.

Paneer bhurji is a scramble made using paneer cheese, midly spiced with green chillies and the added texture of finely chopped onions and bell pepper.

For Paneer Bhurji, you don't need to do any of the earlier processes to get cubes. You don't even have to press out too much of the excess whey. This keeps the bhurji moist.

Recipe for Paneer Bhurji
Time taken: 15 minutes or so
Serves 3 people

Paneer from 1 L of milk 

2 tsp oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Pinch of asafoetida (optional)

2 green chillies, finely sliced (or 1 if you want it mildly spicy)

1 medium onion - finely diced

1 medium green bell pepper- finely diced

Tiny pinch of turmeric powder

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large steel or non stick wok.
2. Add the cumin and mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the asafoetida, chillies, onion and bell pepper, with a pinch of salt.
3. Saute on medium flame till onions are soft-roughly 7-8 minutes.
4. Add the freshly made paneer. If you are using store bought paneer, crumble 200 grams and use it now.
5. Sprinkle tiny pinch of turmeric powder over this and mix well.
6. Add 1/2 tsp salt and saute well till all spices are mixed.
7. Remove from flame and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
8. Serve with rotis or parathas or with toasted slices of bread.

Notes:

Use a mix of red, yellow and green bell peppers to make this dish super colourful.

You could also use crumbled tofu instead of paneer, although you need to use more chillies to make tofu taste as flavoursome as paneer.

Some people like to add boiled peas to the dish to make it more substantial and colourful.

If you are in Bombay, try the Punjab Dairy paneer or the Darshan dairy paneer. Though it has a whole lot of fat, it is one of the softest paneer I've tasted. In Bangalore, Nandini paneer is decent.

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Aloo Palak Biryani - The Express Way

Things have been kinda quiet around this blog. Those of you who follow me on Twitter might know the reason for the silence on the food blogging front. The husband became the first Indian to run the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Crossing happened between 6 -12 March in Chile. Here's the blog where I have captured all the details of his run, and the links to photos and videos. Although, I couldn't be there personally at the finish line to cheer him, the updates from the organisers and the tons of pictures kept me clued in as to how the husband and the other runners were faring.

Also, I have started a personal tumblog for recording the non-food feelings. From the great response the blog has received, I see that people enjoy reading snippets from others' lives and also identify with a whole of things. It becomes a platform to share thoughts with like minded people who also leave words of empathy and useful advice.
Do read the two recent posts on it and let me know your thoughts.

Coming back to food, last evening was one of those times where I got totally stuck on what to cook for dinner. Having picked up fresh spinach on the way back from my run and I wanted to use it up. I was inspired by the Chhole-Biryani my dad made us one day for lunch when they were here, so I decided to use a similar method and spices to prepare this spinach and potato biryani.

Let me add a disclaimer that this is not made in authentic biryani style such as layering the curry with rice and then cooking under dum, etc. I choose to call this biryani, but if you are too much of a purist, then call this pulao or vegetable rice or by any other name you please. I can promise you this will taste as good. While it took me just around 25 minutes from start to finish because I use the pressure cooker for everything and it speeds up my cooking, if you choose to pan cook the potatoes and rice, this will take somewhat longer.

I loved this fragrant, spicy rice dinner. Paired with raita, it makes a complete meal.

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Recipe for Aloo-Palak Biryani
Spinach and potato rice
Serves 3 people generously
Time taken - Under half hour


Ingredients
1 tbsp oil and ghee
Dry spices
2 cinnamon sticks
1 piece of mace
4-5 cloves
1 black cardamom
1/2 tsp shahjeera (caraway seeds)
1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1 large onion, sliced thin
3 cups of shredded spinach
2 tsps of Chhole masala ( I use Goldiee, see notes)
1.5 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp coriander powder
1.5 tsp salt
1/2 cup crumbled paneer, optional
2 large potatoes, cut into big pieces
1 cup basmati rice
5-6 strand of saffron in 3 tbsp of warm milk

Directions

In a pressure cooker, place the washed rice with 2 cups water and pinch of salt. Cover this vessel with a dish and place the large potato cubes on this. Pressure cook for one whistle, keep on sim for 3-5 minutes and switch off the flame. We want both the rice and potatoes to be just done and not mashed.

In a large kadai, heat ghee. Add pinch of asafoetida, all the dry spices. Stir for a few seconds, then add the sliced onions, ginger-garlic paste. Saute on medium heat for 3 -5 minutes, adding the shredded spinach after that. Allow spinach to wilt on high heat.

Once the cooker is cool enough to be opened, remove the potato cubes. Remove the rice onto a large dish, gently separate with fork and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.

Add the potato cubes to the onion-spinach mix along with the spice powders and salt. Toss gently to coat the potato with spices, let this cook on low heat for 5 minutes with occasional turning, adding the crumbled paneer towards the end.

Add the nearly cooled rice to the mix in the kadai, toss gently till evenly mixed along with saffron-milk.
Cover this with a tight light and let the flavours come together on low heat for 5 more minutes.

Serve hot with raita and papad.

Notes
I highly recommend Goldiee Chhole Ka Masala. After using this for the last 3 years, I can tell you, no other masala comes close. While it is manufactured in Kanpur, most of it is exported to Gulf countries, I believe. My friend who's relatives own this company, is always generous to send me a few boxes of this masala each year which i treasure dearly. All you hing fans, Goldiee Heera Hing is strong and fragrant like NO OTHER. Use it to believe it. And no, I am not getting paid to promote this! Check their website for more details.

All you Aloo-Methi lovers can substitute the spinach with fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves for a delicious variation.

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The Great Indian Vegetable Biryani

There are some recipes that escape even a voracious cook - and for me Biryani has been one of them. In most friends' house parties this is one dish that unfailingly features as the main course - a pot of vegetable biryani for the non meat eaters and a mutton biryani for the others. Besides it is commonly ordered in our favourite Punjabi restaurant Urban Tadka (UT) which you must have heard from me pretty often on this blog. In UT, the biryani is made in individual clay pots sealed with dough and baked in the tandoor - and in all my biryani encounters, I can easily rate theirs as the best. One evening when DH suggested vegetable biryani with raita for dinner - it struck me that this is one dish that has eluded me all these years and why not try my hand at it.

Of all the recipes I found on food blogs and general food websites, I found this video by Vah Chef Sanjay Thumma very educative. Only problem with his video that he doesn't mention how much of each ingredient to use. So here's my version of his recipe.
Since there quite a lot of ingredients, I will include them along with the directions.

Special apparatus
A large pot along with a wide pan or pot in which the first one will sit comfortably in case you plan to finish off the final stage on stove stop, or else you can bake it off in the oven.

Preparation

1. Wash 2 cups long grained basmati rice gently and soak for an hour in a large bowl.
2. Slice 4 medium onions very finely, separate. You can either deep fry these or bake them in the oven till brown or shallow fry them on a non stick pan coated with oil on a very low flame (around 15 minutes or so)
3. Vegetables for the biryani - 1 small cauliflower broken into large florets
   2 medium carrots, scraped and cut into large pieces
   3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large wedges
   1/2 - 1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
   2 large capsicums, deseeded cut into large squares
4. Fry 3 tbsp cashews and then 2 tbsp of raisins in hot ghee on a low flame, drain and keep aside.
5. Chop roughly 1/2 cup mint leaves and 1/2 cup coriander leaves. Keep aside.
6. Soak a large pinch of saffron strands in 1/2 cup of warm milk. Keep aside.
   

Directions

1. Heat 2 tbsp ghee in a large non stick pot.
2. Add to the hot ghee, 3 bay leaves, 3 sticks of cinnamon 1" each, 2 black cardamoms, 2 green cardamoms, 4 cloves, 2 tsp cumin seeds and toss on a low flame.
3. Next, add 2 tbsp of ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute till cooked.
4. Throw in all the chopped vegetables, 2 tsp of salt, 2 tsp of red chilli powder, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 2 tbsp of coriander powder, 1 tbsp cumin powder, 2 tsp garam masala powder, 3 slit green chillies, handful of mint leaves and saute well to coat all the vegetable chunks evenly. On a low flame let the vegetables cook till they are 60-70% done, sprinkling some water at intervals if necessary. To this finally add 200 grams paneer cut into large cubes and toss well.
   
5. Once the vegetables are in the nearly done stage, add 3 cups of thick homemade / Greek yoghurt and stir on a low flame till the veggies are well coated with the spicy yoghurt sauce. Check for salt and adjust as per taste. Keep this aside.
6. Meanwhile bring to a boil around 3-4 Litres of water in a large pot - add around a tsp of salt, 2 bay leaves and 1 tbsp ghee / oil and add the drained soaked rice grains. Let this boil for around 5-7 minutes and check if nearly done. At the 75% done stage drain the rice out in a colander. Turn this onto a large plate, spread it out gently with forks and let it cool.

Assembly (for the stove top method)

1. In the large pot (that fits inside of another pan), first layer the half the rice. Add half of the vegetable-paneer-yogurt mix. Top with half of the browned onions, fried nuts-raisins and chopped herbs.
2. Add a cup of beaten yogurt on top of this.
3. Top with rest of the rice and repeat the remaining onion-nuts-herbs layer over the rice.
4. Cover the pot with 2-3 layers of thick aluminium foil. Cover with a fitting lid.
5. Place 2-3 cups of water in the larger pan. Keep over high heat. Place the covered pot with biryani in this pan and let the water simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Remove the pot from the pan and keep aside for 30 minutes or so for the flavours to develop fully before serving.
7. Serve with any vegetable / fruit raita that is chilled.

For those of you who would like to bake off in the final stage, layer as above in a oven proof deep pan and seal well with foil. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve as above.



Although this was not as good as my favourite restaurant's biryani, this is mighty good for a first attempt and I would give all credit to Chef Sanjay's video, which you might check out for a quick recap. I hope the quantified ingredients here make it a tad simpler for those of you wanting to try out the Great Indian Vegetable Biryani.

This recipe serves around 6-8 people for a main course along with raita made from 1 Litre yogurt.
I understand that the list of ingredients runs pretty long, but really you'll find most of the stuff in your pantry. The paneer is optional here, but it adds a nice variation to the texture of vegetables. You could also try boiled chickpeas as a protein addition instead of paneer.
(all ingredients for this recipe are marked in bold in the various stages of description)

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Low fat - restaurant style Matar Paneer

Hello and glad to see you in the new year. Trying to stick to my resolutions (to blog more regularly) - I was ready with the draft 3 days ago, but that's when respiratory infection and bronchitis caught up with me and has kept me down for over 3 days. In Bombay, the temperature difference is well over 15 degrees between day and night, leading to an epidemic of sorts in respiratory infections. The only times in the last three days I've managed to drag myself into the kitchen, is to make a huge pot of Molagu Rasam (Clear pepper soup), and keep warming it up in the microwave, sipping the spicy liquid through the day. Apart from that, my diet has generally been antibiotics, antihistaminics, expectorants and mucolytics. Sounds like quite a spread right??

Back to the topic of the post - this is one dish that is an extremely popular Indian curry - the origins as far as I know being Punjabi in nature, the land where paneer has been predominantly used since many years. If one has paneer and frozen peas, this can be made out of the stuff you'd normally have in your pantry, bailing you out, if you got a day late in replenishing your stock of vegetables.

For a person who cooks almost 3 meals each day, it's odd that I rarely make the typical restaurant style Punjabi dishes like Malai Kofta, Makhanwala and the likes, going mostly with the more earthy simple dishes, where veggies are not drowned in rich gravies and recipes which give veggies more respect than that! However on a whim I decided to try out this matar paneer curry, also since I had nothing else in my refrigerator that evening, except for the staple onions-tomatoes-ginger and garlic.

The recipe here is adapted from a food video prepared by Chef Sanjay Thumma. You'll find plenty of his videos on rediff iShare, youtube and his own site. Ofcourse, this is a much calorie cut version of the same. You could watch his video for a richer, creamier version of the same. But hey, does the title of the post - 'low fat' 'restaurant style' sound like an oxymoron? Well, if you ever try this recipe, you'll know what I mean :)




Matar Paneer ( Indian curry with green peas and cheese )
Category - Vegetarian side to be eaten with rotis, parathas or rice
Time taken - Around 30 minutes
Serves - 3 to 4 people

---

Ingredients

1 tsp oil
1 tbsp broken cashewnuts
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 medium tomatoes finely chopped
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp finely chopped garlic cloves
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1-2 tsp coriander-cumin powder or 1 tsp each
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup frozen or fresh boiled peas
200 g paneer cut into 12 cubes
1 tsp kasoori methi - dried fenugreek leaves, crumbled into a rough powder

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed wok. Start by sauteeing the broken cashews till lightly golden.
2. Next, add the chopped ginger-garlic and onions and cook on a low flame with a pinch of salt till they soften and turn light brown.
3. At this stage, add the tomatoes with the turmeric powder. Stir well and cook for 5-7 minutes, till mushy.
4. Remove the contents of the wok and blend to a fine puree in a blender, once cooled throughly. You may use upto 1/2 cup water to aid the blending process.
5. In the same wok, transfer the fine puree. Season with spice powders (red chilli powder, cumin coriander powder, garam masala) and salt. Simmer for 3-4 minutes till the gravy is infused with the spices.
6. Add the frozen / boiled green peas to this gravy and simmer for 5 minutes, after which the paneer cubes go in. Simmer for another 2 minutes, check for salt, sprinkle crushed kasoori methi and give it a stir.
7. Matar paneer is ready to be removed in a serving bowl.

Notes
Serve hot with rotis, parathas, naan or plain steamed rice seasoned with cumin seeds.

I personally prefer to have this with a plain tandoori roti or a phulka as the dish is quite heavy, it is better balanced by a lighter bread. A raita on the side would be nice too, or a simple cucumber salad.

Health tips

It's perfectly okay to use store bought paneer.Using paneer made from skimmed milk at home will further reduce the calories from fat keeping the protein content intact. In restaurants, this dish is made with plenty of ghee /butter, a large chunk of nut paste (almond or cashew) plus a dollop of fresh cream added towards the end to make it even richer.

This version uses just one teaspoon of vegetable oil and the small quantity of cashewnuts are enough to provide the rich creamy restaurant taste without the added calories from fat. The key to a delicious gravy is to not skimp on the onion sauteeing and make a really fine puree using a good quality blender. The pinch of kasoori methi in the end makes all the difference in giving that 'restauranty' flavour.

Vegans can substitute the paneer with tofu or boiled-drained soya chunks (sold in Indian stores under the brand Nutrela).

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