Palak Paneer ( spinach and cottage cheese )

PALAK PANEER

This is a very popular dish which is enjoyed with  both roti and rice. Palak has got many benefits and should be consumed but young and old.

Generally at home and specially in Bengal this dish is prepared without onion and garlic . But today I will show you how you can get the taste like what we get in Restaurants.

• First I boiled 5 bunches of spinach ( palak) with 5 green chillies 
• Added 2cups of water and 1tsp of salt.
• After boiling let it cool down.
• Then make it into a paste in your mixer grinder and keep it aside.

• In the meantime sauté 200 gms of cottage cheese in a pan/ kadai with 1 Tbsp of ghee.

• Now in the cooker added 1 Tbsp of ghee 
• Add 1 tsp of jeera(cumin seeds) and 2 bay leaves.
• Fry for a minute.

• Then add 1 big onion , finely chopped. 
• Along with it fry 1 tsp of ginger-garlic paste.
• Fry till the raw smell goes away.

• Now add 2 tsp of kasuri methi.
• Add 1tsp of salt and sugar.
• Adjust salt according to your taste .
• I don't add chilli powder as I use green chili .
• Stir it for a minute and then add the spinach paste along with water. 
• Cook in medium flame for 15 minutes. 
• Now add the fried cottage cheese ( paneer).
• Finally add 1tsp of garam masala powder and 1tsp of ghee from top.
• Stir well and turn off the stove/gas.

Butter Chicken

My friends and followers have been asking me the recipe of  Indian "Butter chicken" since a very long time. Sorry it took awhile, As I keep experimenting with different cuisines and techniques all the time and other unavoidable reasons

This is an indian delicacy! 

You can make it using the microwave or using the good old stove (or) even both. But for lack of time To make it quick and easy and shorten  the prep time I made it in both in a few simple steps.

I am giving both the procedures separately, You can choose as per your convenience. Enjoy :)

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast:  800 grams
• Lemon juice: 1 tbsp
• Kashmiri Lal mirch powder: 1 tsp (Red pepper powder)
• Salt according to your taste

Marination  Ingredients: 

• Yogurt: 1 cup
• Ginger paste: 2 tbsp
• Garlic paste: 2 tbsp
• Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
• Lemon juice: 2 Tbsp 
• Mustard oil: 2 tbsp
• Butter: 2 Tbsp

Gravy Ingredients:

• Dried fenugreek leaves: 2 Tbsp (kasuri methi)
• Bay leaves: 2
• Melted Butter: 2/3rd cup
• Peppercorns: 10
• Cinnamon sticks: 2 inches
• Green Cardamom: 5  pods
• Cloves: 10
• Ginger paste: 1 tbsp
• Garlic paste 1 tbsp
• Tomato purée: 2 cups (240ml)
• Red chilly powder: 1 tbsp
• Garam masala power: 1/2 tsp
• Honey: 3 tbsp
• Fresh cream: 1 cup
• Salt

Procedure: 

• Clean, skin it and wash the chicken. Cut into medium sized pieces. Make incisions on the pieces and apply the mixture of Kashmiri red chili powder, lemon juice and salt. Leave it for half an hour. 

• Hang the yogurt in a muslin cloth till all water in it drains away. Transfer it in a bowl and add salt, ginger paste, garlic pastes, lemon juice, garam -masala powder, and mustard oil and mix well.
• Apply this marinade to the chicken pieces and mix well. Refrigerate it for 4-5 hours .

You can cook it in a microwave, By:

• Preheating your microwave in convection mode at  200 degree centigrade.
• Otherwise. Heat 2 tbsp of butter in a wok and cook the chicken till the chicken is done. It took almost 30 minutes for me.
• Place the chicken on a roasting (baking) tray / wire rack and cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes or till the chicken is tender. 
• Place kasuri methi on a flat microwave dish and roast on high (full) for 1 minute. Remove and crush with hand.
• Take butter in a deep microwave bowl (borosil or glass) , heat uncovered, for 30 seconds on high mode (100%). 
• Add bay leaves, peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, ginger paste, garlic paste,
• Stir well and cook it uncovered for 4-5 minutes on high mode. I prefer doing this step using a gas stove since it gets cooked properly in comparison to the microwave.
• Add tomato purée, red chilli powder, Garam masala powder, salt and a cup of water. Cook it on high temp for 10 minutes.
• Add chicken pieces and cook, covered, for 5 minutes on Microwave High.

• Add honey, kasuri methi, fresh cream and cook it uncovered on low temperature (50% power) microwave for 4-5 minutes and serve Hot.

My Way cooking (Using the stove and microwave):

• First add 2 Tbsp of butter in the kadai (wok) then fry the Garam masala ie: (pepper corns, cinnamon. green cardamom, cloves, bay leaves) then add 2 Tbsp of  the ginger & garlic paste and cook in medium flame for about 10 mins.                                     

                                         

• Then add 2 cups of tomato pure, 1 Tbsp of red chilli powder and 1 tsp of garam masala powder and salt according to your taste. Stir it for a while and add a cup of water, cook it for another 10 minutes.

• Now add the marinated chicken and mix it well with the butter gravy. Cook it for another 10-12 minutes until the chicken becomes tender and the gravy thickens. 

• In a separate pan dry roast kasuri methi in a drop of oil and then grind it and keep it aside.

                           

• Transfer the cooked chicken into a deep microwave bowl or continue cooking in kadai (wok) Then add 3 Tbsp of honey, 1 cup of cream. and stir it well and add the kasuri methi from the top. Cook it with the lid on for another 10 minutes and turn off the stove. 

• Cook it on low heat (50% power) uncovered for 5 minutes if you are using the microwave. after adding the above.

        

~Serve hot~

Enjoy!

Canned Tuna fish Indian Style

Canned Tuna Indian Home Style Recipe

Canned tuna tastes great unlike what people may wonder about canned fish. 

In many gatherings people have asked me this question ...."mam how come u like this fish so much?....this fish is so smelly and you can't make it taste better" or sometimes they asked "OMG! it can only be grilled right? and I don't have an oven!" These are the questions which inspired me to share my easy homely version of Tuna fish chunks with an Indian touch! :)

You need a microwave or even an oven for this :)

Ingredients:

🔸2 cans tuna in chilli oil (180gm each- Ocean’s Secret)

🔸Sliced white onion: 3 big 

🔸4-5 green chillies

🔸Tomato : deseeded slices/ Tomato purée 4 Tbsp 

🔸Garlic 8-10 cloves 

🔸Ginger paste (optional ): 1 tsp

🔸Green onions /shallots: 100gm

🔸Chopped Cilantro (coriander)

Procedure:

🔸First add 4 tablespoon of chilli oil from the can.

🔸Fry the white onions once the oil heats, until it is golden brown.

🔸Add the chopped garlic and green chilli into And five for another 2-3 minutes

🔸Add the chopped tomatoes /or the tomato Purée. And fry for 5 min

🔸Now add the tuna and fry for 5-10mins.

🔸While it’s cooking, you can add ginger slices, and paprika (Kashmiri red chilli powder to add       spiciness)

🔸Add chopped cilantro (Dhania) from the top. Opt: add some chopped green shallots and give it a stir.

🔸If you are using salted/Tuna in brine then you may not need to add any salt at all. Or you might require some salt.

🔸Since I’ve used a canned tuna with almost no salt, I had to add salt according to our preference, around 1-2tsp

Tips: 

🔸To give it an Indian twist, add 1 tbsp ghee and 1tsp Garam masala powder over the top and give it a stir.

🔸Adjust the salt and the shallots as per your liking.

      ~Enjoy it with hot breads /Rice~  

Video Recipe