Chilli Paneer

It all started out with the usual conversation  in my head- "wat do I make for dinner tonight?" and the usual response - "Anything"! And then "Anything" becomes Noodles and "Chilly Paneer" :)

I thought it would be a change from the usual - Dal chaval or Roti Subjii and turned out quite well, if I may say so myself ( I am modest, na .? :D)

I did make a few changes here and there as I did not have the required ingredients and was too lazy to go out and buy them at 8:00 in the evening .. So here goes -

Ingredients required :

A slab of Paneer ( readily available in the Super market) cubed - 200 gms should do fine
One medium Onion - Sliced
One medium capsicum - Either cut them into long slices or into squares
4-5 garlic pods - crushed
3-5 Green chillies - julienned (for the look)
Vegetable soup powder - 2 tablespoons - Mixed in half a cup of water (instead of veg stock)
Corn flour - 3 tablespoons
Soya Sauce - 2 tablespoons
Green Chilli Sauce - 1 tablespoon
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Oil - to shallow fry the paneer
Salt to taste
Spring onions - 1 tbsp to garnish/ 1 tbsp fry
1/4 tsp Ajino motto ( i didn have any, so didn use any but came out well all the same)

How I Made It :

1. After I cut the paneer , I dusted it in the cornflour and then shallow fried them till they were golden brown on all sides and put it aside on a tissue for the excess oil to drain.
2. In a pan, I heated about 2 tablespoons of oil and when warm , dumped the crushed garlic with a tablespoon of spring onions and waited for the garlic to brown a bit and then, in went the onions, capsicum and green chillies that were sauted for about a couple of minutes.
3. When the onions started turning a shade of pink, I added the fried paneer pieces, the vegetable soup powder mixed in water, soya sauce, chilli sauce, pepper powder, salt to taste and mixed it well.
4. In the meantime, I mixed the remaining cornflour with about one third cup of water and then when the mixture in the pan started boiling, I stirred in the blended cornflour and cooked it on high heat, stirring and tossing until the sauce thickened to coat the paneer and the vegetables.
5.Serve immediately., garnished with remaining spring onions.


P.s: Don't forget to thank me for the compliments you receive ;)

Gobi 65

This is a simple side dish that makes any meal special. It goes well with fried rice, veg biryani or any other variety rice. There are many different ways to do this. If you have already been doing this, try it this way for a change. Actually, this is my grandmom's recipe. When she put in the ingredients I did not get a chance to measure it. So I just eye balled it. After that I just followed her instructions. I have not used egg  and it turned out perfectly fine.

Ingredients:
 
Cauliflower-1 (medium size)
Onion- 1
Green chillies- 3
Garlic- 1
Corriander leaves-few

For marination:
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Chilli powder- 2 tsps
Salt-as required
Color powder- optional
Cornflour- 1 tbsp
Maidha- 2 tbsp
Curd- 2 tsp
Tomato sauce- 2 tsp

Procedure:
Cut cauliflower into bite size florets and put it in hot salted water for 2 to 3 mins. Drain and put all the ingredients under 'marinade'. Mix everything well without adding water. Keep it aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Heat oil and deep-fry the florets.

In a kadai, heat little oil and saute onion, green chillies, garlic and salt. Remove when onions are cooked but still crunchy. Add some pepper and corriander leaves. Keep this aside. After draining the cauliflower florets add it to the onion mixture. Mix well and serve with ketchup.

Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Basmathi rice- 2 cups
Baby carrots- 8 (can use regular carrot )
Beans- 10
Capsicum- 1/2
Cabbage- 1/4 cup(shredded)
Spring onions- 2 stalks
Minced garlic- 2 tsp
Eggs- 2
Soy sauce- as required
Sesame oil- 1 tsp

Method:

Cook rice with 4 cups of water. Spread on a big plate and cool. All the grains should be seperate. Heat oil and sesame oil together in a wok. when the oil is smoky hot add finely chopped carrots, beans and garlic. cook for 3 mins. Then add capsicum. fry a minute. Move the vegetables to one side of the kadai and add eggs to the wok. Scramble them after adding some salt and pepper. when done mix with vegetables. Do not over cook vegetables . It has to be crisp. Add rice,salt, soy sauce and 1/4 tsp pepper. Toss everything well. You can add crushed red pepper if you want the rice to be spicy.

NOTE:  If you want Mushroom fried rice, reduce the amount of vegetables and add cooked,shredded Mushroom. To make schezwan fried rice , add some chilli paste and tomato sauce.