Paneer Kali Mirch ( A refreshingly different Cottage Cheese curry )

The start to this year has been rather low key. Health concerns have taken up all our priorities for the last few days. And added to that, we have made a resolution to cut down of meat and fish this year. Hence, a paneer curry was the natural choice for the first lunch of 2016.

I had noted down this recipe from one of the FB forums sometime back. And decided to add my own touch at the last minute. Result was a rich yet refreshing gravy that made our lunch quite festive.
Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 30 mins

Ingredients -

• 200 gm paneer cubes
• 1/2 cup milk / yogurt ( depends on whether you want that hint of sourness )
• 1 tbsp fresh cream
• 1 large onion ( chopped into thin long pieces )
• 1 tsp ginger juliennes
• 1 tsp crushed peppercorns
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp oil
• 2 tsp butter
• 1 tbsp chopped mint leaves
• salt to taste
• 5-6 cashews
• 2 cloves

Preparation - Soak the cashews in a cup of hot water for 20 mins.

Cooking - Heat the oil in a wok. Add the chopped onions and fry till brown. Remove from wok. Grind into a smooth paste along with the soaked cashews.

Heat the butter/ ghee in the same wok. Add the ginger juliennes and cloves. Fry for 30 seconds before adding the onion-cashew paste. Saute for another 2-3 mins.

Lower flame and add the milk/yogurt, crushed peppercorns, garam masala, cumin powder and salt. Bring to a slight boil and then add the cream.

Drop in the paneer cubes along with the chopped mint. Cover immediately. Switch off flame after a minute.

Serve immediately along with jeera rice / phulkas or naan.

Note - There are multiple variations to this recipe and hence taste will wildly vary. With mine, I have limited the use of strong spices which can mask the kali mirch or peppercorn flavour. Another version which I tried and liked was one by Tarla dalal which makes use of garlic. 

Badami Paneer

Badami Paneer or cottage cheese cubes cooked in a rich nut based gravy is one dish that invokes sheer bliss. It has an silken texture that just seems to envelope one's entire mouth while the tangy taste of the tomatoes and the mild heat from those aromatic spices join hands to tingle each and every taste bud.

But surprisingly it is very simple and rather easy to prepare. Make this dish for friends and family and have them wondering about the kind of effort that you have put in. Read on for recipe -

Preparation Time - 30 mins

Ingredients -

• 250 gm Paneer cubes
• 1 medium sized onion
• 1 tsp Garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp Ginger paste
• 1/2 cup tomato puree
• 1/2 cup coriander powder
• 1/2 cup cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/5 tsp turmeric
• 2 pinch garam masala
• 1 cup milk
• 4-5 tsp oil/butter ( 1 prefer 1 tsp oil + 3 tsp butter )
• salt to taste
• cilantro for garnishing
• 5-6 cashews
• 10 almonds
• 1 tsp poppy seeds

Preparation - Soak the cashews, almonds and poppy seeds in warm water for 1/2 hour . Then grind into a smooth paste. Keep aside.

Grind the onion separately into a smooth paste

Cooking - Heat the oil and butter in a wok.

Add the onion paste along with the ginger paste and garlic paste. Fry till translucent but no more.

Add the powdered masalas along with the tomato puree. Fry till oil starts to come out from this gravy.

Then add the nuts paste and fry for 2-3 mins. Finally add the warm milk and get it to a boil.

Once the gravy has reached the desired consistency, add the panner cubes. Let it simmer for 2 mins.

Garnish with cilantro before removing from the flame.

Serve hot with jeera rice, rotis or even some delicious butter naan. 

Kashmiri Chicken Korma

Finally a Chicken recipe after a long time!! Had been cutting down on its intake because of summers but the sporadic rainfall during last weekend gave us a chance to indulge in some yummy chicken gravy. Wanted to make something new and this bookmarked recipe came to my mind. Quite easy and takes minimal effort.

Made a few changes in the preparation method. The original recipe calls for sauteing the onions and spices in ghee/oil and them making a smooth paste out of it. But I chose to boil/cook them in water till tender and then make a puree out of it. This saves quite a bit of butter/oil from going into the dish (and finally adding up on the waistline). This is a distinctively sweet-sour gravy with the added pungency of the dry Kashmiri chilis. But one can reduce the sweetness if one is not very fond of it.

Read on for the recipe -

Preparation Time - 40 mins

Ingredients -

• 500 gm chicken pieces ( use boneless if you wish )
• 3 tsp oil
• 2 tsp butter
• 3 green cardamom, crushed
• 1 tbsp kasuri methi
• 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup thick yogurt
• salt to taste
• freshly chopped coriander for the garnish

For making gravy -

• 1 medium sized tomato (fully ripened)
• 1 large sized onion (optional)
• 4-5 garlic flakes
• 1 inch long ginger
• 2-3 dry red chillis
• 2 tbsp broken cashews
• 2/3 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/4 tsp pepper seeds (optional)
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• a fistful of raisins ( optional, add only if you want it more sweet )
• salt to taste

Preparation - Roughly chop the onion, ginger and garlic. Cut the tomato into 4 pieces.

Marinate the chicken with salt and turmeric.

Cooking - Bring 1 1/2 cups of water to boil in a saucepan. Add all the ingredients mentioned for the gravy. Boil for 7-8 minutes. Allow to cool down and then transfer to a blender. Make a smooth paste out of it.

Heat the oil + butter in a wok. Add the marinated chicken pieces and fry on medium to high flame till they turn brown on the outside. Then add the masala paste along with chili powder and cook for 7-8 minutes till it starts getting thick and oil just starts to ooze out.

Add 3/4 - 1 cup hot water and bring to boil. Simmer for a few minutes.

Rub the kasuri methi between your hand to warm it and then add to the wok. Also add the crushed cardamom and sugar. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Switch off the flame. Stir in the beaten yogurt . Switch on the burner and cook for 3-4 minutes on a low flame and adjust salt if needed. Remove from wok.

Garnish with the coriander and serve hot.

Note - One can also add some more cream/use milk instead to water to make the gravy rich.