Paneer Bread Balls / Paneer Balls

I have tasted paneer balls from Nilgiris and was wondering what ingredients went in to make these tasty balls. But I knew potato and panner were the main ingredients. And the moment I saw these spinach cheese balls from the cookbook by Tarladalal the idea struck me to make these paneer bread balls. But know what?! except the ball idea I totally modified the recipe to my convenience :)

Ingredients :

• Paneer - 1 cup
• Bread - 3 slices
• Potato - 1/2 (just for binding)
• Onion - 1 finely chopped
• Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
• Tomato Sauce - 1 tbsp
• Rava - 1/2 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Oil - as required

Method:

1. Crumble the paneer well. Knead it for 5mins until well combined. Boil potatoes until soft and combine with paneer and keep aside.
2. Cut the corner of the bread slices, sip it in water and add it to crumbled paneer . then add all the other ingredients except oil and combine to form a smooth dough just enough to roll into balls.
3. Now pinch equal sized balls and roll them into small balls and deep fry them in oil(I used my paniyaram pan to toast them to reduce oil)

My Notes:

• It is a very easy and interesting snack/starter idea. I have seen this in nilgiris in the name of paneer balls.
• Alternatively you can dip the balls in maida water paste , them cover them with breadcrumbs as we do for veg cutlets and then deep fry or toast them.

Cauliflower Peas Kurma | Side dish for Chapati

I'm sure everyone is not yet come back from the cricket fever so am I. It was a awesome match and I was happy the boys in blue made it this time, proud of you guys. Chak de India!!

I saw this recipe from Mallika Badrinaths cookbook and tried it. And now this has become my keeper recipe for cauliflower peas kurma. Here goes the recipe from my kitchen....

Cauliflower Peas Kurma Recipe:

Serves 3

Ingredients:

• Cauliflower - 1 big flower
• Green Peas - 1/4 cup
• Onion - 1/2 cut lengthwise
• Tomatoes - 1/2 medium sized cubed
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
• Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp chopped finely
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Salt - to taste

Grind to a paste:

• Coconut - 1/4 cup
• Fennel-1 tsp
• Cashew- 5
• Onion - 1
• Tomato - 1
• Gram dal(Pottukadalai)-1 tbsp
• Garlic -4 flakes
• Green chillies - 2
• Cinnamon- 1/2 inch piece
• Cloves - 1

Method:

1. Grind all the ingredients under 'to grind' with little water to a smooth paste and keep aside.
2. Chop cauliflower into small florets and pressure cook it along with peas with salt and turmeric powder only till half done.
3. Heat oil in a pan, add onions fry till golden brown then add tomatoes fry until raw smell leaves.Add chilli,turmeric powder and mix well.
4. Now add the ground paste and fry till raw smell leaves and oil seperates. Add 1/4 water(adjust according to thickeness) and allow it boil for 5mins.
5. Now add cauliflower and peas , mix well. Add water if required and allow the kurma to boil 3-5 mins.Garnish with coriander leaves and switch off.

I love kurmas with dosas, rice and chapatis...So if I make this for lunch I make the quantity a bit more to be enough for dinner too. Attimes , the lazy me preplans for dinner too :)

This is easy with just grinding without sauting and comes in handy for lunch. Ammas version of vegetable kurma is a bit lengthy process with sauting and grinding but still it has an unique taste. So I use the above recipe for cauliflower peas kurma and ammas recipe for veg kurma :)

My Notes:

• While cooking/pressure cooking cauliflower and peas, make sure its only half cooked else it will turn mushy while it gets boiled with the kurma.
• The qunatity of gravy is more in this method, so you can also use it as a sidedish for rice.
• The same method can be used for making vegetable kurma also.
• You can make the consistency a bit watery if you are serving it for rice.
• I used fresh cauliflower and peas, you can alternatively use frozen ones too.

Green Tea | How to make Green Tea

Green tea was first introduced to me by my project manager in the company I worked previously. She insisted to have it atleast twice a day and she did it too. The first look of it didnt impress me but later once when I was browsing and knowing the health benefits of it, I wanted to give a try and got Tetley brand from Nilgiris and now started making it regular.

It is slightly bitter but if bitterness is healthy and it can do good to our heart, can we not make a practise of taking green tea atleast twice a week..?! I do, atleast try to....! :)

Ingredients:

• Green tea powder -1.5 tsp
• Water - 1 cup
• Honey/Sugar - 1 tsp
• Elachi powder - a pinch [optional] - I add it occasionally

Method:

1. Boil water in a tea pot or pan. Once it starts boiling switch off and add the green tea powder.
2. Allow it to get soaked for 3-4 mins. By now the color would be brown.
3. Now strain the tea powder and add sugar/honey . Add a pinch of cardomom powder and enjoy your cup of green tea.

The tea powder is not as fine as normal ones, the green tea powder shown below looks like dried tea leaves :

I can never forget the incident when I first tried green tea. I was over excited after reading all the benefits from google, that I went straight to the kitchen and prepared green tea with milk not knowing that it should be prepared with water ;) Then googled how to make green tea reducing the bitterness and now everytime it comes out good.

Green Tea Benefits & Goodness:

• Green tea has also been effective in lowering cholesterol levels
• New evidence is emerging that green tea can even help dieters.
• With green tea, you get two in one. Its fat burning property helps you to burn fat and also to exercise longer - at the same time.
• Green tea anti-cancer prowess extends beyond its antioxidant activities.
• Green tea is anti-diabetic. Green tea helps to fight against heart diseases and is good for heat too.

My Notes:

• If you put the tea powder in boiling water as we do for normal tea, then it would become bitter. So add the tea powder once the water boils and switch off.
• There are many flavours available in super markets, so choose ur pick and enjoy.
• But believe me when made in the right way, bitterness can be avoided.

Vegetable Kati Roll / Kathi Roll | Indian Wrap

Rolls or Wraps or Frankies I like them very much. They are perfect for on the go snacks/breakfast for kids.I had this feeling in mind that making kathi roll was time consuming until I saw the recipe in a TV show. It was well explained and sounded simple to me.So here goes the recipe with minor modifications from the orginal.And now u know how I finished the paneer bhurji :)

Kathi Roll | Indian Wrap Recipe:

Recipe Courtesy:Vijay Tv show

Makes 5-6 kathi rolls

Ingredients:

For parathas:

• Whole wheat flour - 1 1/4 cups
• Maida - 1/4 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Milk - as needed to knead the dough

For the stuffing:

• Mixed vegetables(I used carrot,capsicum and beans) - 3/4 cup (Chop it lengthwise)
• Turmeric pwd - a pinch
• Garam masala powder or chat masala - 1/2 tsp
• Ginger green chilli paste - 1 tsp (Recipe below)
• Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
• Green chutney - few tbsp
• Onion -1 finely sliced
• Olive oil - 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste

Method:

To make ginger green chilli paste:

Take a small piece of ginger and 1 green chilli, grind it to a smooth paste with little salt and your ginger green chilli paste is ready :)

To prepare the parathas:

1. Mix salt, wheat flour and maida. Add milk slowly to form a soft dough.
2. Keep covered and let it rest till the stuffing is done

To prepare the stuffing

1. Heat oil, add onions and saute until golden brown.Add ginger chilli paste and saute for a min then add all the veggies, saute for 3mins or until cooked till the veggies are crunchy.
2. Add turmeric, garam masala powder and lemon juice mix well. Cook keeping lid closed for 2more minutes and switch off.

To make it as a wrap:

1. Pinch a lemon sized ball from the dough and flatten it like we do for chapathis. Dust flour if needed.
2. Then heat a dosa pan,once it is hot place the prepared parathas and cook on both sides.Likewise prepare all the parathas and keep aside.
3. At the time of serving, add little oil and toast the prepared parathas . Then spread 1/2 tbsp of green chutney, add a heaped tbsp of stuffing(either paneer bhurji/veg stuffing).
4. Then gently seal it from the bottom then close it tightly from the both the sides(left & right) to form a roll as shown in the pic(Rolling this way avoids stuffing from dropping out)
5. Then wrap the lower part of the parathas with butter paper/silver foil and enjoy ur kati rolls.

I love paneer bhurji in wraps and rolls. So reserved little for this sake itself and made these rolls. You can keep the stuffing in middle and close from oth the sides and prick a tooth pick in the middle and serve but wrapping in the above said method avoids filling from coming out and its easy to hold too :)

The recipe is the same for paneer bhurji too just filling differs and you can find paneer bhurji recipehere.

When I googled to find the orgin of Kathi rolls, found that it orginated from Kolkata where kathi roll is a famous street food.

My Notes :

• The stuffing idea is endless, you can even make chicken vegetable stuffing. You can also makepaneer tikka kathi roll.
• You can make the stuffing and parathas ready the previous night and just assemble the wrap, there you go with your yummy, filling on the go wraps for breakfast. It is a perfect evening snack for kids.
• Serve with tomato sauce or can be had as such itself also. The thickness of each parathas can be slightly thicker also.

And I am sending this to Fast Food NOT Fat food event

Bread Vegetable Masala Sandwich / Bread Masala Toast

Have u ever tasted Iyengar bakery bread sandwiches?! If not do give a try and am sure you will not regret and will ask for more. I just love them so much and when I saw the recipe I wanted to give a try instantly. Its easy, quick and tasty sure a must try for all bread lovers like me :)

Bread Vegetable Masala Toast / Iyengar Bakery Style Sandwiches Recipe

Recipe Source : Sailus Food

Ingredients:

• Bread - 4 slices
• Onion - 1
• Carrot - 1 chopped finely
• Capsicum - 1 chopped finely
• Tomato - 1/2 finely chopped
• Green Chillies - 1 finely chopped
• Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Tomato sauce - 3 tbsp
• Ghee - to toast
• Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp chopped finely
• Oil - 2 tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil, add onions and green chillies. Saute until onions turn golden brown. Add tomatoes,carrot and capsicum, saute till raw smell leaves.
2. Now add turmeric powder, red chilli powder and saute for 3-4mins. Add a tbsp of tomato ketchup, give a quick stir.
3. Garnish with coriander leaves and switch off. Now the stuffing for sandwich is ready.
4. Toast bread slices until slightly cripy with a tsp of ghee. Apply tomato sauce on one side then spoon out the vegetable stuffing and spread it on the sauce. Your open sandwich is ready
5. You can make it as a regular sandwich also by spreading the vegetable stuffing between two slices of bread with tomato sauce applied on one side of the slice.

My Notes

• You can add any vegetable of your choice, you can even include tomato if you like them.
• You can either make it as open sandwich(iyengar bakery style) or make it as a sandwich in sandwich maker and enjoy them.
• The vegetables should not be mushy, it should be crunchy and firm enough to bite.
• Toasting slightly is enough, it need not be very crispy.You can use wheat(brown) bread too.

This is easy to fix up with very less effort(so sure my kind of recipe) and yet a tasty snack for kids. If you are packing up you can make it as a sandwich and enjoy them.

The vegetables are your choice, but the iyengar bakery sandwiches uses these veggies I used them too :)

And I am sending this to Fast Food NOT Fat food event , Treat to Eyes - Series 2

Paneer Bhurji Recipe | Paneer Recipes

Recently had some home made paneer which was in a semi crumbled state so that was the reason I tried my hands at Paneer Bhurji. I would say its vegetarian scrambled egg :) Its mild yet flavourful and goes well with rotis and rice too.

Ingredients:

• Paneer - 1 cup
• Onion - 1 finely chopped
• Tomato - 1/2 chopped (I dont like tomato pieces much so reduced you can add 1 whole tomato too)
• Capsicum - 1 finely chopped
• Green chillies - 1 finely chopped
• Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
• Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
• Jeera(Cumin seeds) - 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander leaves - 1tbsp to garnish
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Salt - to taste

Method:

1. First crumble paneer well and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a kadai add jeera allow it to crackle. Now add onion, green chillies and tomato then saute for few mins until onions turn golden brown and tomatos are slightly mushy.
3. Now add capsicum and saute for 3mins. Then add salt, turmeric, red chilli, garam masala powder and mix well. Capsicum should be firm and crunchy.
4. Now add the crumbled paneer and saute for 2mins until the masalas get blended with the paneer.Garnish with the coriander leaves and serve warm with rotis or use in a sandwich.

Do you want to know how I used my paneer bhurji, then stay tuned to check the post that is coming up soon :)

Gobi Paratha Recipe

I think most of us like cauliflower, I have heard and seen only very few people who dislikes cauliflower. Be it gobi 65 or gobi manchurian or gobi masala dosa or this gobi paratha I would prefer to have it any time of the day. And love gobi masala dosa very much,am yet to try it myself so recipe will be up soon :)

Gobi Paratha Recipe

Makes 6-7 gobi parathas

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• Wheat flour - 1.5 cups
• Salt - as needed
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Water - as required

For stuffing:

• Grated Cauliflower - 3/4 cup
• Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp(finely chopped)
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
• Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp
• Red chilly powder - 3/4 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Salt- as required

Method:

1. Add the flour, salt, oil and mix well. Add water little by little to make a soft dough. Allow it to rest for atleast 30mins.



2. Heat oil in a kadai/nonstick pan, add jeera allow it to crackle. Then add ginger garlic paste and saute for 2mins. Then add grated cauliflower, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric and garam masala powder and mix well.



3. Saute till raw smell of cauliflower leaves then cook it with lid closed for 5mins in sim stirring in between. Sprinkle little water if needed to cook faster. Saute in medium flame for another 5 mins.



4. By now cauliflower would have turned soft and fried well, add coriander leaves give a quick stir and switch off.The filling is ready now.Now divide the chapathi dough into equal parts and roll into smooth balls. Flour the surface and roll the chappathi dough slightly thicker.



5. Then add a generous spoon full of gobi filling and gather the dough from all sides sealing it finely( You can refer Aloo Paratha stepwise for this). Now again flatten it slightly with your palms and then start rolling gently. Roll it without the filling oozing out.



6. Heat a dosa tawa , transfer the gobi parathas, drizzle little oil and cook on both sides and enjoy it.

My Notes:

• Another way of making gobi parathas is rolling a chapathi, spread the filling and then placing another chapathi over it and then rolling it again. But I find this stuffing method easier and mess free.



• I have skipped green chillies and have added chilli powder instead to avoid green chillies disturbing while eating.



• If the shredding of cauliflower is fine, then rolling would be easier.



• Do not add more than the mentioned quantity of garam masala as it would overpower and spoil the taste.