Indian- Mattar Paneer

Curried peas and cheese with rice

• 

Ingredients

• Onion, chopped -- 1
• Garlic, chopped -- 3 to 4 cloves
• Ginger, peeled, thinly sliced -- 1 tablespoon
• Oil -- 1/4 cup
• Paneer, cubed -- 1 cup
• Peas -- 1 pound
• Tomato sauce -- 1 cup
• Water -- 1/2 to 1 cup
• Coriander, ground -- 1 tablespoon
• Turmeric -- 1 teaspoon
• Sugar -- 1 to 2 teaspoons
• Cayenne pepper -- 1/4 teaspoon
• Salt and pepper -- to taste

Method

1. Puree the onion, garlic, ginger and spices in a blender or food processor, adding a little water if necessary. Set aside.
2. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet or wok. Add the paneer cubes and fry until lightly golden. Remove the paneer to a plate and set aside.
3. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the onion puree. Sauté for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the onion loses its raw taste and the mixture cooks down.
4. Add back the paneer and stir in the rest of ingredients. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, adjust seasoning and serve with naan or chapati.

Variations

• Aloo Matar: Substitute 1 to 2 cups of peeled, cubed potatoes for the paneer. Follow the same steps as above, browning the potatoes in the same way as for the paneer.
• Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of yogurt or cream at the end if you like.
• Add 1-2 teaspoons of paprika to the onion-spice puree if you like.
• Sprinkle the finished dish with a little garam masala and some chopped cilantro.

Chana Masala

Recipe from http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/chana-masala/

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 fresh, hot green chili pepper, minced
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (I used a quarter of this because my cayenne is extremely hot)
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 tablespoon amchoor powder (see note)
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garam masala
2 cups tomatoes, chopped small or 1 15-ounce can of whole tomatoes with their juices, chopped small
2/3 cup water
4 cups cooked chickpeas or 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lemon (juiced) (see note; I used a whole lemon to swap for the amchoor powder)

"Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion, garlic, ginger and pepper and sauté over medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium-low and add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, cumin seeds, amchoor (if using it), paprika and garam masala. Cook onion mixture with spiced for a minute or two, then add the tomatoes and any accumulated juices, scraping up any bits that have stuck to the pan. Add the water and chickpeas. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, then stir in salt and lemon juice.

Eat up or put a lid on it and reheat it when needed. Curries such as this reheat very well, later or or in the days that follow, should it last that long."

Indian Dinner

Anyone who knows me really well, knows I'm a sucker for Indian food! Love it! I'm an all Veggied out Indian food lover. *Ugghh I'm wanting some right now.
Well I bought this quick heat up dish from Target the other day and thought "If I like it, I can google the recipes".

Loved it
*smile inside*

So here are some of the more "easier" "Besties" recipes to make this yummy meal.




Looks sorta like the dish below
(Picture from http://fingerlickingfood.blogspot.com)

PLUS

Picture from:
http://closetcooking.blogspot.com

Now both of these recipes include Tumeric and garam masala, which if you're not Indian, you may say "What?" and "Where the heck do I get that?"

Want a fast easy option? Buy here--->:

Tumeric
garam masala
Or you can make your own garam masala if I totally haven't lost you by now, easy recipe from Closet Cooking, Click here.

Now you'll forever have these ingredients to use with all the other yummy Indian dishes that come your way.


And if you don't have anywhere to buy the Paneer (cheese) There is a recipe I've included below *ssoooo easy guys, don't freak out. It only uses Milk and Lemon juice. Click Here
or scroll to the very bottom.

Creamed Curried Spinach with Cheese (Sag Paneer)

1/2 cup water
1 lb. fresh spinach, washed, de-stemmed, coarsely chopped
3 T ghee or butter
1 T finely chopped ginger
1/2 c. finely chopped onion
1 t salt
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t turmeric
1/2 t ground coriander
1/2 t garam masala
1 cup cheese (paneer), cut into 1-inch cubes

Combine 1/2 of the water and a handful of the spinach in a jar of a blender. Blend at high speed for 30 seconds. Keep adding spinach until about half is blended. Add a little more water, if necessary, to puree.

In a large skillet, heat the butter over moderate heat. Add the ginger and saute for one minute. Add the onions and salt and continue sauteing for 5 more minutes.

Stirring after each addition, add the cumin, turmeric, coriander, and garam masala. Then stir in the leafy and pureed spinach. Reduce the heat and cook the mixture uncovered, for 20 to 30 minutes. Most of the liquid should evaporate. At the last minute, gently add the paneer. Serve hot.

For Jeera Rice Ingredients:

1 cup long grain rice or basmati rice

1 tbsp ghee (butter)

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp clove-cinnamon powder

1 1/2 cups water

salt to taste


For Jeera Rice :
Wash rice well and soak in water for 20 minutes.
Heat ghee in a heavy vessel.Add the cumin seeds and let them turn brown.
Add the bay leaves and fry for few seconds.Add sugar and drained rice(keep aside the drained water)gently stiring for a mt.
Add spice powder and salt.Mix.Add water and bring to a boil.
Cover and cook on simmer till rice is cooked and water evaporates and see that each grain is separate.
Serve hot with rajma or any curry of your choice.

For Rajma Ingredients:

1 cup red kidney beans soaked overnight (or just use the stuff from the can :) )

3 cups water

1 big onion

1 bay leaf (optional)

1 tsp chopped ginger

1 tsp chopped garlic

pinch of asafoetida(optional)

pinch of turmeric powder

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp red chilli powder

2 big tomatoes finely chopped

1/4 tsp of ground garam masala (2 cloves,1/2″ cinnamon and 1 green cardamom( don't worry about the green cardamom if you don't have whatever that is)

1/2 tsp cumin pwd

1 tbsp coriander pwd

1 1/2 tbsps oil or ghee(clarified butter)

salt to taste

chopped fresh coriander leaves for garnish(optional)

How to make Rajmah Chawal (Red Kidney beans curry with rice)

For Rajma:
Wash the kidney beans and soak in water overnight.Next morning, pressure cook until soft or cook in a large pot of water till soft.Remove half a cup of cooked beans, crush coarsely and keep aside.
Grind onion, ginger and garlic to a very fine paste.
Heat ghee/oil in a cooking vessel and add cumin seeds and let them brown.Add the asafoetida and stir fry for few seconds and then add the ground onion paste and saute until golden brown sprinkling water occasionally until the ghee starts separating from the paste.
Add red chilli pwd,turmeric pwd,coriander pwd,cumin pwd and salt.Mix well.
Add the tomatoes and cook till ghee seperates.
Add the cooked whole beans along with the residue water left while pressure cooking it.Cover and cook for 3 mts.
Add the crushed kidney beans and a cup of water.Mix well.Add garam masala and cook till required gravy consistency.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve hot with steamed rice,jeera rice,chappatis or phulkas.

Paneer

Recipe from Closet Cooking:

From Closet Cooking:
"For the longest time I was unable to find paneer and I had bookmarked a few recipes that I wanted to try that called for it. Though I recently found a source for paneer it was pretty far out of the way and I never seemed to have the time to head out and get some. Since I had come across several recipes for making paneer at home that sounded pretty easy I decided to try making some of my own. Making my own cheese had interested me for a while and I finally resolved to try it.

Paneer is dead simple to make! You just bring some whole milk to a boil, mix in an acid such as lemon juice and let the milk curdle. After it has curdled you drain the liquid, form the curds into a block in some cheese cloth or muslin and let it sit with a heavy weight on it for a few hours. At this point you have a brick of fresh paneer cheese just begging to be used!

Since you did not add anything to the cheese other than just enough acid to cause it to curdle, the paneer is pretty flavourless. This is normal and since paneer really absorbs the flavours of the dish that it is in, it will soon be nice and tasty in addition to having a great texture. I saw several posts where the authors suggested adding fresh herbs or other flavourings to the curds before forming them into a brick and weighing them down. Next I will have to try my hand at some flavoured paneers!

Since it was so easy and fun to make the paneer I will also have to look into making other cheeses at home."

Paneer

(makes about 2 cups)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 liter of whole milk
1/2 lemon (juice)

Directions:
1. Bring the milk to a boil in a large sauce pan.
2. Add the lemon juice and stir until the milk curdles.
3. Strain the curds through a muslin cloth.
4. Tie the muslin cloth up tight and form it into a brick.
5. Place something heavy on it and let it sit for a few hours.

Gauranga potatoes

Ok, this ones an Indian food recipe. I'm looking into this stuff because it's so yummy!

Ingredients
8 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced (medium)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon asafetida powder (Hing)
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, ground
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, fresh ground
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 1/2 cups light sour cream
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
Directions
1Boil the potato slices in lightly salted water in a 5 quart saucepan until they are cooked but still firm. (DON'T OVERCOOK). Drain and leave in colander.
2Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Protect your oven from possible overflow with cookie sheet or foil on the lower shelf.
3Heat oil in in same saucepan over medium heat and when hot, add the asafetida. Saute quickly and add rosemary, black pepper and tumeric and stir briefly.
4Add the sour cream, melted butter, salt and water. Whisk it into a smooth sauce and remove from the heat.
5Off the heat, add the potatoes and gently combine. Pour mixture into a casserole dish, sprinkle with paprika, and place in the top portion of preheated oven.
6Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Garnish with fresh parsley. Serve hot.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Gauranga-Potatoes-251998