Daal Palak

Being a big fan of palak, I couldn't go by this weekend without making one more of much appreciated dishes. So here it is - mixed daal with palak curry. A great side dish with rice and/or roti! So here goes.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Tur dal
1/3 cup Moong dal
1 bunch fresh spinach -washed-chopped roughly
1 tbsp- ginger/garlic paste
1 small onion-finely chopped
1 medium sized tomato-finely
3 green chillies finely chopped
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp ghee (or oil)Salt to taste

Method
1. Pressure cook (or boil) the daals till soft with half the green chillies and turmeric.

2.In a pan, heat oil. Now add the cumin seeds, once they start popping, add the ginger/garlic paste, the remaining green chillies and chopped onion.Fry till onions turn golden brown.

3. Now add tomato, spinach, turmeric, red chilli powder, salt. Saute the above mixture till it turns soft and golden.

4.Add the boiled dal mix to the above. Mix well, remove from flame.

5. Serve hot with rotis and/or rice.


..ShaKri..

Paalak Paneer

One more paneer dish that I have always enjoyed tinkering with. Adding the much adored palak to it only kicks it up a notch! So here goes my version of the dish that is quite popular on the Indian cuisine.

Ingredients
Paneer cubes 10-15
Onion chopped 1
Ginger/Garlic paste 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Coriander Powder 1 Tsp
Oil 1 Tsp

For Gravy

1 bunch of fresh spinach (palak)
1 small piece ginger
2-3 Green chillies
1 onion small finely chopped
1 tomato well chopped

Method
1) Wash & drain the water from the spinach. Now chop them coarsely.
2) In a pan bring to boil or microwave on high for 8 minutes all the ingredients for gravy.
3) Cool & grind them coarsely to a semi-thick paste.
4) In the same pan heat the oil, fry onions till translucent. Add ginger garlic paste and fry briefly.
5) Then mix all the spice powders & stir for a couple of minutes.
6) Now add the spinach paste & let it cook for a couple of minutes till they all get mixed well.
7) Now add the Paneer cubes cook for 2 minutes & switch off the flame.

And that's it! Super simple and extremely tasty Palak Paneer is ready to be had with piping hot rotis and/or rice.

Enjoy!

..ShaKri..

Paneer Tikka

I am a big fan of the paneer. As much as I am sure a regular intake isn't exactly the healthy choice, I do indulge in its sinfulness every now and again. This weekend was one such occasion as I dished out some pretty decent tasting Paneer Tikkas to go with my mixed vegetable sambar. So here is what I ended up making!

Ingredients
1) Paneer - packed / frozen - about 250 gms
2) 1 tablespoon Red Chilly powder
3) 1 tablespoon Turmeric powder
4) 1 tablespoon Coriander powder
5) 1 tablespoon ginger/garlic paste
6) 2 teaspoons lemon juice
7) 4-5 large tablespoons besan flour
8) Salt to taste

Method
1) Take a bowl and mix in it all the components from 2) to 7) with some water. The consistency has to the match that of a dosa batter.
2) Now cut the paneer into 1/2 inch pieces and dip them in the batter from above step.
3) Keep them soaked so that they get coated with the batter properly.
4) Now add some salt to this mixture and mix them well.
5) Heat oil in a deep dish pan and deep fry each paneer piece into it one by one until it turns golden brown.
6) Paneer is quite tender so it gets cooked quickly, so ensure you turn it around well in time.
7) Place the tikkas on a dry kitchen tissue so that the excessive oil is absorbed. And that's it!

Serve with whatever you are having with maybe tomato sauce or mint chutney and enjoy!

..ShaKri..