Paneer Methi Paratha

Paneer, who doesn’t like it? It is filling, creamy, cheesy, protein packed of course some fat too, all in one which can satisfy anyone. Ask any non-Indian, most likely they will answer that they have had palak paneer. Its super easy to make from scratch at home, recipe here. It’s so versatile that both savory and sweet dishes such as Sandesh could be prepared. It could be used as cheese cubes along with other vegetables, as an appetizer in tandoori paneer, or as a stuffing in breads which I will share here. I also marinate in yogurt/ginger/garlic/chili paste mixture and grill it. It tastes fantastic with all those flavors and the smoky smell that comes grilling. It’s bland but in a good way because it can absorb the flavor and spices that you add to it or the sauce it is soaking in. Nowadays low fat versions of paneer are available in the supermarket and thats what I use for my family so that I can advantage of it’s versatility, its nutrients, wholesomeness without feeling guilty of eating too much fat.

Paratha ready to be cooked

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Makes: 12 approx.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup grated paneer 
• 1 bunch methi (fenugreek leaves) finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tsp ginger minced
• 1 tsp chili powder or per taste
• 1/2 tsp ajwain seeds
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• Salt per taste
• Oil or ghee for cooking
• Green chili (optional)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour

Hot Paneer Methi Paratha served with raita

Directions:

Mix the spices, ginger, garlic, paneer, methi with some salt and taste. Adjust for seasonings. Add finely chopped green chilies if needed. Add the ajwain seeds, some salt, 1 tsp oil and a little water to the flour and knead well to form a dough a little stiffer than a pizza dough. Take some dough and roll in between your palms to form a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll it about 3- 4 inches in diameter. Place a spoonful of the mixture in the center, bring all the outer edges of dough to close the stuffing. Roll it again until the desired size which is about 13 – 15 inches or per your desired thickness. Heat a pan, and place this rolled out paratha for about 1 min or so and flip it. Cook for another minute or until you see brown spots underneath and then flip again. Drizzle from oil or ghee, about 1/2 tsp, press with a spatula all over, flip and again press until you see it golden brown spots. Serve hot with some mango pickle and raita.

Hot Paneer Methi Paratha

Triple Delight

Triple Delight ~ For your Valentine

Triple Delight for your Valentine

Valentines Day is probably the most known in the world. Kids or Adults, everyone celebrate this day in their own special way. It’s a great way to take that time to thank the people who you love and care. My 4 year old son made a card for me which was so cute that I’m his valentine and I’m his world. Those are so precious to me and brought tearful joy. People take the time on this one particular day if not any other to remember the special ones that are near and dear to their heart. I started of my day by making a very simple dessert which ofcourse involves no baking as usual yet looks and tastes fantastic. It requires time as it involves jello, gelatin free jello. Make it and serve it and see for yourself what a light dessert this is yet packed with texture and flavor and surely a crowd-pleaser. Oh, did I say that you make this in advance?

Raspberry Jello Set

Ingredients:
Cool cups vegan jello – 2 flavors
Pudding

Directions:

Follow the instructions on one of the jello and prepare it first. I used raspberry and orange jello. Pour the raspberry at the bottom of the serving bowl just 1/4th or as much as you like to serve your guests. Refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. Make the pudding as per the instructions, i used vanilla. Pour it on top of the set jello after 2 hours or more. Let this pudding set for at least 30 mins. Follow the instructions on the other jello and prepare it. Pour the Orange jello. Let it set for at least 2 hours. Shave some dark chocolate with a vegetable peeler before serving. Tastes heavenly. Very light, very delicious, very easy. Only requires time. Everything takes only minutes to prepare and pour. Looks stunning too!

Triple Delight for your Valentine ~ Happy Valentines Day

NOTE: You can find cool cups in health food stores such as whole foods market.

Eggless Rainbow Muffins

The cold windy days is keeping all of us away from outdoors much as we need. To me, this also translates into eating out less to avoid wearing those layers and layers of heavy jackets to keep ourselves warm. It’s good that we eat more healthy since we avoid restaurant food and I also get to experiment with new recipes and use my family as taste testers and critics. As you may know by now I am a non baker and I hate baking. For me food has to be a no-brainer, easy, eye-ball and adjust but baking requires a lot of meticulously measured ingredients, time sensitive etc which is just not for me. I salute those who have the skill to bake and I am happy to eat the end baked product. I wish that one day I will also find baking as easy as cooking. Hence you will see most of my dessert recipes are bake free with the exceptions of muffins and cupcakes. And when my family craves for a dessert, muffins, cupcakes are very easy to put together. They require very less ingredients and less time consuming and comes out perfect every single time and my 4 year old is super happy. This chilly morning I tried to put a twist to my old fashioned muffins with one extra ingredient and believe me, more than my little one, my husband was like “wow”.

Rainbow Muffins

Ingredients:
* 1 1/2 cup flour
* Any edible food coloring
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 cup water
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 2 tsp white vinegar

Before and After adding edible food color

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Place paper cups inside muffin trays
2. Combine all dry ingredients.
3. Mix the vegetable oil water and vanilla extract in a separate bowl and then pour them into the large the dry ingredients. Stir until mixture is smooth and without lumps.
4. Add the vinegar and stir.
5. Divide the batter into as many food coloring as you want to use, I had 4 so i divided into 4 equal parts.
6. Mix a drop or so of the one food color into one divided batter portion, the other food color into another and so on and mix.
7. Pour a spoonful of one colored batter into all muffin cups, followed by other color and so on.
8. Fill the cupcake pans 2/3 full.

Muffins ready to be baked

9. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 – 20 minutes.
10.Remove from the oven and let it cool for sometime.

Freshly Baked ~ Rainbow Muffins

11. Open the center and see the rainbow colors and enjoy.

Eggless Rainbow Muffins

TIP: Insert a tooth pick into the center of the muffin and remove. If it comes out clean, then the muffin is completely cooked, else bake it for another 5 mins or so.

Dal Dhokli

Rajasthan is a state that is rich in culture, vibrant in colors, plenty of temples particularly Jain temples, heavy in tourism and the list keeps growing. The folks dance is amazing and people are very caring and loving. I love all of the aspects of this unique state but in particular its rich flavorful food; food that is rich is spices and the techniques are mind blowing. One has to experience it to know its true value and I am lucky to have gotten several opportunities because of my ancestry and my husband also hails from this beautiful state. I am going to share a all in one dish that is a complete meal. For a long time I thought this recipe was tedious and time consuming and by now you know I do not like to stand for hours and prepare anything. For me food has to simple and stress free. This is a easy recipe and fast if you already have cooked toor (yellow) dal else it will take just another 15 extra minutes and nothing more.

Dal Dhokli

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup diced carrots
• 1/4 cup diced potatoes
• 1/4 cup diced onions
• 1/4 cup diced peppers
• 1/4 cup diced string beans 
• 1/2 tsp rai
• 2 tsp oil
• Red chili powder per taste
• 1 tsp dhania powder
• salt per taste
• 1 cup cooked toor or tuvar dal
• Lime per taste
• Chopped Onions and cilantro for garnish 

Wheat flour cut into diamonds

Dal Dhokli ready to be cooked

Directions:

Add a little salt, red chili powder and a little water to the flour and knead it well so that it could be rolled. Take a small ball from kneaded flour mixture and using a rolling pin roll it a little bit thicker than a usual phulka or tortilla. Cut it lengthwise and then width-wise to get diamond shaped pieces. In a pressure cooker, heat oil, add mustard seeds until they splutter followed by onions. Then add all the vegetables, sauté for a couple of minutes, then add the cooked dal and the spices. Add the cut pieces into the dal making sure not to put one over the other too much or overcrowd the cooker. Taste and adjust seasonings, bring it to a boil, pressure cook it for 2 whistles and serve hot with a squeeze of lime, a little ghee, chopped onions and cilantro. Tastes so darn good. Vegetables, protein and wheat all in one meal and trust me this is the ultimate dish. Hope your family enjoys it.

Fully satisfying ultimate dish ~ Dal Dhokli

TIP: If the dal dhokli becomes thick, add just a little bit hot water to a good consistency that you like.

Palak Chakli (Murukku)

Rain rain go away come again another day – remember this song from good old childhood days? I am singing this song pretty much every single day as it is raining everyday. Not much could be done outside and if I decide to go to the mall its crowded due to Christmas festivity or if I take my kids to play areas, it is also packed as everyone is indoors. Thanks to the rain for making every indoor place where I can possibly go is overly crowded. But that paved me way for trying out some new recipe while I am home. Recently my sister got me these crunchy mouthwatering palak chakli’s from India and before I knew they were gone; they were so darn good. I used my time to recreate it and I must say for the first time, they were pretty good.

Ingredients

• 2 cups rice flour (sifted)
• 2 tsp. urad dal flour
• 2 – 3 tsp melted butter
• 1/2 bunch palak
• 1/2 tsp hing
• 1/2 tsp jeera seeds (optional)
• Salt to taste

Bite Size Palak Chakli

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Grind palak with little water into a fine paste. Add this paste little by little to the mixed ingredients to form a stiff dough. Now, either can use the murukku maker using the 1 star attachment or if you don’t have one simply use a pastry bag with a small star tip attachment ( 0 or 4 tip size) depending on the thickness you prefer, add the dough into it and press onto a plastic sheet in a circular shape with as many spirals  and the desired size has reached. Now carefully remove it from the plastic with your hands and  drop it into hot oil. Fry until cooked from inside and then remove and drain them onto paper towels.

Super Easy, Super Tasty, Vibrant ~ Palak Chakli (Murukku)

NOTE: Drop a small amount of dough into hot oil and test if the dough rises to the top before adding actual chakli

Quinoa Edamame Pulao

Winter is here and we all know what it can do to us. Any guess? Well, if not you, there used to be when I used to exercise less, felt lethargic, and to top it off I craved for unhealthy foods which soothed my soul. Have you encountered this at all? I feel like sitting in my PJ’s all day with a cup of coffee and munch something fried or make quick junk meals that don’t serve much purpose. Yes, that phase was short-lived and life has changed; I am not single in the city anymore nor am I in my teens where I probably could afford to cheat with food here and there I have huge responsibilities and my life revolves around my family with 3 BFF’s- my husband and 2 kids. I am truly blessed that they are in my life and my kids teach me to a better parent everyday. They inspire me each and everyday to cook healthy super fast yet tasty meals and this recipe evolved the same way. Hope your family enjoys it too.

Quinoa Edamame Pulao

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Basmati rice
1/2 cup Quinoa
1/2 cup shelled Edamame
2 green onions finely chopped
1 medium potato diced
1 tsp jeera
2 tsp oil
3 cloves
1 small piece of cinnamon stick
1 cardamom pod
1 green chili or per taste
Salt per taste
1/2 tsp ghee (optional)

Mouthwatering Super Easy ~ Quinoa Edamame Pulao

Directions

Soak rice and quinoa for at least 30 minutes. In a pressure cooker, heat oil, add jeera, cinnamon stick, cloves and sauté. Add potatoes, green chili and mix well. Remove water from the rice quinoa mixture and mix them well with potatoes to coat all the spices well. Now measure twice the amount of water to rice quinoa mixture and add to the cooker. Add salt, remove cardamom seeds from the pod, crush and add it too. Mix well, bring it to boil, cover with lid and pressure cook with one whistle sound on medium flame. Turn off stove. Once the pressure settles, open the lid and add green onions, edamame, and ghee, gently mix, cover it for about 5 minutes. Remove lid let it stand for another 15 minutes before mixing again so that rice remains separate and does not turn mushy. Adjust for seasonings and enjoy.

Super tasty and healthy Family favorite ~ Quinoa Edamame Pulao

Spooky Bites

Trick or Treat? When I first came this country I had no idea what this phrase meant. When a couple of little girls came to my home and knock the door and said Trick or Treat, I looked confused and thought for a minute and said, Treat please. I literally thought if they were asking me whether I want a treat and they were in silence for a bit, as almost all of us would say treat and hand them candies. Then their Mom briefed me and we burst into laughter. I could never forget that experience and still remember those little girls facial expressions. From then on, I make sure to have enough candies for all the hungry ghosts, creepy creatures and others whoever stops by. But as years passed and now that I have my kids, I started to think why load them with sugar, why not make something fun and interesting with them and they can eat it, that way mom does not feel much guilt of the pile load of candies in their Halloween baskets? I made these spooky faces which I searched the internet from go.com. I added my own twists but the end result was a super hit among my kids.

Spooky Face

Ingredients:

Bread (I used multigrain)
Cream cheese
Ketchup
Hummus
Carrots
Cheese slices
Grapes
Bell pepper
Olives
Green Onions
Broccoli or Cauliflower

Yummy Spooky faces

Directions:

Using a cookie cutter or even a round lid, cut out from the bread. Apply ketchup, hummus or cream cheese as per your liking. Then cut thin slices of carrots and green onions and arrange as spooky hair. Also cut out teeth from carrot and cheese slice for teeth. Cut olives for eyes and grapes for tongue. Cut a thin strip for mouth from bell pepper. You can use broccoli or cauliflower for brain. Involve your kids in this and they will have a lot of fun.

Happy Halloween