Paalak Paneer

Spinach is a powerhouse of iron and I am short on it so I love to add spinach wherever I can. Paalak paneer is an easy and tasty dish to make that is good with roti, naan or even rice. I like my food with less spices and this one rules!

Ingredients

1. 1.5 cup spinach (I used frozen)
2. 1 cup paneer cubed
3. salt and pepper to taste
4. 1/4 tsp turmeric
5. 1/2 tsp garlic and ginger paste each
6. 1/3 cup diced tomatoes (canned or fresh)
7. 2 tsp maida (all purpose flour)

Process

1. Defrost the spinach and gently grind them in the blender. Don't make a paste, it will not taste good.
2. Finely chop the onions. 
3. In a kadhai, add the oil. When it is heated, add the ginger and garlic. When it is a little roasted, add the chopped onions. Fry until nice and golden. 
4. Add the tomatoes and cook until it is all a thick paste. 
5. Add the ground spinach. Add salt, pepper and turmeric.
6. Mix the two tablespoons maida in about 1/2 cup water and add to the spinach in kadhai.
7. Let it cook for about 20 mins. It will splatter, so make sure the kadhai is covered.
8. Add two teaspoons of sour cream to the spinach and mix well.  
9. Cook for another few minutes

Make sure to add a little ghee (or more!) when paalak paneer is served!

Raw Banana

This is a tasty dish of raw bananas. It does not need a lot of spices and the peels are high in fiber while the banana gives the carbs.

Ingredients:

1. Raw bananas - 2 (serves about 4 people)
2. Salt and chilli powder - to taste
3. 1 tbsp oil
4. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds 
5. 1 tsp corriander powder
6. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
7. 1/2 tsp khataai (dried mango powder)
8. 1/4 tsp garam masala (optional)

Process:

1. Wash bananas, boil the bananas in the pressure cooker (5 mins under pressure); peel the bananas and cut both the peel and banana in small edible pieces.
2. In a kadhai add the oil and add the jeera and dhaniya powder. When it is fried add the chilli powder and turmeric powder to cook the spices.
3. Add the cut banana and peels; add salt, red chilli and haldi (if needed). If you like you can also add little garam masala to give more spicy taste. Stir until the pieces look nice and roasted.
   

I enjoy this as a snack with tea or as part of dinner with parantha!

Upmaa

This is a south Indian dish that I love for breakfast. I keep it simple - as usual.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup Sooji 
2. 2.5 cups water
3. 1 tsp mixed chana and urad daal
4. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
5. 1 tbsp oil 
6. 1 small chopped or sliced onion
7. 1 tsp salt - or according to taste
8. 1/4 tsp haldi (turmeric)
9. chilli - according to taste
10. 1 tsp lemon juice
11. some curry leaves
12. 2 tbsp peanuts (optional)
13. 1/3 cup peas (optional)

Process:

1. In a medium size pan, add the oil and when it is hot add the daal mixture and mustard seeds.
2. When the sputtering begins, add the curry leaves and onions; fry until transparent.
3. Add the sooji and roast till little cooked. (it does not have to get brown or red).
4. Add the water (carefully! as it will splatter out).
5. Add the salt, chilli and haldi. Stir well. Add the peas and peanuts at this time if you are using them.
6. Make sure to cover the pan and lower the heat or there will be splattering everywhere. Stir occasionally so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. All this takes about 5-7 mins.
7. Add the lemon juice when the consistency of the upmaa is thick. 
8. Turn off the heat, cover the pan and let it sit for a few minutes to cook in the steam.

It is better to have little extra water so that the upma cooks properly and tastes better! It can be enjoyed as breakfast, snack.  If you like little crispy stuff with it - try potato chips! Or try with little tomato chutney or lemon pickle...

Limeade

I get a lot of limes in Florida....not so many lemons for some strange reason. So when Florida gives you limes - you make limeade :-)

Very easy to make...

Ingredients:

1. 10-12 limes
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 1 cup water
4. 1 tsp dried mint

Process:

1. Squeeze the lime juice out (I used my citrus juicer!) - I got 1 cup lime juice from the 12 limes (some were a little drier than others)
   
2. In a pot, heat up a cup of water with one cup of sugar. Add dry mint here to flavor the syrup (mint is optional)
3. Add the lime juice to the sugar syrup when cool.
   
4. Add with enough water when ready to drink! You can adjust how much water you want to add depending on the sweetness you desire.

Since I made sooo much of the limeade concentrate - I froze a lot of it in my ice cube tray.  I will be taking one cube and adding one cup of water to make the limeade! No ice required!!

Mixed Vegetable Curry

Hmm...so I had the curry left over from the dum aaloo, so I decided to defrost it today and add a medley of vegetables to it.

Ingredients:

1. 2 carrots
2. 1 capsicum
3. 1/2 cauliflower
4. 2 small potatoes
5. a bunch of green beans
6. 1/2 cup frozen peas
7. 1/2 cup paneer
8. 1 1/2 cup of the curry (from dum aloo recipe)
9. salt, pepper for taste
10. 2-3 tbsp oil

Process:

1. Chopped all the vegetables in small pieces. Try to cut them in equal sizes so it looks good.
2. In a pan, add 2-3 tbsp oil, I added the vegetables in order of which they will cook. (I cut vegetable as the other one is cooking - time management.) The longest time for cooking is carrots, so I cut and cook it first in the frying pan. I don't cook it all the way as I am going to add the other vegetables one by one. So...add carrots, then potatoes, green beans (I added mine later as I had some frozen one), then cauliflower, peas and finally paneer. Add these within 5-7 minutes of each cooking. By the time I added the paneer, everything else is quite cooked. I did not add any water yet.
3. Added quarter cup water to make sure all is well cooked. Cooking vegetables without water gives them a nice flavor and does not mush them up.
4. Once all seems cooked/tender, add the curry and cook for 15-20 mins.
   
5. Garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy with naan or rice!!
(I would have had pictures but they all got deleted!!)

Cooked Sprouted Moong

Sprouted moong is one of the most tasty lentils. Until I had started sprouting, I would not have known. I can eat it raw, I can eat it as part of salad or cook them lightly and make a nice spicy snack.

Ingredients:

1. Sprouting: This is easy - take a cup of dry, whole moong daal and wash with water. In a glass jar, add the moong and add 2-3 cups of water. Let it soak for about 8 hrs. After 8 hrs, rinse with water and keep it upside down in a jar covered with a mesh or cheesecloth. (This upside down way helps to avoid the gross build up at the bottom of the jar). Wash the lentils after 8 hrs or so and leave it upside down. It takes about 2 days for the sprouting to occur. I keep the lentils for upto one week in the fridge. The sprouts grow much slower in the fridge. 
2. 1 medium onion - diced
3. 1 tbsp vegetable oil
4. 1/2 tsp garlic
5. 1/2 tsp ginger
6. 1 green chilli - diced (hotness of chilli - up to you!)
7. 1 small tomato - diced
8. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
9. Salt and pepper to taste
10. 1 tsp lemon juice
11. Few sprigs of cilantro to garnish - cut into small pieces

Process:

1. In a frying pan, add the oil and add the ginger, garlic paste. Fry until brown. Add the green chilli and fry.
2. Add the diced onion and fry until brownish.
3. Once onion is cooked, add the moon sprouts. Add salt, pepper and turmeric powder. Stir well and add 2-3 tsp water, cover the pan and cook for about 10-15 mins.
4. Cook until you moong is soft. Uncover the pan, and heat on high heat to evaporate the water.
5. Add the diced tomato and cook uncovered to keep the lentils dry. 
6. Add lemon juice to give it a nice tang.
7. Top it off with chopped cilantro before eating! 

Warm moong lentil is great to eat, but cool is also not bad at all. Its really tasty just like this...you can also eat with rice. Yum!

Dum Aaloo (Whole Potatoes)

I have made dum aaloo (whole potatoes in gravy) before, but I wanted to see if I can make it again in a different way this time. So I hunted for recipe online and found a good one by Tarla Dalaal. It required a lot of spices!! I don't think I have ever made anything like this before. It was exciting for me to try this recipe out - and it turned out quite well. This is the first time I felt that something tasted like it would in an Indian restaurant!!

There were also a lot of dry whole spices (which I had hardly ever used in curry! I use the powdered one)

Ingredients:
(For 4 servings - some of the spices shown)

1. 14 Small baby potatoes
2. 3 tbsp oil
3. 2 medium onions
4. 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
5. 1/2 tsp crushed ginger
6. 2-3 green chilli (hotness is on you!)
7. 1 tsp cumin seeds
8. few cloves
9. 2-3 small pieces of cinnamon
10. 1/2 tsp anise seeds
11. 1/2 tsp black peppercorn
12. 2-3 tbsp cashews
13. Salt, pepper to taste
14. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
15. 1 can tomato puree
16. 2 tsp sour cream (I don't usually use cream - but that is what was in the original recipe)
17. 1/2 tsp sugar

The gravy turned out to be quite a lot - so I have frozen half of it.

Process:

1. Wash the potatoes and poke some holes using a fork. Soak in salted water for 20-30 mins.
2. While they are soaking you can make the curry.
3. Cut the onion into small or medium pieces. Add all the ingredients through and blend them in the blender.
4. Add 3 tbsp of oil in a pan and add the blended mixture to the pan and fry until the oil separates out.
5. Add salt, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
6. Add the tomato puree and cook for about 15 mins or to make a nice curry. 
7. Add the 1/2 tsp sugar. 
8. Add the 2 tsp sour cream and mix the gravy.  
   
   
   
9. Remove the potatoes and dry them. I broiled the potatoes for 10 mins or so, but the skin was becoming a little burned, so I took them out and fried them in hot oil. To make it easy for people to eat, I took a knife and made some shallow cuts on the skin so it could be cut with a spoon without the potato flying out of the curry.
10. Add the potatoes to the curry and cook for a few minutes (or not...because everything is cooked). 
    
11. Top it off with the cilantro garnish and serve hot.

I served it with naan and rice.  The taste of the dum aaloo was quite amazing! I am going to try this out with vegetable kofta or paneer, especially since I have half the gravy in the freezer!