Nawabi Paneer Curry

 

Ingredients :

• Paneer or cottage cheese - 200 gms.
• Boiled green peas - 1 cup
• Garlic - 3 flakes
• Chopped cashewnuts - 3 tbl.sps.
• Ginger - 1 / 2 inch piece
• Onion - 2 big [ chopped ]
• Coconut milk - 1 cup
• Ghee - 4 tbl. sps.
• Green chillies - 4 to 5 [ finely chopped ]
• Bay leaf - 2
• Beaten curd - 3 tbl. sps.
• Chopped coriander leaves - little
• Fresh cream - 1 / 4 cup
• Salt - as required

Grind toghter :

• Cumin seeds - 1 / 2 tsp
• Cloves - 2
• Turmeric powder - 1 / 2 tsp
• Cardamom - 2to 4
• Red chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Grated fresh coconut - 1 / 4 cup

Method :

Cut paneer into cubes and deep fry. Soak cashewnuts in boiling water for an hour. Heat ghee andfry onions till brown, add ginger and garlic paste, bay leaf, ground masala and fry well. Add green chillies, coconut milk, curds,cashewnuts, paneer, peas,salt and coriander leaves. Simmer for 10 minutes and mix beaten  cream and bring to boil. Serve hot with chappathis.

Variation :

Instead of paneer, use cubes of potatoes and green peas, mixed vegetables. 

Lapsi [ Broken Wheat Pongal ]

Ingredients:

• Broken wheat - 2 cups
• Milk / water - 4 cups
• Sugar or Red Jaggery - 2 1/2 cup
• Fresh ghee - 1 cup
• Cashew nuts, almonds - 1/4 cup [finely grated]
• Cardamom powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Cinnamon - 4 [small pieces]

Method :

Take one kadai or a small cooker, heat the ghee, add cinnamon and stir. Add broken wheat and stir again till it turns into light brown colour. Pressure cook the broken wheat adding either water or milk to soften the same. Allow the wheat to cook upto 2 whistles from the cooker. When the cooker becomes cool, mix sugar or jaggery and cook in medium flame. Add remaining ghee and cook in low flame till the jaggery or sugar melts and ghee gets separated. Add cardamom powder and grated nuts. Serve hot as desert in lunch or dinner.

Churme Ke Ladoo

Ingredients :

• Wheat flour [ jada ] - 4 cups
• Mawa or khoya - 1-2 cups
• Castor sugar - 600gms
• Fresh ghee - 3 cups
• Nuts [ together]
• [ cashewnuts, almonds,raisins together grated ] - 1 cup
• Cardamom powder - 2 tsp

Method :

In a kadai heat 1 / 2 cup of ghee. Add wheat flour and stir slowly in a low flame. When the wheat flour gets a pink colour, remove from the fire and keep aside to cool. Grate the khoya and roast in a pan. Mix the cooled wheat flour, cooled khoya, castor sugar, remaining ghee, nuts, raisins and powdered cardamoms. Mix well and make small balls in the form of ladoos.

Sweet Bean Seed Chundal [Thotil Payaru]

Ingredients:

• Red small variety bean seed [or]
• Whole green gram dal               } - 1/2kg
• Freshly grated coconut - 1/4 cup
• Powdered jaggery - 1 kg
• Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
• Fresh ghee - 2 tbl sp

Method:

Fry the whole dal in a kadai (preferably non-stick kadai) till nice aroma comes. Then soak the dal for minimum 3 to 4 hours. Then wash and pressure cook with enough water. After 4 whistle comes, remove from the gas and keep aside. Then heat jaggery with half cup water in deep bottom kadai. When it melts, strain through a strainer and reheat. When it thick syrup comes, add cooked dal and stir continuously. Cook till it becomes thick and allow all the moisture to evaporate. Finally add grated coconut, cardamom powder and ghee. Mix well and remove from the heat. When it comes into room temperature, transfer to a serving dish.

Note : Generally in South India, people make this dish for new born baby's barsa [Cradle Ceremony] as a prasad for Lakshmi Devi (Goddess) in Aadi (Shraavan) month.

Bajra Idli

Ingredients :

• Bajra - 2 cups [ heaped ] [ kambu ]
• Boiled rice - 1 cup
• Red gram dal - 1 cup [ tuar ]
• Rock salt - as required
• Oil - 3 tbl.sps.
• Cooking soda - 3 / 4 tsp

Method :

Soak bajra and rice together for 5 hours in enough water.  Soak dal separately for 1 hour. Grind dal to smooth frothy paste and bajra-rice mixture to coarse rawa consistency. Mix both together with salt. Allow to ferment for 15 to 20 hours. Next day pour hot oil which is  seasoned with mustard seeds to the batter along with soda. Then mix well and steam idlis as usual. Serve hot with molokai podi and onion chutney.

Mysore Vadai

Ingredients :

• Bengal gram dal - 1 / 2 cup
• Thur dal - 1 / 2 cup
• Moong dal - 1 / 2 cup
• Broken black gram dal - 1 / 2 cup
• Cashewnuts - 1 / 4 cup [ broken ]
• Chopped coriander leaves - little
• Chopped curry leaves - little
• Green chilli, ginger paste - 1 table spoon
• Salt - as required
• Oil - enough for frying
• Finely chopped onion - 1 / 4 cup [ optional ]

Method :

Mix all the dalls together and soak in enough water for 3 to 4 hours. Then drain the water and grind to a  coarse thick paste. Add salt and other ingredients to that and mix well. Then take a plastic sheet of paper and put even sized balls of this and flatten it. Deep fry this in boiling oil. Turn over until golden brown in colour and fully cooked. Remove from the oil and serve hot with coconut chutney.

Tips : Avoid excess moisture in the batter for crispness.

Palak Dumplings

Ingredients :

• Moong dahl - 1 cup
• Chopped palak - 3 / 4 cup
• Chopped onions - 1 / 4 cup
• Finely chopped green chillie - 1 tsp
• Baking powder - a pinch
• Salt - as required
• Oil - enough for frying

Method :

Clean the moong dal and soak it in enough water for 3 hours. Then drain the full water and grind it to a smooth dough [like vada batter]. Then mix the chopped palak, onion, green chillie, salt and baking powder to the batter and make small balls and fry them in hot oil till it becomes golden colour. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.