Paneer Tikka Pulav

I love this dish because it is a combination of two of my favorite dishes Paneer Tikka and Pulav. This is the ultimate flavor combo. Usually, pulavs and biryanis, have potato balls made with paneer and other spices, and they are deep fried. To make this dish a little healthy, one can use fat-free cooking spray to cook marinated paneer. Even paneer can be replaced with tofu, for extra health consciousness. This pulav goes wonderfully well with Raita, but my personal favorite is Gujarati Kadhi.

Ingredients:-

-- For Paneer Tikka Marinade

• 1 cup Paneer, diced small
  
• 1/2 cup Yogurt
  
• 3 Garlic, grated
  
• 1/2 tsp Ginger, grated
  
• 1 tsp Red Chili Powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Dhania-Jeera Powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Tandoori Masala
  
• 1 tsp Olive Oil
  
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
  
• 1/2 tsp Rice Flour
  
• Salt to taste
  

-- For Pulav

• 1 -1/2 cup Basamati Rice
  
• 2 Cinnamon Stick
  
• 3-4 Cloves
  
• 3 Bay Leaves
  
• 3-4 Cardamom
  
• 3 Green Chili, chopped
  
• 1-1/2 tsp Biryani/Pulav Masala
  
• 1 tsp Dhania-Jeera powder
  
• 4 Garlic Cloves, chopped
  
• 1 tsp Ginger Grated
  
• 3/4 cup Mix Vegetable, boiled
  
• 1/4 cup Mix Red, Yellow, and Green Bell Pepper, chopped
  
• 1 small Onion, sliced
  
• 3 tbsp Olive Oil
  
• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
  
• Salt to taste
  

Method:-

-- For Paneer Tikka

1. Mix paneer and lemon juice and keep them aside for 10 minutes.

2. In the mean time, mix yogurt, red chili, dhania-jeera powder, tandoori masala, garlic, ginger, olive oil, rice flour, and salt in a bowl.

3. Add lemon-juice-coated paneer into the marinade bowl and mix well.

4. Pour the entire mixture into the Ziploc, and let it marinate for 5-6 hours in refrigerator.

5. After 5-6 hours, apply cooking spray into non-stick skillet.

6. Cook paneer cubes until cooked and all sides are golden brown.

-- For Pulav

1. Soak rice for 30 minutes. Then wash well.

2. Cook rice into the boiling water with 1 tbsp oil and lemon juice, until they are Al dente. Drain well.

3. Heat rest of oil in pan. Add bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon. Toast them for 1-2 minutes.

4. Add onion and cook until its translucent.

5. Add garlic, ginger, bell peppers, vegetables (peas, carrot, corn, lima beans etc), biryani/pulav masala, dhania-jeera, green chili, and salt.

6. Mix well and cook for 4-5 minutes on medium-low heat.

7. Add rice, paneer tikka, and 1 tbsp marinade yogurt, mix well. Cover pan with lid and cook for 4-5 minutes on low heat.

8. Sprinkle chopped mint and serve hot with raita or kadhi.

Enjoy...


This is my entry to Letz Relishh – Paneer hosted by Jayanthy Kumaran - Tasty Appetite



This is my entry to Easy Craft's Mixed Rice Varieties Event.

Corn Chutney Chaat

This is Ahmedabad's famous chat, which usually sells in Law (Love) Garden Area. I ate this on our first date after marriage. I was new to the city and never ate anything like that before. Later, I found that Ahmedabad is food capital of Gujarat, and there are many types of street food available. American corn is very big in Ahmedabad with so many shops and street vendors selling different recipes. This one does it for me though. It is spicy, minty, sour, and a yellow corn gives a little sweetness. I just love it.

Ingredients:-

• 2 cups Sweet Yellow Corn Cornels
  
• 1 Green Chilli, chopped
  
• 1/2 tsp Oil
  
• 1 tbsp Butter
  
• 1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
  
• 3 tbsp Mint Chutney
  
• Chat Masala to taste
  
• Red Chilli Powder to taste
  
• Lemon Juice to taste
  
• Salt to taste
  

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Method:-

1. Boil corn cornels for 3-4 minutes in boiling water.

2. Heat oil and butter in the pan, add cumin seeds.

3. When cumin started to turn brown add, green chilli, corn cornels, and salt.

4. Mix well, and cook on high heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir continuously.

5. Take out corn into the bowl. Add spoon full of mint chutney.

6. Sprinkle some chaat masala, red chilli powder, lemon juice, and serve.

Enjoy...

Macaroni Masala

Two days ago, it was my brother's birthday. Many many happy returns of the day, my sweet, little, innocent, bevakuf, brother :))) Oh I miss you so much :(( I celebrated his birthday with his favorite dish. We both love pasta. I used to make this masala macaroni for him. Once he asked this pasta at tea time, how weird :-) but I had to make it for him. He liked it so much, he always wanted it as an afternoon snack. When I saw Macaroni first time in India, I didn’t have any idea what was it and how to make it. One day I saw some pasta sauces (Later, I realized it was marinara sauce) available in the local market. I was shocked at the price tag of Rs.350/- per bottle for Ragu. I only bought packet of macaroni and made it in Indian style.

There aren't any specific Italian ingredients other than pasta in this dish.

On my brother's birthday this year, I celebrated with this dish. Once again, wishing you many many happy returns of the day. May you live long, healthy, and prosperous life.

Ingredients:-

• 2 cups Elbow Macaroni
  
• 1 Medium Onion, chopped
  
• 1 Small Tomato, chopped
  
• 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
  
• 1/4 tsp Ginger, grated
  
• 2 tbsp Oil
  
• 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
  
• 3-4 Curry Leaves
  
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric
  
• 1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Dhania-Jeera powder
  
• 1/2 tsp Pav-Bhaji masala
  
• 1 tbsp Maggi Tomato Ketchup
  
• Chopped Cilantro
  
• Salt to taste
  

Method:-
1. Cook macaroni as per the instructions on the packet.

2. Heat oil in pan. Add cumin seeds.

3. When cumin starts to turn little brown, add curry leaves, onion, garlic, and ginger. Sauté until onion is translucent.

4. Add chopped tomato, salt, dhania-jeera powder, red chilli powder, and pav-bhaji masala. Cook for 4-5 minutes on medium-low heat.

5. Add cooked macaroni and ketchup into the masala pan and mix well. Cook for another 2 minutes on high heat and stir occasionally.

6. Sprinkle chopped cilantro and serve hot.

Enjoy...

This is my entry to Priti and Purva's Rakhi – Thread of Love event

Vegetable Paratha - Oil Free/Ghee Free

This is very healthy paratha and easy to make. The good thing about this recipe is that there is no oil, ghee, or butter in this paratha. I used warm water for the paratha. One word of caution is that this parathas should be served hot or warm because they loose their softness quickly.

Ingredients:-

-- For Paratha Dough

2 cups Wheat Flour
1 tbsp Yogurt
1/4 tsp Cumin Powder
Salt to taste
Pinch of Black Pepper

-- For Filling

1 Big Potato or 2-3 Red Potato, boiled and grated
1 Carrot, grated
1/2 cup Green Peas, boiled
1 Small Onion, grated and squeeze water
1/4 cup Mooli, grated
1/4 cup Cauliflower boiled and mash
4 Garlic Cloves, grated
2 tbsp Mint leaves, chopped
3 tbsp Cilantro, chopped
1 tsp Green Chilli, chopped
1 tsp Pav Bhaji Masala
1/2 tsp Ginger, grated
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Amchur
1 tsp Sugar
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Yogurt
Pinch of Asafetida
Salt to taste

Method:-

-- For Paratha Dough

1. Mix all Paratha dough ingredients in bowl. Knead the dough soft with warm water.

-- For Filling

1. In other bowl, mix all filling ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning.

-- For Paratha

1. Roll out rotis from the dough.

2. Spread vegetable filling in one roti and cover with another roti. Seal the ends.

3. Cook parathas on hot non-stick skillet.

4. Flip the paratha after one side is cooked a little bit, apply warm water with pastry brush.

5. Then flip other side and apply warm water with pastry brush, cook both sides until cooked.

6. Serve Paratha Immediately.

This is my entry to Srivalli's Roti Mela: celebration of Indian flatbreads.



Enjoy...

Mini Paneer Chilli Paratha & Awards :))))

Parathas are most important part of the Indian Cuisine. It's a flat bread, made with wheat flour, maida, and/or gram flour etc. Aloo paratha and Gobi paratha are the most famous of them all, not only in India but all over in the world. Paratha can be served as breakfast, lunch and dinner as well.

For the paratha filling, one can use any king a vegetables, spices, meats, and even fruits. I am not kidding, there is a shop in my home town which is famous for their fruit paratha.

Paneer Chilli is very famous Indo-Chinese dish, I love the spicyness of this dish. In this paratha, the filling has to be extra spicy, because flour will mellow down the spicyness little bit. Another thing to be careful and reason for these to be mini paratha is that when bell peppers are grated, they excrete some water, which in turn will make filling a little loose so smaller the paratha, it will be easier to keep it bound and rolled.

Ingredients:-
-- For Paratha Dough

• 2 cup Wheat flour
  
• 1-1/2 tbsp Yogurt
  
• 1 tbsp Schezuan Sauce
  
• 2 Garlic Clove, grated
  
• 1 tsp Oil
  
• Mint Leaves, chopped
  
• Salt to taste
  
• Black Pepper to taste
  

-- For Paneer Chilli Filling

• 2 cups Paneer, grated
  
• 1 Red Bell Pepper, grated
  
• 1/2 cup Green Bell Pepper, grated
  
• 1/2 cup Scallion, finally chopped
  
• 1 tbsp Green Chilli, grated
  
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
  
• 1 tbsp Red Hot Chinese sauce
  
• 1/2 tsp Schezuan Pepper powder
  
• 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
  
• 1/2 tsp Ginger, grated
  
• 2 tbsp Mint Leaves, chopped
  
• 1 tsp Brown Sugar
  
• Soy Sauce to taste
  
• Salt to taste
  
• White Vinegar to taste
  

Method:-

-- For Dough

1. In bowl, mix all ingredients and knee semi-soft dough. Cover with damp cloth.

-- For Pneer Chilli Filling

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in pan. Add garlic, ginger, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, scallions, and green chilli. Sauté for 2-3 minutes on medium-low heat until excreted water from bell pepper is evaporated.

2. In bowl, mix paneer, sautéd ingredients, soy sauce, schezuan pepper powder, brown sugar, salt, red chilli sauce, red pepper flakes, mint, and white vinegar.

-- For Paratha
1. Knead the dough again for 2 minutes and make small lemon size balls.

2. Roll this dough ball in flour and roll them into thick small puries with rolling pin.

3. Place about 1 tsp of filling in the centre of puries. Cover and seal the ends and dusting flour on rolling pan, roll again.

4. In the mean time, heat a non-stick griddle at medium-high flame.

5. Dust off the excess flour and place Stuffed Paratha on griddle and cook both sides until it’s cooked. Use non-stick cooking spray.

6. Serve hot.

Enjoy...

This is my entry to Srivalli's Roti Mela: celebration of Indian flatbreads.



I also send Italian Aloo Paratha. For this lovely event.



Enjoy...

I have received this 'Inspiration award ' from my dear friends Pravs, and Sailaja. I really appreciate this lovely award, I am blushing :))) Thanks a ton.
This 'Inspiration award ' started by Jamie of Flavor Pantry. Thank You so much Jamie for starting this lovely "Inspiration Award", like others Jamie also inspired by bloggers recipes, photos, and awesome posts.



This award is given to bloggers whose stories and recipes inspire us. Whether it’s to eat healthier, dive back into our past to conjure up something we ate as children, or just make the light bulbs in our brains go on with a new idea for a recipe."

As recipients of this award, please share with us what inspires you and then pass on the Inspiration Award to 4 other deserving bloggers. Please let them know what the award means and what to do with it.

I am inspired by:-

1. I am inspired by my mom who didn't even know how to make plain rotis when she got married, and in within a year, she was a awesome cook who knew many recipes from all over the world.

2. I am inspired by my dear hubby. He is very practical and always thinks logically. He enjoys each moment of life to the fullest, very calm person, always teaches and urges me how to be calm in any situation. Love ya.

3. I am inspired by Giada De Laurentiis. She had a chance to become an actress and she chose to become a chef and to become the one like her, best of the best, is very inspiring for me. If she wanted to become actress, it would have been easy from because of her family's film background but she chose harder path of becoming a chef and she did it very successfully.

4. I am inspired by all of you. When I see all these awesome blogs, I am inspired to make mine very good as well. Some of you have great recipes, some of you have great designs, some of you are very good writers, and some have wealth of knowledge and don't hesitate to share it. Yes my fellow bloggers, you guys inspire me a lot. Keep on blogging and inspiring....

I would like to pass this award to

Swati Raman Garg
Divya Vikram
Happy Cook
Ranji

Congratulations and Enjoy your award gals :))

I also received this awesome "Rocking Girl Blogger" from my dear friends Andhra Flavors and Sailaja. Thank you so much gals, I am excited and very happy :))



I love to pass this award to :-

Sireesha
Simply Aroma
Sugar craft

Congratulations gals, enjoy ur award :))

I am also tagged by dear Neha. I already did it so here it is MEME.


This is my entry to Letz Relishh – Paneer hosted by Jayanthy Kumaran - Tasty Appetite

I am a proud member of Great Cook Community and Foodie BlogRoll

Hi friends,

I recently came across this wonderful website Simple Daily Recipes. They also started a community called Great Cooks Community. I did go through some of the blogs from this community, and I am happy to agree that the name "Great Cooks Community" perfectly matches the contents and quality of the blogs.

I decided to become a member, and now I am also part of this community. Its a wonderful place to get to know about new blogs and fellow bloggers. Great place to learn new things, techniques and get feedback from highly knowledgable bloggers. I strongly recommend my friends and fellow bloggers to join this community. Hope to see you all here :))


As I promised Jill, the owner of Simple Daily Recipes, that I will be doing my part for the Foodie BlogRoll in promoting and linking back to the website. First of all, my appologies Jen, the owner of Foodie BlogRoll, that I didn't do this earlier. The only reason is I didn't know that I had to do something like that and I was very new to blogger world when I joined Foodie BlogRoll. As the saying goes, better late than never. Here it is, my tribute to Foodie blogroll.

Foodie blogroll is also a great community with some cool features. I love the feature that shows daily Most recent 10 blogs and random 10 blogs. This is the great way to get to know what is happenning in the world of blogging and be up to date with fellow bloggers updates. Also, I made some good friends, fellow bloggers, from this site. Again, I urge my fellow bloggers to be a part of this wonderful website, it will only help you, like it helped me. Check out my sidebar for the blogrolls.

Thanxxx.

Bistro-Style Tomato Soup & Tag

Whenever I don't have time to make full dinner, I love this hearty soup. This is very easy recipe. When you visit bistros, they more often or not have Tomato soup on their menus. They make tomato soup in bulk, and usually it tastes different than the regular tomato soup. It is served with sour cream or yogurt. The secret is "Marinara Sauce". Yep, they use marinara sauce with other fresh ingredients. The soup with marinara is very popular in USA, Italy and in Greece. Sometime the taste of this soup is little bland, so I added cumin powder, tomato paste, and red chilli powder.

Giada, Everyday Italian Fame, made a similar soup with pasta and cannellini beans. Even though I haven't had a chance to make that but It looked like a must try. By the way, this is out of context but I must share, Giada is blessed with baby girl in March of this year "Jade Marie De Laurentiis Thompson" photo.

Ingredients:-

• 1 Onion, chopped
  
• 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
  
• 1 Carrot, chopped
  
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
  
• 1 Bay Leaf
  
• 4 cups Marinara Sauce
  
• 1 tbsp Tomato Paste
  
• 4-5 cups Vegetable stock
  
• 1-1/2 tsp Cumin Powder
  
• 1-1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
  
• 1 tsp Basil, dry
  
• 1 tsp Oregano, dry
  
• 1/2 cup Navy beans
  
• Salt to taste
  
• Black Pepper to taste
  

-- For Garnish

• Mexican style cheese
  
• Scallions, chopped
  
• Low Fat yogurt
  

Method:-
1. Heat oil in sauce pan. Add onion, garlic, carrot, and bay leaf.

2. Seasoned with salt and black pepper. Mix well and sauté for 3-4 minutes.

3. Add tomato paste, basil, oregano, cumin powder, navy beans, and red chilli powder. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

4. Add marinara sauce, and vegetable stock. Cover with lid and bring it to the boil. Simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Take out bay leaf. Blend the soup until smooth. If it’s very thick, add little more stock or water.

6. Pour soup back in the pan, taste and season. Heat it for 3-4 minutes more on high heat.

7. Serve with dollop of yogurt, scallions, and cheese.

Enjoy...

My dear friend, Shubha, tagged me for 10 things I hate. I don't hate too many things and it was a struggle to compile the list. My hate list is not that different from many other people. Like most, I hate hypocrites, dishonest, liars, and back-stabbers, if thats a word. I hate to be late, and don't like people who are usually late that much either. As far food items are concerned, I don't eat many things but I don't hate them, rather I don't like them. These include eggplant, karela, okra which are not crispy. Oh! I hate chefs who use tomato ketchup in gravy and curry recipes. Above all, I hate I can't find 10 items that I hate.

Linguine With Toasted Bread Crumbs & I am good Chatterbox :P

Before explaining why I am chatterbox, let me first start with my bread and butter in the blogger world, the recipe!!!

I love pasta and sometimes I eat pasta without any sauce or spices. Linguine means "little tongues" in Italian. It looks like Fettuccine though, just a tad thin. I saw this dish on chef Mario Batali's show "Molto Mario". This is simple yet delicious Linguine dish, no sauce needed. The best flavor comes from toasted bread crumbs. I used store-bought bread crumbs. One can make them fresh at home as well. This is my favorite pasta dish, since its a refreshing change from pasta dishes with heavy sauces. The important thing is to use little more Olive Oil and serve immediately because bread crumbs absorb all the liquid from the pasta and make them very dry.

Ingredients:-

• 1/2 lb Linguine
  
• 3 Garlic Cloves, chopped
  
• 2 cups Bread Crumbs, seasoned
  
• 1-1/2 tbsp Cranberries, dry
  
• 2 tbsp Almonds, chopped
  
• 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
  
• 1/4 tsp Marjoram, dry
  
• 1/4 tsp Basil, dry
  
• 1/4 tsp Parsley, dry
  
• 4 tbsp Olive Oil
  
• Salt to taste
  
• Black Pepper to taste
  
• Parmesan Cheese
  

Method:-
1. Cook linguine as per the instructions on the packet.

2. Heat oil in pan. Sauté chopped garlic for 1 minute.

3. Add parsley, red pepper flakes, and bread crumbs.

4. Toast bread crumbs on medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes or until they are little golden.

5. Add almonds and cooked linguine. Mix well.

6. Take out pasta in serving bowl and add cranberries.

7. Drizzle olive oil over the pasta and sprinkle grated parmesan cheese on top.

8. Serve hot.

Enjoy...

I got this good chatter award from dear Cham and Kamala .



Thank you so much gals for this award :)) I love to pass this award to Ranji, Subha, Divya Vikram, Bhags, Vandana Rajesh, Homecooked for being good Chatterjees :)).

First of all, thank you so much Archana for letting me know about this event :))



This is my entry to Monthly One Dish Meal Event hosted by Archana from Archana's Kitchen. She wanted me to participate in this lovely event with this dish. Thank you so much for hosting this great event :))

This is my entry to AWED :Italiano hosted by Dhivya.