How to make paneer at home.

It has been quite a while that I had been craving to make paneer ,the Indian version of cottage cheese.And today I decided to tantalize my taste buds with the soft and smooth texture of paneer.Paneer can be used in many recipes and my most favourite is the palak paneer , a creamy and savoury dish made with spinach and cottage cheese.Though I have eaten it at parties thrown by friends and at restaurants ,I never got an opportunity to make it at home.But now that I  learnt to make paneer at home I am waiting to get hold of a palak paneer recipe and try it out myself. 

HOW TO MAKE PANEER

You only need just 2 ingredients to make the Indian version of cottage cheese.Making paneer is  very easy and no hassles whatsoever.Milk and lemon juice are the only ingredients needed.

Pour six cups of wholemilk in a heavy bottomed pan.Bring it to a boil.This must really boil.Then add half a cup of lemon juice to it.Put off the heat.At this stage you will see that the milk is curdled and separated from the whey.Cover a strainer with a clean muslin cloth and drain off the whey.Squeeze out the excess liquid and your cottage cheese is done.The end result will be a soft ,smooth dough.Leave to cool before you eat it or use it out on other recipes. Once its cooled you can knead it and  add your favourite herbs and spices and season it with salt and pepper to give it an extra flavour.

I have added some parsley and chilly flakes to my paneer

A Twist To Plain Omelette

An  assortment of  omelettes can be created  by adding  your own twist to it.One way to entice your taste buds is adding together a combination of flavorings to the basic omelette recipe.Savoury omelette can be made by adding a small quantity of herbs and or with a few of the mentioned: minced meat,shell fish,grated cheese, onions, tomatoes and zucchini. At home,plain omelette is not a favourite among the children,though they are coerced into eating it when there  are  no other options.As my younger daughter loves savoury,the  rest of my kids too get to indulge in these treats at least once a week.The taste is so lip-smacking and I bet  no one will actually  get fed up of eating omelettes  day after day.

To get a fairly large omelette,I used 6 eggs, one onion sliced, one tomato chopped,2-3 green chillies diced,a quarter teaspoon red chilly flakes and salt and pepper to taste

 

   whisk eggs with the rest of the ingredients
 and cook in a slighly buttered pan

cook both sides till light golden ( 2 minutes on each side)

keep warm in pan and cut into wedges

Serve with toast bread,lettuce and sliced tomatoes

Colourful Bell Peppers

Bell peppers have a lot of nutrients.They are loaded with vitamin c and folic acid.They are tangy and crunchy and have a very smooth texture.They can be used in salads,sandwiches,pastas and meat.Bell peppers come in a variety of colours like red,green,orange and yellow.Recently I bought bell peppers from the supermarket  to make a special dish for my daughters birthday.I fried beef and then cooked it with all the colourful  bell peppers.Not only was this dish  presentable at the table,it was greatly relished by  the party guests who were all in their teens.I  used  a lot of spices and herbs to give it an unbeatable aroma and flavour.

You could also use bell peppers  to garnish food.I love to top them on pizzas and my meat curries.The coloured peppers actually tempt your tastes buds and  your senses too.I cannot wait to try another recipe using these colourful peppers.

You can follow this beef recipe and add the colourful bell peppers in the final stage of cooking.

Culinary Thought Of The Day

"If we breathe the scent of goodly grass, the fragrance of spices, the aroma of good fruits, we pronounce a blessing over the pleasure." Shmuel Y. Agnon

Savoury Rice

I am  happy when there is left over rice from the previous day so  I can make a  simple dish  with it, with  only a dry curry and a salad as side dishes.However this can be eaten by itself without any accompaniments as it  is well coated with vegetables,herbs and seasonings.
  
You will need
2 breakfast cups cooked rice 
2 eggs

1 large onion shredded
2-3 chopped green chillies
1 carrot finely diced
1/4 cup boiled green peas
1/2 teaspoon red chilly flakes  (optional)
A few cloves of garlic/ginger sliced thinly
1 cube of stock( vegetable or chicken)
salt and pepper to taste
3 cubes of butter ( 2-3 tablespoons)


Preparation
Fry the onions,green chillies,carrots, green peas in the butter.Once they turn pale,mix the ginger/garlic,red chilly flakes .Next add the cube of stock and stir it well so that all the ingredients get well coated.Whisk the eggs in a bowl and add it to the rest of the ingredients little by little.Scramble the eggs with the vegetables.Season with salt and pepper.Finally put in the cups of rice and mix well.Cover with a lid and keep warm .

 Serving Suggestions

With a dry chicken curry ( fried and cooked till all the gravy dries up) 

                                     Salad

Curried Zucchini

We usually eat our vegetables curried. And all the vegetables are cooked in the same way. I have never eaten Zucchini back at home but once I came to the Middle East I started seeing more and more of these greens, which looks so much like the 'cooler' gherkins. At first I started using them in soups and as time went by, I experimented it with various other dishes. Soon we all got acquainted with this wondrous vegetable. And that's when I started cooking it with spices, herbs and coconut cream.

Cut 2-3 Zucchini into small pieces and put into a pan, with a cup of water, one small sliced onion, one chopped green chilly, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1/4 teaspoon of curry powder, one clove of chopped garlic, a slice of green ginger, 2-3 crushed curry leaves and salt to taste, boil until the vegetable is cooked. Then add a tablespoon of coconut milk powder and stir quickly so that no lumps form. Heat 1/2 a tablespoon of oil in another pan and fry the onions till it becomes quite pale in colour. Then transfer the fried onions (with the oil) to the cooked vegetable pan. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve with rice and curry.