Paneer Butter Masala | Mughalai Paneer Curry/ Cottage-cheese in tomato based gravy [No-cream, No-Butter recipe]

Paneer curries remind me of restaurant visits during my childhood days. Panner was strictly a "north Indian dish" which was never attempted at home.So Paneer butter masala was always on our eating list when we had dinner outside. I always used to wonder then, how did they get that creamy,smooth ,orangish texture.Now i know :). This is a healthy recipe which doesn't use cream/butter but is still rich in flavor/texture. Want to know how - read on. :).

Oh and BTW this is my own creation :).

Mughalai Paneer

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Moderate

Paneer block - 200 gm, cut into medium sized cubes
Tomato - 2 medium
Cashews - 5
Badams/almonds - 5
Tomato Ketchup - 2 Tbsp
Capsicum/Bell peppers [Green] - 1/2 chopped into small pieces
Onion - 1 Large, sliced thinly
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tsp
Curry/Chilli Powder - 2 Tbsp
Cumin - 1 Tsp
Kasuri Methi/Dry fenugreek leaves - 1 Tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 Tsp
Milk - 1 cup
Oil - 3 Tbspn
Coriander leaves  - 2 Tbsp chopped to garnish

Method

Firstly,take a pan with water,add tomatoes , cashews, almonds to it and microwave on high for 3-5 minutes. If you don't have a microwave, boil the tomatoes along with cashews, almonds in a cup of water for 5 minutes until you can see the outer layer of the tomato shrink. Once done,cool it and remove the outer layer of the tomatoes and blend along with cashews and almonds with little water into smooth paste. Keep aside.

Heat a pan, add a tbsp and half of oil. Arrange the cubed panner pieces on the pan and let it roast until it starts to brown, flip the panner cubes to slightly brown the other side too. Transfer the pieces to a tissue paper, and pat it with another tissue paper to remove the oil. Keep the paneer cubes aside. [This step is optional, you may add in fresh paneer if you like it that way]

In the same pan, heat another tbsp and half of oil. Add jeera, let it roast. Toss in the sliced onion,and ginger-garlic paste. Saute it until onions are translucent. Now add in the chopped capsicum and saute it until cooked. Maybe 3-4 minutes. Now throw in the ground tomato paste and saute till the tomato paste is cooked. Add in the turmeric powder, curry powder , kasuri methi , salt  and saute till the raw smell of the masala vanishes. Add the tomato ketchup now and give it a stir. Lower the flame, add milk. Mix well with the masala coated onion-capsicum and let it simmer.Ad more salt if needed now.When the gravy starts to thicken , add the paneer pieces and coriander leaves and bring to boil. Switch off flame.

Serve warm with your favorite Indian bread  or a pulao of your choice


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Roasted Aubergine Chutney

Chutneys are a great savior when you are in a hurry to ruffle up something. Also a great way to take in veggies that you may not be fond of.I use a basic kara [spicy] chutney recipe and try to include a different veggie each time to grind along with it. This was one such experiment.The end result was a very flavorful chutney which we liked very much. :)

Roasted Aubergine Chutney

Ingredients

Serves - 4 
Spice Level - Quite Spicy

Japanese Eggplant/Aubergine - 1
Red chilli - 5
Onions - 2 Medium sized chopped roughly
Tamarind - a small lemon sized ball
Urad dal - 2 Tbspn
Curry Leaves - a handful
Jeera - 1 Tbspn
Garlic cloves - 3
Mustard - 1 Tbspn
Shredded coconut - 2 Tbspn
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 3 Tbspn

To temper

Oil - 1 Tbspn
Mustard - 1 TBspn
Urad dal - 1 Tbspn


Method

Apply oil on the eggplant and roast it on open flame for 10-15 minutes until the outer layer shrinks and you are able to peel it easily. I use a steel wire mesh and place it on top of the flame and let the eggplant sit on it easily while roasting.I also used a wooden skewer to insert through the eggplant , so I could rotate the eggplant to make sure it was getting roasted on all sides when put on open flame.

Once roasted well ,drop the eggplant in a bowl containing cold water to cool it. Peel the outer layer of the eggplant completely and cut into medium sized pieces and keep aside.

Heat a pan with 3 Tbsp oil in it. Add mustard seeds, let it splutter, add urad dal and jeera and let it roast.Add the chopped onions and garlic and saute till translucent. Now toss in the roasted eggplant pieces and saute for 5 minutes. Add in the dry red chilli,shredded coconut, tamarind piece and curry leaves and saute for a couple of minutes.Cool and blend into a smooth paste.Transfer this to a serving bowl , add salt and mix well.

In a kadai, heat a tbsp of oil ,add mustard and after it splutters add urad dal and let it roast till golden brown.Pour this over the chutney and mix well.

This chutney goes well with idli/dosai. You can mix this chutney with ghee and rice too or serve as a sandwich spread.



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Rosemary Garlic Potato wedges

Did you guys miss me? ;). I am back from an awesome-super-duper trip to the Swiss - so overwhelmingly beautiful that words and pictures cannot do justice to it. I will be dedicating a separate post to that very soon though. :)

Now back to these potato wedges. I looove potatoes, I can eat them any time of the day and in any quantity and in any cooked form.Potatoes really remind me of my childhood, where my mom used to scare me saying, if  I eat too much of these, I would develop cramps and calf/knee pain. :). Even now, whenever I get calf pain, I think "maybe I had too many potatoes" :P. People who know me well
know that I never share pomm frites [some eurooopean touch!!] with anybody :)

Potato wedges are an easy, yummy starter to make.You should definitely try to make them if you haven't yet.Just before my trip last week, I had to finish up some rosemary and potatoes.So got on to making some rosemary-garlic flavored potato wedges which we had along with veg fried rice.

Rosemary-Garlic Potato Wedges

Ingredients


Serves - 2
Spice Level - Not Spicy but flavorful

Potatoes - 5 large, cut into wedges
Fresh Rosemary - 4 stems
Garlic cloves - 4, finely minced
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tsp
Salt/pepper - as per taste
Olive oil - 5 Tbsp

Method

Wash and cut the potatoes into wedges. In a bowl, add in olive oil,  minced garlic,  rosemary leaves,turmeric powder, salt and pepper and mix well.Toss in the potato wedges inside the bowl and marinate it well with the mixture. Let it stay for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat you oven for 10 minutes at 200 deg C. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil and spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange the potato wedges in rows on top of the foil.

Now bake these wedges at 200 deg C for 40 minutes in toast mode [both bottom and top rod of oven is heated]. After 25 minutes, turn the potato wedges over so the other side also gets cooked and let it bake/toast for remaining time

Remove the tray out of the oven , serve it warm with tomato ketchup. Very easy and impressive starter. :)

Notes

1. You can para-boil potatoes and then follow the recipe to reduce the baking/toasting time.



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