Mushroom and paneer masala

So that day when I had gone for grocery shopping had picked a packet of fresh mushrooms and fresh paneer ( cottage cheese) from the nearby store. Whenever these  two ingredients are at home I try to cook it the same day. So was thinking of coming up with a side dish for rotis for that evening. Since I was craving for something with spicy flavours yet tangy and sweet , started thinking of a curry base with onion tomato and coconuts.

Hence the recipe

Ingredients

Mushrooms – 200 gms

Paneer – 100 gms

Onion – one large

Tomato – 2 large

Ginger  - an inch

Garlic – 3- 4 cloves

Green chilli – 1 or 2

Grated coconut – ¼ cup

Oil

salt

Spices

Coriander powder  - 2 tspn

Chilli powder  - ½ tspn

Turmeric powder – ¼ tspn

Whole pepper corns – ½ tspn

Fennel seeds – ½ tspn

Method

• Keep a kadai on the stove, once its heated add a spoon or two of oil and add the grated coconut to it. Add the chopped onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chillies, saute well until the coconut turns brown and the onions and tomatoes turns its colour. 
• Switch off the flame and add the rest of the spices and mix well and let the whole mixture cool.
• Once cooled grind it well using little water to a fine paste.
• Now keep the kadai on the stove, add a little oil and add the chopped mushrooms, stir well until its cooked.
• Add the ground masala paste and add sufficient water and salt to the curry.
• Add the paneer cubes and bring it to boil.
• Mean while add some curry leaves and let it get cooked in the curry.

Serve hot with some warm phulkas/rotis.

Note: Change the spice level to you preferences.

Thanks and regards

Chaithanya

Paneer butter masala recipe

Paneer butter masala - almost restaurant style :)

My son loves paneer and one of his fav dishes is paneer butter masala. On a weekend we were out during evening and was back by dinner time. As they don't prefer any outside food on our way back  I asked them their choice and quick came a shout out for rotis and PBM. 

Reached home and started cooking PBM. I can tell you this is one of the easiest dishes which can be made in a jiffy and equally tasty too. This recipe was given to me by a punjabi frnd, she also mentioned that same gravy can be used for butter chicken as well!. So you may give it a try as well.

So let me get into the recipe

Ingredients
Paneer - 200 gms
Onions - 1-2 med sized 
Tomato - 4-5 med sized 
Garlic - 3-4 cloves
Ginger - one inch
Kasuri methi - 2 tbsp
Tomato ketchup- 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Kashmiri chilli powder - 2-3 tsp ( according to spice level)
Garam masala - a pinch
Butter - 2 tsp ( you may replace with oil)
Milk - 1/2 cup ( optionally fresh cream)
Coriander leaves - for garnish

Method

• Cut the panner into cubes and soak in water.
• Take a thick bottom kadai and add the onions and tomatoes chopped in chunks and saute until the raw smell goes off. You needn't let the onion brown or tomatoes to wilt too much.
• Remove the contents into a mixer and let it cool for a while. Once cooled grind into a fine paste.
• Soak the kasuri methi in water for a while and squeeze out and chop fine ( I do this and I feel it makes a difference in the dish..its optional too )
• Grate the ginger and garlic and keep aside.
• Now keep the kadai back to the stove and add butter/ oil
• Add the grated ginger, garlic, chopped methi and add the tomato ketchup, saute for few seconds and add in the tomato onion paste. Saute for a while until the oil separates from the mixture. 
• Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt and garam masala, saute for while and add the paneer cubes.
• Switch off the stove and after few minutes slowly add the milk or cream and stir in the gravy. I feel this is safer than adding the milk/ cream in the stove.
• Stir well and mix the contents and finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Note: You may grind cashews for better thickness for the gravy
You may also add regular chilli powder for more spice.

Cook and enjoy
Thanks !
Chaithanya

Home made paneer

Making paneer at home is no big deal , but when few of my friends and my sister asked about it recently  thought of taking a picture and telling about it here. Making fresh paneer at home is no rocket science and need no extra time than boiling the milk. I dont  make paneer dishes quite often  at home , but whenever I do , I make paneer at home. So here are the rules I follow to make my home made paneer :)

Ingredients

Milk ( preferably full cream ) - 1 litre

Lemon juice - of two med sized lemons

Method

Take a vessel and pour in the milk and let it boil. Squeeze in the lemon juice till you see the whey separates. Put off the flame and keep the vessel covered for sometime. Take a clean muslin cloth and keep it over a big sieve. Pour in the split milk and collect the paneer in the cloth. You can wash the paneer in fresh running water to remove the sourness of the lemon. Tie the cloth and keep a weight over the cloth so that the whey is removed totally. You can keep the refrigerate the paneer  for sometime if you want to get perfect cubes. Make sure you collect the whey and not throw it off in the drain.

You can use citric acid, lemon, sour curd or even buttermilk to split the milk. When I use buttermilk or curd I dont wash the paneer , since it hardly has any sourness.

The whey removed can be used for cooking rice, kneading dough for chapathis,  in soups, in gravies and what not. It can also be used to split the milk when you wan to make paneer the next time. 

Enjoy making you fresh home made paneer!!