Paneer... Kadai Paneer

The most favoured accompaniment to almost every kind of roti. I am ALL for shortcuts. However, there are some things you should take time for. One of them is this dish. By time, I mean 5 minutes. Before you cook, get this powder ready. Here's the recipe.

Jeera : 1 teaspoon
Peppercorn : 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds: 1/4 tsp
Corriander Seeds : 1 tablespoon
Red Chilli : 2 [More if you prefer heat]

Put the whole lot onto a pan, dry roast them on a medium heat until the spices release its fragrance.
Cool the mix, powder it and store it.

This is Kadai Masala that can be used for Paneer and vegetables. I usually make this for twice the quantity and store it. Saves me a lot of time. Now, onto the paneer gravy.

Paneer: 250 grams
Onion: 1 small finely chopped
Tomatoes: 2 medium finely chopped
Garlic: 4 cloves finely chopped
Green Chillies: 2 finely chopped.
Kadai Masala:  2 tsp
Salt: To taste
Kasuri Methi/dried fenugreek leaves: 1 tsp.
Oil: 2 tablespoons

Heat Oil and sautee the onions until they are almost done.
Now add the garlic and green chillies and stir for a minute.
Add the tomatoes, kadai masala and stir well.
Cook this until the tomatoes are done and you can see the oil leaving the sides of the pan.
Add the paneer at this point and cover it and cook for about 5-8 minutes.
Stir in between to ensure the paneer/gravy is not burning or sticking to the pan.
Garnish with corriander and serve hot with rotis.

Time Out and back now...

Had been a hectic month and now back to some regular blogging. Lemme start with something simple. How about some Pickle? The green mango one! Here's the recipe.

Raw sour green mango - 1 large or 2 medium Chopped finely.
Salt: a teaspoon [This could be more or less depending on your salt and the mango. So fix it.]
Red Chilli Powder: 1.5 tsp
Ground Fenugreek Seeds: 1 tsp
Asafoetida/hing: 1/2 tsp
Gingelly Oil : 2 tablespoons [If you dont have this, go buy some! Not worth making the pickle without this]

Add salt to the chopped mangoes and leave it to soak it all up for an hour.
Now Heat the oil, and when it is at a high temperature, add the powders and take it off the flame.
Pour the oil mix into the mangoes.
Taste to fix the hing/salt. Your pickle is ready.

This pickle is great with Idli/dosa/curd rice and even bread! If you know my brother, you are nodding your head :-)

P.S: I have absolutely no idea how to tell if a mango is raw or slighly ripe. Trust your shopkeeper or ring up S and ask him!