Gosht Palak / Fried Goat's Meat in Rich Creamy Spinach Based Sauce

Saag Gosht:

Other Names: Gosht Saagwala. Mutton Varuval - Pasalai Keerai Masiyal. Fried Goat's Meat in Rich Creamy Spinach based Curry. Mutton with Spinach Sauce. Lamb in Spinach Sauce.

Ingredients:

For Mutton

Goat's meat - 1/4 kilo
Coriander seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Garam masala 1/4 spoon
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Oil few spoons.

For Saag

Fresh spinach - cleaned 1 large bowl full
Green chilies 6-8
Onion 1 small
Ginger 2 inches chopped
Garlic 2 cloves chopped
Tomato 1 small
Salt
Oil few spoons
Fresh cream to garnish.

Method:

Cook the meat in a pressure cooker till tender, remove the pieces and set aside.

Stir-fry the cooked mutton with all the above mentioned ingredients and set aside.

Heat oil in a vessel, add all the above mentioned ingredients(for Saag) except cream and fried mutton. Once the leaves wilt, puree them.

Now mix the both fried mutton with greens puree, top them with fresh cream.

Serve to go with pulkah rotis or rice.

Alu Saag / Potatoes in Rich Creamy Spinach Gravy - Instant Love With Green Food!

Aloo Paalak:(Restaurant Style)

Urulaikizhangu varuval - Pasalai Keerai Masiyal (North Indian Style), Alu Palak.

Ingredients:

For Alu

Potatoes 1 cup(boiled, peeled, cubed)
Coriander seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Garam masala 1/4 spoon
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Oil few spoons.

For Saag

Fresh spinach - cleaned 1 large bowl full
Green chilies 6-8
Onion 1 small
Ginger 2 inches chopped
Garlic 2 cloves chopped
Tomato 1 small
Salt
Oil few spoons
Fresh cream to garnish.

Method:

Stir-fry potatoes with all the above mentioned ingredients(Alu) and set aside.

Heat oil in a vessel, add all the above mentioned ingredients(Saag) except cream. Once the leaves wilt, puree them.

Now mix the both fried potatoes with greens puree, top them with fresh cream.

Serve to go with pulkah rotis or rice.

Murg Makhani / Chicken Makhani - Chicken in Rich Almond based Sauce

Dum Ka Murg:

Ingredients:

For Marination:

Chicken thighs - preferably thighs cut into chunks
Onion bulb onion grated
Green chili 1 minced
Ginger-garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Yogurts
Lemon juice few spoons
Vinegar few spoons
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Kashmiri chili powder 1 spoon
Pepper powder 1/2 spoon
Coriander powder 1/2 spoon
Cumin powder 1/2 spoon
Garam masala powder 1/2 spoon.

Onion grated
Tomato 2 pureed
Saffron
Cardamon 6
Bay leaves 2
Almonds 15 - paste
Ghee for frying
Cilantro leaves few
Fresh Cream to garnish.

Method:

In a shallow pan, heat ghee and throw in the whole spices. Add onions and tomatoes, fry real good, once it is aromatic, add the marinated chicken. Cover and cook.

Further add almond paste, continue cooking. Once oil shows up on the top, add the chopped cilantro leaves, remove from heat.

Serve warm to go with your chappathis or rotis.

Malai Mattar Masala - Green Peas in Rich Creamy Sauce

Malai Mattar Masala:

Malai Mattar Curry. Paalaadai-Pachai Pattani Masala.

Ingredients:

Green peas / fresh or frozen 1 cup
Onion 1 large grated
Green chili just 1 minced
Ginger-garlic paste 1/2 spoon
Tomato 1 large
Salt
Dash of coriander powder
Dash of cumin seeds powder
Dash of garam masala powder
Pinch of dry methi leaves
Milk 2-4 cups / Fresh Cream as per taste
Oil / ghee few spoons
Coriander seeds 1 pinch
Cumin seeds 1 pinch
Cilantro leave to garnish.

Method:

In a wide vessel, heat milk, place them in low-medium temperature...constantly stir and bring a heavy cream. Set aside.

In a separate vessel. Heat ghee. Add coriander and cumin seeds. Wait till they splutter.

Now stir-in grated chili, onions and ginger-garlic paste. Fry real good.

Peel the tomatoes and chunk them out, add this to the above set-up as well. Also add all powdered items now(coriander, cumin, garam masala and methi leaves). Add 2 cups of water and peas, cover and cook over low heat.

Once the gravy thickens and oil shows up on the top, add the fresh cream and bring to one boil, and remove from heat.

Serve warm to go with your pulkahs, chappathis or rotis. Enjoy:)

Paal Poli - Seduce Your Taste Buds

Pal Poli:

Milk Polis, Palu Bobatlu. Pal Ommittu. Paal Poori. Pal puri.

Maybe our stone age fore-fathers have been deprived for this one thing 'S-U-G-A-R'. And that is why our in-built genes still crave for anything 'S-W-E-E-T'.:) Obviously starchier meals, fatty stuff and anything sweeter easily becomes comfort dish for some of us. The rush of dopamine, in brain(during a starchy meal) makes us feel happy. The chemical phenylethylamine tend to overpower our brains when we eat chocolates/sweets. Which is believed to be responsible for the excitement/ecstasy feeling. Often, few of us are quite addicted to these brain-chemicals and that is why comforting and coddling with food becomes so necessary. So, here is my treat.:)

Ingredients:

All Purpose flour 1 cup
Sugar syrup 1/2 cup
Milk 4 cups - reduced into half
Cashew nuts powder few spoons
Almonds/pistachios/cashew nuts to garnish
Saffron few strands
Oil for deep frying.

Method:

Make a smooth dough using just the flour, no salt, no soda for sure. Just plain flour with milk or warm water would be fine.

Then divide this dough into equal parts, roll them into thin polis.

Shallow fry them both the sides, till fluffy.

Dip these polis in the sugar syrup for a while and remove.

In a wide pan, heat milk. Add cashew nuts powder, saffron and all the nuts to it. Boil and really reduce to half of its original content.

Now immerse these polis in this milk...once, the milk is all sucked up, its done.

Now refridgerate them for about 2-4 hours and serve chilled, maybe add fresh cream before serving, enjoy with company of friends and family.:)

Rich & Creamy Potato-Garbanzos-Spinach Curry

Potato-Garbanzos-Spinach Curry:

Alu-Chana-Palak Ka Curry. Alu-Palak Malai Curry.

Going on Veg Fast Nothing much to rant today...another healthy saathvic food. Am on veg-fast for the past couple of months. Trust me, many of my friends are happy to eat herbs and greens these days. Some of my classes are exclusively based on lentils and concoctions. Guess, its season to shed the winter pounds!!! Anyway...spice-ing up my regular menu is not new. I am working hard to keep the food G-r-e-e-n, F-r-e-s-h and E-d-i-b-l-e! Hmmm...yeah, bit hard to practice but its okay. How do you put it? Never fully satisfied, but always full!!!

Ingredients:

Golden potatoes 2 small - cubed, boiled
Spinach 1 bunch - blanched
Garbanzos, well soaked and cooked 1 cup
Salt
Turmeric 1/4 spoon
Chili powder 1 spoon
Coriander powder 1 spoon
Cumin powder 1 spoon
Coconut paste 1/4 cup
Cashew nuts paste 4 teaspoons
Fresh cream 2 spoons
Cilantro seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Onion grated 1 cup
Ginger-garlic paste 1 spoon
Tomatoes crushed 1 cup
Oil few spoons.

Method:

In a wide wok, heat oil. Add the whole spices, followed by onions, ginger and garlic. Fry real good, maybe until raw odour leaves the pan.

Now add tomatoes too, followed by salt, turmeric and chili powder. Add potatoes, spinach and garbanzos. Cover and cook over moderate heat.

Once oil shows up on the sides, start adding coconut, cashew paste plus fresh cream, reduce the heat and cook briefly.

Serve to go with your rotis, chappathis and rice.

Indian Cheese Fudge - Seeking Sweetness in Life!!!

Creamy Cheese Fudge:(Bengali Style)

Doodh Pak. Milk Mysore Pak. Paal Pagh or Paal Pak. Cheese Fudge.

Well...I am rationalising, I do love creamy cheese fudge. I know, I know...I am going little over board with milk sweets, here. Let me just apologise to you all for updating with more sinful sweets. Okay, now just pair fat-free milk and low-fat cheese, for guilt free indulgence. The following recipe is just a formula...get creative and do whatever that pleases you.:)

Ingredients:

Farm Fresh milk 1 litre
Fresh home made cottage cheese 1 cup
Sugar as per taste
Saffron few strands
Ghee few spoons
Nuts to garnish.

Method:

Boil milk and sugar together and add saffron as well.

Reduce the milk half the way, by constant stirring. Now flip in fresh cottage cheese. Continue stirring over low heat. If needed add some ghee.

Once it comes to solid crumbles...remove from heat.

If you feel its still very moist, microwave for few seconds, watch out...to not brown them!

Now pack them tightly in a square/rectangle dish. Cover and refrigerate.

After 2 hours, slice them carefully into squares or cubes, as you please.

Garnish with nuts. Enjoy:)

Shirkand - Sweetened Yogurt

Kesar Sheerkand:

Saffron Infused Sweetened Yogurts.

Instant, is the only best way to describe this traditional dessert(If you don't take solidifying yogurt into account)! Let me tell you all, I was expecting something good...while mixing the ingredients! It came out 'beyond expectation'!!! With all the seriousness...I will never go back to 'plain yogurt' anymore!! This simple recipe served as an inspiration for a wonderfully tangy, not too sweet, chunky-cream of deliciousness. And trust me, as I was never a 'Yogurt' person.

Ingredients:

Fresh Yogurts 1 large bowl
Condensed milk (sweetened already) 1 small cup
Saffron 1/4 spoon - ground
No Sugar today...as the condensed milk may have enough!
Nuts or Nutmeg to garnish.

Method:

Hang the yogurts in a cheese cloth, for a pretty long time.:) I guess, I did for at least 5 hours.

Now, I mixed this hung yogurt (called Chukka in Hindi) with saffron and condensed milk. If you like...you can actually beat the solid yogurt...but I prefer mine to be bit chunky (coz' I am lazy).

Then, chill them and garnish with nuts and nutmeg powder.:)

Qubani Ka Meeta - Happy Thanks Giving Y'all

Kubhani ka Meetha:(Hyderabadi Style)

Qubani Ka Meetha. Qubani Ka Meeta. Apricot Halwa. Hyderbad Apricot dessert. Peach Pazham Halwa.

Another exciting recipe from the city of Char Minar (Hyderabad). I am reposting one of my old recipe, here today to Wish Y'all Happy Thanks Giving.:) Enjoy your holidays and have fun shopping:)

Ingredients

Dry apricot 250 gms
Sugar 150 gms
Almonds 1/4 cup(Toasted and peeled)

To Garnish:

Ice cream - vanilla
Fresh cream/Condensed Milk
Mint leaves.

Method

Wash the apricots and soak them in water, overnight...preferably in the fridge.

The next day...once the water is all sucked up, blend and puree them. Set aside.

In a heavy vessel, melt sugar with 1/4 cup of water. Bring it to syrup like consistency.

Now to this sugar syrup, add the puree and continue cooking over low flame/heat.

Once halwa consistency is achieved, remove from heat.

Transfer the contents into a serving dish. Serve warm or chilled accompanied by ice-cream. A spoonful of fresh cream can be used to garnish the dessert.

Reshmi Kebabs - Silken Kebabs

Reshmi Kebab:

Reshmi Kabob. Reshmi K-bab. Reshmi Kebabu. Reshmi Kawaab. Vegetarian's can use 'Shredded Soya Chunks' for a variation.

Resham means 'silk', something that is so soft like a silk' is equated as Reshmi! Don't you think its a poetic expression?!:)Reshmi Kebab calls for a long long marination hours. Generally I prefer overnight mariantion, thats easy. Fresh cream / double cream (heavy cream) is the most prefered choice for this recipe. It tenderizes the meat protein, as we expect it to be...Lovely, huh. I did one more thing here, just shredded the chicken and silkened it out...oh yeah, its too good to incorporate all the spices in there. Above all its upto you to shallow fry or charcoal grill them. They are good, either way.:)

For Vegetarian's Variation:

Beer Battered Veg Seekh Kebab (Vegetables)
Nargazi Kebab (Eggs)

Other Exciting Variations for Meat lovers:

Shammi(lamb) Kebab
Shrimps Kebab
Charcoal Roasted Kebab

Ingredients:

Chicken breast, skinlees & bonelss 2-3 cups
Fresh cream 1 cup
Green chilies 2-3
Onions 1 large
Ginger 2"
Garlic 4
Garam masala powder 1/4 spoon
Cilantro
Mint leaves few
Salt
Cardamom 2 crushed
Oil for frying/charcoal for grilling.

Method:

Mix all the above (except the last ingredient)mentioned items together. Cover and leave it in the fridge for 10-12 hours/overnight.

Now, shape them into like a seekh kebabs or shammi kebabs...charcoal grill them or shallow fry them.

Serve warm with mint chutney or wrap with naan for main cource.

Paneer Tikka Masala

Paneer Tikka Masala:

Cottage Cheese Curry. Panir Tikka Masala. Paaladai Kuzhambu.

As I told you before, enjoyed these vegetarian's delicasies big time at Restaurants, only when accompained by Vegetarian friends!! But I have to admit...they are better than chicken sometimes! Started liking them...

So for making 'Paneer Tikka Masala' you'll need 'Paneer Tikka'. Follow the links for the recipe.

Ingredients:

Butter few cubes
Grilled paneer cubes 10
Onion paste 1 cup
Ginger-garlic paste 1 spoon
Tomato puree 1/2 cup
Salt
Turmeric powder
Chili powder
Cashew nuts paste 1 cup
Fresh cream (double cream)1/4 cup
Cilantro to garnish.

Method:

Melt butter, in a wok. Add onion and ginger-garlic...fry real good till raw aroma leaves the pan.

Now add tomato puree...continue frying, until oil throws up on top.

Add salt, turmeric and chili powder. Add cashew nuts paste and then followed by grilled paneer. Cover and cook for few minutes.

Further add heavy cream and remove from heat.