Paneer Pulao

I actually wanted to make Paneer Tikkas but I changed my mind. The dish may taste bland, so serve and eat with some favourite side dish.

Ingredients:
For Rice:
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 2
Bay leaves - 2
Olive oil - a few drops
Lemon juice - from half a lemon

Method:
Rinse the rice till the water runs clear. Soak the rice for 20 minutes. Pour the water in a deep pan and bring it to a boil. Add all the ingredients (discard the soaked water) and cook the rice. Strain the rice and keep aside. Remove the bay leaves.

Green peas:
Sprouted dry green peas - 1.5 cups

Method:
Boil the peas with little salt and keep aside.

Paneer Tikka

Ingredients:
Paneer cubes - 400 gm
Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp.
Kasoori methi - 1.5 tsp. (crushed)
Dry mint leaves - 1.5 tsp.  (powdered)
Hung solid curd - 4 tbsp.
Tandoori masala - 1 tsp.
Red food color - a few pinches (optional)
Olive oil
Lemon juice - a few drops
Capsicum - 2 (diced)
Onions - 2 (diced)

Method:
Mix all ingredients in a bowl except paneer, capsicum and onions. Take another bowl and add the capsicum and onion pieces. Take some masala and mix with onions and capsicums. Now coat the paneer with the remaining masala. Place the bowls (covered) in a refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours.
Grill the paneer, onions and capsicum. As there was a power cut, I had to shallow fry the paneer with little olive oil. Heat oil in a pan and add the marinated onions and capsicum. Fry them in high flame continuously. When they become dry and roasted add the boiled green peas. Fry for 2 minutes and remove from heat.

Presentation:
Mix green peas mixture with rice and paneer. Or place a ladleful of peas mixture in the centre of the plate. Spread the rice on top or around the peas. Sprinkle the paneer on top or whatever.
Serve with any raita or hot side dish.

Sent off to Priya's "Let's Sprout" event.

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Sprouted Green Gram Pakoda

Ingredients:
Sprouted green gram (fresh) - 2 cups
Rice flour - 1 tbsp.
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp.
Onions - 1/4 (finely chopped)
Ginger - 1/4 tsp. (minced)
Green chilli paste - 1/4 tsp.
Fennel seeds - 1/4 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp. (finely chopped)
Oil (for deep frying)

Method:
Grind the green gram without adding water. Combine all the ingredients except oil. Take a ball from the batter, pinch and drop into the hot oil. Fry them till they turn golden brown in color in medium low flame. Serve hot with some ketchup.

Sent off to Priya's "Let's Sprout" event and Umm Mymoonah's "Iftar Moments: Hjiri 1431".

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Sprouted Green Gram Rava Khichdi

Ingredients:
Rava (fine) - 2 cups
Sprouted green grams - 1 cup
Sweet corn - 1/2 cup
Onions - (chopped)
Ginger - 1 inch (chopped)
Tomato - 1 (chopped)
Oil - 2 tsp.
Ghee - 1 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Green chillies (long) - 2 (sliced)
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Cinnamon - 2
Cloves - 2
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
Urad dal - 1 tsp.
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Asafoetida -  a pinch
Lemon juice - from half Indian lemon
Coriander leaves -2 tbsp. (chopped)

Method:
Melt the ghee in a kadai and add the rava. Fry in medium low flame. After 3 minutes, remove from heat and place the rava in a plate. In the same kadai, add the oil and then mustard seeds, cumin seeds, urad dal, cinnamon, cloves, asafoetida. When mustard crackles, add onion, green chillies, ginger, sprouted green grams, sweet corn, tomatoes one by one and saute. Pour 4 cups of water, turmeric powder, salt and stir. Bring it to a boil. Add the rava and stir without lumps. Mix well till the rava becomes thick. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Mix in between. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and coriander leaves. Serve hot with a favourite chutney or sambar.

Sent off to Umm Mymoonah's "Iftar Moments: Hijri 1431" and Priya's "Let's Sprout" events.

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Tomato Coriander Shorba

Yesterday while shopping, we visited this restaurant 'Moti Mahal Deluxe'. One of the food items we ordered was the tomato shorba. My dot loved the shorba and asked me to make some at home. Said it's exactly tasted like the one in the restaurant. So, here it is (after surfing through the net).

Ingredients:
Tomatoes - 4 (chopped)
Onions - 1.5 (diced)
Ginger - 1 tsp. (chopped)
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp.
(I use Everest brand)
Cloves - 3
Bay leaves - 1 (big) or 2 (small)
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Water - 4 to 5 cups
White pepper powder - according to taste
Salt (to taste)
Coriander leaves - 3 tbsp. (chopped)
Olive oil

Method:
Heat oil and add cloves, bay leaves and cumin seeds. When the cumin seeds sizzle, add diced onions and saute. Pour water. Add tomato pieces, ginger, kashmiri red chilli powder and salt. Bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from heat and strain. Bring the soup to a boil for 2 minutes. Add the coriander leaves and white pepper. Serve hot.

Sent off to Umm Mymoonah's "Iftar Moments: Hijri 1431" event.

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Chicken Curry

Ingredients:
Chicken pieces - 1/2 kg
Onion - 2 (finely chopped)
Tomatoes - 2 (chopped)
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Oil
Salt (to taste)

Dry roast and to grind:
Cloves - 6 to 7
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp.
Byadegi chillies - 6
Coconut grated - 1/2 coconut (or to your taste)
Cinnamon - 1 inch (2)
Garlic - 6 to 7 cloves
Peppercorns - 1 tsp.


Method:
Dry roast the given ingredients and ground them into paste by adding required water. Keep aside.
Heat oil and add the curry leaves. Add the onions and saute till they turn golden color. Add the tomatoes, salt and saute till mushy. Add the chicken pieces and saute for a few minutes. Add the ground paste or masala and saute. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water and stir. Cover and cook in medium or low flame until the chicken is done. Serve with rice or chapathi.
Note:  If you don't have byadegi chillies, use red chilli powder according to your taste.

Sent off to Umm Mymoonah's "Iftar Moments Hijri 1431" event.

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Sprouted Black-eyed Peas and Bottle Gourd Adai

Decided to go pictorial in method.

Ingredients:
Idli rice or parboiled rice - 2 cups
Sprouted red lobia/karamani/black-eyed peas - 1 cup
Split black gram/urad dal - 1/4 cup
Bottlegourd - 1 cup (chopped)
Onion - 3/4 cup (chopped)
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs (chopped)
Ginger minced - 1 tsp.
Green chilli paste - 1 tsp.
Salt (to taste)
Oil (to sprinkle on adais)

Method:
Photos taken on a cloudy day.

        Rice and urad dal before rinsing. Rinse till water runs clear.

       Soak the rice and dal for 3 hours. Before 3 hours.

Rice and dal after 3 hours.

Sprouted Red lobia. Grind rice, dal, red lobia with little water into light coarse batter. The batter should be neither thick nor thin.

Batter...

                  

Add chopped bottle gourd to the batter.

Add chopped onions.

Add minced ginger.

Add green chilli paste

Add chopped curry leaves.

Add required salt.

Mix all well in batter.

Heat tawa. Take a ladleful of batter and spread. Sprinkle little oil on sides. Cook both sides. Serve with any chutney.

Presentation:

Sent off to Priya's "Let's Sprout" event.

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