Paneer Butter Masala

INGREDIENTS:

1. Onion medium chopped - 1


2. Tomato - 1


3. Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp


4. Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp


5. Bay leaves - 2


6. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp


7. Paprika - 2 tsp


8. MDH Sabji masala - 1 tsp


9. Butter - 4 tbsp


10. Cream - 1/4 cup or butter 1/4 cup


11. Salt to taste


12. Coriander for garnishing.

Method:

• Melt 2 tbsp butter. Add ingredients (3) to (5) and saute in a low flame. Be careful not to burn it.







• Add onion to it and saute till they are transparent. Add chilli powder, paprika and Sabji masala.







• Meanwhile, in another pan melt the remaining butter and add chopped tomato.


• Saute till the tomato becomes a pulp. (If you saute tomatoes with onion it will take much longer time)


• Add the tomato pulp with the onion masala and saute for 2 minutes.







• Allow the mixture to cool and blend it into a amooth paste with enough salt.









• Boil this mixture in a little oil. Check for salt.


• Add cream/butter and boil for another minute or two. (You can make the gravy without this but the cream/butter gives a lot of taste to the curry.)


• Shallow fry paneer pieces in butter or oil till its golden in colour and put it in the gravy. (You can also put paneer without frying. But frying will make the paneer a little hard on the outside)


• Garnish with coriander leaves.

Molten chocolate cakes

These are very tasty chocolate cakes. When you cut into them, the molten centers flow out. You can refrigerate them or freeze them. If you refrigerate them, bake them for 10 minutes, if they are frozen, bake them for 15 minutes before you serve.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Semisweet chocolate(chopped) - 4 ounces


2. Butter (cut into pieces) - 1/2 cup


3. Heavy cream/Whipping cream - 1/4 cup


4. Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp


5. All purpose flour - 1/4 cup


6. Sugar - 1/2 cup


7. Large eggs - 2


8. Egg Yolks - 2

METHOD:

• In a sauce pan, combine chocolate,butter and cream. Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, until butter and chocolate have melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat . Add vanilla; with wisk, stir in the flour until the mixture is smooth.





• In a medium bowl, with mixer at high speed, beat sugar, eggs and egg yolks until thick and lemon-coloured, about 10 minutes.

• Pour egg mixture, one-third at a time, into chocolate mixture until blended.






• Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease a muffin pan and dust it with sugar.





• Divide the batter equally into the muffin cups.

• Bake until the edges of cakes are set but center still jiggles, 7 to 8 minutes.

• Cool in the pan for 3 minutes. Run knife around the cakes to loosen from sides of cups; invert onto dessert plates.

Serve with whipped cream or ice-cream.....

Gobi Mattar

INGREDIENTS:

1. Green Peas/Mattar - 1 cup


2. Florets of one Cauliflower


3. Big Onion chopped - 1


4. Tomato chopped - 1


5. Ginger-Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp


6. MDH Sabji Masala - 1 1/2 tsp


7. Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp


8. Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp


9. Sugar - 1/2 tsp


10. Yogurt - 2 TBSP


11. Salt to taste


12. Coriander for garnishing

METHOD:

• Cook green peas. If they are frozen ones you get in U.S. grocery stores you only need to add it directly to the gravy. Precooking is not necessary.


• Boil cauliflower florets in water aith turmeric and salt. Drain and keep them aside.







• Saute onions in 2tsp oil till brown.




To this add ingredients from (5) to (9) and saute for a few more minutes.



Now add tomato and saute for 3 more minutes.



Cool the above and blend into a smooth paste.


Pour the paste in a sauce pan and cook in a low flame. Add yogurt and cook till the gravy thickens.



To this add cauliflower and peas. After 5 minutes remove from flame.



Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Serve with Chappathi, naan, rice........

Semiya Upma

My amma makes different varities of Upma. Rava upma, Rice upma, Semiya upma, Idli upma, Bread upma, Aval upmal,...... the list goes on. But after marriage I have made only one upma-the common rava upma. Two days back Sree was in the kitchen taking a look inside our pantry. He found a packet of Semiya and asked me "Why don't we make Semiya upma for dinner?" For Rava upma I knew the exact quantity of water to be added but this ? It was a big question mark. I searched in the internet for the recipes and each one gave me different ratio. So I decided to try it with semiya and water in 1:2 ratio. But found that the water was a little more. But the upma turned out to be good.
Now you can try it at home too.

INGREDIENTS:

Serves : 4

1. Semiya/Vermicelli (1 inch long pieces) - 2 cups


2. Ghee - 2 tsp


3. Water - 1 1/2 cups


4. Small onion cut lengthwise - 1


5. Vegetables(beans, carrots, peas) - 1/4 cup of each


6. Ginger paste - 1 tsp


7. Curry leaves - one sprig


8. Green chillies - 2


9. Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp


10. Mustard - 1tsp


11. Urud Dal - 1tsp


12. Red Chilli in small pieces - 1

METHOD:

• Fry Semiya in 1 tsp ghee in medium heat till it takes a light brown colour. Keep that aside.


• Take the other vegetables, sprlinle 2 tbsp water and salt over it. Toss them and microwave uncovered for 1 min. If they are frozen vegetable you have to keep it for some more time.


• In 2tsp oil season mustard, urud dal and red chillies.


• Add onion and saute them till they are light brown in colour. Add ginger paste, green chillies and Curry leaves. Fry for one min.


• Add the microwaved veggies and fry for a minute or two.


• Meanwhile boil the 1 1/2 cup water with salt and put the fried semiya in it. (Before putting semiya check for salt. The salt should be a little more that your correct amount because we are adding salt for the semiya too)


• When the water starts boiling, simmer and allow the semiya to cook. (The water amount will vary for different brands of Semiya. So check often on Semiya. If the water is almost gone and still the Semiya is undercooked, add a little more water. If water is more and the semiya is almost done, increase the heat and when the the water has almost gone, simmer it. Heat a tawa and keep the sauce pan containing semiya on the tawa. In that way, water will evaporate and as there is no direct heat on the sauce pan, semiya wont stick or burn.)


• When Semiya is done, add the onion, vegetable etc and fry for 2 minutes.

Semiya upma ready..........

Stir Fried Noodles

This will make a very good lunch or dinner. Just make sure that you keep the flame in high. Thats what stir fry is all about.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Chinese egg noodles - 4 ounces
2. Vegetable oil - 4 tbsp
3. Small onion - sliced length wise in long strips
4. Garlic-Ginger paste - 1 tbsp
5. Carrot one - peeled lengthwise with a peeler
6. French cut beans - 1/4 cup
7. Half Red bell pepper- cut lenghthwise in long strips
8. Soy sauce - 1 1/2tbsp
9. Tomato sauce - 2 tbsp
10. Chilli sauce - 1 tbsp
11. Salt to taste

METHOD:

• Bring a pan of salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until just tender.
• Drain and toss with 2 tbsp of oil.
• Heat the remaining oil in a wok, add the onion and ginger-garlic paste and stir-fry for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the Beans and stir fry for 3 more minutes.
• Add bell peppers and carrot peels.
• Add sauces and stir for 2 minutes.
• Add the noodles and toss well in the gravy.

Noodles ready...............

Egg Curry

Last X'mas Sree and I went to my friend Vinee's house for lunch. She had made several items and everything was just yummmmmmmm. One of the dishes was an egg curry, which my Sree likeda lot. After that he told many times to get the recipe. Day before yesterday Vinee sent me that. I am giving you that recipe with slight modifications.

INGREDIENTS:

1. Eggs - 4 no:s
2. Onion chopped - 1
3. Plum tomato/Roma tomato chopped- 1
4. Garlic-ginger paste - 1 tbsp
5. Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
7. Chilli powder - 2 tsp
8. Elachi powder - 1/4 tsp
9. Paprika - 1/2 tsp
10. Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
11. Channa dal - 2tsp
12. Poppy seeds - 1/2 tsp
13. Curry leaves - 5
14. Yogurt - 2 tsp
15. Coconut milk - 1/4 cup
16. Salt to taste

METHOD:

• Keep 4 eggs to boil.
• Saute onions until brown and add ingredients 4 to 14 one by one and fry thoroughly.



• Add tomatoes and fry for a few minutes.



• Grind the above into a smooth paste.
• Take a sauce pan, in 2 tsp oil saute the paste.
• Add coconut milk and simmer it till the gravy thickens.



• Check for salt. If needed add more.
• Cut the boiled eggs into half and place them into the gravy and after 2 minutes switch off the gas.



• Garnish with coriander.

Chocolate Cake

I made the above mentioned cake for last X'mas. I have made several cakes before but not with filling and frosting. I call this cake of mine-The Complete Cake :) I also tried to do piping, but as I was trying that for the first time, it didn't turn out very well. But everyone liked the cake. So here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Chocolate Cake :

1. Unsalted Butter - 1/2 cup or 1 stick
2. Sugar - 1/2 cup
3. Eggs - 2 no:s
4. Light Corn Syrup - 1 tbsp
5. All purpose flour/Maida - 1 cup
6. Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
7. Salt - 1/2 tsp
8. Unsweetened Cocoa - 2 tbsp

Caramel Filling :

1. Heavy Cream - 1/3 cup
2. Butter - 1/2 cup or 1 stick
3. Brown Sugar (packed) - 1 cup
4. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
5. Confectioner's Sugar - 2 cups
   

Chocolate Frosting :

1. Heavy Cream - 1/3 cup
2. Butter - 1/2 cup or 1 stick
3. Confectioner's Suger - 2 1/2 cups
4. Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp
   

METHOD:

To make Cake,

• In a large bowl, whip the butter (in room temperature) using a hand mixer. Add the eggs, sugar and corn syrup.
• In another bowl mix all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa.
• Add this mixture to the first bowl little by little, while mixing with a hand mixer.
• Take two shallow cake pans and butter the sides and bottom of those pans.
• Divide the mixture between the pans. Smooth the tops.
• Preheat the oven(conventional) to 350 deg F/ 190 deg C.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Stick a fork in the center, if the fork comes out clean the cake is ready.

To make Caramel Filling,

• On stove, melt butter in a saucepan. Add brown sugar and heavy cream, dissolve it in the butter in medium heat. Add Vanilla.
• Switch off and let it cool.
• Pour it in a bowl and mix it with a hand mixer by adding confectione's sugar little by little till it reaches spreading consistency

To make Chocolate Frosting,

• Bring butter to room temperature and beat in the confectioner's sugar, heavy cream and cocoa.
• Beat it till it reaches spreading consistency.

Putting it together,

• Take the two cakes. The tops of the cakes will be a little convex. So cut off the tops of the cake in order to make them flat.
• Keep one cake on a levelled surface. Spread the filling and on the top place the other cake.
• Cover the top and sides of the cake with chocolate frosting. Level it with a spatula, wetting it often so that the frosting won't stick to it.
• If you know piping you can decorate the cake or just decorate the top with chpped roasted nuts or fruits. Its a very long process. It took me around 5.5 to 6 hrs to make this. May be next time it will take less time. But its all worth it.