Palak Paneer

Hey everyone!!
I am writing after so long, with a little one to handle alone and with all the festivals coming up these days and ofcourse not to forget the winters coming up I don't get much time to cook lavish preps. I am also being lazy to cook long menus. ok, now that I have given so many excuses I will move on. :P
I was not very fond of Palak <Spinach> during my childhood, but I would eat anything that's been cooked at home as that's the way I have been brought up by my parents. Now my husband though is not fussy eater but he is very choosy. Whole summers we ate 3-4 types of veggies only. So as the winter is coming up and we get many varieties of vegetables I wanted to bring some change in the menu. When I asked my dear husband to bring palak this time to make palak paneer, like a good hubby he brought. (:
So yesterday I made palak paneer and when the dinner was ready and I was serving him I got to know that he does not like palak paneer very much. I was heart broken.. :( And then when he tasted it He was like "This is the best Palak Paneer I have ever tasted!!!!" I was on cloud 9. :) ok, now enough of self praising... :P
Hope you all will also like it as much as  he did.

Ingredients:
Palak (Spinach): 1kg
Paneer 250 gms
Tomato: 1
ginger: 1 inch piece
Besan (Chickpea flour): 1Tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1tsp
Salt: to taste
Red Chilly powder: 1tsp
Coriander powder: 1tsp
Kasuri methi: 1tsp
Garam Masala: 1tsp
Ghee:1tbsp
Cream/ malai: 1tbsp

Method:
1. Wash and cut the spinach leaves. Pressure cook without water for two whistles.
2. While the Palak cooks and cools down a bit, take a pan. Add ghee in it and add cumin seeds, when they start popping add tomato and ginger paste. Saute until it leaves ghee. Add besan and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add all the spices and in the end add malai or cream.
3. Now make puree of palak with the hand blender.
4. Add tomato paste to palak.
5. Add paneer pieces.
6. Cook for 5 more minutes

Palak Paneer is ready, serve with hot missi roti and offer to Lord!!

Punjabi Pakoda kadhi

Kadhi chawal(rice) is staple dish of north India.. Specifically in Punjab we eat so many different curries with rice, like rajma rice, chane rice kadhi rice etc.. Kadhi is usually prepared with besan (chick pea flour) and buttermilk. The proportions of flour and buttermilk vary from state to state. In Rajasthani kadhi there is more besan less buttermilk, but in Punjabi kadhi buttermilk is more than besan. In Punjab the buttermilk is easily available for free.. (: but here in Delhi we don't get free buttermilk though we get packets of buttermilk of various milk brands like Amul, Motherdairy etc. I usually use plain chach packets of Motherdairy. Or else if you don't get buttermilk you can also make it by adding water to curd.
BTW I love kadhi chawal. I just start drooling even if I hear kadhi chawal. I can eat again even if I am full up to my neck..(;
Ok now lets move to recipe.

Ingredients:

For kadhi:

Buttermilk: 500 ml.
Besan (chick pea flour): 2-3 tbsp
potatos: 1
Ginger: 1inch piece
Green chilies: 1-2
Salt: to taste
Red chilly powder: 1tsp
Coriander powder: 1tsp
Tumeric Powder: 1tsp
Garam Masala: 1tsp
Kasuri Methi: 1 tbsp
Amchoor: 1tsp.(optional)
Cumin seeds: 1tsp
Water as required
Refined oil: 1tbsp.

For Pakodas:

Besan: 2 tbsp
salt, red chilly powder and spices to taste
water
oil
Method:
1. Add besan to buttermilk. Churn it well with blender.
2. Make paste of ginger and green chilies.
3. Cut potato in small cubes.
4. Put oil in a wok, add cumin seeds. Once the seeds starts crackling, put potato and saute for 1-2 minutes.
5. Add buttermilk mix in the wok and add all the spices except kasuri methi.
6. Let it cook on simmer.
7. Add pakodas when its almost done and then when the kadhi is ready add kasuri methi.

For Pakodas:
1. Make a batter with all the ingredients.
2. Heat oil in a wok and make small pakodas.

Kadhi is ready when you get the right consistency as you like. The best consistency is when a thin layer sticks to the spoon.
While making pakodas make sure you don't put too much pakodas at once in oil, the lesser the better. Pakodas will be soft this way...
Offer to Lord and enjoy!!!
:)
Hari bol!!!

mega giveaway at foodmania.com

heylo...
there is a mega giveaway going on foodmania.com.

enter here

Hari bol

Shivani

shruti's rasoi giveaway

hey all

there is a giveaway going on shruti's rasoi..
enter here
<3

Homemade Pizza

Hare Krsna!!

Pizza is an oven baked flat round bread topped with sauce and vegetables.
We Love Pizza... But pizzas we get at restaurants contain onions and garlic and that is why many people who follow sattvic diet can not consume them. I often have cravings for pizzas so I looked for a nice and easy recipe to make the same. Hence I noted many recipes and adapted the following recipe. I hope you all will also like  this.

Ingredients:

for base:
All purpose flour(Maida): 1 1/2 cups
Whole Wheat flour: 1 1/2 cups
Olive oil: 1 tbsp
Salt: 1tsp
Sugar: 1/2tsp
Yeast: 1tbsp
Water: as required

toppings:
vegetables of your choice: 1 cup (I used corns, paneer, capsicum)
Mozzarella Cheese: 1 cup
Pizza Sauce: 1/2 cup

Method:
Warm 2tbsp water and add yeast and sugar. Let it rest for 2-3 minutes. Mix maida, whole wheat flour, olive oil and salt in a mixing bowl. Add yeast into this mixture. Now knead a dough adding small water slowly. knead for 5-10 minutes till it becomes a ball. Now grease this dough with some oil and keep this covered in a big bowl. Bowl should be big enough as the dough will rise. Now let the dough rise for minimum an hour. You will see that dough has doubled in size.

In the mean time make pizza sauce.

Preheat oven at 220 c.

Now take the dough and divide in equal size balls. With the given quantity you can make around 8 small pizzas or 4 big ones. This also depends on how thin you want your pizza. Now roll the ball with rolling pin and make a chapati like base. I made 1/4 inch thick bases. Put this base on the pizza plate.

Put a table spoon of pizza sauce and spread on the base. Put the vegetables/toppings of your choice. Sprinkle one table spoon of mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 220 c for 10 minutes.

Offer to Lord and enjoy.

Hari Bol!!!
Shivani

Pudina Paneer Tikka

Hare Krishna!!
We all know that Krishna loves milk and milk products. Paneer(cottage cheese) is one of the products of milk. Paneer is made using curdling heated milk with lemon juice. It is also called chenna in some parts of India.

In our house we love paneer. My husband would eat anything that has paneer in it. So yesterday I tried a famous Punjabi Dish named Pudina Paneer Tikka. Traditionally Chunks of paneer are marinated in spices and are then arranged on a stick with capsicums, onions and tomatoes. These sticks are grilled in a tandoor and the dish is thereafter served hot, seasoned with lemon juice and chaat masala. It is sometimes accompanied by salad or mint chutney. Tikka dishes traditionally go well with mint chutney. The paneer, though tender, has a crisp singe on the surface. But I am going to make it without grilling and sticks as I don't have tandoor at home.  

Lets make Pudina Paneer Tikka without tandoor and skewers.

Recipe:

Ingredients:
Cottage Cheese(paneer): 250 gms
Tomato: 1 medium
Capsicum: 1 medium
Curd: 1 cup
butter/ghee: 2tbsp
Salt, pepper, chat masala: To taste
Ginger paste: 1tbsp
Mint leaves: 1 bunch


Method:
1. Add salt, pepper, mint leaves(blended in paste) and half tbsp of ginger paste in the curd.
2. add chunks of paneer in this curd. Keep for half an hour covered.
3. After half an hour, keep the paneer chunks and curd mixture in fridge for 1-2 hours.
4. Take a non stick pan and add butter/ ghee in it and roast marinated paneer chunks from both sides.
5. Now take the chunks out and cook capsicum for a minute in the same pan.
6. Add thinly sliced tomatoes in the pan.
7. Now add chat masala and roasted paneer chunks and cook for a minute covered.

offer to Lord and Enjoy
Hari bol
Shivani

Coconut laddoos

This janmashtmi I wanted to make some sweets at home. Coconut laddoos are my mom's speciality and my husband loves them. So I thought of giving it a try. The laddoos turned out great as they were made for Krishna. I hope you all will love them too.:)

Recipe:

Ingredients:

Milk: 1/2 litre

Coconut grated: 100 gm

Sugar: less than 100 gms

Almonds

Method:

Boil milk. Add cocount (keep 1tbsp coconut aside)  and sugar. Keep boiling on low flame stirring at regular intervals. Keep cooking until a thick ball is formed. Cool it slightly and then make laddoos, roll them in the coconut powder kept aside and garnish with almond flakes.

Offer to lord and then enjoy prasadam.

keep chanting and smiling

Shivani

Janamashtmi Celebrations

Hari Bol
This weekend was long and excited one. As I already told you about Janamshtmi..
Let me show the pics and they will speak themselves. :)

Sri Navneet Priya enjoying swing

 home alter

our humble offering to lord on his b'day!!!

JBS

Nitai GauraChandra

Iskcon Punjabi Bagh

HARE KRSNA

Keep Chanting!!!

Janamashtmi

Today as I am writing this post I am very excited, any guesses why???

well well well.... the most awaited event of the year "Janamashtmi" is here. I just love this festival as muh as I love "Madhava". So I am super duper excited. We started preparations a month ago. New dresses for deities and their jewlery, everything is taken care of. So what I am doing on this festival??? I have bought a very cute jhula "swing" from Vrindavan when we visited last month. So my little cute "Navneet Priya" is all set to take swing. I have invited few friends from building as well. Lets see how it goes. I am super excited that I could not stop imagining THE DAY.

Hmm.. Here is a great article for those who does not know what is Janamashtmi.

And now presenting....

Star of the event
.
..
...
....
......

Shri NAVNEET PRIYA

(isn't he cute)



Bread Cup Pizza

Today I did not want to cook an elaborated breakfast. So I thought of making these cutie pies. Ready in 15 minutes and very delicious. My brother was visiting me for "rakhi", he liked these very much. These were instant hit in our family. I hope you guys will also like them.

Inspired from whatscookingmom.in

Recipe:

Bread Slices: 6

Mixed Vegetables*: 2cups

Mozzarella Cheese: 1cup

Salt, Pepper & Oregano: to taste

Tomato Ketchup: 2 tbsp

Butter

Method:

Chop the vegetables and then add salt, pepper and oregano. Cut bread slices using a round cutter. Butter the bread slices. Put the slices in muffin molds. Now fill the vegetable mix and top it with cheese, enough to cover all the vegetables. Bake these cup pizzas on 220c for 10-15 minutes till the bread is golden brown. Serve with ketchup.

Offer to Lord and enjoy!!!

 * I used bell peppers, corns and tomatoes.

I could not resist, so did not take pictures, will post them when i make them again. :)

Love,

Shivani

Veg Lasagne

Lasagne, U.S. spelling lasagna, is a wide and flat type of pasta and possibly one of the oldest shapes. The word also refers to a dish made with this type of pasta. As with most other types of pasta, the word is a plural form, lasagne meaning more than one piece of lasagna ribbon.

Recipe:
Lasagne: 8
Pizza Sauce: 1 cup
White Sauce: 2 cups
Vegetables: 3cups
Mozzarela cheese: 1cup
Parmesan Cheese: 2tbsp
Olive oil: 3-4 tbsp

Method:
Cook Lasagne pasta in boiling salted water for half ann hour or till done.
Saute vegetables with olive oil until cooked and most of the water is evaporated.
Add pizza sauce in vegetables.

Assembling:
Arrange layers in an oven proof square cassarole in the following fashion: Vegetable mix-pasta-white sauce-grated cheese.
Repeat 3-4 layers until all the ingredients are used (reserve some cheese and white sauce)
Top it up with white sauce and sprinkle some cheese.
Bake it in preheated oven at 200c for 30-40 minutes or until top is golden brown.
Let it rest for 15 minutes, slice, offer to Lord and Enjoy.

White Sauce:
Butte; 4tbsp
Refined flour(Maida) : 4tbsp
Hot milk: 3cups
Salt: to taste
Melt butter in a pan, add flour and mix until smooth. Cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Add hot milk on cup at a time. Cook for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add salt.

Pizza Sauce:
tomatos (blanched, peeled and diced): 2cups
salt and black pepper: to taste
basil: 1tbsp
oregano: 1 tbsp
olive oil: 1tbsp
Heat olive oil in a pan, add all the ingredients and cook until tomatos are soft.

Love,
Shivani :)

Apple Pie

Hello Friends,

To start my blog I thought of writing about something sweet. As the tagline of Dairy Milk "kuch acha karne se pehle kuch meetha ho jaye". So here I am, with this recently found sweetdish Apple pie.

An apple pie is a fruit pie (or tart) in which the principal filling ingredient is apples. It is sometimes served with whipped cream or ice cream on top. Pastry is generally used top-and-bottom, making it a double-crust pie, the upper crust of which may be a circular shaped crust or a pastry lattice woven of strips; exceptions are deep-dish apple pie with a top crust only, and open-face Tarte Tatin.

Recipe:

For the pastry:

1 ½ cup plain flour

¼ cup powdered sugar

¾ cup butter

cold water

For the filling:

2 medium size Apples(peeled and thinly sliced)

3 tbsp Sugar

½ tsp Cinnamon powder

½ tsp lemon juice(optional)
1 tsp butter
1tsp refined flour

To prepare the pastry:Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, add powdered sugar and rub in the butter using your fingertips till it resembles bread crumbs. Add some cold water and gently knead it into firm dough. Cover it and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make the filling:

In a bowl, mix all the ingredients of filling.

Divide dough into two equal portions. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 4-5mm and use it to line the base and sides of a greased baking dish. Fill the pie filling evenly into the baking dish. Roll out the second portion into a circle and cover the filling. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 20-25 minutes or till golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve with whipped cream or ice cream. Offer to Lord and then enjoy the prasadam.

Love

Shivani