Paneer chettinad

Paneer chettinad is spicy, yummy and tasty curry with aromatic flavors. It was named after the famous region of Tamil Nadu. Chettinad is quite popular for its fiery hot delicious cuisine that has lots of freshly roasted spices, herbs, and coconut. It is a fusion of South and North India spices and flavor in which paneer has simmered in the fresh ground masala. It goes so well with rotis, pulao or with fried rice. It’s very simple and easy to make. So, here’s the method of making a yummy, at the same time spicy Paneer chettinad.

Ingredients:

• 400 grams cottage cheese (paneer)
• 4 tablespoon oil
• 6-8 dried red chillies
• ½ cumin seeds
• ½ tablespoon coriander seeds
• 3 green cardamoms
• 3 cloves
• 2 tablespoon ginger paste
• ½ star anise
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 8-10 curry leaves
• 4 finely chopped tomatoes
• ½ small bowl freshly granted coconuts
• 5-10 black peppercorns
• Salt to taste (normally ½ teaspoon)
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice (half lemon)

Here’s list what to do:

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan over medium temperature. Add red chillies, black peeper, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, coconuts, cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, star anise and fennel seeds. Sauté this until they are nicely toasted i.e. dark yellow in color.

 If you want to follow old- classic way, take a stone pounder and start pounding those until you have a thick paste. Alternatively, electronic blender can be used instead of stone pounder.

Heat the remaining oil in a pan and add curry leaves, already prepared paste and ginger paste. Then sauté for 2-3 minutes.

Finally, add finely chopped tomatoes, chili powder, turmeric and cottage cheese (paneer) and cook it for around 5 minutes. Then add 2 cups of water, lemon juice, salt and leave it for 2-3 minutes in medium heat.

Lastly, garnish it with coriander leaves and Serve Chettinad Paneer as a starter or as a side dish for rotis, pulao or with fried rice.

Here, we are ready to have Paneer chettinad. It’s sharp, hot, spicy and tangy. In short its mix of all flavors.

Biryani

Biryani is the royal dish among all the exotic rice dishes. The magic of biryani lies in the way rice is transformed into something luscious. The aromatic, heavenly and one of the most loved Mutton biryani is made with rice, meat, vegetable, saffron, and heart-warming herbs & spices. Origin of Biryani has remained a focal point of discussion among culinary experts but truth is whoever invented this has given an abundance of joy to everyone. Today I’m here writing a recipe about Biryani, not just a biryani a special homemade mutton biryani.

List of Ingredients you will need:

Ingredients for Marinade

• ·       3 to 4 lbs. Mutton (leg meat)
• ·       4-5 tablespoon oil
• ·       4 tablespoon fresh garlic paste
• ·       Salt to taste (normally 1 tablespoon salt)
• ·       Red chilly powder to taste (normally 2 tablespoon Chilly power)
• ·       ½ to ¾ tablespoon peppercorns
• ·       4 tablespoon fresh ginger paste
• ·       6 fried golden crisp onion paste
• ·       ½  tablespoon turmeric power
• ·       ½ small bowl of finely chopped coriander
• ·       ½  cup of finely chopped fresh mint leaves
• ·       ½ of lemon juice
• ·       Garam masala (10 green cardamoms, 5 black cardamom, 6 cloves, 2 to 4 cinnamon sticks and ½  tablespoon cumin seeds)
• ·       6 oz. to 7 oz. water
• ·       1 small bowl Yoghurt or curd (thick)

Ingredients to be added to boiling water for rice

• ·       Salt to taste ( 1 tablespoon salt)
• ·       4 bay leaves
• ·       4 cinnamon sticks
• ·       3 black cardamom
• ·       ¼ tablespoon black peppercorns
• ·       ¼ tablespoon cloves
• ·       2 tablespoon ghee
• ·       3 mugs (½ kg) basmati rice (Soaked in water for about 15 mins.)
• ·       35 oz. water

Ingredients for Biryani

• ·       1 tablespoon Ghee
• ·       Fried potatoes (optional)
• ·       ½ cup saffron soaked in milk
• ·       Dough ( for sealing, its optional)

Ingredients for Garnishing

• ·      ¼ bowl of fried crisp onions
• ·       ¼ cup of finely chopped fresh mint leaves
• ·       ¼ cup of finely chopped coriander

Here’s a very simple list what to do:

First, grind finely chopped fresh green coriander, fresh mint and all the marinade ingredients in a blender to make a fine paste.

Pour the mixture in a bowl and add Yogurt (Yogurt must be thick and it shouldn’t be sweet)

Cover mutton piece with the marinade mixture (make sure you mix it up with your hand until each piece is coated) and leave it for about 10 minutes. (For best result)

Now it’s time to cook mutton meat.

For that take a heavy-based large pan or just a pressure cooker. (I prefer pressure cooker because it’s quick and easy) Press the meat for 3-4 whistles i.e. for about 20 mins on a low flame/heat. (You can just smell the goodness when it’s ready)

After that, take another pan and boil 35 oz. water. Add all above ingredients for rice to boiling water and lastly, add soaked rice which is soaked for about 15 minutes. Cook the rice for about 10 to 12 minutes. (Yah, it’s a indeed time consuming process but the end result is fabulous)

When rice smells nice and seems good, drain off the water and let it cool for 5 mins.

Take another heavy-based pan, spread 1 tablespoon ghee all over or use butter. (But ghee just complement the biryani)

Finally, layer the pan with half quantity of rice then layer with mutton gravy and some fried potatoes. (Potatoes are optional)

Again, layer with remaining rice (remember don’t press the rice, just spread rice around in a thin layer)

For final touch, pour ½ cup of saffron soaked with milk. (Gives a nice yellow color). Add tablespoon ghee, sprinkle some mint, green coriander leaves and fried crispy onions. Let it cook for 15 more minutes in low heat. (Seal the vessel with dough so that air is not leaked)

Here, we are ready to have Mutton biryani with spoon or hands. You will figure out it’s a unique and aromatic biryani. Just can’t explain the flavor, these flavors dance so well together. I literally have party inside my mouth, when I have them. (It’s hot, juicy, soft, tender, crispy onions and addictive taste of mutton. I’m hungry now and it’s perfect excuse to have biryani right away.)

Everyone's favorite: Timur Salsa

Tomato salsa with Sichuan pepper also known as Timur achar in Asian communities is a thick watery salsa with strong accents of Sichuan pepper, green chilies and tomatoes. Timur char is best to have, when you find boredom in food. They give off a tingly, fizzy feeling in the tongue as it’s of unique taste and have a tongue-numbing sensation. It goes so well with dal-bhat, roties and naan etc. It’s very simple and easy to make. So, I will show you how to make a Timur achar.

List of Ingredients you will need:

• 3-5 pieces of green chillies
• Salt to taste ( normally ½ tablespoon salt)
• ½ tablespoon Sichuan pepper power/ corn
• ¼ tablespoon Garlic powder or 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 5 -8 finely chopped tomatoes
• Small finely chopped onion ( optional)
• ½ tablespoon cumin powder
• ¼ tablespoon of turmeric powder
• 2 tablespoon oil
• ¼ cup of finely chopped Green coriander (optional)

Here a very simple list what to do:

First, heat the pan over medium temperature. Roast the fined chopped tomatoes for about 5-6 mins until it turns out dark reddish in color. (Taste of achar depends open how you roast tomatoes)

Once, tomatoes are done. It’s time for grinding.

If you want to follow old- classic way, take a stone pounder and add all the above ingredients except the optional once. Then start pounding until you have a thick paste. (I mostly prefer to pound chillies, Sichuan peppercorn, garlic and lastly tomatoes.)

Alternatively, an electronic blender can be used instead of a stone pounder. (But stone pounder gives an authentic taste/ flavor to timur achar)

Tomato salsa is almost ready. (Transfer achar from blender/ stone pounder to Bowl.)

Finally, garnish timur achar with finely chopped onions and green coriander. (You can mix them as well)

Here, we are ready to have timur achar with a spoon or you can use your fingers. It has such a depth appeal and are hot, spicy and kind of funny too because I always make a silly puckered face when i have them.

The Ultimate Hunger Hunt Dish: MO: MO

Momos are quite a trend these days. These delicious dumplings momos are usually steamed though sometimes they are fried or steam-fried. Made with a refined flour dough, momos are filled with an assortment of fillings ranging from vegetarian to non-vegetarian often served with a dipping sauce or pickles. This vegetarian momo recipe uses a delicious assortment of mixed vegetables as the filling and non-vegetarians use beef which replaces mushrooms and tofu. But the most common and possibly everyone’s favorites has to be the good old way- steaming hot buff momos, right out of the steamer, doused in lip-smacking pickles. Here go steam momos but you can easily go one step ahead and pan fry or even deep-fry them.

The Dough

First of all, make the dough.

If you want to make momo dough for four peoples, use about 2 cups of wheat flour and somewhere between ¾ cups and 1 cup of water. The amount will depend on your particular flour (You do not have to be exact about the measurements, we never are)

Mix the flour and water very well by hand and keep adding water until the dough is flexible.

Now leave your dough in the pot with the lid on while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

You should not let the dough dry out, or it will be hard to work with.

The Filling

We make momos with either meat or vegetables. We usually use beef or just vegetables like mushrooms and tofu for vegetarians.

For vegetable momo filling

Chop all the ingredients into very, very small pieces and mix them:

• Two onions
• Two inches fresh ginger
• One pound of cabbage
• One pound tofu
• One-quarter pound of dark mushrooms
• Two or three cloves of garlic
• Four-five tablespoons of soy sauce
• ½ tablespoon of salt
• Three-four small dried red chilies
• ½ tablespoon cumin powder
• ¼ tablespoon of turmeric powder

For meat momos filling, add:

One pound of ground beef. This beef replaces the mushroom and tofu in the vegetable recipe.

(If you are making meat momos with ground beef, you may need to use your hands to mix it up.)

Shaping the Momos

When your dough and filling are both ready, it is time for the tricky part of making the dumpling shapes.

For this, place the dough on a chopping board and use a rolling pin to roll it out quite thinly. (It should be thick so as to keep it from breaking and leaking out all the juice and adequately thin, so as to not have the wrap overpower the taste of filling inside.)

After you have rolled out the dough, you will need to cut it into little circles for each momo.

The easiest way to do this is to turn a small cup or glass upside down to cut out circles about the size of the palm of your hand. (That way you do not have to worry about making good circles)

Now that you have a small, flat, circular piece of dough, you are ready to add filling and make the momo shapes.

Then, you will need to put one circle of dough in your left hand and add a tablespoonful of filling in the center of the dough.

With your right hand, begin to pinch much dough in the first pinch- just enough to make a small fold.

Now you will have a little piece of dough pinched together, and you should continue pinching around the circle little by little, keeping your thumb in place and pinching it down to original fold/pinch held by your thumb.

Make sure you close the hole on the top of the momo. That way you don’t lose the juicy part of the momo.

Steaming the Momo

Finally, you should boil water in a large steamer. Oil the steamer surface lightly before putting the momos in, so they won’t stick to the metal, then place as many as you can without touching each other.

Add momos after the water is boiled.

Steam the momos for about 10 minutes, then serve them hot, with pickle or soy sauce.

Finally, we are ready to eat. Hold the momo down with the fork by applying pressure through the index finger and dip in the lip-smacking pickle. (Yum!! have the taste of the juicy stuff, full of meat with pickles. Delicious!!!)