Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Dhaba wala matar paneer sirke wale pyaz ke saath or sath mai masala dahi bandh gobhi salad ke sath,...enjoy the meal,...:-)

What happens when Advay sleeps for 3 hrs continuously and i get time to cook in kitchen peacefully read on,....:-)
I like to cook when there is no one in the kitchen ,...i guess that's how everyone likes it,..but these days i don get this opportunity ,i have to shut the kitchen door or ask some one to latch from outside,,,,reason being Advay,...he will just come and open kitchen tap,throw utensils,play with burner or do so many other things which will disturb me to the core,...:-(,..i have to keep telling hubby to keep him out specially during evening,..cause that's when he is most notorious.
One afternoon Advay took afternoon nap for three hrs continuously this may sound normal for everyone but for me this was blessing in disguise reason i got enough opportunity to experiment in kitchen ,..that too without any distractions :-),..had no menu in mind,...first thing first ,..saw fresh cottage cheese,green peas in refrigerator...and thus without any doubt thought of preparing matar paneer ,saw curd too and chopped cabbage,capsicum,and carrot without wasting time i started with the preparation,...
ingredient required for Matar Paneer
chopped cottage cheese one cup
tomato two chopped
onion three chopped
garlic five to six cloves chopped
green chili three chopped
ginger one inch chopped
salt to taste
half tsp each turmeric powder,red chili powder and coriander powder( mix in few drops of water,make paste and keep aside)
cumin seeds one tsp
dry red chili three crushed
bay leaf two crushed
pepper seeds half tsp
black cardamom two
oil to cook one tbsp
fresh green peas half cup

procedure
heat half tsp of oil in non stick wok or kadai ,once the oil is hot add chopped cottage cheese and shallow fry till the edges start turning brown.
once done keep the fried cottage cheese on kitchen towel to drain excess oil.
add remaining oil in the same wok and once it is hot add cumin seeds,followed by crushed red chillies,bay leaves,black pepper seeds and black cardamom
once spices start turning brown add chopped ginger ,garlic and green chili followed by chopped onions,keep frying till onions start changing their colour,now add chopped tomato
once tomatoes are done add salt followed by masala mixture,..and keep stirring till oil is seen along the sides.
now add desired amount of water for the gravy ,followed by peas,
lower the flame and simmer for 10 to 15 Min's,once done add fried cottage cheese ,simmer again for five minutes.
remove from flame ,add chopped coriander leaves and serve
hot with rice or roti.

another version of matar paneer which can be tried is instead of chopped onion,ginger and garlic  and green chili their paste can be used for the gravy and to give more subtle flavour black cardamom,pepper and red chili can be omitted,i experimented with chopped onions because i wanted to prepare matar paneer the same way its prepared in road side dhabas ,i don't know how far i succeeded in preparing dhaba version of matar paneer :-) goes well with rice and chapati...
for salad i mixed red wine vinegar in chopped cabbage,carrot and capsicum along with salt and pepper,...


for masala curd just beat curd and give tadka of dried red chillies ,fewmustard seeds,add pinch of salt and red chili powder,..
For onion in vinegar just add finely chopped onions in vinegar and a pinch of salt mix well.
finally khana taiyar hai,
..ya that's what i tell hubby when food is ready...;-) had matar paneer curry with chapatis,salad,masala curd and sirke wala pyaz,..:-)
This whole feast goes to Blogger Aid Because We Can Help Event
 
hosted by Equal Opportunity Kitchen , as this thali is apt for hungry guests visiting us during holidays :-)
Ramki of One page cookbooks is hosting
event Recipes for the rest of us salad and masala curd goes to Ramkis event.
Whole thali again goes to Trupti of Recipe Center for her
Winter treat event as this thali is perfect for winters
Lore of Culinarty is on in her blog with Original Recipe -winter holidays

hot matar paneer curry is off for her event,..
Adlak of Adlaks kitchen has passed Best blogger friend award,
...thanks a lot,..Adlak for passing this beautiful award to me,..:-)....
thats all frens,...;-) i will be back soon,..with the recipe of pic below,
...till then happy blogging and cooking,...;-)











Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Dinner with leftover,,,,,nd ya i am missing toi...:-(

So many times we try to fix meal with whatever we have in excess,we tend to ingore the fridge where there is always something waiting for us to get our attention,one evening i thought of preparing something with leftover in fridge i had one fourth of cabbage,half of green capsicum, half cup of cottage cheese ,leftover chapatis ,two eggs,...with Advay running in and out of kitchen whenever i am there its too difficult to concentrate properly while cooking ;-) i thought of preparing Egg roll with cottage cheese filling and cabbage and cottage cheese salad with extra virgin olive oil dressing,as i wrote i thought of preparing but while cooking i dont know where my mind was maybe after Advay instead of Roll i prepares egg parantha with filling ,i myself dont know what name i should give to this dish ,,,any suggestions,..:-)




for the filling things needed are

cottage cheese chopped

green chilli one chopped

capsicum chopped half

green chilli sauce

salt and pepper

oil half tsp

cumin seeds a pinch



procedure

heat oil in non stick pan ad cumin seeds once they start spluttering,

add green chillies followed by capsicum,

once tender enough add chopped cottage cheese followed by green chilli sauce

add salt and pepper and remove from flame and keep aside.



for the parantha

eggs two ,beat and keep aside

left over chapatis two

lemon juice one tbsp

chat masala half tsp

onion one chopped

oil to cook



procedure

heat oil in non stick tava

once oil is hot

place leftover chapati on non stick tava and keep turning the chapati till it becomes crisp

add egg mixture on the chapati and spread evenly ,once egg sets properly on the chapati

add cooked cottage cheese mixture spread evenly followed by chopped onions ,lemon juice and chat masala.

remove from flame once done and serve hot with any side dish,we had with cabbage salad ,...




for Cabbage Salad-mix finely chopped cabbage with cottage cheese and chopped red chillies,add extra virgin olive oil with basil leaves,salt,pepper and dash of italian herbs for extra kick,..thats all frens,....Cabbage Salad is ready....:-)

Cabbage is excellent source of vitamin C,it also has amino acid Glutamine which has anti-inflammatory properties,the part of plant which is wildly eaten is cabbage head,cabbage can be consumed raw,cooked or preserved in varities of dishes.

Apart from green cabbage other cabbage available are Colewort,Drumhead,Oxheart,Red cabbage,Savoy cabbage and winter cabbgae.

Cabbage Salad goes to Weekend Herb Blogging Event
hosted by Chriesi of Almond Corner and announced by Haalo of Cook almost anything

On another note,life has become bit hectic for me,Advay has started with play school
since 2nd of this month which means i have to wake him up by 8 am which i really dont want to when i see him sleeping peacefully, all cuddeled up beneath blankets,sometime he wakes up on his own which is very seldom :-),by 9:30 i am back home after dropping him at playschool,thus i get three hours for myself when i can ,relax ,have my breakfast,and do things which i like to do,.;-),i don knw how i gonna manage my time once i start working which gonna start soon,till now i was just house wife but with work,part time course which gonna start soon,...life will be very very hectic,..and blogging is something which really relaxes me,...i just hope i will get time to blog because this is something which i dont want to leave at all,...and when i see fellow bloggers who are working,managing home,children and blogging too i know how well they must be managing their time to pursue blogging,...:-),...thats all frens,...tk care,,,will catch u all soon,..:-),...hppy bloggin,...nd ya i am missing Sailus taste of india,...:-( what about u all,...???


Monday, December 01, 2008

Its all about fun,food and life being so so unpredictable,.....:-(

Its 8:30 am ,cold and chilly typical Delhi winter morning,Advay is still sleeping,Pallavi my younger sis already left for work,i just finished my morning cup of tea ,reading newspaper,checking mail ,blog hopping and finally come to this post,...:-),..its been more than a month since i am here,as told in my previous post i was really skeptical how i gonna adjust here,..cause this is the first time i have stayed here for so long,..previously i was always here for vacations,shopping or to meet relatives,..but relocating means totally different thing,..but now after staying for more than a month i feel Delhi is not that bad,not that scary,....:-) ya its true there is pollution,never ending traffic,scary bus drivers but after reaching home warmth of home made tea and food prepared by my mom,sis or even sometimes me...end of day sharing how the day was with each other,...enjoying movie with sis,...watching Advay
play with his mausis
,....all this overcomes the fatigue ,tiredness,and end of day however tired we all are we are still fresh..because we know there is someone waiting for us at home.,..this warmth wa not there is Singapore ,this is something which is irreplaceable.
Last weekend i went Sarojini nagar and Delhi haat with Pallavi and Advay...it was so difficult to manage Advay in Sarojini nagar market,he was running everywhere in all directions,talking to strangers,climbing on stairs,...then and there i decided next time i am going i wont be getting him,he wanted to walk and believe me suddenly it was so crowded that there was no space to walk,..after shopping we went Delhi Haat for DASTKAR EXHIBITION
..which was really good
,artisans from different states of India had displayed crafts and handmade artefact's ,check out the earthen vessels made by tribal people below
,200 plus varieties of Rajma better known as kidney bean was something new for me,..:-)
and so was paper made form elephant poo :-)
these puppets from Rajasthan have their own story to tell..all dressed up ready fro act,...
Upstairs there were many stalls of wood work from all the states
which included of photo frames,
swing which i really liked
bed mattress and furniture,handmade made entirely of cane,again something new for me,and they look so perfect
chhaya art
Pottery workshop going on ,...
made from natural products,so many varieties,such myriad culture,..INDIA for sure is real colourful, and after such tiring day who wont like to eat ,Delhi haat has food joints of all the states ,we stopped at ,manipur joint or food stall...and this is what we ordered but before that few pics of Advay enjoying at puppet stall
Chicken momos,
Chicken thukpa,
Chilli mushroom stir fry
and Fish thali
,...for dinner we packed moghlai parantha
from west bengal joint which resemble so much like MALAY street food murtabak. ,enjoyed moghlai parantha which was more like murtabak for me with hot tea,...what a end to eventful and tiring day ,,,coming to the recipe of the pic which i shared in the previous post,,,,,
PAUSE,.........

i was on with this post since a week,in between Mumbai 26/11 happened ,i was shocked and shattered ,here i was praising all about Delhi and how well i have settled here,..and i was scared unnecessary,India is safe and secure..butMumbai 26/11 really disheartened and shocked me ,...i mean life is so unpredictable,..its true i was scared before coming to Delhi but then i had settled down also,..i had forgotten all about the serial bomb blast which had rocked Delhi on September 13th, the recent terrorist attack of Mumbai on 26th of November has again left me uncertain about the future and has forced me to think whether it was really right decision to come back to India ,is India really safe for our children,.....and many other unanswered questions,....
So many innocent people got killed who had just gone to enjoy,to meet their friends or just to eat,watching live news coverage throughout could feel the pain of innocent people who were trapped and really felt bad for those who lost their loved ones during the terrorist attack,...i pray to God
to give strength to all those who lost their loved ones in the Mumbai 26/11 terrorist attack on hotel Taj Mahal Palace ,Oberoi Trident and CST railway station.,....thats all frens,...will catch up with u all soon,..take care,,,,