Paneer korma

Ingredients

Almond/cashew - 1/2 cup

Garlic - 2 cloves, chopped

Green chilli - 3

Yogurt - 1 big spoon

Cardamom - 5

Cinnamon - 2 sticks

Paneer - 3 cups, cubed

Onion - 1 medium sized or 1/2 of a big one

Turmeric

Salt

Sugar (optional)

Black pepper - a few

Process

Dry roast cardamom and cinnamon in microwave for 30 seconds

Soak the nuts in water for some time

Make a smooth paste with nuts, yogurt, garlic, green chilli, cardamom and cinnamon

Heat oil in a deep bottom pan

Add onions and fry them till it becomes pink or translucent, set aside

In the remaining oil add black pepper

As soon as black peppers start popping add the paste in oil

Add salt, turmeric

Once the paste starts releasing oil or when there is no raw smell add paneer pieces and coat them with this paste properly

Depending on the choice of gravy thicknesd add water

Once it starts bubbling take it out on a serving dish and garnish it with some kasori methi i.e. Dried fenugreek leaves

Ready to serve

Cooking 101 - Introduction and a Shopping List

One of many things that made me feel homesick after coming to US was the food. I am a foodie and I like to taste all different kind of food. While growing up I did not visit many restaurants. When I first came to US and got my salary (as a grad student though) I thought lets live life, lets try all these restaurants, why should I learn to cook. However pretty soon I started to miss my mom's food. Although there were plenty places to eat but they never satisfy your need for everyday simple food. So I started cooking because I was missing my home, my mom and her food. I could not get the first two but I thought I might have a chance for the last one.

I have never tried my hands on cooking when I was in India. Thus I know exactly how do you feel when you search for easy recipes but all you get from Internet is the elaborate ones. Very soon you get the feel that cooking is one of the hardest things on earth. Every time you plan to cook you realize you do not have all spices mentioned in recipe and as a beginner you are afraid to ignore that fact and end up buying a 1 lb pack of some spice that you are not going to use ever...

So from now on I am starting a new section, Cooking 101 especially for grad students who has least amount of time for cooking and limited resources. I am going to put together recipes that are easy, tasty and does not require a whole lot of ingredients.

When we go to a super market or to an Indian grocery store we think wow..... so many options are here, lets make all of them and we end up buying a lot more than we can consume. Ultimately we have to put them in trash. As a grad student the last thing we want is to waste food. If you are new in cooking area, NEVER buy two variety of  main vegetables at one time. So lets get started. For cooking 101 its better to have the following items in your fridge/storage,

Vegetables:
Onion*
Potato
Tomato**
chilies**

Spices:
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds
Cumin Powder
Coriander powder
Turmeric
Chilie powder
Garam Masala
Garlic paste
ginger paste (it might be tempting to buy a ginger garlic paste instead of buying them separately but trust me don't do it)

Lentils:
Masoor Daal
Mug Daal (yellow one)
Toor Daal

Others:
Egg**
Milk**
Fish or Chicken (a pack of frozen chicken in fridge always become handy)
Soyabin (if you are a veg person)

*Keep your onion in a plastic bag in your fridge. This way it will not make you cry while cutting it and it will last longer.
**Tomato, chilies, milk and egg they have expiration date. It is not printed for the first two but they do not survive for long, not even in the fridge. So while buying them calculate how many of them you need and get the exact amount.

Important gadgets in kitchen to survive

Microwave

Blender

Apart from this list, you can buy any vegetable you want depending on what's you are going to make. But always remember if you buy cauliflower, cabbage, eggplant on the same day and cook one of them, in recent future others will go inside your trash bin not in your stomach.

Chinese Veggie Fried rice:

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 1-1.5 cup
Whole black pepper - 4-5
Onion - 1; thinly sliced
Garlic Paste - 1/2 spoon
Mixed Veggies - 1 cup; finely chopped
Capsicum - 1 small; chopped
green chilies - 2; chopped
Tomato ketchup - 2 spoons
Soy Sauce - 2 spoons
Hot sauce - 1-2 spoons
Vinegar - 2 spoons
Salt - to taste
Black Pepper - to taste
Dried crainberry - a handfull (Optional)
Egg - 2 (Optional)

Process:

Add chopped green chilies to vinegar
Heat oil in a deep bottom pan
Add whole black peppers
Once black pepper starts to splitter add onion
Fry onion till it becomes translucent
Add Garlic paste
Add veggies (I used 1 cup of frozen mixed veg - carrots, peas, corns)
Add capsicum when veggies wilt a bit but still remain crunchy
Add all sauce
Once sauce is mixed properly add cooked rice
Switch off gas
Taste it to check salt
Add black pepper powder as needed and crainberries
If you want to add eggs make scrambled eggs separately and add it to rice
Mix everything properly carefully so that rice does not get broken
If the dish looks moist keep it in microwave for sometime
Serve it hot.....

Malpua or malpoa

Ingredients:

For batter;
Flour - 1 cup
Semolina or sooji - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1&1/2 cup
Sugar - 1-2 spoons
Fennel seeds - 1 spoon
Crushed black pepper - 1 spoon (yes I know what I am writing)

For syrup;

Sugar - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup

Oil for frying

Process

First boil sugar and water to make the syrup
Syrup should be one thread
Now let it cool down
Mix all other ingredients
Heat oil in a deep bottom pan
Put one spoon of batter into oil
Malpuas are supposed to be of medium thickness. Not to thin not to thick
Now once the malpua is ready take it out keep it on a paper towel to soak extra oil
Put it into the syrup
Keep it till all sides got a coating
Take it out and brush off extra syrup
Serve it hot or cold

Indian style instant coffee

Ingredients:

Instant Coffee - 1spoon full per serving
Sugar - to taste
Milk - 3/4th cup per serving
Water - 1/4 th cup per serving

(follow the above milk:water ratio only if you have whole milk. otherwise you can use only milk)



Process

Mix coffee powder, sugar and a few drops of water in a cup

Beat hard in  one direction till the mixture become whitish and sticky

Boil Milk and water
If you are making one serving then just pour the milk in the mixture
If you are making more than one serving you can either divide the mixture in separate cups and then pour milk or you can mix the mixture in the milk and then pour it in the cup

p.s. One important thing is to get the froth. for that you have to pour the milk from a height.

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash - cubed
Chicken Broath - 1 cup
Garlic - 2-3 cloves - chopped
Ginger - 1 inch - grated
Black Pepper - 4
Parsley flakes
Balsamic vinaigrette
Salt

Process:

Heat oil in a deep bottomed pan
Add black pepper
Once it starts spluttering add garlic and make it golden
Add all the ingredients except parsley and vinaigrette
Add water if needed
Boil them till squash/pumpkin pieces become really soft
Now cool down and blend it
Before serving warm it up and garnish it with vinaigrette and parsley flakes

p.s. If you do not like spicy food then reduce amount of ginger and black pepper

Aam pana (An Indian mango mocktail)

Ingredients:

Raw Mangoes - 3
Mint Leaves - one bunch
Sugar - to taste
Salt - to taste
Lemon Juice - to taste

Process:

Pre-heat the oven at 350C
Make 4 slits on mangoes
Wrap mangoes with aluminum foil
Place mangoes inside the oven in a oven-proof bowl
Wait till mangoes become soft
 Cool mangoes
Now take out the pulp
In a mixer add pulp, water, sugar, salt and mint leaves
Mix them properly
Add lemon juice if mangoes are not sour enough
Serve it with ice

Fried pomfret

Ingredients:

Pomfret fish - 1 (Whole)
Salt
Lime juice
Paprica
Parsley flakes
Garlic Paste - little bit
Tomato - cut as rings
Onions - same as tomato
Olive Oil

Procedure:

Make slits on both sides
Mix everything except tomato and onions and rub the fish
Marinate fish for at least 15 minutes
Heat oil in a frying pan
Fry fish till it becomes golden brown on either side
Garnish with rings of tomato and onion

Provençal tomatoes

Ingredients

6 large tomato
1-1.5 cup fresh bread crumbs
3 spoons grated parmesan cheese
1 minced shallot
1 clove of minced garlic
1 spoon butter
Parsley flakes
Salt and pepper

Recipe

Pre-heat the oven at 400C
Cut tomatoes in half and scoop them out

Mix butter, minced onion and garlic and put it in microwave for 1.5-2 minutes
Mix the above mixture and all others
Put the stuffing into tomatoes
Place all stuffed tomatoes on a baking dish
Put the baking dish in oven for 15-20 minutes

Spinach pancake with yogurt sauce

Yogurt

Lime juice

Chopped fresh mint leaves/Coriander Garlic, very finely minced

Chopped spinach

Chopped onion

Butter

All purpose flour

Eggs - 2

Milk - 1/3 cup 

Oil

Ground cumin

Ground coriander

Salt

Ground black pepper

Recipe

In a small bowl, combine the yogurt, lime juice, lime zest, garlic, and mint leaves. Put in the refrigerator - allowing flavors to combine - until you're ready to serve the pancakes. You may need to give the sauce a little stir before serving, as the lime juice likes to separate out.


Wash the spinach and if necessary remove some of the stems. Then put the spinach in a large sautee pan with a sprinkling of water, cover, and cook over medium heat (stirring a few times) until the spinach is wilted. This will only take a couple of minutes. Plop the cooked spinach into a colander and let it cool down so you can handle it.


Once it is cool, use your hands and squeeze out as much of the liquid from the spinach as possible. Then chop the spinach up well and set aside.


Heat your tablespoon of butter in a sautee pan over medium-high until it is foaming. Stir in the chopped onion and cook until it has gotten nicely browned. Then turn the heat down very low and allow to cook for about 3-5 more minutes, stirring occasionally, to get them a bit caramelized.


In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, eggs, milk, 2 Tbs. olive oil, cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper. Stir in the spinach and onion until all combined. This should give you a rather thick and quite green batter. (For fluffier pancakes, you can separate the eggs, whisking in the yolks with the other ingredients, then beating the whites until stiff and folding them in as the last ingredient after everything else is combined. I like the pancakes both ways.)

Pour enough olive oil into a large sautee pan to coat the bottom. Heat over medium-high heat until the oil is shimmering. Drop heaping spoonfuls (about 2 Tbs.) of batter into the pan, then press each mound down with a spatula to make smallish, flat pancakes. Cook until the bottom sides have turned golden brown, then flip and cook another couple minutes. Transfer the pancakes to a serving platter (if needed, keep warm in a 200F oven) and continue frying - using more olive oil as needed- until all the batter is used up. 


Serve the pancakes accompanied with the mint-yogurt sauce for generously smearing them with.

Roasted radish and potato salad

Ingredients

Small red radishes - diced
Potato - diced
Onion - sliced
Carrots (optional) - diced
Bell peppers (optional) - diced
Lettuce - chopped
Olive oil
Salt
Sugar
Black pepper
Paprika
Yogurt
Lemon juice

Recipe

Mix all vegetables except lettuce with olive oil, salt and black pepper
Place potatoes and carrots in one layer on a baking dish
Bake for 10 minutes
Put radishes and onions in one layer and bake for 10-20 minutes

Mix yogurt, lemon juice, salt, sugar and paprika
Put oil in a small pan
Add cumin and fennel seeds
Wait till oil gets the flavor
Cool oil and seeds
Now mix everything and put it in fridge

Fish Pasilade

Fish fillet
Parsley leaves (dry or fresh) - enough to make a paste
Thyme
Garlic cloves
Lemon zest or lemon juice
Salt
Paprika
Vegetables

Recipe

Make a paste with parsley, thyme, lemon zest, garlic, salt and paprika
Put all vegetables on a baking plate
Mix paste and fish
Place fishes on vegetables
Bake for 30 minute at 450F followed by 30 min at 350F and 2 min in broiler

(lamb can be made with this paste but then it would be better to marinate lamb pieces with the paste overnight)

Chickpea pilaf

INGREDIENTS

Rice - 1 cup
Water - 2 cup
Chicken broth - 2 cup
Raisin mix - 1 cup
Cooked chickpea - 1 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 tb
Red chilli flakes - 1 tb
Oil
Salt
Pinch of sugar
Crushed black pepper

RECIPE

Put cumin seeds and chilli flakes in hot oil
Add cooked chickpea and raisins
Add rice, salt and pepper
Mix everything with spices
Add broth and water
Wait until rice is cooked and water is evaporated

P.S amount of water may vary depending on rice. It's better to add rice and water in 1:2 ratio and then you can add more water if needed

Lentil Chicken Soup

Red lentils - 1cup
Chopped onions - 1
Chopped garlic - 2 cloves
Diced tomato - 2
Diced potato - 1
Diced carrots - 1/2 cup
Corn - 2 fistful
Cream - 1/2 cup (butter and sour cream)
Cilantro - for garnishing
Oil
Salt
Pepper
Lime juice
Cubed Chicken
Italian seasoning

Fry onion, garlic and chicken in hot oil
Add tomato, carrot, potato, lentil and corn
Add water/broth, salt, Italian seasoning
Wait until veggies are tender and lentil is completely cooked (wait for 3 whistles and 10 minute in low flame if using pressure cooker)
Add cream, lime juice
Sprinkle chopped cilantro and a pinch of pepper

Potage permentier (French onion potato soup)

Courtesy - Julia Child's mastering the art of French cooking

Ingredients

1cup diced potato
3/4 cup sliced onion
0.7 lit water
Salt to taste (1/4 tb)
1 tb softened butter
1 tb minced parsley or chives

Recipe

Simmer all vegetables and salt together partially covered for 40-50 minute until all of them are tender (or cook in pressure cooker for 5 minutes, release pressure and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes)

Mash the vegetables and check salt
Add butter and simmer before serving
Decorate with herbs

Plain Vanilla Cake

Baking a cake sounds so hard but it's the easiest form of cooking to me. It's all about measurements. If you have followed the instructions then it's really difficult to mess it up. This vanilla cake has been my all time favorite. So here you go...

Ingredients:

AP flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking Powder - 1-1.5 spoon
Salt - 1 pinch
Oil - 2.3 cup
Eggs -3 Large
Vanilla essence - 3 spoons
Milk - 1 spoon
I used a 81/2 inch round baking dish for this cake.

Method:

Pre-heat oven at 450F
Mix all liquid and dry ingredients separately
Make a batter with the these two different mixture
Grease a baking dish
Pour the batter in baking dish
Put it inside oven for 30 minutes
Later keep on checking if it is done
If a toothpick/knife can come out clean from the cake then it's ready to serve

coffee cake in a cup

Ingredients:

All purpose flour- 5 Tbsp
Granulated sugar- 7 Tbsp
Cocoa/coffee- 3 Tbsp
Salt- a pinch
Baking powder- 1/4 to 1/2 tsp
Egg- 1 large
Milk- 5 Tbsp
Vegetable oil- 4 Tbsp
Choco chips - a spoon full
Pure vanilla extract- a dash
2 microwave-safe coffee mugs

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a coffee mug to make the cake.
3. Add all liquid ingredients and mix well.
4. Pour out half of the batter into each coffee mug.
5. Microwave the coffee mugs,one at a time, half- filled with the batter, for a minute. If it does not get done in a minute, keep for another 20-30 seconds. (I kept it for 1 minute and 20seconds)
6. Let it cool and dig in.
7. It will be wonderful if you can top with vanilla ice cream

Notes:

1.The baking powder makes it less dense and more soft when compared to the original recipe.(thanks for the idea "not quite Nigellla" !)
2.The top of the cake looks a bit gooey when you take it out from the microwave after a minute. But it will be done already and do not over cook.
4.The cake rises up while cooking, but when you take it out it comes down. So a tall mug/microwave safe utensil is recommended.

Pineapple upside down cake

Upside down Pineapple cake (http://food-thought-for.blogspot.com/2011/01/vacation-that-never-ended-pineapple.html)

2 cup all purpose flour + 1 tsp for dusting

1 1/4^th  cup sugar

1 stick of butter molten + 1/3^th stick molten separately + 1 tsp for coating the pan

1 tsp of vanilla

1 tsp of baking powder

3 eggs

1 cup of milk

1/8^th tsp of  salt

1 can of sliced pineapple.

1 cup pf brown sugar

1 9 inch round pan

Butter and dust the pan
Spread the brown sugar on the pan. Coated the bottom completely.
Pour 1/3^th stick of molten butter evenly on top of the sugar. Now place the four slices.

In a bowl beat the rest (1 stick of butter) for 2 mins.
Add the sugar slowly and keep beating till foamy. About 3 mins.
Add the eggs one at a time and keep beating well after adding each one.
Now add the vanilla.  

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking powder.
Add the dry mixture to the egg-sugar –butter mixture. BUT along with the milk. Start with the flour mixture followed by the milk. Do this is three installments, beginning and ending with flour. Beat well.

Now, carefully spread the batter over the pineapple in the baking pan.

Preheat oven to 350F for 8 mins. Place the pan in the warm oven and bake for 1 hour, or till tooth pick comes out clean when inserted in the center

Turn off oven and let the  cake rest inside the warm oven for 15-20 mins. Take it out and let it cool completely. 1 hr.

Loosen the edges by running a knife around the edges in a smooth motion. Place your hand on the cake and carefully flip the pan. Tap the back of the pan gently till cake comes out :)

Bengali Chicken Curry and Pulau

Pulau and chicken curry - a hot favorite combination of most bengalies especially on a lazy Saturday. I took an attempt and the result was pretty satisfactory. I followed my maa's traditional recipe for both.

As a kid my grand maa's pulao was one of my favorite foods. She used to cook it in a large brass pan (handi). According to me my maa's pulao was good too but it was different than my grand maa's. My idea was that the secret was hidden in that brass pan. My mom is now an expert Pulau
maker without that pan. I am trying to get there too. I know that sounds too ambitious but I am not going to give up soon especially when recipe is there and you just have to be skilled enough to get the magic.

PULAO

Basmati rice - 3 cup
Water - 5.5 cup
Milk - 1.5 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Yogurt - 2 tbsp
Oil - 3tbsp
Ghee - 1tbsp
Salt - 2 spoon (to taste)
Turmeric - 2tbsp
Red chillie - 1 tbsp
Cashew - handful
Raisins - handful
For tempering
Whole cardamom - 5
Broken cinnamon - 2-3 sticks
Whole cloves - 4/5
Whole black pepper (optional) - 4-5

Put oil in the rice cooker
Add all ingredients for tempering in oil once it's hot
Add cashew and raisins
Wash rice
Put rice in the rice cooker
Add rest of the items
Mix everything
Close the cooker and let it cook

BENGALI CHICKEN CURRY

To Marinate
Chicken
Ginger - Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Vinegar - 2 tbsp
Turmeric - 2 tbsp
Red Chillie Powder - 2 tbsp

To Temper Oil
Whole cardamom - 4-5
Whole cloves - 4-5
Bay leaves - 2-3 small sized
Broken cinnamon - 3-4 (depending on the size)

Ginger-Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Chopped Onion - 1 cup
Tomato Sauce - 3 tbsp / Chopped tomato 1cup
Turmeric powder - 2 tbsp
Red Chillie - 2 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Cumin Powder - 2 tbsp

Cut chicken breasts in small pieces
Marinate it for 1-2 hours with all the above ingredients mentioned in the section (To Marinate)
Heat oil in a large pan/pressure cooker
Temper oil with whole masalas
Add ginger-garlic paste
Add onion and fry it till it becomes brown
Add tomato sauce - if adding chopped tomato then fry it till it becomes paste
Add all the remainder masalas
Add chicken pieces
Fry everything for 2 minutes
Add water and close the cooker (if you do not have a pressure cooker then after adding water reduce the flame, close it with a lid and occasionally stir the mixture. Once chicken is ready remove lid and cook it for 3-4 minutes in high flame)
Wait for 1 city in the pressure cooker and then reduce flame and wait for 10-15 minutes
It's ready to serve....

Friday movie evening with Strawberry Blend

It was one of the boring Fridays. My roomie asked me to join her for a Cinderella movie. The movie was not that good so she bribed me with this drink. It looked beautiful and tasted great. I could not resist myself to capture it in my camera and publish the photo along with a rough recipe.

Strawberry Blend

Fresh strawberries
Milk
Orange Juice
Sugar
Tang Orange
Food Color - Red

Make a paste of fresh strawberries and 1-2 drops of food color
Keep 1/2 of the paste separately or you can fill half of your serving glass with it as shown below

Mix Milk, juice and Tang with the rest of the paste

Mix sugar according to personal choice

Now pour this milk shake on top of the paste

For garnishing you can put a piece of strawberry at the edge

It's ready to serve