Homemade Paneer (Indian cheese)

Weather here is not giving any break from snow and wind chills. With such low temperatures I just dont feel like getting up on weekends. On such lazy mornings, I get little bored of day to day cooking. Only thing which makes me go in the kitchen on weekends is trying something new.  If I am doing something different than my regular dishes, I get excited to cook. :) This weekend  I decided to make Paneer at home for some wonderful dinner. I have never made Paneer at home before this Saturday and I really wondered why I did not try this before. It is so easy to make Paneer at home rather than buying little costly Paneer from Indian store. Also home made fresh Paneer tastes so much better!

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon (8 Cups) whole milk
4-5 tbsp lemon juice

cheesecloth or thin cotton piece

Method:

1. Heat milk in a vessel till it boils. Occasionally stir milk to avoid it sticking to bottom.
2. Just before milk rises, add lemon juice. Stir and switch off the heat.
3. Stir properly so that lemon juice gets mixed nicely to milk. Soon milk will separate into small curd like granules and water (whey).

4. The color of whey(water separated) should be greenish yellow. If it is not greenish yellow, it means there is still some fats present in it. Add some more lemon juice in such case.
5. Let this rest  for few minutes. When it has cooled down a little bit ( It should still be warm) drain mixture through cheesecloth or any thin cotton cloth.  Paneer will get collected in cloth. Make sure you collect the whey too in some vessel. This whey is nutritious and can be used for making chapati/roti dough. Chapatis made with such dough comes out really soft.Also you can use this whey for making gravys. This water helps making gravys cremy and rich.
6. Bring edges of cloth together and squeeze it to remove excess water present.
7. Keep cloth covered panner on a flat surface. Flatten paneer by patting to rectangular shape. Flatten it till you get required thickness.
8. Put any flat surface on cloth covered paneer. On its top place anything heavy. I had put my pressure cooker filled completely with water. Keep like this for 2-3 hours.
9. Cut paneer into cubes of required size.

 Half gallon of milk will make more than 250 gms of paneer. Enjoy taste of fresh home made paneer!

Preparation time: 20-25 minutes.

Ukadiche Modak ( Steamed dumplings filled with coconut & jaggery mixture) plus an Award :)

Sankashti Chaturthi is a fourth day of Krishna Paksha(Dark fortnight) during every month in Hindu Calendar. Sankashti which falls on Tuesday is known as specially auspicious. It is called as "Angaraki Chaturthi". This last tuesday was Angaraki chaturthi. On Angaraki Chaturthi many observe fast and have their meal only after moon rise. This is a day we pray to Lord Ganesha. And Ganesh Puja is incomplete without offering of his favorite Modak. This sweet is always prepared as prasad on Ganesh Chaturthi. Ukadiche (Steamed) Modak are Maharashtra's wonderful delicacy. Just looking at these Modaks brings smile on my face :)

Another thing which brought smile to my face was these beautiful Awards shared with me by my dear blogger friend Jyoti (http://theveggiehut.blogspot.com/). Thank you so much Jyoti! You have such a lovely blog. Thanks alot for remembering me. So Sweet of you!

Here goes the recipe!
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh grated coconut
1 cup crushed jaggery
1 cup rice flour
3-4 tsp oil
salt

Method:

1. First we need to prepare filling. For that, in deep kadhai take grated coconut and jaggery. Heat this mixture over low-medium heat.
2. Keep stirring this frequently. Soon jaggery will start melting. Heat this till jaggery and coconut mixes properly and nice homogeneous mixture is formed. Turn off the heat and let this mixture cool down.Our filling is ready now!
3. Now we need to make cover. Make this just before you want to prepare modak. We can not prepare and keep this dough aside.
4. In a deep kadhai bring to boil 1 cup of water. When it starts boiling add 2 tsp oil and 1/2 tsp salt.
5. Lower the heat and add rice flour immediately. While you are adding rice flour , keep stirring mixture with other hand. Mix this quickly taking care that lumps are not formed. Cover with a lid for a minute.
6. Switch off the heat and take dough in a plate. Apply oil to your palms. Now when dough is still hot, knead well. Don't forget to apply oil on hands. Knead this dough properly so that no cracks are present on dough.
7. Cover dough immediately. Take care that dough is warm till we complete preparing modak.
8. Make a lemon sized ball of this dough. Keep remaining dough covered. Apply little oil to hands. With both hands, flatten ball of dough to make it in a shape of Puri. Thickness should be little thicker than puri.
9. Keep coconut filling( approximately 1 1/2 tbsp) at the center of this.
10. Pinch edges at 4-5 places. Bring all edges together at the center and close them at the top. Make remaining modak with the same procedure.

     11. For steaming, take a stainless still sieve and apply little oil to its bottom. Keep modaks inside this sieve taking care they do not stick to each other.

     12.  In deep vessel add water so that vessel is filled 1/4 th. Keep sieve with Modaks on top of the vessel.
     13. Cover sieve with a lid. Heat vessel for 10-12 minutes till Modak get steamed.

Delicious Modaks are ready. Serve hot with ghee on the top.

Preparation time: 1 hour

Medu Wada with Award & Reward :)

I have more than one reason to be happy today! My blog was selected as last week's winner for the Foodie Blogroll "Comment to win a copy of Sanjeev Kapoor's Party Cooking Book" contest!




I received this book today and I am really excited to see all new and amazing recipes in it. Thanks to foodie blogroll for this awesome reward.

Another wonderful thing is my blogger buddy Aparna (http://ladiesspecialadukkala.blogspot.com/) has shared Kreative Blogger award with me. She has very beautiful blog. Thank you so much Aparna for remembering me. So sweet of you!

Now coming to todays recipe which is Medu Wada. This is one of the most preferred breakfast item. Whenever I go out for breakfast I will keep switching mu order between Dosa and Vada :) Wada with hot sambar and chutney makes a very filling breakfast. I love eating just wada by itself when it is nice warm. So  I was frying these wadas with one hand and eating hot wadas with other hand. :)
 So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup urad dal
3 green chillies finely chopped
7-8 crushed curry leaves
1 tbsp ginger grated
15-20 small pieces of fresh coconut
pinch of hing/asaphoetida
oil for frying
Salt

Method:

1. Soak urad dal in water for atleast 6 hours
2. Drain the water. Grind urad dal to a coarse paste. While grinding add very very liitle water. You can simply sprinkle water; just enough for making a paste.
3. Add remaining ingredients to paste except oil and mix nicely.
4. This step is very important for making vadas nice and fluffy. You need to beat the batter with egg beater so that air gets incorporated in batter. This aeration will help in making vadas fluffy.
5. I got one very nice trick from video of Vahchef(VahreVah.com) for this. To check wheather aeration is done or not, drop small dollop of batter in a bowl filled with water. The batter should float and should not sink to bottom. If it sinks, beat batter for some more time.
6. Heat oil in deep kadhai for frying. Apply water to your palms. Make a lemon sized ball of batter. Flatten it a little bit and make hole in it by thumb. Slide it gently in oil. Deep fry on low-medium flame till it turns nice golden brown in color.

Enjoy hot wadas with Sambar or coconut chutney. 1 1/2 cup Urad dal makes mediun sized 18-20 vadas.
Preparation time: 40 minutes.

Palak Pulao (Spinach Rice)

Spinach is one vegetable I never get tired of. Main reason behind this is, it can be used to make so many different dishes. You can make its sabji, paratha, soup, pakoda. In every form it tastes delicious. Today I used it in rice to make its pulao. Spinach added a great flavor to rice. This recipe is quite simple and very healthy.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice
1 cup Spinach leaves
1/2 cup coriander leaves
1 onion sliced
1 potato peeled and cut into cubes
2 green chillies
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp dhania powder
2 cloves
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmertic/haldi
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp oil
Salt

Method:

1. Wash rice and drain water. Spread it on plate and let it rest for some time.
2. Grind together spinach leaves,coriander leaves and green chillies.
3. In a pressure cooker heat oil.
4. When oil becomes hot add cumin seeds, cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaf. Fry for a minute.
5. Add sliced onions and ginger garlic paste. Fry till raw smell goes and onion becomes golden.
6. Add spinach, coriander paste and potato cubes. Fry for 2-3 minutes.
7. Add red chilli powder, dhania powder, garam masala. Stir well.
8. Add rice and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
9. Add water, salt and lemon juice. Mix well.
10. Close the lid of cooker and bring one whistle.

Serve hot with raita.

Preparation time:  30 minutes

More awards :) & Recipe for Gobi ( Cauliflower) Manchurian dry

I am very excited to receive more awards from my sweet friends Devi, Jagruti and Nithu!

Nithu (http://nithubala-recipes.blogspot.com/) and Devi (http://fresherscookbook.blogspot.com/) have shared with me this 'Beautiful blogger' award.

Jagruti (http://joyofcooking247.blogspot.com/) has shared with me 'Kreative Blogger' award.

Its so kind of you to remember me! Bunch of thanks to all three of you for showering your love on my blog! I am delighted :)

Now time for today's recipe i.e. Gobi Manchurian. Who does not like this! This is one starter which we always used to order whenever we go to any restaurant. Though this is my favorite starter, I never prepared it at home in India. But here in Grand rapids, I could not find any restaurant serving this tasty dish. So finally I prepared it at home and I am really happy I did it :) It tasted great. It is simple and it was wonderful eating gobi Manchurian after so many days :) So here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:
15-20 Cauliflower florets
1 onion finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 cup capsicum diced
1/4 cup green onions finely chopped
2-3 green chillies cut lengthwise
7 tbsp maida
4 tbsp corn flour + 2 tbsp corn flour for sauce
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp red chilli sauce
4 tsp soya sauce
2 tsp vinegar
1 tsp red chilli powder
Oil for frying + 2 tbsp oil for sauce
Salt

Method:

1. Boil cauliflower florets in water for 4-5 minutes. Take care not to overcook florets.Drain the water and let florets dry for few minutes.
2. Mix maida, 4 tbsp corn flour, red chilli powder and salt. Add water slowly to form a batter. The batter should be thick enough so that it covers cauliflower florets nicely.
3. Heat oil in deep kadhai for frying. Deep cauliflower florets in batter and put them in hot oil one by one. Take care florets are completely covered in batter. Deep fry them till they get nice golden color and become crispy. Keep fried florets aside.
4. For making sauce, heat 2 tbsp oil in wok.
5. Add onion, green chillies, garlic and ginger. Fry for some time. When onion becomes soft add capsicum. Fry again for 2-3 minutes.
6. Add tomato ketchup and red chilli sauce. Fry for a minute.
7. Add soya sauce, vinegar. Mix well. Add 1/2 cup of water and 2 tbsp corn flour. Mix corn flour properly taking care it does not form lumps. Heat this for 2-3 minutes.
8. Add fried cauliflower florets and mix properly. All florets should be covered with sauce properly. Switch of the heat. Garnish with green onions.

Serve hot with fried rice or noodles.
Preparation time: 45 minutes