RecipeMuncher

How many ways do I proclaim my love to thee? Well this is another way to Ok, this is yet another way to show my love for Paneer. And this is indulging in extremes. I normally make Paneer Butter Masala every other week as Konda is very fond of it. Though I personally can’t make much difference between the dish term Paneer Makhani and Paneer Butter Masala, I do mark a difference in not adding cream in PBM. While this dish is not something I make regularly as I use both butter and Cream. Well I guess once in a while we do need to indulge, though this becomes a regular fare at home. I am trying to reduce all these rich dishes on weekdays.One, its difficult to prepare these back from work, other, its too rich to sleep on it!

But special occasion needs special dishes. Happy Cook and I have exchanged many mails and chat often. She is one of those good friends I have through blogging. So I was looking froward to meet her when she…

Sometimes being a vegetarian is tough.Since I don’t eat even egg, it becomes a critical thing. Not on the choice of eating, mind you. But in terms of explaining to kids on why you don’t eat. I have always wanted Konda to eat non veg. And thought if she wants to stop, she can decide when she is old enough. So everytime I make chicken or mutton, I tell her that its good for health and she should eat. She gets right back and asks why I don’t eat. I say I don’t like, so I don’t eat. She says eat egg atleast, that’s so healthy right. Now what should I say. Finally I lost my temper and told her never to ask me to eat again. I know poor darling was upset but I tried my best to explain. Not sure if there were better ways to make her understand more. Anyway that left me resolving to handle things better!

This curry was also something that initiated such discussions. Parents had joined us for Sunday lunch. So we made chicken for everybody and this Paneer curry for Amma and myself. I d…

About a week ago, I was walking around my local Whole Foods when I was suddenly hit with the most delicious aroma. It was like someone had put a big bowl of Indian curry right in front of my nose. I followed the aroma and was lead to a cooking demonstration being put on by the folks of Katmandu Foods. In front of the cook stood open jars of various Shiba’s brand chutneys, pickles and curry pastes. “Here, dear. I know you want to taste this, “ she said, handing me a small paper cup with spiced rice. “Take a little of each and see what you like,” she said, pointing to the open jars in front of her. She didn’t have to convince me. I tried each and every one, some more than once. All the products I tried were delicious. It took a lot of will power to walk away with only one jar of curry paste and one jar of chutney.

<a href=”http://www.blazinghotwok.com/uploaded_images/creamyindiancurry-721694.j…

Printable version here.

The past week has been quite eventful for me. It all started on last Friday night. We were having guests for dinner on Saturday and it was my husband’s birthday on Sunday. I had planned to make a Black Forest cake (a favourite of his) but that story will keep for another post.

I was getting our dinner together on Friday night when a bee flew in through the kitchen window (yes, at night) and stung me on my upper eyelid. It took two visits to the doctor, an injection and some medication to get rid of the pain and swelling in my eye! The dinner guests were taken care of as my husband pitched in with the cooking and washing up.

That’s when our home computer succumbed to a viral infection and is now getting checked out by its doctor. Hope fully it shall recover by this weekend or else I’m in trou…

Printable version here.

The past week has been quite eventful for me. It all started on last Friday night. We were having guests for dinner on Saturday and it was my husband’s birthday on Sunday. I had planned to make a Black Forest cake (a favourite of his) but that story will keep for another post.

I was getting our dinner together on Friday night when a bee flew in through the kitchen window (yes, at night) and stung me on my upper eyelid. It took two visits to the doctor, an injection and some medication to get rid of the pain and swelling in my eye! The dinner guests were taken care of as my husband pitched in with the cooking and washing up.

That’s when our home computer succumbed to a viral infection and is now getting checked out by its doctor. Hope fully it shall recover by this weekend or else I’m in trou…

Printable version here.

That English translation of Tomato Rasam as soup is the closest I can come to describing Rasam. Rasam can also loosely translate as “enjoyment” or as “the essence of” something. Whatever the meaning I am, once again, in that minority of south Indians who does not like rasam. I can only assume that this could be partially because, in my mind, food served when one was ill. A milder and non-spicy form of Rasam was usually considered the most suitable (with rice) form of nourishment when one was ill with fever. And I’m sure this is true because Rasam is very easy to digest and the pepper and cumin in it would bring down the temperature of a fever. The other reason I don’t like it is because it is very watery in consistency and I don’t like my rice to be very wet with whatever gravy I’m eating it with.
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What do you do when you have excess fresh coconut on hand? We find ourselves very often in this situation. That mostly happens when there are festivals seasons or lot of poojas at home. Breakfast at parent’s place is never without a coconut Chutney on side, as Sree only likes that. While at my place, it never gets featured as hubby dear doesn’t like coconut chutney. So I can’t even use it up like that. Most times, we let it go dry, to use it as Copra. Copra is normally dried with the water inside, that’s why it become very oily and has that distinct taste. But fresh coconut, that’s not tender, is also a good candidate for becoming a copra. But hey, you got to use that copra too right! If you just sneak behind my refrigerator’s inner cabin, you will lot of copras happily slumbering away. We don’t store cooked food in fridge but somehow, something or the other gets forgotten, only to give each other a cold company!

Now when I decided to <a href=”http://cooking4allseasons.blogs…

I went and got this bag of whole wheat berries and you can see that’s the reason for all wheat related dishes coming up. I basically bought it to make the Wheat Halwa. I used just about a cup and there were no quarter kg bags available. And its not enough to grind into flour. Well we have come up with the sprouts. Though that’s a very good healthy option, was wondering what other way to use it up. We were generally talking about the wheat and how it can be used, when Athamma recollected her Mom making Payasam with Whole Wheat berries. Wow, that sound really tasty. More and more I heard about it, I was sure that’s what I wanted to try next.

Amma was also talking about the same. It seems her mom also used to make this payasam. I really wonder why those age old recipes got lost track. I wanted to learn and see how its supposed to be prepared. Its very similar to the paruppu payasam. But it was completely so different to taste and should I say the bowl was empty in flat 5 mins. …

Now who wouldn’t love Paneer! Yeah there could be some, but mostly they would be non vegetarians. But Konda, even if she eats chicken, can easily give up for a Paneer treat. As I have mentioned many times, she wants to be served Paneer Butter Masala every week, if not once in 10 days. Now that’s too much of calories for the adults at home. Though I don’t mind one or two serving myself, I feel I could easily avoid that extra buttery stuffing it does to our waistline!

When she likes Paneer as such, why go to the extent of cooking it in lots of butter, nuts, and cream. So Paneer 65, is the best alternative, she has the Paneer craving attacks. Very simple to make, yet no compromise on the taste of eating just Paneer! Since we have the habit of making Paneer whenever there is some extra milk at home, Paneer gets stored through the week. When I saw a big stab of Paneer lying around begging for attention, all I had to do is ask Konda if she wants some Paneer. And you can see excite…

You know during the Roti Mela, I wanted to make many varieties and learn more but unfortunately only 25 found its way to the Mela. But one most predominantly missing entry that was quite common at home, was this Ragi Roti. The other day I was looking at the previous posts and the archives I have, something struck me very strange. Yea the fact that there wasn’t a post on Ragi Roti. Ragi flour is something that’s always stocked at home and we make dosas, Sangati, and Rotis with it. So its really funny that the Roti never got featured. Ragi is always preferred over other grains for its health contents. My parents always preferred Ragi Sangati. And not to mention my in-laws. Every chance they get, Athamma prefers to make Sangati or make dosa for herself while we have regular dosa.

I remembered my grandparents cultivating this crop, so we were never short of this at home. Now with the fast pace life st…

Cabbage was on sale…but what to do with it? Edward, from Sur La Table, suggested Indian Styled Cabbage.

Ingredients:
1 small cabbage, thinly sliced
1-2 tomatoes, cut into big chunks
1/2 inch of ginger, minced
1/2 jalapeno, seeds removed, minced
2 t cumin seeds
a pinch of cayenne
salt & pepper to taste
1 T ghee, or butter, or canola oil
water
Optional: yogurt, cilantro

Directions:

1) heat the oil/ghee/butter in a pan and fry the cumin seeds just until fragrant

2) add ginger and jalapeno and cook for several minutes

3) add cabbage and saute until the desired tenderness (anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes) [if necessary, add a bit of water, cover, and let cook further to soften]

4) season with salt and pepper as necessary, add a pinch of cayenne, tomatoes, and cook for a few more minutes…