VEGGIE STIR-FRY IN TERIYAKI SAUCE

 

I wish I were more experimental in the kitchen. There are very few dishes that I can cook without referring to a written recipe. I’m almost embarrassed to say that I often have to sneak a peek into my recipe book even when I make something as simple as Dal (in my defense, I don’t cook daily). Even when it comes to following recipes, I rarely divert from the given instructions. There are times when I’ve reduced or increased the quantity of an ingredient and what follows is a stressful wait to taste the end product. I rather just stick to the written instructions and this is why I research quite a bit before I make a new dish so I know that the dish turns out right.

On the other hand, Skip (my 8-year-old son),  likes exploring new ways to cook a particular dish or food product. He always has to add something ‘extra’ to what he’s cooking. While Skip gives instructions, Radha or I execute them. The other day Radha was cooking an omelette for Skip and I saw huge chunks of what looked like cheese on the egg. A closer inspection revealed those chunks to be slices of banana!!!

I lifted an eyebrow, Radha pointed at Skip.

Skip said it tasted awesome and tried to get me to eat it too. Needless to say, I didn’t.

Skip wants to add bananas with cheese omelette next. He said the sweet and salty combo would taste better!!!

I love sweet-savoury combo too and that’s just what this dish is. It is easy to make , perfect for those nights when you don’t have leftovers from lunch or when you have a few random vegetables lying around in the fridge and want to dump them all to make a quick stir-fry. It tastes best with steamed rice.

VEGGIE STIR-FRY IN TERIYAKI SAUCE

Ingredients:

Carrot – 1

Zucchini – 1

Paneer (cottage cheese) – 100 gm

Capsicum – ½

Salt - as per taste

For the sauce:

Soy Sauce – 1/3 cup

Sugar/honey – 1 ½ tbsp

Grated ginger – 1 tsp

Minced garlic cloves – 1 tsp

Cornflour/cornstarch – 2 tsp

 

Method:

 

1.     Whisk all the sauce ingredients until the sugar melts.

2.     Heat a skillet on high and sauté the vegetables ( starting from the hard vegetables) and cook until done. Add salt for taste. 

3.   Pour the sauce on the cooked vegetables and cook for another minute. The sauce will thicken.

4.     Done.

 

Recipe Notes:

·       I’ve mentioned the vegetables I used. You could also add other vegetables of your choice such as mushrooms, broccoli.

·       Do not over-cook the vegetables else they’ll turn soggy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOMEMADE PANEER (COTTAGE CHEESE)

Have I told you all how much I love Paneer? I usually buy Nandini or Amul's paneer blocks and I prefer the Malai Paneer as I feel they're softer. 

I've never made Paneer at home thinking it to be a tedious process and I've always felt that the amount of chenna (cheese curds ) that is collected from a whole packet of milk is too less to be worth my time and effort to make it at home. 

I had tried making rasogullas many years ago and the results were disastrous, the only saving grace was that I could collect very little chenna from the milk and hence folks at home had to gulp just two teensy "rasogullas" under my watchful gaze. (When I try out a new dish, I like to hover around when people are tasting it and when they avoid eye contact with me, I know the dish ought not to be repeated.). 

We had a major power cut the other day and the milk stored in my freezer wasn't looking all that "milky" and fresh. I immediately called my mother who asked me to make paneer out of it. While she rattled out instructions, I looked at the clock, it was 8.50pm and I had to be in front of the television at 9 for Ramayana. 

I also YouTubed a few videos with each video giving different instructions on the quantity of lemon juice to be used and the cooking time. I have winged this recipe but I kept in mind the quantities as I knew it would go on our blog. 

I used 500 ml milk and I got exactly 50gms of Paneer from it. Doesn't it look so pretty ? I couldn't help cradling the Paneer and patting it's flat head.( I also resisted the urge to kiss it.). The next day I squashed it and used it as stuffing for bread rolls. 

The Paneer once set is firm.  It tasted fresh and soft. I plan on using two litres of milk the next time.

HOMEMADE PANEER (COTTAGE CHEESE)

Ingredients:

Milk - 500 ml 

Water - 100 ml 

Lemon juice/vinegar - about 2 tbsps 

Method :

1. Add the lime juice to the water. Stir and set aside. 

2. Bring the milk to a slow boil while constantly stirring it. As the milk bubbles and rises, reduce the flame and gently pour the lemon water in to it while stirring it.

3. You will notice that the milk begins to curdle. While still on the flame, keep stirring the curdled milk until the whey separates completely. (the liquid will no longer appear milky and the whey begins to appear which is a clear liquid). 

4. Turn off the flame once the whey separates. You will see clumps of chenna floating in the whey. 

5. Strain this liquid. I used a muslin cloth. Once you've drained out the whey, pour fresh water on the chenna to wash off any lemony residue on it. 

6. Squeeze the muslin cloth well and drain the excess liquid. 

7. You have the chenna ready which may be used in various dishes like Shrikhand. 

8. Now to give it the texture of Paneer, neatly fold the muslin cloth with the chenna still in it, flatten it and give it a shape you like. You need to now place a heavy weight on the chenna and also ensure that all extra liquid oozes out of it. 

9. Place the folded muslin cloth (with chenna in it ) on a colander and place a heavy weight on the muslin cloth. Leave it for an hour or two. 

10. Gently remove the cloth and you'll have firm Paneer ready. 

11. Done. 

Recipe notes : 

• You may use milk that's already been boiled once and stored in the fridge but you need to boil it once again as indicated in the second step. 
• I used lime juice. I've seen videos where people have directly added the lime juice / vinegar to the milk. I'm presuming adding it diluted in water may reduce the lemony taste in the paneer.
• I've used Nandini packet milk (toned milk that comes in the blue packet with 3.0% fat). You may try the milk that comes in tetrapack and let us know if that works as well. I've heard it works just as well.
• The trick is to keep stirring the curdled milk on low flame until the whey completely separates. And that is how you collect more chenna. Be patient, it will not take more than a minute for the whey to separate. 

MASALA PANEER (DHABA STYLE)

I was finally done cooking all Paneer recipes from my recipe book for the blog. I decided to Google ‘Paneer recipes’ and hundreds of recipes popped up, each one similar to the other. After a bit of research, I found one that looked interesting and different from the ones I had already cooked – the Masala Paneer (Dhaba Style).

The Dhaba style of cooking is higher in fat content and while I have mentioned the quantities as mentioned in the original recipe, you may reduce the quantity of the oil and ghee as I have.

The gravy is chunky and rich and slightly on the sweeter side (due to the onions). You may reduce the quantity of onions and add more chilli powder to suit your taste. I coarsely ground the onions (unlike the other recipes where I grind it into a fine paste). This adds to the chunkiness in the gravy.

This one definitely goes into my recipe book. Enjoy it with some piping hot Paranthas or Phulkas, a side of raw onions and if you can afford to, go ahead and drizzle some ghee on the gravy just before you serve it. The gravy has the authentic Punjabi Dhaba flavour to it. It’s spicy and sweet and very masaledar.

MASALA PANEER (DHABA STYLE)

Ingredients:

Paneer : 250-300 gms

For the marinade:

Salt – 1 tsp

Kashmiri Chilli Powder – 1 tsp

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Water – 2 tbsp

For the gravy:

 Oil – 3 tbsp

Ghee- 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds (Jeera) – 1 tsp

Cardamom (crushed) – 3-4

Cinnamon – 1 inch

Cloves (crushed) – 4-5

Onion (finely chopped/grated/pureed) – 3 medium sized

Ginger (chopped) – 1 inch

Garlic (crushed) -  4-5 cloves

Chilli powder- 1 tsp

Black pepper powder – ¼ tsp

Kasoori Methi- 1 tsp

Cumin powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – ½ tsp

Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

Gram Flour (Besan)/ Wheat Flour (Atta) – 1 tbsp

Coriander/Mint leaves (chopped) – 1 tbsp

Tomatoes (pureed) – 4 medium sized  

Method:

1.      Cut paneer into cubes and sprinkle the spices on it. Add water and give the cubes a good mix. Let it marinate for at least 30 minutes.

2.      Heat Kadai. Add oil plus 1 tbsp ghee.

3.    When the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds, cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. Mix for 1 min on low flame.

4.     Add the chopped onions to the above mixture. Increase flame to medium.

5.    Once onions are half cooked, add the ginger and garlic and cook until the onions turn golden.

6.   To this, add chilli powder, pepper, kasoori methi, cumin-coriander powder garam masala and besan/atta.

7.    Cook all spices on low flame for 2 mins.

8.    Add the mint/coriander leaves.

9.    Add the pureed tomatoes and give it a good mix.

10. On low flame, cover and cook for 3-4 mins.

11. Increase flame to high and cook masala till it starts leaving the sides of the pan (about 6 mins).

12. Heat a separate pan, once the pan is hot, add 1 tbsp ghee and add the paneer cubes and warm them for a minute.

13. Add the softened paneer cubes to the above gravy and add 1 cup water. Mix well.

14. Cover the pan and cook for 2 mins on low flame.

15. Done.

Recipe Notes:

·    The dish has thick gravy. Add a bit more water towards the end, if you want the consistency of the gravy to be thin.

·      If you don’t want the gravy to be on the sweeter side, reduce the quantity of onions to 2.

·      Adding Besan/Atta to the gravy thickens it. You may skip this step if you don’t want your gravy to be thick/chunky but I would recommend you add it for the authentic Dhaba ‘look’.

·     While heating the paneer, ensure that the pan is pre-heated before adding the paneer cubes to it. This process is only to warm and soften the paneer and not to fry or brown it.

Look what I found 15000 feet above sea level:

Lots of Cotton Candy!!!