Recipes With a Twist
Posts tagged North Indian
Methi Malai Paneer
Aug 26th
Methi Malai Paneer
This one is for mom. While growing up paneer based dishes used to be a staple in our house and I cannot even remember how many different kinds my mom, grandmother and my aunts could make! (I grew up in a large family and shared about 12-13 wonderful years under one roof with my parents, brother, grandparents, aunts and uncles, great grandmother and most adorable cousins.
Few weeks ago we had planned a dinner with our friends and I don’t know from where I started thinking about this indulgent paneer dish my mom used to make. I thought of giving it a try, trying to remember the flavors and ingredients.
The paneer came out very flavorful and fragrant (thanks to Kasoori methi) and I think was very close to what my mom used to make. Next day I called my mom to confirm the recipe and to my surprise I was pretty close- only my version had a little extra step – she never used any onions and I did. I liked the flavor of lightly browned onions. Last week I made it again and wrote down the recipe (I did use onions again!)
You need:
3 tbsp oil (I used Canola)
1 1/2 medium/1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup Kasoori Methi (dried Fenugreek leaves, I used MDH brand Kasoori Methi)
3/4 + 1/4 cup whipping cream
1 lb paneer (Indian cottage cheese), cubed – for this dish I bought the paneer form an Indian store but you can make the cottage cheese at home as well
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp MDH Kitchen King Masala
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 Water
2 tbsp Maggie Hot n Sweet Chili Sauce (optional)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
A pinch of Asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Directions:
1. Heat oil in a wide wok or Karahi
2. Add Asafoetida, followed by garlic and onions
3. Cook on medium heat until onions are slightly brown, stirring every couple of minutes
4. Add tomatoes, and continue cooking on medium heat until tomatoes are soft and onions and tomatoes mixture start leaving the sides of the wok/karahi leaving oil on the sides.
5. Add salt, turmeric, MDH Kitchen King Masala, Kasoori Methi and saute for couple of seconds.
6. Add 3/4 cup cream and cook for 2-3 minutes.
7. Add water and milk and bring it to boil. Simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes.
8. Till this point the sauce is almost cooked and is very mild. At this point I took out some for my son and added few cubes of Paneer for him separately. Since he liked his version, I amalso tagging this post as ‘Toddler Friendly’
9. Take out few table spoons of sauce in a cup, Add Maggie Hot n Sweet Chili sauce and mix well. Put it back in the Karahi and mix well. This is optional – only if you like mild hot and sweet flavor. If you don’t have this chili sauce on hand you can also try regular ketchup with 1 tsp sugar and 1/4 tsp red chilies.
10. Add paneer cubes, stir in 1/4 cup cream and simmer on low heat for about 2-3 minutes. Do not overcook the paneer as the cubes will start breaking
11. Sprinkle the garam masala and chopped cilantro
Serve hot with Naans or Roti (Indian Flatbreads)
Note: You can adjust water / milk quantities as per your liking. This recipe makes a medium consistency curry –not too dry and not too watery either
Total Preparation Time : Approximately 30 minutes
Chana Biryani
Jun 13th
Chana Biryani
I read a similar recipe years ago and found the combination of chickpeas or chana in a biryani dish very different. Usually a vegetarian biryani is made with assorted diced vegetables and I have never seen one with chickpeas served anywhere (or the places I ever ate at). Over the years I have made chicken biryani countless times (even with different recipes) and trying this one out was I guess on a back burner. Lately, I have been using chickpeas a lot – seems like I have found my long lost love for them as I don’t remember making dishes with chickpeas so much. Since these days I always have boiled chickpeas on hand, last weekend I finally decided to make this biryani for a potluck dinner with my family. In addition to chickpeas I also added potatoes as they go very well together. We ate at our neighborhood lake park, and hot biryani with chickpeas on a cool evening just hit the spot!
You need:
3 cups long grain (basmati) rice
4-5 medium onions, sliced
3 large tomatoes, chopped
3.5 cups boiled chickpeas (chana)
3 medium potatoes, diced
2 bay leaves
3 black cardamom
2 green cardamom
3-4 cloves
1/2 tsp cinamon powder
3 tbsp Canola oil
pinch of Asafoetida powder
6 cloves garlic
2 tbsp MDH Meat Masala
2 tbsp MDH Kitchen King
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
3-4 tsp salt – or to taste
10 fresh mint leaves
3 tbsp fresh cilantro leaved, chopped
3 tbsp milk
1. Boil 10-12 cups of water in a large pot. Add rice, few mint leaves and some salt. Boil rice until almost done-a rice grain breaks in two when pressed between two fingers. Do not overcook, drain water.
2. Heat oil in a deep pan/karahi. Add Asafoetida powder, bay leaf, cardamoms, cloves, garlic and saute for few seconds.
3. Add onions and fry until golden brown(medium heat). Take out about 1/3rd of onions and keep aside.
4. Add tomatoes, all spices, salt and cook on medium heat until tomatoes are mushy and the tomato-onion mixture start to leave oil.
5. Preheat oven to 350 F
Cook chickpeas and potatoes
6. Add potatoes, remaining mint leaves,1/4 cup water, cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Add 1 cup water, chickpeas/chana cover and cook on low heat for another 10 minutes. Cook uncovered for couple minutes.
7. Take a large baking dish-9*13″ or larger. Grease its base with oil. Spread a layer of rice. Spread a layer of chickpeas (along with the curry). Sprinkle little fried onions (saved from before)
Chana Biryani prepare layers
8. Alternate layers of rice and chickpeas (number of layers depend on size of the baking dish used). It is up to you whether you want the top layer to be chickpeas or rice. I just had a handful of chickpeas left I spread them on top layer along with some fried onions (saved from before).
9. Spread milk all over the top layer.
10. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for about 18 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with some sliced white onions on side and yogurt.
Serves – 8
Karahi Paneer
Mar 3rd
Karahi Paneer
I like MDH Karahi Chicken Masala and use it pretty often when I make a chicken curry dish such as ‘Karahi Chicken’. I used the same masala this time to make a vegetarian dish – Karahi Paneer. Paneer is a form of cottage cheese that is prepared in a number of ways- scrambled, curries, stuffed and so on. It can be very easily made at home and when in a pinch can be bought from almost all Indian stores. Paneer dishes find their way in most North Indian menus.
Karahi Paneer is a mildly spiced yet a flavorful dish with undernotes of onion and coriander seeds (from MDH masala) ,green bell peppers,black cardamom and fenugreek leaves.
You need:
1 lb. Paneer, chopped in medium sized pieces
2 onions, sliced
4 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped (more if you like the flavor)
3-4 tbsp cooking oil
3 tbsp MDH Karahi Chicken Masala (or more if you like spicy)
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ginger paste
2 pieces black cardamom (halved)
1-2 tsp MDH Kasoori Methi (When I buy a pack, I slightly dry roast them in a pan and store them in an airtight container)
salt to taste
1 tsp lemon juice
1 bay leaf
Heat the cooking oil in a Karahi or deep heavy bottom pat. Add black cardamom and bay leaf and fry for few seconds. Add chopped onions and garlic, reduce heat and fry until golden brown. Add ginger paste and fry for few seconds. Add MDH Karahi Chicken Masala, 1/2 tsp salt and cook for few seconds. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are mushy, spices seem to be nicely blended and the mixture seem to leave oil. Add pepper and cook for few more minutes.
Tomatoes are cooked, peppers added, ready to add water in 5 minutes
Add Add two cups of water and bring it to boil. Add paneer and and cook for about 5 min on high heat and simmer for 5 more minutes. Sprinkle mashed leaves of Kasoori Methi and add the lemon juice. Adjust salt if needed. If needed, add more water to adjust curry (if adding more water, make sure to bring it boil). Garnish with chopped fresh coriander leaves and serve with naan or rice.
Servings: 4-6
Karahi Paneer
This is not a very hot dish however you can increase the ‘hot’ factor by increasing the quantity of the masala.
Achari Paneer-Indian cottage cheese cooked with tangy pickle spices
Jan 6th
Achari Paneer
Here is one for the achar (Indian pickle) lovers. In India achar is a popular condiment thats made with picked fruit and/or vegetable cooked and pickled in a number of spices, vegetables and oils. There are so many different types of such pickles that I can’t even enumerate even if I wanted to.
Since some basic achar spices are used in this dish, it has a deliciously tangy,’achari’ taste that does justice to its name. I made it for the first time last week and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to cook this seemingly ‘exotic’ dish.
You need:
1 lb or 500 gm paneer (Indian cottage cheese), cubed – for this dish I bought the paneer form an Indian store but you can make the cottage cheese at home as well
1 onion, sliced
4 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp turmeric
3 tsp ginger/garlic paste
1 cup yogurt
1/2 teaspoon black salt (sanchal)
1 tsp MDH Kitchen King Masala OR Curry powder
2 tsp kashmiri mirch (optional)
1 teaspoon all purpose flour (maida)
2 tablespoon oil
8 chopped green chillies (optional, I did not put any to keep the flavor mild)
3 tsp dry mango powder
2 tsp sugar
salt to taste
2 tsp achar of your choice (optional, I added some mango pickle)
2 tbsp whipping/fresh cream (optional)
heat the oil in a large pan or karahi (Indian wok) and fry the fennel, fenugreek,black mustard, nigella and cumin seeds until the seeds stop spluttering. After 30 seconds, add onions and green chillies. Stir and fry until golden. 
Add turmeric powder, garlic and ginger pastes and Kitchen King masala/or curry powder. Fry for a minute. Pour in the yogurt, dry mango powder,black salt, all purpose flour, chilli powder, sugar and pickle(if using). Cook until oil separates.
Cook yogurt in spices
Add paneer with about 150 ml water. Allow it to heat through. Stir in cream if using. Serve with naan or roti (Indian flat-breads)
Traditionally, pickle is not added to this dish. However, I thought I needed a little bit more ‘achari’ flavor so I added couple of teaspoons of my favorite pickle. I think this paneer will also make a great filling for wrap and I will try it next time I make this dish.
Karahi Chicken
Dec 28th
Karahi Chicken
We planned a very simple Christmas dinner this year. A mildly spiced chicken curry dish – Karahi Chicken with naans (Indian flat bread) and some steamed vegetables. I used MDH Karahi Chicken Masala
You need:
1 lb Chicken pieces of your choice. I used thigh meat, fat removed
1 large onion, chopped
2 tomatos, coarsely chopped
1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
2-3 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp MDH Karahi Chicken Masala
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp ginger paste
2 pieces black cardamom (halved)
1-2 tsp MDH Kasoori Methi (When I buy a pack, I slightly dry roast them in a pan and store them in an airtight container)
salt to taste
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves (although I did not have any on hand!)
Heat the cooking oil in a Karahi or deep heavy bottom pat. Add black cardamom and fry for few seconds. Add chopped onions and garlic, reduce heat and fry until golden brown. Add ginger paste and fry for few seconds. Add chicken pieces, MDH Karahi Chicken Masala
Servings: 2-3
Masala Pumpkin Peas
Nov 28th
Spicy pumpkin anyone? While I am still enjoying the left over pumpkin crumble from Thanksgiving, I could not help but notice that I still have few cans of pumpkin puree in my pantry. Still in holiday spirit, I wanted to cook a pumpkin dish but one that is not sweet. So I cooked it Indian style! Masala Pumpkin Peas – spicy pumpkin and peas main dish is surely a major transformation of the sweet pumpkin puree
You need:
1 can Pumpkin puree (I used Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin )
1 cup frozen peas
1 medium onion
1 large tomato
2 tsp garlic paste (or 3/4 garlic cloves,minced)
1 tsp ginger paste
2 tbsp Pao Bhaji masaala – I used MDH (or your favorite curry powder) – should be adjusted according to taste
1 tablespoon ghee/ or cooking oil (clarified butter)
1 pinch asafoetida powder (hing powder)
1 tbsp chopped cilantro/fresh coriander
salt to taste
Heat the ghee in a medium cooking pot on medium high flame. Add asafoetida powder, after few seconds add onions and garlic and ginger. Cook onions on medium heat until golden brown. Add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are well cooked and the oil begins to separate. Add Pao Bhaji masala OR curry powder and cook for few seconds. Add peas and little bit water,cover the pot and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes – till the peas get tender. Add pumpkin puree and cook for few minutes. Adjust salt, seasoning (masala according to taste). Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with naan, roti (Indian flat breads) or warm tortillas.
Lemony twist: Add a little tang with little lemon juice
Where calories is not an issue: feel free to add any left over mashed potatoes along with the pumpkin puree. Adjust seasoning/pumpkin -potatoes ratio accordingly