Paneer Butter Masala

An all time favorite North Indian dish :) . The peas, tomatoes and paneer combination  gives this dish  a great taste for the indian buds..

And.. here is the recipe..

Ingredients:

To grind:
Onion - 2
Garlic - 10 pieces (I used Ginger Garlic Paste)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Bay Leaves - 1
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Cashews / Almond  - 5
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Green chillies - 2
Turmeric powder - ½ tsp


Cubed Paneer - 1 cup (Immerse it in hot water so that the paneer is not hard)
Peas - 2 cups (This can be added to name it as "Mutter Paneer" but i added it since i had lots of peas :D )
Salt
Oil - 21/2 tsp
Tomato puree - ½ cup
Cloves -4
Saunf - ½ tsp
Yoghurt - 1/2 cup
Fresh Cream - to garnish

Preparation:

• Cut the paneer into big pieces,  immerse it in hot water so as to have a soft paneer
• Heat some oil and butter in a pan. Add cloves and saunf.
• Add the ground paste with a cup of thick yoghurt  to it, let it boil till the oil seperates frm masala.
• Add half cooked peas (optional) and paneer to the mixture.
• Add tomato puree to them. Make it boil for about 5 mins and remove it from the stove.
• Finally garnish with coriander leaves or decorate with fresh cream and serve hot with rotis or rice.

Aviyal Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Grated coconut
5 Green chilies
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1cup Yam
1cup Cucumber
1cup Snake gourd
1/4cup Carrot
2 Drumstick cut into 2" length pieces
Curry leaves
3 tblsp Coconut oil
1 Raw bananas
Raw mango pieces
1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
Salt to taste
All the above vegetables should be sliced into cubes..

How to make aviyal:

• Grind coconut with green chilies and cumin seeds in paste and keep it aside.
• Heat coconut oil in a thick bottom vessel, add vegetables and cook it on a low flame without adding water.
• When the vegetables are cooked, add turmeric powder, salt and mix well.
• Put bananas and mango pieces in cooked vegetables and cover the vessel.
• When steam comes out, add the coconut paste and stir well.

• Remove from fire and garnish it with curry leaves .

Karthigai Deepam Special

Karthigai deepam is celebrated in the tamil month of karthigai. The state celebrates full moon day during Karthigai just as Diwali as a festival of lights is celebrated in North India. During this time, fluffed rice and jaggery are mixed together and offered to God
We celebrated our first karthigai this time in our aptmt at pune.. i prepared 'karthigai pori' and 'sabudana payasam' :) <yes this was my first try> ..  we had lit lots of diyas to bring lights into our life... we had got few from aundh.. which had some flower rangolis in the middle ..

Crafts and Paintings..

 I always had a great interest towards craft ideas. Whether you would like to make a few decorations for the home, craft a gift for a friend, create a special card or even create a bookmark, there are plenty of ideas to keep us busy through out... I've recently developed interest on ceramic and glass paintings... I do these over my week ends (yess... a stress buster) .. I initially started up with designing cards, creating book marks etc.. Then inspired by one of my cousin, developed interests on paintings. I got a glass engraved with yashoda krishnar picture. Spent my time on painting minute detailed picture. I've also started collecting different plain ceramic and glass bowls for painting...

  The appreciation of art is probably the only thing that distinguishes humans from other animals. Creativity; whether in the form of writing, dance, or music; makes ones very existence meaningful.....

Coconut Burfi - Our Diwali Special

'Coconut Burfi' is an easy to make sweet and a quick recipe too. I call it as my favourite 'Thengaa Burfi'

Ingredients:

Freshly grated coconut - 3 cups
Sugar - 1.5 cups
Elachi (Powdered) - 1 tsp
Pista, Almond (Grated) - 2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp

Preparation:

• Grease a plate with a little ghee. Keep aside.
• In a thick bottomed pan, prepare sugar syrup by stirring sugar and water. Keep the heat bit medium and stir until the sugar completely dissolves and the mixtures become thickened.
• Add the grated coconut to the thickened sugar syrup.
• Keep stirring once in a while. After about 10 minutes, when the mixture starts thickening, reduce the flame. Keep stirring and scrapping the sides of the pan.
• When it starts leaving the sides of the pan, add the cardamom powder and mix well.
• When the mixture is ready, pour it onto the greased plate. Spread it immediately
• Sprinkle the grated pistachio and almond on the top and press a little. Let cool for 10 minutes.
• Cut into squares or diamond shape as you like. Let cool completely.