Hi !

Hello Everyone,

I am back again ! I know..I have been saying this on every other post of mine. But this time, I am very keen on getting back to by blog and post regularly (please wish me good luck) as I have missed blogging and have missed all my friends and readers out here, who visit my blog regularly and leave wonderful and encouraging comments. But I had a reason for being away from my blog- A Wonderful reason. The birth of our baby boy. I had been busy with him, but as he has turned 1 month old today things are settling down slowly and I am getting back to my old routine. Hopefully I will try to be regular in my blog posts and will catchup will all the yummy posts on your blogs . Will be back soon with another post (with a recipe). :)

Matar Paneer

Matar paneer is a famous south Indian curry made with green peas and Indian cheese-Paneer. I have mentioned even in my earlier paneer posts that my family loves paneer dishes....if there is anything my family loves after non-veg it has to be paneer. And thus I keep trying various dishes to see those happy smiles.

And after I learned making this curry, it has become our favourite paneer dish . Specially my 4 year old son loves this curry and I still remember that day when I cooked this for the first time and my son came to me after dinner, hugged me and said ''I love you sooo much mommy and I love your cooking. Thank you for cooking this yummy paneer for me.'' Now, that was the best ever compliment I had got from my little boy. At first I thought it was because of the conversation he had with his friend that evening, which I overheard from the kitchen :)
My son : '' what did you eat for dinner today?''
His friend: ''I had soup''.
Son: ''Soup? Again? ''
Friend: ''Yes..why ?''
Son: ''Every time I ask you, you always say soup or bread and chocolate spread. You know...my mommy cooks yummy dinner everyday.''

But then, I was wrong. He really liked this even the next time and keeps asking for this dish ever time he sees paneer in our refrigerator.

And now coming to the recipe, this is a very easy recipe which will give you the same restaurant taste at home. I have made this countless times and it has never failed to impress my family and my guests. So go ahead and give it a try.



MATAR PANEER
Recipe source : vahrevah.com
Serves-5

Ingredients:
250 grams Paneer -cut into cubes,
1 1/2 cup Green peas,
6-7 cashew nuts,
2 medium Onions- finely chopped,
4-5 large Tomatoes,
1 tbsp ginger paste,
1 tbsp garlic paste,
1/2 cup of cooking oil,
1 tbsp of red chilli powder,
1 tsp coriander powder,
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
1 tsp cumin powder,
1 tsp kasuri methi/dry fenugreek seeds,
2 cloves,
1 bay leaf,
2-3 cardamom pods,
1 cinnamon stick,
1/2 tsp cumin seeds,
salt to taste,
fresh coriander leaves and
cream for garnishing (optional)



Method:
Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a wok/ kadai, add the cashew nuts and saute till light brown, add finely chopped onions and around 1 tsp of salt. Cook till the onions turn light brown in colour, now add the turmeric powder, ginger paste and garlic paste and saute for 1-2 minutes and add finely chopped tomatoes. Cover and cook till the Tomatoes become soft -around 10-15 minutes. Blend this whole mixture to a smooth paste and keep aside.

Now heat the remaining 1/4 cup of oil in the same kadai add cumin seeds, when they splutter, add the whole garam masala - bay leaf, cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and saute for 1 minute. Add the grinded smooth paste back to the kadai and add chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and mix well. Add 1/2 cup of water and bring to a boil and cook on medium flame for 10-15 minutes - until the sauce thickens a little bit. Now add kasuri methi (dry fenugreek seeds), Paneer cubes and green peas and cook on low flame for further 10 minutes and switch off. Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves and cream with hot and fresh rotis or naan.

Notes:
One can use either fresh shelled green peas or frozen green peas for this recipe. If using fresh add them before adding paneer and cook for 5 minutes because thay need more time to cook. I used frozen peas for this recipe.
If you don't like whole garam masala in you curry, you can skip it and add 1/2 tsp of garam masala powder instead to the gravy.

Sending this to Priya's event CWS- Peas .

Strawberry Panna Cotta

Hi all,

Phew !!! Finally I managed to come back to my blog after a looooong gap of 4 months. The past few months had been very very hectic and busy with summer holidays and BBQ parties many friends and relatives visiting us and not to forget my Lil boy keeping me busy througout the day and as many bloggers out there must be aware of how hard it becomes to get back on to blogging if you stay away from it for a long period of time. I really really meant to get back to my blog every day but somehow kept procrastinating it day by day and week by week and I can't tell how much I missed blogging and all my blog friends here. But I am soo happy that I FINALLY managed to sit down and write a post today :)



Today I bring to you the famous Italian dessert Panna Cotta. Its a very creamy, yummy and a very easy dessert. I am sure most of you know about panna cotta. but if you have not heard of it before hre is a little intro about it. Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. So, if you have never tried this elegant and creamy dessert go ahead and try it NOW and believe me you will be very pleased by yourselves for whipping up this easy dessert which requires only few ingredients.



STRAWBERRY PANNA COTTA

Ingredients :
250 grams fresh strawberries-pureed
300 ml fresh cream,
1/2 cup sugar and
2-3 tbsp of agar agar flakes / powder.

Method:
Strain the pureed strawberries and in a saucepan mix together the cream, sugar and the pureed strawberries. Cook this on low heat for 8-10 minutes and remove off the heat. Let it cool slightly. Meanwhile in another saucepan, cook the agar-agar in 2-3 tbsp of water until it dissolves completely. Add this to the cooked cream stirring constantly and mix well. Pour into cups or ramekins and refrigerate for 4-6 hours or overnight.

This can be eaten straight from the bowl in which it has been set or it can be inverted onto a plate and served topped with strawberry coulis.



STRAWBERRY COULIS

Ingredients:
200 grams of fresh strawberries,
3-4 tbsp of sugar and
1/2 tsp of lemon juice.

Method:
Blend starwberries in a blender(without adding any water). Add to a pan with the sugar and the lemon juice, bring to a boil and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Strain and let it cool completely. Spoon it on top of the Panna Cotta just before serving or you can top this sauce on the panna Cotta and let it set in the refrigerator till ready to serve.

Notes:
Gelatine is 'THE' ingredients that sets this dessert but as I don't use gelatine, I substituted it with agar agar(a seaweed), which is a vegetarian alternative to gelatine.
You can subtitute the strawberries with any other fruit of your choice like raspberries, black berries or mangoes. Or you can just make plain vanilla pannacotta by adding few drops of vanilla essence to the cream while cooking.