Chilly Paneer

In our office cafeteria  we get egg chilly ( egg with green chilly) which they serve with chapati, and I like that combination a lot. I thought why not prepare chilly paneer using capsicum as in north we call it shimla mirch...:) I have no idea from where this word shimla came in front of this mirch.. I'll do some research later...:)

Lets come back to chilly paneer and learn how to prepare this easy and simple side dish that we can  server during any meal.

Ingredients:

• 3 green capsicum/ bell pepper/ shimla mirch
• 250 gm cubed paneer/cottage cheese
• 1 large chopped onion
• 3 medium chopped tomatoes
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp dry mango powder or 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp chopped coriander leaves
• 2-3 tsp oil

Step by step guide to prepare Chilly Paneer:

• Heat oil in a kadhai or wok.
• Add chopped onion and cook for 5-6 mins until onion turns translucent and little brown.
• Add chopped tomatoes sand cook for next 3-4 minute until they become tender soft.
• Add little water if gravy starts sticking to kadhai.
• Add capsicum , all dry ingredients/masalas and mix well.
• Cook for 6-7 minutes until capsicum becomes soft.
• Add cubed paneer and give it a quick stir. 
• Do not cover kadhai with lid/plate and cook for another 5-6 minutes. 
• Paneer will becomes more soft and get mixed with capsicum and gravy.
• Garnish with freshly chopped coriander.
• Chilly paneer is ready to serve. You can have it with chapati or parantha.

My MIL is a big fan of capsicum  and she prepares very yummy food herself. She loved this combination and that made my day.. lots of hug for her :)

Happy cooking and keep on smiling


                   " Sending to Know Your Dairy – Cheese by Jagruti and Nivedhanam" 

Rasmalai and Bengali Rasogulla

Diwali is the festival every one waits for, there so many reasons behind this wait, weather change holidays in school & office, time to meet cousins and relatives, time to spend extra time with kids, time to do some shopping for home and for yourself, house cleaning, starting new ventures..list for good things is never ending :)

Every time during Diwali I use to think when I will be able to make homemade sweets on my own. So finally during this Diwali I was able to prepare three sweets on my own. Offcourse I had done trials before to avoid any flop show on this day :)

I don't like drinking milk much from my childhood, I don't know from where I heard that milk stinks and has cream in it :(. So, I stopped drinking it unless my mom and sisters use to mix some Roohafza in it or some other flavours to make it interesting for me. Now my MIL is taking extra pain to make sure I am drinking milk :)

Rasmalai is one of the interesting ways of consuming milk for me, as they say you should consume milk in some form

I googled internet and BOOM I found this interesting and easy recipe on Manjula's Kitchen, 

Here is step by step guide from my trial and re trails :)

Ingredients for Rasmalai patties :

It will prepare 20 rasmalai's

2 liter milk

3 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 1/2 cups water

Pressure cooker

Ingredients for Milk mixture:

1 liter milk

1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar (adjust to your taste)

1/8 tsp crush cardamom

1 tsp sliced almonds and cashew

few saffron strands.

Method:

First you need to prepare Paneer.

1. Boil the milk in a pan and as it comes to a boil, add the lemon juice and stir the

    milk slowly. The curd will start separating from the milk and then turn of the gas.

    

 2. Drain the whey using a strainer and you will get milk fat or paneer.

3. Rinse this milk fat under cold running water for 2-3 minutes to remove lemon

    from paneer.

4. Squeeze excess water from the paneer, by wrapping it in a muslin cloth and 

    then pressing hard to remove excess water.

NOTE:  Removing correct amount of water from the paneer is the important part.

5. To check, whether the paneer is ready, you should be able to make ball from 

    the paneer.

6. Knead paneer for 4-5 minutes until you are able to make soft dough.

For making Rasmalai:-

1. Divide the paneer dough in 20 equal parts and make smooth balls.

2. To make the balls apply some pressure first and then release.

3. Mix sugar and water in Pressure cooker and bring it to a boil.

4. Add the paneer balls and close pressure cooker. Once pressure builds, turn 

    heat to low and cook for next 7-8 minutes.

5. Turn off the heat and wait for few minutes before opening the pressure cooker.

6. You will see that paneer balls are now in double the size. I like this part a lot:)

7. Now take out paneer balls from the syrup and squeez lightly to remove excess 

    syrup and keep it aside to cool down.

Note: These cool down Paneer patties and sugar syrup is Bengali Rasogulla :) 

      Ek tir se do shikar :)

8. Now in another deep pan add milk, sugar, saffron and keep on stirring until 

   you get desired thick consistency. Keep on stirring as milk burns fast and 

   sticks to the bottom of the pan.

9. Add cardamom,saffron and Rasmalai patties in the milk and let it cook for

    some time.

10. Garnish it with almonds and cashew .

11. Let it cool for some time and serve chilled rasmalai. I added few Tulsi 

     leaves to get it extra flavor and to make it auspicious as what ever we eat 

      is prasad if it is prepared with good thoughts in heart.

I hope you like it as my family and friends enjoyed it.  So, what is 

cooking in your kitchen, this Diwali!

Happy Diwali ! Happy Cooking!