Flavours Of India

Paneer or cottage cheese is one of most popular food ingredient widely used in different recipes which are purely vegetarian in nature. In fact the paneer dishes are very delicious and some of them are more mouth watering than non-vegetarian dishes. Here are some famous paneer dishes of India which are very easy to prepare in your home. Let us learn how to prepare two very famous dishes – paneer butter masala and shahi paneer.

Paneer Butter Masala

What you would require? 
300 gm of paneer, 2 onions chopped (blanched and pureed), ½ cup butter, 2 tbsp coriander powder, 4 tbsp tomato puree, 1 tablespoon garlic-ginger paste, 2 tbsp cashew nuts, 1 tbsp turmeric powder, 2 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder, 1 tbsp garam masala, 1 cup fresh cream and salt for taste.

Cut the paneer into cubes and fry them. Now put them in hot water to keep them soft. Heat butter in a kadai and add the onion puree and sauté till they are light brown in colour. Now add the garlic-ginger paste and sauté for some time. The add kashmiri chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cashew nuts, tomatoe puree, garam masla and salt. Add little amount of water and sauté.

Now add the paneer cubes and add required amount of water. Cook till the gravy turns semi solid or quite thick. Finally garnish with fresh cream and the paneer butter masala is ready to be served with hot rotis.

Shahi Paneer

What you would require? 
300 gm cheese cut into cubes of bite size. Two onions chopped, 1 tablespoon garlic-ginger paste, 2 green chillies, ¾ tablespoon of turmeric powder, 1 tbsp garam masala, ½ cup cream, ¼ cup dry fruits, ½ tbsp white pepper powder, 1 tbsp red chilly powder, 10 tbsp vegetable oil, ½ cup milk and salt to taste.

Fry paneer in a frying pan till they are light brown in color. Now put them in hot water so that they remain soft. Sauté the dry fruits in the remaining oil in the frying pan. Make a fine paste of onion, garlic-ginger paste, and green chilly in a blender. Fry the mixture in oil and sauté till they are light brown in color. Lower the flame and add white pepper, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, garam masala, and salt. Saute the mixture again for 1 or 2 minutes. Pour the milk, dry fruits and heat till the gravy is thick. Cook on a low flame and then add the paneer cubes. Heat the paneer on the gravy for another 2 minutes. Now add the cream over it. The shahi paneer is ready to serve. Garnish with more dry fruits and serve it with tandori rotis.

Life without sweetness is boring. Sweets have always been the integral part of Indian cuisine. Perhaps no where in the world you would come across such a variety of sweets that are predominantly available in every nook and corner of the market streets in India. Along with chat-patas the sweet is another favorite item for evening snacks as well as after meal servings. The sweet dishes are different from Western dishes in the sense they are prepared never with the concept of calorie but taste and richness. They aid in digestion and are normally consumed after taking a good meal.

An Indian meal almost remains incomplete without the sweet dishes. Here are few recipes of popular Indian sweets which are available in all corners of the country.

Khir

Ingredients you would require:
milk 2 liters, 4 tablespoon of sugar, 200 gm of pure basmati rice, few raisins, dry fruits, sliced almonds, chopped cahew nuts, a little bit of permitted color if required and bay leaves.

Heat the milk in a large pan and simmer it till it reduces to 3 quarters of its original volume. Now add the rice on it and let it get cooked for 10 minutes. The milk volume will be now reduced to half. Add sugar and heat for 1 minute. It is time to add the bay leaves, raisins, cashew nuts, almonds and dry fruits. Keep stirring while you put the ingredients in the khir. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. The khir is ready. But don’t serve it hot. Khir is usually served when it is cold and the taste of cold khir is very captivating after a good meal.

Rosogulla

Ingredients you would require:
1 kg of cottage cheese, sugar 1 kg, water 1 ½ liters, ghee 5 tablespoons, semolina 2 tbsp, standard-flour 2 tbsp, rose water few drops and cardamom powder. Sometimes permitted color and flavors are also used.

How to Prepare Rosogulla?

Pour the water in a deep pan and add sugar. Boil the mixture for 20-30 minutes till the volume is reduced to ¾.  Put aside the syrup prepared. Now it is time to prepare the rosogulla balls. Take a mid size bowl which can hold the cottage cheese. Add the cottage cheese to ghee, standard flour, semolina, and cardamom powder. Mix the entire ingredients together fine that they form dough. It must be soft enough to make the balls. Knead the prepared dough evenly until your palm becomes oily.

Now you can make the balls of rosogolla using the dough. Make the balls not less than 1 ½ inches of diameter. Add the prepared balls in the sugar syrup and get them cooked again for another 20-30 minutes. Now you will notice the balls turning spongy. Put off the flame and let it cool. After 15 minutes you should add the rose water to it. The rosogullas are ready to be served after one hour.