Paneer Masala Bread - Show me the curry - Not very successful for me :(

Link: http://showmethecurry.com/breads/paneer-masala-bread.html
I think when I baked my first ever cake from scratch, I discovered my inner "crazy" baker :)

Alas, the debacle ...
I was too bored to drive to the Indian store and decided to use cottage cheese from the local market (Baaad choice...). It had too much moisture (which I unsuccessfully tried  to remove using a cloth (probably should have bought a proper cheese cloth) and that caused all the problems. After I spread the cottage cheese + masala on the dough, rolled it up and set aside to rise, the water from cheese seeped through and made the entire rolled up dough extremely soggy to a point where I could not even lift it off the plate I had it on. I ended up mixing the dough and filling, adding more flour and baking it as a bread(-ish). Result -  it was bearable, did not get any of the cottage cheese taste but got a fair bit of masala and right amount of salt. I will probably cut into slices, toast and eat it like plain bread...
Well, there is always a next time :)

Dates and Walnut Cake From ShowMeTheCurry

From here: http://showmethecurry.com/desserts/eggless-date-and-walnut-cake.html
Came highly recommend from sis dearest and worth every bit the effort  (extremely miniscule if I can say so myself :))

Paneer Egg Burji Curry

Ingredients
Paneer - 10 cubes
Egg - 2 (beaten)
Bell pepper - 1 small or 1/2 large - cut into large cubes
Tomato - 2 (pick firm ones)- cut into cubes
Onion - 1 large - cut into cubes
Garlic - 3 cloves - chopped rough
Coriander - 1/2 bunch chopped
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder -  1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Cumin - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp

Method:
1) Heat oil in kadai, add cumin and allow to splutter
2) Add garlic and onions and fry until onion is semi-translucent
3) Add the pepper cubes and Fry for about 3-4 minutes
4) Add tomato cubes  and all the spice powders
5) Cook until the mixture becomes dry
6) Move the mixture to one half of the kadai. Add the beaten eggs to the other half.
7) Scramble the eggs
8) Mix the veggie mix and scrambled eggs and cook for about 2 min
9) Add paneer and mix until all paneer cubes are coated with masala
10) Cover and cook for about 2 min
11) Switch off the stove, but do not remove the lid. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes
12) Serve hot with chapati or bread or rice

Why I started this blog? - New Goal

I'm retracting my earlier  "Why I started this blog" statement.  I realized that I'm not much of a cook. Cooking is probably not  my favorite thing to do and after nearly 5 years of cooking on my own, I still have not figured out the "tastes" of the different masalas (Which is what I claimed to do in my original statement). To be honest, I realized that I don't have the patience or inclination to find out.  As long as the food is edible it works for me :). Basically, this blog contains recipes that are quick-easy, no-fuss and will get you out of the kitchen in about 10-20 minutes most of the time. 



Earlier statement:
10 months ago I got married and came to the US. It was huge shift for me and suddenly I was given a brand new responsibility. I had to COOK. I was not a "cooking" illiterate by any means but the times I cooked were far and few and did not qualify me to cook on my own. My mom ever so diligently wrote down a few important recipes ( like the parrupu kozhambu or the elimichchai saathamudhu) and bought a lot of mallika badrinath recipe books to supplement. And so I started cooking. After a couple of months of  trial I felt good about my cooking.I started experimenting. People liked it , my husband definitely did and even my " expert sis" approved of my cooking. I felt good. I had one basic mantra , add vegetables, spice powders and spice pastes ( chilli,garlic,ginger,coriander,mint) to make a recipe work. By powders I mean everything I can possibly find in an Indian kitchen. Turmeric, chilli, coriander, garam masala, aam chur, pepper were always present and the chat masala  was added depending on my mood. Till  two months ago I thought I was a great cook. Most things I made turned out good. But then one fateful day I started analyzing my cooking. I realized my cooking was nothing more than a bunch of masalas. I had no idea what each masala did. I had no idea How it would taste if I left out one of the masalas. I had no idea how different would it be to add fresh garlic instead of a paste or vice verse. I decided that from that day onwards my policy was "less is more". Making sure I added few things but make the dish taste great. I am on a voyage and would put up recipes as and when I try them. Hopefully you like it.

Pancake cookies

I woke up Saturday morning with a cookie craving :). As usual my "bake" goods were non-existent. Lack of ingredients has rarely stopped me from making what I want :) and so I decided to make cookies anyway :)
Ingredients:
Pancake mix flour - 1 cup (Approx) (Reason for choice: It has Flour, Sugar and Sodium bicarbonate :))
Nutella (I used the JIF brand equivalent) - 2 Tbls
Butter - 1 Tbl
Egg - 1
Almond milk - 1/4 cup (Reason: This is what I currently add to  my morning cereal)

Method.
1) Melt butter, add Nutella and whisk until mixed
2) Add the Egg and milk and whisk again
3) Add the flour and mix it in (Don't overwork it - Reason: I have no idea but most websites recommended that :P). The mixture will be sticky.
4) Place in Fridge for about 20 minutes
5) Spoon out (I did about 1 Tbl per cookie) onto a greased baking pan
6) Bake for about 5- 8 minutes in a 350 degree preheated oven

These cookies are extremely soft and do not spread too much when baked. They are also not really sweet (Perfect for me but might not be enough for most people). You could add some sugar if you like it sweeter. Personally, I would recommend adding some dry fruits (raisins, cranberries, chopped dates) to increase sweetness.

Veggie Egg Wrap

This is a really easy meal that can be pretty much assembled in a matter of about 10 minutes and is a "one-tawa" meal :).

Ingredients
Roasted Peppers (Red, Yellow and Orange) - (Throw in red peppers cut into halves into a 450 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil and let it cool down. Once cooled, the skin of the pepper will come off easy. Cut into strips and freeze.)
Tomato - cut into circles
Onion- cut lengthwise
Egg white - 1 large egg
Hummus - 1 Tbl
Cheese -  Single slice ()
Flat bread wrap (or any other wrap of your choice)
Pepper powder - 1tsp
Salt -  no added salt required
Pasta sauce - 2 Tbl
Method:
1) Heat a large flat non-stick tawa.
2) Throw in the tomatoes and onions (place them in different corners) and roast for 2-3 minutes.
3) Place the red-peppers in another corner and allow to defrost for about 1-min
4)  Mix all the veggies and cook for about 1-min and move to one corner of tawa.
5) Beat egg white with some pepper powder. Pour the mixture on an unused corner and allow it cook. This will typically cook in about 30 seconds. Flip it around to cook for about 10 seconds.
6) Move the veggies on top of the omelet and place the cheese single on top. Allow it to melt.
7) Move it to one corner of the tawa.
8) Place the wrap on the tawa and allow it to heat.
9) Spread the hummus on the wrap, move the omlet-veggie-cheese mix on top of the wrap and add the marinara sauce on top.
10) Remove from fire, roll up and serve hot.

Kashi chaat

Kashi Crackers -  (http://www.kashi.com/products/category/Crackers) - I used the original 7 grain
Cucumber - 1 medium sized  (cut into tiny pieces)
Tomatoes - 2 medium sized (cut into tiny pieces)
Jaggery - 1 tsp crushed
Lime juice -  a few drops
Chaat masala - 1 tsp
Salt -  to taste

Mix all the ingredients except crackers together in a bowl. Crush and add in the crackers and toss and serve.

PS: The main motivation behind the recipe was to find a substitute for sev (which is typically deep fried)