Cakes and Bakes, Desserts

Desi Tiramisu | Easy, eggless, healthy using hung curd and jaggery

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Twice a week when my husband is on his day shift, he eats his lunch at his company’s “restaurant”. He calls it canteen but I call it restaurant because of the wonderful spread they put out which sounds so scrumptious especially for me as I love buffets.

So he comes back home and gives details of what he ate there (much to my dismay 😅) which includes starters, variety salads, main course dishes and my favourite part – Desserts 😍. Tiramisu is one among them and my mouth waters when I hear it. If it was before, we would have gone out and enjoyed it, but now since everything is homemade, even the famous dessert had to made at home too.

And imagine my happiness when it turns out so delicious that all my cravings got satiated. I referred a lot of recipes online and understood that many had made Tiramisu using hung curd. So I made it even healthier by using jaggery and digestive biscuits.

Main point is all these ingredients are easily available as compared to the original Tiramisu where most are exotic ingredients.

So hope you all try and love it too. Happiness is definitely indulging in this delicious Tiramisu! ❤️

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

3 Cups Hung Curd

2 Cups thick Custard

3/4 Cup powdered Jaggery or Cane sugar

For the biscuit layer:

Approx 12 Whole wheat Digestive biscuits

4 tsp Instant coffee powder mixed with 2 Tbsp water (or as needed)

For dusting: 2 tsp Cocoa powder or grated chocolate

Step by step recipe:

1. For making hung curd, follow the stepwise pictorial that I have shared here.

2. For making custard, follow the instructions given in the packet of custard powder. In my packet it said, take 500 ml of milk and boil it with 2 Tbsp of sugar. Mix 2 Tbsp Custard powder with 2 Tbsp Milk so that it is free from lumps. Then add the boiling milk to the custard paste while whisking well (off the flame). Then heat the mixture on low flame till the custard turns very thick. Cool it completely. This gave me 2 Cups of thick Custard.

3. For the Tiramisu, take hung curd, the cooled custard and sieved jaggery powder (remember to sieve) in a bowl.

Note: Check how thick I have made the custard. It should resemble hung curd texture. Only then you will get a perfect tiramisu.

4. Mix well using a spatula so that they are combined well. Keep aside.

5. Now mix together instant coffee powder with water to make a coffee solution. Dip the digestive biscuits one by one and arrange in a rectangular pan as shown.

6. Keep two layers of biscuits in the bottom most layer so that it gives a good base while cutting the Tiramisu. Now layer with the hung curd mixture.

7. Again layer with biscuits dipped in coffee solution.

I did not waste the broken biscuit too 😅

8. Again layer with the hung curd mixture. Refrigerate overnight or for about 10 to 12 hours to get perfectly set Tiramisu.

9. After it sets, dust with cocoa powder using a sieve and serve. Too delicious for words! ❤️

Notes:

* Be careful to get the texture of the hung curd and Custard really thick. Else you won’t get perfect texture of Tiramisu.

* Although regular Tiramisu uses cream, sugar and mascarpone cheese, we found hung curd, custard and jaggery combination works superbly well and gives such a delicious Tiramisu which is a lot healthier too.

* Also substituting with digestive biscuits makes it so healthy and undoubtedly tasty too. Don’t forget to dip it in instant coffee solution.

* The layers are: Biscuit layer 1, Biscuit layer 2, Hung curd layer 1, Biscuit layer 3, Hung curd layer 2. After chilling cocoa powder dusting or chocolate gratings.

* I usually make this at night and it sets perfectly by next day afternoon.

* The slices are not super perfect but the taste and texture is. I can guarantee you will love it. We just could not have enough of it. So delicious! Just look at the layers. 😍

I have tried to note down as much points as possible so that it’s easy for you all to follow but if you still have any doubts, either comment here or message me on my Facebook page Healthy cooking with mitha or on my Instagram handle and I would be happy to help.

Curry house, Dosa corner, Konkani Recipes

Snake gourd seeds spicy dosa | Poddale beeye Sannapolo

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After I posted Ridgegourd skin chutney, it reminded me of another “taste from waste” which my grandmother made regularly. It is these small dosas from the seeds of snake gourds. They are not the dosas that we have for breakfast but had with rice meals and called as sannapolo in Konkani.

There are so many varieties of sannapolos made with onion, cabbage, moringa leaves and many others. Those require soaking and grinding rice and toor dal. But this variety of sannapolo can be made instantly as it uses rava instead.

And anything that can be made instantly becomes instantly my favourite too 😉. What better way to use up the healthy part of this vegetable in a delicious way. A meal of these dosas with upkari and ukde pej (Matta rice congee) becomes a soulful meal for us. Something I can never get tired of. ❤️

Hope you all try this and love it like we do. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Snake gourds seeds (I took the core of two regular sized snakegourds)

1/2 inch Ginger piece

3 Green chillies

1/2 Cup Coconut (fresh or desiccated)

1 Cup Rava or Semolina

Salt to taste

Coconut oil to cook the dosa

Step by step recipe:

1. * Wash the snake gourd well and scrape the white skin with a knife.

* Then slice lengthwise and remove the core. Keep it aside.

* Chop the snakegourds to small pieces and keep it in another bowl to make Upkari. (Will share the recipe in notes) Soak 1/4 Cup chana dal for the Upkari for about 30 mins.

2. For the spicy dosa or sannapolo, grind the seeds along with coconut, ginger and green chillies to a slightly coarse paste.

Note: Don’t grind too much or it can taste bitter. Just pulse two to three times so that the seeds are crushed.

3. Add this paste to a bowl. Add rava and salt. With little water, make a thick batter.

4. Heat the dosa pan and make small dosas. Drizzle coconut oil and cook the dosas on both sides till they turn brown and crisp.

5. Remove and serve with rice meals. This is not the regular dosa had for breakfast. It tastes best with rice, rasam or dal and snake gourd stir fry (Upkari).

Notes:

* If the snake gourd seeds are very small and easily crushable with hands, then no need to grind it along with the other ingredients in the mixer. Just mix it with the ground paste.

* While grinding the seeds, don’t grind for too long. Just pulsing is enough. Grinding for too long can cause a bitter flavour.

* The rava that I use is normal upma rava. Since this is a thick dosa, don’t add a lot of water. Just enough water to make a thick batter.

* For the snake gourd Upkari, heat coconut oil in a pan. Splutter mustard seeds and add the soaked chana dal, green chillies and curry leaves. Add chopped snake gourd and hing along with salt and little water. Cook till the snake gourd turns soft. Garnish with grated coconut.

Variety Rice

Easy Vegetable Biriyani | Layered style

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Before this Covid situation, our weekends would be Veg Biriyani from the nearby restaurant and I used to wait for it after bored of my own cooking. But since March, we have stopped restaurant foods completely and I started making Biriyani at home.

Though the initial few times it did not come out so well, now my husband says it comes out even better than restaurant ones. So I thought I must share this recipe with my readers as I know most of you must be cooking only at home and missing Biriyani from restaurants.

I feel homemade ones taste better mainly because of the pure ingredients that we use such as ghee as compared to the refined oil used in restaurants. Now I can’t imagine eating that and feel satisfied when my family loves the Biriyani I make. Don’t think we will ever go back to eating out. One of the many positives that Corona has taught us, I must say.

Hope you all try for your family and love it too. Happy and healthy cooking. Stay safe!

RECIPE:

Ingredients: {Serves 3}

For the rice layer:

1 1/2 Cups raw Basmati or any long grain rice, soaked for 30 mins

Salt to taste

2 Cardamom pods

2 Cloves

1 Bay leaf

For the gravy layer:

2 Tbsp Ghee

1 Tbsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin seeds or Jeera

1 tsp Fennel seeds

1 tsp Peppercorns

2 Cardamom pods

2 Cloves

1 Bay leaf

6 to 8 Cashews

1 large Onion, thinly sliced

2 Cups Mixed Vegetables (carrot, potato, beans, green peas) { I used frozen peas}

1/2 Cup Yogurt or thick Curd

2 tsp Red chilli powder or to taste

2 tsp Garam masala powder

1/2 tsp Haldi powder

Salt to taste

Other ingredients:

4 Tbsp finely chopped Mint or Pudina leaves

4 Tbsp finely chopped Coriander leaves

1/4 Cup Milk

A pinch of Saffron strands

Step by step recipe:

1. Boil water in a large pan. Add soaked and drained Basmati rice along with salt, cardamom, cloves and bay leaf. Cook till the rice is almost done. Keep aside to cool.

2. Heat ghee plus oil and add jeera, fennel seeds, peppercorns, cardamom pods, cloves, bay leaf and cashews. Fry till cashews turn brown. Add thinly sliced onions (with a pinch of salt) and fry till they start turning brown.

3. Now add the mixed vegetables and fry well for couple of minutes.

4. Add little water and cook the vegetables till almost done. Now mix Yogurt with turmeric powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder till there are no lumps and it turns a smooth paste. Add to the cooked vegetables while mixing well on low flame.

5. Cook on low flame for about 5 mins. Remove from flame. Keep aside.

6. Now heat the saffron stands in milk for little while. I microwave on high for 1 minute till the colour of milk changes.

7. Now start layering. Take a large pan and first add a layer of the curry. I use the same pan in which I cooked the rice.

8. Now add a layer of the cooked rice (half of it) evenly over it. Add half of the saffron milk and half of the finely chopped Mint – coriander leaves evenly over it.

9. Now layer the rest of the curry over it.

10. And finally the rest of the rice along with the saffron milk and mint coriander leaves evenly over it.

11. Now take another large pan with little water in it. Place this layered Biriyani pan in it and cook covered well for atleast 20 mins in the lowest flame possible.

12. Remove and serve with raita.

Notes:

* Don’t cook the rice fully in the first step or it will get mashed when steaming after layering.

* This style of Biriyani may seem difficult than one pot ones but trust me, it tastes very delicious and is easier than other layered Biriyanis.

* The spice level is to taste. I don’t make the Biriyani spicy as my kids eat it as well. You can add more red chilli powder in the Yogurt if desired.

* Make the gravy thick and dry, not watery or the Biriyani won’t come out well.

* For raita, I add finely chopped tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, coriander leaves to yogurt with little water, salt and chaat masala. Mix well.

Desserts

Easy Nendran Banana Halwa | Nendrabale kele halwo

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This halwa is a quick fix for mommies like me who don’t have the time for elaborate halwa making as kids keep pulling our legs to come play with them 😄. Kerala Bananas or Nendrabale kele (in Konkani) is a regular in my house as kids love it very much right from when they were babies.

I usually cut the bananas into round shape, fry it in ghee and give them but sometimes it gets over ripe very quickly (all thanks to the summers here). So I make this halwa which my husband’s aunt made when she had less bananas to make the original version of nendrabale halwa.

This is super easy to make yet comes out too delicious for words. We love it a lot for our post dinner dessert and kids enjoy it as well. My daughter has given it a name “Banana squares”. Trust kids these days for modern and unique names for our age old dishes 😅.

Hope you all try this when you have leftover nendran bananas staring at you to use it up 😄. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

3 over ripe Nendran Banana/ Kerala Banana/ Nendrabale kele

1/2 Cup to 3/4 Cup Jaggery powder or grated Jaggery (to taste)

2 Tbsp Ghee

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder (optional)

Step by step recipe:

1. Peel and mash the bananas well using hands.

2. Heat ghee in a pan (preferably non stick) and add the mashed bananas. Fry well on medium flame till the rawness of the bananas goes away. Takes about 5 mins.

3. Now add jaggery powder.

4. Now continuously mix till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and turns golden in colour. Takes about 10 mins of continuous mixing. Add Cardamom powder and mix once.

5. Remove and put in a plate greased with ghee. Level using spatula. Cut and serve after it cools slightly.

Notes:

* Over ripe nendran bananas work well for this recipe as it can be easily mashed with hands and cooks quickly too.

* Normal banana halwa can be made this way too but the texture would be different and not thick like this nendran banana halwa.

* Jaggery can be adjusted to taste as per the sweetness of the bananas.

* Fry the bananas well in ghee before adding jaggery so that there is no rawness in the halwa. After adding jaggery too, keep stirring well on medium flame till the mixture leaves the side of the pan. Both these steps as very important to get perfect halwa.

Dosa corner

Sabudana Dosa | Sago and Rice Dosa

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I know I am posting a lot of dosa recipes which is evident from my Dosa corner page but it is the most requested from my readers too. I guess making different yet tasty breakfast everyday is a challenge which everyone faces (just like me 😅).

I have been making this Sabudana dosa which I found in Asha Satish Philar mai’s cookbook since many years now. It turns so soft and fluffy. The texture resembles set dosas available in restaurants. My kids love it with ginger chutney and butter.

So here is yet another dosa (hope you all are not bored 😂). Happy and healthy cooking!

I thank Asha Satish mai whole heartedly for this amazing recipe of hers. Thank you mai. 😍🙏

RECIPE: { Adapted from “The Konkani Saraswat Cookbook” by Mrs Asha Satish Philar }

Ingredients: { Makes 18 to 20 dosas}

3 Cups white Rice

1 Cup Sabudana/ Sago

1 Cup Urad dal

1 Cup Poha / flattened rice

Salt to taste

Ghee or oil to cook the dosa

Step by step recipe:

1. Wash well and soak Urad dal, sago and poha together in a large bowl with enough water. Wash well and soak rice in another bowl. Soak for atleast 4 to 5 hours.

2. Grind the urad-sago-poha mixture to a smooth paste. Remove in a bowl. Grind rice with little water to a smooth paste.

3. Mix both the batters and keep in a large bowl. I divided the batter into two bowls to avoid spills after fermentation.

4. Ferment the batter overnight or for atleast 8 hours.

5. Heat the dosa pan and add a ladle of the dosa. Make a thick dosa. Cover and cook on medium flame till the surface cooks. Add ghee or oil.

6. Remove from flame and repeat the same with the rest of the batter. Serve with a chutney of your choice.

Notes:

* Leftover batter can be refrigerated and used the next day.

* This dosa is very soft and needs to be cooked on medium flame on one side. No need to flip the dosa.

* Both thick or thin Poha can be used. Does not make much difference.

* I have used the small size sago seeds. I am sure it will work well with the big sago seeds too. Just that it might need extra soaking time.

Chutneys, Curry house, Konkani Recipes

Ridge gourd skin Chutney | Ghosale sheere Chutney & Ridge gourd Upkari

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We amchis (GSB Konkanis) are famous for not wasting anything when it comes to food. We use every possible part of any vegetable while cooking. I have seen my grandmother and mother do it and follow the same. It is not only economical but is very healthy too.

One of the most used “taste from waste” in my kitchen is watermelon rind (the white part of watermelon) which many people throw away. But you can make these sweet and spongy dosas called Surnalis with it. Also lipsmacking Halwa with jaggery can be made with it.

This chutney is yet another amazing example of using up vegetable peels. The chutney from ridgegourd skin tastes so yummy that I used to literally beg my dad to bring it so that my mother could make this chutney.

I love it so much that I peel the skin a little thicker than normal so that I get more chutney than Upkari 😅. Here’s sharing how my grandmother and mother make this chutney. Hope you all try and love it too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

Skin or peel of one long Ridge Gourd

2 tsp Ghee

1 tsp Cumin seeds/ Jeera

1/2 tsp Hing or Asafoetida

3 Green chillies

1 Cup fresh or desiccated Coconut

1 tsp Tamarind paste

Salt to taste

Step by step recipe:

1. Remove the peel or the ridges of the ridge gourd and cut into pieces.

Note: Cut the ridge gourd into small pieces too for the Upkari or stir fry. Will share the recipe in the notes.

2. Heat ghee in a pan and add cumin seeds and hing. When it changes colour, add green chillies and ridge gourd skin. Fry well till the skin cooks well.

3. Now add coconut and fry till it turns brown in colour. Remove and allow it to cool.

4. Grind with tamarind, salt and little water to a smooth paste. This is a thick chutney.

Notes:

* My grandmother used to add couple of roasted Red chillies too to the chutney while grinding for extra flavour. I skip it so that it does not turn spicy for my kids.

* This is a thick chutney and along with Upkari makes an excellent combination with rice meals. You can enjoy with dosas too.

* I peel the ridge gourd little thick as I love this chutney. You can peel it thin if you are used to doing that way.

* For the Ridge Gourd Upkari, splutter mustard seeds in coconut oil. Add green chillies and the chopped ridge gourd. Add salt and cook without adding water till the pieces turn soft. Garnish with freshly grated coconut and remove from the flame.

Cakes and Bakes

Wheat Jaggery Cherry Muffins | Eggless, easy, healthy cupcakes

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We are getting fresh cherries here and after eating them as it is and making this Cherry Jaggery compote, it was time to use them in my favourite way – the baking way. The muffins came out beautiful and tasted so delicious that I have already made them thrice this month.

The best part about these muffins is its healthy and uses ingredients like wheat flour, jaggery and cherries. You can enjoy them guilt free. My kids love them as a mid meal snack.

Also, this recipe is great for basic wheat jaggery cupcakes for which I get lots of requests. So just skip cherries and you get plain cupcakes as shown below.

You can give them to babies above 6 months old. I started these healthy muffins for both my kids since 6 months and they love it now, much more than store bought maida ones. Wheat muffins might be denser but definitely flavourful and so tasty.

Hope you all try and love it too. Happy and healthy baking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

1 and 1/2 Cups Wheat flour or Atta (I use Pillsbury brand)

1 tsp Baking soda

1/4 tsp Salt

Wet ingredients:

1 Cup Milk, at room temperature

1 Cup powdered Jaggery

1/4 Cup Ghee

1/4 Cup chopped Cherries (fresh or candied)

1 tsp Vanilla essence

A few quartered cherries for garnish (optional)

Step by step recipe:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 C for 10 mins.

2. Sift the dry ingredients together using a sieve in a mixing bowl. Keep aside.

3. Add milk and jaggery in a large mixing bowl. Whisk well to melt jaggery in the milk.

4. Now add ghee, vanilla essence and chopped cherries. Mix well.

5. Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

6. Now mix both using a spatula just so that the wheat flour specks are not seen. Do NOT overmix the batter as it will lead to dense cake.

7. Now pour the batter into greased muffin tray till three fourth of the level. Garnish with quartered cherries (optional).

8. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 15 to 20 mins in the center rack of the oven till a toothpick inserted in the center most muffin comes out clear and not wet.

9. Allow it cool. Remove and serve.

Notes:

* This lasts well at room temperature in an air tight container for a day. Then refrigerate and microwave before serving.

* I always use Pillsbury wheat flour for my bakes and they come out perfect and delicious.

* If jaggery is not fine powder, then sieve and add into the milk. Jaggery can be substituted with brown sugar or cane sugar or regular sugar.

* Cherries can be substituted with any berries or you can skip it completely for plain muffins. This is how perfect plain wheat jaggery muffins comes out too.

* Do NOT overmix the batter. Else it will lead to dense muffins. Just mix together so that wheat flour specks are not seen and that is enough.

* Don’t forget to preheat the oven for 10 mins atleast before placing the muffin tray.

* It took my muffins exactly 15 mins to bake perfectly. But it might vary according to your oven. So keep an eye after 12 mins but do NOT open oven door before that.

I have tried to note down as much points as possible so that it’s easy for you all to follow but if you still have any doubts, either comment here or message me on my Facebook page Healthy cooking with mitha or on my Instagram handle and I would be happy to help.

Dosa corner

Paper dosa | Restaurant style crispy dosa

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I keep making different dosa types for my kids as they love dosas. For soft dosas, my go to recipe is this Cotton dosa but for restaurant style crispy dosas, this Paper dosa from Jayashree Prabhu mai‘s cookbook “99 Delightful Dosas” is simply the best. The dosas turn out super crispy and very tasty.

My daughter loves ghee roast dosa from restaurants a lot and the least I can do is recreate it at home now since we have stopped restaurant foods since many months (due to the covid situation). She enjoys it a lot and I feel how much even the kids have adapted well to this “new normal” of eating only homemade foods. Hats off to all kids!

But one thing is sure. All this completely cutting out fast food and restaurant foods must have given the much necessary detox to our system and we will come out healthier for sure.

Hope you all will try and love this paper dosa too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE: {Adapted from “99 Delightful Dosas cook book by Jayashree Prabhu}

Ingredients: (About 20 dosas)

2 Cups Rice

1 Cup Urad dal

4 tsp Methi seeds

1 Cup Rice flour

4 Tbsp Besan or chickpea flour

Salt to taste

Oil or ghee to cook the dosa

Step by step recipe:

1. Wash well and soak rice in a bowl and soak urad dal along with methi in another bowl for atleast 4 hours.

2. Grind the Urad methi mixture to a smooth paste using water as needed. Pour into a large steel vessel. Now take the soaked rice in the mixer. Add rice flour, besan and salt.

3. Grind the rice mixture using little water to a smooth paste too. Add it to the Urad batter and mix well with hands.

4. Ferment overnight or for atleast 8 to 10 hours.

Love how well the batter ferments!

5. Heat a flat dosa pan and pour a ladle of batter over it. Shape using the back of the ladle into concentric circles to a thin, large dosa.

6. Add ghee and cook till the dosa turns crisp.

7. Fold and serve hot with a chutney of your choice. Repeat the same with the rest of the batter.

Notes:

* The addition of rice flour gives a very crisp texture to the dosa while besan or chickpea flour is just for colour. So that can be skipped if you don’t have.

* For making perfect dosas, first heat the dosa pan to high and when it heats well, reduce the flame and spread the dosas as thin as you can. Then cook the dosas again on high flame till done. For very crispy dosas, just cook a little while longer and add a extra dash of oil or ghee.

* Leftover dosa batter can be refrigerated but the texture of the dosa did change the next day. It came out soft like regular dosas and not as crispy as the first day. We loved it both ways though.

* For this way of hing chutney that I make, just grind coconut along with ginger and green chillies with salt and little water to a smooth paste. Now season mustard seeds and hing (I use powder) in coconut oil and pour over this ground paste. Mix well. Done!

Desserts

Jaggery Shrikhand |{ How to make Hung curd }

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I love sweets and Shrikhand is one of my favourites. We used to buy Amul Shrikhand available here but I always felt it was a tad too sugary for my taste (inspite of being all sweet teeth in my mouth 😉). So it was kept for rare cravings.

Then one day when I was chatting with my friend Sonali Baindur (Divya) , she said she makes Shrikhand at home following her mother in law, Vidya Baindur’s recipe. She mentioned that not only is making Shrikhand at home easier but a lot cheaper too. So that gave me the much needed encouragement to try it out.

And as she said, it is very very easy. I made Shrikhand with Jaggery instead as we love Jaggery flavour a lot more. It tasted so yummy that I really wonder why I did not make it these many days. We already made it thrice this month. Very cooling for the summers here in Qatar too.

Thank you Divya for the inspiration. Hope you all try and love it too.

Happy Gowri Pooja and Vinayaka Chaturthi to all my readers. Shree Ganeshaya Namaha. 🙏

RECIPE:

Ingredients: {Makes about 1 Cup Shrikhand}

1 Cup Curd or Yogurt (full fat or low fat, both are fine)

1/4 Cup Jaggery powder or grated jaggery

Step by step recipe:

1. Take a bowl and keep a strainer over it like shown.

2. Now keep a muslin cloth or a clean handkerchief over it. Add 1 Cup regular Curd.

3. Tie it well tightly squeezing excess water into the bowl. Now keep a heavy object over it. I kept my pestle.

4. Refrigerate overnight (with the bowl underneath to catch the extra water dripping) or atleast for 6 hours. See how much water has dripped in the bowl after overnight refrigeration.

Note: Don’t discard the dripped water. Add it to curries instead of water or to your dosa batter while grinding or roti dough when kneading.

5. Untie the cloth. See how well the hung curd has set.

6. Remove into a bowl. This is HUNG CURD. You can use it in many recipes.

7. Now sieve powdered jaggery into this bowl or add finely grated jaggery.

Note: Sieving powdered jaggery is important as I found it gives a creamy Shrikhand.

8. Mix well together.

9. Serve right away or chilled.

Notes:

* Don’t forget to tie the cloth tightly and keep a weight on top so that you get perfect hung curd.

* Also don’t discard the dripped water. Add it to curries instead of water or to your dosa batter while grinding or roti dough when kneading.

* Sieving powdered jaggery is important as I found it gives a creamy Shrikhand. So don’t skip the step. If you are grating jaggery, then no need to sieve.

* Jaggery can be substituted with cane sugar or even regular powdered sugar for a normal sugar based Shrikhand.

* You can also add cardamom powder or saffron strands for flavour.

Curry house

Dhaba Style Paneer

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We are a paneer loving family and our idea of a special weekend dinner is incomplete without paneer. So when my dearest friend and soul sister Sumangala posted Dhaba style Paneer on her Instagram handle @onlyvegfoodie, I could not resist trying it instantly. It looked so so delicious.

And how amazing it came out too. My kids who usually make faces during dinner time ate whole heartedly and happily that day. My daughter even ate the curry as it is which is a rarity since she always finds everything spicy. So you can imagine how much she liked it.

I also want to write something about Sumangala. We first met through our GSB youth wing Elamakkara (where we lived in Kochi) during our college days. We were (still are 😁) both talkative and got along very well. She’s very loving and a down to earth person. I still remember my visits to her house and the nearby Shiva temple with her. Now we both are busy mommies with two kids of our own but our common love for cooking keeps us connected on Instagram. So glad to see you happy Suma. Love you. The memories with you are unforgettable. 😘

Hope you all try her recipe of Dhaba style Paneer and love it as much as we did. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

To marinate:

200 grams Paneer cubes

1 tsp Red chilli powder

1 tsp Coriander powder

2 tsp Garam masala powder

1/2 tsp Haldi powder

2 tsp Water

Other ingredients in order:

1 Tbsp Ghee

1 Tbsp Oil

2 Cardamom pods

2 Cloves

1/2 inch Cinnamon stick

1 Bay leaf

1 tsp Cumin seeds or Jeera

1 tsp minced Ginger

1 large Onion, blended in mixer

2 large Tomatoes, pureed in mixer

2 Tbsp Coriander leaves, while frying

1/2 tsp Kasuri methi, crushed between palm

1 tsp Red chilli powder

1 tsp Garam masala powder

2 tsp Besan/ Chickpea flour

Salt to taste

Coriander leaves for garnish

Step by step recipe:

1. Take Paneer cubes in a bowl. Add red chilli powder, garam masala powder, haldi powder and coriander powder along with little water. Mix well and keep aside for 30 mins.

2. Heat oil and ghee in a pan. Add jeera along with Cardamom pods, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf. When jeera changes colour, add blended onion and ginger.

3. Keep frying continually till the raw smell goes away and the paste leaves the sides of the pan. Now add kasuri methi, red chilli powder, garam masala powder and besan.

4. Fry for two mins till the rawness of besan goes away. Now add tomato puree along with coriander leaves and cook covered for 6 to 8 mins till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.

5. Now add paneer cubes and mix well. Cook again covered for 5 mins.

6. Remove from flame. Garnish with Coriander leaves. Serve with rotis or rice.

Notes:

* Paneer can be substituted with mushroom or cauliflower.

* You can fry the marinated paneer first before adding to the gravy for a firmer paneer. I skipped that step since we like the softness of paneer in gravies.

* Do remember to cook well after adding onion puree, after adding besan and after adding tomato puree. All three steps need some time to cook thoroughly but is very important to get the authentic dhaba style Paneer.

* You can skip the red chilli powder in the gravy and add only to the marinate if you don’t like too much spicy gravy. My kids loved it even though I added red chilli powder in both marinate and gravy.

Join me in my journey with a foodie husband and hungry kiddos while I make them eat healthy!