Methi Paneer (Cottage Cheese with Fenugreek)

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch methi (fenugreek leaves), blanched (with 1 tsp of sugar) and pureed

2 Tbsp oil

3 dried red chilies

1/2 cup tomato puree

Salt to taste

1 tsp garam masala

2 tsp coriander powder

250 gms  cottage cheese, cubed

HOW TO MAKE:

 

1) Heat oil and add the whole red chillis.

2) Add the tomato puree and sauté for 2 minutes. Then add salt, garam masala and coriander powder, saute till the oil comes up.

3) Add fenugreek leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the cottage cheese cubes and allow it to simmer for 3-4 minutes.

4) You can garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and julienned ginger pieces and serve hot with assorted breads.

 

Crispy Lady's finger gravy

Lady's Fingers/okras are not very popular among my house until and unless they are cooked very deliciously. In all honesty, I have to say that most of the time, the symphony of flavors do not come to life with this particular vegetable no matter what combination of spices I make use off. Thanks to its soggy and slimy nature.

 

Growing up in a large family, I have always watched and savored the dishes prepared by my family. I have learnt that adding a spike of tamarind to any dish prepared out of this vegetable brings in a refreshing zest to it. Even then I am unable to create a mouth watering okra dish and I fail to bring the smile on my family's face when I present it on the table until one day I chanced upon an effortless recipe which involves no tamarind and no chopping up of this slimy veggie. Yes, you have to fry it whole for a crispy finish and drop it into a relishing gravy.

 

This is how I ended up trying out an authentic dish from Uttar Pradesh (one of the North Indian States) which shows off its fiery delights in a very gentle way. If you eyeball the ingredients of this dish, this might look like a marathon recipe. But don't be put off by the number of ingredients here. It serves as an easy side dish with various breads and also rice dishes. Can also be categorized as an easy dinner dish. You can also crack the lid for the last hour of cooking to soften the crispy fingers in the gravy by giving the lady fingers the yogurt treatment for a crispy and spicy main dish. The slow cooking will keep your kitchen cool.

So now let’s hit the recipe:

 

INGREDIENTS:

3 Onions
1 tbsp. Oil
10 Lady's fingers(Okra)
3 tsp giner-garlic paste
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala powder
Salt to taste
1/2 cup water

HOW TO MAKE:

1)  Slice the onions into big pieces and boil in salted water. Upon boiling, onions get a slightly darker color. Strain the water to blend it into a fine paste by adding a little bit of water. Keep the glossy onion paste aside.

2) Heat the oil in a pan. (enough to fry the okras). Slice the okras across the center and fry them in the hot oil till crispy and remove them out. Keep aside.

3) In another pan, add some ginger-garlic paste. When the paste turns brown, add the boiled onion paste. While the paste is simmering on the stove, prepare a yogurt paste by adding the spice powders.

4) For the yogurt paste, add red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder and cumin powder.  Whisk the yogurt with all the spices and add it to the paste.

5)  After the paste is roasted, add one cup of water and salt to taste. Also add the garam masala powder at this stage.

6) Add the fried okras to the mixture. Cover the pan and leave it to simmer on low heat.

7) Serve hot with most rice dishes and assorted breads.

 

Dubai Visit- Day 3

Another exciting day of our Dubai trip was the Day-3. It was another day spent at the malls - this time 2 more wonderful malls. And the usual pictures. But yes, we had a chance to board the Metro Train and I was thoroughly excited during the short ride.

So we first started the day by hiring a taxi and reaching the Dierra City Centre. The Chauffeur was kind enough to educate us with the places to visit and the various ways to reach them. Quite a good piece of info we could collect and it really turned out to be handy at the end of the day.

Entering Dierra City centre

Dierra City Centre -Inside

Dierra City Centre - Inside

We spent 2 hours at this city centre doing some Window shopping and also bought some stuff and then rushed to the nearest Metro Station.  Bought tickets and boarded the train. After a few stops , we reached the Mall of Emirates which was directly connected to the Metro Station Stop.

Metro Picture taken while driving in the taxi

Inside the Metro

Outside view clicked during before the Metro ride

Outside view clicked during the Metro ride

Outside view clicked during the Metro ride

Outside view clicked during the Metro ride

Outside view clicked during the Metro ride

As we walked through the tunnel to exit the Metro station, we found ourselves right inside the Mall of Emirates.

Mall of Emirates clicked from the Elevator

It was a Spectacular Mall with lovely architecture and Hi-Fi branded shops. The most interesting thing in this mall was the Ski Dubai  - an indoor skiing area covered with snow which was a tempting sight for us having an artificial Skiing area huge enough to mimic Switzerland or Antarctica I guess. It has artificial mountain slopes covered with snow and real penguins(with whom you can interact) and igloos , play area, snow balls and what not. We did not go inside as the temperatures were too low and I was sure that our little one would not be able to withstand it. So saved the experience for our next Dubai visit. Anyways, I was able to click a few pictures of this enticing place.

Mall of Emirates

Ski Dubai-From the outside

Ski Dubai - from the outside

Inside- Ski Dubai

Inside- Ski Dubai

And then we headed for a hearty lunch at the food court. We decided to try some Lebanese food and ended up eating some grilled Kebabs and Lebanese fish. For rice, we chose Chinese(not the perfect combo I know) - so some noodles and Chinese rice with sweet n sour chicken, capsicum n beef and yes some drinks.

Food Court - Mall of Emirates

And back to more window shopping and trying out the yummy Cheesecake again because we saw another outlet of the Cheesecake factory. We had fallen in love with it when we first ate in the Dubai Mall. So we made it a point to eat it again before we leave Dubai.

Cheesecake Factory - Inside

Cakes at the Cheesecake Factory

It was almost 5 p.m. by the time we left the Mall of Emirates. We hired another taxi and were off now to the artificial islands - Palm Jumeirah islands. Of course, the drive through the underwater tunnel was great and then we halted in front of the magnificent Atlantis Hotel located on the edge of the Palm tree shaped islands. During the taxi drive, we were educated by our Chauffeur about the 17 leaves(fronds) design of the palm shaped islands and how each leaf was occupied by private Villas with a private beach for each Villa.

Palm Jumeirah Picture taken from Google Maps

Top View Palm Jumeirah Islands

On the way to Palm Jumeirah Islands



Driving through the underwater Tunnel towards the Hotel Atlantis

The last leaf had this Hotel Atlantis. And also the Monorail. There was also a water park and a Dolphinarium which was closed by the time we reached it. And we also saw another huge Aqua Centre called "The lost Chamber" which had huge aquariums and several species of fishes. We did not go in as we had already seen enough fishes and sea life a day earlier in the Dubai Mall.

Hotel Atlantis - Evening View

Hotel Atlantis - Night View

 

 

Inside Hotel Atlantis

The Lost Chamber Aquarium inside Hotel Atlantis

The Lost Chambers Aquarium inside Hotel Atlantis

 

Water park(inside Hotel Atlantis) pictures taken from outside

Water park inside the Hotel Atlantis

Hotel Atlantis - a 5 Star Hotel

What I missed was the monorail. It was a ride from the monorail which would take us back out of the Palm islands. And I heard that the view would be lovely and the experience would have been amazing. But then we missed it as we were late and the rail had left. Marked it for our next visit and promised not to miss it the next time.

The Monorial which we saw while driving to the Palm Jumeirah islands

Since we had missed the monorial, we decided to linger at the Hotel taking pictures for some more time watching everyone and then spent some time at the little beach edge until out friend came and picked us up. Then we drove to the edge of this island and saw some amazing villas and buildings before we drove back at 9 p.m. for a dinner at a Yemeni restaurant called the Bait Al Mandi where we were able to eat some lip-smacking Mandi rice topped with fresh steamed mutton.

Burj Al Arab picture taken while driving

Hotel Jumeirrah picture taken while driving

 

 

Food at Bait Al Mandi - A Yemeni Restaurant

 

Too tired for the day, we returned home to plan up for our next day's tour - Abu Dhabi . Oh yes, I will save it for my next post because it was another fabulous experience worth sharing.

Rasmalai

A beautiful day should be followed by a delicious delicacy post - And that's why I decided to post the mouth-watering Rasmalai recipe today because this was one of the sweets that I laid out on our Eid table.

Rasmalai is a Bengali delicacy - juicy and rich. Till date,I always went in for store bought Bengali sweets. I was under the wrong impression that Bengali sweets are difficult and time-consuming to prepare. I realized that I was wrong when I chanced upon a recipe in one of my regular browsing sessions. As I went through the recipe and the ingredients, I knew that this certainly was something that I should be trying out soon.

 

 

And yes, here it is - a comfort food ideal for sharing. You can even prepare it a day before and chill it which somehow enhances the taste and flavor, making it a terrific dish for a party. The end result is well worth the time and efforts. So don’t be intimidated—there’s nothing really difficult about it.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Paneer:

1 litre - Whole milk

2-3 tsp  Lemon juice

For the Creamy Syrup:

1 litre - Whole milk  

1/2 can condensed milk (optional)

3/4 cup Sugar

A few stands Saffron

 

For the Rasmalai:

 

2 cups Sugar  

3 cups Water

Almonds & Pistachios for garnishing

HOW TO MAKE:

The Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

1) Bring the whole milk to boil, switch off the stove and then add the lemon juice- one drop at a time.

2) You can see the milk curdle. Allow it to stand for ten minutes or till it cools down.

3) Strain this curdled milk separating the water(whey) from the crumbled diary content in it. This step should be carried out using a strainer lined with a muslin cloth.

4) Then gather the crumbled milk content in the muslin cloth and tie it up and hang the cloth to a tap (or any other convenient place) so that the remaining water content in it can be removed. You can also occasionally squeeze it sometimes. Let this stay for about 30 minutes this way.

 

 

 

5)  Now take the paneer out and start to knead it finely until it become soft and smooth until the crumbled texture of it reduces completely.Around 8-10 minutes.

6) Make small balls out of this mixture. You should be able to get approximately 12-14 balls.

7) Flatten them and keep them aside.

For the Rasmalai steaming:

1) Mix the sugar and the water and bring to boil in a pressure cooker.

2) Drop the patties one by one in the sugar syrup and then close the cooker. Pressure cook for just one whistle and switch off stove.

3) Once the cooker opens, transfer these patties in cold water. Allow the sugar syrup to cool and transfer the patties back into them so that they absorb the sweetness until they are transferred in to the creamy syrup which will be prepared now.

For the Creamy Syrup:

1) Bring the milk to boil, allow it to cook until it is reduced to half.

2)  Add the sugar at this stage and stir till the sugar has dissolved.

3) Then add the condesnsed milk and mix well. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes.

4) Add the saffron and remove from fire. Allow it to cool down completely.


The Final stage of Rasmalai:

1) Drop in the patties one by one into the creamy syrup.

2) Garnish with the chopped nuts.

3)  Chill for almost 2 hours before serving.