Recipes

~ Butter Paneer Masala (Vrat Recipe)

/ raindropstosunshine / Leave a comment

Vrat is Hindi for Fasting for a religious purpose and with the festive season (Navratri, Karvachauth, Diwali) around the corner I thought this would be a good recipe to share on the blog since this doesn’t require onions, ginger or garlic – all of which aren’t allowed in fasting days!!

Butter Paneer Masala is a slightly sweet creamy dish of Paneer. This dish can be made fancy restaurant style or like I do, a quick fix on the days you are starving already, thanks to keeping a Vrat!! In my recipe, the flavors are more in line with home style than restaurant style recipe as I have also made it healthy by skipping the cream and using skim milk instead as well as skipping the cashew nuts.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

  • Paneer (cottage cheese) 200 grams
  • Oil 4 tablespoons (to make it healthy, I use Olive Oil.)
  • 4 Green Cardamoms
  • 6 Cloves
  • 2 inch Cinnamon Stick
  • 1 big Bay Leaf
  • 2 medium size Green Chilies – chopped
  • 5 medium sized ripe red Tomatoes – pureed
  • Salt to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Turmeric (Haldi)
  • 1/2 teaspoon Coriander Powder (Dhaniya powder)
  • 2 teaspoons Dried Fenugreek leaves (Kasoori methi)
  • 3 teaspoons Honey
  • Skim milk 2 cups
  • 2 tablespoon butter
  • Fresh coriander leaves chopped for garnish

Method:

  1. Cut the paneer into 1 inch cubes.
  2. Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Add green cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf and sauté.
  3. Add green chillies, continue to sauté and add tomato purée along with salt to this and continue cooking.
  4. Now add red chili powder, garam masala powder, haldi, dhaniya powder along with butter, kasoori methi, honey, milk and mix well.
  5. Once the oil and butter separates, add paneer cubes to the gravy and mix. Cook on low flame for about 10 minutes so that the Paneer soaks in the flavor.
  6. Garnish with coriander leaves and your dish is ready to serve!

This dish is best served with Roti, Naan, Kulcha or Parathas, as well as Simple Basmati Rice or Jeera (cumin) Rice. Enjoy and do let me know how you liked it 🙂 I would love to hear!!

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~ Dal Makhani…

/ raindropstosunshine / Leave a comment

Dal Makhani is a Punjabi delicacy, one that the hubby always orders at an Indian Restaurant.

Off late since we’ve been trying to be healthy about our choices and eating more at home, I decided to give this much loved Dal of the hubby, a try, and after a few tries, got it perfect, atleast from the hubby’s standards and that in itself makes me happy! So I thought of sharing my happiness with y’all and hence here is the recipe that works wonders for me every single time!

Ingredients:

1 cup whole black urad daal

2tbsp Red kidney beans

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 tomato finely chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2-3 green chilies finely chopped

1 cup chopped coriander leaves for garnish

1/2 cup whole milk (healthier than using fresh stirred cream)

2tbsp ghee and 1 tbsp oil

1tsp cumin seeds

1/2tsp turmeric powder

1/2tsp Garam masala

Pinch of red chili powder

1 tbsp dhania powder

Salt to taste

How to make dal makhani :

• Soak rajma and dal together in the same container, in water overnight.

• Add water & little salt and pressure-cook Rajma and urad dal till soft (usually about 30-45 minutes).

• Now in kadhai heat ghee and oil, splutter cumin seeds, add ginger garlic paste and fry till it is light brown. Now add the onions and fry till golden brown.

• Once onions are done, add green chilies and tomatoes and fry till tomatoes soften.

• Now add all the dry masalas and fry again till well mixed in together.

• Add the dal and rajma, and stir on medium flame and add in the milk. As soon as it starts boiling, cover and cook on slow flow for 15 mins.

• Garnish your dal makhani with coriander and it’s ready to serve!!

It goes well with Naan, rice and just about anything if you ask the hubby!! Haha!!

If you try this recipe, do let me know how you liked it in the comments below!

Until next time… Keep cooking up good stuff!