Paneer Shashlik Masala

My husband absolutely adores paneer! He loves to eat it, prepare it and to cook it. So what better than to have a guest post recipe from him. He made this awesome masala yesterday for his birthday. I feel if you like something so much, automatically you’re able to make it soo well. This is extremely true for my husband!

He didn’t make it too spicy! knowing that our 3 year may want some, because he loves it too! and he was right… He nearly gobbled up EVERYTHING and we hardly got any! Lol 😉

So please be sure, if you have children, MAKE MORE!!! We’ve learn that for next time!!

Happy Birthday Honey! Your birthday cake is about to me made! Much love, D x

INGREDIENTS

1 green bell pepper diced
1 onion diced
250g paneer cubed
Handful of chopped coriander
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp dried coriander
Pinch of toasted cumin seeds
5 tbsp natural yoghurt
3 tsp tikka masala paste

METHOD

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl

Mix the tikka masala and yoghurt together

Pour over the ingredients and combine so that all the paneer, onion and pepper is covered

Cover and place in the fridge for 2 hours to marinade

In a large deep frying pan, warm up 1 tsp sunflower oil on a medium to slow heat. Cook the paneer through. This may take up to 10 minutes or more. Stirring occasionally

Once the paneer is soft and hot all the way through you are ready to devour

Serve up on a flatbread bread of your choice. We had a kidney bean curried flatbread I had made during the day

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Heavenly paneer in every mouthful!

A special request from my friend Bhavna ~ she asked me a while ago for my mattar paneer recipe and yesterday it happened to be her birthday and I made it in the evening. Shame I couldn’t eat with her but thought of her on her special day.

We’ve come a long way from working together and planning to have lunch together whilst at work in our very small cubby hole of a staff room! We would treat ourselves to burger and chips and chat about lifes little and big things! Those were the days!!! It’s been a while since I’ve seen you my friend but your very much in my thoughts. Hope you enjoy this dish and have many more wonderful birthdays to come, lots of love D xxxx

Also a quick hello to my sister-in-law who had the fantastic idea to grate the paneer in this recipe, thank you! I’m just loving how we learn from one another!

INGREDIENTS

200g paneer grated
3 cups frozen garden peas
60ml tomato passata/crushed tomato
1 medium onion finely chopped
3 garlic cloves crushed
½ tsp grated fresh ginger
1 green chilli chopped finely
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp cumin seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
2 tsp coriander and cumin powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
⅓ tsp garam masala
¾ tsp salt or more to taste
1 heaped tsp shahi paneer masala
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
½ cup of water
Handful of chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp sunflower oil

METHOD

• Heat the oil in a large non stick saucepan along with the mustard,cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once the mustard seeds start to pop gently mix in the onion, chilli, garlic and ginger and stir fry on a low heat

• Once the onion starts to brown off pour in the tomato passata and stir well. Add all the dry spices and seasoning and combine well. Cover and simmer on a low heat for 6-8 minutes

• Carefully place the paneer into the tomato base and mix in gently as not to avoid it mushing

• Once the paneer starts to cook it will absorb the moisture so pour in water and stir. Cook on a low simmer for a few minutes and then stir in the peas

• Cover and simmer for a further 10-15 minutes, check seasoning – you may wish to add a little more salt and paneer masala to boost the curry. If it still lacks moisture add a little water too

• Garnish with fresh coriander and serve with an Indian bread of your choice

Fresh cream raspberry & strawberry cake

It was my baby son’s 1st birthday this week and I couldn’t wait to bake him his first birthday cake.  I didn’t want anything too sweet with icing or chocolate as I am reluctant in him having a lot of sugar at such a young age. So I decided on the next best thing…a fruit cake with fresh cream.  What has made this cake even more special is that only a few days ago as a family of four we went strawberry picking at a local farm and it is this picked fruit that I have used in this cake.  More to our surprise we have been very lucky with the raspberries as they are the sweetest we have ever tasted and have made this cake even more delicious! Here’s to my baby’s first birthday and lots and lots of cake yummmm!!!

INGREDIENTS

For sponge
200g self raising flour
200g softened butter
200g granulated sugar
4 eggs beaten
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp milk

Filling
3 tbsp seedless strawberry jam
3 tbsp whipped sweetened cream
7-10 strawberries sliced

Topping
1 large punnet of raspberries
1 batch of sweetened whipped cream(below)

Sweetened whipped cream recipe
1 cup of double cream
3 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 190c gas/170c fan/gas mark 5. Line with non stick baking paper and grease 20cm sandwich cake tins. Cream together sugar and butter until mellowy yellow and fluffy. Mix in the flour, eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Combine well.

2. Separate mixture equally between the two tins. Smooth the surface with a spatula and bake for 20-25 minutes. Check that the cake sponge is golden brown and springs back when touched. Cool both sponges on a cooling rack

3. Meanwhile whip cream, when it gets thicker add the icing sugar and vanilla extract, whisk well.Make sure the cream has a soft peak consistency. Put in fridge

4. Remove non stick baking paper on both sponges. Place one sponge on a plate and spread jam and the cream evenly. Then arrange the strawberry slices

5. Put the second sponge on top of the filling. Use a palette knife to evenly distribute the sweetened cream (from the fridge) onto the top sponge and gently arrange the raspberries on the whole surface, being sure not to leave any gaps
Chill in the fridge until ready to eat

Lemon and white chocolate cake

Made this for my husband’s birthday…He loves white chocolate! and I love lemon!! And my little one he loves both!!!

Found this recipe http://musings-of-a-gem.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lemon-and-white-chocolate-cake-recipe.html?m=1
It was too good not to make for this special occasion. Hope you enjoy! As much as we did. Also a massive thank you to the chef who made it in the first place!