Spinach, Pea and Paneer Curry

So today I decided to put two famous paneer curries into one.

Palak and matar paneer reinvented and super tasty. Using fresh spinach adds such a rich flavour. I can’t wait to delve in!

INGREDIENTS 

1 red onion chopped

1 tin tomatoes crushed 

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp ginger

1 tbsp oil

Pinch of asofoetida

Pinch of Mustard seeds

Pinch of Cumin seeds 

Little dried chilli flakes

1 star anise 

1 tsp cumin & coriander powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste 

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp dried mango powder

I block paneer cubed 

1 bag fresh baby spinach pureed 

1 cup frozen peas

METHOD 

Heat the oil on a medium heat in a large saucepan with the mustard, cumin, chilli flakes, asofoetida and star anise. Once the seeds start to sizzle stir in the chopped onion, garlic and ginger

Reduce the heat to slow.  Add the tomatoes with the rest of the spices 

Combine and cook for 5 minutes. Place the paneer into the tomato base, cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes stirring occasionally 

Last thing is to add the pureed spinach and peas. Cook off for a further 10 minutes and your curry is ready to eat!

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A Quick Healthy Egg Curried Breakfast or Lunch

By now as you are getting to know me, you will be aware that I just love my EGGS!!! I’m always finding new ways to prepare and enjoy them.

Once again my dearest friend Anussha came up with this gorgeous recipe. Her food is always sooo full of flavour and delightful in substance. I’m trying to get her to join the food blogging world! She would be excellent and her cooking would inspire many, as she does me! But in the meantime I will share her ravishing recipes with you all, so you don’t miss out!

Have a super Sunday! Much love D x

INGREDIENTS

3 free range eggs
3 fresh medium tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
⅓ tsp grated ginger
Fresh coriander half handful
1 small green chilli
½ tbsp low fat butter/spread
1 tbsp olive oil
⅓ tsp salt or to taste
½ tsp garam masala

METHOD

• Place the 3 tomatoes in a saucepan and pour over boiling water. Parboil for 5-7 minutes until nice and soft. De-skin and put into the blender

• Add the ginger, garlic, chilli, coriander, garam masala and salt to taste and whizz the the tomatoes to combine. Blend until you have a smooth paste

• In a non stick saucepan heat up the butter and olive oil on a low heat. Once bubbling pour in the tomato base and stir. Cook for a couple of minutes

• Make 3 spaces in the sauce and then crack the eggs gently into the spaces

Cover with a lid or plate and cook on a low heat for 5-8 minutes. This depends on how well you want your eggs done

• For a rich soft yolk make sure that the white has just about set. Serve on some wholegrain buttered toast!

Garlic buttered paratha

In every Indian restaurant you will find the garlic naan, which is lovely for a heavy meal but if you fancy something light then I’ve come up with these garlic buttered paratha.

I adore garlic bread so I applied the same principle to this recipe. However instead of just smothering the paratha in garlic butter which I did, I also penetrated the paratha with the garlic butter from the inside for ultimate flavour!

As I was making them..they kept disappearing! My little ones were munching on them with the kidney bean masala I had made. I was lucky to get a couple myself! So definitely a hit with children who like their tasty food!

INGREDIENTS

250g white chapatti flour
100g plain flour
3 tbsp sunflower oil
Boiling water to bind
2 tbsp butter/low fat butter spread
2-3 cloves of garlic crushed
Plain flour for rolling
Sunflower oil for pan frying

METHOD

To make the garlic melted butter ~

• Throw in the crushed garlic and butter together in a small saucepan and melt on a low heat. Let the butter bubble slowly for a few minutes until the garlic is soft and infused into the butter

To make the parathas ~

• In a large mixing bowl add the chapatti flour and plain flour. Stir in the oil so that the flour resembles bread crumbs

• Pour in some boiling water a little at a time and combine with a spoon until you can handle it with your fingers. Bring the dough together and knead for 5 minutes

• Preheat a non stick frying pan on a medium heat. Flour a clean surface, take about a palm full of dough, roll it out into a 5-6cm diameter round

• Using a spoon spread some of the melted garlic butter on the round, sprinkle a little flour. Fold up bringing all the corners in

• Dust in some flour again and roll out gently into an 8cm diameter round or approximate

• Place the uncooked paratha into the frying pan, wait for it to bubble and raise and then flip over using a spatula

• Use a little oil on the second side whilst cooking and again on the third turn until both sides are cooked nice and golden brown

• Spoon a little of the garlic butter onto the cooked paratha, to give it more of an intense flavour

• Repeat with the whole dough, in exactly the same way

Tasty khichdi? Is that possible???

Khichdi, an indian rice and dal staple dish. In my opinion, especially when I was younger a little bit bland and boring! But guess what? I’ve managed to change that as I’ve got older. I decided to “pimp it up!” with ultimate flavour.

As it stands alone khichdi is a very healthy and nutritious dish but the addition of spinach makes it super healthy! A great comfort food on these colder evenings and absolutely fantastic for weaning babies and toddlers…just reduce the salt intake for them.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup split mung dal
1 cup basmati rice
4-5 cups of water
1½ tsp salt or to taste
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
4-5 cubes of frozen spinach
1 tbsp sunflower oil
¼ mustard seeds
¼ cumin seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
Pinch of sugar
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp coriander & cumin powder
⅓ tsp chilli powder

METHOD

To make the khichdi base ~
• Combine and rinse the mung dal and rice a few times in a large bowl. In a large saucepan add this mung rice mix with the water, salt and turmeric. Bring to a boil and then gently simmer for 10 minutes

• Stir occasionally and check if all the water is absorbed you may need to add a little. Cook for a further 10 minutes until rice and dal are soft. Turn off the heat and set aside

• For the spinach sauce ~ Heat up the oil along with mustard, cumin seeds and asafoetida. Once they start to sizzle and pop throw in the onion and garlic, sauté until onion becomes translucent

• Stir in the chopped tomatoes, garam masala, salt, cumin & corainder powder, chilli and sugar along with the frozen spinach

• Mix well and simmer gently on a low heat for 10 minutes

• Once sauce is done, simply pour it into the khichdi saucepan, stir and season with salt if needed

Then you are ready to serve! With a little fresh yoghurt, enjoy!

Tandoori Masala

A fresh masala to give ultimate flavour by Namrata @ My Food Tapestry. Thank you for sharing! 🙂

MyFoodTapestry

I never thought I would make masalas at home someday. Never. It’s for mom’s, grandmom’s and MDH/Everest, not for me. Or so I thought. Until now. Until I started taking my food seriously, until I observed health scares, food adulteration and until I started blogging.

Blogging has opened such new avenues, roads and direction, that attempting something new or bizarre is on my TO-Do list most of the time. It’s wonderful. It’s wonderful that I at least ‘think’ of making bread at home(till a year back I would have said ‘are u mad?!’ )
And now, I want to make granola, pies, tart cases, breads, dried nuggets, masalas at home! Yay! 🙂

Moral: Never say ‘Never’.

The beauty of making things from scratch is that it is actually not that difficult as they seem to be. Especially these spice powders/masalas. With the right ingredients at hand, all you need is…

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Samosa masala toasted sandwich

Bored of your usual sandwich fillings? If so, try this samosa masala sandwich. If you like samosas you will love this!

A healthy filling, apart from the cheese but you could leave that out! On toasty brown wholegrain bread which gives you your fibre intake. Ok! so I’m trying to be healthy in balancing out the naughty sweet recipes I post! Lol!

A quick recipe to satisfy your hunger pangs. If you fancy something sweet after, try my basil seed sweet faluda milkshake!

Have an awesome day…see you tomorrow x

INGREDIENTS

2 large red potatoes chopped into small cubes
1 small onion finely chopped
1 cup frozen garden peas
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
2 tsp ground cumin & coriander powder
1/3 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp salt or to taste
A splash of tomato passata
Fresh coriander chopped

for the sandwich
Slices of brown wholegrain bread
Mozarella or cheddar grated
Butter

METHOD

Heat the oil with the onion,cumin, mustard seeds and asafoetida. Once they start to sizzle add the potatoes and coat well in the oil

Throw in all the dry spices and seasoning with the onion and combine well

Pour in a little water to aid the potato cooking process

Bring to the boil and then cover and simmer on a low flame for 10 minutes
Stirring occasionally

Throw in the peas, mix and simmer for a further 5 minutes

Stir in a little tomato passata and cover again on a low heat for 5-10 minutes

Make sure the potatoes are soft and tender. Then garnish with coriander

To make the sandwich toast two slices of bread and melt a little grated mozzarella or mature cheddar on one toast and butter the other

Spread the potato pea filling on one of the toasts. Sandwich together and then slice in half.” Voila!” your samosa sandwich with cheese is good to go x

Family dinner!

Last night my younger brother and sister in law called us round for dinner along with my parents.

I had had a random weekend! And the wet, dreary weather had contributed to that also but my weekend definitely ended on a massive high.

I was a little tired when I got to their place but was very much re energised with the fantastic food that awaited us. Normally we would wait to eat together but yours truly was famished and the aroma of stuffed aloo paratha and dal was way too inviting that I had to have some immediately!

My sister in law insisted that I ate and I couldn’t wait! I was dipping the paratha into my dal only then to be greeted with these vibrant yellow dhokla (savoury cake) and a delightful hot green chutney. A healthy salad appeared on my plate of which the raw chunks of beetroot that I had always eaten pickled, sweetened my palate. I will be eating beetroot this way from now on. The earthiness and crunchiness had me hooked.

There is one thing I need to learn and that is “rai vara gaajar”(pickled carrots in a mustard seed dressing) This accompaniment really made the dish. Especially with the addition of tangy slices of bell pepper. One recipe I must get off my sister to share with you all!

Thank you sooo much for an amazing evening! And for lifting my spirits with great company and delicious food.
Missed my other brother and family as did my little one, that he said he wanted to go to his house after leaving his younger uncle’s home!

Here’s to even more fabulous family get togethers! Your all just brilliant! and thank you for being a part of my journey x

Sweet luxury faluda milk

A cooling refreshing ice cream float in milk laced with sweet rose syrup. Plus the addition of basil seeds which is closely related to the new wonder chia seeds! Also with vermicelli that sinks to the bottom and makes it a treat at the end to scoop out from the bottom of your tall glass!

One of my husband’s favourites when we go to an Indian restaurant. So as he’s feeling under the weather, I knew this large pink glass full of sweet milk and ice cream would cheer him up no end! And I was right lol!

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp basil seeds
3 tbsp rose syrup
4 tbsp vermicelli mini
Cold milk
Scoop of vanilla ice cream

METHOD

• Boil the vermicelli for 5 minutes and strain. Keep aside to cool

• Put the basil seeds in a bowl and soak the seeds with enough cold water for 5 minutes

• Pour in the rose syrup into a tall glass add the soaked basil seeds and 2
tablespoons of the boiled vermicelli. Add cold milk to and stir. Place the scoop of ice cream onto the milk to top it off

You’ll definitely need a tall spoon to devour the goodness!

Enjoy! Much love D x

One pot Pau Bhaji Masala

Yes it says One Pot! Soooo easy and soooo comforting in this autumnal weather! There may look to be a lot of ingredients but this is what makes this dish and remember no separate cooking of the veg or tomato base. It’s just too good to be true right?

Well ok you do have to blend the bhaji curry at the end! But the blender will do all the hard work as will the cooker in this one pot wonder! Go on give it a try and let me know how you go! Love D x

INGREDIENTS

1 cauliflower separated into florets
1 aubergine chopped
2 medium red potatoes chopped
2 medium onions chopped
1 red bell pepper
1 cup frozen peas
3 garlic cloves crushed
2 tsp ginger grated
150g tomato crushed/passata
1 tbsp sunflower oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp cumin seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
2 cloves
2 tsp salt or to taste
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp chilli powder
2 tsp pau bhaji masala or 3 tsp if you want it spicy
2 tsp ground cumin & coriander powder
⅓ tsp turmeric
Boiling water
Pinch of sugar
Squeeze of lemon
1 tbsp butter
chopped coriander to garnish

METHOD

• Heat up the oil with the asafoetida, cloves, mustard and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to sizzle throw in the onion, 1 clove of garlic crushed, ginger and red pepper and sauté until onion is translucent

• Add the cauliflower, aubergine, potatoes and pour over some boiling water enough to cover half of the veg. Stir in the salt, coriander & cumin powder and turmeric. Bring to a boil and then cover on a low heat for 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender

• Pour in the passata add the peas, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, sugar, pau bhaji masala and mix well. Cook and cover for a further 10 minutes

The vegetables should be quite mushy and very tender at this stage. This is what you want

• Lastly pour the bhaji into a blender and blitz until you have a paste similar to the main picture. Return back to the saucepan and stir in the butter and lemon juice.

Can be served with buttered toast or rolls or even with chapatis

Chana paneer

This recipe has been inspired by my youngest sister in law. She recently sent me a picture of their dinner that she had made of mattar paneer with grated paneer instead of the usual cubes or chunks of this moreish Indian cheese.

I absolutely loved this idea as this way you are able to get paneer in every mouthful and can use less. Therefore reducing the amount of fat in the dish but not compromising on the flavour and rather enhancing it. Thank you Amrita for sharing your great idea! x

So my brain started to tick and I started to wonder what kind of curry I could come up with and add this grated paneer idea to. Chickpeas came to mind and chana paneer was born! It is one of those dishes that anyone who adores paneer will love!

INGREDIENTS

250g grated paneer
1 tin chickpeas drained and rinsed
1 tbsp sunflower oil
¼ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp cumin seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp finely chopped chilli
150g tomato passata/crushed tomato
1 tsp chana masala
1 tsp shahi paneer masala
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp turmeric
2 tsps ground coriander & cumin powder
Pinch of sugar
Handful of chopped coriander

METHOD

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan with the asafoetida, cumin and mustard seeds. Once they start to sizzle throw in the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli, stir fry on a low heat

• Add all the spices and combine. Pour in the passata, season with salt and stir in the grated paneer. Cover and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes

• Mix in the chickpeas. Gently combine, cover and cook for a further 10 minutes

Once done garnish with coriander and serve with some naan bread