Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Paneer Burger


It was one of those days when I wanted to make something different with Paneer. I had decided to make Pizza but then we decided to go out. So I gave up on idea of paneer and instead decided to make burger.


Ingredients
8 Burger Buns
8 Cheese slices
400g Paneer
1 Cup Maida
2 Potatoes
1 Spoon Ginger
3-4 Garlic Cloves
3-4 Green Chillies
1 Spoon Black Pepper
Handful of Coriander leaves
1 Onion
1 Tomato
1 Cup Lettuce
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Make cubes of Paneer and shallow fry them till golden in color. Keep aside.
  • Cook the potatoes in cooker till completely done.
  • In mixer make fine paste of garlic, ginger and green chillies.
  • Mix the ginger-garlic-chilli paste, smashed potatoes, black pepper, finely chopped coriander and salt to taste.
  • Add in Paneer cubes and make the patties out of these mixture.
  • Mix maida with water to form thin paste. Dip the Patti in the mixture and fry it in oil over medium heat till brown on both sides.
  • On each burger bun, put onion, tomato and cheese slice. Stack up Patti and lettuce and close the bun and serve with ketchup.

Notes
I didn't use mayo or anything in the burger itself, instead served it on side to dip it in. The main goal of this was Indian-spicy taste and yet burgerish feel.

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Methi Puri


Few weeks ago after getting fresh Methi from Indian market, i decided to try something different than usual paratha or vegetable and so came this puri. The first attempt itself was perfect and so tasty that I had to share.

Methi Puri
Ingredients
1 Bunch Methi
2 Cup Maida
1 Cup Wheat Flour
2 Green Chillies
1 Spoon Ginger
4-5 Garlic Cloves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method
  • Wash methi and add it to the mixer
  • Add ginger, garlic, green chilli and half cup of water. Crush it to fine liquidy paste.
  • Pour it into the plate, add in maida, wheat flour, salt and knead soft dough.
  • Add couple drops of oil and knead again for a minute. Keep aside for half an hour
  • Heat oil in pan, roll small puris from the dough and fry them till light brown on both sides.

Notes
Making very fine paste is important because otherwise the pieces will come out while rolling and the puris would remain flat.
I didn't need to use more water while kneading dough as the paste itself was enough to accommodate the maida, but you could change the water and maida quantity if you need to.

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Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Lemon And Apricot Cake


I was on lookout for something more like pound cake yet not something plain for Ajoy's birthday celebration. He enjoys plain cake more than anything so something based of that yet something more richer would make perfect for the occasion. I wanted to either use lemon or orange especially after seeing all these food networks making use of their zest. So when i found a recipe for this cake in one of the books i have, i modified it bit to his taste and came up with this.

Lemon And Apricot Cake
Ingredients
3 Cup Maida
175g Apricot
1 Cup Almonds
1.25 Cup Pistachios
2/3 Cup Sliced Almonds
2 Cup Sugar
1 + 1/3 Cup Butter
1.25 Spoon Baking Powder
3 Eggs
1/3 Spoon Salt
1 big Lemon

Method
  • Preheat oven to 180C/350F
  • In a bowl, blend butter and 1.5 Cup sugar together till smooth
  • Sieve together maida and baking powder 3-4 times.
  • Add it to the butter-sugar mixture.
  • Add in eggs, salt, zest of the lemon and 1/2 cup of warm water and blend till smooth.
  • Fold in chopped apricot, 1 cup almonds powdered and 1 cup pistachios chopped.
  • Line the loaf pan or any other cake pan you want to use with parchment paper on bottom as well as sides and spoon all the batter in it.
  • Put remaining pistachios and sliced almonds over the mixture and press it lightly over the cake.
  • Bake the cake in oven for 75 minutes on 180C/350F, covering the top with foil after around 50 minutes.
  • Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.
  • In the mean time, over medium heat with constant stirring, cook lemon juice of the lemon with remaining sugar till sugar dissolves completely an mixture bubbles up slightly.
  • Pour the mixture over the cake and then take out the cake on wire rack to let it cool completely.

Notes
Covering the top midway into baking helps not overcooking the nuts and burning them. The lemon-sugar syrup adds the flavor as well as a little moistness to the cake.

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