Kadhai Paneer

So these were my Mothers Day Gifts. Mission accomplished. But the "cheapo" that I am, I plan to trade half of the Pier 1 gift card for a HomeGoods one, that will get me a lot more with the same amount.

A sweet pea plant, hand made cards, hand made frames and...

I know, I know its the sentiment that counts and not the gift and I do apply that principle for all others except the parent and D. You see if someone close like my family is giving me an expensive present, I would rather see the money well spent. With others I am polite.

But sometimes the gift giving especially for Kid's birthdays goes a bit out of hand, both ways when you are the giver or the receiver. While giving the budget seems to constantly increase with the years and with Big Sis S's class of 15 kids, having a birthday party almost every month sure puts a strain on the purse strings. The receiving scene is not too happy either with lots of gifts which the kiddo exactly doesn't need, given that she is not the kind who plays extensively with toys.

Really what do you do with a gift especially kid's toys(which just grows and grows) that you don't think your kid will play with at all ?

I could be like my Mom who wrapped up the nth La Opala coffee mugs that I got for my wedding and gifted it to neighbor 2's niece's sister-in-law on her marriage. The relations were far flung and the gift was sure to submerge in a deluge of more such coffee cups.

Or I could be like this friend who presented us with a pretty gift with words as to why she thought this would be perfect for us. Later when we took out the gift from the box, tucked in its warmth was a card blessing a certain bride and groom on their marriage.Given that neither us nor the friend were recent new brides, I can only say the gift had a long lineage.

Truth be told I have done that at times but with a close network of friends it is a dangerous thing to do and so the gifts keep piling up in the basement. With the kid's toys I don't want to do it because I feel people do spend time and money and some thought buying them so you can't just give them away.
Seriously tell me what do you do ? Do you donate, recycle gifts, do what ?

Since S has declared her love for paneer, we get a block for her almost every other week. We ate paneer in moderation before, maybe once in two weeks and that was it. Now with the deluge of paneer I thought of trying a Kadhai Paneer. I am not too fond of bell pepper with chicken or fish and Kadhai paneer is not exactly my favorite item on the menu. But this might be a good way to get those anti-oxidant loaded bell peppers into Big Sis S I thought.

So Kadhai Paneer it was and I followed the recipe from Fun'n'Food this time with certain changes to my taste. It is a very simple recipe with little time needed and simple ingredients. It tasted pretty good and looked pretty too.


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Kadhai Paneer

Prep: Cut almost 12 oz of Paneer in small cubes. There were about 2 cups of paneer cubes.

The Nanak brand of Paneer I usually buy is pretty soft by my standard and I don't fry them. If your paneer is hard sitting in the refrigerator microwave for a few seconds to make it soft or if your paneer is the tough variety, fry lightly and dunk in salted warm water

Chop 1 medium red onion in big chunks and also de-seed & chop 1 medium Bell pepper in big chunks

Start Cooking

In a Kadhai or Frying Pan heat Oil

Flavor the oil with 1 clove of garlic minced

When you get the flavor of garlic add the onion and saute till translucent. While frying the onion add little sugar about 1/4 tsp

Add the bell pepper and saute. Cover and saute till capsicum is soft

Add 1 tsp of ginger paste and then 2 tsp of garlic paste. With a sprinkle of water saute for a minute or half

Add little turmeric, 1/2 tsp of Cumin powder, 1 tsp of Red Chilli powder and 1/4-1/2 tsp of Garam masala powder

Fry the masala again with sprinkle of water for 2-3 minute or till the masala has coated the onions and pepper nicely

Add 1 cup of tomato puree and 1 & 1/2 tsp of Kasoori methi. Add salt to taste. You may need to add little water(I added 1/2 cup) depending on if you want gravy or not. Note: I made the puree with canned tomatoes and so mine wasn't super thick kind, you can use canned or fresh tomato puree

Add the paneer cubes and simmer at medium heat till the gravy thickens and the paneer and bell pepper is cooked. Check to see if the seasonings are correct and adjust accordingly

To enhance the taste add 1/2 tsp of ghee and mix well before taking of the heat

Trivia: Green capsicum is the least mature type and has a fresh ‘raw’ flavour. Red capsicum is basically a matured or ripened green capsicum and is distinctively sweeter. Yellow and orange capsicums are similar in taste to red capsicum, although not quite as sweet. All of them are excellent sources of vitamin C and vitamin A

Beet Gajor Chechki

Before I tell you what I got and did for Mothers Day I need a little prelude, a flashback.

"It was my birthday some couple of months back(don't wish me it will be way belated). I no longer look forward to birthdays, not because of the cliched age factor but more pertinent issues at hand.

The foremost being "OMG what is the hubby going to get me this time". This phrase has changed from anticipation to foreboding over the years.I have known the husband for long and it seems to be getting worse. Not because he gets me bad presents but because he gets impulsive presents.
At the very beginning it was pretty nice and simple, he was a regular friend and got me nothing and demanded a treat. Then he got me books which was nicer except for the time he got a Stroustrup.

It seemed to go wrong after marriage though. I try to give him ideas come birthday time and since I am a sensible girl I ask him to get stuff which can be of household use but he has his own ideas and tries to spring a surprise every time which I have begun to grow afraid of. The poor guy is actually pretty good at heart and his gifts would be ideal for any female but me.

This time it was the worst of worse, he got me a gift card to a Spa. A Spa, a Spa, what was he thinking ? I am not even remotely the Spa kind and as much I know of him neither is he. In fact he had been attracted by my well oiled whiskers in the first place. Why would he want me to go to a Spa and get rid of them and other such stuff ? What would I do there or rather what would the Spa people do with me ? They would not even know where to start. And if I stripped and lay down on their massage tables that would be the end of it.

I was pretty depressed with this whole Spa thing, perfect good money wasted I felt. I could have blown that all out in Pier 1 and revamped the whole house and now I have to do pedicure every month to use up the gift card, I lamented. My feet who are used to such luxury maybe only twice a year are not going to be too happy and no way am I going to get a massage laying down all naked."

So its been a while now, I have not used the Gift card yet, it expires in two years, so I still have time to muster courage. And in the next post I will tell you about Mothers day and the GIFTs.

Chechki in motion

Now to the Chechki. Ok, I don't even know if this dish is called a chechki. My Ma used to simply call it Beet Gajor er Bhaja(a stir fry of beet & carrots). But a friend said she does the same and calls it chechki. Given that I have no "chechki" in my repertoire I decided to call it that and now I have "charchari", "ghonto" and yes a "chechki" too in my blog, a one stop shop for all bong varieties. With this you can only guess what "hits" I am going to get, including a deluge of Phelps' fans who will be totally at sea, well but they better swim.


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Beet Gajor Chechki (Beet & Carrots stir fry)

Prep: Wash, peel and Chop two medium sized beet root and two decent sized carrots in thin slices and a length of 2" or so. The way you chop is important in this dish.

Start Cooking:

Heat Oil in a Kadhai or Wok or a wide mouthed frying pan. I used Olived Oil and it is fine but you can use Canola or Peanut or Sunflower oil. No mustard oil here.

Temper the Oil with 3/4 tsp of Kalonji/Nigella seeds. When the spices start popping add 1/3 cup of chopped red onion and 5-6 slit hot Indian green chili. Note: you can substitute the Kalonji with Paanch Phoron if you wish

Once the onion turns pink and translucent add the chopped beet root and carrots

Add salt, a little turmeric and fry for 2-3 minutes so that the veggies is nicely coated with what little spice you have there.

Cover and cook at medium heat. Every few minutes raise the cover and give the veggies a good stir.

You might need to sprinkle a little water but that would be very little just to create moisture to aid in the cooking.

Cook till the beet root is well done(carrot will cook quicker hopefully). Give one more good stir and taste-adjust for any seasoning. Enjoy with roti or by itself

Note: I do not add garlic or any other spices in this dish but you can add a little garlic along with the onion & green chilli, I think it might give a nice kick to the dish

Update: This time around I did add 1 clove of garlic finely minced along with the onion and also added little lime juice at the end as suggested by a reader. Both added a lovely new layer to the taste





Trivia: Borscht is an Eastern European soup made from beets that has been an important winter staple in countries like Russia and Poland since the 14th century. In 1975, during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, cosmonauts from the USSR's Soyuz 19 welcomed the Apollo 18 astronauts by preparing a banquet of borscht squeezed from tubes and other treats.

Also if you are in Belgium this dish would have certainly helped you today as Belgium has declared Thursday as a Vegetarian Day in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint

Shuddh Videshi Ghee ar Alu Sheddo

I made Ghee, at home, with my own hands. No I didn't milk the cow or anything and I used a shortcut, but if we put that aside, I made Ghee in bold letters.

With that I graduate from a regular Mom to the ubiquitous Aunty-ji. Pleez do consult me with all your gharelu(household) problems including mom-in-law , husband , bai and water shortage, and of course how to make ghee. That I can't make decent phulkas shall not be discussed in this post.

So I never made ghee @ home before. Never needed to. My ma and ma-in-law took it upon themselves to send home made shuddh desi ghee for Big Sis S till she turned 3. After that it was store bought which was used sparingly since we are not big time ghee eaters. Now Baby A has started on solids and it was time to introduce fat to her. There was no grandma around and Mom found out that making shuddh videshi ghee was not difficult at all, much easier than the cow's milk --> boil milk to gather the cream on top --> save the top cream from milk for days --> make desi ghee route

So this is what Baby A's Mom did to make glorious golden ghee


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Making Ghee

In a heavy bottomed pot/vessel/pan place 4 sticks of organic unsalted butter. At medium heat let the butter melt. There will be foaming and bubbling while the butter melts but soon this will subside. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered. Stir intermittently. Gradually you will see milk-solids turning from beige to brown and settling down at the bottom while a clear transparent golden liquid remains at top. Once the milk solids turn a deep shade of brown turn off the heat. Note: The point at which you turn off the heat is critical, too little or too much is not desired. Keep watch and don't burn the milk-solid. Also keep the heat at low and don't try to hasten the process by turning heat to high.

Do not disturb the vessel/pot/pan and let the milk solids settle down at the bottom while only the clear liquid remains at the top.

Decant the liquid by tipping the vessel gently and collecting the liquid in a clean dry glass jar. You can also use a cheese cloth or any clean cotton cloth for this purpose

The golden liquid that you just collected is precious ghee. Smell. Heaven.

Let the ghee come to room temperature. Close the jar tight and store at room temperature. If ghee is not made correctly i.e. cooked too little it tends to spoil or sour, but if made correctly it stores well at room temperature

Now we Bengalis do not throw away anything that is edible and the deep brown milk solids that remain at the end of the ghee making process are a delicacy for us. We call it cha(n)chi (ch as in chair and then a nasal sound for n) and eat it mixed with plain white rice, salt and mashed potatoes. Strangely while I do remember the smell of ghee from my childhood, more than the ghee I remember this rich brown "leftover" granules which we used to savor mixed with white rice.

So while the home was fragrant with the smell of ghee we enjoyed a rare dinner of rice, alu sheddo with finely chopped onions and green chillies and dollops of ghee & cha(n)chi.

To make alu sheddo(siddho), boil potatoes skin on till done. Hold under running water and peel the potato. Mash with back of a spatula. Add little mustard oil, finely chopped red onion, finely chopped green chilli and salt. Now with clean hands work all of this in the potato and make smooth rounds of mashed potato. Enjoy this with white rice and dollops of golden ghee.

According to Ayurveda, Ghee builds the aura, makes all the organs soft, builds up the internal juices of the body-Rasa, which are destroyed by aging and increases the most refined element of digestion-Shukra or Ojas, the underlying basis of all immunity and the “essence of all bodily tissues”. Ghee is known to increase intelligence--Dhi, refine the intellect-Buddhi and improve the memory-Smrti.

A little bit of ghee added to your food boosts the flavor and if that ghee is home made the taste triples. So like me if you do not use ghee as a cooking medium, occasionally add half a tsp of ghee just before finishing off your cooking and savor the goodness of ghee.