Quick Chili Paneer - by Big Sis

Quick Chilli Paneer

Day before yesterday, the weather being very nice, I was out in the backyard in the evening, close to the flowering trees. And then I don't know what happened. Boom! my eyes started swelling up and before I could say, "Hold on", the skin around my eyes got all puffed up, making my eyes squished inwards and tiny!!  I could not recognize myself even if I knew I was the same person. Had I committed a murder, this would be the perfect alibi. But too late. I hadn't.
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I was not bitten by an insect. Not even unknowingly. There was no pain. Just the swelling. I figured it was an allergic reaction and I do have pollen allergies which usually manifests itself in sneezing and sinus, but this eye thing was new. The husband-man and friends suggested I see a doctor but in these times, going out to a doctor's office is as much as an risky adventure as swimming across the Atlantic ocean. So I did neither.

Well, I could have opted for a televisit but then I really don't think the doc could do anything except suggest cold compress for my eyes and allergy medication, sitting remotely in the comfort of her own couch.

 So with my almost shut eyes, I looked up my symptoms on the internet and found that it could be something that could make me "DIE" in the next thirty years or it could be allergies. I went with the latter.

I have been on Zyrtec, a little of Children's Benadryl since then and putting ice on my eyes like a maniac. Yesterday I looked very Asian, not South-east Asian. My daughters said I was being racist but I am just trying to describe how I looked. I was also wearing sunglasses all the time and listening to NPR's moth hour instead of watching TV or reading books.

Today I look a cross between South-east Asian and Asian. So my eyes are coming back to normal, albeit slowly.

Since I was all  drowsy and almost blind, Big Sis made dinner yesterday. LS helped her with chopping. They both together made a Chilli Paneer and a Fried Rice which was so delicious that I wish they made dinner more often.

This is a Chili Paneer recipe we use often in our house. It's very quick and simple. I am not sure if BigSis followed it fully. Like any good cook she deviates from recipes and I am proud of that. Please take your liberty and do as you like. The result will be delicious.

What You Need

Onion - 1 medium chopped in thick slices
Green Pepper - 1 chopped in thick slices
Garlic - 4/5 minced
Green Chili - 2 chopped

Paneer - chopped into cubes

Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar -- 1/2 tsp
Corn Flour -- 1-2 tsp

Vegetable Oil (or Sesame Oil) -- 3 Tbsp for cooking

To make the Sauce

Soy Sauce -- 2 Tbsp
Hot Sauce (Sriracha or any other Red Chili Sauce) -- 1 Tbsp
Maggi Hot & Sweet - 1 Tbsp
Green Chilli Sauce -- 1 tsp
White Vinegar -- 2 Tbsp
Mix all of the above to make this sauce. Taste and adjust for anything you feel is missing.

Here's how we Do It

Warm Vegetable Oil in a frying pan/saucier/Kadhai

Add the paneer pieces so that they are in one single layer. Sprinkle a little red chili powder, salt and sugar. Fry the paneer pieces so that one side is golden brown. Remove and keep aside.

To the same oil add the minced garlic.

Once you get the aroma of garlic add the onion and saute for a minute. Add the green pepper. Increase the heat to high and saute onion and green pepper until they are little soft.

Next add the sauce and mix. Reduce heat to medium.

Add the paneer pieces and toss with the sauce

In the bowl that you mixed the sauce add 1/4th Cup of water and 1-2 tsp of corn flour. Mix well. Add this to the frying pan and let it come to a simmer.

Adjust for any seasonings needed.

Serve with fried rice.

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Pasta Mexilian Bolognese -- or 3 ways to use the same dish

In the face of increasing number of deaths in New York and New Jersey, my lament about grocery stores sounds petty, There are many people getting very sick, there is an army of doctors and nurses and other healthcare workers tending to those that are very sick and getting sick themselves, there are the grocery line workers, the mailman, the garbage guy all risking their lives and out on the street while all I can complain about is going to a grocery store.

I am eternally grateful that we are able to stay home safe and so far doing okay. The little we can do to help flatten the curve is -- stay home and that is all we are doing. Thank you Google for this beautiful doodle thanking healthcare workers and researchers in the scientific community.



I had written this last week to remind me many years later how our day-to-day simple chores like grocery was impacted by the coronavirus.

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It is now the 16th day that I have been home and except for groceries once in 8-10 days, or a quick walk around the neighborhood, we have not ventured out anywhere.

Grocery shopping itself has become a nightmare.

Before going to the store, we have to wear masks, gloves, sunglasses.

Then on reaching the store have to wipe the shopping cart down with a disinfectant wipe.

After hauling all the grocery home, is the biggest task!

For the fresh vegetables, I got 2 weeks back,I had washed them and left them out in the sun. I chose a particularly sunny day to do grocery. If I had a Benimadhab Shil er Panjika (a Panchang) I would have consulted that too! I don't intend to buy Vegetables again.
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The non-perishables I keep in garage for 72 hrs.

The perishables like milk, meat etc has to be brought inside. Also the frozen stuff. This means more work.
I try to wipe down the bags and then when possible transfer the contents to another bag before putting in freezer finally.

At the end of this whole ordeal, I never want to go back to a grocery store again! Seriously.

Yesterday I went to Costco and it felt I was living in a dystopian novel. Costco has restricted access to only 30 members at a time inside the stores, so it was pretty empty, none of the usual rush. Every person was wearing a mask and gloves and moving around silently, picking up their groceries. No samples. No one peddling Vitamix. The check out persons were all behind a plexi glass shield and the usual happy faces were missing.
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The employees were managing the social distancing very well though including the checkout lines. Pretty impressive.
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Since we are all staying home, the kids do not have their after school activities and I do not have my grueling daily commute anymore, I do get more time to cook meals during the evenings. Even then it always helps if I can cook one dish and re-purpose it in different ways over the week. That way everyone gets to eat something new and yet I can ration pantry ingredients. Also my efforts in the kitchen are halved.

This dish is one of those which can be very easily serve many purposes. The primary purpose is of course the sauce base for one of our favorite Pasta dishes.
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This pasta is my take on Bolognese. But it's Mexalian Bolognese 🤣, like Italian + Mexican!
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First I make a chilli with ground chicken, canned tomatoes, garlic, onion, peppers and taco seasoning. Also some good old bhaja moshla and kashmiri mirch.

This chilli is then used used in 3 different ways.

1. First as a sauce base for Pasta. Our favorite Pasta Mexilian Bolognese

2. Second on a Roti or a Tortilla topped with avocados and onions. Or on a crepe made with millet and oat flour

3. Third you can make an empanada or a chicken patties like I did. I had puff pastry sheets and I used those

Pakodi Kadhi -- dumplings in a yogurt gravy

Pakodi Kadhi

We are on the 3rd week of school closures. It has now been 14 days since we are in quarantine though the official lockdown in our state started a bit later.

Cases in New York and NJ seems to be rising like crazy. Almost 0.4% of NY's population has tested positive while 0.2% of NJ's

I am just glad that we are safe home and I am absolutely clueless why people are complaining so much about staying indoors.

I am for one happy as I can sleep a little more in the morning, don't have the hour long commute each way each day, and now that the girls don't have any after school activity, my evenings are no longer rushed.

Instead of crazy Sundays, where I had to plan and cook ahead for the week, now I am cooking a dish almost every evening. I am also making rotis, albeit painstakingly, and not always great ones, but I am trying.

Today after a long time, I made this favorite dish of mine -- Pakodi Kadhi.

There was a time when I would pester my Mom to make this once a week at least. She would usually make it on a Friday, the day we ate vegetarian meals only. There were three favorite dishes earmarked for Fridays and she would always rotate the menu amongst these -- Chhanar Dalna, Aloo Posto and Pakodi Kadhi.

My Mother, having lived a lot of her life outside Bengal, had adapted a variety of non-Bengali Indian recipes in her kitchen and made them often. This was one of them. So at a time when most Bengalis, including the husband-man looked at me curiously when I mentioned that Kadhi was my favorite dish, in our home we were eating Kadhi like we were born into it.

I still remember, many years ago, an impromptu guest (the typical Calcuttan) who had arrived with one of my cousins around our Friday lunch time. Our Friday lunch was usually simple and involved rice, dal, aloo posto and then either Chhanar Dalna or Kadhi. That particular day it was kadhi. We had almost finished our lunch when they had arrived but my Ma I remember insisted they join us at the table. The typical Bengali guy had plowed through, rice, dal, aloo posto, kadhi and sat at the table food drying up on his hands. When finally asked if he was done, he had blatantly said, he was waiting for the fish!! I still cannot forget the look on his face, when we told him, that there was no fish curry that day!! He was unable to fathom what the "kadhi" was and kept saying that in their house there was always a fish curry that followed dal.

Now that I think of it, it seems incredibly rude of him, but at that time we were just plain flummoxed by his ignorance.

Pakodi Kadhi or dumplings made of besan/chickpea flour in a yogurt gravy is a very popular dish in Northern india and also Gujarat. There are little differences in the spices used in the two regions. I find the Punjabi Pakodi kadhi is a tad bit more richer with use of onion in the pakodis as our Punjabi nanny would insist. The Gujarati Pakodi kadhi is thinner and less spicy and I loved all the variety of Gujarati Kadhis that LS's Gujju babysitter would make for us. But that was 7 years ago. We haven't had anyone making anything for us since then!

This version of Kadhi is closer to the Gujarati version but I have stuck to the spices my Mother used which were minimal. The kadhi that LS's Gujarati nanny would make was more thinner and white in color, with no turmeric. However my Mother does uses turmeric and her kadhi is not runny so I have kept to that.

Pakodi Kadhi --  dumplings in a yogurt gravy

Make the Pakodi

Besan/Gram Flour -- 1 Cup
Green Chilies - 3 finely chopped
Salt - to taste
Mustard seeds -- 1/4 tsp
Baking soda - a pinch
Water -- 3/4th Cup

In a wide mouthed bowl, add the
Besan
Green Chili
Salt
Baking soda
With a fork mix the dry ingredients

Gradually add water, mixing the batter to a medium-thick consistency. Make sure the batter has no lumps.

Heat oil for frying in a Kadhai.

Once the oil is hot, take a tea spoonful of hot oil and add it to the batter and mix it in.

Now in hot oil, add 1 Tbsp of batter.
Depending on the size of your kadhai, you can add more. 1 Tbsp for each Pakodi.

Once the pakodi is cooked, flip with a slotted spoon and fry the other side. Do this a couple of times, turning and frying the dumpling in hot oil until the pakodi is crispy and golden brown.
When both sides are golden brown, take out with a slotted spoon and keep aside.

This amount of batter will make almost 12-15 pakodis.

Make the Kadhi

Yogurt - 1 Cup
Besan - 1/8th Cup
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
Yellow Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Water - 1 Cup

Spices for Tempering

Jeera/Whole Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Methi/Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Dry Red Chili - 2
Hing/Asafoetida - a pinch


Green Chili - 2 chopped

Kasoori Methi -- 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Vegetable Oil -- 1 Tbsp

In the same bowl that you had used to make the batter, add
1 Cup sour Yogurt
1/8th Cup Besan
1 Cup Water
Red chili Powder
Turmeric powder
Beat well

Now in a saucier/kadhai warm 1 Tbsp Vegetable oil

When the oil is hot, temper with the spices listed under Spices for Tempering.

Once the spices start popping, take the saucier/kadhai off direct heat. Wait for 1 minute and then slowly add the yogurt mix.

Put it back on low-medium heat mixing the gravy. Cook at medium heat for 2 minutes. Add some more water and mix well.

Now increase the heat to medium and bring the kadhi to a simmer. Add salt to taste. If the yogurt is very sour add little sugar. Simmer until there is no raw smell of besan/gram flour. If needed add more water. Remember, the pakodis will absorb some of the liquid.

Now add the pakodis and simmer for a couple more minutes. Remove from heat.

Add 1 tsp of Ghee and the Kasoori methi crushed between your palm. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes.
Serve hot with rice.




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