Salams lovely people, hope you all have been well…it will be Spring soon..I’ve started seeing lovely daffodils starting to bloom already…where’s the usual British winter that we are used to gone already?
Spring/summer means wedding season too…I have 2 close family weddings very soon so at the moment weekends is just full of shopping, shopping and more shopping. Oh well, that aside lets get onto my latest dish…Chilli Paneer, who doesn’t like a bit of paneer (my hubby excluded cos cheese 🙄) this paneer dish is saucy and fully of tangy flavour, we usually have it with plain boiled rice or if your prefer you can eat it with Roti/Rotli or fresh tandoori naan. Be sure to let me know if you do try it out.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE:

1/4 cup oil

1 tbs mustard seeds

4/5 whole red dry Chillies

10 curry leaves

4 tbsp tomato puree

2 cups tomato ketchup (more if needed)

2 fresh tomatoes (small cubes) or half a tin chopped tomatoes

2 tsp garlic paste

2 tsp crushed red Chillies

2 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp salt ( add more to taste)

Half a green pepper (cubed chunky)

Half a red pepper (cubed chunky)

1 medium onion (thinly sliced)

Spring onions (chopped finely at an angle)

Chopped Coriander

FOR THE PANEER: 

300g Paneer (cut into 2cm cubes)

1 tsp ginger/garlic paste

1 tsp coarse black pepper

Half tsp salt

FOR THE PANEER BATTER:

Half cup plain flour

Quarter cup corn flour

1 tsp Salt

1 tbs oil

Enough water to make thick batter

METHOD:

Take the paneer cubes in a bowl and add the salt, black pepper and ginger/garlic paste, mix well and leave aside for about half an hour.

Pour the oil into a large pot and heat on high and then add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and the whole dry red Chillies, let the mustard seeds pop and when an aroma arises from the curry leaves etc add in the tomato puree and stir, lower the heat to medium and just stir fry this all for a few minutes. Now add in the tomato ketchup and the spices which are the cumin powder, crushed red Chillies, the salt and the garlic paste, stir well and keep the heat low to medium. Cover the pot and let this cook together for about 5-7 minutes.

Once you can see the oil has separated from the tomato mix, add the chopped tomatoes, peppers and the onions. Mix well and cook further until the onions and peppers start to soften. Make sure the tomato sauce does not dry out, if you feel it is drying out add a bit more ketchup. Also add in some chopped spring onion.

While the tomato sauce is cooking you can fry the paneer.
Make the paneer batter by mixing the plain and corn flour, salt and oil, rub the oil into the flour so that it is crumbly, make a well in the centre of the bowl and add enough water to make a thick batter.
Heat some oil in a pan to deep fry the paneer. Take the cubed paneer and dip each cube in batter and place in the deep oil and fry until golden. Drain the fried paneer on some kitchen towel.
Once all the paneer cubes have been fried, place into the pot with the tomato sauce and mix well.

Garnish with chopped coriander, chopped Spring onion and some sesame seeds.

Enjoy!! 🤓

 Cut the paneer into cubes

 This is the paneer I used but you can use any you like
 Put the cubes paneer in a bowl and add salt, pepper and ginger garlic paste
 Marinate the paneer cubes well and leave aside for around 20 minutes

 Make a thick batter with the ingredients listed for the batter

 Coat each paneer cube in the batter
 Deep fry the coated paneer cubes until golden

 Drain the fried paneer cubes on some kitchen towel
 In a pot heat the oil and add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and whole dry red Chillies
 Add the tomato puree and fry for a few minutes

 Add the tomato ketchup, mix well and cook further
 Next add the garlic, crushed red Chillies, salt and cumin powder
 Mix well and let this all cook further, cover pot so it doesn’t mess up your cooker
 Keep your veg all chopped & ready
 Add your chopped tomatoes
 And your peppers
 And also the chopped onions (if you like also add a handful of chopped Spring onions at this point)
 Mix it all together and cook for a while longer but don’t let the sauce dry out too much
 Once sauce is ready add the fried paneer
 Carefully Mix the paneer into the sauce
 Garnish with chopped Spring onions, coriander and sesame seeds and serve with boiled jeera rice or roti or naan

Salams Lovely People…wow it’s already 2016…the last year has just flown past don’t u think? I pray everyone has a stress-free and happy 2016 insha’allah.  I’ve decided to post a traditional recipe this time. It’s something most Asians will be familiar with, and its one of those traditional dish combinations we have been having at least one a week or every 2-3 weeks since like forever. It sure is one of our household faves. The daal recipe was given to me by a friend and I have adapted it slightly. I’m one of those who doesn’t really cook by the teaspoon so was a bit difficult to actually measure everything so please adjust accordingly to what you think is right for you. As always any questions please message me on here or on Instagram or Facebook.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Daal:

1 mug Toor Daal (available in local Asian grocers)

Handful of Daghar phool (available in local Asian grocers)

Half pound mixed lamb meat (washed)

1 large onion (sliced)

1 tin chopped tomatoes (blended)

1/3 cup oil

4 cloves of garlic (chopped tiny)

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 and half tsp red chilli powder

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

Half tsp turmeric

1 and half tsp salt (but to taste)

2 Star Anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 cardamom pods, 2 dried red chillies

Handful of chopped fenugreek (methi bhaji) leaves

Handful of chopped coriander

For the Rice:

2 mugs Basmati Rice (washed thrice and leave to soak in warm water for around 30- 45 minutes)

1 large onion (sliced)

1 Tbs cumin seeds

2 cinnamon sticks

3 cardamom pods

2 Bay leaves

1/3 cup sweetcorn (optional)

2 tsp salt (add more or less to taste)

1/3 cup oil

METHOD:

For the Daal:

Wash the daal in warm water 3 times, drain and place in a pressure cooker, add the washed lamb meat and also add the daghar phool, add water so it cover the daal and meat and about 2 to 3 inches above that…sprinkle a bit of salt and turmeric and half a teaspoon of ginger garlic blended. Close lid and put on high heat.

Once the pressure cooker had whistled around 3 to 4 times, turn off and let it cool completely I run it under the cold water tap to make it cool quicker (do not open till it has completely cooled as if the pressure is not let out and you open this can cause injury) Now if you do not own a pressure cooker you can boil in a pot until the daal and meat is cooked but will take longer.

While daal is pressure cooking you can prepare the masala for it. In a separate pot pour in the oil and heat up on high, add the sliced onions with the chopped garlic and cook until the onions and garlic  are starting to brown, keep stirring every so often so that the onions don’t burn.

Once onions are browned, add the blended tomatoes and all the rest of the dry spices, salt, ginger and garlic plus the star anise, cardamon pods, cinnamon stick and dried red chillies. Give it a good stir and Turn flame to medium, cover the pot and let this cook for around 10 minutes checking half way through. At this point also add the fenugreek leaves and also some chopped coriander.

After around 10 minutes check if oil has separated. If not let it cook for a few minutes longer until no moisture remains from the tomatoes and oil has properly separated. Turn off gas.

Once you have checked the daal and meat is cooked, with a slotted spoon remove the meat pieces from the pressure cooker and add to the pot containing the tomato masala. With a hand blender blend the boiled daal that is still in the pressure cooker so it does not look whole. Do not add all the daal to the tomato mix, firstly add half and mix into the masala and check if more is needed. The daal will look quite thick so to thin it slightly add some boiled kettle water to the daal, just enough so it is slightly thinner than your desired consistency.

Turn on cooker again to higher and when the daal starts coming to the boil turn down to medium to low flame and let this simmer for around 10-15 minutes until it is of your desired consistency. Also taste for salt and add if needed. Your daal is ready so now onto the Rice.

For the Rice:

Pour the oil into a medium sized pot and heat, add the sliced onions, cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks and cardamon pods and cook until the onions are slightly golden, stir every so often so that the onions don’t burn.

Boil some water in the kettle, slowly add 4 mugs of boiled water into the golden onions and let this come to a boil, drain the rice and add the rice to the boiling water carefully. Add the salt and stir well.

Keeping flame on high let the rice cook and turn the flame to medium as the water slowly burns off. Once the Water starts to absorb into the rice turn the flame to low, cover the pot and leave to cook for around 15-20 minutes. Check the rice by squeezing it with your fingers, if it still feels slightly hard then add a touch of boiled water again. (At this point I put the rice in the oven on gas mark 3/4, this allows it to cook thoroughly and also stay nice and hot)

Make a selection of Kachumar, pickles and Raitas, fry some poppadoms and Enjoy 😍

Firstly we start on the Daal:

 Add the sliced onions to the heated oil

 Add the chopped garlic, cinnamon sticks and cardamon pods to the onions and let this brown

 Cook until onions have gone slightly golden

 Pour in the blended tomatoes

 And add the dry spices and star anise
 Mix the all the spices well into the tomatoes and let this cook on low to medium heat
 Half way through the tomatoes cooking add the chopped fenugreek and coriander and also the dried red chillies
 Mix well and cover with a lid and cook further
 Check that the oil has separated and moisture from tomatoes has evaporated
 Add the boiled meat and daal and mix well
As the daal will be thick once it’s added to the tomato mixture add some boiled water to thin it slightly
 Once water is added allow the daal to cook on medium heat until it has thickened to a desired consistency and add come chopped coriander

Now for the rice:
 Heat the oil and add the sliced onions and whole jeera, cinnamon sticks, cardamon pods and fry the onions till they are slightly golden brown
 Add boiled water to the rice and bring to a boil again
 Carefully add the rice, salt and bay leaf to the boiling water and once again bring to the boil (I also added a handful of sweetcorn at this point)
 As the water reduces also turn down the heat slowly

 Once water is mostly burned off turn the flame to low and cover and cook further.
 It’s ready to serve Alhumdulillah
I made a selection of Kachumar and Raitas to enjoy with the Daal Chawal (from clockwise: (1) cucumber,chopped onion, salt, red chilli powder, vinegar, chopped coriander (2) cubed Cucumber, yoghurt, blended coriander and green chillies and garlic, salt (3) sliced red onions, yoghurt, sugar, chopped coriander

 It’s Time to dig in!!