Home made Paneer

Category: Kitchen Basics
Cooking Time: 20 mins

Home made Paneer

Paneer is one of the most favourite among the kids. We can use paneer in gravies, stir fries, parathas, pizza, Dosa, Stuffed Buns, Pastries, Options are endless. Also making paneer at home is not a hectic process and once we start making it we would never go back to the store brought ones.

Also if we prefer, we can add little salt and spices as per our liking to make spiced paneer cubes. We can make paneer either with curd or lemon juice. I prefer making with curd since it will give more volume and also will be so soft. While making with lemon juice, we might need to wash the paneer soon after draining it from whey to remove the lemon flavour.

Super soft!!!!

One important thing is we need to drain all water from the paneer or else it will become soft and crumbly; if we want to use for any snack items or for parathas we can use that one. For more firm paneer, we need to make sure there are no water left behind in the paneer.

Soft & Fresh Home made Paneer

Ingredients:

• Full fat Milk - 4 cups
• Curd - 1/2 cup or juice from 1 big lemon

Method:

1. Heat the milk in a wide pan and bring to boil
   
2. Once it starts to boil, reduce the flame to medium and add 1/4 cup of curd (or half of  the lemon juice) and mix well
   
3. Milk will start to curdle; then add the remaining curd (or lemon juice) and reduce the flame to low 
   
4. Gently stir until the milk solids (paneer) gets separated leaving the clear whey water 
5. Switch off once the whey water becomes clear and milk solids get separated
   
6. Place a muslin cloth or any thin white cloth over a wide bowl and pour the curdled milk over it to filter the whey water from the milk solids. We can also strain using fine holed strainer (while pouring hot, we need to use stainless steel strainer. In the pic below, I had placed the cooled paneer) and then place it in white cloth. Whey water can be used for chapathi dough. (If using lemon juice, we might need to wash the paneer after draining)
   
7. Squeeze the excess water and hang it for 1-2 hrs undisturbed
8. Then flatten it and place a heavy weight like a heavy tawa / cooker over the paneer and left undisturbed for another 2 hours
9. After 2 hrs, we can refrigerate it for minimum one hour so that we can get clean neat pieces while cutting into cubes
   
10. Then we can cut into cubes and use in our recipes
    
11. If we are not using it right way or within 1-2 days, we can also freeze them in freezer and use when needed 

    

    Home made Paneer Cubes

12. If there is any water left in paneer, it will become crumbly and in that case we can use it for recipes which needs soft / grated paneer

Suraikkai Kootu (Bottlegourd-Channa Dhal Coconut Curry)

Category: Kootu / Lunch
Preparation Time: 10 mins + 30 mins soaking time
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: 2-3 servings

Bottlegourd Kootu

Ingredients:

• Suraikkai / Bottlegourd - 1 small sized, finely chopped
• Channa Dhal - 1/3 cup
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Water - as needed

For Grinding:

• Fresh Coconut - 1/2 cup, packed
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Green chillies - 1-2 (Adjust as per spiciness)

For Tempering:

• Coconut Oil - 1 1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Urad dhal, split - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Red Chilly, broken - 1 no 
• Asafoetida - a generous pinch

Method:

1. Wash and soak Channa dhal for atleast 30 mins
2. Wash and remove the skin of bottlegourd as well as any big seeds and chop it into fine pieces
   
3. In a pressure cooker, add the soaked channa dhal, finely chopped bottlegourd pieces, turmeric powder and required water; cook in medium flame for 2-3 whistles
4. Meanwhile grind the coconut, cumin seeds and green chillies into a fine paste. If making for kids, we can avoid the green chilly for grinding and use only for tadka
5. Once the dhal and veggie gets cooked, open up the lid and mash them well
   
6. Add the ground coconut paste to the cooked dhal and allow to boil for few mins in low to medium flame
   
7. Add required salt and once it reaches kootu consistency (little thick), switch it off
   
8. In a small pan, heat coconut oil and once it becomes hot add the mustard seeds followed by urad dhal, curry leaves, red chilly and asafoetida
   
9. Pour the tadka into the kootu
   
10. Serve hot with Rice and some Thogayal!!
    

Peanut Butter Choco Chip Banana Bread (Whole Wheat)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 25-35 mins
Servings: 5-6 servings

PB Choco Chip Banana Bread

 Ingredients: 

Dry Ingredients:

• Wheat Flour / Atta - 1 cup
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1/4 tsp

Wet Ingredients:

• Banana, ripen - 3 nos (long variety)
• Egg - 1 no
• Creamy Peanut Butter - 1/2 cup
• Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup, packed (I used Dark Brown sugar)
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Milk - 2-3 tbsp (If using store bought thick peanut butter)

Other Ingredients: 

• Mini Chocolate chips - 1/3-1/2  cup
• Wheat flour - 2 tsp 

Method: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F for 10 mins
2. Grease the baking pan and keep it ready
3. In a sieve, add the wheat flour, Baking soda and salt. Sieve the dry ingredients into a wide plate/bowl
   
4. In a bowl, mash the bananas well  and keep it aside
   
5. In another bowl, add the egg and beat well until it becomes pale and creamy
   
   
   
6. To the beaten egg, add the brown sugar, beat well until it gets combined
   
7. Then add the peanut butter and milk if needed and beat again to form an uniform mixture
   
   
   
8. Add the vanilla extract mix together
9. Now add the mashed banana into this mixture and mix well
   
10. Add the sieved flour into the wet mixture and mix gently till combined
11. Dust the Chocolate chips with 2 tsp of flour and then add them into the batter and mix gently
    
12. Pour the batter into the prepared bread pan (I used my small bundt pan)
    
13. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-35 mins or until its done (can be checked by using tooth pick method)
14. Once its done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins; then remove from the pan
    
15. Slice and serve hot!
    

Peerkangai Kadaisal (Ridgegourd Curry with milk)

Category: Lunch
Preparation Time: 5-10 mins    
Cooking Time: 10-15 mins
Servings: 2-3 servings

Peerkangai Kadaisal

Peerkangai Kadaisal is a quick and simple recipe from Kongu region which uses very minimal ingredients. This is very comforting recipe and even kids will like it. Crushing the cumin seeds by hand makes this dish more aromatic and milk gives a little sweet taste so kids will love it. Since we will be mashing it while cooking, one chilly will be enough; while making for kids, a small piece of chilly would be more than enough

Ingredients:

• Ridge gourds -  2 long ones
• Small Onions, chopped - 7-8 nos
• Green chilly - 1 no, slitted*
• Oil- 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Urad dhal- 1 tsp
• Curry leaves- few
• Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
• Milk - 1/4  - 1/3 cup (Boiled & Cooled)
• Salt - to taste

Method:

1. Wash the ridge gourds well, scrap the edges and peel off the skin, We can use the skin for making thogayal
   
2. Finely chop the ridgegourd and if there are any thick seeds, we need to remove them
   
3. Heat oil in a pan, once it becomes hot add mustard seeds followed by urad dhal, curry leaves, green chilly and chopped small onions, saute for 2 mins
   
4. Add the finely chopped ridgegourd pieces and saute for 1-2 mins; add required salt and mix well
   
5. Allow to cook covered in medium flame for few mins until it gets cooked and becomes soft; No need to add water as the veggie itself releases water while cooking
   
6. Once it gets cooked, mash it well using "Mathu" or masher
   
7. Crush the cumin seeds in the palm and add it to the curry
8. Now reduce the flame to low; add the milk (adjust as per required consistency); mix well and switch it off 
   
9. Serve hot with Rice!
   

Sprouted Green Gram - Carrot Parupusili

Category:  Lunch
Preparation Time: 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 20 mins 
Servings: 3-4 servings

Sprouted Green Gram - Carrot Parupusili

Ingredients:

• Green Gram Sprouts - 2 cups
• Carrot - 2-3 nos, grated
• Green chilly - 1-2 nos (Adjust as per spice level and can be avoided while making for kids)
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Split Urad Dhal - 1/2 tsp
• Red Chillies - 1-2 nos
• Curry leaves - few
• Small Onions - 5-6 nos, chopped
• Garlic - 1-2 cloves, minced
• Freshly grated coconut - 2-3 tbsp

Method:

1. Making Sprouts: Wash and soak around 1 cup of Whole Green gram overnight; then drain water and wrap it in a clean cotton cloth and place in a closed vessel / hot box for 12-16 hrs. Check for the sprouting after 12 hrs and if not done keep it for some more time till it get sprouted
   
2. Grate the carrot and keep it ready; we can also finely chop them
   
3. Grind the sprouted green gram along with green chilly and enough salt (without any water) into coarse mixture
   
4. Steam cook the coarsely ground dhal for 8-10 mins and allow to cool; Once it becomes warm, crumble it
   
5. Heat oil in a pan, once it is hot add the mustard seeds followed by Urad dhal,  Red chillies and curry leaves
   
6. Add the small onions and minced garlic, saute for 2 mins
   
7. Add the grated carrots and saute in medium flame for few mins till it gets cooked (No need to add water)
   
8. Once the carrots get cooked (Bust should still have the crunchiness), add the crumbled sprouted green gram; saute well for 2-3 mins till they gets combined well
   
9. Check for salt and switch off
   
10. Garnish with fresh coconut gratings
    
11. Serve hot with rice, Rasam or any Kuzhambu:)