Muttor Paneer

Its been long since I made this curry.Its winter now and green muttor is easily available.Hence tried it over last week,turned out to be tasty too.

Ingredients:

Onion       - 2 big ones finely chopped

tomato      - 2 big

chilli chopped-1 tsp

ginger chopped-1 tbsp

paneer-250 gms cut into cubes and fried till light brown

fresh muttor-1&1/2 cup

turmeric pwdr -a pinch

chilli pwdr    -1-2 tsp

salt

Oil-3-4 tbsp

water-3/4 cup

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp  of oil in a pan.Saute onion until brown.Add chilli and ginger and saute for 1 minute.

Switch off the flame.Let it cool.Grind all these and tomatoes into a fine paste in a mixer.

Now heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan, and saute the grinded gravy till oil starts appearing on the sides of the pan.Add turmeric and chilli pwdr.Add muttor and salt.Add water and cook.When the muttor gets cooked, add paneer pieces to it and cook for 2 more minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Points to Ponder

You may add a 1/4 tsp of paav baaji masala to it.

Curry needs to be thick and almost dry.

Since I was in a hurry, I pressure cooked the curry till the first whistle was almost coming.

Doodh Peda with Khoya

Here in Delhi, every dairy shop sells Khoa or Mawa.Its a kinda concentrated milk which can be grated like cheese.There are endless lists of sweets that can be made with it.

For the first time ever in 7 yrs of my Delhi stay, I bought Khoa yesterday and tried to make doodh peda/burfy with it.To my surprise it was quite easy and turned out to be perfect.

Ingredients:

Khoya - 250 gms grated
Sugar -1/2 cup
Milk-1 cup
Cardamom pwdr- a pinch
Badam cut to thin slices
Ghee for greasing


Method:

To a pan add all the ingredients except Badam pieces and cook in low-medium flame.Stir continuously.Never cook in high flame.Cook until it thickens and starts separating from the sides of the pan.Transfer it to a greased plate.Either cut it to pieces or roll it into small balls and flatten them a bit into pedas with greased hands.Garnish with badam pieces.
My son was soo impatient that he gulped at least four of them before I could garnish.

Points to ponder
Low flame needs lots of patience, so at times i did turn it to medium.
Remember not to burn your hands.You can wait till it cools to manageable heat.
You get about 15 pedas of the size as in foto.

Kashmir

My Trip to Kashmir

On March 2011, we flew to our dream destination, the Paradise on Earth.It was an Air India flight, a flight accompanied always by some or other problems.It was the worst of all our flight journeys.Turbulence started after lunch, and it never ended.Everyone in the flight were busy either vomiting or praying.We were almost landing in Srinagar, when the flight again took off.There were no announcements from the flight staffs other than informing us thatwe were flying back to Delhi.All poor flyers were kept in dark about the reason.We landed in Delhi after what it looked like a roller coaster ride.Finally pilot announced that the plane had some technical faults and he didnt want to jeopardise the lives of we all on board by landing in Srinagar.All flyers were shifted to another flight , this time though with turbulence, we managed to touch Srinagar.

As per our Yatra Package, our cab driver was waiting for us. He took us to our hotel.We slept that evening through, glad that we were still alive.

Photo Gallery
Gulmarg

Next morning, fresh and with all the excitement back, we set off for Gulmarg(52 km from Srinagar), the valley of flowers.It was like a dream. We were traveling on roads with snow on either side of it. As we ascended, we could only see snow everywhere.It was an awesome sight for us who come from plains where we get to see no snow at all.

It was endless fun for we tourists at gulmarg.Ther were sledding,skiing and many other enterntainment at the spot.We also took a Gondola(Rope Way) ride along Gulmarg.It offered a breathtaking view of the snow capped mountains.

We experienced snowfall for the first time ever in life when we went to the temple there.We never wanted that day to end, but what to say, it was getting colder by evening, and we got back to our cosy hotel room in Gulmarg arranged by Yatra.

Photo Gallery
Sonmarg

Next day morning we were off to another valley, the Sonmarg,the golden valley.Though it was not as awesome as Gulmarg, it was still a beautiful sight.With Jehlum river flowing along, it was a good feast to our thirsty eyes.We had a horse ride there along the river to the tourist spot.

By evening, we reached Srinagar.The driver took us to a carpet factory and we bought one.
We were back in our Srinagar hotel after two beautiful days of our life.

Photo Gallery
Srinagar

Next morning, we went for a city tour, main attraction being a shikara ride(boat ride) on the beautiful Dal Lake.A time for you to sit back and relax.

After our lunch it was time for us to bid bye to this dreamland.Thankfully this time it was an Indigo flight that took us from this dream world to the real world.

Chandigarh and Amritsar

Chandigarh
It was my husband's official work that carried me to Chandigarh in July 2006.I came to this city before, with my parents earlier in 1997. I was quite impressed by its  beautiful and well planned roads.
Chandigarh is about 250 kms from Delhi.We travelled by rail,the best choice being Shatabdi Express, that would take us comfortably to Chandigarh within 4-5 hrs.While my husband went to his office, I stayed back at the hotel room that day.
Next morning we set off for a city tour.First it was Leisure Valley , a chain of gardens that beautifies the city.It was the best place relax and savour the beauty and aroma of various flowers.
Next we visited the Rock Garden.Its a garden with numerous sculptures and other art works.The striking thing about this garden is that all of these art works are created with industrial and urban wastes.
By afternoon we went to Sukhna Lake, a man made lake at the foothills of Shivalik Range.It offers various water sports boating, yachting etc to the visitors.Its indeed a wonderful picnic spot for the locals.

Art forms at Rock Garden

Sukhna Lake

Flowers at Leisure Valley

Amritsar
 This city is about 450 kms from Delhi.It is the city that attracts more tourists than any city in Punjab.This is because, it is home to be the spiritual hub of Sikhs, the Golden Temple, also called as Hari Mandir or Harmandir Sahib.
I had earlier visited this city with my parents, but after marriage it was only in October 2010, that I happened to come here.This time with my mom, my husband, his brother and my naughty son.
We went by Shatabdi Express which took us to Amritsar in 6 hrs.We checked in a hotel and got fresh.

In the afternoon we set off to Wagah Border by a hired taxi.Wagah Border separates India and Pakistan and it is the only road border crossing between the two nations.It is particularly known for the elaborate Wagah border ceremony that happens at the border gate before sunset each day.There was a mad rush here,that day.Only my mom and I could manage to get a view of the ceremony.My husband and his brother could not even enter the gate.

After the cremony got over we went to the Golden Temple.It was all lit up because it was gurupurab that day.It was soo jam packed that we got out off it asap.Next morning again we came here and managed to enter the gurudwara.Its such a divine place, kept very neat and clean.Infact it is devotees themselves who do all the cooking,serving,cleaning activites in the gurudwara.

Next we went to Jallianwala Bagh, which was at walkable distance from Harimandir.It is a memorial that commemmorates the massacre of innocent Indians On April 13,1919.The site still sends a chill down every Indian's spine.

Wagah Ceremony(It is a downloaded foto)

The Gate that separates India(this side)and Pakistan(the other side)

The huge crowd gathered to see the function

Golden Temple

The Jallianwala Bagh Memorial

The Only Entrance, a very narrow one where hundreds where shot at when they tried to escape the troop

Vegetable Rotees

Chappathees or rotees as they are called here in North India, is preferred during winters instead of our rice.Since my child eats little vegetables, I often add vegetables to it.

Ingredients
Atta
Water

Salt

Any vegetable cut/grated and pressure cooked with a little water(1 whistle is enuf)

I had used pumpkin, methi(fenugreek leaves),carrot.It is open to you to look for variations.

Method

Mix all the ingredients and knead into a soft dough.May keep it aside for 30 min or so to make it more softer.Roll them and cook.Healthy chappathees are ready.

Methi Roti



Carrot Roti





Chakkara Pongal

Its a popular dish of TamilNadu.Its a desert with jaggery and rice.

Ingredients

Raw Rice        -1 Cup

Jaggery melted(medium thickness) -1 Cup

Sugar   - 1tsp

Water to boil rice

Seasoning

Coconut chopped-2-3 tbsp

kismis- 2 tbsp

cashew- chopped 2 tbsp

badam chopped 2 tbsp

cardamom powder 1/2 tsp

Ghee- 2tbsp

Method

Boil the rice in a pressure cooker.In a separate vessel, melt the jaggery.In a pan, heat the ghee, and fry coconut pieces,kismis,cashew and badam.Add boiled rice to it.Add melted jaggery.Cook until it reaches desired consistency. Usually it is thick.sprinkle the cardamom powder.Remove from stove.

Serve hot.Its a hit with my child!

Grilled Sandwich

My 5 year old son always keeps demanding sandwich.After having tried Subway Sandwich, I too became a huge fan of this foreign food.So tried it out once at home and was a huge hit with all.

Ingredients

You can pick any of the following.

Onion sliced

Tomato chopped

Carrot grated

Cucumber sliced
Cabbage chopped
Capsicum chopped
Beans chopped
Olives
cooked meat or chicken chopped
oregano
salt pepper
red wine
mayonnaise/mayonnaise or any sandwich spread
cheese
Sandwich bread

Method

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl.You may use either mayonnaise/sandwich spread OR vinegar as u want it to be.Spread it over a bread slice.Put cheese over it.Put another slice over and grill.Or you may even toast it.

I used mayonnaise filling.
I grilled it over the grilling rack in my IFB microwave,4-5 min for one side.
Mine was a vegetable sandwich with no cheese.
Still it tasted great.