Chilli Gobi- The Chinese connection

With the monsoon around the corner, it feels like winter every day with gloomy days with hardly any sun anywhere in sight. Rainy evenings have the best of us craving for spicy warm food, which not only to perk us up but brighten our days. 

These are the times which calls for all those nice appetizer dishes like Manchurians, Pakodas, Bhajjias and the likes. With the search on for a perfect appetizer dish, we can't ignore Chilli Gobi which is commonly found in restaurant menus.Chilli Gobi is very similar to Gobi Manchurian but with spice levels at a new high and more indianised. Also unlike Manchurian, chilli gobi is not a chunky or wet, this is very dry with less saucy stuff.

Things you need:

To prepare cauliflower florets: 2 pinch salt, 1 cauliflower, florets separated, 3 drops white vinegar, 5 cup water

To make the coat for cauliflower: 5 tbsp Maida (Plain flour), 5 tbsp corn flour, 2 pinch Ajinomoto, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1/4 tsp red chilli powder, 1.2 tsp coriander powder, 1/2 tsp salt for bhajji, 1 tsp dark soy sauce (2 tsp light soy sauce), 1 tsp chilli sauce, 3/4 tsp ginger garlic paste, 2 pinch Food grade colour Red (I don't prefer using it), 2 Pinch black pepper powder, 1 cup onions roughly chopped 

To make the gravy: 3 nos onions diced big, 6 nos green chilli slit open, 1/2 tsp ginger finely minced, 1/2 tsp garlic finely minced, 2 tsp red chilli sauce for sauteing, 4 stalks spring onions chopped finely, 4 stalks coriander leaves chopped finely, 2 pinch ajinomoto, 1/4 tsp salt to taste, 4 cup oil for deep frying, 2tbsp oil for sauteing, 1 no capsicum diced.

How to make it:

Blanching Cauliflower: It is better to use a whole medium sized cauliflower which would feed 3 to 4 hungry stomachs' approximately. Separate the florets, wash them and keep aside. Bring the water to boil with salt and vinegar. Add the cauliflower florets to boiling water for 3 minutes. Turn off the stove and let it stay in warm water. Finally drain all the water and pat dry the cauliflower in a clean kitchen towel and keep aside.

Batter for deep frying: Mix maida, corn flour, salt, ajinomotto, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder, food colour, ginger garlic paste, soy sauce and red chili sauce. Add the steamed cauliflower to the mix and coat. No water is necessary as the steamed cauliflower will release water to make it into a thick paste similar to bhaji batter. Keep adding the florets until you get a thick batter. 

Heat 4 cups of oil and deep fry the florets until crispy on the outside. Just to increase the volume of the dish and its flavour, I usually add some roughly chopped onions and capsicum to the leftover batter to make similar bhajias and add them finally to the fried cauliflower.But this step is optional.

Final dish: Heat little oil, fry the slit open green chilies and then add diced onions, chopped ginger and garlic. It would take roughly 4 minutes on medium flame to become slightly brown. If you want to increase the volume of the final dish you can add chopped capsicum at this stage, but it is entirely optional. Now add the fried cauliflower, capsicum and onion bhajias along with red chili sauce, ajinomotto, salt and green spring onions. Fry over low flame till rolls up to a dry fry in about 6 minutes. Switch off and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. 

This is a very famous Indo-Chinese recipe which works well with fried rice, noodles or rotis but you would be highly surprised if this would ever makes it to the table as it vanishes within minutes of making literally. The real flavor of this dish is in the sauce that gets coated with the cauliflower. No doubt as this will be a great hit at parties.

Punjab to China: Chilli Paneer

Paneer or cottage cheese is a integral part of the North Indian cuisine, specially Punjab. It has been here since God knows when. China being just a few stones away from the Northern part of our country has had their influence in our recipes bringing out these wonderful Indian recipes with a Chinese twist to it making it saucy and different. 

Of all the Paneer recipes I have already posted, Chilly Paneer is one of the most popular even amongst kids. This dish is heavily influenced by its non-vegetarian cousin, the Chilly chicken. It came into origin to satisfy the palette of the vegetarians. Since I love cooking and always wanted to try out the recipes restaurants make, I looked through the recipes and I was flummoxed to find so many recipes of Chilly Paneer. I tried some of them, and found this recipe the most appealing and easy. 

Things you need are: 400 gm Paneer, 8 tbsp Corn flour, 4 tbsp Oil, 4 Onions, 6-8 cloves Garlic, 6-8 Green chilly, 2 large Capsicum, 1 cup Vegetable stock, Salt to taste
1 tsp White pepper powder, 4 tbsp Soy sauce, 1/2 tsp Ajinomoto, 2 tbsp Chilly sauce

Preparation:

Drain Paneer and chop into medium bite sized pieces. Heat sufficient oil in a wok, roll the Paneer pieces in corn flour and deep fry them on medium heat till the edges turn golden brown. Set them aside on a tissue to drain.

Blend remaining corn flour in quarter cup of water and set aside. Chop the onions into thick slices and crush the garlic cloves. Chop green chillies and cut the capsicum into thick stripes and set them aside.

Heat two-tablespoon of oil in a pan, add crushed garlic and then stir-fry till golden and then add green chillies, onion and capsicum and sauté for some time till onions look translucent. Then add the fried paneer pieces and stir in the vegetable stock. Season with salt, pepper, soy sauce, chilli sauce, Ajinomoto and blended corn flour and keep stirring all the while cooking on high heat until sauce thickens and coats the Paneer pieces. Chilly Paneer is ready to serve. Serve hot with Fried rice or nice stir fried noodles.

Punjabi Tadka: My version of the famous lehsuni tikki

Following my posts for the Paneer dishes in the Punjabi Tadka is my next try the not so famous starter the Lehsuni tikki (Garlic tikkis). Call it a starter or an appetiser, these lehsuni tikkis are a wonderful combination of the strong odour of garlic and the potatoes. The odour of the garlic flakes doesn't prove to be revolting due to the perfect blend between the Paneer, garlic and the potatoes. 

Having a party at home, why not try these with the Paneer tikka post I had written earlier, works wonderful. Don't you think so!!

Things you would need: 

Garlic Flakes – 4 to 6, 

Medium onion – 1, 

Coriander leaves – ¼ cup, 

Red chili powder – ½ tbsp, 

Medium sized potato - 6, 

Cashew nuts – 6 to 8, 

Cottage cheese grated – ¼ cup, 

Oil to deep fry, 

Salt to taste

The making process:

Wash, boil, cool, peel off and mash potatoes thoroughly. Mix in salt to taste and knead mashed potatoes to make smooth dough. Divide into ten to twelve equal portions. Chop the onion and garlic finely. Clean, wash and finely chop the coriander leaves. Crush cashew nuts and mix with cut onion, garlic, coriander leaves, red chili powder, salt, and grated cottage cheese. Divide the mixture into ten to twelve equal portions. Stuff each portion of mashed potato with a portion of the cottage cheese mixture. Roll and shape into tikkis of approximately two-inch diameter and half inch thickness. Heat up oil in a pan and deep-fry the tikkis till golden brown. Take off and remove on to a clean and absorbent kitchen towel or paper. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or mint chutney.

Note: The left over tikkis and some paneer tikka from the other post can be used as a stuffing for a nice wrap, roll it between the roti or tortilla, after layering with Mayonnaise, sauce of your choice, cheese slice, some nice fresh vegetables. Pack off to work as a nice lunch........

Punjabi tadka- Tandoori Paneer tikka

How many of us have loved to just bite into the juicy bits of paneer tikka in restaurants as starters. I always loved them and thought it would be so difficult and such a hassle to make them. So always ordered them to make life easier. But this recipe i found and tried made me go against my feeling of never being able to make them in my kitchen. So please do try this recipe and let me know how you liked it. Also I am giving the recipe of how to make the tandoori masala which is used in big restaurants. 

This tandoori paneer tikka can serve as a wonderful starter for a barbecue party for vegetarians. This can be grilled with vegetables too. I used home made paneer for this recipe.

Things you need are: 

30, 2" cubes of paneer (cottage cheese) , 3 tbsps Tandoori Masala (see in the next post), 1/4 cup yogurt, 1 large onions cut into 1" square pieces, 1 capsicum diced into cubes, 2 tomatoes deseeded and diced, 5-6 tbsp vegetable/ sunflower cooking oil, 2 tbsps Chaat masala, Lemon wedges to garnish

How to make the juicy tikkas:

Make a smooth past of  2 1/2 tbsps of Tandoori Masala, yogurt, 2 tbsps cooking oil and salt to taste. Put the paneer chunks into this smooth paste and fold it in gently to coat all the paneer. Keep it covered and leave in the fridge to marinate for 2 hours to let all the spices go into the paneer pieces making it soft and juicy. Mix the remaining 1/2 tbsp of Tandoori masala with the onion pieces to coat them well too. Thread the marinated paneer and onion pieces onto bamboo skewers in a combination of your choice. Preheat a grill on medium or if you don't have a grill you can use the grill tawa which is available off late in shops. 

Place the paneer with the skewers on it and brush with a little cooking oil and grill till paneer turns light golden and the onions and capsicum soft. Do not overcook them as the paneer tends to become rubbery. 

Remove onto a  serving plate and sprinkle with chaat masala. Squeeze some lemon juice over the paneer and garnish with lemon wedges and serve smoking hot and wait for all those praises!

Garlic Cheese Bread

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt

dash ground black pepper

dash paprika

Bread:

12 slices Texas toast or 1 large French bread loaf, sliced through the middle

Preheat oven to 400F. Combine all ingredients for the spread in a small bowl. Smear spread generously on one side of each slice of Texas toast or on the face of each half of French bread loaf. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or

until cheese begins to brown and bubble. Makes about 12 slices toast or two large halves of French bread.

Garlic potatoes

Small new potatoes are available from time to time. Here's a flavorful way to serve them. Leftovers may be reheated or used in salads.

1 pound (about 10) small new potatoes, scrubbed, patted dry, not peeled

6 large cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2teaspoon salt (optional)

Freshly ground pepper

Place all ingredients in microwave casserole. Stir to coat potatoes. Cover. Microwave on HIGH for 10-15 minutes. Stir once or twice to rearrange potatoes. Check for doneness each time. Arrange least cooked potatoes around edge of the dish. Serve hot.

Chilli onion rings

½ cup butter milk or milk

2 fresh red chillies, seeded and chopped

2 large onions cut into rings 5 mm thick

2 cups flour

Vegetable oil for deep frying

2 teaspoons chilli sauce

Place milk and chillies in a blender for 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl, add onion rings and toss to coat with milk mixture. Sift flour into a large bowl. Using a slotted spoon, remove onion rings from milk mixture, drain, add to bowl and coat onion rings in flour. Heat oil in a large saucepan until a cube of bread dropped in browns in 50 seconds. Add a few onion rings at a time and cook for 2-3 minutes until golden and crisp. Drain on paper and serve immediately with sauce.