LOW CALORIE CREAMY MIX VEG

Hello everyone

Generally everyone like mix veg as if you ran out of sufficient veggies at a time then also you can prepare a lip smacking side dish using all those left over small amount of veggies. I have to go for vacations so stopped buying further more veggies but what to do of small quantity of everything left in fridge , so tried this simple yet flavourful mix veg. It came out so yummy as served in restaurants, nice creamy texture without adding any cream to it.

Stepwise recipe is given below , hope you all will like it and try too.

LOW CALORIE CREAMY MIX VEG

Serves: 3-4

Time: 30 mins

Ingredients 

2 carrots, diced

2 potatoes, diced

1 1/2 capsicum, diced

1 spring onion, chopped finely

1/4 cup frozen or fresh green peas

1/4 cup frozen or fresh corn 

1 cup cottage cheese ( paneer)

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

3 medium onions, sliced

8-10 garlic cloves

1 inch piece ginger, chopped

2-3 green chilies, slit

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

4 green cardamom

4 cloves

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1/4 tsp asafetida ( heeng)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp chicken masala or kitchen king masala

1 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder

1 tsp kasoori methi

3/4 cup milk

Salt to taste

Method:

First of all boil or microwave, carrots, potatoes, peas and corn together with water ,till soft and tender. I microwaved for 10 mins on high. 

Similarly either boil, or sauté or microwave onions, ginger, garlic and tomatoes with water, till soft and tender. I microwaved it for 8 mins on high. Let it cool. Reserve its extra water for later use.

Now grind onion , garlic, ginger and tomato mixture with Kashmiri red chilli powder and minimum water, to fine creamy paste. Avoid adding much water while making paste as it will splutter a lot while cooking.

Now heat oil in a wok, add asafetida ,cumin seeds, cloves, green cardamom and cinnamon. Sauté till aromatic and cumin crackle. Now add prepared onion tomato paste and slit green chilies. Add turmeric powder, garam masala , curry powder and chicken or kitchen king masala. Fry till it stars leaving edges of the wok and nice aroma starts to come. Now add capsicum and spring onion , sauté for 3-4 mins then add boiled veggies.

 Mix well then add milk and let it boil. Then add reserved water and some more water if needed. Add salt to it and boil. Now add paneer and simmer for 5 mins. Now add crushed kasoori methi and mix well. Your yummy creamy mix veg is ready to serve.

Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve with roti, naan, paratha, rice or pulao it goes well with everything.

You can use any veggies of your choice . Also you can cook capsicum and spring onion till tender if you don't like its crunch, but I like crunchy capsicums so just sautéed it.

This is so simple yet flavourful side dish to accompany your daily meal as well as can be fit in any party menu too. Hope you all will definitely give it a try and please pour your valuable comments and suggestions, they meant a lot .

Happy cooking....

 

SOUTH EAST PANEER

Hello everyone 

I know you must be wondering that what type of name is this, south east paneer. Actually we returned from an awesome trip , which rejuvenated my imagination to next level😃😃 and so to serve something special but easy in dinner, I invented this fusion of south and East Indian flavour in one dish. As panchforan is a mix of whole spices generally used in maximum of Bengali cuisine (east) in different ways and similarly sambhar masala and coconut milk is well known for its wide use in South Indian cuisine(south) . And I used all these spices in my today's dish that's why gave this unique name to it, South East Paneer. 

Sorry for not giving stepwise pictorial recipe as I was not so sure for such an awesome outcome, but promise to update it with stepwise pics too as soon as I try it again.

Recipe is given below, hope you all will like this awesome fusion of south and east.

SOUTH EAST PANEER

Serves: 3-4

Time: 25 mins

Ingredients 

2 cups cottage cheese (paneer)

3/4 cup mixed colored capsicum, diced

1 medium carrot, diced and boiled

2 medium onions, diced in size of capsicum 

1 medium onion, finely chopped 

2-3 green chillies, slitted

1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste 

1/2 tsp panchforan*

1 1/2 tsp sambhar masala

1/4 tsp turmeric powder 

1/4 tsp garam masala 

1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chili powder 

2 tbsp green coriander leaves, finely chopped 

1 cup thick coconut milk

1/2 tsp corn flour(optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

Heat oil in a wok, add panchforan and saute till aromatic, nearly 2 mins , then add chopped onions and green chillies. Fry till they get nice golden then add ginger garlic paste, saute for 2 mins and add sambhar masala, turmeric powder, Kashmiri red chili powder and garam masala , saute for 1/2 min then add chopped tomatoes . Fry till it starts leaving edges of the wok and is nicely done. Now add capsicum, onions and boiled carrots, saute for 5 mins . Add coconut milk and let it boil stirring constantly to avoid cuddling. Now add water and salt as per your consistency preference. If you find it little runny the add corn flour diluted in 1/2 cup of water and let it boil. Then simmer for 5 more mins. Now garnish with chopped coriander leaves and done. 

Your yummy easy fusion paneer dish is ready to go with naan, roti and rice. 

If you don't want to add corn flour then use purried tomatoes and onions paste instead of finely chopped ones to get nice thick gravy.

* Panchforan is a mix of five different whole spices i.e. Cumin seeds (jeera) , nigella seeds ( mangrail), carom seeds ( ajwain), fennel seeds (saunf) and mustard seeds mixed in equal quantities. You can also add a sixth ingredient too , fenugreek seeds( methi) , it gives a distinct flavor to your dish.

Hope you all will like this simple yummy dish to try at least once. Your valuable comments and suggestions meant a lot to me so please keep pouring.

Happy cooking....

CHANA PANEER IN PALAK GRAVY

Hello everyone 

As we all know that spinach is a good source of iron and many more vital nutrients but at the same time it's also true that spinach hardly makes its place in kids plate. Then it's always a big riddle that how to feed them spinach without fuss. Today I am here with answer to the same riddle as this healthy and yummy recipe of spinach. Maximum kids love paneer , so I added paneer and to fulfill the protein requirement, added chickpeas too in this dish, in order to make it protein and iron packed healthy dish for everyone. Its recipe is given below, hope you all will like it.

CHANA PANEER IN PALAK GRAVY

Serves: 3-4

Time: 45 mins 

Ingredients 

2 bunches spinach (palak), thick stems removed 

1 1/2 cup cottage cheese (paneer)

1 1/2 cup boiled chickpeas 

1 medium onion, finely chopped 

1 tsp ginger garlic paste 

2-3 green chillies 

1 cup thick or normal milk

1 tsp kitchen king masala

1 tsp Chana masala

1/2 tsp garam masala 

1/4 tsp turmeric powder 

1 tbsp kasoori methi

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp asafetida (heeng)

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp sugar ( optional)

Water reserved from boiled chickpeas 

Method:

Blanch spinach i.e. Boil water in a big vessel to rolling hot then add little salt and sugar to it and add spinach in it for 3-4 mins. Then drain it and wash under tap water to avoid further cooking of spinach. This will retain its green color even after boiling.

Now grind blanched spinach and green chillies together to a smooth paste. Avoid adding extra water while grinding otherwise it will splutter a lot while cooking.

Heat oil in a wok, add heeng followed by cumin seeds, let it crackle then add chopped onions. Fry till golden brown then add ginger garlic paste, saute for two mins then add prepared paste. Fry for 2 mins at medium flame then add turmeric powder, kitchen king masala and Chana masala. Fry till it starts leaving edges of the wok. Now add chickpeas and saute for 2 more mins. 

Add milk little by little, stirring constantly to avoid formation of lump. Let it boil then add water from chickpeas according to your preference of gravy consistency. Again boil it and add paneer cubes, salt , sugar, garam masala and kasoori methi . 

Let it simmer for 5 mins and done.

Your easy, healthy protein iron rich side dish is ready to go with roti, rice, naan or paratha. Not only kids, even elders too are going to love this.

Hope you all will like this simple yet flavour full dish and will definitely give it a try. Please pour your valuable comments and suggestions here, they meant a lot to me.

Happy cooking....

PANEER TIKKA MASALA WITHOUT CREAM

Hello everyone 

My paneer mania is still on so today I have another low calorie lip smacking paneer dish for you all. I was planning to try paneer tikka for long but everytime end up with some other dish instead of it. So this time I prepared myself a day before to strictly stick to the same one and finally made this yummy guilt free paneer tikka masala . Loved the color and texture of the gravy and also served as paneer tikka, starter. In both ways it's just awesome. Step wise recipe is given below hope you all too fall in love with this yummy dish. 

PANEER TIKKA MASALA WITHOUT CREAM

Serves: 3-4

Time:1hr

Ingredients 

2 cup cottage cheese ( paneer) , cubed

1 cup colored capsicum, cubed

2 medium onions, cubed

For marination:

1 cup thick yoghurt( curd)

1 1/2 tbsp corn flour 

1/2 tsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp tandoori masala 

1/2 tsp black pepper powder 

1/2 tsp chaat masala powder

1/4 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp red chilli powder 

1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste 

1/2 tsp mint powder or crushed mints

1/4 tsp turmeric powder 

1 pinch orange red edible color(optional)

Salt to taste

For gravy:

1 pinch orange red color 

1 tbsp kasoori methi

1 cup thick milk or evaporated milk

1 1/2 tsp tandoori masala

1/4 tsp turmeric powder 

1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder 

2 green chillies, broken in halves

1/2 tsp sugar( completely optional)

Salt to taste

For paste

15 almonds

4 cloves

4 green cardamom 

2 inch piece cinnamon 

7-8 black pepper 

4 medium tomatoes 

2 medium onions, sliced

1 medium carrot, diced

5-6 cloves garlic

1 inch piece ginger

Method:

First of all marinate cubed paneer, capsicum and onions in paste of marination section ingredients and keep in fridge for at least 20 mins.

Now boil all ingredients given under, for paste section, let it cool and make smooth paste in grinder. 

After marination is done, arrange paneer, capsicum and onions in skewer as per your choice and grill till it get nice smoky and little charred from all sides. You can also do it on direct flame for more smoky effect.

 Your paneer tikka is ready to serve as starter.

Now to serve it in main dish lets start making its gravy. Heat oil in a wok , add prepared paste and broken green chillies, fry for 5 mins now add turmeric powder, chilli powder and tandoori masala. Fry till it starts leaving sides of the wok and makes lump. Add pinch of colour mix well and add milk little by little stirring constantly to get smooth gravy. Add water to adjust gravy consistency as per your like. Let it boil then add rest of marination, if any ,then add grilled paneer and veggies.

add salt ,sugar and kasoori methi. Simmer for 5 more mins and done.

If you find grilling with skewer is time taking then after starter preparation, spread rest of marinated paneer and veggies in a baking tray in single layer and grill till little charred and add in gravy. 

It didn't use sugar , but if you find your curry a bit sour then can add it to balance the sourness.

Add water generously as the curry will thicken after cooling.

Your smoky tempting paneer tikka masala is ready to go well with naan, roti or any rice. It can be included in any party menu. So cook and get everyone's praise with this guilt free yummy side dish cum starter. 

Hope you all will definitely give it a try and believe you will never regret. Please pour your valuable comments and suggestions here, they meant a lot to me.

Happy cooking....

HOME STYLE BUTTER CHICKEN

Hello everyone 

Butter chicken.....this name brings first of all strong craving for it then comes lots of butter and cream in mind and finally make us to go on back foot , if you are calorie conscious and loves healthy eating. Why only others have all the fun 😉 why not we healthy eaters too have all that fun of lip smacking gorgeous dishes. So here is scrumptious butter chicken recipe with almost less than half calories, than regular recipe. Hope you all will appreciate my this initiative, step wise recipe is given below.

HOME STYLE BUTTER CHICKEN 

Ingredients 

1 kg boneless chicken breast , cubed

3 big onions, very finely chopped or grated

2 big tomatoes, finely chopped or purried 

1 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 

1 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 

1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder 

1 tsp kitchen king masala

1 1/2 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder 

2-3 green chillies, broken in halves

1 cup thick yoghurt (curd), beaten

10-12 almonds, soaked and puréed( optional)

1 tbsp kasoori methi leaves, crushed

1 tsp sugar ( completely optional)

Salt to taste

For tempering:

2 bay leaves 

2 big cardamom

4 cloves 

4 green cardamom 

2-3 inches cinnamon sticks 

Method:

Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a big wok, add all spices of tempering section, saute for 2 mins till they become aromatic. Then add onions and little salt. Saute till onion become light golden, add ginger garlic paste and broken green chillies and saute for 2 mins. 

Now add chicken cubes, turmeric powder and some salt , fry on high flame for 5 mins stirring continuously to avoid sticking to bottom, till chicken get white from all sides. Lower the flame, add chilli powder, coriander powder and kitchen king masala. Saute for 4-5 mins then cover the wok and let chicken to cook for 12-15 mins , stirring occasionally. 

When chicken become nicely cooked and tender then add tomatoes and almond paste ,fry on high flame till raw smell of tomatoes goes off. Then add beaten curd and saute on high flame for 5 more mins stirring constantly to avoid cuddling of curd.

 Now add water as per your choice of gravy consistency, adjust salt, add sugar. Let it boil then add kasoori methi and simmer for 5 mins, and done. 

Your yummy home style low calorie butter chicken is ready to serve with roti , naan or rice.

Always use fresh yoghurt (curd), otherwise you will end up with sour gravy.

Hope you all will like my little initiative towards healthy and guilt free cooking so please pour your comments and suggestions, they meant a lot to me.

Happy cooking....

SPICY MUSHROOM CHETTINAD

Hello everyone 

This is my second recipe today and exactly opposite of the former one. That was spice less and this is full of spices and you will feel a burst of flavours in it. It is a delicious treat to all mushroom lovers. Though I am not a big fan of mushrooms but love this one as it is perfect blend of Chettinad spices. This one is a lip smacking side dish goes well with roti, naan or any rice. Step wise recipe is given below , hope you will definitely give it a try.

SPICY MUSHROOMS CHETTINAD 

Ingredients 

400 gms mushroom , diced

1 big onion, finely chopped 

2 medium tomatoes, finely chopped 

2 tsp ginger garlic paste 

2 green chillies or dry red chillies, broken in two

1 1/2 tsp kashmiri red chilli powder 

1/4 tsp turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp black pepper powder 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp asafetida (heeng)

1 spring curry leaves

2 tbsp green coriander leaves 

Chettinad masala:

1/2 cup fresh grated coconut 

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds 

4 green cardamom 

4 cloves

1 inch piece cinnamon stick 

10 almonds, soaked in warm water

1/2 piece of bread ( optional)

Method:

First of all roast all spices mentioned in Chettinad masala section in 1/2 tsp oil except coconut, almonds and bread. When it become aromatic then add coconut and roast till it become light brown and aromatic.

 Let it cool and then grind with almonds and bread using little water to make a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

Heat 2 tsp oil in a wok add asafetida followed by cumin seeds, let it crackle then add curry leaves and green chillies. Saute for a min and add chopped onions. Fry till transparent pink then add ginger garlic paste, saute for two mins then add prepared paste along with turmeric powder, chilli powder and black pepper powder.

 Fry till it starts leaving edges of the wok. Now add chopped tomatoes and little salt. Again fry till it become mushy and cooked. Add chopped mushrooms and saute at high flame for 4-5 mins .

Add water as per your choice of gravy . Let it boil. Adjust salt and add chopped coriander leaves. 

Mix well and switch off the flame. Your yummy mushroom Chettinad is ready to serve.

You can omit bread as it's added only to thicken gravy. 

This is a delicious mushroom curry which can be added in any party menu. Hope you will like it.

Please pour your valuable comments and suggestions here, they meant a lot to me.

Happy cooking....

CHAAT MASALA MATAR CHHOLE WITHOUT SPICES

Hello everyone

I never saw anyone saying he/she don't like chhole or chaat. If there are some people in that category then they are surely missing a divine treat. I am too fond of chaat and chhole, can dig in any time. Today I am with a very handy recipe with lots of punches of all flavours without too much effort and fuss. It is less time consuming recipe than regular chhole but no compromise in taste anyways.

Recipe is given below , hope will come up to your expectations .

CHAAT MASALA MATAR CHHOLE WITHOUT SPICES

Ingredients 

3 cup dried peas, matar ( white or green) , soaked overnight 

3 medium onions, finely chopped 

2 big tomatoes, finely chopped 

2 tsp ginger garlic paste 

2-3 green chillies, finely chopped 

2 medium potatoes, boiled and slightly mashed( optional)

1 1/2 tbsp chaat masala

1/2 tsp turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp asafetida ( heeng)

1/2 cup green coriander leaves, finely chopped 

Salt to taste

Method:

Boil matar in sufficient water with 1/4 tsp salt , till nicely cooked. Keep it aside. Now heat 2 tsp oil in a wok, add asafetida followed by cumin seeds, let it crackle then add chopped onions and green chillies. Fry it till light brown, add ginger garlic paste and saute for 2 mins. Then add chopped tomatoes , turmeric powder and little salt. Fry till tomatoes get mushy and raw smell of it goes off. Now add mashed potatoes and fry for 2 mins. Then add boiled matar , adjust water , let it boil. Now add chaat masala and mix well. Adjust salt and sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Now switch off the flame and it's done. Your yummy chhole is ready to serve. Serve it as either chhole or chaat , in both forms it's just yum.

For serving as chaat, take one laddle full of chhole in plate then place an aloo tikki ( optional) then chopped onions, tomatoes,some beaten curd, some khatti meethi chutney or chilli and tomato sauces. Sprinkle some chaat masala over it. Finally add some corn flakes, roasted peanuts and some namkeen mixture or sev. Just done , now immediately dig in before some one snatch it😜😜.  

You can add chaat masala less or more as per your taste. Add water generously as it thickens very fast on cooling. You can avoid adding potatoes if already making tikkis, I added to save myself from making tikkis 😁.

You can serve it as a party snacks in edible katoris. This is one of the easiest chhole/ chaat recipe I just love to serve and have any time. Hope you all will also give it a try and believe me you will never regret.

Please pour your valuable comments and suggestions here, they meant a lot to me.

Happy cooking....

PANEER IN GREEN PEAS GRAVY

Hello everyone 

Till now it's no more secret to any one that how much my family is in love with paneer dishes ☺️. So I always experiment with its gravy. This time I thought why not use it in some of our traditional dish. As I belong to Purvanchal , there a dish called nimona ,is very famous and generally cooked in every home throughout winters, till there is green peas season. Here we get frozen green peas so this delicacy goes on whole year for us. It's no doubt a lip smacking dish everyone should try at least once. It is made in different ways , spicy, with tomatoes, without tomatoes, without spices and many more. And believe me all are just irresistible delicious ones. Here I made it without tomatoes and minimum spices yet yum yum delicious treat to peas and paneer lovers. Recipe is given below and hope you will like it.

PANEER IN GREEN PEAS GRAVY

Ingredients 

2 cups sweet green peas ( fresh or frozen)

1 cup cottage cheese (paneer)

1 big onion,finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2-3 green chillies ( as per taste)

1 cup green coriander leaves

3/4 tsp garam masala

1 1/2 tsp kitchen king masala

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp asafetida ( heeng) powder

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp chaat masala

1 1/2 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Method:

First of all grind green peas, green chillies and coriander leaves together using little water to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a wok, add cumin seeds and heeng. Let it crackle then add chopped onions, fry it till golden and add ginger garlic paste. Saute for a min and add prepared paste. Cook it for 5 mins then add all spice powder. Fry it till it start leaving edges of wok and nice nutty aroma starts to come. Then add water little by little, stirring continuously to avoid lump formation. Let it boil , then add salt and paneer to it and simmer for 5 mins. Finally add chat masala and mix well. 

Your simple and delicious peas paneer is ready to serve with rice, naan or roti.

You can add water according to your preference of gravy consistency. I had it neither too thick nor runny.

Enjoy this traditional delicacy with a twist. Hope you will definitely try it once and give your valuable suggestions and comments here.

Happy cooking....

CAPSICUM PANEER IN LOW CALORIE CREAMY WHITE GRAVY

Hello everyone 

As I told earlier my kids are big fan of paneer dishes especially gravy ones , so I have to do new experiments everyday to satisfy their little tummy without getting bore. Even everyone at my home are in badly love with paneer☺️. But we have to take care of our growing tummy too, So today I tried this simple , low calorie ( no cashews, no cream and no much oil) yet delicious crunchy munchy paneer dish and hope you will definitely going to love it.

Step wise recipe is given below, do try it.

CAPSICUM PANEER IN LOW CALORIE CREAMY WHITE GRAVY

Ingredients 

2 cup cottage cheese ( paneer)

2 cup milk

1 cup mixed colored capsicum, diced

3-4 big onions, thinly sliced 

8-10 garlic cloves, peeled

1 inch ginger, sliced

3-4 green chillies 

1 slice bread

1 tbsp kitchen king masala

1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp kasoori methi,crushed between palms

Salt to taste

Method:

First of all boil onion,garlic,ginger and chilies together . Let it cool and make its smooth paste along with bread slice using little water. Avoid adding too much water while grinding otherwise it will splutter a lot while cooking.

Sprinkle some oil on a nonstick pan and fry capsicum on high flame till it become little charred. Keep it aside .

Now heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok ,add this paste and fry for at least 5 mins. Then add kitchen king and garam masala in it , fry till it starts leaving edges of the wok.

Then add milk little by little stirring continuously to avoid lump formation. Let it boil then add paneer cubes and salt in it and simmer for 5 mins.

Finally add capsicum and kasoori methi,mix well and simmer for 1 more min and done.

You can increase or decrease milk as per your gravy consistency preference, but remember it will thickens on cooling.

Your super easy without fuss low calorie creamy paneer gravy is ready to serve with roti, naan , rice paratha any thing. It's a finger licking dish even can be served in parties too.

Hope you will like this dish and please let me know your views about it by commenting and at the same time your valuable suggestions are also invited for further betterment of my this little initiative towards healthy cooking.

Happy cooking....