Paneer Butter Masala

I almost never post any veg recipes on my blog. But recently I've felt that maybe it was high time that I did. So I figured why not post something familiar to many people. So here's my take on Paneer Butter Masala.

Ingredients:
200 gms Paneer (cottage cheese)
3 tablespoons of butter
1 tablespoon oil
1 dried red chilly
2 cloves
1 piece of cinnamon
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon red chilly powder
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 medium onion chopped
2 tomatoes chopped
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (methi leaves)
1 tablespoon fresh cream
Salt to taste

How to MAKE:
                           First in a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of butter and the oil. Now add the cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, coriander seeds, and red chilly. Sauté it for half a minute. Then add the chopped onion, ginger, and garlic paste. Sauté this for half a minute, then add the tomatoes along with coriander and red chilly powders. Sauté this on a low flame until the oil starts splitting from the mixture.

                           Wait for this mix to cool down and then puree it in a mixer along with the fennel seeds. Now heat the rest of the butter in a pan and add the puree of the mix to this. Cook it for 2 minutes and then add the Paneer and salt. Now add half a cup of water and stir well. Mix in the dried fenugreek leaves and take off the flame. Finally add the cream and slightly stir it.

                           Paneer Butter Masala is best enjoyed with chapathis, or naan. The fresh cream is optional but adding it adds a little extra flavour to the dish. Serve Hot!

Pan Fried Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Spicy Milk Mushrooms

                              Presenting to all people out there, my simplest and yet most experimented with dish yet, which also happens to be my personal favourite, here is my version of a Pan Fried Steak!!
Ingredients:

Firstly I’ll start off telling you that there are 3 different sets of ingredients I’m going to give you. One is for the spice rub for the steak, one for the mashed potatoes, and one for the rest of the dish. So here goes;

Spice Rub

1 part of dried rosemary

3 parts of cumin

2 parts of peppercorns

1 part of oregano

1 part of lemon pepper

1 part of red chilly powder

2 parts of Barbeque seasoning

Half a part of sugar

Half a part of salt

The above ingredients can be sized up for large quantities, but the ratios should stay the same.

Mashed Potatoes

200gms of boiled potatoes

100ml milk

50gms of garlic butter

A pinch of freshly ground pepper 

Salt to taste

The STEAK

150gm beef steak (I used two pieces of Sirloin)

3-4 cloves of Garlic

2 sprigs of rosemary

100gms of sliced mushrooms

50ml mlk

Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons of Olive oil

100gms of unsalted Butter

How to MAKE:

First, mix all the ingredients for the spice rub, put it in a mixer grinder, and powder it. Keep this aside, since this will flavor everything! Now, mash the boiled potatoes, add 100ml milk, garlic butter, salt, and pepper, and give it a good mix. Next, sauté the mushrooms in a pan for around 5 minutes, now add 50ml milk, and 2 tablespoons of the spice mix, and bring everything to a boil. Now turn down the flame, and sauté it till the milk is reduced and good dry mushrooms are left; keep this aside. Now, we have everything ready for the dish, and are just missing the centerpiece of the dish.

To make the steak, firstly clean the raw steaks thoroughly, and dry them out well. If you bought aged steak, DO NOT let even a single drop of water touch it since that will destroy its aged flavour! Now that the steak is cleaned and dried, it is ready to be marinated. The marinade is none other than the spice mix we have already prepared. Take a good generous amount of the spice mix, and rub it thoroughly onto both sides of your steak, and then leave it to marinate for about half an hour. Now, heat oil in a pan and lay down your steaks into it. Cook each side for about half a minute until a mild brown colour appears on the surface. Now, turn down the heat and throw the garlic cloves, butter, and rosemary sprigs into the pan. Cook each side of the steak for about 4 minutes each, this will give a medium steak. Now take the steaks out of the pan, and let them rest for about 5 minutes. (Don’t worry, the steak will stay warm for about 10 minutes!) In a plate, lay down the mushrooms, top it off with the mashed potatoes, and then the steak on top. Finally, take the juices released by the steak while it was resting and drizzle it on top of the steak to enhance the flavour of the dish. Serve HOT!

P.S: If you didn't get any tender steak, just poke continuously on both sides of your steak with a fork without tearing it in order to tenderise it. What this does is, it breaks up the connective tissues in the meat, which in turn tenderises it.

Seared Fish with Green Salad and Rosemary

    I always wanted to become a gourmet chef. So here is a dish that I made in an attempt to appear all gourmet and stuff!! I hope you all like fish!

The Ingredients

Ingredients:

250gm fish steak (I used a piece of catfish steak)

3-4 finely chopped cloves of Garlic

5 tablespoons of Red chilly powder

Juice of 1 whole lemon (Around 3-4 tablespoons)

A dash of vinegar

3 tablespoons of Barbeque seasoning (Optional)

2 sprigs of rosemary

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons of Olive oil

For the Salad

200gms sliced Cucumber

200gms sliced Bell peppers

100gms of sliced black olives

2 babycorns

50gms of white peanuts

3-4 leaves of lettuce (I like a lot of lettuce in my salad)

Thin strips of carrots as required (Use a potato peeler to get thin strips)

3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar

4 tablespoons of Olive oil

2 finely chopped Green Chillies

1 tablespoon of lime juice

A dash of pepper

Salt to taste

How to MAKE:

                First, mix the garlic, lemon juice, red chilly powder, vinegar, and salt to create a paste. Coat the fish steak using this paste and rub it in thoroughly and let the steak marinate for 15 minutes. Then, heat oil in a pan, and lay the fish down in it slowly with the rosemary resting below it. Turn down the heat and cook it until the bottom part starts turning white, which will take about 3-4 minutes. Now, flip the fish carefully and cook that side for about the same time with the rosemary. When it is done, take it off the flame and let it rest for around 3 minutes.

The Finished Beauty

                Now, in a bowl, mix the lettuce, black olives, bell peppers, carrots, and cucumbers. The babycorn has to be sauted in butter before adding it to the salad, and the peanuts have to be toasted before adding it to the salad. Once all the ingredients are together, mix the salad well. Now, in a separate bowl, mix the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, green chillies, lime juice, salt and pepper to make a vinaigrette (Salad Dressing). Now add this vinaigrette to the salad and mix it thoroughly.

                Once the steak has rested, it can be placed in a serving dish along with the salad, and a few sprigs of rosemary. The leftover juice or oil left in the pan after cooking the fish can be poured over the steak and salad to compliment the entire dish really well. Serve Hot!

P.S: It is really important for a steak to rest for almost as equal time as it has been cooking for, so that it can release all the juices well, and this makes it tastier.

Cripsy Beef with Lime and Chilly Peppers

                 I never usually post any meat dishes here. So for all the meat lovers out there, I present to you 'Cripsy Beef with Lime and Chilly Peppers'. The fried rice seen in the picture is called 'Fragrant Egg Rice' and I will upload its recipe soon! Enjoy!!

The Ingredients

Ingredients:

500gm minced beef

6-7 finely chopped cloves of Garlic

1 tablespoon of finely chopped Ginger

2 finely chopped Green Chillies

20 ml Orange juice       

100gm of thinly sliced red Chilly Pepper (Capsicum)

2 spring onion (Chopped)

1 lemon

1 tablespoon of Oyster Sauce (Optional)

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tablespoon of Butter

200 ml Olive oil

Final Product

How to MAKE:

                First, rub the mince with salt and pepper to season it, and then marinate it with the butter. Then, heat a little oil in a pan and fry the mince in it. Continue with this until the mince crisps up and turns brown. If the mince sticks together to form large chunks, use the spatula to split these into smaller chunks. Now, drain the excess liquid and place it on a paper towel to get rid of the rest of the oil.

Served with Fragrant Egg Rice

                Heat oil in the pan, and to it add the ginger, garlic, and the green chillies, and sauté it till it starts to sweat. Now add the chilly peppers and sauté. Do not let anything burn, and as immediately as the chilly peppers begin to sweat, add the crisped beef mince to it. Stir and sauté this mix and add lemon zest to it followed by freshly squeezed lemon juice. Stir this well and then add the orange juice and oyster sauce to it. Finally once everything is mixed together well and looks properly cooked, add the spring onions, stir well and then take off the flame. Garnish with spring onions and lemon. Serve Hot!

P.S: If you like pork, you can use pork mince instead of butter in the recipe so as to keep the beef mince moist. 

Pasta Pomodoro

             So this is my first successful Italian dish ever. So I hope you guys like it!! And I think I am gonna make more Italian since it has such an awesome flavour palette! So, enjoy!!

Ingredients:

100gms of Pasta (I used Penne)

2 Onions (Finely Chopped)

The Ingredients

4 Tomatoes (Boiled and peeled)

4 tablespoons of tomato Puree

6 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar

A pinch of dried Oregano

Fresh Basil Leaves

Fresh Parsley

Dried bay leaves

4-5 cloves of Garlic

A Cinnamon stick

Pepper

1 tablespoon of crushed Red Chilly

A cup of water

5 tablespoons of Olive oil

Salt to taste

                                                                                         How to MAKE:

Pasta Pomodoro

                First cook the pasta with a few drops of olive oil, bay leaves, a clove of garlic, a piece of cinnamon, and salt. In a pan, heat the olive oil and then add the onions to it. When the onions start to sweat, chop up the garlic and add it to the pan. Sauté it well and once the onions start to soften up, add the tomato puree. Do not wait for the onions to start caramelizing. After adding the puree, cook it for about 5 minutes until the raw tomato smell is gone. Now chop up the boiled tomatoes, and add it to the pan and turn down the flame. Cook this mixture for a while until the tomatoes start giving out their liquid, and once this happens, turn up the flame and add the balsamic vinegar. Now sauté until everything gets mixed well together and then add the oregano, freshly ground pepper, crushed red chillies, and the basil and the parsley leaves. Now stir it well and add the cup of water. Keep stirring until the sauce becomes thick and then add the salt to taste. Finally, grate some cinnamon into the sauce and stir well. Cook this until the sauce achieves required consistency and then take off the flame. Pour the sauce over the previously cooked pasta, and garnish with parsley and grated cinnamon. Serve Hot!

Café 17

                A few weeks back, while I was browsing the internet, I came across this website that gave offers or deals that would allow the user to avail a discount at the place offering the deal. The deal for the day was of a restaurant called café 17, and it offered a plate of burger with fries and iced tea. Being the foodie I am, I went to check it out and was blown away by the burger. It was simply magnificent and so delicious that it was to die for. And this is the reason this new post was made.

                Café 17. One of the first restaurants of its type in Kochi, it is located opposite Sreedhareeyam hospital on Kaloor-Kathrikadavu road. It is a place where people can hang out, chill, and go on dates to. It is open from 11a.m to 11p.m every day.

                Speaking of its menu, café 17 offers a lot of burgers, sandwiches and what not. It has steaks and pastas which are newly added to the menu and much more is to come soon. It also offers a wide range of cold drinks, coffees and desserts like pastries and cakes. It has vegetarian food too, so vegetarians won’t feel left out either.

                Now talking about the service. The service is totally exquisite and elegant. The waiters are very polite, and make sure the customer is having a good time while dining. The order was brought out slowly, but that is understandable due to the time that the food takes to cook and also since all food is freshly made from scratch even the topping sauce for the steak!

                The interiors of the restaurant were as beautiful and magnificent as the food. The ambience is totally breath-taking and I loved it. The dining area is low lit and there are always some good songs playing in the background. The wall is decorated with chalk art, various abstract posters, and a book shelf full of books that the customer could read. There are round tables to dine on plus a few long sofas with low tables where a group could sit and hang out or eat. The area also shows off a display of various pastries served at the joint. There is also a window through which the kitchen can be seen where the chef would be preparing the order. Just sitting in the restaurant gives a sense of peace and calm that I really enjoy.

                Now finally speaking of the food, the food ordered was a plate of Grilled Beef Tenderloin steak, a serving of Agua Fresca, and a piece of Death by Chocolate. There was a choice of 2 sauces for the steak. Out of the pepper sauce and mushroom sauce offered, I picked the peppers sauce. The Agua Fresca was a sprite based drink whose fruit flavour changed according to the flavour of the day. Now speaking of the steak. The steak, oh my god!! It gave off so much aroma that my mouth started watering and I couldn’t wait to dig in. It was a plated with a side of mashed potatoes, grilled carrots and broccoli, and was topped off with the pepper sauce. There were around 5 pieces that were at least 2-3 centimetres thick and 4 centimetres wide. In short, they weren’t bite sized. The beef was medium done, and was so moist and smooth. There was no flavour of uncooked beef at all. The surface of the steak was the perfect combination of crispy and soft with a few delicious charred parts. The mashed potatoes were well seasoned and smooth. I am not a big fan of vegetables, so I would say they were not bad. The sauce was very smooth and had an impeccable texture. It complimented the steak very well and enhanced the overall taste of the dish. It wasn’t overly spicy so there were no problems with it. I loved the steak so much that for a moment, I forgot that I was reviewing it and simply enjoyed it with closed eyes. 

                Now talking about the Agua Fresca, it was a very simple drink. All it had in it was sprite and the fruit of the day which was watermelon. Even though it was simple, it was nothing short of being as good as the steak itself. Now finally coming to the dessert, the Death by Chocolate! Up until I had this piece of death by chocolate, I was a fan of it from Chaicofi, but no more! This particular piece of Death by chocolate was so magnificent and tasty that I just ate it without even thinking about anything else in the world. It was smooth and just melted in my mouth. It had four thick and consistent layers that were so fluffy and sweet. The only problem I found was due to it being cold on the outside, the inner portions were a little bit harder than the outer parts. But in total, the food was better than awesome, and was to die for. The price is reasonable when compared to that of steaks at other joints. But, for those of you who think it is pricey, believe me. The food is worth every single penny that you spend! I can guarantee that.

                All that I would say to sum up this experience is that, café 17 is a complete package where you can hang out with friends, eat food, and have fun or you could have  calm and quite time for yourself here with books and food.

Chicknack

                So this is my first post since 2015 began. So this year, my first recipe is going to be one of my personal favourites!! I hope you enjoy this.

INGREDIENTS:

1 kg boneless chicken (Cut into bite sized pieces)

4 medium sized onions (Finely Chopped)

3 medium sized tomatoes (Finely Chopped)

2 Green Chillies (Chopped)

2 tablespoons of Red Chilly powder

1 tablespoon of black pepper powder

2 tablespoons of dark soya sauce

Salt to taste

Vegetable oil

For Marinade-

2 cups of curd

1 green chillies (chopped)

A few coriander leaves

2 teaspoons of pepper powder

2 teaspoons of salt

How to MAKE:

                Mix all the ingredients for the marinade with the chicken in a bowl and leave for half an hour. Now fry the marinated chicken till it turns golden brown and keep aside, probably in a paper towel in order to drain excess oil.

                Now, heat oil in a pan and when it turns hot, add the onions and sauté till they turn a little brown. Now add the tomatoes and sauté till their raw smell disappears and then add the fried chicken and salt to it. Now, in a separate pan, heat oil and add all the different powders to it (except salt). Fry them for about a minute and instantly add it to the chicken. Stir everything well together and then add the tomato sauce and green chillies to it. Stir it well. If you need extra gravy add about 50 ml of water to it. Take it off the flame after about a minute or two. Serve hot!

Schezuan Potatoes

            I have created quite a few dishes that I am proud of. The dish I am posting today is my favourite yet! So a heads up to all you readers. To cook my usual dishes, you just have to do something similar to what I explain and you don’t actually have to as accurate as I explain. But, for this dish, please try to do exactly what I say. I am not saying I am a masterchef or anything, but from experience I can say that even a small change in the crucial part of this dish will mess it up. Trust me. This dish is easy to cook, but requires a little more attention than my usual recipes. So, brace yourselves for the new recipe!!!

The Ingredients

Ingredients:

5 medium sized potatoes (Diced)

4 Onions (Diced)

Half a Capsicum (chopped lengthwise)

2 Green Chillies (finely chopped)

3 tablespoons of “Ching’s Schezuan Chutney”

½ tablespoon of Tomato Sauce

¾ tablespoon of Dark Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon of Green Chilly Sauce

3 teaspoons of Black Pepper powder

2 tablespoons of Vegetable Oil

Salt to taste

How to MAKE:

I usually don't garnish...!

            First, cook the potatoes in boiling water till they are about 3/4rth cooked and keep them aside. Now, heat the oil in a pan and then add 2 tablespoons of the Schezuan Chutney. Stir it and immediately add the onions to this. Cook the onions till the smell of the “Chutney” subsides a little. Now, add the capsicum and saute it till the raw smell of the capsicum settles. Next, add the potatoes and mix everything together well together. Make sure that the reddish colour spreads evenly all over the potatoes. Now, add pepper powder, the last tablespoon of the Schezuan Chutney, and the 3 different sauces and toss it around to mix it well. Now add salt to taste. Now comes the most crucial step of the dish. Add about 50 ml water to the dish, keep it on high flame and keep stirring it till the water evaporates. Do the same thing exactly 3 more times with the same amount of water. This is the crucial step because, this makes the flavour go into the potatoes. If you cook it on low flame by adding a lot of water, the entire dish will become soggy and won’t taste as good. Finally, add the green chillies and mix well. Add 50 ml and do the previous procedure one last time. But this time, instead of plainly stirring the dish, mash one or two pieces of potatoes and then mix everything well. Now, finally, turn off the flame and the potatoes are ready to be devoured!! Serve hot!

P.S: While stirring, make sure not to crumble any potatoes if possible until the last step.