Paneer/Cottage Cheese Crescents

I had seen these beauties at Roxana's space and bookmarked it.....a few days ago while pouring milk to boil ....I accidently poured one packet of curd instead of milk into the pan.....two packets of milk plus one packet of curd....all this happened in the morning rush hour....and when my loud oh! nooooo! exclamations came from the kitchen hubby dear looked into the matter....when he heard what happened....you should have seen his face....all smiles.....because he loves paneer more than anything else.....my mom-in-law used to say that as a young boy...whenever she makes paneer and leave it to set.....Homey used to sneak and have his full of raw paneer....by the time she comes to cook dinner....there will be only the cloth without the paneer!!!. So you can imagine his happiness when I told him that I poured curd accidently into the milk...I could see the twinkle in his eyes....when I started to turn them into paneer.

Now both my kids don't like paneer....so when I saw these at Roxana's space I had thought it will be an excellent idea to make my kids have paneer.....and they did love it....thanks Roxana for sharing this lovely recipe.

I got this much paneer from 1 litre milk and 1/2 litre curd.

Recipe Courtesy: Roxana.
Ingredients:
Paneer/cottage cheese: About 200 g.
Lukewarm water/milk: 1 cup.
Sugar: 1/2 tbsp.
Instant yeast: 2 tsp.
Olive oil/melted butter: 2 tbsp.
Plain flour: 4 cups.
Salt: 1/2 tsp.

For garnishing: Half beaten egg, chopped coriander leaves or dried herbs, and little garam masala to sprinkle (instead of egg you can also brush with melted butter).

Method:
1. I put the paneer into my mixer jar along with the lukewarm water, yeast, oil, salt, sugar and gave it a nice blend. Pour this into the flour.

2. I mixed it with my hand to make it into a smooth dough and let the dough sit for about 1-11/2 hours or until it doubles its size....cover it with a wet cloth. In two steps the dough is ready!!!

3. It doubled up.

4. I divided the dough into two and roll out into a circle. Cut each circle into 8 triangles.

5. Roll it with your finger tips into crescents.

5. Place them on a baking sheets. Leave again to rest at room temperature for 30 min.

6. Meanwhile preheat the oven, just before baking give them an egg wash and sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves and garam masala (or any dry herbs like Roxana did). I wanted to make it Indianised so I opted for coriander leaves/Cilantro and garam masala for the flavour......the result was YUM!!

7. Bake them until golden.

Enjoy with just about anything!!!

Linking this to Bookmarked recipes, Yeast spotting, Whats cookin in the kitchen, Fat Camp Friday, Decidedly Healthy or Horridly Decadent Saturday Party) , Made from scratch.

This recipe was featured on Full Plate Thursday...check it out.

Chocolatechip Shortbread.....step-by-step method.

The best thing about shortbread is that it takes less time to make compared to making cookies.....(no rolling the dough into a cookie)....cream butter and sugar... add flour...... press into a pan and bake it....yes, thats it!!!...this is one of my kids favorite shortbread ..... and the easiest!!. I love the chocolatechips on top....It gives enough chocolatey flavour....though Nidhi likes to top it with chocolate sauce....either way it is yummy!!!

I came across this while surfing the net and thought I will share it...it is a brief history of shortbread cookies.........."They started in Scotland way back when cooking, compared to today's standards, was crude.                                         Of course they have evolved over time to what we know today. The original shortbread cookie recipe probably included oat flour but when the English adopted it they substituted wheat flour. In Tudor England oats were considered animal food. Traditional shortbread is baked in a round and then cut into wedges.

The story has it that the ancient Scots baked shortbread in the winter months and put cuts in the shortbread rounds to represent the suns rays. I suppose this was some sort of ritual to persuade the sun to return and do away with the cold winter. The wintertime tradition holds on though because shortbread cookie recipes are among the most popular Christmas time cookie recipes".
Source: Cookie recipe club.

This recipe is adapted from one of my favorite recipe book "Everyday chocolate" published by Parragon Books and the actual recipe calls for golden caster sugar....I used powdered sugar instead.

Recipe Source: Everyday chocolate (Parragon Books)
Ingredients:
Butter: 115 g/4oz (plus extra for greasing).
Powdered sugar: 55 g/2 oz.
Plain flour: 115 g/4oz.
Cornflour: 55 g/2 oz
Chocolate chips: 40g/ 1 1/2 oz .(I used more to get more chocolate in each bite!!).

Method:
1. Grease a 9-inch loose based fluted tart tin and keep aside.Cream butter and sugar.

2. Sift flour and cornflour into this and make it into a smooth dough.

3. Press it with your fingertips into the greased tart tin.

4. Prick with fork all over.

5. Sprinkle chocolate chips generously on top and press them lightly into the surface. Bake until cooked but not browned about 20-30 min. Mark into 8 portions with a knife...cool in the tin for 10 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve it with hot milk!!!

Enjoy!!!

Linking to Fat Camp Friday.

Decidedly Healthy or Horridly Decadent Blog Hop

Hearth and Soul. whats cookin in the kitchen. Sweets for Saturday, Made from scratch.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies......step-by-step.

Remember that cookie book which I got from the roadside vendor and from which I made whole wheat chocolate chip cookies ...well that cookie book is indeed a treasure house of cookies....this peanut butter cookie is a traditional recipe and I made it last week.....peanut butter cookies are instantly recognizable by their criss cross marks (made by the tines of fork). This one is easy to make and not much effort if using an egg beater.

I had some crunchy peanut butter so I made with that and loved the crunchiness in every bite ...it was rather easy to make and the dough did not spread out much while baking.....it turned out to be just perfect...I mean I tried it for the first time and it came out peeerfect!! and that's wonderful right??? I mean I am naturally hooked to anything which turns out perfect at the very first try.... girls its your turn now....so lets get baking!!!.

Source: The cookie book, Wisconsin Energy Company.
I haved the ingredients.
Ingredients:
Butter/Margarine: 1 cup.
Granulated sugar: 1 cup.
Packed brown sugar: 1 cup.
Peanut butter: 1 cup (I used crunchy peanut butter).
Eggs: 2.
Sifted all-purpose flour: 2 1/2 cups.
Baking soda: 2 tsp.
Salt: 1/2 tsp.

Method:
1. In a bowl put in butter, sugars, and peanut butter and cream them.

2. Put in the egg to the creamed butter mix and cream again..

3. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda and mix again.

4. Knead it into a smooth dough with your hand (because I used crunchy peanut butter you can see small bits of peanuts in the dough).

5. Shape into small balls and flatten them with the tines of fork and place them on a greased cookie sheet and bake them for 15 to 20 min....see I told you it is EASY!!!

Cool and store in air tight containers.

YUM!!!

Linking to Fat Camp Friday.

Spinach/Palak Parathas.

This week was rather hectic...kids not well...Homey on tour.....and before I knew it was Thursday!!! .....I had made palak paratha a few days ago...I love making parathas with greens...kids love them in their lunch box...today its methi paratha in their lunch box.....the best part is that you can saute the greens and keep in fridge for 2 or 3 days...I usually do this and mix them with wheat flour in the morning ...usually for kids lunch box.

Ingredients:
Spinach/Palak leaves: 1 bunch, cleaned and chopped.
Jeera: 1/2 tsp.
Oil: 1 tsp.
Chilly powder: 1/2 tsp.
Whole wheat flour/atta: 1 1/2 cups.
Salt.

Method:
1. Wash and clean the leaves and chop them up.

2. Heat oil in a pan and put in jeera and when it splutters switch off fire and put in the red chill powder and give it a stir and add the chopped leaves, salt, again switch on the fire and fry the leaves on medium heat till water evaporates. When it is done at this stage you can cool it and refrigerate it to make paratha after a day or two or can mix in whole wheat flour and make parathas.

3. Mix this with 1 1/2 cups of wheat flour add water as necessary and roll into a smooth dough.

4. Roll out into rotis.

5. Heat a tawa and cook them on both side....drizzle ghee/butter/vegetable shortening on either side and serve hot with raita or any dal/veg curry.

Steamed coconut filled rice balls/kozhukattai...Arusuvai Season 2

When I got a mail from Sayantani inviting me to join the Arusuvai Chain, I was thrilled because I was new to blogging and had very little blogger friends and wanted to be a part of this friendship chain. I was happy to get the parcel from Hema, actually my kids were more excited than me, Hema had sent a note and a gift of strawberry tea bags and a key chain...and the mystery ingredient. Once I opened it I knew it was palm jaggery. Thank you Hema....

Bharathy, Srivalli, and Lathamma started this chain and the second season was organised by Sayantani of A Homemaker's Diary.

Kozhukattai is a traditional snack of South India...amma used to prepare it as an after soon snack.....It is one of the healthiest snack with rice flour, jaggery, coconut. Hot water is poured into the rice powder, salt, and mixed with a spoon. When it is warm enough to handle, roll into small balls and put a tsp of scarped coconut and jaggery mix into it and again roll it into a ball and steam it.

Ingredients:
Rice flour: 2 cup.(easily available in Indian Stores).
Water: 1 1/2 cups-2 cups.
Salt: 1/2 tsp.
Grated coconut: 1/2-1 cup.
Palm jaggery/jaggery: Grated or crushed, about 1/2 cup.
1 or 2 drops of oil to grease your hand.
Cardamom: 1 or 2, crushed.

Method:
1. Mix coconut, jaggery, cardamom and keep aside.

2. Boil water with salt in a pan...add 1 or 2 drops of oil...when it is boiled and pour it little by little over the rice flour mixing with a spoon and make it into a soft dough...the water is just enough to make it into a dough.

2. Allow it to cool and while still warm knead it with your hand into a soft dough.Soft rice dough is ready to use.

3. Make small balls with the dough and put a tsp of the coconut mix in the middle and close the dough and shape it back into a ball.

4. Put the coconut filled balls or kozhukattai in the steamer for 10 to 15 on low flame.

5. Steamed kozhukattai or rice balls are ready to serve.

Enjoy the surprise sweetness of the jaggery and coconut with the flavor of Cardamom when you bite into it.

This is my entry to the Arusuvai Friendship Chain.

Sharing with Fat Camp Friday., What's cookin in the kitchen.

Browned Butter Brownies....step-by-step method.

The moment I saw these brownies here I had to forget about the healthy resolution that I made a couple of weeks back.....I mean I was practically living chocolate-less for more than 20 days....and I needed a reward for enduring 20 loooooong chocolate-less days.

Also, I saw a newspaper article about cocoa powder, I quote, " Chocoholics, you can now gorge on your favorite treat without a sense of guilt, for scientists have claimed that it's actually healthier than many fruit. Not only that, but chocolate is being heralded as the latest "super food" by the scientist who carried out a study. They have proved that it is packed with more healthy plant compounds and antioxidants gram-for gram than fruit juice and provides far more nutrition than food experts previously thought. This is based on a comparison of cocoa powder with powders made from fruit"....yay!!! that's good news for all the chocoholics...(so indulge in chocolate guilt free!!)

Also, Valentines day is just around the corner and I had this huge craving to have something chocolatey...no nuts or anything just pure chocolatey.......I came across a brownie recipe from  Bon Appétit by Alice Medrich I love brownies....but most recipe calls for cooking chocolate which is very expensive here .....when I read the recipe I found it was made with cocoa powder and melted browned butter....well that looked really appealing to me....that means no need to bring butter to room temp....just take it from fridge and melt them...wow....again the recipe called for walnuts.....which are also very expensive here...and my kids and walnuts do not get along.....they wanted chocolate in every crumb no interference from walnuts or cashewnuts...so I omited them......I made it exactly as the recipe says (I doubled the measurement because I wanted FAT brownies and not thin ones....and guys no need to powder the sugar....just dump them into the melted butter along with the cocoa......

These brownies are soft and gooey inside, chewy on the outside, and PERFECTLY moist. The browned butter is the most unique aspect of the recipe......so ready for that chocolate overdose???

Ingredients:
Butter: 250 gms.
Sugar: 2 1/2 cups.
Unsweetened cocoa powder: 1 1/2 cups (I used Cadbury's cocoa).
Vanilla extrat: 2 tsp.
Water: 4 teaspoons ( I used around 2/3 cup of water as u can see in the pic the batter was crumbly at first so I added more water to make it creamy).
Salt. 1/2 teaspoon.
Eggs: 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
Flour: 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons flour


Method:
1. Preheat oven. Line a baking tray with foil, leaving a slight overhanging on two sides and grease it.

2. Melt 250 gms of butter in a medium pan, over medium heat, once the butter has melted, continue stirring for 5 minutes until the butter has stopped foaming and begins to turn into light golden brown colour. (Keep close eye on it or else it will get burnt quickly....thats why I could not click that browning butter pic  Remove from heat and add 1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 4 tbsp water, and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir until combined. (I added little more water than mentioned in the recipe to make it smooth). Let the mixture cool for 5 min.

3. Meanwhile lightly beat 4 eggs and keep aside.

4. Add the eggs to the mixture whisking continuously as you add them

5. Lastly stir in 2/3 cup flour + 2tbsp flour and beat for 1 or 2 min ( I used my egg beater and like mentioned I added little more water to make the batter smooth and creamy). Pour into the prepared tray and bake.

6. I baked them for 25 min or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs attached , let it sit on the tray to cool,  lift the brownie carefully using the foil and cut immediately and serve.

Serve with hot milk.

Tip: Can add walnuts or cahewnuts.
I think the next time I will add expresso powder.
Can be make 2 days ahead.

Linking this to Full plate Thursday, Recipe Swap Thursday, Dessertwars, Made from scratch.