DRY SPICED PANEER & CURRY LEAF CORIANDER RICE

 I cooked this platter yesterday evening; a paneer dish, a fried chutney rice kind of; the water cress fritters and the salad is made by Cristine. Salad is eaten by Cristine & me at this home, the man eats salad only with meat biryani or tehari; not even salad, greens in raita actually. The son denies salad on his plate; eats tomato & cucumber in meat burgers, a single slice each of them. I believe, he would learn. We still had some cooked food in the refrigerator; a light curry with raw papaya, Hilsa head cooked with colocasia, two kinds of dal / lentil curry. Just a few omelettes would do. Then, I go by my wish. I wished to cook fresh; spend some quality time in the kitchen to put off my worries for the time being. It is also true that I wished to serve on my readers' plates a good vegetarian meal as this one DRY SPICED PANEER & CURRY LEAF CORIANDER RICE. On the side, we also had water cress fritters; this family so loves fries & fritters. I felt very bad when they lost their crispiness while I took longer time clicking them.

I started off late today. I was arranging the photographs. My mind is not in place at this time. The man is working from home today, we were just sitting silent; you cannot talk to them early morning. He does not entertain my anxiety ever, I wish they were a bit sympathetic towards my panicky self. It may be so it is their way of keeping me under control. I would have been happier if they had been a little softer in nature; they know how I dislike noise and anything that is loud. One day, they will realise had they listened to me, they would have been benefitted. If they do not listen to any of my words, how can they call me a nag? Anyway, this does not deter me from loving them sincerely, what I do I do it with all sincerity, direct from the heart. My love for food is also one reason why I never get bored or feel worked up whilst cooking. It is also true because of a Cristine at home to help, I can give such big talks. With her; preparing a nutritious, vegetarian meal DRY SPICED PANEER & CURRY LEAF CORIANDER RICE is not a big deal.

This is not the time in my life when I would want to prepare paneer / Indian cottage cheese at home. I always have a frozen packet at home. I use the Nanak or Kohinoor brand and willing to try the Milky Mist brand whose plain yogurt I so love. For frozen paneer, what I do is I soak them in salted warm water for few hours before using them in a curry. There is no amount of ginger paste, onion used in the curry or the rice. The rice dish has two cloves of garlic, you can well call it green chutney rice. The colour & texture of the paneer curry is from the ripe tomatoes used, the colour of the not at all hot Baba brand chilli powder. Below is how we had our pure vegetarian meal yesterday night.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CURRY LEAF CORIANDER RICE :

RICE : 1 COFFEE MUG [I USED BASMATI, THE AMOUNT SERVES 4-5 PEOPLE]
FRESH CORIANDER : 100-150 GM
CURRY LEAF : 20-25
GREEN CHILLI : 4
GARLIC CLOVE : 2
LEMON JUICE : 3-4 TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
BENGAL GRAM DAL : 2 TSP
SPLIT SKINLESS YELLOW MOONG DAL : 1 TSP
SPLIT SKINLESS BLACK GRAM DAL : 1 TSP
BLACK MUSTARD SEED : 1 TSP
DRY RED CHILLI : 4-5
OIL : 4TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DRY SPICED PANEER :

PANEER : 250 GM [SERVES 3-4 PEOPLE]
RIPE TOMATO : 2 BIG OR 21/2 MEDIUM OR 4 SMALL SIZED
CUMIN POWDER : 1 TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1 TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 2 TSP
DRY MANGO POWDER : 1 TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 2 TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2 TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4 TSP
BAY LEAF : 1
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 2 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I prepared the rice first yesterday. Let us share the rice of this green chutney rice kind of at first.

We have washed the rice and cooked it in enough boiling water up to 60% done, we strained it in a colander.

We have cut off the root end of the fresh coriander sprigs and roughly chopped. We have taken together the chopped coriander, peeled garlic cloves, green chillies, curry leaves; all washed.

We have drained the water, taken them in a blender, added salt, lemon juice and sprinkle a little of water. 

We have prepared a smooth paste of them.

We have tempered the oil with the black mustard seeds, the dal varieties, the halved dry red chillies. 

We have added the green herbs paste, stirred it at low heat for 1/2 a minute. 

We have added the cooked rice and stir cooked at high heat for 3-4 minutes.

We will always serve the rice hot.

For the Dry Spiced Paneer recipe, there is hardly any work.

I used frozen paneer, so I soak them in hot, salted water for an hour or two. Discard the water there after.

We have chopped the washed tomatoes. We have tempered the heated oil with the cumin seeds and bay leaf.

We have added the tomatoes, turmeric & little salt to it.

We have sprinkled little water, cover cooked at minimal heat allowing the tomato pieces to melt completely. 

We added the cumin, coriander & red chilli powders at this stage.

We have stirred it for 1/2 a minute and added 11/2 coffee mugs of water. We have cover cooked it at minimal heat; allowed it to boil for pretty 3-4 minutes.

We have added the dry mango powder, garam masala powder and gave a stir.

We allowed it to cook for a minute and added the paneer pieces.

We have let it simmer for 3-4 minutes; the paneer anyway would soak in the juices and thicken the gravy in minutes.

You can see we had a hearty vegetarian meal with DRY SPICED PANEER & CURRY LEAF CORIANDER RICE; Water Cress Fritters & Purple Cabbage+Tomato+Lettuce salad tossed in Vietnamese Lemon Grass Salad Dressing.