Z for zucchini-paneer sabzi :)

Hello everyone! As usual, i am making an eleventh hour appearnace for the A-Z event :). Z to me signifies a lot more than just the culmination of this wonderful potluck that has been going on at Nupur's place as a weekly tradition.....it signifies hopes and expectations of many more "Zaaykedaar (flavorful)" get togethers in the days to come :). So here's to one of my favorite events :).

Today, i just pair up the crunchy zucchinis with soft paneer to make one of my favorite dishes.

Its simple and its quick! The dish takes inspiration from the traditional pairing of bottle gourd (Al) and paneer (Chaman) in Kashmiri cuisine (paging Anita!). But the preparation style, in this case, is very different.

So here it is:


Zucchini-paneer sabzi:

We need:

• 4 zucchinis (chopped into semi-lunar shape)
  
• 1 cup fresh paneer
• 1/4 tsp. jeera (cumin)
• 2 bunches spring onion (chopped)
• 1 small Roma tomato (optional, i added it for color)
• 1/2 tsp. amchoor/ squeeze of 1/2 lemon (if you like it tangy)
• Turmeric and red chilli powder (to taste)
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp. oil

Chop the zucchinis in semi-lunar shape (for variation, try 2" long pieces) and set aside. In a pan, heat oil and splutter the cumin. Fry the chopped spring onions and add the paneer and stir till the paneer is toasted a bit (if you are using fried/grilled paneer cubes, then proceed to the next step). Add the zucchinis and stir fry them on high heat till a lil' crisp. Now stir in the tomatoes, add the turmeric, red chilli powder, amchoor and salt.

Stir, reduce the flame and cover to cook till done when the raw vegetable smell goes). Serve hot with chapatis and dahi, or as a side dish with rice and daal. It tastes quite good as a sandwich stuffing too.


Variations: Instead of jeera, use any other seeds like coriander or kalonji/nigella or fresh methi leaves as a flavoring agent.

More fun with zucchinis here and here.

Mirchi etc ;)

Precisely! because when mirchis make an appearance, everything else becomes etc! (sorry Pel, that was really tough to resist) :-D. Its all about mirchis this months, folks :)). As i wondered if i would be able to participate in this month's JFI, i simultaneously made plans of having a quick dinner.....i was home quite late, again! And then, news flash, how about using mirchis as a key ingredient to spice up a quick meal!! I got home and.....what did i do? Jazzed up a simple parantha with gorgeous looking Anaheim chillies and even got the energy to dish up a delicious daal with chillies for my lunch tomorrow :)). I can see the wink-wink, folks, Musical makes paranthas and kadhis with everything :-D.



So these two quick recipes go to the very creative Nandita (of Saffron Trail fame) who is hosting this month's JFI:chillies, a lovely blog event created by dear Indira (Mahanandi).

On to the food.....

Mirchi-pudina-cheese parantha:

We need:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• A pinch of salt
• 3 big Anaheim chillies (chopped fine)
• 1 tbsp. dried Pudina leaves (crushed)
• Water to make a dough
• Fresh mozzarella cheese for filling
  
• Ghee for frying

Make a dough with whole wheat, salt, chillies and pudina leaves. Roll the paranthas and fill them out as shown here. Fry on the griddle with lil' bit ghee. Serve hot with plain dahi for a nice filling breakfast, lunch or dinner.

As for variations: Try dried Rosemary or Oregano :). Try some of your other favorite cheese variety. And trust me, this parantha wouldn't taste the same without MIRCHI :-D. If you want to make a kulcha with these ingredients, simply make the dough with curds instead and let it rest for 2 hrs. or so. Knead again and proceed to make the kulchas-which are paranthas from raised dough.

Masoor daal with mirchi:

This is my friend MD's all time favorite daal and is based on her Bengali recipe :).


We need:

• 1 cup masoor daal
• 1/2 tsp. panch-phoron
• 1 inch piece of ginger, chopped (my addition)
• 1 small tomato (chopped, optional)
• 6-7 green Thai chillies (slit) or 2 big Anaheim chillies(chopped into 1" pieces)
• 1 tsp. oil
  
• A pinch of turmeric (not more)
  
• Salt to taste

Pressure cook the masoor daal for 2-3 whistles. For the tadka, spultter the panch-phoron (mustard seeds, nigella seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds). Add the ginger and chillies, saute' and add the tomatoes, followed by the turmeric. Cook 2-3 minutes and add to the daal. Stir the tadka in, add salt and bring the daal to boil.

Enjoy with some plain boiled rice :).

Cheese parantha with quick sabzi :)

Paranthas have always been my favorite bread :). Mom used to make the best paranthas and my recipes would try to bring you the same flavor. Parantha is a pan/griddle fried bread, traditionally only meant for breakfast/brunch-but we all know its tempting enough to break these rules ;).

Today i'll make a creative parantha :). Its fun you know, when you end up trying something just like that and it turns out good. Well, thats what this parantha is-total fun! A delish twist to the regular parantha :). So, ready: lets go.

We need:

Whole wheat flour, water, a pinch of salt, ajwain and grated cheese of your favorite variety (i used five cheese Italian blend).

Sift the flour, add salt, ajwain, knead into a smooth dough with water. The essence of any good Indian bread is a good dough, so knead, knead, knead :). The dough should be flexible. Set aside for a few minutes. Heat the tava/griddle and roll a nice chapati as shown in the picture. Heap some grated cheese and fold into a square (or a triangle if you like). Dust with some flour and roll this square. Fry it with lil' oil/ghee on the tava-the cheese melts and makes this ordinary bread into something extraordinary :).

A good parantha should be crispy outside and soft inside.

The regular Punju parantha is prepared in very much the same manner, with or without ajwain and instead of cheese, you just brush the inner lining with ghee. Sometimes, for a change, try kneading the dough with milk (makes soft paranthas) or sour dahi/buttermilk (that would be a home made cousin of kulcha for you).

Oh! but what do we have this paranthas with! Traditionally some achaar/pickle and dahi/yogurt are served with paranthas-and sometimes sabzis too.

So, lets look for a quick sabzi recipe. Now, this one is simple: Splutter jeera in hot oil and then fry chopped onions and tomatoes (the tadka)-as you do this, microwave (WHAT!)-yes, microwave one-two potatoes (4 mins/potato) :)). Cool these, peel and make into cubes. Now, add some turmeric to the tadka, cook and add water to make some gravy-to this add peas/matar, diced carrots and cubed potatoes. Add salt and cook on simmer after covering the pan. It takes just 10 minutes-stir in-between, add chopped cilantro/dhaniya and just a pinch of garam masala.

Hai na mazedar-hope you enjoyed it.