Bachelor Party

Yesterday after having a good round of fast table tennis I returned home to find that the house was devoid of any freshly made food. And my family was out to see a movie. Though my parents had asked me to come for the movie (Jaane Tu...) I refused as I had already seen it.

Now was the chance to see if I can cook a meal rather than just the single odd dish. I got the ingredients from the vegetable vendor who was selling fresh vegetables thankfully on a late sunday evening. The two dishes I had set out to make were Roasted Tomato Soup and Paneer Bhurji (Fresh Cottage Cheese cooked in vegetables and Indian spices.) Amazingly while I was cooking these mouth watering treats I was called up by two people, both of whom were on a onion less, oil free, spice free in short a satvik diet for the Shravan month. Now I can never really figure out why where they grumbling that I told them what I was cooking :D......

All in all it was really fun cooking on my own. It also helped that now I can cook well. Here are the images, I'll post the recipes later.

This is the entire spread consisting of Roasted tomatoes soup, paneer bhurji, brown bread toast and lemonade with honey.....mouth watering isn't it??

Smoked Paneer Tikka

Yesterday night it was a different gala at our house. My dad's out of station and my mom wanted a holiday from the kitchen. So instead of stuffing ourselves with junk food. Me and my younger sister Rutika made a treat of our own for her. Parathas with Palak (Spinach) gravy by Rutika. And Paneer Tikka Dry with Curd Sauted Tomatoes by Me. The preparation was a bit of chaos as me and my sister were together. She being the 2nd in Command Chief tried to boss me around and I ended up doing things exactly the way she told me not to. She made her own palak gravy to whose making I did not pay attention to as I was too engrossed myself. Now heres the recipe if you wish to take a print. You will need:

200 gms of fresh paneer.

250 gms of fresh dahi (strained yoghurt)

2 medium sized tomatoes.

Salt, Red chilli powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and crushed garlic to taste.

And some olive oil (Approx. 2-3 table spoons)

1) First in the bowl pour the yoghurt and then add the salt, red chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala and garlic (crush it to a paste before adding, however I dont prefer ready made garlic pastes.)

2) Whip the mixture to a consistent texture.

3) Cut the paneer to 1 1/2 inch cubes or smaller if you like and add them to the mixture in the bowl.

4) Let the ingredients sit for half an hour. In the meantime you can cut the tomatoes and capsicum in dices.

5) Now saute the mixture on a frying pan with some olive. This takes some practice as you dont have to burn this stuff. Also dip the veggies in the surplus yoghurt mixture before sauting them. Keep adding some of the surplus yoghurt mixture on the paneer if you want it extra crispy as the yoghurt will tend to sizzle and coat the paneer with a nicy spicy layer. There will be adequate left behind dont worry.

Paneer Tikka and Tomatoes

6) ENJOY!!!!