Bundle up Iron and Calcium!

Recipe for Palak Paneer

Palak, also known as Spinach is seriously a wonder green. Loaded with iron, it is said that 100g of spinach leaves can fulfill 25% of daily iron requirement. Palak is also loaded with vitamins - A, C and K primarily and there are amounts of folate and pyridoxine B vitamins too. 

It is quite ironical that I have written the above lines given that I used to run away from spinach and greens of all sorts when I was a kid. There's a traditional South Indian dish called Keerai Masiyal (a gravy made by grinding greens adorned with a tadka) from which I used to run away at super speeds. Basically, this dish changed the color of my snow white curd rice and I hated it for that. I hated beet root curry too for the same reason. 

But there is no more running !! I make palak parathas and am a big fan of Palak Paneer. 

Yes, this blog post is on a quick and simple recipe for Palak Paneer. 

Now, Paneer is another wonder ingredient, I tasted it for the first time in my class 7 when I went with my family, to eat out in Chennai. Eating out had not sunk in as a trend then as much as it is nowadays. A huge element of suspense was in store for me as I was about to relish Paneer Butter Masala with Naan at Sangeetha hotel, Mylapore, Chennai, back then. The exposure to Paneer was only minimal during school days and it got just as much a big routine during my college days at BITS, Pilani; there began a fondness for paneer which saw no abatement thereafter.

Paneer can be made at home by boiling milk, curdling it with lemon juice or vinegar, straining the curdled milk through a muslin cloth, squeezing excess water and leaving contents in muslin cloth undisturbed for say  an hour. The remains in muslin cloth gets solid and this is paneer, ready to be rinsed and used in gravies and dishes, also known as cottage cheese. Fresh paneer is available in most sweet shops and these have a shelf life of 1-2 days. Once opened, they should be stored in a bowl of water in refrigerator. Paneer is available in all stores under many brands, these have longer shelf life of 15-20 days; must be stored in cool case in refrigerator.

Paneer is a rich source of calcium and phosphorus. There is reasonable amount of cholesterol and fats in it, the usual stuff that tugs along with any dairy product. However, paneer is a very rich source of protein, matters a lot for pure vegetarians and should be included in one's diet in right preparations.   

Now after that brief introduction, let us get down to the recipe of Palak Paneer, a dish that kicks in enough calcium and iron into us in one go :) 

Ingredients (for two) 

Paneer 175 g cut into small cubes ( I used Milky Mist Paneer, available in most Bangalore retail stores, this one is super soft) 

Spinach/Palak leaves (2 medium bundles) 

1 medium sized tomato (roughly chopped) 

2 green chillies (roughly chopped) 

1 medium sized onion (finely chopped) 

1 garlic clove (finely chopped) 

1/2 inch ginger (finely chopped) 

Few sprigs of fresh coriander leaves (finely chopped for garnish) 

1 tsp turmeric powder

1-2 tsp red chilli powder (2 if you like it spicy) 

1/2  tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder 

1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds) 

1 tsp aamchur powder (used MDH brand, optional) 

1/2 tsp sugar 

salt to taste 

1/2 tsp garam masala powder (used home ground, pretty strong and so 1/2 tsp) 

2 tsp oil 

1 tsp ghee

Milk (5 tbsp) (along with it if you 1 tbsp cream , if you desire) 

Water required for gravy and grinding 

Method 

1. Saute the spinach leaves in a non stick pan after washing them thoroughly in tap water. 

2. Roughly chop tomato and green chillies and transfer (step 1 and step 2 stuff) them to a mixer. Grind using little water to nice gravy consistency

3. In the non stick pan, add oil and ghee, when warm , add jeera and let it splutter. 

4. Now add finely chopped onion, garlic and ginger and fry well with turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin powder and coriander powder, salt and sugar. 

5. When fried well, transfer contents of the mixer, add little water and combine well. Let the gravy boil and begin to leave oil, reduce in volume. 

6. When the gravy shrinks, add paneer cubes and give a gentle mix. 

7. Add freshly chopped coriander, aamchur powder and garam masala and combine them well on strong flame. 

8. Now add milk and cream (no need for thick store bought cream, the one on top of boiled milk at home will suffice) and do not overheat as it leads to curdling and a sour taste to gravy. Combine well on medium flame and switch off the gas. Steps 7 and 8 are to be done on medium heat, totally towards the end of the process, should not take too long as masalas would lose flavor and curdling of milk/cream is not desired. 

Yummy Palak Paneer is ready to be served with phulkas or naans. 

Curry Leaves Thokku

It is not really uncommon to see people picking up curry leaves used in seasoning and keeping it aside. Sounds a very simple act, as if these curry leaves are meant for goats and other herbivores and not really for man :) 

However, if one knew the benefits of this simple, commonplace leaf used in seasoning, found in almost every dish in South Indian cuisine, the heavy cost of this act, one out of ignorance, can be realized. 

Curry leaves, a few of them, about 4-5, washed and eaten raw in the morning are said to reduce much unwanted abdominal fat. Curry leaves, soaked in warm water, laced with little honey is an age old remedy for constipation. Curry leaves churned along with butter milk not only enhance the flavor but help cure acidity and indigestion problems. Basically, these simple leaves, a rich source of iron and folic acid work wonders in small ways in every meal if we eat them religiously. 

Curry leaves rubbed and added to a ladle of coconut oil, heated lightly and applied onto scalp can promote healthy and jet black hair growth. I can stand a solid witness to this effect. 

Shanti Krishnakumar's Cook book is a blog which I have been following for over an year. Her recipes combine a mix of traditional Tamil recipes and many from the present, modern times. There are lots of useful tips that come in very handy. Please feel free to visit - http://shanthisthaligai.blogspot.in/ for any reference. 

So when Shanti Aunty listed out a recipe for curry leaves thokku in her blog space, I could not waste a minute and immediately set out to try it. The preparation time is about 20 minutes only and I loved the thokku very much. I mixed it with warm rice and a spoon of oil and relished it thoroughly. 

Here is the link to the recipe on Shanti Krishnakumar's Cook book - karuveppilai-thokku-curry-leaves-thokku

I am jotting down the ingredients and the method for any direct/future personal reference. I omitted the use of sundakkai or turkey berry prescribed in the original recipe as I did not have them at home when making the thokku. 

INGREDIENTS:
Curry leaves - 4 cups tightly packed
Tamarind - a lemon sized ball
Dry red chillies - 4 (I used 5)
Pepper - 1/4 tsp (I used a little over 1/4 tsp, may be 1/2)
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Salt - as per taste
Ghee - 1 tsp.
Gingelly oil - 1 ladle
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
Hing - a pinch

Method: 

1. Soak the tamarind in little water to soften it. 

2. In a thick bottomed pan, add ghee and when warm, add to it pepper and red chillies and fry them well. Add them to the mixer. 

3. Add the softened tamarind as well to the hot pan and saute once, add to the mixer. 

4. Wash the curry leaves and drain all water, saute in the same pan till all moisture is lost, add little extra ghee if needed. Add this too to the mixer. 

5. When all contents in the mixer are cooled, grind well to a paste. 

6. In the same pan, add gingelly oil, when the oil is hot, add cumin seeds, mustard, hing and salt to taste, transfer the thick curry leaves paste from the mixer to this pan. Mix and stir well until oil begins to leave the sides. 

7. At this stage, transfer to an air tight container, clean and free from moisture, store for later use.  


Thanks to Shanti Aunty for sharing such a valuable recipe :) 

Eggless Mango Cake

Come summer and it rains mangoes :) The Senthuram variety has hit many juice junctions in Bangalore and people are guzzling mango milk shakes like never before, may me to a greater extent this year with the heat being unbearable. The Banganapalli variety has just begun to make a meek appearance in local markets. 

Last week, I managed to grab half a dozen Alphonso mangoes from a super market here. Alphonso mangoes are known for their rich orange-red, highly juicy pulp and fibrous texture. I used two of these mangoes, extracted pulp out of them and decided to bake a cake.It was worth trying as the idea was quite different from usual stuff like milk shake, jam and mango burfi fare made using mango pulp. 

There are many eggless cake recipes I have followed from multiple blogs, from all of them I drew cues for the ingredients and their measurements required and eventually constructed a recipe out of it all. Quite a daring challenge, I must say, given the hefty price of Alphonso mangoes. 

Here goes the list of ingredients and the quantity required: 

1 cup atta 

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup mango pulp (used two Alphonso mangoes) 

1/2 tsp cardomom powder

1/2 tsp vanilla essence 

2.5 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup oil 

1/3 cup milk 

a little over 1/2 cup castor sugar (little over can sum up to a heaped table spoon in addition) 

icing sugar for dusting 

Method: 

In a big bowl, add the mango pulp, cardomom powder, vanilla essence, sugar and mix well using a hand mixer at moderate speed for two minutes. 

Add milk to this mixture and baking powder and whisk again using the hand mixer for a minute. 

Now add oil too and give a thorough blend for less than a minute and keep this mixture aside.

To this, add the flour mixture and fold in well using a spatula. No need to use the hand mixer at this stage, just patiently fold in the flour into the wet ingredients avoiding lumps. 

Grease a tin and dust it with flour, alternatively you can line a tin with some parchment paper. I used a 8'' round tin. 

Preheat the oven to 180'C and pour in the cake batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes till an inserted knife comes out clean, check the center of the cake specially. 

Cool , invert and dust icing sugar all over the top of the cake using a fine sieve. This cake came out little moist and dense with rich taste of mango pulp. Somehow, I found the cake tasting richer and better the day after baking. 

Below is a picture of the cake, a slice cut out from it-

Eggless Mango Cake