The Recipe Room

 

Palak Paneer is a delightful spinach and cheese dish. In my opinion, there is just nothing that can compare to the combination of spinach and cheese. These two ingredients perfectly complement each other and bring out each other’s best qualities. Paneer cheese is the cheese used in this particular traditional Indian recipe. It can be found at your local Indian speciality foods shop.

I find this Palak Paneer recipe quite rich and creamy. However, the good news is that this dish is very easy to digest. Many people are under the mistaken impression that Indian food is always very rough on the intestines. While it may be true that if you eat spices you are not used to eating, you could possibly have difficulties digesting your meal, you must also keep in mind that many people find vegetables easier on the stomach than meats and fish. And this Palak Paneer recipe, which I learned from my mum, is entirely vegetarian.

Also, it is not very hot or spicy, which makes for light digestion. Palak Paneer is best served with naan bread or with basmati rice, making it a complete and filling meal. I often make this for dinner on chilly days as it is so filling. It will leave you full but not stuffed.

Vegetable Samosas make a tasty accompaniment to this spinach and cheese dish. (And for more spinach options, try this spinach and lentil soup.)

This is a another deliciously refreshing lassi drink. You are probably thinking, “Jay! You have already shared a lassi recipe!” And, of course, you are right. However, this version is my low-fat mango and mint lassi is for those who are already preparing for bikini season.

This recipe is even healthier than the last because I include 2 mangos instead of just a few grams. It is made with low-fat yoghurt so that those of us who are watching our figures can enjoy a nice dessert without having to worry about the number of calories. I also replace the sugar with saccharin or other such sweeteners and the milk for skimmed milk.

I once served my friend a Thai green curry with chicken, and she started sweating. She was about to grab her glass of water, when I stopped her and made her this lassi. It immediately soothed her taste buds. I had to laugh because even though the dish was spicy, she kept digging in, all the while taking swigs of the lassi for a good balance. She learned that day why my family likes to have lassi after a spicy meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 large fresh mangos, peeled, pitted and chopped
• 900ml low-fat plain yoghurt
• 520ml skim milk
• 4 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
• 1/2 cup crushed ice
• 8 teaspoons of saccharin

Preparation Method:

1. Put the skim milk, low-fat yoghurt and mango into a blender and blend for 1 minute. The mango should already be well chopped so that you don’t have to blend for too long.
2. Add the saccharin and blend for 1 minute.
3. Add the mint and blend for 1 minute more.
4. Add the crushed ice and blend for 30 seconds. You don’t want to blend for too long here because the ice is already crushed, and you don’t want the blender’s motor to end up heating up the ice. After all, this is supposed to be a cold, refreshing drink.
5. Serve in a tall glass with a straw.

Takes: 15 minutes

Makes: 4 glasses

Gulab Jamoon is a delicious Indian dessert. It consists of deep fried balls of dough, called jamoons, in a sugary syrup. Gulab Jamoon was served at all my cousins’ weddings. In fact, it is one of the most typical desserts served at traditional Indian weddings, and one of my very favourites of all sweets.

These days, gulab jamoon powder is internationally available, so it’s not difficult to find and pepare; however,  it takes a little more time compared to other desserts as it sometimes requires being dipped in sugar syrup for whole night. The texture resembles the liqueur syrup-saturated French cake Baba au Rhum.

They also remind me a bit of doughnuts. Speaking of, did you know that May 12th through May 19th is national doughnut week? Maybe you should try this recipe to celebrate!

The term gulab jamoon comes from Persia, and it means “rose water”, referring to its rosewater-scented syrup. This very tasty dessert is often eaten at important celebrations, like weddings, but also commonly enjoyed at Diwali (the Indian festival of light) and the Muslim celebrations of Eid ul-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

There are lots of varieties when it comes to gulab jamoon, and each one has its one appearance and special taste. You can eat them cold, but our favourite way to enjoy gulab jamoon is to warm them a bit before serving. It adds another dimension to the dish;  it’s perfect for special occasions when you want something more exotic than cake.

I got this recipe from my aunt, who really knows how to make tasty sweets.

Malai Kofta is a traditional dish and is the vegetarian alternative to meatballs. It is most often eaten on special occassions. The koftas are little fried potato dumplings in a rich, heavy gravy. (Sort of like my aloo bonda snacks, except those don’t have the delicious gravy.) Needless to say this is not a low-fat recipe!

An essential ingredient for Mailai Kofta is paneer, a fresh Indian cheese. It tastes a bit like cottage cheese, so you can substitute cottage cheese if you are not able to find paneer in your local Indian grocery store. But if you can find it, I strongly suggest you buy it. It is quite delicious and will give this recipe a more authentic taste.

Malai kofta is a delicious savoury dish of Moghlai origin; it is a north Indian speciality, and they go very well served with tasty Naan bread and/or basmati rice. There are lots of varieties; in fact, in Pakistan and Iran, koftas are usually made of beef and chicken, and in Bengal, a region of eastern India, koftas are made with prawns, fish, green bananas, cabbage, as well as minced goat meat.

Honestly, it’s not a short or easy recipe, but it’s all worth it in the end – trust me.

 

Sev are crispy, deep-fried Indian snacks. I remember coming home from school as a little girl, looking for an afternoon snack, and munching on sev; it is what I would call comfort food. I do have to give a quick warning, though— it is not exactly low on calories! As it is deep fried, be sure to munch on just enough to enjoy, but do not overdo it.

To prepare this recipe, you will need a sev maker, also known as a sev press. This cooking device can be bought at any Indian food store. Sev makers are a bit like pasta makers. However, they are much smaller and can be lifted up and held over a pot or a pan. (For a chocolaty snack, try this chocolate tiffin. It’s not Indian food, but it’s yummy!)

Ingredients:

• 360g whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp. red chilli powder
• 4 pinches of asafoetida
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• Pinch of salt to taste
• 240ml water
• vegetable oil for deep-frying the sev

Preparation Method:

1. Place the whole-wheat flour in a bowl. This is a very distinctive type of flour that will give the sev the flavour you are going for.
2. Add the red chilli powder to the flour. Blend these ingredients.
3. Add the asafoetida  and turmeric powder to the mix.
4. Throw in a pinch of salt.
5. Remove from the bowl and place it on a board.
6. Add the vegetable oil and water and slowly knead the dough. I have said this before, but I really do consider kneading dough to be good exercise. It will perhaps offset some of the calories from eating deep-fried snacks!
7. Now grease the inside of the sev maker with oil.
8. Put the ball of dough into the sev maker.
9. Heat up the vegetable oil on medium heat in a deep-bottomed pan. When it is quite hot and you can see little bubbles forming in it, you are ready to deep-fry the sev.
10. Hold the sev maker over the pan with the hot oil in it. Slowly turn the sev maker’s handle so that thin strings of pasta-like dough come out. They should fall gently into the pan.
11. Let the sev fry lightly.
12. Remove the sev from the hot oil and drain it. You do not want to eat all that oil, so let a lot of it drain off.
13. Allow the sev to cool and become crunchy before snacking on it.

Makes: 360g of sev

Takes: 45 minutes

Kulfi is a dessert that most of us are familiar with if we’ve eaten out at a few Indian restaurants. I’m sure that you’ll agree, however, once you’ve tried and tested this Malai Kulfi recipe, that nothing beats making it fresh at home – it’s much more aromatic and definitely creamier when home-made!

Lots of Indian desserts combine milk and cardamon, and this recipe is no exception. The play of the sweetness of condensed milk with the fragrance of the cardamon seeds is surprising to some, a taste to acquire for others, and simply delightful to most. Mango and rose Kulfi are also very tasty.

Kulfi is often described as ice cream because this is the closest way to express what the dish looks and tastes like, but in fact Kulfi is denser in texture and takes longer to melt than traditional British ice-creams, which are usually whipped. (Try this homemade strawberry ice-cream.) Kulfi tends to have a richer flavour too.

Ingredients
• 205g evaporated milk
• 150g condensed milk
• 150ml whipping cream
• 2 drops of vanilla essence
• Pinch of ground cardamon
• 12g ground almonds
• 12g ground pistachio nuts and a few left whole for decoration

Preparation Method
1. In a large pan, pour in the 2 types of milk and the cream. Stirring constantly, bring the mixture to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes by which time the consistency of the contents should have thickened and the quantity reduced.
2. Add the vanilla extract and the cardamon powder. Stir, remove from the heat, and allow to cool.
3. Once the mixture is cool, stir in the ground nuts.
4. Pour into 4 x 100ml freezer-proof moulds and freeze for 8 hours. If you don’t have any moulds handy, you can use cleaned-out yoghurt pots which work just as well.

When you are ready to serve the Malai Kulfi, take the moulds out of the freezer and run a little warm water over them to loosen the contents. Serve in a pretty bowl with a few whole pistachio nuts sprinkled on the top.

Takes: 5 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook
Makes: 4 servings