Kadai Paneer

(From Banu's Cookbook)

Ingredients:

2 Cups of Chopped Paneer
1 Medium Sized Onion - Chopped Fine
3-4 Roma Tomatoes Chopped 
1-2 - Capsicum (Green Bell Pepper) - Chopped
3 Tsp of Dry Corriander Seeds
5-6 Red Chillies (or more according to taste)
2 Tsp of Jeera Powder
2 Tsp of Garam Masala
Jeera for Seasoning
Oil for Sauteeing

Method:
1. Pan fry the Paneer cubes with little bit oil. Keep it aside.
2. In a pan dry roast corriander seeds and red chillies together. Grind them into a smooth paste with tomatoes.
3. Heat some oil in a pan and add some jeera seeds. Then add chopped onions and sautee until brown. Then add the ground tomato paste and saute for some more time until the raw smell of tomato is gone.
4. Then add the chopped capsicum, Jeera powder and garam masala and fry for a few minutes. We do not want to over cook the bell pepper. Then add the paneer pieces, salt and cook for some more time until paneer absorbs some of the masala.
6,. Kadai Paneer is now ready to be served with either Rice or Chapathi.

Easy Kulfi

(From Banu's Cookbook)

Ingredients:
1 12 oz Can of Evaporated Milk
1 14 oz Can of Condensed Milk
1 8 oz Can of Cool Whip
3 Slices of White Bread
2-3 Tsp of Cardamom Powder
2-3 Tbsp of Mixed Nuts Coarsely powdered (Cashew nuts, Pistachios and Almonds)

Method:
1.  Thaw the Cool Whip or defrost it in the microwave.
2. Cut the brown edges of the bread and then powder the three slices of bread in a food processor. Food processor works better than blender to dry powder the bread slices.
3. In a big mixing bowl, add the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cool whip and bread powder/crumbs and mix well. I use a hand mixer for this. You have to beat/mix the mixture until you start seeing air bubbles. That is what indicates that it has all blended together. Also you should not be able to see the white cool whip. Everything should be mixed well together.
4. Now add the cardamom powder and mix again.
5. Pour this mixture into a glass pan or into individual molds or cups. Sprinkle the coarsely ground nuts on top of this and then freeze it overnight. Make sure that it is covered to avoid freezer burn.
6. I just pour into rectangular class pan with  lid and when ready to serve, I just cut it into pieces.

Notes:
1. I use fat free evaporated and condensed milk and also either lite, fat free or sugar free cool whip and it turns out the same.
2. I use Mrs.Bairds white sandwich bread. Bread is what provides the texture and binding. So do not skip the bread and the finer you can powder it, the better.
3. You can use Almond essence instead of cardamom powder or vanilla essence. You can even add Mango Puree to this to get different flavors of kulfi

Wheat Flour Dosa

(From Banu's Cookbook)

Ingredients:
1 Cup - Wheat Flour
1 Cup - Fine Sooji (Chiroti Rave)
1/4 Cup - Grated or powdered Jaggery
4-6 - Green Chillies - Chopped
1 inch - Ginger Chopped
1 small bunch of Corriander Leaves - Chopped Finely
3-4 Tbsp - Fresh grated coconut
1-2 Tsp of Red Chilli Powder
Sour Yogurt or Buttermilk
Salt to Taste

Method:
 1. Sieve Wheat flour and fine sooji together with salt.  Add yogurt to it and mix it well without any lumps.
2. Add jaggery,  salt, red chilli powder and mix well. Also add the chopped ginger, green chillies, coriander leaves and coconut and mix well. Add some water if needed.
3. The batter must be soft but thicker than dosa batter.
4. Heat a pan and spread the batter with a spoon, since it is a thicker batter and a bit hard to spread thin, I make it into smaller diameter dosa.
5. Add some oil and cook well on both sides.
6. Serve it hot with chutney or pickle.

This is a very typical Havyaka Dish called "Ele Holige". I had really missed this and thanks to my Uncle for reminding me about this.

Notes:
1. Jaggery adds a bit of sweetness to this dosa, if you do not like it, you can skip it.
2. You can add a few table spoons of rice flour to make the dosa a bit crispy.