Paneer Tikka without oven or Tandoor

Paneer Tikka  

Paneer Tikka- the dish that needs no introduction, the starter that decides the success of a party and every vegetarian's guilty pleasure. COVID-19 may have managed to deprive us of the parties that serve Paneer Tikka religiously as a starter but it can't deprive us of the dish itself. I managed to make the Tikka without tandoor and the results were satisfying to say the least. The advantage of this recipe is that it's a complete meal that anyone and everyone can enjoy. A health conscious person can also enjoy this once in a while as the Tikka is not fried and rich in protein. So use this recipe to remind yourself of the luxurious and royal taste Paneer Tikka offers, after all a pandemic is no excuse to come between you and Paneer Tikka.

Preparation Time : 2 hours.

Cooking Time : 20 - 30 Min

Video Link :

Ingredients :  

• Paneer (Cottage Cheese) 400 gm cut into pieces
• Capsicum 1 deseeded and cut into pieces
• Onion 1 cut into large pieces
• Hung curd 1/2 cup
• Gram flour (besan) 1 tablespoon
• Mustard oil 1 Tablespoon
• Ginger Garlic paste 1 tablespoon
• Kasuri Methi 1 tablespoon (dried fenugreek leaves)
• Readymade paneer tikka masala 1 tablespoon ( if it is not available you can make it at home take red chilly, haldi powder, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black pepper, green cardamom, sunf seeds, 2 cloves dry roast them and then bring in in mixer ) use as desired
• Lemon juice 1 Tablespoon
• Salt according to taste
• oil for cooking

Procedure : 

• Prepare hung curd and keep aside
• Finish all cutting and chopping 

• In a bowl take hung curd add ginger garlic paste, salt and paneer tikka masala mix all together nicely 
• In a pan, dry roast gram flour.  Once it is done, you get a nice aroma, then add Kasuri Methi to it and roast for few seconds. Now add this to the marinade mixture
• Now in a same pan heat mustard oil till you get a nice smoke. Add this to marinade mixture. add lemon juice to this.
• Add paneer cubes to this marinade and leave for 1/2 hour. Now add onion and capsicum pieces to the marinade and leave it for 1/2 an hour. 

• Now take a bamboo stick or a skewer and arrange marinaded onion, capsicum and paneer on it. Repeat the same step with rest of the material. 

• Now take a grill pan sprinkle some oil on it and arrange panner tikka stick as shown in picture. Cook it from all the sides 

•  Now to give it a smoking flavour just cook it on medium flame as shown in picture 

• Serve it with mint dip, onions and lemon 

Moong Veggie Fingers

Moong Veggie Fingers 

Every day challenge is what to prepare in breakfast which is healthy, easy, different and full of veggies. This recipe fulfils all the parameters that I am looking for in my breakfast. Especially The Moong Dal.

Moong Dal is very versatile, yummy and easy to use with lots of health benefits. We can easily add it in our meal plan in many ways. Be it in a soup, a salad, curries, snacks or rice.

If we talk about the health benefits of Moong beans, the very first thing is if you are a weight watcher. It is high in fibre and protein which helps us with weight loss. Moong Dal is a good source of "Folate" And during pregnancy, doctors advise to take food rich in Folate. It is rich in Potassium, Magnesium and Fibre which improves Heart health.  It improves Digestion. It is also packed with lots of Nutrients. So add Moong Beans to our meal as it is good for our family's health....

Preparation Time :  20 min.

Cooking Time :  20 Min

Video : 

Ingredients :

• Split Green moong dal 1 cup soaked for 6 to 7 hours
• Onion Chopped 1 medium size
• Ginger grated 1 inch piece 
• Green chillies chopped 2
• Carrot 1 medium size grated
• Capsicum 1 small size finely chopped
• Bread slice 6 (I used brown bread)
• Coriander leaves chopped 2 Tablespoon
• Salt according to taste 
• Red chilly Powder according to taste
• Oil for cooking around 2 tablespoon

Procedure :  

• Soak green moong dal for 6 to 7 hours or overnight and keep aside

• Now remove the excess water from moong dal and grind it in smooth paste 

• Finish Cutting and chopping of vegetables 

• In a bowl take Moong dal paste add chopped onions, green chillies, ginger, carrots, capsicum, coriander leaves, salt and red chilly powder

• Mix all ingredients well and form a smooth mixture as shown in picture 

• Now take a bread slice and spread moong and veggie mixture on one side of bread. 

• Take a non- sticky pan apply few drops of oil . Now place the bread on pan as shown in picture 

• Cook toast for a minute or two. Now turn it and cook it from another side. Repeat the steps with rest of bread slices. 

• Once bread is cooked from both the side cut it in to thin fingers or whatever shape you like. 

• Enjoy your guilt free breakfast with some Almonds and a cup of Milk.  

Mexican Rice Bean Salad

Mexican Rice Bean Salad  

The lockdown managed to bring out the chef in us and made us AATMANIRBHAR. From feeling like a chef after making a simple Dalgona Coffee to making homemade pizza to satisfy our cravings, we did it all. Somewhere amongst these recipes we managed to neglect our health and so to compensate for our lost nutrients and to sustain the taste, I present this Recipe.

A salad with substitutes of ingredients I couldn't find due to the limitations of production. I was unable to use Avocado and Feta cheese as planned, however, the taste managed to remain near what I expected it to be. I presented this in two ways- one, the traditional bowl, and the other was a product of my daydreams of the situation post lockdown. Once the situation is safe enough for us to gather and hold parties, I would present this salad in this non conventional way. This presentation highlights the layers in the recipe. I hope, this Recipe, would bring back the nutritions we neglected while helping you imagine a post lockdown situation.

Video :  

Preparation time : 50 min

Cooking Time : 0 Min

Ingredients : 

• Rice boiled 1 Cup
• Kidney beans boiled 1 Cup (toasted with some chilly powder and garam masala)
• Sweet Corns boiled 1 cup 
• Red bell pepper 1 chopped
• Cottage cheese 100 gm crumbled 
• Lettuce 4 to 5 

Salsa Ingredients : 

• Tomato 3 medium sized finely chopped
• Onion 1 medium size finely chopped
• Coriander fresh 2 tablespoon chopped
• Mint leaves 12 to 15 
• Green chillies 1/2 tablespoon chopped or according to taste
• Lemon juice 1 1/2 Tablespoon
• Olive Oil 1 Tablespoon
• Oregano and some mixed herbs 1/2 tablespoon
• Black salt according to taste

Procedure : 

• Boil rice and keep it aside. 
• Boil kidney beans with some water and salt. Once it is cooked remove the water. In a pan just add 1/2 tablespoon of cooking oil add chilly powder, garam masala and kidney beans, toast it for 2 to 3 minutes. This toss will give some Indian touch to our salad. Beans will be little bit spicy.

• Let's prepare our salsa. Finish all cutting and chopping. In a bowl add chopped tomatoes, onion, green chilly, coriander, mint leaves, salt, herbs, olive oil, lemon juice and mix all well. Keep it aside for at-least 20 minutes, so that all the flavours get mixed together nicely . 

• All ingredients are ready let us prepare our salad. Today I am sharing 2 different ways to present our salad
• First one is for some party or gathering.  Cute salad glasses for our guest and loved ones. Let's start. Take a glass, add lettuce leaves in the bottom, now add a tablespoon of beans, next layer is of our rice, above rice our tangy salsa then some crunchy vegetables like bell pepper. Now some protein in the form of cottage cheese, last are my favourite sweet corns, garnish with mint leaves and your cute salad glass is ready.

• Next one is the traditional way. Take a large bowl add Rice, Beans, Salsa, Red bell pepper and sweet corns - mix all together nicely. Now take a serving bowl, spread some lettuce leaves now transfer our salad mixture to this. Garnish it with crumbled cottage cheese and mint leaves. 

• Healthy Rice Bean salad is ready .. It's a perfect one pot meal or a guilt free lunch and dinner option.

Tips :  

You can add Avocado to salsa . If red bell pepper is not available add green capsicum. Change the spices according to your taste