Masala Puri

Puri is a special fried bread of India. This recipe adds a little flavor to the traditional puri.
Ingredients:

• 3 cups wheat flour
• 3 tsp dhanajeeru
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 tbsp corn oil
• 1 1/4 cups water
• plenty of corn oil for frying

Kneading and Shaping:

In a bowl, add 3 cups of wheat flour, 3 tsp dhanajeeru, 1 tsp turmeric powder, 1/2 tsp red pepper (can add extra to make it spicier), 1 tsp salt, and 3 tbsp corn oil. Hand mix these ingredients well together. Then slowly mix in 1 1/4 cups of water. This may need to be slightly adjusted to create the right texture for the dough. As you knead the dough, add in the last 1/2 tbsp of corn oil. 

Kneaded dough.

Separate the dough into small spheres, with about a 1 1/4 inch diameter each. Flatten each of these spheres out into a 2 inch diameter disk with your hands. This recipe should make about 60 of them.

Flattened disks.

Roll out the disks into circles that each have about a 3 inch diameter. You can do them all at once or,  as you become more comfortable with this cooking style, learn to roll them out as you begin frying the first ones you completed.

Puri rolled out.

Frying:
Fill a medium sized frying pot about 1/3 of the way full with corn oil. Start it on med heat. You can test the oil heat with a small bit of dough. After carefully dropping it in the oil, the dough should immediately pop. If this does not occur immediately, the oil has not been heated enough yet.

Heating the oil.

Carefully place about 1-3 rolled out circles of dough into the oil at a time. After each circle becomes inflated, turn it over in the oil. Remove them once both sides have small bubbles on the surfaces. Place the finished puri in a bowl lined with paper towels to absorb the extra oil.

Frying.

Finished!

Palak Paneer

Palak paneer is a favorite shaak seen at Indian restaurants. Here is my homemade recipe that is pretty simple to follow.
Ingredients:

• 1 lb (16 oz.) spinach leaves
• 3 tbsp corn oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/8 tsp hing
• 2 tsp dhanajeeru
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red pepper powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• paneer pieces (as many as desired)

Directions:

Wash the spinach leaves and chop them up into smaller pieces. After doing so, set them aside. Place a large pot on the stove and start it on med-high heat. Add 3 tbsp of oil and wait for it to be heated. It can be tested by adding a few mustard seeds to see if they pop. Then open the garlic cloves and press them in a garlic presser. Add this to the oil in the pot. Reduce the heat to med and add the hing and spinach leaves. Cover the pot with a lid and wait for about 10 minutes for the spinach to cook. Then add the dhanajeeru, turmeric powder, and red pepper. Stir them in properly. Then add the salt and lemon juice. Increase the heat to high and mix the ingredients thoroughly. Then turn off the heat completely. Transfer the ingredients from the pot into a blender and blend them nicely. Then transfer it back to the pot. Turn the heat to med and wait about 2 minutes with the lid on the pot. 

Blended spinach.

You can then close the heat and add the amount of paneer pieces as desired. After cooling down a little, it is ready to eat!

Ready to serve!

Paneer

Paneer is a favorite to add to many different shaaks. Here is a homemade recipe that can be used right away or saved in the freezer for use at a later time. Although this recipe uses 2% milk, you can use skim milk, but the amount of curds made will be reduced. The rest of the recipe will not be affected by this substitution.
Ingredients:

• 8 cups 2% milk
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

Place the milk in a large pot on the stove and start it on med heat. Wait for the milk to boil. Occasionally stir the pot while waiting every few minutes. Once it begins to boil, turn off the heat. Add 2 tbsp of lemon juice to the pot. Then remove the pot from the stove and run it through a strainer over the sink. Wash the remaining curds in the strainer under the faucet. Squeeze out any additionally water. Then place it in a blender and blend the mixture. 

Paneer ready to be baked.

Preheat the toaster oven to 400 F. Prepare a small toaster oven baking pan with either butter or cooking oil spray. Spread out the curd mixture onto the pan and pat it down nicely. Place it in the toaster oven and wait until it is golden brown on the bottom. This should take about 20 minutes. Once done, remove from the toaster oven and wait for it to cool a little. Then cut the sheet of paneer into about 1/2 inch size squares. They are then ready to be added to a shaak or can be cooled down further and stored in the fridge or freezer for future use.

Finished paneer.

Mirchi Masala

This a shaak recipe that I invented years ago. My kids enjoy this one very much. It is not a spicy shaak.  Hope you like it!
Ingredients:

• 5 Anaheim peppers
• 3 1/2 tbsp corn oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/8 tsp hing
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup graham flour
• 1 tsp dhanajeeru
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp red pepper
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/4 cup unsalted grinded peanuts

Directions:

Wash the peppers and cut them into half the long way. Take out the seeds. Then half them again the long way. Finally chop them into 1 inch width pieces. 

Anaheim peppers with seeds removed.

Chopped peppers.

Put 1 1/2 tbsp corn oil in a nonstick pot. Place on the stove on med-high heat. Once the oil is heated, add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds that will begin to pop. After the popping has ceased, add 1/8 tsp hing and the pepper pieces. Stir the ingredients in the pot. Then add 1/2 tsp salt and mix in well. Cover the pot with a lid and lower the heat to a low setting. Occasionally stir the pot for the next 10-12 minutes. When the peppers have softened, turn off the heat. You can test this with poking the peppers with a knife or feeling them with your hands. Transfer the ingredients onto a plate and set aside.

Softened peppers set aside.

In the same pot, add 2 tbsp corn oil on med-high heat. Once it has heated, reduce the heat to med-low and add 1/4 cup graham flour. Stir it for 2-3 minutes. Reduce the stove to very low heat. Add 1 tsp dhanajeeru, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/4 tsp red pepper, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 cup grinded peanuts. Mix together for about 1 minute. 

Masala.

Then add the peppers from the plate into the pot and continue to mix. Cover the pot and keep it on low heat for a minute. It is now ready to serve. 

Ready to serve!

Date Rolls

Date rolls for healthy snack that I learned to make. They are a special treat in our house since they fit into my husband's diabetic diet and have no added sugar in the recipe. Both he and my children enjoy eating this delicious snack on the go.
Ingredients:

• 40 whole pitted dates
• 8 figs
• 3 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp ganthoda
• 1/2 tsp cardamon seed powder
• 1 cup blended almonds
• 1/4 cup blended cashews
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• coconut powder for sprinkling

Directions:

Begin by chopping up the dates and figs into smaller pieces. Each date should make about 4 equally sized pieces and each fig should make about 8 pieces. Place the freshly cut dates and figs into a nonstick pot. Add 3 tbsp of butter to the pot. Place it on the stove and start it on med heat. Stir to help melt the butter. After melting, continue to stir for about another 5 minutes to wait for the ingredients to soften. 

Dates and figs with melted butter.

Softened dates and figs (~5 mins later).

Turn the stove off. Remove the softened dates and figs from the stove and place inside a blender. Blend them up and then place it back in the pot. Mix in the ginger, ganthoda, cardamon seeds, almonds, cashews, and walnuts. Stir it to create an even mixture. Once it has cooled and can be handled, remove the ingredients and divide them into 4 even spheres. Use your hands to roll each sphere out into a cylinder. Then sprinkle the coconut powder around each cylinder and roll it evenly onto each side. 

Rolled out cylinders.

Sprinkled with coconut shreds.

Refrigerate the rolls on a plate for 3-4 hours. Then slice them out into small disks, each with a width of 1/2 inch. Then serve and enjoy!

Ready to be served!

Watermelon Burfi

This is an Indian sweet that I've made for over 30 years. A few years back I saw them decorated as watermelon slices and have since adapted that design in my own way. Feel free to color and shape the burfi from this recipe into any design. The recipe given here makes about 60 mini watermelon slice burfi pieces.
Ingredients:

• 15 oz part skim ricotta cheese
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup dry milk
• 1/2 tsp grinded cardamon seeds
• whole cardamon seeds
• green food coloring
• red food coloring

Directions:

Place two paper towels on a dish and empty the ricotta cheese on top of them. This will help absorb the extra water. While waiting, blend the dry milk in a blender to break up the larger chunks of and create a finer powder. 

Put the ricotta cheese in a nonstick pot on the stove top. Add 1 stick of butter to the pot. Turn on the stove to med heat and stir the ingredients to break up the butter. Continue stirring for about 10 minutes. 

Ricotta cheese and butter being stirred.

Then add 1 cup of sugar to the pot. Continue to stir for about 7 more minutes. Be careful of splashing at this stage. Constantly stirring will avoid burning or drying out the bottom portion in the pot. Next add 1.2 tsp of grinded cardamon seeds. Continue stirring for about another 3 minutes. You'll note that the ingredients should be thickening at this point. Add 3/4 cup dry milk to the pot and stir for another 4 minutes. Then reduce the heat to med-low. The ingredients should be forming a batter. 

Forming the batter.

Turn the heat off and divide the batter in half. Transfer the second half into another nonstick pot. Add roughly 4 drops of red color to one half and stir it in. Do the same with green color in the other half.
Remove the batters from the pots.

Red and green batters ready to be shaped.

Lightly lather your hands in butter to prevent sticking when working with the batter. Roll spheres of the red batter that are about 1.5 inches in diameter. This recipe should make roughly 15 balls. Spread out the balls on a dish and place them in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Red spheres ready to be frozen for 10 mins.

Divide the green batter into an equal number of pieces (roughly 15). Once again, lather your hands in butter to prevent sticking. With each piece, create a flat disk that will be wrapped around the cool red spheres and cover them evenly and completely. Place the spheres in the fridge for at least 2 hours to harden. 

Cover the red spheres with our green disks.

Spheres after being refrigerated for a few hours.

Cut the spheres into quarters to create 4 slices per sphere. Then decorate each piece with the cardamon seeds to make them look like mini watermelon slices. Enjoy!

Finished!

Bhindi Masala

This is my favorite vegetable recipe. When I was younger, my mom used to make it specially for me when I frowned at the other vegetable options for dinner. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did in my childhood! This recipe should be enough for 2 people.
Ingredients:

• about 30 whole okra
• cooking oil spray
• 2 tbsp corn oil
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/8 tsp hing powder
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp dhanajiru
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp red pepper (extra for more spiciness) 
• 3/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp corn meal
• 2 tbsp grinded unsalted peanut powder

Directions:

Wash the okra and wipe them dry with a paper towel. Dice them into 1/2 inch round slices and disregard the ends of each piece. Lightly spray the chopped okra with cooking oil in a microwavable dish. Cover the dish with a microwave top and warm up for 2 minutes. Then shake the container around to flip the okra pieces and rewarm again for 2 minutes. 

Okra pieces after warming.

Place a pot on high heat on the stove. Add the 2 tbsp of corn oil and the mustard seeds. Wait until the mustard seeds begin to pop. Then turn the heat down to med-hi. While waiting, peel and crush 2 cloves of garlic with a garlic presser and keep it read on the side.

Add the hing powder and garlic to the pot. Stir the ingredients until the garlic is slightly golden in color. Continue stirring while adding the okra to the pot. Then add the dhanajiru, turmeric powder and red pepper. Feel free to add extra red pepper powder to make the shaak more spicy. Next add the salt and lime juice. The salt may need to be adjusted to taste. Add the corn meal powder and grinded peanuts. Make sure the peanuts are unsalted. They can be grinded in a blender prior to starting. The best kind to use is the ones from Patel Brothers.

Okra after adding the spices.

Place the lid on the pot and reduce the heat to low. Keep it on the stove for about 5 minutes before removing. It's now ready to eat!

Finished okra!