Grilled Paneer

Ingredients:
200 gms Paneer (cut into cubes)
Salt to taste

For Marinade:
2 green Chillies
1 inch piece of Ginger
3 cloves of Garlic
Corriander leaves
a pinch of Garam Masala
Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Method:
1) Put all the ingredients of the marinade (except the lemon juice and Garam Masala)  in a grinder and make a fine paste (don't add too much water as it will make the paste runny, we want a thick paste).
2) Remove to a bowl and add the lemon juice, Garam Masala and salt.
3) Prick the paneer cubes on all sides with a fork.
4) Marinate the paneer cubes in this mixture (the longer you marinate the better).
5) Heat a tawa well, for the first batch just rub a little oil on the tawa, just enough to leave a trace of oil (one or two drops of oil).
6) Place a few pieces of the marinated paneer on the hot tawa cook on a slow flame, when one side is half done, turn over. Keep turning the pieces so that they don't burn.

Note: The excess marinade on the paneer cubes will stick to the tawa and burn, ensure that you scrape the burnt marinade off the tawa and keep turning the paneer pieces to ensure that they are evenly cooked.

French Beans Salad

This is an easy to make salad and even die hard haters of French Beans will not be able to resist it... I tend to forget things a lot these days (getting old, sob, sob) so intend to write all the recipes I learn here for later reference... i.e. till the time I remember I write a blog...hehehe

Ingredients:
French Beans (chopped)
Yoghurt

For seasoning:
Cumin seeds
A pinch of Asafoetida
A few curry leaves
Oil

Method:
1) Boil the chopped french beans and keep aside.
2) Heat oil, add cumin seeds (let it crackle) then add the curry leaves and the Asafoetida.
3) Add the seasoning to the boiled french beans.
4) Add the yoghurt and mix well.

How I made the perfect rotis...

And I have finally mastered the art of making perfectly soft rotis... rotis that are not only round and fluffy but are so soft that they actually break with three fingers... honestly I had tears in my eyes when the first roti came off the stove!!!

I have been making perfect round rotis for over twenty years now, but once the perfect rounds hit the  stove all I achieved until today were rotis that would either turn brittle like papads or they would become so hard we could give them to children during playtime to be used as Frisbees. I used to envy my friends when they produced soft rotis from their lunch boxes and in equal measure give into despair that I would never ever be able to make them. All these sad thoughts were firmly kicked out of my life the minute Bajia stepped in, she lead me from roti despair to roti nirvana with her easy to follow step by step YouTube video...

From today onwards Bajia takes over as my cooking guru from Sanjeev Kapoor who has held this spot for very many years now. I can already see that we will make a great pair...

Follow the link to learn how to make the best rotis ever, if I can make it so can you...

A message for Bajia,

Dear Bajia,

You rock!!!

Thank you, thank you,  thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Kind Regards

Deepa (yup, that's my real name)