PANEER & PEPPER QUICHE

We all read about food and try to learn new dish for any place avaliable, some recipes sound so interesting that it just gets us thinking....the same happened with me when I read about quiche some years back. My love for eggs is no secret and this dish has eggs as the main ingredient so exciting right :) . But I didn't know of any place in Bangalore where I could get them and I didn't have oven at that time so I didn't try making it. I have been introduced to a lot of dish by my elder sister-Kankana and I tasted my very first quiche with her. Before my sister was leaving Bangalore, we used to spend every weekend together, so one Sunday she took me out for dinner to a beautiful resturant. She ordered a lot of yummy dishes including a creamy chicken quiche. When I saw the quiche I was not sure if I would like it coz it didnt look very appeling to me, but my sister said I should try it before I make up my mind and when I did I was lost in the flavour. The chicken filling was creamy and juicy and the crust was crunchy......honestly I ordered another slice of the quiche, I just could not leave with one :) . Since the last Tuesday I was not well, I was surviving on cornflakes and milk so Friday morning as I was feeling a little better I decided to make some tasty and quick and definately savoury brunch. When I saw the eggs the very first thing that came to my head was Quiche....simple, easy and filling. Quiche can be with a pastry crust or without it, I went for the crustless one. I didnt have any readymade crust available and I wanted a quick brunch so had no plans in making the crust. As for the filling, I had pepper, paneer, onion and beans so I ended up with Paneer & Pepper Quiche. The best part was that the food was ready in 30 min and I had a satisfying brunch :) .

FOR QUICHE
Eggs	4 numbers
Red Bell Pepper	1 number
Paneer	200 gms
Beans	6 numbers
Green Chilly	2 numbers
Onion, big	1 number
Garlic cloves	3 numbers
Milk	1 cup
Dried Thyme	1 tablespoon
Oil	2 tablespoons
Salt	As per taste
Black Pepper	1 teaspoon

    Paneer & Pepper Quiche:-

1. Chop the onion, red bell pepper and pepper separately into small cubes. Cut the chilly very finely.
   
2. Blanch the beans for about 5 min and then, shock them in ice water. Keep them aside.
3. Pre heat the oven at 140 C for 10 min.
4. Heat 2 tbs oil in a pan and add the garlic, fry till the garlic turn brown.
5. Add onion and pepper to the pan and saute them till the vegetables are soften.
6. Then add the paneer and green chilly and fry for 10 min.
7. In a big bowl, whip the eggs with milk, dried thyme, salt & pepper.
8. Add the cooked vegetables and paneer to the bowl and mix them properly.
9. Grease a baking pan with some oil and pour the egg mixture to the baking pan.
10. Arrange the bean on top of the egg mixture on the baking pan
11. Bake it at 180 C for 30 to 35 mins.
12. Quiche is ready to be served.

I had a great start for the weekend and have planned to have a very relaxing one :) .

STUFFED BOTTLE GOURD

This Tuesday was a very relaxing day.I had lesser work in the office so I was very happy.... :D. I also got to leave early from office hence had time to do some shopping all in all it was a nice day. I bought bottle gourd this time , I have rarely heard anyone say that they like this vegetable however I genuinely like this vegetable and the credit for this , undoubtedly, goes to my mom.Her creations even with this bland vegetable was so awesome. The bottle gourd has various name calabash or opo squash or long melon or dudhi but its commonly known as Lauki in Hindi and Bottle Gourd in English.Have read about the healthy benefits of Bottle Gourd in a few sites so I have summarized them and decided to share it with all. HEALTH BENEFITS : --> Bottle Gourd has attracted a lot of attention due to its importance in treatment of Blood Pressure and Heart disease. --> Bottle gourd is very valuable in treating urinary disorders.  --> This vegetable is very good for balancing liver function. It is often recommended by ayurvedic physicians when the liver is inflamed. --> Ayurveda suggests Bottle gourd juice once daily in the early morning for treating Graying Hair. --> Mixture of bottle gourd juice a sesame oil acts as an effective medicine for insomnia. --> The bitter variety is prescribed as a cardiac tonic, as an antidote to poisoning and for alleviating bronchitis, cough, asthma affections. --> The dietary fiber present in the bottle gourd makes it a very useful vegetable in preventing digestive disorders such as constipation, flatulence, and piles. --> Bottle gourd juice is also considered to be beneficial in insanity, epilepsy, and other nervous diseases. Well forgetting about the healthy aspect I had prepared an deep-fried appetizer with bottle gourd , its called Stuffed Bottle Gourd and it tastes very good with some spicy tomato chutney :)

Bottle Gourd (Lauki)	1 number(500 gms)
Onion	1 medium-sized
Garlic	3 medium-sized cloves
Ginger	20 gms
Paneer(Cottage Cheese)	100 gms
Potatoes	2 medium sized
Red Chilli Powder	1 tablespoon
Turmeric Powder	Half tablespoon
Cumin Powder	Half tablespoon
Lemon	1 piece
Raisins	1 Tablespoon
Cashew nut	3-4 numbers
Vegetable Oil	Half cup
Salt	As per taste

FOR BATTER
Gram Flour	1/2 cup
Flour(Maida)	1/2 cup
Corn Flour	1 tablespoon
Baking Powder	2 tablespoon
Red Chili Powder	1 tablespoon
Turmeric Powder	Half tablespoon
Oregano	1 tablespoon
Dried Basil	1 tablespoon

   STUFFING THE BOTTLE GOURD:-

1. Peel the top skin of the bottle gourd and cut off the ends.
2. Heat water in a rice cooker with a teaspoon of salt and add the bottle gourd. Let it boil till the gourd becomes soft. Generally one whistle of the rice cooker is enough ,if the gourd is fresh, to cook the gourd to the required limit.
3. Remove the soften gourd from the cooker and scoop out the inside pulp of the gourd and keep it aside.
4. Place the hollowed gourd in the cold water so that the green color is maintained.
5. Finely chop the onions, garlic and ginger . Separately chop the raisins and cashew nut as finely as possible.
6. Boil the potatoes in  the rice cooker till they become very soft and then mash them.
7. Mash the scooped pulp and mix well with mashed potatoes. Mash the paneer separately.
8. Heat oil in a pan and add the chopped onions.
9. As the onions turn translucent, add in the ginger and garlic. Cook till the color turn light brown.
10. Add the mashed pulp and potato mixture and cook for 7-8 minutes.
11. Add the mashed panner and cook this the moister is all soaked up.
12. Add the red chilli powder and turmeric powder and cook till the spices are properly incorporated in the mashed mixture.
13. Just 2 min before removing the pan from pan , add the cashew nut and rasins and let it cool slightly.
14. Remove the hollowed out gourd from cold water and cut it into small rings and pat it dry using a paper towel.
15. Stuff the mashed and cooked mixture in the bottle gourd rings.

PREPARING THE STUFFED GOURD FOR FRYING:-

1. In a deep bowl , mix together all the batter ingredients using cold water. See the the batter is not very thin.
2. Soak the stuffed bottle gourd in the batter .
3. Heat oil in a deep-dish pan and deep fry the stuffed gourds till the turn brown from all sides.
4. Remove the fried stuffed gourd in a paper towel so that the excess oil is soaked by the towel.
5. The Stuffed Bottle Gourd is ready to be served with the Spicy Tomato Chutney :) .

The same can be done by cooking them in a oven, but my oven was not working so I had to fry them :)  .

PANEER PASANDA

Paneer is a fresh cheese common in South Asian cuisine. It is of Indian origin. In eastern parts of India, it is generally called Chhena.(wikipedia) I just love to eat Paneer. But somehow didnt have it for the past so many months.Last week when I went for my household shopping I saw panner and was so tempted. I left chicken and bought paneer. :). The dish I made was a total experiment so had to christine it. Since I really enjoyed the dish , the word "PASAND" (mean like) poped up in my head and as its made of paneer so "PANEER PASANDA" .

Paneer	200 gms
Cashewnuts	7-8 numbers
Rasins	20 numbers
Cornflour	2 teaspoons
Red Chilli Powder	2 teaspoons
Turmeric Powder	Half teaspoons
Jeera Powder	1 teaspoon
Flour	2 teaspoons
Onion paste	Paste of 1 medium
Ginger paste	1 teaspoon
Garlic paste	1 teaspoon
Tomato	3 medium size
Green chilly	2-3 pieces
Garam Masala	Half teaspoon
Oil	2 tablespoons
Ghee	Half teaspoon
Salt	As per taste

PANNER PIECES:-

1. Cut the paneer into square shapes neither too big nor too small.
2. Roughly cut the raisins into very small pieces , also coarse grind the cashewnuts.
3. Mix together the cashewnut and raisins with ghee and salt and set aside.
4. Take 2 pieces of paneer, place some amount of the cashew mixture on one slice of paneer and place the other slice on top of it and press the slices together softly. Repeat the same with rest of the pieces.
5. Whisk flour,cornflour,salt,one teaspoon red chilli powder with water making a semi-liquid paste.
6. Heat a pan and drizzle a bit of oil not much as we dont need to deep fry the paneers.
7. Coat each pair of paneer with the semi-liquid paste and fry the same on the pan in medium heat.
8. When the paneer pieces turn brown on both the sides , remove on a tissue paper.

GRAVY:-

1. Heat oil in a kadhai and add ginger and the garlic pastes.
2. Add onion and green chilli paste and salt, cook till oil separates out.
3. Boil water separately , and add the tomatoes to the boiling water. When the tomato's skin wrinkles remove it . Mash the tomatoes till it forms a puree.
4. Pour the tomato puree in th kadhai and cook till the oil separates out. Add some red chilly powder,turmeric powder and jeera powder to the same and cook it for 10 min.

ASSEMBLING:-

1. In a baking dish, coat its bottom with the tomato sauce , place half of the paneer pieces on the sauce.
2. Then add half the sauce on top of the pieces.
3. Place the other half of the pieces now and then add the sauce again. 
4. Sprinkle the garam masala on top and bake the dish.            

NOTE : I have added the garam masala at last coz I have made the masala at home after roasting the ingredients. In other case add it in the before itself.
I have baked after assembling coz in that case the paneer will not split.