Matar-Paneer Makhani/Butter Masala, Layered Wheat flour and Flax Seeds Powder Parathas, Multi Dal Masala Vada, Mango-Ricotta Kalakand

We had the hottest 2 days of Spring season last weekend, blazing Sun with 94F and humid. We spent time in the Mall most of the time and then went to grocery shopping at 8pm after it cooled down a bit, we have never done that before even in Summer! Then it rained a bit on Sunday night, temp went down and we are breathing easy this week with lower 80F. But I read that it reached 110F in India in some states, so what am I complaining about, right? Hope you guys are well hydrated there in India. I think Indian kids are back in school while our kids will start the Summer holidays this week, time for me to plan for vacation soon and to take a short Summer blog break too.
Yes! I deep fried again last week. Somebody STOP me!!! ;D
But I did make very small amount of everything deep fried these days unlike before which used to last for 2 days, so it's not that bad. Just few something crunchy to snack on in the evening once a week on the weekend is okay I think.

Matar-Paneer Makhani(Greenpeas and Cheese in Butter masala):
I had bought a pack of Paneer last month, here is the second dish I made with leftover Paneer after I used it to make Paneer Omelet last time. Since it is a Makhnai/with butter dish, you have to add some butter, can't skip that. Although I like frozen Greenpeas for convenience and add a cup to Pulav etc, I prefer dried green or Yellow Peas to make side dishes with gravy, soaked and pressure cooked lightly which gives a whole different taste and texture than frozen Greenpeas. Makhani tastes great served with Parathas, Kulchas or Pooris. Here are Dal Maharani and Dal Bhukhara dishes I have posted before, I have posted Paneer Makhani too with slightly different recipe. This recipe is influenced slightly by Nita Mehta's "Amritsari Khaana" book with my own changes. Enjoy.

Prepare these first:

1. Soak 1 1/2 cup of dry green or Yellow Greenpeas overnight, drain the water, add 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp salt, gently pressure cook until Peas are cooked but mashed. Keep aside. Slice Paneer into 1" cubes to fill 1 cup or more (I don't fry or saute Paneer in oil usually, just add directly to the gravy few minutes before I turn off the heat), set aside.
2. Grind 1 tbsp each of roasted and cooled Cashews, Walnuts and Almonds with some hot milk to smooth paste. Make this Garam Masala or roast and powder 1/2 Cardamom seeds, 1" Cinnamon, 3 Cloves, 2 tsp Cumin seeds and 1 tbsp Coriander seeds for a simple Garam masala mix you can use all of this for Makhani gravy.
To Make:
1. Heat 1 tbsp Butter+1 tbsp oil, add 1-2 Bay leaves, 2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste, saute. Add 1 cup finely minced onions, 1/4 tsp Turmeric and 1/2 tsp Sharwood brand Tandoori spice masala if you have it (optional) saute until soft.
2. Add 1/2 cup Tomato sauce, salt, 1 tsp sugar and enough Paprika or Kashmiri chili powder, stir on medium heat until butter shows up on top. Turn down the heat, add few tbsp of cold water.
3. Add in 1 cup fat free Half and half, simmer gently. Add cooked Greenpeas with it's water, simmer again until it bubbles, adjust the salt and chilli pd.
4. Add the ground Nut paste, 1 cup Paneer cubes, 2 tsp crushed Kasoori Methi, and 2 tsp Garam masala, mix gently and heat thru' for few more mins. Take the dish off the heat.
5. Sprinkle Cilantro and 1 tbsp Butter, let it melt on top before serving, tastes better the next day. You can reheat Makhani in the microwave.

Paneer-Matar Makhani goes to Diana of "A little of Spain in Iowa" blog who is hosting "MLLA-24th helping" event this month which is started by Susan.
This dish also goes to Sara of "Sara's Corner" and Sunita's event "Think Spice...Think-Garam Masala". Thanks to all of you for taking time.

Layered whole Wheat flour and Flax seeds powder Parathas:
Here is another way to fold Parathas. I always keep looking for new ways to fold the layered Parathas because they make Parathas so soft and it's fun to make them as well. Last month I found a pack powdered Flax seeds at the store, so I keep adding about 2-3 tbsps to Whole wheat/atta to make Parathas or to bread, makes them healthy. I love Flax seeds chutney powder and Flax seeds Parathas made with it too.

To knead:

1. Take 2 cups of Whole Wheat flour, 2-3tbsps of Flax seeds powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp oil in a bowl, mix well. Add warm water to knead and make a soft dough but not sticky dough.
2. Brush some oil on the dough, cover the bowl and let it rest for 2 hours. Make layered Parathas.
3. Heat a Tava/Griddle and bake Parathas. Brush some ghee on top when you take them out.

How to fold:
1. Divide the dough into 8-10 portions, make balls. Roll each one out to about 6-7" circles, brush with oil lightly, sprinkle some flour on top.
2. Follow the step by step pics to fold the parathas as shown in the collage to make them. Click on the photo to make it bigger. Roll out again to 6" circle and cook on Tava.
3. Enjoy them with any gravy dish.

Multi Dal Masala Vada:
Here they are, the dreaded(:D) deep fried multi-dal (ala Adai) masala vadas I loved! I used 4 kinds of dals together with other spices and used a American style food chopper grinder to make a very coarse paste like the size of Bulgar Wheat (did not use Indian grinder Sumeet this time which grinds to a very fine paste) to get a very crunchy texture and mixed the thick batter with some Besan later to hold them together into round shapes, something different than I usually make like this flat Chana dal-Dill vadas.

To make Multi-Dal Masala Vada:
1. Soak 2 tbsp each of Chana dal, Urad dal, Moong dal and Tuar dal for few hours, drain and add to the food processor, grind until you get a coarse textured mixture. Take out in a bowl.
2. Add 1/4 cup minced Onions, 2 tsp grated Ginger, 1/2 tsp dry red Chilli flakes, 2 green chillies minced, 1/4 tsp Ajwain, 1/2 tsp crushed Aniseeds, 2 tsp crushed Coriander seeds, minced Cilantro, minced curry leaves, 1tbsp or more if needed Besan/Gram flour just to bind them together, not too much, salt and few pinches of Baking soda and mix well.
3. Don't add water, dough should be thick enough to make balls. Heat oil to 375F, drop in medium sized balls of Vada dough and fry until golden and crunchy.
4. Serve with coconut chutney or just as they are with coffee.

Ricotta Mango Kalakand:
Looking at the (Indian) blogs these days with all those mango dishes they are posting making me feel like jumping on the plane and fly to India just to have few juicy Mangoes! Aroma of ripe Mangoes brings back lot of childhood memories for most of us who grew up in India.
But unfortunately Spanish Mangoes I get here are no match for what we are used to in India, best I can get close to that taste is canned Alphonso Mango Pulp.
I had made Mango Lassi weeks ago, had some Mango pulp leftover and when I saw the tub of Ricotta (bought it to make Rasmalai which never happened) in the fridge, I made this easy and delicious sweet called Kalakand which is made of thickened sweetened milk traditionally, a very popular dessert in North Karnataka but I used thick Ricotta cheese, added Mango pulp to it for easy Kalakand. My kids enjoyed these more since it involved Ricotta Cheese!! ;D

To make easy Ricotta-Mango Kalakand:
Get all these ingredients first and add to non-stick wide mouthed pan:
1. Place 2 tbsp ghee, 15oz tub of low fat Ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup or more Brown sugar as per your taste, 1 cup canned Alphonso Mango pulp, 1/2 tsp Powdered Cardamom, pinch of salt, Pinch of saffron threads, 2 tbsp slightly toasted, crushed Almond slivers or Pistachios.
2. Heat the mixture until bubbly, turn down the heat to medium low and keep on stirring until it's thick and creamy.
3. When it stars to leave the sides of the pan, add to a lightly buttered plate, let it cool and cut into pieces. Kalakand will be soft and moist, sometimes scoopable with a spoon if it's softer which is excellent to serve topped with a little whipped Cream. Enjoy.

Colorful Ricotta-Mango Kalakand goes to Srivalli of "Spice your life" blog's "Kid's delight-Natural colors" event.

Movies:
We watched an old movie called "Mackenna's Gold" again which I had watched as a teenager, loved it. I have been planning to watch one old movie as a family every Sunday evening, so my kids can remember these times when they are all grown and middle aged! Haha!! With most handsome Gregory Peck, Telly Savalas, Omar Sheriff, this movie was so good to watch on the new digitally remastered DVD. All of these actors have passed away now but they live forever in our hearts and memories! :)

Watched "Shutter Island" on DVD yesterday. Movie is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane who is also the author of "Mystic River", which was also made into movie directed by Clint Eastwood, won an Oscar for actor Sean Penn few years ago.
Shutter Island is not such a bad movie over all, visually good, little weird plotwise, didn't make much money when it was released but good acting by Ben Kingsley and Leo DiCaprio. Okay to watch once I guess.

Book:
I have been listening to Maya Angelou's CD books "Still I Rise" and "Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer". Her life, thoughts, poetry and her voice are all really inspiring.

Have a wonderful weekend my friends! :)