Five consecutive late evenings and I needed to relocate my Karmic centre.
Off I went to the dreaded yoga class. Me in gym-friendly spandex amidst a sea of linen cotton.
An hour into the class the Irish sadhu instructor whispered, now you are going to do a shoulder stand. Stretch your legs to the heavens, then gently extend them sideways and take deep breaths.
I lay there twisted into an unrecognisable human tower. The blood rushed to my brain before I could say Dal Makhani. I. Felt. Empowered.
So I decided to master the wonderful world of the blogosphere. I finally worked out how to read all my favourite blogs in one go. This site is now complete with a super recipe index and snazzy food conversion calculators (in the toolbar) thanks to my blog and children’s storytelling supremo Hugh. And then, I found this fantastic resource, Foodari, that allows you to create your own cookbook online.
Feeling rather smug over the weekend, I made a fresh, healthy and blindingly simple Paneer Bhujia or Paneer crumble. Then, tried chappati making with renewed gusto. And finally, plate heaped with brunch, found my inner peace in front of the telly.
PS = It would come as no surprise to learn that I NEVER make my own paneer or Indian cheese. Store bought is fine. I wouldn’t know the difference anyway.
Feeds 2:
- 250 gm Paneer or Indian cheese
- 2 small tomatoes
- 1 small onion
- Quarter tsp turmeric powder
- Half tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp whole cumin
- 1 large bay leaf
- 4-5 sprigs of fresh coriander
- 2 tbsp oil
- Salt to taste
Chop the onion, tomatoes and paneer into little pieces.
In a small saucepan, heat the oil over a high flame. When it is hot, add the cumin seeds and bay leaf. As they sizzle up, stir in the onions and tomatoes
Fry, stirring well for about five minutes. By this time the onions will be limp and the tomatoes disintegrated. Now mix in the turmeric and chilli powders and fry for another two minutes until the raw smell of the spices go.
Finally, stir in the paneer and mix thoroughly smashing it up with your spoon as you do to get a crumbly mixture. Add salt to taste, fresh coriander and eat hot while the paneer is soft and full of flavour.
17 Comments
I agree, store bought stuff works perfectly for me too. Except, the Indian store is quite a hike, so I am always looking to see if there are mainstream alternatives!
he he he. I love the thought of the human tower. I know what you mean. How are you finding the google reader? I might convert if it is good.
I do make my own paneer. Not that it is any cheaper than buying it, but I love the whole process. And I think it tastes better than store bought, or maybe tastes different, rather than better. Your bhujia sounds wonderful, especially for inner peace.
That was a great read. –Deepa
u r just too funny. ha ha ha keep it up
That looks great. Would you suggest adding hing ?
LOL @ “Me in gym-friendly spandex amidst a sea of linen cotton” What were you thinking? ;D
But for head stand and all that, spandex is better, don’t you think? Less “exposure” for doin “Y”! HeHe!
I made Paneer at home twice, that’s it, buy them now, it’s fine! Paneer Bhurji/dish looks great!:)
You never had Google Reader until now? I am surprised, glad you got it now. I LOVE reader, my life line!:P
Online book maker!! Thanks!:))
Sounds great - the food and the Yoga…I do miss Yoga, but at least I get in daily meditation!
Half the battle!
Nice one..Mallika. I love paneer and the one time I tried making it myself (low fat, of course) and tried it with fat-free milk (bad idea!!), it was a big flop
So, the store one works awesomely well for me too! 
Hi Mallika.
I use RSS and other feeds to check out my favourite blogs. it’s super easy. have a look at the top right corner of your browser if using internet explorer. see the small orange square next to the printer icon? click on it, and it will get you to the feed of the blog/page you’re on. towards the top of the page, there will be a link saying sth like ’subscribe to this feed’. click on it. it will ask you how to save it. now this works a bit like favourites. in fact, you’ll find the feeds you saved next to your favourites. anyhow, add a folder to it if you wish, name it, and save it.
and this is how you get to it. now look to the left hand corner and find the star icon (the favourites are here, too). again, click on the little orange square, and this will take you to your saved feeds. when there’s a new post on the page you’re reading, it will show in bold.
that’s it! easy-peasy, and it’s in your browser. the only downside is that it’s on your computer only. i like it because all the feeds are there together, and i don’t even need to visit another webpage.
Five days into the class, and you are doing the shoulder stand^:)^ !
For a vegetarian like me, Paneer is nirvana!
oops..that was an emoticon that did not show!
Oh my, oh my Mallika. What a delicious looking recipe that is.
I wouldn’t make paneer either . . . instead I get Richard to do it!
You are witty! :)And a nice paneer dish.
There’s not exactly a plethora of Asian food stores in Inverness. The only paneer I can buy here is the supermarket rubbery stuff with the scarily long shelf life. Promise! you’d know the difference.
This looks so lovely I’ll just have to make some paneer.
Thanks for posting the resources, am checking them out. Paneer looks yummy. I use store bought and home made- whichever is more convenient at that time.
Have a great holiday, darling! Will miss your posts, but I’m sure you’ll have plenty of great stories to share with us!
Enjoy!
Had this last night and it was incredible. Made fresh paneer for it and will blog about that soon with a link to this page.
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