PANEER PAKORA & TOMATO JUICE

    I never made this until I tried this at restaurants… They give softest paneer pakoras…When we want to quench our sudden craving for North Indian food,we go to a ‘walk-able’ restaurant near by- Mumtaz Mahal at Downtown east. My kids favourite is always Gobi Manchurian there. So we order that for him and for ourselves we order either Paneer Pakoras or Paneer tikka . My hubby though he doest like paneer in gravies, he loves starters using paneer… 

The recipe is very simple,with simple ingredients,if you have paneer block in your freezer. Perfect and easy starter idea when you host some guests for dinner…

Ingredients:

Paneer	10 – 12 small square slices
Gram flour/kadala maavu	1/2 cup
Rice flour	1/4 cup
Cooking soda	1/8 tsp
Corn flour (optional)	1 tsp
Red chilli powder/pepper powder	1 tsp
Ghee	1 or 2 tsp
Oil	For deep frying
Chaat masala	For sprinkling on top

   Method:

1. Mix both flours with water required to a thick paste,along with salt,pepper powder.cooking soda(sodium-bi-carbonate) and ghee.
2. Thaw the paneer till soft(keep out in room temperature for 2-3 hours or so).Slice it with knife carefully ,not too thick as well as not too thin, to desired shape(square/rectangle/triangle)
3. Heat oil in a deep frying pan and dip the paneer pieces to coat the paneer well in the batter and deep fry them both sides until crisp and golden brown. 

Sprinkle chaat masala on top and enjoy hot with green chutney or any sauce.

Notes:

Adding ghee sure enhances the flavour and makes more crisp.You can skip it too or add oil as well instead. The paneer becomes soft when its deep fried and best to eat it when it is still hot.

Technorati Tags: Paneer pakora recipe,Paneer recipes

TOMATO JUICE

This is one of the very few juices my mom makes in my childhood… What I love in this is the elachi flavour in it! Simple and delicious to indulge…

Ingredients

Tomatoes	3
Sugar or honey	1 tblsp
Elachi	1
Ice cubes	As needed

Method:

1. If you dont want the skin then boil water and drop in the tomatoes in it. Put off the flame and let the tomatoes be in the hot water for 2 minutes. Make sure the tomatoes are immersed completely.Take out and peel the skin of the tomatoes.

2. Roughly chop the tomatoes and blend it well with elachi,sugar until smooth and serve cold with added ice cubes…

Notes:

You can simply grind with the skin and filter the juice with strainer too. If you dont like elachi,feel free to skip. Adjust sugar/honey according to your taste buds.

Technorati Tags: Tomato Juice,Summer drinks recipes,paneer appetizers