Cholle or Channe Kulcha

Cholle(white chickpeas) Kulcha is a very common street food. Kulcha bread is available in supermarkets. This time I have used ready made kulcha bread, though I plan to make kulcha from scratch at home next time.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients:

• 6 pairs kulcha bread
• 3 medium potatoes(boiled)
• 3/4cup white chickpeas(channe)
• 3cups water
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 3 green chilies, finely chopped
• salt as per taste
• red chili powder as per taste
• 1tsp black pepper(crushed)
• 1tsp dried pomegranate(anardana) powder
• 1tsp dry mango powder(amchur)
• 1tsp cumin(zeera) powder
• 1/2tsp garam masala powder
• Tamarind(imli) chutney
• Butter

Soak chickpeas with 1tsp salt in water over night. Pressure cook it for 10-12 mins. If you don't soak it over night, then pressure cook for 20-25 mins. Strain the chickpeas to remove excess water.

Peel and mash the boiled potatoes. Add chickpeas and mix well. Add onions, green chilies, salt,  pepper, chili powder, anardana powder, amchur and, garam masala. Mix well. The mixture should be sticky otherwise you will have to add more potatoes.

Toast kulchas with butter on a tawa pan. Put a generous amount of mixture in a pair of kulcha bread. Similarly fill rest of the kulchas and cut each pair into halves. Serve with imli chutney. Enjoy with your evening tea.

Tamarind or Imli Chutney

Everyone loves imli ki chutney after all, what is there not to love. It goes with so many Indian snacks and is so easy to make.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 200gm tamarind or imli 
• 300gm jaggery or gur
• 5cup water
• 1tsp black salt
• 1tsp chili powder
• 1tsp cumin powder
• 1tsp garam masala
• salt as per taste

Imli is easily available in the market. It could be with seeds or seedless. Heat imli and water together while stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. Let it cool for few minutes and start extracting pulp with the help of a strainer. This is going to take a while. Extract as much as possible, it will be thick pulp. Grate jaggery and mix it with the imli pulp. 

Place the mixture back on medium flame while stirring occasionally so that it doesn't burn. Add rest of the ingredients. Cook for few minutes til the mixture starts to thicken. Chutney is going to thicken more when it cools down so make sure the consistency is right. 

Shahi Paneer

Shahi Paneer is a very rich dish. Cream is the ingredient that makes this dish so scrumptious. On daily basis I don't use this much amount of cream and cashew paste. I usually replace cashews with melon seeds and half the amount of cream with milk. It still tastes awesome.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 5 to 6

Ingredients:

• 2 cups diced cottage cheese(paneer)
• 4 onions(blended into paste)
• 2 tomatoes(blended into a paste) or tomato puree
• 1tsp garlic minced
• 1tsp ginger mined
• 1tsp green chilies(finely chopped)
• 1tbsp olive oil
• 1tbsp butter
• 2 sticks cinnamon
• 1 brown cardamom
• 3 green cardamoms
• 3 cloves
• 1tsp coriander powder
• 1tsp turmeric powder
• 1tsp dried fenugreek powder or kasuri methi
• 1tsp garam masala
• 3/4th  cup water
• salt as per taste
• red chili powder as per taste
• 1tbsp milk
• 15 cashews
• 1/4th cup heavy cream
• 1tbsp tomato ketchup
• 10 raisins(kishmish)

A lot of people like to fry paneer til its golden brown. Personally I am not a big fan of using fried paneer. If you would like to do it then heat 2tbsp of oil in a pan and fry diced paneer in it till it is golden brown. Take it out on a kitchen towel or a tissue. Dunk fried paneer in hot water before adding it to the gravy to make them soft.

Heat olive oil and butter in a wok. Make sure you don't burn the butter. Add cardamoms, cinnamon, and cloves to it and saute for a minute. Next add onion paste and cook for few minutes. Add garlic ginger paste and mix well. Cook till oil starts separating.

Add coriander powder and turmeric powder. Next add tomato paste and cook for few minutes. Add salt, red chili powder, green chilies and kasuri methi powder. Mix well and cook till oil separates. Meanwhile blend cashews and milk together to form a paste.

Add 3/4th cup water to give gravy a structure. Add tomato ketchup. Use sugar if you don't have the ketchup.

 Add the cashew paste and garam masala once the gravy starts bubbling. Simmer and next add raisins. Soak raisins in water for few minutes before using them.

Now add the paneer and mix well. Lastly just before serving, add the cream. Always whisk the cream before adding it to any dish.

Garnish with toasted cashews.

Enjoy!!!

Cheese Chilli

My folks love this dish, especially my hubby. My mom cooked this dish for my hubby when he visited our place for the first time after our wedding and he instantly fell in love with it, so this dish has to definitely be on my blog. Its a simple and easy dish which cooks within no time. Its mainly how my mom makes it though i have to admit that i did some tweaking here and there to suit myself.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 5

Ingredients:

• 1 cup diced cottage cheese(paneer)
• 3 medium sized onions(cut in rings)
• 4 medium sized bell peppers(cut in long strips)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp garlic minced
• 1 tsp green chilies(chopped)
• salt  as per taste
• black pepper crushed
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp chili flakes

Heat the wok and add butter and oil. Add bell peppers & saute them for few minutes. Next add onions and saute till they start turning pink. Next add garlic and green chilies.

 Season it with salt and black pepper. Then add soy sauce & sweet chili sauce. Please adjust the seasoning and sauce according to your taste. Lastly add paneer and mix well. Garnish with oregano and chili flakes. Serve hot with spaghetti, hot parantha or a toast. Enjoy!!!