Shahi Paneer - A different take!

Ok, so I am kind of behind on writing some of my posts and am trying to get to them one by one over this weekend.  So, I thought why not start with a food post since that's what I started my 2011 blog with.  I started my 2011 blog year with writing my experience of cooking Shahi Paneer and surprisingly, I will start 2012's blog post with Shahi Paneer as well, but with different take than the last one :).

Over a week ago, my brother wanted to try out Shahi Paneer and he found a recipe from online, I think it was showmethecurry.com.  The recipe was different from when I had tried it earlier (my earlier post: Shahi Paneer), but he wanted to try it and I liked their recipe as well, so we gave it a try.  We made some changes to the recipe to make it our own way, but it turned out great.  It was spicy and delicious!!!  The credit goes to my brother for finding the recipe and trying it out and I helped and supervised as needed.  Before I put the recipe, here is a picture of the Shahi Paneer we made :).

Home made Shahi Paneer

Ingredients:
Vegetables:
Tomatoes (3-4 medium size) or tomato sauce, Onions (1 big or 2 small), Garlic, Green Chillies (1 or 2 jalapenos)

Spices:
Red chili powder, Coriander powder, Cumin powder, Garam masala, Shredded ginger, Salt, Sugar

Other:
Cooking oil, Cashews (3/4th cup), Milk(1 cup), Water, Cilantro, Paneer(1/3rd of frozen 1 lb. paneer)

Preparation:
1) Soak cashews in milk for about 15 minutes.
2) Finely chop onions, green chilies, garlic and cilantro
3) Shred the ginger
4) Cook paneer in butter or oil, and once they turn slightly brownish, keep them aside.
5) Take the tomatoes (or tomato sauce), onions (3/4th), garlic, green chilies, ginger, and make puree from it.
6) Blend the cashews and milk until they smooth.

Process:
1) Heat oil on medium heat in a utensil
2) Add finely chopped onions and stir until they turn brownish
3) Add remaining chopped green chilies, and garlic and stir them
4) Add the onions/tomatoes puree to this mixture and stir everything together
5) Once the oil starts to separate from the mixture, add cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, and little bit of red chili powder
6) Mix everything and let it cook for 3-4 minutes.
7) Add cashew and milk mixture in this and mix well.There should be no lumps in the gravy!
8) At this point, if needed, add little bit of water to make more gravy
9) Add salt, and little bit of sugar and let the gravy come to boil
10) Taste the gravy and add any spices per taste if you feel if something is missing
11) Once the gravy comes to boil, add the paneer and mix well
12) Let it cook for another 2-4 minutes and turn off the heat
13) Garnish with cilantro or crushed cashews.
14) Be ready to eat this delicious dish!!!

Hope you enjoy this recipe and I am def. going to make it again since it turned out so good.  It wasn't even much time consuming!!  Have fun :)

Bye bye 2011, Welcome 2012!!!

First of all, let me start this post by wishing you all a very Happy New Year!!  I wish you all a colorful, joyful, successful, peaceful, and wonderful 2012 :D.  I feel that 2011 has just flown by but with lots of happenings, a lot of good , and some bad.  I just want to list some of those events to highlight my 2011 year and welcome the happy new year of 2012!

Starting with the best event of 2011 was the day which will be remembered forever, India winning the Cricket World Cup after 28 years.  It was my favorite world cup for sure since I followed it so closely.  That event followed by 2 of the next best things, me completing my MS course work successfully by presenting my MS project and  graduating with my MS degree, and second being my brother graduating with his bachelor's degree!!  Following that, I had one of my best vacations in Florida with my brother enjoying all 7 theme parks to the fullest.  Can't complain!  I made lots of new friends for life in 2011.  I also mastered in the field of cooking which was one of my main goals of 2011 and now I can call myself a decent cook :D.  All these things and many more (small and big) events have filled 2011 with lots of good memories.  But there are also times which you have no control over, which leave a bad mark on your mind, and I happen to experience one of these bad incidents when I got in a terrible car accident.  It left a bad image on my mind and left me very emotional about the whole thing for couple of weeks including a terrible ribs pain, but I was grateful and thankful for one thing and that is me walking out of it alive!  It was one of the worst experiences of my life that I might not forget but it is something I am leaving behind in 2011, carrying forward all the good memories.

With that said, I look forward to 2012 and wait for what it has in store for me!!  What about you guys?  Do you have any 2012 resolutions?  Hope you all had a great 2011 and have a fantastic 2012!!

Enjoy!