Category: Vegetarian

Recipe for my version of palak paneer.

Remember when I made my own cheese/paneer? It was actually for this Indian dish called “Palak Paneer“.

Contrary to my earlier belief, it’s really not difficult to cook palak paneer. It’s probably easier to cook than a creamy western soup. A handheld blender would be most useful in the making of this dish, otherwise just stick to a good old blender or food processor.

# – Palak paneer.

I didn’t realise how much the BF loves palak paneer until we were in Hyderabad, India, where EVERY meal must be accompanied by palak paneer. I don’t blame him though…it is a truly delicious dish.

Of course, it’s only a matter of time before he plonked a big bunch of spinach into our shopping trolley. The time has come…

The ingredients:

  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of ginger, chopped
  • 2 dried chillies, seeded
  • 1/2 cup of onion, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon of ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
  • 3/4 cup of yogurt
  • 500 grammes of fresh spinach, torn
  • 4 sprigs fresh cilantro leaves
  • 300 grams of homemade cheese or paneer (you can use cottage cheese)
  • sea salt to taste

# – First, cut the paneer or homemade cheese into cubes and brown them in a pan.

# – When browned, set the cheese aside.

# – Now, stir fry the garlic, dried chillies, ginger and onions until fragrant (sorry I n00bed it and forgot the onion picture).

# – Add in the ground coriander, ground cumin and ground tumeric.

# – Followed by the yogurt. Stir to combine.

# – Now add in the spinach, a handful at a time. Cook till all spinach are wilted. If you like to make a really green palak paneer, don’t cook the spinach for too long as they will lose the vibrant green colour.

# – When spinach have wilted, chuck everything into a blender and blitz into a fine paste.

# – Pour the paste back into the pan and heat it up on the lowest flame.

# – Season with some salt.

# – Then add all but a few browned cheese cubes into it. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

# – Pour into a plate and decorate with the remaining cheese and a few spoons of yogurt.

# – Palak Paneer, DONE!

# – Serve with biryani rice and apple raita (chopped apples and indian spices mixed into yogurt)

It is creamy but not cloying, the spinach paste is perfect with the browned cheese.

Every palak paneer is unique to its cook so you just have to eat many versions to find your favourite (this is by no means a complaint). As for those of you who are hoping to cook it from scratch, just tweak the seasonings to your taste.

Refreshing mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad.

Every Friday, I have to think up something light for dinner as it’s badminton night for the BF. He doesn’t like playing the game with a stomach full of food. At first, I thought, hey…this is easy.

But as weeks go by I realised it’s actually not easy to whip up something that is both delicious and light. How can anything light be delicious, right? There are exceptions though, for instance this recipe (tooting own horn).

# – Mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad.

The ingredients:

  • 200 grams of mozzarella, cut into bite size
  • A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
  • A handful of Italian parsley, chopped up
  • 2 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon of coarse sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

# – The stellar cast.

# – First, cut the mozzarella into bite sizes.

# – Throw in the halved cherry tomatoes.

# – Chop up the Italian parsley.

# – Throw the parsley in as well.

# – Drizzle olive oil all over…

# – A sprinkling of ground black pepper…

# – Lastly, some coarse sea salt to finish it off.

# – Mozzarella, tomato and parsley salad, DONE!

No cooking involved. Just cut some stuff up, pour some stuff in, sprinkle some stuff over and it’s done. Taste like a million bucks and most importantly, it’s light.

Perfect to prep the stomach up for KFC after, hehehe. (kidding)

Cauliflower macaroni cheese recipe.

The BF has been bugging me to make him cauliflower cheese for the longest time. He grew up eating them and it’s one of his favourite comfort foods.

I don’t know why I haven’t gotten around to making it. I guess I was intimidated by the vegetable?

I’ve never cleaned and prepared cauliflower before. And it’s white. That’s just abnormal. Vegetable is supposed to be green or at least in darker shades of colours. White is creepy.

Then, one day while out grocery shopping, he plonked a 1.5 kilograms worth of cauliflowers into our trolley. I had nowhere to run. I had to make cauliflower cheese or else…

I decided to chuck in some macaroni, so I didn’t have to cook a carb to go with :D

# – Cauliflower macaroni cheese.

The ingredients:

  • 300 grams of macaroni
  • 800 grams of cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 180 grams of grated parmesan and a bit more for the topping (you can use cheddar or any crumbly hard cheese too)
  • 300 ml of milk
  • 6 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 3 tablespoons of mustard powder
  • Salt & Pepper

# – Prepare a deep pot of boiling water seasoned with salt. Throw in the cauliflowers. They take about 8-10 minutes to cook through. Depending on how long your pasta takes to cook, chuck them in at the appropriate time too so they cook together with the cauliflower.

# – Put your baking tray or heatproof dish over the stove, heat up a bit of oil and throw in the sliced onions to brown.

# – Pour in the milk.

# – Then the grated parmesan. Stir till mixture’s combined.

# – Next, put 3 tablespoons of mustard powder. Stir.

# – Followed by the drained cauliflower and macaroni.

# – Give it a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper (Actually you can season the cheese sauce first before adding in the cauliflower/pasta but I forgot :P). Stir.

# – Sprinkle more grated parmesan all over the top.

# – Place the halved cherry tomatoes all over the top.

# – Stick it in the oven, on a top rack to grill at 210 degree celcius for 10 minutes or till the top is browned.

# – Cauliflower macaroni cheese, DONE!

Cheesy, creamy and soft but most importantly, easy to whip up. The ultimate comfort food! I guess you can say it’s quite healthy too as there’s no meat involved.

But who am I kidding? Something that tastes this good CAN’T be healthy, hahaha.