AAMRAS

Aamras (Mango ras/ mango pulp) is popular mango sweet or dessert made from pureed mangoes. It is popular in the western belt of India across Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. It is either served plain or flavoured with cardamom or dry ginger and sometimes saffron. Gujarati aamras recipe makes the use of dry ginger powder and it is topped with some ghee, whereas in Maharashtrian recipe you will find cardamom powder added to it. Furthermore, Rajasthani recipe calls for addition of few saffron strands. Be it a cardamom or sonth or saffron, whatever the spice we add to it, aamras puri will always win the hearts.

Ingredients:
1 medium sized mango

2 teaspoons of sugar

1/4 teaspoon of cardamom powder

1/4 cup of milk/water 

Serves: 1-2

Preparation Time: 4-7 minutes

Preparation 

• Rinse & peel the mango. Then roughly chop it. 
• Add chopped mango into a blender. Add in rest of the ingredients.
• Blend until smooth. Aamras should be thick in consistency.
• Chill for 1-3 hours & serve as a side along with hot chapatis & pooris. 

Paneer n mushroom tikka

Amazingly simple n delicious recipe of Paneer n mushroom tikka without oven. Cubed cottage cheese, mushrooms and veggies are marinated in yogurt based sauce and seasoned with aromatic spices. A Quick and easy Indian appetizer. Traditionally paneer tikka is prepared in hot tandoors but I have modified the recipe and prepared it over stove  and this is delicious!! It’s the kind of paneer recipe that’s so tasty it’s hard to stop eating  at least for me. Make this recipe in advance and just before your guest/family is ready for dinner warm it up either in a microwave or in a pan covered with lid.

For this recipe I have used store bought fresh paneer and that gave me perfect cubed pieces. Regarding spices – Feel free to make any substitutions based on what you have on hand. Doing so may change the flavor slightly, but still give excellent results.

Veggies and mushrooms were not marinated along with paneer rather they were pan tossed in reduced marinade mixture. I had to add a little salt and garam masala towards the end to bump up the heat a bit and that balanced everything in the recipe. After this little adjustments; flavoring was spot-on. 

Paneer can easily be substituted with tofu and spices can be adjusted up or down, according to your preferences. Overall a good and recipe that’s easily adaptable to whatever veggies you happen to have on hand. Do try this out for your family and watch them lick their plates clean; asking for more.

INGREDIENTS

250 gm Paneer 

1/2 Cup Diced Onions

1 Cup Colored Capsicum (Green, Yellow & Red Bell Peppers)

Button mushrooms 8 nos

1/2 Cup Strained Yogurt 

1 Teaspoon Ginger Garlic Paste

1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder 

1 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Garam masala

1 Teaspoon Coriander Powder 

1 Teaspoon Chaat Masala

1/2 Teaspoon Cumin Powder 

Salt to taste 

1 Teaspoon Lemon Juice

2 Tablespoon Mustard Oil or any other Cooking Oil.

INSTRUCTIONS 

Strain 1 cup Yogurt in a muslin cloth to remove water. You can also you Greek Yogurt instead. Then beat the Yogurt in a large mixing bowl

Add the Ginger-Garlic paste to the yogurt. Also add Turmeric Powde, Red Chilli Powder, Garam Masala, Coriander Powder , Chaat Masala, Cumin Powder and Salt.

Add 1 teaspoon of Oil & some Lemon juice. Mix all the ingredients to prepare a thick paste

Dice the Paneer into thick inch cubes. Dice the onions and capsicum (bell peppers) into roughly 1 inch squares. Remove the seeds from the capsicum.Remove the stalk of the mushroom and use both stalk and crown. You can also add diced tomatoes. Add all the vegetables to the curd.

Mix well to coat the Paneer and vegetables with the spicy Yogurt paste. Cover the bowl and let the Paneer marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Arrange the Paneer, mushrooms and vegetables on a woodennor meral skewer. Try to have 2 Paneer pieces per skewer alternated with 2-3 pieces of vegetables. Ensure that you have roughly the same distribution of the Paneer and vegetables on all skewers.

Then brush oil on a tawa or pan and place the skewers on it. If you don't have skewers, you can also use toothpicks, or just grill the Paneer directly.

Let the Paneer Tikka cook for a minute and then turn it. Cook till the edges of the Paneer and vegetables start to char slightly. If making Paneer Tikka in an oven, you can bake it for 15 minutes at 240 C (450 F) and then broil for 5 minutes to get the char.