I came to know about the weekend herb blogging from Srivalli's  Cooking 4 All Seasons blog, which is an event started by Kalyan of kalynskitchen. Being from the state of Rajasthan, I took this opportunity to introduce the quintessential Rajasthani dish of all times - The Panchkuta.
This dish is essentially made up of 5 ingredients found widely across the Great Thar Desert. For ages, this has been the mainstay food of travellers across the desert. It has long shelf life after being cooked and does not require refrigeration unlike other foods. In case you are travelling through Rajasthan, don't be amused if you find your fellow traveller pulling up a box of Panchkuta with pooris/rotis and enjoying his lunch/dinner.

The five ingredients of Panchkuta are sangri, kair, Kumat, Goonda and dry red chillies.

 Sangri ( Prosopis cineraria ) - Sangri ki phali (pods of the khejari tree) grows in Rajasthan. This is the protein powerhouse of the desert with 53 per cent protein. Linky

Kair ( Capparis decidua ) - This is a wild berry which grows on the shrubs in the Thar. Linky
Kumat ( Acacia Senegal ) - Seeds from the pods of this small deciduous tree. Linky

Other ingredient which form part of the Panchkuta is goonda (Cordia mixa) Linky. With the current place I am in, I couldn't get this.The taste of this dish is slightly different and has to be developed. If you taste it after soaking/boiling them, it might not be that agreeable, but once the dish is ready, the taste comes out really well.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sangri
• 1/4 cup kair
• 1/4 cup kumat
• 4 dry red chillies
• 1 tablespoon raisins
• 1 tea spoon haldi (turmeric) powder
• 2 tea spoon red chilli powder
• 2 tea spoon dhaniya (coriander) powder
• 2 tea spoon amchur(dry mango) powder
• 1/2 teas spoon cumin seeds
• pinch of hing (afsofedia)
• 2 tablespoon oil
• salt to taste.

Method

• Soak sangri, kair and kumatia in water overnight.

• Drain the water. Add 2 cups of fresh water,1 tea spoon salt and 1/2 tea spoon haldi and boil for 10 minutes.
• Drain the water.
• Heat oil in the pan. Add cumin seeds, hing and red chillies.
• Add sangri, kair and kumat.
• Add all spices and amchur powder. cook for 2 minutes.
• Serve with poori or bajri (millet) roti.

During my college days in Jodhpur, Rajasthan there was only one restaurant - Gypsy who served Chinese dishes. Earlier noodles were the only known Chinese food to me. I can say Gypsy introduced me to the Chinese cuisine. It was my favourite place to hangout with friends...now there are so many restaurants which serve Chinese dishes.. BUT still you will not see street vendors selling Chinese. After my marriage when I came to Hyderabad I was surprised to see many bandi's (street vendors) selling Chinese.... Some how I was hesitate to eat street side food...but so many friends of mine praised about one particular bandi (near Gandhi statue,MG Road Secunderabad) who dishes out delicious Chinese fast food. I tried and found it delicious...so whenever I go there for shopping I made sure to pay a visit to that Chinese food bandi. Besides street vendors there are some fine Chinese restaurants also, like Mainland china. I learnt making ghobi manchurian from my Urmila masiji. After that there was no looking back & I learnt many Chinese dishes from books and friends....Here is one of them.

Ingredients (serves-2)

• 200gm Paneer(cottage cheese) cubes, regular or marinated
• Oil for frying

For Batter

• 3 tablespoon maida(all purpose flour)
• 2 tablespoon corn starch)
• 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1 tea spoon tandoori powder
• salt to taste

For gravy

• 1 onion cut into sguare pieces
• 1 cup capsicum cut into square pieces
  of any colour
• 4 spring onions
• 1 green chilli chopped
• 2 tea spoon minced garlic
• 1 tea spoon minced ginger
• 2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon soya sauce
• 1 tea spoon vinegar
• 2 tablespoon tomato chilly sauce
• 1 tablespoon chilly sauce
• 1 tea spoon black pepper powder.
• 1 tea spoon sugar
• 2 tea spoon corn starch
• 2 table spoon oil
• salt to taste

Method

• Mix all the batter ingredients and make thick batter by adding little water.

• Heat the oil in the pan.
• Dip the paneer cubes in the batter and fry them in oil till they become golden in colour.Spread them out on an absorbent paper and keep aside.

• Make thin paste of corn starch by adding cold water. keep aside.
• Heat the oil in the pan. Keep the gas on high. Add ginger, garlic and green chilly fry them for a min. Add remaining vegetables one by one and fry them.
• Add salt, sugar, black pepper, , chilly sauce, tomato-chilly sauce, soya sauce, vinegar and 2 cup of water.Bring it to boil.
• Add corn starch paste and boil for a minute.

• Add paneer cubes and serve hot with noodles or rice.

Note:
Panner will get soggy if you keep it too long in the gravy ,if you are preparing well ahead of time add paneer in the gravy 10 min before serving.

Dry Paneer Manchurian
Some like Manchurian in dry form.The process is similar to wet Paneer Manchurian preparation. Don't add water and corn starch.

How to marinade Paneer?

Ingredients

• 1 cup curd
• 2tea spoon ginger garlic paste
• 2 tea spoon tandoori powder
• 1 tea spoon chat masala
• 1/2 tea spoon red chilly powder
• salt to taste

Method

• Hang the curd in a muslin cloth for 3-4 hours.

• Take it in a bowl.It will look exactly like sour cream,mix other ingredients and make a thick paste.
• Brush the panner cubes with the marinade mix and refrigerate it for 3-4 hours.

Short Cut

• If marination seems to be a long process ,you can use masala paneer.
• However the marinated paneer cubes are not required for the 'Wet Paneer Manchurian 'as wet gravy made with sauces, gives flavour to the paneer but if you are making 'Dry Paneer Manchurian', without gravy. I would suggest you to marinade paneer.

As Rakhi day approaches near, the feeling to be with my brother grows more and more. The festival of Rakhi, also known as Raksha Bandhan is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of August.
The Rakhi thread is a symbol of bond of love and care between brothers & sisters. On this day sisters tie Rakhi(beaded or normal thread) on the wrist of their brothers and pray for their well being and long life; the brothers promise to protect their sisters from harm. My brother is 12 years younger to me, and I love him like a small kid and after tying rakhi, instead of mithai (sweets), I offer him Dairy milk chocolate. I am not with him during this year and what should I do? I decided to make the chocolate bar at home because my brother loves it. This almond chocolate is my brother-in-law favourite too; the last time when he came to US, he took a big jar of these chocolate with him back home.

These videos are for you my beloved brother.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dark chocolate
• 1 cup milk chocolate
• 1 cup roasted almonds
• 1 tea spoon butter

Method

• Mix milk and dark chocolate in a microwavable bowl.

• Microwave on high for 30 sec and stir, again keep it for 30 sec and stir and then for another 30 sec and stir.

• Mix roasted almonds into the liquid chocolate.
• Grease the aluminum foil with butter and pour the mixture into it.

• Keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Make the marks on the chocolate ,in the way you like to cut your chocolate.
• Keep it in the refrigerator for 1 hour to set.
• Take it out .break it into pieces and enjoy.....

How to roast almonds?

Keep it in the oven for 5-7 minutes on 350F.

Food Event

This is my entry for the -MEC: Potluck Party event being hosted by Srivalli of Cooking For All Season.