Aloo Paneer Tikki Pasanda ~ Weekend Cooking!

The entire last week I spent focusing on the calendar and looking really hard to see what I achieve by end of the day. Guess what the focus can stay max not more than 10 days. Yes 10 days have gone by and though I am happy I have completed most of my list that I catered for myself, still where did the days go.

Since I had the Saturday off, I planned to shoot handful of them. With hubby dear out on a trip, Athamma and self had our regular way of cooking. Which means nothing regular! I showed the Kid's Delight Wholesome Breakfast post to Konda and she was mightily pleased. She said I write stories well. I said it wasn't stories but facts. She replied yes I know, but still you have managed to write as a story for her to enjoy. Though I was glad she felt that way, I said we had business to do, which meant she got to sit with me and talk about what she wants for the week. That done, I sat with Amma and discussed on few new dishes.

It may appear as if I spent lot of time thinking about what to cook and shoot! Yes that's right, I wanted to make the best of the weekend and have couple of posts ready. Plus the most important aspect, have Konda's menu ready. Will be updating Spice your Life with that!

The climate has been really great, meaning very chill and nice. It even rained for a while in between. Its become the talk of the town on how the city has turned a new leaf rather a cold cover. I am loving it no doubt.

Coming to today's recipe, this was something I saw a while ago on Tarla Dalal's, but never got around making it. When Hubby dear said he wanted a vegetarian for the Sunday, I wanted to make it something interesting and new. Since we are doing Indian Breads over Beyond Curries for this month, I wanted to make Lachacha Paratha, which has been on my list since Roti Mela. It is basically Parota made with Wheat Flour. I am sure it is something you will love dipping into the gravy I made

I adapted the recipe to suit what I had on hand. The original recipe called fully for Paneer, whereas I had just about a small cube. So I added Potato and other spices as per our liking. Konda liked the gravy a lot, though she didn't like the soaked tikkis. She was hoping I will make Paneer Tikka, I said I didn't have so much paneer on hand to make it.

Since I made both Lachcha Paratha and Aloo Paneer Tikki together, I was strictly not able to calculate the exact timing, except that tikkis take sometime to get cooked.

Our Sunday Meal ~ Lachcha Paratha with Aloo Paneer Tikki Pasanda

Aloo Paneer Tikki Pasanda

Ingredients Needed

For the Tikkis

Aloo / Potatoes - 3 big ones
Paneer - 50 gms
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves - handful
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Green Chilis - 2 finely chopped
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Maida - 2 tbsp
Bread crumbs for coating
Oil for cooking

For the paste No.1:

Onions - 2 medium roughly chopped
Garlic - 5 cloves
Ginger - 1"
Cashew nuts - 2 tbsp, abt 7-8 whole

For the paste No.2:

Onions - 2 sliced

For the Gravy:

Oil / Ghee - 2 tbsp
Beaten Curd/ Yogurt - 1 cup
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method to prepare

For the tikkis

1. Pressure cook potatoes till soft, peel and mash well. Ensure there is no lump. Grate the paneer well.
2. Take everything in a bowl, mix in the green chillies, pepper powder, flour and salt and mix well.
3. Shape into tikkis of your palm size and 1 inch discs and roll in bread crumbs.
4. Cook on a non-stick tava by applying oil while cooking. This will surely take time as you will have to cook on low flame.

For the paste No. 1

1. Boil the onions in 1 cup of water along with Garlic, Ginger and cashew nuts until soft.
   
2. Make a paste once it's cooled

For the paste no. 2

1. Deep fry the onions in ghee or oil until golden.
2. Grind to a fine paste, if required by adding little water.

For the gravy

1. Heat the oil in a thick bottom pan. Add the paste no. 1 and cook on a low flame for a few minutes. Then add the chilli powder, garam masala and cook again for 5 mins
2. Take the vessel off the fire and add the beaten curds. This is to ensure the curds don't curdle. Mix well and go on stirring until it is all mixed. Cook for another 5 - 7 mins. Add the paste no.2 and salt.
3. Add water to get a little thinner consistency.
4. Arrange the paneer tikkis in a plate. Pour the boiling gravy on the top. Serve immediately.
   

If you are not serving right away, I suggest you have the tikkis separately. And heat the gravy again just before serving to pour over the tikkis.

Hope you make this and enjoy. Have a great week ahead!