Quick Paneer Pakodas

Paneer Pakoda tops the list of quick vegetarian snacks especially when you want to cook something special in just a few minutes ! Take my niece’s birthday party, for example. I just had 10 mins with me to prepare a hot and tasty treat for her 25 odd friends and I could think of nothing other than crunchy paneer pakodas !

What you need( Ingredients)

1. 400 gms cubed cottage cheese(paneer)

2. 1 cup chickpea flour( besan)

3. A pinch of baking soda

4. 1/2 tsp black indian salt( kala namak), you can add a little more as per taste

5. 1/2 cup water

6. 1 tbsp. pasted garlic

7. 1/2 tsp. carrom seeds( ajwain)

8. 1/2 tsp cumin-coriander powder (made with both ing 1:1) ratio

9. 1 tsp. red chilli powder

10. 1/2 tsp asafoetida( hing)

11. 2 cups cooking oil of your choice

Directions

1. Pour the oil into a wok and heat on medium heat

1. Mix all the dry ingredients well in a bowl and add water slowly with constant stirring to prevent formation of lumps.

2. Once a homogenous batter is obtained, add the cubed paneer.

3. Mix the paneer in the batter well ensuring that each piece is coated fully with the batter.

4. Take a pinch of the batter and drop it into the heated oil to see if it is ready for frying. The pakodas are ready for frying when the small dollop of batter gets fried instantaneously and rises to the surface of the oil in a golden brown color.

5. Once the oil attains the desired temperature, drop the batter-coated paneer cubes one by one or in clusters( here I dropped in clusters as I had no time) in the oil and fry till they attain a golden brown color with crispy texture

Tip- Do not turn the pakodas when frying till the bottom surface is cooked. You will come to know this when you see the periphery of the pakodas attain a golden brown color. Then, you can turn them over and fry them a bit if required. If you have put enough oil there is no necessity to turn at all. You can just wait for the pakodas to get fried till golden brown.

Serving

Serve them hot with tomato dip after sprinkling with a bit of pepper on top.

Basic Eggless Sponge Cake

Basic Eggless Sponge Cake.

Basic Eggless Sponge Cake

I  tried a number of recipes for the basic eggless sponge cake and am particularly impressed with this recipe for the following reasons:

1. I wanted an eggless cake that was light and airy and really swelled up and found this recipe to be the perfect one for such specifications.

2. Unlike other eggless cake preparations that call for ingredients like condensed milk or butter which may not be always available with you or may be pretty expensive, this is made with curd and oil which are easily available.

3. The chef has described the recipe so well that I actually saw the described results of each and every instruction happening.

I tried a number of eggless cake recipes before, some of them suggested cocoa cola, or vinegar, or disproportionately large or small amounts of baking powder or soda, incorrect proportion of sugar etc. but this recipe does not have all those defects. You will get a perfectly moist and bouncy cake with perfect taste and proportion.

I tried this recipe with double proportion of ingredients as I wanted a bigger cake, but it came out well. Also I just tried a twist of flavor by adding 1/2 tsp of orange essence along with vanilla essence for a hint of fruity taste.