Paneer with Peppers and Sweetcorn in a Spicy Tomato Sauce

Well, its finally over! - Christmas I mean... we had an absolutely fabulous time celebrating with the family, the kids loved their presents from 'Father Christmas' and their faces were an absolute joy to watch as they ripped them open on Christmas morning.

I most definitely have eaten way more than I should, as you normally and rightly should do so over the festive period!

Own body weight in Chocolates  ü

Mince Pies  ü

Double my own body weight in cheese ü

A few vegetables! ü

I think now is the time and probably the perfect time to start to get fit and eat healthier (eating the kids leftovers most definitely is not helping!)

So, while I wait for Big Ben to strike 12 and watch the fireworks on TV, with my massive mug of hot, sweet masala tea, I thought, what should I do?! brainwave, write a new post!

Today, I made an amazing paneer curry today, with hot buttery naan, so that hubby can party tonight on a full stomach!

For those that may not know what paneer is, its a fantastic Indian cheese, which is like halloumi as it retains its shape when cooked.

Paneer is prepared by souring milk, you can usually add lemon juice to hot milk to separate the milk, the curds which are left are drained in a muslin and the excess water is drained out, the paneer (still in the muslin) is then dipped into cold water, which gives it its unique texture.  The cheese then hardens after 12-14 hours and can then be cut and used in curries, such as saag paneer (spinach and paneer).  Personally, due to lack of time I buy paneer from specialist Indian grocery shops, or larger supermarkets do also stock it.

The paneer recipe I make isn't what you would normally get in Indian restaurants and its a great way to use up some vegetables from the fridge.

Here is the recipe:

Paneer with peppers and sweetcorn in a spicy tomato sauce.

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

3 tbsp Sunflower oil

1/2 red pepper diced

1/2 Green Pepper diced

1 small can of sweetcorn or you can use frozen if you have this instead

2 Fresh tomatoes

1/2 can of chopped tomatoes

3 Green Chillies, chopped

Bunch of Coriander, finely chopped

1.5 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Sugar

2 tsp Garam masala

1 tbsp tomato puree

500g Paneer

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 240°, adjust the temperature accordingly if you have a fan-assisted oven
• Chop the paneer into cubes and put in the oven on the middle shelf for approx 6-8 minutes.
• In a saucepan, add the oil, once heated add the chopped chillies until they sizzle then add the fresh and tinned tomatoes and add the salt and sugar and simmer for 5 minutes until the tomatoes are mushy.
• Add the coriander and garam masala and mix the sauce

  

  Paneer just out of the oven

• Next add the peppers and sweetcorn and simmer this for a further 6-8 minutes allowing the peppers and sweetcorn to cook.
• By this time the paneer should be a golden brown, remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes.
• Add the paneer to the saucepan and the tomato puree and cook for a further 5 minutes

Enjoy with hot buttery naan or flatbread

TIP: 

• Some people prefer to deep fat fry the paneer, which you can do, but I prefer to pop them in the oven
• Garam Masala can make the tomato sauce go quite brown in colour and therefore its always best to add this towards the middle of cooking a curry.

Kala Chana (Black Chickpea) Curry

What a manic few weeks its been, with Christmas round the corner, the shopping and trying to hide the kids presents has been a nightmare!

The seconds always seem to turn into minutes and the minutes into hours and the hours into day and weeks and before you know it a few weeks have passed and I haven't had a chance to update my blog.  So I am determined to finish this blog today even though there are 2 kids wanting to go on the laptop to look at pictures of themselves (vain or what! - I wonder who they get that from!)

In other news.... the reason for not being able to blog for a while is due to having to prepare for my court case, it wasn't anything glamorous or sordid - just a car accident I had in January 2013 and the verdict........ 'I rule in favour of the claimant' said the judge... I WON!!!!!!!!!! It was an amazing feeling and such a relief that its over.

Anyway, I'm sure you're probably getting bored of me harping on about what's been going on in my life and the main reason you're probably reading my blog is to get some inspiration for some veggie food.  I've made lots of different dishes over the last few weeks, so I'm hoping that I will be able to inspire you to cook some of the delicious dishes!

Don't forget my twitter page @bareveggie and facebook page bare veggie please do follow me and share with your other foodie friends.

So here it is Kala Chana (Black Chickpea) curry.  The family love this, and I make the kids one separately and add potatoes to it.

Chickpeas are an excellent source of vitamins and nutrients and are low in fat and high in fibre and protein and they are absolutely delicious as well as very healthy.

These are tinned kala chana

Preparation time: 5 minutes (if using tinned chana)
Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients
1 can of Kala Chana Approx 250g, wash these well in hot water in a colander or if you have time you can use dried chana which have been soaked overnight and cook them in a pressure cooker.
75ml Sunflower oil
2 Green chillis
1/2 can of chopped tin tomatoes
1/4 tsp Jaggery or you can use 1/4 tsp of sugar
2 tsp Coriander and cumin powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Salt
Handful of chopped coriander
50ml Warm water
1/2 Weetabix

Method

• Heat the oil for a few minutes and add the finely chopped green chillis.
• Once the chillis start to sizzle, then add the tomatoes and let this cook for a few minutes
• Next add salt, jaggery, coriander and cumin powder, turmeric, mix this all well and let it cook for a further few minutes.
• Add the kala chana and freshly chopped coriander, add the warm water and let this simmer for 10 mins on a medium heat, mix occasionally and then lower the heat and cook for a further 5 minutes, don't forget to mix every now and again!
• Just before you're ready to serve, crumble half a weetabix into the curry and mix well, the good thing about adding weetabix is that it soaks up the excess water, so that you're left with a lovely thick sauce - let it cook for a further 5 minutes and its ready.

We have this with chapattis and mango rus (mango pulp) again this can be made fresh or if you're in a rush like me crack open a can!... and don't forget poppadoms as well.

Chapattis

The feast!

Chana cooking away