DIY – Homemade Tomato Ketchup / Tomato Sauce

These days tomatoes are really cheap in the market and vegetable sellers are flooded with tomatoes. This is the ideal time to make tomato ketchup / sauce. You can preserve this homemade for almost a year. It contains a preservative, sodium benzoate, which increases its shelf life.This homemade ketchup is made of tomatoes and only tomatoes. You can serve Springrolls, Kachori, Dhokla, Sandwich, Kothimbir Vadi, Burger and many other snacks.

Here we go,

Ingredients:

Tomatoes – 2 kg

Green Chillies – 5-6 (cut into pieces)

Garlic – 8-10 cloves

Cloves (Laung) – 3-4

Sugar – ½ cup

Salt – to taste

Black Pepper – ½ tsp

Sodium Benzoate – ¼ tsp

Method:

1. Rinse the tomatoes under running water and cut each tomato into four parts.
2. Cut green chillies and garlic into pieces.
3. Take a pressure cooker and add tomatoes, green chilli, garlic and cloves.
4. Pressure cook to two whistles.
5. Let it cool.
6. Blend the tomato mixture to a smooth puree and strain it through a strainer to a heavy bottom wok.
7. Keep the wok on a stove top. Add sugar, salt and black pepper.
8. Stir continuously on a medium flame till the pulp starts thickening and reaches ketchup like consistency. The pulp should fall from the spoon in lumps. It should not fall free flow.
9. Remove from the flame and allow it to cool.
10. Add sodium benzoate to the sauce and mix well.
11. Store it in a sterilized jar.

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Benefit Series – Paneer – Chilli Paneer (Dry)

Milk and milk products are very important part of our diet. Paneer is a fresh cheese, also known as chenna is made curdling heated milk with lemon juice, vinegar, or any other food acids. Moist and soft crumbly in texture, it is used to make delicacies such as Sandesh, Mutter paneer and Rasgulla. It is a rich source of milk protein. Paneer is the rich source of calcium, phosphorus, vitamins, minerals and protein which are required by the body in high proportions for healthy growth and development.

Since paneer is a high protein food having high level of calcium and phosphorus it helps in building strong bones and teeth.

Paneer is high protein diet having monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat which helps in lowering and managing the body weight.

My mom used to say paneer is essential in kid’s diet. It provides better nourishment to the growing age children. It boosts the immune system and thus prevents the risk of various diseases in children like cough, cold, bronchial asthma and etc. Its availability of good level of vitamins, minerals, calcium and phosphorus provides better and healthy nutrients for growth of bones and brain.

Its high value of B group vitamins, high protein level, omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants helps hair and skin gets healthy, glowing and rejuvenate.

Here’s a simple recipe,

Chilli Paneer (Dry)

Chilli Paneer is an Indo Chinese recipe. This recipe is frequently made in my kitchen. Paneer is deep fried in a batter of maida and corn flour. Here, I have shallow fried paneer dusted with corn flour. As the name suggests it also contains capsicum as another main ingredient.

This recipe is so easy to make and it’s not time consuming. If you have sauces ready you are done.

Let’s see how:

Ingredients:

• Paneer – 200 gms (cubed)
• Capsicum – 2 nos (cut into pieces)
• Onion – 1 nos ( cubed)
• Green chillies – 2 nos. (cut into long and thin slits)
• Garlic – 4 flakes (roughly crushed)
• Spring Onion green – 2 tsp (chopped)
• Soya Sauce – 2 tsp
• Chilli Sauce – 1 tsp
• Tomato Sauce – 2 tsp
• Lemon Juice – 1 tsp
• Black pepper powder – ½ tsp
• Corn flour – 4 tsp
• Salt – to taste

Method:

1. Dust the paneer cubes with corn flour. Shallow fry the paneer cubes for two minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pan. Add garlic and green chillies. Saute for a while and add cubed onions. Saute till little brown in color.
3. Add capsicum pieces and sauté on high flame for approx two minutes. Capsicum pieces should be tender and not soft.
4. Reduce the flame and add all the sauces and salt. Add black pepper.
5. Add fried paneer cubes. Saute till the mixture blends uniformly.
6. Close the flame. Drizzle lemon juice and garnish with spring onion green.
7. Serve hot!!

Chilli Paneer can be served as starter or as evening snack.

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Indian Steamed Dumplings – Muthiya

Muthiya is a famous snack which comes from Gujarathi cuisine. Few years back, before my marriage, my dad was posted in Baroda, Gujarat where my mom learnt this recipe. Muthiya is a super delicious and healthy recipe and this is the reason why everyone who eats it loves it. These are multigrain flour and doodhi mixed steamed dumpings.

There are three ways of making muthiya – steamed, microwaved and fried. Steamed muthiya or microwaved muthiya is definitely more healthy and stomach filling version. The muthiya is generally made with chickpea flour (besan) and doodhi. Doodhi (bottle gourd ) as you all know is a healthy but not so liked vegetable. So, apart from Ghiya ke Kofte and Ghiya ka Halwa, muthiyas is another recipe where nobody can guess that it contains bottle gourd as main ingredient.

To make it healthier, I used wheat flour, semolina, rice flour and maize flour. In Maharashtra and Gujarat you can find muthiya on many sweet and farsan shops.

Muthiya can be stored for two or three days and can be served in morning breakfast or evening snack with tea. It can also be served as side dish in main course.

Here we go with recipe:

Ingredients:

• Bottle Gourd (doodhi) – 1 cup (peeled and grated)
• Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
• Green Chilli – 3 nos. (finely chopped)
• Besan – ½ cup
• Semolina – ½ cup
• Rice Flour – ¼ cup
• Wheat Flour – ½ cup
• Maize Flour – ¼ cup
• Curd – 1 tsp
• Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp
• Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp
• Sugar – ½ tsp
• Oil – 1 tsp
• Salt – to taste

For Tempering:

• Oil
• Ajwain – ½ tsp
• Sesame seeds – 1tsp
• Coriander leaves – few chopped

Method:

1. Peel and grate doodhi. No need to squeeze the water from doodhi.
2. Add all the flours along with semolina.
3. Add green chilies and ginger garlic paste.
4. Add oil, sugar, cumin seeds and turmeric powder.
5. Add curd and salt.
6. Knead it into smooth and soft dough.
7. Apply some oil in your palms. Divide the dough into three equal portions and shape them into a cylindrical roll.
8. Steam the roll for approx fifteen to twenty minutes. You can insert knife after fifteen minutes and check. If it comes out clean it’s done, otherwise steam for another five minutes. Alternatively you can microwave the cylindrical rolls for eight to ten minutes.
9. Allow it to cool. Cut the rolls into circular slices.
10. Heat oil in a wok, add ajwain seeds and sesame seed. Add muthiya pieces. Saute for two minutes till you get little brown and crisp muthiya.
11. Garnish with chopped coriander.

Muthiya can be served with ketchup or with tamarind chutney with a cup of tea!! 🙂

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