Pish Pash revisited...in a Pressure Cooker

After my first attempt at cooking Pish Pash / Phish Phash during Lockdown, when time had stopped and the fortunate ones, still not struck by the deadly virus , had the time and leisure to  revisit nostalgia filled childhood,  I had kept making Pish Pash many a times. ... with mutton, chicken, veggies,  greens what not. 

But always in a pressure cooker, in the true blue one pot meal style...just in 3 whistles.

Ingredients 

Chicken...500gm

Gobindobhog rice...225-250gm

Onion...1 chopped 

Garlic grated 

Ginger grayed

Vegetables of choice cut in chunky pieces. I used carrots, potato, baby corn, cauliflower, peas.

Butter

Oil...I used Rice bran

Pepper corns

Pepper powder 

Salt to taste

Sugar...a pinch

Bay leaf/Tej Pata...2-3

Whole spices...Green cardamom, cinnamon, cloves

Chopped green chilies

Garlic powder.

Procedure.

1. Marinate chicken (on bones) with salt, pepper, garlic powder.

2. Wash the rice and drain the rice in a Callander.

3. In a pressure cooker, add a tbsp of oil and 1 tbsp butter. 

4. Throw in Tej Pata and whole spices and Pepper corns into the heated oil - butter mix.

5. Now add grated Garlic,  chopped onion, grated ginger and fry them quickly with a pinch of sugar and salt.

6.Add the chicken and toss them around to brown the chicken pieces slightly.

7. Now add the vegetables except peas. Toss them around to saute. Add pepper powder and salt to taste.

8. Now add the washed and dried rice. Gently toss the rice around to coat with the oil /butter.

9. Add three times the water. I used 1.25 cups of rice. I used 4 cups of water. To make the end product more runny or porridge like, you may add another one or two cups of water. Adjust the salt. Should be a bit more salty than your optimum requirement.  If no health concerns, may add a spoonful of butter. 

10. Cover the pressure cooker lid and fix the whistle.  Cook on medium to high heat for 3 whistles.

11. I boiled the peas separately to retain the colour. May be added into the cooker.

11. After naturally releasing the pressure, add the boiled peas. Stir the porridge like buttery, meaty concoction. Adjust the salt if necessary.

Serve with dollops of butter (as much as health permits) 😋. 

Malai Paneer.... Cottage cheese in a Milk Cream Gravy

An unplanned dish born out of laziness and leftovers.....a dish representing 'less is more'.

Suddenly remembered that paneer had to be cooked for dinner after cooking lunch items  while packing up the leftover chopped items like onion and tomato.

Was tired and lazy and was looking for shortcuts.

Used up the chopped onion & chopped tomatoes (1/2 each of medium sized onion and tomato).

Took note of the thick malai (milk cream) on the surface of the boiled and cooled milk , staring at me from the countertop :D 😋😉😉.

Ginger- Garlic paste is omnipresent in my fridge.

So here goes the simple malai paneer ....

Ingredients:

*Paneer 200 gms cut into small cubes 

* chopped onion - 1/2 medium sized onion

*chopped tomato - 1/2 medium sized tomato

*ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

*green chili - chopped 

*Pepper - 1 tsp

*Kashmiri Mirch powder- 1/2 tsp

*malai or fresh milk cream... 1 litre boiled milk yielded 1/2 bowl (150ml bowl) of malai (dudher shawr)

* kasuri Methi- 1 tbsp crushed 

* oil (used rice bran) - 1 tbsp 

Procedure:

1. Paneer to be cubed into size of choice.  Mine were <1 cm cubes.

2. In a kadhai, heat oil. Add the chopped onion, ginger garlic paste, chopped tomato, chopped green chili.  Fry on high heat till browned.

3. While frying above, add pepper powder, salt, Kashmiri red chili powder. 

4. Once the onion- tomato etc+ spice mix are well fried , pour the malai....keep stirring on medium to high heat to prevent burning. Add 1/2 bowl of warm water. 

5.Once the slurry starts bubbling, add the cubed paneer. Gently stir around in the gravy to coat the masala well.  Cover and bring to a boil on low to medium heat. 

6.Check the salt, sweetness and spice level. Adjust according to taste.

7. As a final garnish, crush kasuri Methi (dried Fenugreek leaves) between your palms and sprinkle on the bubbling paneer gravy. Swirl around to mix.

Serve with Roti,  Paratha, Jeera Rice. We had it with plain steamed rice.

Paneer with Posto (Poppy paste) and Capsicum

Had this delicious paneer dish at a cousin's place. Loved it.
She mentioned some ingredients she'd used, I guessed some she may have missed....the result was quite a refreshing tasting Paneer!

Ingredients:

Paneer – 500gm

Tej pata-2

Tomato chopped-1

Ginger paste -1 tbsp

Whole jeera

Whole Garam Masala

paste of 2 medium sized capsicum

paste of 2 tbsp posto

Dhone-jeera powder – ½ tsp each

Salt

Sugar

Green chili

Ghee at the end

Procedure:

1. Season the oil with Tej pata, Whole jeera, Whole garam masala, ginger paste/grated 

2. Add the tomato followed by Capsicum paste and let it cook till the oil separates.

3. Add the Posto/Poppy Paste followed by sugar, dhone - jeere paste.

4. Add the Paneer cubes and salt to taste 

5. Add some water...not too much...just a sprinkling

6. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes.

7. End it off with adding some slit green chilies and a liberal spoonful of ghee.

8. Eat it with steamed rice or roti.

PS: I'd added some diced potatoes which I'd sauted prior to adding to the gravy. Potato is totally optional....I added because I like potatoes with paneer 😉