350th post celebrating with Palak Paneer easy recipe

This is my 350th post, is there any better food in the world that makes me happy and brings me to a  celebration mood other than Palak Paneer? the answer is no. Palak paneer or saag paneer is a very comforting food that everyone loves it. I always prepare this curry by pureeing the boiled spinach, but this time I made it in a qucik, easy and nutritious way. So, this is my yummy 350th post with easy, quick and healthy recipe of paneer saag (Palak/Spinach).

Ingredinets:

Spinach-washed and chopped fine-3cups

Tomato puree-1/2cup

Green chili-1

Onion-finely chopped-1/2cup

oil-1tbsp

cumin seeds-1/2tbsp

mustard seeds-1/2tbsp

Red chili-1

Cumin powder-1tbsp

coriander powder-1tbsp

garam masala-1/4tbsp (to taste)

Red chili powder-1/2tbsp (to taste)

Turmeric-pinch

salt to taste

Panner-100grms- chopped to large cubes

Method

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and allow them to splatter. Later add green chili, onion and cook them till they turn golden brown. Now add turmeric, garlic paste and cook till raw flavor of garlic goes away. Then add spinach and close the pan with a lid and cook under medium flame for 5min. Later add tomato puree, mix well and cook until raw flavor of tomato is gone and spinach is done. Add in the spice powders: cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala, red chili powder and mix well. Add salt and adjust to taste.  Finally add the paneer cubes and mix well. Cook for 2min and turnoff the stove and enjoy with naan or rice. I suggest having it with garlic naan, it tastes wonderful and it is always my favorite combination.

Let me take a moment to thank you for stopping by my blog and also appreciate you for becoming the part of a huge success behind my blog. Please keep visiting and do not forget to comment, I read all your comments and will get back to you as well. 

100% Vegetarian Custard Pie

Custard means a dessert made with milk, sugar and eggs. For the people who does not like having eggs, this recipe serves as a best alternative to make a custard pie without using any eggs. Few days back I had few of my best buddies visiting my house after a long time, one of them was a vegan and I tried my best to prepare the food devoid of dairy and non-veg and that is the reason why I made this vegetarian custard pie.

Speaking about veganism brought me to an interesting topic, here in USA my world is very small I can barely count the people on my fingers whom I can call as my friends. In this small world, I observed that many of them are converting to a vegan diet and it is very interesting to know the reason behind their conversion.They all watched either "Forks over Kinfe" or "Veducated" movie on a Netflix. I was pretty amazed to see that a movie could impact someone so much that they prepared to leave their most favorite non-veg food and practice veganism. I watched both movies and could imagine how the meat eaters would have felt when they saw it. I'm a vegetarian so, I did not regret much but my heart broke apart after seeing how animals are treated, when they are raised for meat or milk production. May be I too will switch to vegan soon!!!!

Ingredients:

Ready made Pie crust-1 (I bought this from Kroger, you can find it in the frozen section)
Custard powder-5tbsp (You can buy this in any Indian store, make sure it says 100% vegetarian)
Sugar-1cup
Fruits of your choice (I used Apple, Blueberry & Raspberry)
For Jam: I used frozen Raspberry, Blueberry and Blackberry in equal quantities

Method
Blind baking: Pre-heat oven to 475F. Take pie out of the cover and with the help of fork poke some holes on the crust (It prevents the pie from raising) .Cover it on the top with parchment paper, then add any dry beans on top and bake at 475 F for 20 min. If you do not wish to blind bake you can just bake it directly.

Jam: Heat a small pot and add hand full of your favorite frozen fruit to it and mix well, soon the mixture starts converting to a thick mixture add 1tbsp of sugar to it and turnoff the stove.

Custard preparation: Heat a thick bottom pot and add 2 cups of water, 1 cup sugar, 1/2tbsp orange zest, 1/4cup orange juice and mix well. Take 1/4 cup of  warm water and add 4tbsp of custard and mix well. Add this custard mixture to the boiling sugar mixture in the pot and mix well. When the mixture is thick enough turn off the stove and let the mixture to cool little bit.

Custard pie: Arrange thinly sliced apple pieces at the bottom of a baked pie and spread prepared jam on it. Then add custard mixture and allow it to cool completely. Decorate with your desired fruits and serve cold with whipped cream on top or sprinkle some confectioners sugar on top like me.

For me this is the best vegetarian custard that I ever tasted and my friends liked it a lot.

Tips: If you do not have any problem in having milk you can substitute milk for water during custard preparation.
for real custard recipe, blind bake the pie and mix 6 large eggs, 2cups of sugar and 1cup of milk in a pan and pour this mixture on a pie and bake it @ 475  F till it turns golden brown and enjoy!!!!

I hope you like my recipe! Please leave your valuable comments!!! :)