Lemon Rice with Paneer

Lemon Rice has always been one of my favourites since childhood. We had a live-in maid growing up and her name is 'Aleyamma'. She often made lemon rice. Though I never liked rice much, a heap full of lemon rice always brought a smile to my face and she made it sooo well. She was quite young so was more like a friend to us. She never hesitated making lemon rice for me whenever I asked as I was such a poor eater back then. I guess I always loved the tangy flavour of the rice and anything salted or tangy found its way in my good books back then.

Ever since I got married, my husband who has always followed all the Orthodox Christian lenten practices, had inspired me to follow the same. So that is 50 days of lent before Easter, 14 days in August before the Feast of Assumption of Our Blessed Virgin Mary, the 7 days before Mama Mary's birthday in September and the 24 days before Christmas.

I wanted to incorporate some protein in the Lemon Rice itself as I was not much in the mood for cooking. I had made some paneer which was in the freezer. So eureka moment I just thought of combining the two.

This is a super simple recipe so I recommend this for a lazy last day of the week or even a busy mid week meal.

You need:

• 2 cups of  Cooked long grain or Basmati Rice
• 1 cup of Paneer, cut into bite size or small cubes as preferred
• A sprig of  Curry leaves 
• 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
• 2 whole dried Kashmiri Red Chilies, hand torn into pieces ( I left it whole as my toddler is anti-spice eater)
• 1 tsp grated Ginger
• 1 clove of crushed Garlic (optional)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp Lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp Urad dal (split Black Lentils)
• 1 tsp Chana dal (split Bengal Gram)
• Salt to taste
• 1.5 tbsp Oil
• Mint leaves, minced (optional)
• Yoghurt (optional)

**(If you look at the minimal background carefully you can see my little one's angry birds' drinking glass! She was all ready to have her yellow rice. She loved it and her expressions reminded me of mine when I was as young as she was! Smiling from ear to ear ;-) )

The Make
Preparation time: 5 minutes | Cooking time: 15-20 minutes (includes rice cooking time) | Serves : 4 adults

1. In a flat non-stick pan, drizzle and heat some oil. Add the paneer pieces. Pinch and spread some salt over the paneer cubes. Fry until lightly browned on both side.
2. Heat the oil in a large wok or non-stick pan and splutter the mustard seeds.
3.. Next add the curry leaves, followed by the Urad dal, Chana dal and saute well for a minute on medium-low heat.
4. Next add the crushed garlic, ginger, red chilies and saute for a minute.
5. Add the turmeric powder and slowly fold in the rice, taking care not to mash the rice on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Continue tossing.
6. Add the prepared paneer cubes and fold in and leave on heat for a minute folding well.
7. Add the salt, lemon juice and fold occasionally for another minute on medium-low heat.

Serve hot with a cup of yoghurt with some mint leaves on top on the side.

Kadai Paneer - Cottage Cheese in a spiced gravy

Paneer is actually made of strained curdled milk. Dry curd Cottage Cheese is actually made of cultured milk and is often salted.

You can make Paneer from scratch at home and is usually made of split milk and is quite easy to make. All you would need is a liter of milk and half a cup of curd or buttermilk or even 1/2 cup of lemon. I have also heard of people use white vinegar.

Kadai refers to an Indian wok and Kadai Paneer refers to the way in which the Paneer is cooked with dry roasted spices.

This is a recipe of old and a rather simple one to make as well.


To make this simple recipe,

You need:

• 500 gms of Paneer (Cottage Cheese), cut into 1" cubes
• 1 large onion, diced finely
• 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
• 2-3 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
• 2 green chilies, diced finely
• 1 tbsp Butter or oil Oil (you can add more if you wish)
• 1 crushed bay leaf 
• 2 tbsp Homemade Garam Masala (Homemade Indian spice powder)
• 1 tbsp of coriander powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp of Kashmiri Red Chili Powder
• 3-4 medium tomatoes, diced finely
• 1-11/2 cups of drinking water
• Salt to taste
• 1 sprig coriander leaves, diced finely or florets used to garnish

The Make:

Preparation Time: 5 minutes | Cooking Time: 15 minutes | Serves 4 adults

1. Heat the oil/butter a non-stick pan and add the cumin seeds. Toss for a few seconds.

2. Add the onions and saute till golden brown. Toss in bay leaves and green chilies and saute for a minute.

3. Next add the ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.

4. Add the tomatoes, chili powder, garam masala(homemade is best), coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt and cover and cook for a minute.

5. Add 1-11/2 cup water  depending on how much gravy you need. Then add the paneer cubes, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

6. Garnish with coriander leaves. 

Serve hot with rotis, pulav or flatbread or rice of your choice.

Bon Appetit!

Cottage Cheese with Green Peas (Paneer Matar) - Hubby's Special!!

One night, on returning from work, Anup returned with groceries (though I clearly remembered I didn't ask for anything we needed) and announced that he decided to make us dinner. Of course we weren't told what it was until he wanted to know where I had stowed away some of the ground spices.

Paneer Matar

You need:

• 500 gms cottage cheese (paneer), cut in cubes
• 2 medium sized tomatoes, diced
• 150 gms green peas, pre-cooked
• 11/4 tbsp Garam Masala
• 1/2 tbsp Red Chili powder
• 2 green chilis, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin (jeera) seeds
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• Salt to taste
• 1 sprig Coriander leaves, chopped (optional) 

The Make:
Serves 4 adults | Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 20-25 minutes

1. Heat the oil a non-stick, deep-bottomed skillet. Add the cumin seeds and allow to lightly brown.

2. Saute the onions and when translucent, add the ginger-garlic paste.Allow to cook for a minute.

3. Next add in the green chilis and saute for half a minute.

4. Next, stir in the tomatoes and spices. Cover and cook for a minute.

5. Add the cottage cheese cubes and saute well, making sure not to break the cheese.

6. Next add in the cooked peas and cover for about 5 minutes.

All ingredients added in

7. Add the salt and top with coriander leaves.

Paneer Matar ready to be served

8. Serve hot with roti, naan, chapati or any other flatbread

Paneer Matar with Roti

Needless to stay we were pampered that night with a delicious dinner enjoyed both by our toddler and me. Special note to Bachelors: This is a very easy make and a must try! Bon Appetit!