Paneer

Ingredients

Milk: 1 litre

Lemon juice: ¼ cup

Water: 1 cup

 

Method

Boil milk in a thick bottomed pan and bring it to a boil. Mix lemon juice in one cup of water and add it to the boiling milk stirring the milk gently. The milk curdles and will start separating from the whey. Once the milk water looks pale green, remove from the heat and drain it using a strainer with muslin cloth. 

Wrap the muslin cloth and rinse well in cold water so that the lemon smell goes out from the paneer. Squeeze the cloth thoroughly to remove excess water. You can keep the wrapped paneer under a heavy object for about an hour, but this can remove all water and paneer can become little hard. 

After removing water from the paneer, take a pinch of it on your palm and rub with your finger for about 10 seconds and see if you are able to make a firm, but a smooth ball. After removing all the excess water, place the paneer on a dry clean surface and knead it well for 5-6 minutes. This helps to smoothen the paneer like soft dough. If the paneer is too crumbly, you can add half a tablespoon of water.This can be used to prepare sweets or any veg curries.

Banana Cake

Baking eggless cakes is really a challenge, as eggs add flavor and richness to a cake, besides being one of the main ingredients which helps for that fluffy structure of the cake. But a friend of mine whose hubby is allergic to eggs told me how to prepare eggless cakes. And I was excited as there was no compromise in the taste as well.

Ingredients
Wheat flour: 2 cups
Condensed milk: 200 gm
Ripe bananas: 3 (I use big variety as it is very easy to mash them)
Baking powder: 2 tsp
Baking soda: ½ tsp
Cocoa powder: 3 tsp
Sugar: 1 cup
Cashew nut: ½ cup (chopped in small pieces)
Oil: ½ cup
Salt: ½ tsp
Warm milk: ¼ cup

Method
Sift flour, soda, baking powder and cocoa powder two to three times. Mix sugar and oil well with a pinch of salt till the sugar starts melting and add it to the sifted flour. Mash bananas into smooth paste before adding condensed milk. Mix well and add it to the flour mixture. Add cashew nut pieces and stir well and check for the right consistency. Add little warm milk and blend well. Grease the bowl with oil or butter and dust it with little flour before pouring the cake mixture. Bake the mixture in microwave oven for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow the cake to cool and cut into pieces.