Vegetable Fried Rice with leftover rice -- By Little Sis

Vegetable Fried Rice | Stir Fried Rice with Vegetables and Egg

Left over rice is stir fried with vegetables and eggs in this easiest one pot-meal to make a delicious fried rice

This Veg fried rice was a staple in our home with left over rice. I don't know how my Mother made the exact amount of rice for each meal but there were some of those rare days when she overestimated or we ate less and there was left over rice. Usually she would eat the left over rice herself the next day and serve us freshly cooked rice, a practice I vehemently protested against.

But then on some days when she had excess left over rice, she stir fried it with eggs and vegetables like carrots and peas to pack a fried rice for school lunch. How I loved that stir fried rice. I think it was one of the best school lunches in my childhood memory.

During this Quarantine, LS, the 11-year old has developed a sudden interest in cooking. It is usually her sister, the 16 year old who is the cook if me or the Dad are MIA and LS is the sous chef helping with chopping vegetables. She is a good vegetable chopper and often chops vegetables for me too.

But in the last few weeks, it is LS who has taken over lunch duties. Her online classes get over earlier than her sister's and so she keeps asking me if she can make lunch. She started with baking, then mac and cheese and today she made this fried rice with the leftover rice that we had. I took a video of her cooking to remember these precious memories.

It was delicious and though she made it for only the two of them, I couldn't stop eating. It is really a very quick, one-pot meal to make if you have leftover rice ready.

Nandini's Nolen Gur er Ice Cream -- No Ice Cream Maker needed

Over the weekend, we had some deep discussion with friends, who are trying to learn the intricacies of Vedanta.
They shared pearls of wisdom like

"we have to accept that we have no control over our or anyone else's destiny"

"that we need to identify with our atman as we ourselves are Brahman"

Needless to say, I did not understand any of it. I mean I do understand but I cannot really internalize yet. For that, I need to meditate, my friends told me.

And then we watched the Russia-Croatia match. Since the teams I was supporting with all my atman had already bid adieu from the World Cup, I had nothing at stake in this particular match. Even when the winner was to be decided by penalty shots, I kept calm, which is very unusual of me. I get riled by penalty shots and at the Russia-Spain penalty shoot out, I was literally hyperventilating. In contrast, during the Russia-Croatia penalty shoot outs, I was far more relaxed and gently rooting for Croatia. It helped me enjoy the game better as I had little expectation.

And that is when my friend said, that I should watch life like a "Russia-Croatia" match instead of "Belgium-Brazil" match. I should detach myself from the process, accept whatever is to happen and merely hover over life without having too much at stake.

This I kind of understood-- at least soon after the match. To detach myself from the process, not expect anything and go with the flow of life. I can strive to do the best but I have no control on the results

Nandini making Nolen Gurer Ice Cream

Like say, my friend Nandini. I have written about my friend Nandini, many times in this blog and also in my book. I guess I have never mentioned her by her name and always referred to her as N, but she has been omnipresent throughout the blog.

School Lunch Box -- What to pack for school lunch?

After two whole months of lazy summer, schools open up this week. Right after depressing stuff like setting the alarm clock to 5:30 in the morning, what looms large in my mind is "What to pack for school lunch?".

This year, I have a high schooler who has a strong dislike for lunches at the school cafeteria and prefers lunch from home. And then I have an elementary school goer who scans her school lunch menu to pick the days when the school will serve Mac & Cheese or a Pizza. While the first one eats her veggies and likes more of the pasta dishes, the second one loves fruits and prefers a ham sandwich. The first one will finish her lunch, while it is on a rare day that the second one will bring home a clean lunch thermos.

As you must know by now, I am not the Mom, who makes pretty bento boxes or egg faces for school lunches. I admire those lunches and look at them longingly on instagram but sadly that is not me. I also make sure that my kids never get to see those glorious lunch boxes on social media ;-)
The lunch boxes I pack have to be done the night before, packed quick in the morning, and not make me shed any of my remaining my gray hair!!!

Easy, Quick, Kind of Healthy-- those are the key words that describe our school lunch boxes.

Thinking of all the possible lunch options that my kids love, I decided to curate the lunch box recipes from my blog and present it in one post. Since both my girls have a hurried, small breakfast in the morning, they get hungry by lunchtime and want something "interesting"! I have tried to break down the lunches we pack in 4 broad categories.

1. Pulaos and Noodles
2. Pasta
3. Crepes, rolls and Quesadillas
4. Sandwich

Click on the Recipe Titles to get the recipe

I am hoping to have one more similar post soon as this list is not complete. Until then this will help me and you both. And then in-between there is always Costco raviolis to tide us over.

No-Bake No-Gelatin Super Easy Mango Pie

June has been an extremely busy month. End of school year means the school tries to fit in hundreds of stuff in there. Add to that fabulous warm weather which means lot of outdoor times. This June was extra special as Big Sis is going to high school and 8th grade graduation is a big deal in our school district. The graduating 8th grade class do not all move to the same high school but depending on their interests and performance get scattered among different high schools in the district. So while our parents probably never noticed our transition from 8th grade to 9th, here we had umpteen ceremonies to celebrate the graduation class. The school had a semi-formal 8th grade dance, a picnic by the pool, award days and then the graduation with gowns, caps and whole nine-yards. Not to forget the orientation for the new school and the placements.
Pheww, it was one thing after another, where it is kind of drilled into you the importance of high school!

When we could barely breathe and school had just shuts its doors, little Sis had her Bharatnatyam dance recital. That thing had me stressed more than high school; what with all the makeup, costume and hair do. Thankfully a dear friend came to the rescue(as usual) and took care of all the makeup and hair. Little Sis did the rest -- practicing and doing perfect dance routines. I did nothing. Wait, actually I did. I stressed!!!

I am so glad it all is done. At this point I am just trying to relax and not think what September will bring.

Meanwhile Big Sis has also been keeping up with her culinary endeavors. here is a super delicious recipe of Mango Pie that she learned from our neighbor. It is no-bake. It is no-gas top. It is no-gelatin. And the best thing that we have had with mangoes. This has been vouched by many people other than me so if you don't believe me, believe in the universe.

A slice of this cool mango pie on a summer day is better than any ice cream for sure.

What You Need

Two graham cracker pie crust -- store bought

One can of sweetened condensed milk -- Nestle carnation 14oz can

Same amount of mango puree as condensed milk -- Deep Mango Pulp from a can

Equal amount of greek yogurt as condensed milk and mango puree -- Fage greek yogurt

How I Did It

Blend the condensed milk, mango puree, and Greek yogurt until a smooth consistency

Pour into pie crust and freeze (put in freezer section) overnight. It is a good idea to cover it with a cling-wrap to prevent ice crystals from forming on the surface. But it is okay, even if you don't

Take out 6-8 minutes before serving. It will soften a little. Top with whipped cream for an extra taste

Serve cold

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Pretzels with Hershey Kiss and Five Snack Ideas For a Party

Last weekend some of Big Sis's friends came home for a late birthday celebration. And by late I mean months late. I wasn't sure if I was equipped to handle a bunch of tweens in my home and so was putting this thing off and trying to scout outside locations, which isn't as easy as it sounds when fifteen twelve year old girls are the focus group.

I knew quiet a few of the friends who were supposed to come and they are all excellent girls but I didn't have confidence in myself. I mean, you see I am vertically challenged and most of these seventh graders are taller than me, and I think that if a situation turns to chaos no one might listen to me! Yeah, I am weird like that.

However BS assured me that it would be fine at home and so finally a Saturday evening was blocked off for them. I asked around for suggestions in a Mom's group and came up with some neat craft ideas. Seriously pretty neat.

One of which both Big Sis and I loved was chalkboard decorations. So off we went to the craft stores and got chalkboard for each girl. We also got colored chalk, decorating tapes, jewels and stickers to decorate the chalkboards.

Given that Big Sis loves nail paint, a bunch of nail polish and nail art pens were also bought for a session of nail art. Not to be left behind, Little Sis shared party games from her class parties and created a Hot Potato kind of game for her sister's friends.

We also decided on a brownie decorating competition with two teams and in preparation baked two exactly same chocolate brownies on Friday night.

By Saturday morning, I was all pumped up. More than Big Sis in fact. The husband-man didn't want to play any part in this whole thing except ordering and picking up pizza. The only other person as excited as me was LS! She and Big Sis set up the activity area and the games while I concentrated on the food.

Big Sis had suggested that we serve more of appetizers and keep the main as Pizza and pasta which everyone likes. Since some of her friends don't eat meat, the appetizers were to be vegetarian only. We whittled down the appetizer list to

Mozzarella Sticks -- store bought,
Nachos -- with black beans, corn, cheese, salsa and sour cream,
Papri chaat,
Mini Cupcakes,
Pretzels with Hershey kisses
Popcorn(if needed)


The girls had a great time from the look of it. The chalkboards were super amazing and the brownie decoration literally took the cake. One team did the YouTube logo while the other the Instagram logo. The teams put their heart into it and with the limited supplies I had offered, pulled off really cool stuff. I would love to host them again soon as I found it is easy to make these kids happy. It involves  minimal work on my part and I can even spend time watching television in my own room while they do their own thing. Yeah, that is a big motivation indeed!

The pretzels with Hershey kisses are literally two-minute affair made by Big Sis and were a big party hit. All you do is this:

Buy a bag of mini pretzels, the twisted kind or the square ones

Buy a bag of Hershey Milk chocolate kisses

Buy a bag of colorful M&M

Place the pretzels on a cookie sheet. Unwrap a Hershey kiss and place at the center of each pretzel.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put the pretzel tray in the oven. within 1-2 minutes the kisses will soften. If you keep it any longer the chocolate hardens. Yep, I have learned it the hard way.

Take out within 2 minutes. Gently place a M&M on the tip of the Hershey kiss and press down softly.

Chill in refrigerator. Serve when it hardens,

While prepping for the party and asking around for appetizers, I had a brainwave. Zap! Okay nothing great but just that I searched up my own blog and dug up five snacks that are easy to make and make great appetizers for any party. With Super Bowl on Sunday, pick any of these and have a blast watching the ads.


1. Stuffed Mushroom

2. Vegetable Tikkis

3. Tartlets
These are great to make for parties. You can try various different fillings for these Tartlets.

4. Keema Balls
You can do these balls with less spices as in this recipe or for a meatballs with more kick try this one.

5. Nachos

Now I do not have a picture of this but we make it often and it is a huge favorite. No wonder I don't have a picture of it. I cook the ground chicken like this recipe from my blog and then I follow Pioneer Woman's Loaded Nachos recipe very closely for the rest of the steps. And we use Trader Joe's Taco seasoning. This one is a ROCKSTAR.

6. Cajun Spiced Shrimp

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Keema Quesadillas and School Lunch Box -- Week # 3

It is week #4 of packing lunch but I am posting Lunch for Week #3. And I can feel the weariness in my bones. Some days I feel like just giving it all up and let the kids eat cafeteria food. And trust me, I would have done it if they would agree to eat food at the cafeteria every day.

Last year, Little Sis was very excited to buy her lunch at the school cafeteria. I wasn't ready. But after much persuasion I gave in and signed her up, putting money in her lunch account. LS's excitement was palpable and you would think she was going to eat at a Zagat rated restaurant instead of the school cafeteria. She scanned the menu for hours and picked a day when she thought that the lunch would be to her liking. The school lunch menu has a pretty balanced offering although I have never seen the school lunch with my own eyes and would really want to see if the lofty menu translates to a healthy meal in reality. I mean what if they are saying Whole wheat Mac and cheese on paper and are actually opening up a box of Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese. None of my kids' schools allow parents in the cafeteria during lunch so I guess I will never know.

So anyway slowly I found LS's interest in cafeteria food had started waning. She didn't scan the school menu with as much zeal as before. I realized she likes the independence of picking her own lunch at the school cafeteria but the food not so much. Ah well!

Big Sis's middle school has a really good cafeteria from what I hear. However BigSis is not much of a meat eater and does not like cold-cut sandwiches or tuna sandwiches or egg salad sandwiches or burgers. So her choice at the cafeteria becomes very limited. Most of her friends pack a big lunch from home too and so she prefers lunch from home to eating at the school cafeteria.

A home-cooked lunch is not that difficult with little planning of course.The fact that there is a fall back option of the cafeteria does bring some peace too.

This was a 4-day week and I had to do only a 3 day lunch plan. Some of the stuff that I packed for the kids this week, also doubles up as dinner. What did you pack in your kid's school lunch box ?

Quesadillas with Chicken Keema-Black Beans-Bell Pepper


This is a great and easy dish to make with ground chicken and Taco Seasoning. A big bowl of Keema/Black Bean can be made ahead and used during the week any which way.
You can send 
Keema with white rice on Day 1,
Keema with with pasta on Day 2 and
of course make Quesadillas finally

Here is how I do it.

Heat Olive oil in a frying pan.

Add about half of an onion finely chopped.

When the onion is soft, add 1 green bell pepper chopped in pieces and 1 yellow or red bell pepper chopped in pieces. I usually chop in small pieces as I will stuff this keema in the quesadilla

Throw in 2 clove of garlic finely minced

Saute until the peppers are soft

Now add 1 tomato chopped or half a can of chopped tomatoes

Add a good amount of taco seasoning and fry the tomatoes for few minutes. I use Trader Joe's Taco seasoning which is amazingly good. If you don't have taco seasoning, a mix of cumin powder and garam masala powder should do the trick.

Add the keema(1 lb) to above. Stir to break any lumps and cook till the meat is not raw. The ground meat will release some water and you have to keep stirring till the water has totally dried up.

Add salt and add a can of drained black beans(7 oz can). Drain the black beans and then add.

Fry for a few more minutes. Add some more taco seasoning if you wish. The resulting dish has to be dry with no gravy so make sure that it is moist but dry.

Once the keema is cooked and you are happy with the way it tastes, you can either eat it or make these quesadillas for lunch.

To make the Quesadillas use Flour Tortillas or home made rotis.

First toast/warm the already cooked roti or Tortialla.
Put a cooked roti/tortilla on a Tawa or griddle. Cook both sides until warm and keep aside. Do same with the second Roti/Tortilla.

Now place the warm roti/tortilla on the tawa and put the keema on the open face of the tortilla. Sprinkle shredded cheese on it. At low heat, place the other tortilla/roti on this one and press gently until the cheese melts. Carefully flip it all together and cook the other side for couple of seconds.

 Let it cool a little and then cut in halves or quarters.

Next morning, warm and wrap in aluminum foil for lunch


Pasta with Home Made Marinara sauce

Need To Buy -- Whole Wheat Pasta, Garlic, Tomatoes, Olive Oil

Oven roasted Tomato Soup with Bread -- This is a great soup for anytime. I make it a little spicy but my kids like it that way. I add peppers to roast along with tomatoes for this soup if I have them. You can make a big batch of this and it will be good for two meals.

Need to Buy -- Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers(optional), Organic Vegetable Stock(optional), Red Chili Pepper, Olive Oil, Garlic, Milk


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Sweet- Savory Crepes and School Lunch Box Week 2

Savory Crepes is what my mother called Dim er Parota. I mean she didn't know what savory crepe was. She just made Dim er Parota and it was fantastic.

Once I knew what crepe was I started making the savory version like my Mother with onion and green chilies in the batter or the version without them which could be slathered with something sweet like Nutella.

It all starts with one single batter.

In one wide mouthed bowl put

1 Cup of Maida/AP Flour
3/4th Cup of Milk
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of water
1 tsp of Oil

Make a smooth batter.

Now if you want savory crepes to the above batter add
finely chopped onions(quarter of an onion)
finely chopped green chillies(1 tbsp)

For sweet crepes skip the onion and chili. Add a little sugar to the batter and maybe a few drops of vanilla.

Now put a non-stick tawa or griddle on the stove. Grease it lightly. You can just rub it with a stick of butter or use few drops of oil.

Pour 1/4th cup of batter in the center of the pan and then swirl it around to make a round. This step is similar to that of a pancake or utthapam.

Cook for a minute or until you see the edges turning golden curling up. By now it should be easy to slid a spatula under it.

Flip and cook the other side for 1 more minute. You will see a few brown spots on the surface.

Gently take it out on a plate and continue with the next.

For savory crepes you can add a stuffing at the center and then fold the crepe around it

1. A green pea stuffing like the Koraishuti Kochuri stuffing is great.

2. Usually I make a potato stuffing with boiled potatoes coarsely mashed and sauteed with some onion in olive oil

For sweet crepes, slather the inside with nutella and roll the crepe.

Organic Spinach and Cheese Ravioli from Costco -- This is a big favorite with both my girls and it indeed tastes very good. I cook it according to package directions. Then heat some olive oil in a pan. Add the marinara sauce. Gently add the cooked ravioli in a single layer. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the raviolis are lightly golden on both sides. Next day heat and pack in a thermos.
Need To Buy -- Organic Ravioli from Costco

Lemon Rice -- Big Sis loves lemon rice so much that she could live on it. I have a very simple version of it where I put cooked rice in a bowl. Then I heat little oil+ghee in a small kadhai. Temper the oil with curry leaves, green chilli and mustard seeds. I also add a pinch of turmeric powder to this. I then add this oil+ghee to the rice. I also add lime/lemon juice, salt and sugar to taste, Mix it well. I add fried peanuts if the kids want it
Need to Buy -- Rice, Curry Leaves, Lime/Lemon/Lime Juice, Peanuts



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School Lunch Box -- Week 1

So, the holidays are over and we are all back to routine tomorrow. January and February are the coldest months here and with all the glitz and the glamour of festivals that start from October being over, the start of the year looks kind of bleak. A new project, new resolutions seems to be necessary to push through these two months until Spring arrives and we can dump the resolutions and go back to having fun.

The last few weeks have particularly been a whirlwind with me. I went on my first solo trip to India for a cousin's wedding and though it was only for a week (or 9 days as Little Sis will correct me), there was a lot of guilt and emotions tied to traveling sans the kids. I thought someone would be miserable (me or them) but it turned out to be good though. The girls managed fine with their Dad and friends while I had a great time at the wedding with my parents. I was back just before Christmas to wrap gifts to put under the tree and welcome friends over for the Christmas break. Mostly the husband-man did the cooking but I did make a date-apple cake, chicken roast and butternut squash soup for the Christmas dinner. This was followed by Dilwale, night long adda and more friends.

Then there was the New Year's eve party at my friend's place with great company. New Year's Day was welcomed with Koraishutir Kochuri, Aloor Tarkari and another friend. The finale to the holidays was watching Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. Mesmerizing show and the experience will help us survive school tomorrow.

There has been a lot of binge eating the last couple of months and we are trying to get back to more simple homecooked meals. There is nothing that keeps you fit like a home made meal even if it is nothing but plain dal-rice. Dal and rice is not a favored option when packed for school lunch though so we have to get creative there.

 I will try to post the Weekly school lunch box menu here with recipes for reference. You need to know some thing about them:

• These can double up as dinner the night before or the same day. 
• Since I am not great at rolling parathas or rotis, you won't be seeing much of those here. 
• The lunch that I pack are all made the night before and warmed and packed in the morning.
• Also one day a week, the girls get to pick school lunch and that depends on the menu provided by the school.
• Finally, take this as a base and create your own depending on what dishes are preferred at your home.

Be creative. And have a meal cooked at Home. It is not that difficult.

Homemade Marinara Sauce and Pasta -- Make marinara sauce according to the recipe. Then follow the pasta recipe in the same post.  To make pasta with Broccoli, boil the broccoli florets separately and add the broccoli instead of the vegetables suggested in that recipe.The marinara sauce stays and can be used for another pasta dish the same week.
Add sausage or meatballs.
Need to Buy -- Organic Canned Tomatoes(Costco has good ones). Good Quality Roma Tomatoes.Basil. Garlic. Olive Oil. Whole Wheat Pasta. Broccoli.

Quinoa Pulao -- I love Quinoa and though it is not a coveted lunch box item with my kids I do pack it once in a while. Big Sis will eat the pulao made according  to this recipe though she is not a fan. Little Sis might not eat it and she will get a regular pulao instead.
Add eggs or sausage or meatballs or paneer.
Need to Buy -- Quinoa, Vegetables like carrot/cauliflower/green beans or a pack of frozen vegetables. You can be creative with the spices but some Garam Masala or Biryani Masala is a great addition.

Pasta with Roasted peppers and Ricotta -- Don't get hung on the ricotta for this one. If you have ricotta great. Otherwise just use roasted red peppers and spinach and follow recipe for pasta with Marinara. You already have the marinara sauce so why not?
Need to Buy -- Olive Oil, Whole Wheat Pasta(Penne or Farfalle), Red and Yellow peppers, Ricotta cheese

Frittata with Vegetables -- This can be made with any vegetable on hand and is super easy to make. I will make it the night before, and then warm and pack the next morning. If you have a thermos lunch box, you can cut in squares and put it in the thermos.
Need to Buy -- Eggs

Snacks 
1. This is a good season to eat Clementines. I love the cute tiny clementines from Halos and two of those make a great snack.
2. Apple slices stay good with a squeeze of lime juice and will not develop brown spots. They also area a good snack with or without nutella
3. Annie's Bunny Graham crackers from Costco are for snack this month so a pack of that will be added off and on.
4. Grapes and Cheese is another favorite snack which both my girls would prefer to have after school. Pepper Jack, Gouda or Manchiago are loved at our home.


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Home made Marinara Sauce and a Pasta with Peppers and Greens

My relation with Pasta is not something that goes back to my grandmother's or even my Mother's kitchen. My grandmother had no idea about it and my Mother didn't care about it.

It wasn't a food that we even craved for. As a middle class Bengali, way back in the 90's, I don't think we had much idea about Italy beyond Roberto Baggio,Salvatore Schillaci, Michelangelo and Pope John Paul 2, in that order. We weren't bothered about what Italians ate.

Though Pizza had found its way in middle class Indian homes in the early nineties and was described as a kind of "ruti" with ketchup and Amul cheese on it, it was embraced as a food which the rich Americans with poor eating habits, survived on. Very few of us deemed it as food from Italian kitchen. In those days, Domino's and Pizza Hut were not familiar names and Mongini's was where we got our pizza from. Mini round thick crusts with onion, pepper and cheese on them. I think they also sold pizza bases there which I remember getting a few times.

My Mother had this round electric oven, shaped like an UFO. It had a glass porthole at the top of the aluminum lid and couple of times a year, she used this contraption to bake a cake. On all other days it rested on the top of our Godrej almirah, wrapped in sheaths of plastic. I remember the few times that I made pizza in that oven. Squirting ketchup on the pizza base, shredding Amul cheese on it and then watching the cheese melt through the porthole, I am sure I felt like a pioneer ushering in a new cuisine at our modest dining table.

But did we ever try eating or cooking Pasta ? Nope. Never.

Until that is I started working in Bangalore in the late nineties and had a first taste of Casa Picola's delicious Pasta. I have no idea what kind it was but was in a creamy white sauce which was so subtle that it just tickled your senses without over powering it.It had capers and olives and was utterly delicious. That is what I thought was Pasta and loved it.

And then we came to the US. My first encounter with Pasta here was a disaster. At one of those "American-Italian" restaurants that are so popular here, I was served a plate of squiggly spaghetti drowned in a scarlet red colored marinara sauce, which was so bad that I sweared to stay off Pasta all my life. I never really tried eating or cooking pasta there after, except at a Bengali friend's home, who made elbow macaroni with onion, eggs, vegetables and soy sauce, in a similar manner that we make stir-fried noodles. It was so good and for a long time that was the only kind of Pasta I would eat.

But after Big Sis was born and started going to pre-school, pasta re-entered our home. It seemed like a lunch which a 3 year old could easily eat by herself at school. Even as I tried to come to terms with the wonder of pasta, elbow shaped Macaroni or "Macu" climbed the charts in Big Sis's favorite foods list.

Spaghetti with Broccoli,Sausage and Burnt Garlic

So we are back from our vacation and I am feeling very depressed. This happens to me every summer. I look forward to it with so much eagerness and then BOOM past June 21st I am all anxious and feeling melancholy that the days will start to shorten and soon there will be chilly winter winds blowing. I try to chide my mind and focus on living in the moment but then when I am not being mindful, the melancholy creeps right back in.

Given that the major vacation is done with and there is no family visiting us from India this year, I am trying to scout for things that we can do for the next two months of holiday. Things other than laze around of course. Focusing on happy summery thoughts.

Like, that my coriander is growing.

And the basil I started from seeds is finally ready with tender basil leaves.

And that after "Inside Out"( love, love, love) and "Jurassic World", there is "Minions" to watch!

So anyway, the fact of the matter is that we have been back only a couple of days and have done the laundry! Score point 1. Before leaving, I had frozen a Dal and Chicken curry so that we could defrost and eat those, while going through holiday trip hangover. Also I have really good friends and one of them had supplied us with enough soul food(read musurir dal and posto) on our return. Therefore I didn't have to cook much in the last couple of days.

The only thing I made for lunch today is a Pasta. My daughters somehow never tired of pasta. Almost living on it for ten days they are still glad to have more. I am happy with it too as it is a easy one pot meal that satisfies everyone.

Today I made a Spaghetti with Broccoli and then flavored with burnt garlic.That simple. The trick to this Broccoli pasta is to stir the broccoli florets vigorously until it totally crumbles into tiny tiny green specks and then just hides somewhere in the pasta infusing it with its flavor. And ahem, I also added some andouille sausage.

Here is how you do it.

I used Spaghetti but you can also do the same with elbow or Farfalle. I feel penne requires more sauce and this is too light for penne.

We will be adding some Andouille sausage for the non-veg version and if you are using that take it out to defrost. 

Cook pasta according to package directions. After cooking the pasta and draining the water, I give the pasta a quick rinse in cold water and then toss it in olive oil.

Chop a medium sized head of Broccoli into florets. Chop some of the stem too. No need to chop the florets very small as you will be steaming it.

Now steam the Broccoli with a pinch of salt. I just put them in a pan of boiling water and cook until they are really tender. Like soft tender.

Mince about 4 cloves of garlic.

Heat some olive oil in a pan which is big enough to toss the pasta. Add the sausage cut up in pieces and saute until sausage pieces are lightly browned. Remove and keep aside

Add the minced garlic to the oil and when you get the garlic flavor then follow with the steamed broccoli florets. Saute the broccoli until it crumbles into tiny pieces. Sprinkle salt as needed, remember the pasta was boiled with salt and you will be adding cheese and sausage later which will have some amount of salt. Now add the spaghetti and toss so that the broccoli is mixed with the pasta.

Sprinkle parmesan generously and then pour the pasta in a serving dish. Add the sausage to the pasta and toss.

Now heat some more olive oil in the same pan

Add 1 fat clove of garlic chopped in thin slices to the hot oil and quickly toss it around until the garlic starts to brown.

Pour this garlic oil and garlic on the spaghetti

Garnish with some fresh basil and serve




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Pasta with Spinach Pesto -- author's day at School

Yesterday was Author's Day at Little Sis's school. At first I thought it would be one of those days when an author comes to school to read his/her books. Turned out it was a day to celebrate all the little authors in LS's first grade class.

The class had a writer's workshop program in first grade where the little guys had learned all about the writing process from mind map,to story web, first drafts, edits and even illustrating a story. Honestly they knew much more about the formal process of writing than I ever did. The teacher also took great pains to publish their story with a proper cover, index and even a dedication page! In addition to this the kids also did journal entries throughout the year. The journals were free writing where the teacher let the kids write anything and everything without any edits. As she said, she knew stuff about us we couldn't even imagine via the journals. To celebrate all the little authors' work, the parents were invited to join in last Tuesday morning and I am so glad I went.

It was such a fun morning hearing about the stories that the kids wrote. I was also very impressed with the teacher who made the whole thing more interesting for the kids, by giving each child an award for their book declaring it to be best in the genre she thought fit. So there were best crime fiction, best magic story, best once-upon-a-time tales and best historical fiction. All the kids had written such interesting books that I really wanted to read all of them. LS had written three books, one of which was about two kids who go to a museum and then get on a time machine to go back to the time of dinosaurs. I am sure she wrote it as an adventure tale but the teacher declared it to be the "best historical fiction". LS was elated with this accolade and is now very proud of her "historical fiction"!

Some kids also read from their journal entries and LS read a piece she wrote about "the rickshaw". On our India trip last year, she would pester my Dad to take her on a rickshaw ride almost every day and looks like that was the best thing about our India trip for her. No prizes for guessing why. She had written that the rickshaw was like a car without a door or windows and the thing she liked most about the rickshaw was that it didn't have a seat belt. She did not get on the kind of rickshaws shown in the pic though, she was on the ones that are pedaled like a bike.

I recorded most of the author's day event and I know I will be watching the recording with much fondness for years to come. It was really an extremely sweet morning where every kid got a chance to be proud of whatever they wrote.

Now to this spinach pesto Pasta which I have been making lately as my basil plant is still very very tiny and I have run out of my store bought basil pesto. I usually buy a big box of organic baby spinach from Costco. I saute them in Olive oil and add it to Pasta but last week I decided to make a spinach sauce instead. It is a bit different from the usual spinach pesto recipes.This is how you do it.

Cook Pasta according to package directions. Drain the Pasta. After draining the pasta I drizzle some olive oil on the Pasta so that they don't get sticky.

Now heat some olive oil in a pot big enough where you can also toss the pasta later.

Add about 2 tsp of minces garlic

When the garlic sizzles, add about 1 or 1&1/2 cup of baby spinach. I used baby spinach but you can use regular chopped spinach

Saute until the spinach wilts.

Cool and make a smooth paste with
spinach+garlic
2 tbsp of blanched almond(I didn't have pine nuts but you are welcome to use what you have)
generous olive oil
salt to taste
Note: You can add some black pepper to kick up the taste but i didn't as LS wouldn't eat it.

After the paste is made I also add a little milk to it to make it more creamy.

Now in the same pot add some more olive oil and warm.

Add the spinach pesto that you made and saute for a minute

Add the pasta and toss.

Add a generous amount of grated Parmesan cheese. This is very important and gives an awesome creamy taste.

Toss everything and adjust for salt. Serve. It is yum.



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Savory Puff Tartlets for snack -- on Spring break

I don't think I have ever written here about the trips, travels or vacations we take as a family. I don't fancy myself as a travelogue writer. I am never going to be in that high echelon. I haven't even read any travelogues in the recent years. If you have, can you recommend some?

Most of our vacations these days are planned around what people are saying on TripAdvisor. The times when the husband-man and me would pore over the Rand McNally to chalk the routes on a road trip and flip through AAA travel guides to narrow down on hotels and restaurants seems like from another era. Then there was surprise and an aura of adventure at every bend. Now we set out with a fair idea about what to expect. Down to the color of the carpet at the hotel.

These days the TripAdvisor is my travelogue fix where I can hear real people wax eloquent about a hotel's bed or grumble about lack of bacon at Quality Inn's promised breakfast. I love hanging around there and narrowing down my choices. Even if I don't have a choice, I sometimes hang around there, planning vacations I will never take. So anyway all this hanging around results in some sort of planning, and I felt it would help someone or even me in future, if I write a bit about our trips and vacations.

Now, I have forgotten most of the details that went into planning our former trips and so I will start off with our most recent trip down to Virginia and then Outer Banks, North Carolina. This trip however needed no planning. We were visiting friends who lived near Virginia Beach and then going to Outer Banks with them. They knew the area well and so I didn't have much to do really except RELAX.

Quick and Healthy Butter Chicken -- faux but easy

I have been planning to write about Fall, about Fall in New Hampshire, about Halloween but it seems I am seriously lagging. I will write about all of that when I get a little time but today let me do this post, only because this very easy and quick butter chicken is an absolute favorite with my daughters. Well, they actually like this Butter Paneer more but since this one has a similar gravy, they nod their head in unison and agree to put it on their favorite list.

Now, I have said many times about Big Sis's aversion to eat chicken. Lately I have realized that her aversion is not because she is concerned about animal welfare neither because of any high moral grounds(don't ask me). She will eat chicken if I am using small pieces of chicken breast which have been made into a Chicken 65 or Chilli Chicken. Actually she will be more than glad to eat these dishes, at home or outside. She will also eat the chicken kababs I make for the egg roll. Yes, amazing. The bottomline is she will eat bite size pieces of chicken breast or tenderloin when cooked with enough spices.Honestly, who wouldn't?

After the dry chicken dishes, this butter paneer is another favorite of hers. With due respect to chefs of "Moti Mahal" who are held responsible for this calamity, that is loved so much across the globe that the face of Indian Cuisine in the West is the Butter Chicken, I post my recipe today. I usually balk when people take traditional recipes and turn it up side down or leave out important ingredients but I also practice the fact that  "In my kitchen, I will cook what works for me and what my daughters will like".

So here is my disclaimer.

Back to School and School Lunches

School started last Thursday after a long summer break. Yeah really long. I think I have talked about "long summer breaks" enough in my last 3 posts which spanned over 2 months, to ascertain that they are indeed long. You have probably also realized that of the 2 adults and 2 kids in my house, the one who was most depressed about "back to school" was me. But I couldn't complain much because after all I am the Mother and it is my joi de vivre towards new school year that is going to influence innocent young minds. So I took a couple of Prozac, three deep breaths and told them how exciting the year is going to be.

Not that the Prozac convinced me to really think that way. After all you need something much stronger to think, that a dreary stretch of 180 days where the morning alarm goes off at 5:30, is indeed exciting. Maybe Faith, resilience and a "positive attitude" will work. I have heard those are wonderful miracle workers and I need to find them ASAP.

So far, we have survived 56 7 school days. Bus for the new middle school-er comes at 7:15 in the morning. I have managed to not hit the snooze button more than 3 times and wake up latest by 5:45. Okay today actually it was 6:15 but everything still worked fine and no one missed the bus. I even carried my cup of tea to the bus stop which is right across our house and sipped my cha, enjoying the crisp morning air. This is actually the right moment when I should start worrying about  the bitter cold mornings of January, but I won't because the Prozac is probably working. Or maybe the deep breath.

And then bus for the new first grader comes right after 8. At this point I should have let out a loud wail as I shall never have both the sisters attending the same school and going by the same bus at the same time. NEVER.You understand how heartbreaking that is. But I will not wail as the deep breath is weaving magic.

Thankfully because of  all the early morning cacophony LS is all ready and raring to go by 8. The first day of her first grade I worried a lot. This would be the first full day school for her. Kindergarten was only half a day and though she did got to a full-day day care , it was only a couple of days a week. I was sure she would fall asleep in the bus or in class. For some inexplicable reason I also worried that she would not be able to find the restroom. Well, this does have roots in my own childhood but that story later. And then like all Bengali Mothers I worried that she would not eat lunch and go hungry.

The Goofy First Grader

Nothing like that happened. I am a chronic worrier. Not "warrior". But "worrier". I worry a lot and I am really amazed that the girls did not inherit this tiny code in my DNA. They do worry about things like whether the garage door has been shut and the front door locked at night, stuff I forget to worry about, but on other aspects they are much more fearless.No wonder they jump on all those amusement park rides that go high up in the air while I close my eyes tightly, clench my heart and recite "Hanuman Chalisa"

Mostly it was LittleSis's calmness that amazed me. Probably being the second born, my expectations from her are more flexible. She was a tad anxious the day before school started but I told her a funny story where everyone from the Principal to the lunch lady is anxious about school and that relaxed her.The next day she dressed and got ready all by herself and walked to the bus with a big smile. Her being able to navigate first grade with perfect ease and without a single melt down surprised me. Keeping my fingers crossed.**No Jinx**.

BigSis too seemed to take to middle school with elan except of course for the lockers.

"How was your homeroom teacher BigSis? Do you have homework?"

"She was great. But I got the top locker and I am not tall enough so I swapped for a bottom locker".

"Okay, how was the science lab?"

"Good but the lower locker got jammed and has a different combination.I need to have more practice with lockers. Don't you have one at home which I could open? Do you think I can skip lunch tomorrow and practice opening my locker instead?"

"Did you make any new friend?"

"You know there is this one girl who got a tiny chandelier and a pink furry rug for her locker"!!! And this is real. The girl even got a pink wallpaper for her locker

You would think middle school is all about lockers and lockers alone. After a few days of  locker swapping, jamming and what not it seems she is a pro on lockers.

The first few exciting days will slowly give way to more homework, tests and a routine. Things will start falling into place, five more minutes of sleep will be squeezed in and I will pack sloppier lunches.

Lunch Menu

The first week I tried to be very organized with a menu printed on the board. There were slight deviations from there but more or less we followed the norm. After school snacks included Mini Wontons from Costco, Milk, Maggi and eggs.

Day 1 -- Snack for LS -- Goldfish and mini oreo. Lunch -- Pasta with basil pesto + Honest kids Juice + Belvita cookies for BS

Day 2 -- Snack for LS -- Goldfish and mini oreo. Lunch -- Grilled Cheese sandwich + Honest kids Juice + slice of Date cake

Day 3 -- Snack for LS -- Grapes. Lunch -- Indian Style noodles with vegetables for both + slice of Date cake

Day 4 -- Snack for LS -- Pocky Sticks. Lunch -- Bagel with butter and Bagel with jalapeno cream cheese + plum + chicken nuggets

Day 5 -- Snack for LS -- Goldfish and mini oreo. Lunch -- Macaroni  + chocolate milk for LS and Date cake for BS


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Vegetable Tikkis or Croquettes -- Kids Summer Snacks

One month of summer holidays is already over, and though I wonder how time flew so quickly, in reality quite a few things were done.

The most important was Big Sis getting her Black Belt in Taekwondo. They had tested just before the vacation and the rank ceremony was around end of June. While Big Sis is now a certified Black belt, Little Sis who was very reluctant in the beginning classes is now a proud Brown Belt. Big Sis is not and never was an aggressive child and I feel this taekwondo class has improved her strength and confidence a lot. She had started out at the age of about five and the five plus years of training has made her a stronger girl.

Then for the Fourth of July we went away to a dear friends' place for a lazy relaxed few days which involved lots of ice cream eating and lolling around under the tress in their backyard.

In between, the girls and their neighborhood friends did a lemonade stand. They also started on their swimming and Little Sis enrolled for a Bharatnatyam workshop where her friend goes too. She likes gymnastics better she says and the "mudras" are confusing her, so we will have to see how it goes in the future.

We also made regular trips to the library and Little Sis graduated to chapter books. She took a fancy for Nancy Clancy and read the two books that she got in the library.

Though a much awaited trip to the Water Park had to be canceled due to family reasons, we managed a short trip to a quaint shore town with lighthouse, beach and a lovely town square.

And then of course there was the World Cup taking over regular life.

There is almost one and half month of vacation still to go and I hope it only gets better.

While summer means whole two months of lazy, no-school, minimal routine days for the kids, it also means a time when every 30 minutes a question pops up --"I am hungry. What can I have?" This is a hard question to battle and a lot of the times I get by suggesting fruits, yogurt, cookies. If things get really bad, I keep a box of snacks, otherwise labeled as junk in the garage, which is then offered to quell hungry minds.

Chocolate Lava Cake -- for Father's Day

Yesterday, Big Sis made Chocolate Lava Cake. For Father's Day. LS was supposed to help her make it but she didn't. The day before she had done the grocery run with me getting the supplies so probably she felt she had done her part.

Thankfully, though it was Daddy's Day, BS made four lava cakes, one for each of us.

I wouldn't have helped her otherwise.I love cakes with soft gooey chocolate-y centers.

And if I had not helped her, those Lava cakes would have been perfect. But then who is perfect ? Not me atleast.

In my usual "not-glancing-at-inconsequential-details" nature I put the oven temperature at the regular temp for all cakes. Only when the cakes looked ah-well a little under-cooked did we realize that Lava Cakes require a higher temperature of around 425F. That helps to cook the exterior fast while the inside is still soft and gooey. Yeah, basic science.

So, anyway we raised the oven temp and let the cakes bake for few minutes more. This time they came out perfect. Almost. I mean they would have had a more gooey center had I not acted "oven-temp-know-all" in the first place.

Bread Pulav or Pau(n)rutir Pulao -- for school lunch

Many of you send me mails asking about ideas on snack and lunchboxes for kids. I had started a blog last year where I could record the lunch I send for Big Sis but after few weak attempts, I have now realized that I did not post many lunchbox recipes there. Now there are multiple reasons for this and I will just list the general points about a school lunch in our home:

1. Though I try to send a wholesome lunch from home on most days, they are not spectacular by any means. In the morning rush, while I am warming and packing the thermos, I fail to take a pic of the said lunch, even if it is a phone pic. So on most days there is no living proof of the packed lunch.

2. The lunch I send is kind of repetitive. As in, it repeats every week or so. Big Sis wouldn't want to see any surprises at lunch. She is not the kind.
A general idea of  the lunches that I pack for the 10 year old is -- Pasta tossed with veggies and store bought sauce, pasta with veggies and olive oil, Upma, Leftover rice that has been stir fried and a side of yogurt, Stir fried Noodles, occasionally a Nutella sandwich, sometimes paratha and at times mini wontons or ravioli from Costco.

3. The 10 yr old also has a snack time sometime around 10 or 11 and for that I send one of these -- usually fruits(banana or berries), cheese and crackers, granola bar and sometimes store bought yogurt cups.

4. I usually have the lunch ready in portions the night before. The next morning all I have to do is heat and pack the thermos.

5. At least once or twice a week, Big Sis eats lunch offered by the school cafeteria. The menu is sent out at the beginning of the month and she picks days on which she thinks the food will be to her liking. The main complaint about the school food I have heard from her is that the portion is too less. I have not seen it and from the sound of it, it does look wholesome and appetizing (barring certain days). It might be a portion control thing which the cafeteria is trying to impose, which is not all that bad, but then again I cannot be sure unless I have seen the food.

This week since we had too many loaves of bread in the pantry, I made this bread pulao for school lunch. My Mother, the avid snack and tiffin maker, would make this bread pualo very often. The husband-man has been so enamored by the idea after my Mother taught him, that he makes it often for weekend. His version has sausages and eggs and is very filling.Usually we have it for weekend brunch but with the overload of bread, this pulao seemed like the right thing to do for school lunch last week.

Big Sis's school has something called the "Battle of the Books" for which they have been reading a variety of books suggested and loaned by the teachers. I have not had a chance to read them and so she very kindly reviewed few of those books in my Kids' blog.If you are looking for book suggestions for 9-11 year olds, check them out. She promises to add more books to that list in the next post.

Do you have any book suggestions for 9-11 year olds ? Please add your suggestions to the list. Summer vacations are yet to happen here.

Bread Pulao -- for the lunchbox

Warm six slices of bread lightly. Then cut each bread slice in cubes. I leave the crust on and use whole wheat bread.

Heat Olive Oil or any Vegetable oil.

Flavor the oil with a clove of garlic finely minced

Then add some finely chopped onion and saute till onion is soft and translucent.

While onion is frying, microwave a bowl of mixed vegetables. I use a mix of carrots, corn and green beans. You can use any vegetable you fancy.

Add the partly cooked veggies to the frying pan and saute for few more minutes

Now here is the point where you go out on a limb and add any ONE of this to the frying pan

1. You can add a tsp of soy sauce and 2-3 tbsp of Ketchup

2. You can add some tomato-basil sauce from a jar(around 3 tbsp)

3. You can add some red chilli powder and dhaniya-pudina chutney (or green sandwich chutney)

After you have added the base sauce, let the vegetables cook

Once the vegetables are done, add the bread pieces and toss quickly with the vegetables and sauce.

Add salt and some black pepper powder to taste. Go easy on the salt if you are adding cheese later

Now since I use whole wheat bread which doesn't get soggy, I drizzle about 2 tbsp of milk on the bread at this point. This helps the bread to soften a little. If you see bread pieces are coarse, you can also drizzle a little olive oil on them.

Once I have tasted and checked to see everything is right, I add some parmesan and give the bread and veggies a last toss.

On cooling, I pack it in portions for lunch next day.

To add some protein to this dish, add a chopped boiled egg OR chopped sausages OR some boiled black eyed peas OR fried peanuts

A Very Quick Butter Paneer and Rainbow Loom homemade

Paneer Butter Masala -- How to make Butter Paneer

Okay, who ever discovered Butter Paneer is a genius. "Sirji, tussi great ho". I had never ever thought I would utter these words and always dissed butter paneer aka paneer makhani as a misconstrued representation of the rich Indian cuisine. I am sure I have said things to that effect in my earlier posts too.

But that was when I had not foreseen a future where hoardes of bengali kids(including mine), age ranging from 5 to 15, who might have otherwise complained about  dal-bhaat-mangshor jhol, would eat butter paneer with rice in rapt silence. That was when I had no idea that the biggest fan of this dish, is being nurtured in my own home, until now fed on a  careful and involved diet of chhanar dalna, charchari and murgir jhol . Yes, that is my nine year old, more frequently referred to as BigSis. She has always liked orange glo paneer makhni with naan at Indian restuarants, her favorite thing to order. I had thought she would get over it. Apparently she didn't and the fondness just grew stronger.

So, I took matters in my own hand and started making a Paneer Butter Masala at home. It was much appreciated and I started making it more frequently.

The more, I made it, the more I streamlined.

I cut corners and butter and heavy cream. I pared down the recipe to bare basics, something that could be done in 15-20 minutes flat whether you were cooking for 2 or 20. Yes, 5 main ingredients, few spices, 15 minutes and you have the easiest, quickest dish which is guaranteed to please loads of kids if not their finicky parents. I started adding vegetables along with paneer to the gravy and calling it my version of Navratan Korma. Instead of paneer, I added Eggs and called it Egg Masala. The horizon holds many possibilities with this dish but before I share the recipe, I have to tell you about another genius.

The discoverer of Rainbow Loom, a contraption which lets you make you bracelets with rubber bands. "Whaat??", you might ask. But I think, you won't. Almost everyone with school going kids have experienced the Loom fever.

Way back in Spring when my 9 yr. old oldest, BigSis came back from school and showed me a bracelet made of rubber band, I honestly did not understand what was so special about it. She and her friends are always making pretty bracelets or necklace out of beads and the rubber band ones seemed pretty flimsy in their comparison. Soon, however every other kid I came upon was making rubber brand bracelets and every other kid seemed to possess a "Rainbow Loom".

"Can I get a Rainbow loom?", BigSis asked in June. Now, I am not the kind of Mother who right away buys anything that the kids will ask for unless it is a book, again in which case I will first check the library. A kit that makes rubber brand bracelets and sells for $25 seemed a bit too much to me and I said, I will consider it only later.

Soon however BS learned to make a basic pattern with her two fingers and started making bracelets by the dozens on her fingers. Around end of summer she took one of her Taekwondo wood boards(the ones she breaks in class), pushed 3 thumbtacks in it and started using that to make more patterns. Some of her friends who did not have the loom yet did the same. Her neighborhood friends who had the store bought loom would pop in every other day and she used theirs to make the more difficult patterns that she and her friends learned from YouTube. Now, BigSis has a very rare quality where she doesn't really ask for toys or clothes or anything much. It is also a drawback in the sense that rarely there are incentives that excite her. So, in this case though most of her friends possessed the Rainbow Loom, she didn't feel deprived and did not ask me for one again. Almost all of August, she and her friends made bracelets of rubber band like crazy. The husband-man referred to it as "Kutir Shilpo" -- a burgeoning cottage industry.

Until that is a few weeks back. "I cannot make the complicated patterns using my 3-pin board," she grumbled. "I want to make more designs as they show on YouTube". Now, in our home, I am the more indulgent parent in such commercial product matters and so this time I was just this two clicks away from ordering on Amazon. The Dad is the one who thinks that kids these days anyway get too much and will learn to improvise only when they don't get desired stuff easily. So I held off buying the loom, mentally making a note to put it in as a December gift.

Finally tired of not having the complete loom, last week on her 4 day holiday, BigSis sat down to make a complete template board. She painted and glittered the wooden board. Then went on to replicate the full template with thumbtacks. There were a few trials with the pin placements as there needs to be a certain pattern and distance for optimal bracelet making. The hook posed a problem and so I bought a crochet hook which served the purpose. Finally the Rainbow Loom worth twenty-five dollar was made at home at almost no cost. It was cheap, sustainable and looked far better than the plastic ones made in China.

BigSis was also very proud of her home made loom as her friends and teachers praised her effort. Some of her friends wanted to make their own hand painted loom too.

As I read the story of Rainbow Loom's success and how its inventor had initially done the design using push pins on a wooden board, it seems the loom has come a full circle. As I see it, kids are immensely resourceful and if they want something, they will put in all their efforts to do it. How to excite them is the question and I am really amazed that these rubber brand bracelets were motivation enough.

Disclaimer: Now that BigSis is older, she does not want me to write much about her. However she particularly wanted me to take pics of her loom and share her hand made loom with you all.

Very Quick Butter Paneer

Prep

Buy a block of Nanak Paneer if in US and Canada. In other countries buy the best brand of paneer. With Nanak, the paneer is really soft and no soaking in hot water is necessary.

Cut up the paneer block in cubes.

Puree fresh juicy tomato to make about 2 cups of pureed tomato. OR use canned tomatoes and make two cups of pureed tomato.

Start Cooking

Heat 1/2 tbsp Vegetable Oil in a deep bottomed pan or kadhai. Add 1/2 tbsp of butter.
On occasions that call for rich gravies, I increase butter to 1tbsp. For only family meals I often skip the butter totally.

Temper the warm oil+butter with
2 Tej Patta
2 Black Cardamom lightly bruised in the mortar
1/4 tsp of methi seeds

Once the methi seeds start sputtering, switch off the heat for a minute and let the oil soak in the flavor of methi seeds. I don't think switching off is necessary but I like to give the oil a little time to absorb flavor of methi seeds and cardamom while I make tomato puree.

Now put the pan back on heat again and add
1.5 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste

Fry for a few secs and then add
1 tbsp of tomato paste
If you don't have tomato paste, it is okay to skip

Next goes in
2 Cups of pureed tomato

Mix well with a spatula and add
1 tsp Kashmiri mirch powder
1 tsp Coriander powder
1/4 tsp of homemade Garam masala

Now stir and mix and let the tomato puree cook for about 7-8 mins at medium heat until the raw smell is gone. Keep stirring in between else it will char.

Add salt to taste and about 1/2tsp sugar and mix. As a reader Hasina Ahmed said, the sugar prevents the milk from breaking up later so make sure you add it.

Once the tomato is cooked and you see the oil seeping around the edges, lower the heat and add
2 Cups of Evaporated Milk(from can)
+ 1 cup of warm water
If you don't have Evaporated Milk, substitute with Whole Milk.
Remember to simmer at low heat as milk will break if you cook the gravy at high heat

Mix well and let the gravy simmer at low medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Adjust for taste and fine tune salt/sugar. You can add little more Garam masala and kashmiri mirch at this point if you think the dish needs more

Now add the paneer cubes and about 2 tsp of Kasoori methi crushed between your palm. Ahhh...the fragrance

Let it simmer for 3-4 more minutes at medium heat.  Check that paneer is cooked and does not taste raw. Switch off heat. Cover and serve after 15 minutes.