We have been facing issues lately with our refrigerator. It is little over 7 years old and had never ill-behaved but lately it had been turning its back on us. I believed in it and entrusted it with the responsibility of keeping my essentials safe and it did exactly what it promised for all these years.
So suddenly when my dairy products started getting spoilt I took it as one off aberration. But now when it has started happening more often, I am alarmed. With hindsight, I think I am also to be blamed for this situation. I must have taken it for granted and did not honor the instructions in the manual. In fact, I do not even remember where that manual is. As the festival season has arrived, guests have started pouring in. We are having lunches and dinners with family and friends and more food is getting cooked and we have been guilty of overstuffing our refrigerator on more than one occasion. I think it must have shown signs of distress which I would have ignored and now when it has started throwing tantrums I feel remorseful.
Last Sunday morning when the lazy bone in me, sank in the bean bag and flipped through the television channels waiting for my daily dose of caffeine, it was then missus gave me the news that broke my heart. She told me that last packet of milk stored in refrigerator has spoiled again for the umpteenth time and I need to get running to the neighborhood shop and get some milk packets. I hate going out in mornings without my dose of caffeine unless I am doing practice runs for marathons in which case I switch to lime juice in mornings before runs. So we decided we had to find some remedy of this problem and find it fast. However, before that we had to find a way to salvage the spoilt milk before it is too late and it find its way down the drain. So we decided to make some homemade version of paneer (cottage cheese). Making paneer in your kitchen is very easy and it serves couple of purposes 1) If you are like me who would want to throw away kitchen essentials as an absolutely last resort and would do so with great reluctance 2) You can make some really amazing and delicious dishes using homemade paneer.
It was not just any ordinary Sunday. It was the same day when India and South African cricket teams would take to fields and like any other Indian, I too am an ardent cricket fan. So we had two situations at our hands. A spoilt milk that would be turned into paneer soon, and a cricket match. So we decided to mash them up by making paneer balls that serves as a delectable munchies that one would definitely like to chomp upon watching a thrilling encounter and sipping on coke or Pepsi whichever brand your loyalty lies in. We made up these paneer balls quickly and sat glued in front of TV for half of the day (for folks who are oblivious to cricket, an one day encounter is what it means literally and lasts for 8 hours. If that seems too long google for “Test cricket” and see its duration).
Paneer balls turned out to be really nice with a perfect combination of crunchy outside and soft inside. The bread crumbs coating on outer side provided a perfect crunch and paneer inside combined with mashed potatoes provided the desired softness. The recipe is spiced up with dry powdered spices like chili powder, chat masala and dry mango powder. This imparts a spicy and tangy flavor to them and gentle sweetness is added in form raisins that you feel when you chew on those raisins. We were having a gala time, a perfect lazy Sunday where we gorge onto starters, gulp down coke and screaming and cheering for our team, unless of course the party was ruined in the last over of the match. Needless to say we felt dejected with the loss, but nonetheless we had made a nice recipe that we thought to share with all of you.
If you are an ardent fan who rants on his team’s loss but would support them again in the next match and would never afford to miss watching any match, then you must call your friends at your place, make some delicious paneer balls accompanied with your favorite drink and have a fun time supporting your team.
Amigos, until next time bleed blue!!
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Serves: 2-3
- 85 grams Home made paneer (cottage cheese) (crumbled).
- 180 grams boiled and mashed potatoes
- 2 green chilies finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves finely chopped
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp chat masala
- ½ tsp dry mango powder
- 1 tbsp raisins
- Salt to taste
- 2 tbsp corn flour
- Breadcrumbs
- Cooking Oil
- Let's mix all ingredients.Take crumbled paneer in a large bowl.
- Add mashed potatoes,chopped green chilies,chopped coriander leaves,Turmeric powder,red chili powder,chat masala,dry mango powder,raisins,Salt to taste.
- Mix all the ingredients nicely.
- Take a small portion of mixture and roll them gently between your palms to form a shape of a ball.
- Make a thin batter using corn flour which will be used to coat paneer balls.
- Take one ball at a time and dip them into corn flour batter.
- Coat them with Bread Crumbs.
- Oil in pan must be hot. Fry the paneer balls in this oil at low to medium flame .
- Fry paneer balls until they become golden brown.
- When done take them out in a plate.
- Paneer balls are crunchy outside and soft inside.
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