Paneer and Coconut Fried balls and it's seven years of food blogging

We are into November, and November means chilly and cold winter season knocking at our doorsteps, in fact today it is very cold here.And as evenings are early now, we get excuses for having fried stuff with our evening cup of tea -"chai”. These days demand for fritters and fried stuff- “tele bhaja” have gone high on our meal plans. Every season has its own effect on our eating plans or cravings. And with winter season, there are array of glorious cakes and fried stuff waiting to be made and relished. Isn’t?

No doubt, that’s show I tend to put on weight during this season. I know after reading this post, there will be some counter- reactions to go for detoxifying the body. Then there will be people judging me on grounds of my eating plans. But one thing for sure- eat according to your own body requirements and in balanced portions and remember every body is different. God hasn’t made every mould- the one we call our body same, even scientifically it is true, our DNA says so. So, please what works for me, may or may not work for you.

There was beguni as snake I mean as snack couple of days ago and then some fish shami kabab the other day, then it was time for chicken kababs adapted from this recipe as well. But occasionally there are times; we need some food which makes the vegetarian- the ‘shudh shakahari” in me feel happy about it. These paneer-cococnut fritters are great way to include a “niramish” preparation in ones menu. I have always found it very fascinating that vegetarians have so many options to make their fritters- there is possibly every vegetable in this world, that one can create fritters out of - from spinach to, zucchini, brinjal to well I think you can even make fritters out of lentil paste as well. Although this recipe was formulated by sheer checking of the ingredients stocked in the fridge at that time. Open- See-Check-Take out –Arrange-Assemble-Create-Eat. This is the sequence that happened once I opened the fridge door yesterday. I am sure this happens with most of you out there.

Now I had some fresh coconut, which I really didn’t want to make as Narkel Narus, after that cooking spree during Dassehrah and Diwali, we needed a big break from sweety-sweety thingies. And too much of sweets makes me sleepy and dozing off doesn’t help, as there are other chores which needs my attention. Then was paneer- well I don’t need to write much about this one. What was interesting to note is the addition of ajowain seeds/carom seeds and dried basil leaves which I have never used so far in making fritters. These two were like secret ingredients treasured somewhere in the cupboard and lifted up the flavor quotient of this fritter above two levels. Next onwards, I will try to add them in other fritter preparations as well. And "ajowain" as known in Hindi /"jowan" as in Bengali has great digestive properties something which the ‘Ayurveda’ tells us about.

We needed something savory, so here it is paneer coconut fried balls. And this has been our current favourite.And when a kid picks up second helpings, without even asking you, you know it very well, this will be a winner recipe. Make ahead them as a great party appetizer/starter recipe and pop them in preheated oven to re-heat them, serve and enjoy.
Recipe is up here now.
Paneer Coconut Fried balls
Recipe requirements(makes-10-14)

• About 100gms of paneer roughly
• 1 cup of grated fresh coconut
• 1 tsp of ajwain/carom seeds
• 1 tbs of coriander powder
• 2 tsp of cumin powder
• 1 tsp of red pepper powder
• ¼ tsp of fresh and crushed whole black pepper
• ½ tsp of dried basil leaves
• 2 whole-meal bread
• 1 large potato boiled and mashed well
• 2 tsp of fresh grated ginger
• 2 -3 tsp of self raising flour
• 1 tsp of salt or as per taste
• Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Take a big mixing bowl, and grate paneer block finely. Since the one we get over here are solid, so we need to grate it otherwise you can easily make paneer crumbles if the paneer is semi-soft.
2. To that, add in fresh grated coconut or scraped what ever suits you. I generally like to pulse through in mixer-grinder for three- four times which yields an un-even mixture of bits and pieces.And this gives that sweetish coco nutty  bites to the final product what we get after frying them.
3. Now add in all the seasonings- coriander, cumin, black pepper and red pepper powders. Add in dried basil leaves and ajwain seeds/carom and fresh grated ginger.Add in boiled potato.
4. Tear whole wheat bread (as that is what we eat) in to very small pieces, you may replace it with any available bread. Add this to the mixture.
5. Now add in salt, self raising flour- enough to bind the mixture. Knead the mixture well.
6. Divide the mixture in to equal portions and then roll them into small round balls. This much will yield 10-12 small balls.
7. In a fry-pan or kadai , add in oil. Let it heat up properly, check if it’s done by – drop tiny portions from a paneer-coconut balls and watch if it comes to the top , sizzling and floating. You can even check by dropping some cumin seeds in to it.
8. Now at medium flame- gas mark 5 or gas mark 6 , drop these paneer-coconut balls in to the hot oil, fry it slowly to get even brown colour.

Take out and drain over kitchen towel. Serve with ketchup or any other sauce. This goes very well as party starters and plus point is its all vegetarian. So, now you can easily make your vegetarian friends happy. Meat-lovers, please substitute paneer with any type of cooked or minced red-meat or chicken mince.

Please use fresh and home-made spice powders for best results.
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Well last month this blog by yours truly turned seven, and it’s been a lovely journey so far. What started as mere writing down few lines for a recipe-kind of pages of a recipe diary on one fine and  lazy fall afternoon,here that humble ->first post ,  has now become my special world out here. And this occasion comes again on a fall season here. The picture below says it all, isn’t?

A world of sharing, learning, growing, memorizing and noting down snippets from my day-today happenings to my ramblings etc, this blog has evolved also with each passing years.
Thank you all who like to come back here, again and again and also to those who have joined this blog recently in their blog reading subscriptions. To all of you lovely readers-old and new, this blog means nothing if it doesn't have lovely readers like you.
I know there are many silent readers, but please if you have ever tried and liked any recipes, snippets or ramblings from here, now I want to hear your voice.

Let’s hope we continue this journey in discovering ourselves and sharing, learning has no boundaries or inhibitions. We all are evolving and learning irrespective of our age, from one point to other point, let’s keep on joining the dots. Once again Thank you all...........

Happy Cooking Friends