Soya Chap Masala

Soya chap masala is a healthy mouth watering dish easily available in restaurants and supermarkets  and is often considered as a perfect alternative to meat dishes. The tasty dish is difficult to prepare at home and if some how prepared, the taste differs, less in quality and expensive compared to the restaurant.

We miss the aroma and taste easily found in metro chains and dhabas. My first experience tasting the dish was eating the delicious dish in a renowned dhaba and it was a love at first sight. The taste was out of the box, yummy and finger smacking. So I decided to try my hands and cook myself.

Although, I failed miserably and almost dissolved the gravy. The next time, I took complete precautions, making few necessary changes and it turned to be even more delicious than the one I tasted in dhaba. So here are the ingredients:-

Ingredients

Soya Chaap-4 pieces
Onion-3, sliced
Tomato paste-1/2 cup/Tomato Puree-1 cup/ grind 5 fresh tomatoes
Ginger-garlic paste-2 tsp
Red chili powder-1 & ½ tsp
Turmeric powder-1 /4 tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
Garam Masala powder-1 tsp
Cream-2 tbsp
Milk-1/2 cup
Salt- as needed
Coriander leaves-to garnish
To Temper:
Dried Red chilies-2
Whole Black Peppercorns-1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds-1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds-1 tsp
Bay leaf-1
Oil-3 tbsp

How to Prepare

1. Soak the frozen soya chaaps for an hour in water. After an hour remove the water, squeeze the soya without mashing, slash them couple of times for the masala to drip inside.

2.  Heat the oil in a pan, add the necessary ingredients  mentioned above as precribed, when they pop, add onions and fry for sometime.

3.  Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry until smell goes

4. Put red chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and mix well. Let it cook until the raw smell goes and the oil oozes on the sides of the pan.

5. Next step is adding the tomato paste/puree and 2 cups of water and mix once. Let it cook until ¾ th of the liquid is dried off and the gravy starts leaving out oil. The process can take around 15-20 minutes.

6. Now add the garam masala powder and mix it well

7. Carefully slide in the soya chaap sticks, be careful do not break the sticks and cook for 5 minutes

8. Now mix the cream with milk and beat well, add this to the gravy and mix well. Allow it to cook well for 2 minutes

9. Switch off the gas, garnish with coriander leaves and let it rest for 15- 30 and allow the chap stick to absorb the masala. Then slightly reheat it and serve hot with Phulkas/rotis.

Wait for 5 minutes and dish is ready to be served. Enjoy.

5 Health Benefits of Eating Paneer Dishes

Paneer dishes are an integral part of Indian cuisines and the most celebrated cuisines in vegetarian section and have a huge fan base across the globe. If you are a fitness freak, the gym instructor will always recommend you to eat paneer in big quantity for muscle repair. It is a perfect blend of taste and health. From Palak paneer, Kadhai paneer, matar paneer, shahi paneer to paneer makhani, the robust flavor of paneer is experimented with almost everything to satisfy taste buds.

Other than taste, panner has unparallel health benefits too, but is hardly explored by the food maniacs. This blog is completely dedicated highlighting the 5 unheard yet impactful benefits of eating paneer dishes:-

 

Millionaire in protein- Almost every non vegetarian dish is rich in protein, but among vegetarian paneer is the only good source of protein responsible for muscles and body mass in the body. People who train are often advised to consume paneer in good quantity for muscle building and repair.

Responsible for strong bones and teeth- As we know paneer is a good source of calcium responsible for strong bones and teeth and saves you from diseases like rickets and osteoporosis. Although, it falls under the category of milk products, but contains more nutritional values than milk. Only problem is paneer is rich in calories too.

Catalyst in weight loss- Paneer helps in enhancing the body metabolism rate increasing the fat burning process. It is a myth that paneer act as a catalyst in weight gain, but it helps in muscle growth only if you train. So if you are looking to lose weight, add paneer in your diet.

 

Prevents you from various deadly diseases-  Paneer prevents you from various diseases like putting  a check on cancer cells , protect you against heart diseases responsible for fat deposition in arteries.

Why eat raw paneer, when you can enjoy it in most tasty manner.

Protein Rich Starter - Soya Malai Chaap

Exactly I’m talking about Soya Malai Chaap. Yes soybean is enriched with protein which is healthy for our body.  It tastes like non veg dish but it is pure vegetarian dish. You can easily buy soya chaap sticks from market because it is difficult to make soya chaap at home. It will make your process easy to prepare this dish. 

Ingredients-

Soya Chaap Sticks 4-5

Fresh cream 4-5 tablespoons

Green chili 4-5 teaspoon finely chopped

Onion 2 in big pieces

Turmeric powder ¼ teaspoon

Red chili powder ¼ teaspoon (you can according to your taste if you like more spicy)

Garam masala ½ teaspoon

Ginger 1 inch finely chopped

Kasuri methi 1 teaspoon

Oil 2 tablespoons

Salt to taste

Preparation-

You will get frozen soya chaap sticks. So put all sticks in hot water for few minutes. (Water should not be too hot.)

Boil all the sticks for 2-3 minutes only.

Drain them and keep aside. Remove all the stick so that only you left with chaap only.

Method of Cooking-

Heat oil in pan or kadhai. Add green chili and ginger into it. Fry them till golden brown appears.

Now add onion and fry them till light brown.

Now add soya chaap into it. Fry them on high flame for 3-4 minutes.

Add Garam masala, turmeric powder, and red chili powder, fry and mix them well.

Now add cream on keeping it low flame. Cook for 1.5-2 minutes.

Add salt and crushed kasuri methi. Mix them well.

Your Soya Malai Chaap is ready. Serve it hot. You can decorate your dish using onion and lemon.

Snack made with Fruit: Anari Paneer Tikka

Are you bored with regular party snack then use Pomegranate fruit with old paneer tikka. This will good combination something spicy with healthy. It is easy North Indian snack and mostly loved by vegetarians. 

Total time: 55 minutes

Prep time: 40 minutes

Calories: 200 kcal

Servings: 4

Ingredients:-

Paneer 400 gms

Chaat masala ½ teaspoons

For marination:-

Grated Cheese cubes 60 gms

Garam masala powder 5 gm

Coriander leaves chopped 20-25

Fresh cream 3 tablespoons

Salt to taste

For Filling-

Pomegranate seeds 1 cup

Finely chopped green chili 1-2

Finely chopped Ginger 1 inch piece

Mashed Paneer 100 gm

Method of preparation:-

Cut paneer in cube shapes as shown in diagram and stuffed with mashed paneer. Add finely chopped ginger, fresh pomegranate seeds (keep little bit in cup for garnishing), salt, chopped green chili and coriander leaf into it. 

Now prepare marination with grated cheese cubes, salt, fresh cream, a pinch of Garam masala and coriander leaves.

Now coat stuffed paneer with marination and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. 

After taking out from refrigerator, heat a non-stick pan. Add butter into it. Now add paneer into it and shallow fry it till it becomes light brown. 

Once it is done, garnish the paneer cubes with pomegranate seeds. Sprinkle some amount of chaat masala to give it tangy and spicy test. 

Your Anari Paneer Tikka is ready. You can serve it hot.