Easy Recipes for Diwali

The Hindu festival of Diwali or the Festival of Lights will soon be upon us. Hindu people treat Diwali much as Christians treat Christmas. They visit family, give gifts and eat celebratory meals and lots of sticky sweets. Here are some easy recipes for Diwali that won't put too much on your waistline.
Paneer Tikka
Paneer is a type of Indian cheese which resembles cottage cheese and you can make your own but it's much easier to buy commercially make paneer. Tikka is the Hindi for morsel so here you have tasty morsels of paneer.
Ingredients

• 350g paneer
• 1 tbsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp gram flour
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 50ml natural yoghurt
• ½ tsp garam masala

Method

1. Slice the paneer into pieces about 2cm cubed. Shake over the chilli powder, turmeric and the salt. Mix together gently to ensure that the paneer is covered evenly but don't let it break. Marinate for 10 minutes.


2. Combine the gram flour with the coriander, cumin and yoghurt. Coat the paneer with the spiced yoghurt and chill for 30 minutes.


3. Heat the grill to its highest setting. Put the paneer onto the skewers and grill for 3-5 minutes on each side - until slightly charred at the edges. Serve immediately, sprinkled with garam masala with a wedge of lemon to squeeze over.

Don't forget if you're using bamboo skewers you'll need to soak them in water for 30 minutes prior to threading on the paneer. This ensures that they don't catch fire under the grill.
You can also make this dish on a barbeque if you wish.
Another easy Diwali recipe is this tasty chicken curry.
North Indian Chicken Curry
Ingredients

• 4 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cloves
• 2 green cardamom pods
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1½ tbsp chopped ginger
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tomatoes, pulped
• 450g chicken, skinned and jointed
• ½ tsp garam masala
• Small bunch coriander leaves

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan. Add the whole cumin seeds, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom pods and fry for about 20 seconds until an aroma is detectable.


2. Add the onion to the pan and fry gently for around 10 minutes until soft and golden brown, stirring frequently. Stir in the garlic and ginger and stir for about half a minute then add a pinch of salt and the coriander, turmeric and chilli powder, stir very briefly. Add the tomatoes which you will have pulped in a food processor and cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes by which time the liquid should have dried and the oil leached out of the mixture.


3. In the same pan, brown the chicken until golden and add water to until the chicken is nearly covered. Bring the liquid up to the boil and then simmer until the chicken is properly cooked. Really slow cooking makes for a much tastier dish and better still if you make it the day before you want to eat it. If the chicken joints are small it should take about 15 minutes to cook or 25 to 30 minutes for larger joints. This takes about 15 minutes for small joints and up to 25-30 minutes for larger ones.


4. Sprinkle with garam masala and coriander leaves and serve hot.

You can find more easy Diwali dishes, including chapattis, dal, rice and okra to accompany your chicken curry at Asian Food and Cookery.

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