Grilled Pineapple & Cottage Cheese Bites - Desi Health Bites!

In a country where most recipes begin with heating oil in a pan and end with a tempering of oil and spices, disseminating information about cooking oil is a welcome idea. Fortune Foods invited food bloggers to come up with healthy recipes as part of an initiative to highlight some facts and bust some myths about rice bran oil. 

The company launches a 100% rice bran oil, Fortune Rice Bran Health. This oil is extracted from the thin brown layer (or bran) of unpolished grains. The bran contains lots of vitamins and other micro nutrients, making it the most nutritious part of grains.

 Some benefits of rice bran oil : 

1. Helps reduce bad cholesterol: Fortune rice bran health oil has a key micro nutrient called

“oryzanol”, an antioxidant found only in the bran of rice. It helps reduce bad cholesterol, 

increase good cholesterol and keeps your heart healthy, making it a healthier choice. 

2. Keeps your heart healthy: FRBH contains more antioxidants than blended oils or pomace

olive oil. They fight harmful free radicals, which cause heart disease and other chronic 

illnesses, keeping your heart healthy. 

3. Helps to have better skin: Squalene is an organic compound naturally produced by human skin cells and is a natural moisturizer. Fortune Rice Bran Health Oil contains good amounts of it which prevent the ageing of skin.

A couple of myths related to rice bran oil 

1. Darker Oils aren’t good for health. It is a myth that colourless or transparent oils are healthier than dark oils. FRBH is refined optimally to keep all the essential micro nutrients 

intact. It has a darker appearance primarily due to Oryzanol. 

2. Rice Bran alters the taste of food: Rice Bran leaves no aftertaste. It does not have a

taste of its own, so it doesn’t interfere with the taste of food.

Here comes  a delightful tango of hot-sweet flavors, Grilled Pineapple & Cottage Cheese Bites. Light enough to be served as a summer appetizer, enough spices to tickle the Indian palate.  

Grilled Pineapple And Cottage Cheese Bites

Ingredients : 

Cottage cheese - cut into 1'' cubes - 200 grams (please read note)

Fresh peeled pineapple - cut into 1'' cubes - 1 cup
Red capsicum - 1, cut into 1'' cubes

For the marinade 

Fresh red chilies, slit - 15-20  

Fresh coriander, chopped - 1/4 cup

Garlic - 5 pods
Oil - 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon
Roasted cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Fresh, thick hung yogurt or low fat set dahi - 6 tablespoons

Chat masala - 1 teaspoon

Roasted chickpea flour - 1.5 tablespoons
Kasuri methi, toasted and crushed - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 1 tablespoon

Plus extra oil for grilling

Method : 

To make the marinade 

• On low heat, heat 1 teaspoon oil in a pan. Tip in the chilies, saute till lightly blistered. Now add the coriander and saute till just shriveled. Transfer to a plate, let cool. 
• Grind the sauteed chilies, coriander, garlic, cumin powder, a tablespoon of oil and salt to a smooth paste. At this point, you can store the paste in an airtight jar for a day in the fridge.
• Whisk 3 tablespoons paste with the yogurt, besan, chat masala, kasuri methi, going easy with more salt as chat masala already has salt in it. Taste, adding more marinade if you want it to taste more assertive. 
• Take the paneer, pineapple and capsicum in a bowl, scrape the marinade on top . Mix gently, coating the pieces well. Marinate for at least half an hour or longer in the fridge if convenient. Thread so that pieces of paneer, capsicum and pineapple alternate on the skewers. 
• Heat a non stick tawa. Brush generously with oil. On medium heat, grill till lightly charred, brushing oil lightly as needed. Take care not to overcook or the paneer will become tough and chewy. Serve immediately. 

Succulent pieces of sweet pineapple, soft cottage cheese and crunchy red peppers, I thought is a winning combination! You could even skip the cottage cheese to make it a really low calorie version!

Please note: I have used home made cottage cheese made with 3% milk. You can use store bought paneer or even pressed and drained firm tofu. 

Any remaining ground paste can be simply whisked into fresh yogurt, add a simple tempering of mustard and curry leaves. Enjoy with hot steamed rice or parathas. Or even tossed with cubed chilled cucumber as a snack!

This blog post is in association with Fortune Foods as a part of their Desi Health Bites activity– The Hunt for the Best Rice Bran Oil Recipes. For more updates and healthy recipes using Fortune Rice Bran Health Oil, follow Fortune Foods on Facebook and on Twitter 

Paneer Tikka Tart

Like me, if you had thought that a tart concept can be done with either with home made/ store brought old fashioned buttery crusts or phyllo pastry or puff pastry, you will be happy to know that you can make something nice with the humble yeast dough as well. Meaning, you don't have to slave over making phyllo or puff pastry (or be lucky enough to easily buy them) or master the art of baking the perfect pie crust and still get away with making something that classifies as a tart and a pretty good one at that. Without having to plan ahead for it. As in you can get up in the morning or come back from work and still decide to bake yourself a tart. Easy and quick.

I have realized that when you bake something like a pizza or tart with a slow-risen base like Peter Reinhart's pizza dough, you can get away with minimal and the simplest of toppings as the very flavorful base takes center-stage here. And when you bake with the faster ones, you are better off allowing the topping to take center-stage. Bake with a flavorful base and flavorful toppings, danger is you will end up making it every now and then, for very given excuse. Did I tell you that Peter R's crust has become a real real favorite with me and have made it at least about 5-6 times by now?

When Madhuli invited us to bake tarts for an event at Chef At Large, I wanted to play around with a quick yeast dough base and top it with something delicious and indulgent too - the festive air squarely to blame. Hmm... may be a tart topped with mint and coriander chutney, loaded with some flavorful paneer tikka? Why not? A bit of work with the tikka and some time to marinate the cheese and veggies, but the dough is a breeze as always these days with my bread machine! 

The paneer tikka turned out good and I had a tough time keeping the kids away till I put it all together and took the mandatory pics, but it sure made me happy! This said, the base and the tikka is only a suggestion, feel free to use your favorite pizza base and your favorite tikka topping!

Paneer Tikka Tart

You will need :
One recipe pizza base (recipe below)
Paneer Tikka
Coriander and mint chutney - 4 tablespoons plus more to serve on the side.

Getting ready : To make the tart, make sure the paneer and veggies are marinated and ready to go on the tawa before you make the dough. Generously grease your baking tray or trays with oil. I place my pizzas and tarts on the back of my 9'' square/round tins, for ease to slice them later.

Paneer Tikka : Adapted from a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe. Good quality paneer, needless to say makes a lot of difference. I used Nandini, Milky Mist is supposed to be good too. Do use home-made paneer if you have it on hand. Do not cube the cottage cheese too small or it will be difficult to thread the cubes through a skewer or flip them when directly placed on the tawa.

Ingredients:
Cottage cheese/ paneer - cut into 3/4'' cubes - 200 grams (about 1 1/2 cups)
Green or colored capsicum, cubed - 3/4 cup
Onion, peeled and cubed - 1 cup (divided use)
Firm plum tomatoes, de-seeded and cubed - 1/2 cup

For the marinade: Please vary the amount of spices to taste and preference

Fresh, thick hung curd or ready set curd - 6 tablespoons
Oil - 1 tablespoon
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Ginger, freshly grated - 3/4 teaspoon
Garlic, freshly grated - 1 teaspoon
Chaat masala - 3/4 teaspoon
Tandoori masala - 1 teaspoon
Kasuri methi, crushed - 1 heaping teaspoon
Gram flour - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste (go easy, the chaat masala is quite salty)

More oil for grilling the paneer and vegetables

Procedure : Whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade in a wide bowl, gently toss in the paneer and capsicum cubes to coat with the marinade well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. You could toss in the onions and tomatoes later (after you fish out the paneer and capsicum), there will still be marinade left. I did not add them earlier as they will leave out more water, wanted the paneer generously coated with the marinade.

Heat a non-stick pan, brush oil generously using a silicon brush. Thread the paneer and the vegetables through skewers (or just place directly, flipping now and then using 2 spoons) and cook on medium-low heat, turning them to cook all sides till a nice golden and done (this will not take more than a say, 3-4 minutes) Do not over-cook as this will make the paneer tough. Reserve.

Coriander and mint chutney
Fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped - 1 1/2 cups
Fresh mint leaves - 3/4 cup
Green chillies - 3-4
Sugar - a tiny pinch
Lemon juice - to taste
Salt - to taste

Blend everything using little or no water. Check and adjust seasoning. Reserve.

Tart base, adapted from Purple Foodie original recipe from Popina Book Of Baking  I have used yogurt in place of the egg, stepped up on the salt and yeast, and added a bit of garlic to the base.

Pizza dough base:

All purpose flour / maida - 220 grams
Instant yeast - 1 1 /4 tsp ( if using Active dried yeast, proof first and then carry on)
Salt - 3/4 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Extra virgin olive oil (or any flavorless oil like sunflower or canola oil) - 2 tablespoons
Garlic, grated - 2 pods
Yogurt - 1/4 cup OR 1 Egg
Warm water - 70 -80 ml (start with the lesser amount, add remaining, by the teaspoon if needed)

Procedure : Mise en place. Sift together the flour and salt. Take the oil and garlic in a small pan, warm the oil. Take off the heat. If using crushed garlic, you can discard it once the flavor is infused into the oil. Take the warm water in a wide medium sized bowl, mix together all the dough ingredients and knead to form a soft, smooth dough, about 8-10 minutes. If using a bread machine dump all ingredients together and knead on dough cycle for 10 minutes.  Lightly grease your dough rising bucket, place the dough in it, turn it once to coat the dough with oil. Cover and let rise in a warm place till double in volume, about 40 minutes to one hour.

Towards the end of the rise period, pre-heat oven to 190 degrees C / 375 degrees F. Gently punch down the dough, divide into 2 equal portions. Dust your work surface lightly with flour. Roll one portion of the dough about 5-6mm thick and about 7 '' inches in diameter. This will give you a slightly crisp, bread-y base. Place the rolled dough on the greased tray. Spread about 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons chutney and place about 1/4 cup cubed onion on it evenly. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or till the edges turn a nice golden brown. If you bake longer, the base will be crunchy-crisp. Remove from the oven, cool for about 10 minutes. Brush with more chutney, top with half the warm paneer tikka, sprinkle some chaat masala, cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Repeat with the other portion of dough. I bake simultaneously in my microwave and OTG.

Make ahead : Make the chutney, marinate the paneer and veggies. Refrigerate both. Make the dough when needed and you are ready to go!

The paneer-tikka tart is Yeast-spotted!!