February 2, 2015 - Paneer Dishes

I weighed myself today ahhhh I have put on almost 15 pounds in the last few months. I knew my pants were getting tighter and my belly bigger its really all in the belly but I really didn't know it was that much. I have been cooking a little more but still not the greatest and I have done a 10 minute workout a few times during the week still nowhere near my goal of really getting right back into a program and doing a workout everyday. I really need to focus more on eating right, exercising, and getting more sleep. Sleep and stress are the biggest contributing factors to my weight gain right now I know getting more exercise and scheduling my sleep would really help.
Paneer (its a type of cheese it is used a lot in indian cooking because its high protein it is also as with all cheese high in fat for vegan versions use tofu. It was on sale so I bought a block.
The first dish I used half a block and got 3 servings out of it the left overs I will get into a story of that later
Paneer with mushrooms and onions
saute half an onion in a pan
add mushrooms
add some spices (I use bollywood spice mix)
add fresh ginger (1 tbsp sliced) and garlic (2 cloves sliced)
remove the vegetables from the pan
Mix 2 tbsps of chickpea flour  and spices (salt, pepper, chili) with water in a bowl
coat the paneer with the flour mixture
place in the hot pan and cook until coating is crispy
I had leftover flour mixture so I tried to make a pancake out of it it was okay but not that good

I kept seeing these cauliflower buffalo wings recipe for super bowl sunday they looked really good. I had bought a too large cauliflower a while ago and already had the cut up cauliflower in my freezer. I also went to an expo a few weeks ago and bought gluten free flour I don't really know why as I don't really make anything so thought I might as well try using it here. The recipe said to mix the flour and water together. Coat the cauliflower and bake for 20 minutes. (note it did say any flour will work even gluten free but the idea was to use fresh cauliflower and I think regular flour is better)

 I got to this point tried one and it was disgusting. I had already made the hot sauce mixture pour hot sauce in a bowl and a little bit of oil and mix I added a little honey. Then you are supposed to base it for  another 5 mins. At this point I wasn't going to be eating this. I will try this again one day with regular flour and fresh cauliflower I think it will be really good. Then I decided to use the same recipe with my remaining paneer and chickpea flour.

I didn't get a pic with the hot sauce on it but I liked the coated paneer. I actually have never tried buffalo wings in my life my friend who is the complete opposite of me loves them which likely means I wouldn't like them. The hot sauce on the paneer was okay but not the greatest. I will use this cooking method for pakoras in the future though maybe a little chutney on the side will work.