Jeera rice served with Palak Paneer, Curd and Semolina-Dhokla (Lunch-box idea1)

Well, it’s been 2 weeks since I posted something on my blog. I was on vacation for a week and busy the next week. So here I am with my new Lunch-box recipes section that I am starting today. I would be sharing several lunch-box ideas that I usually pack for my husband and I hope someone out there will benefit from these 🙂

Palak Paneer 

Ingredients:

Palak (Spinach) – 1 large bunch

Paneer – 1 cup (cut into cubes)

Onion – 1 large (cut into long thin pieces)

Tomato – 2 -3 (roughly chopped)

Ginger – ½ inch piece (optional)

Garlic – 1-2 cloves (optional)

Green chilies – 3 -5

Cloves (Laung) – 2-3

Cumin (Jeera) seeds – 1 tbsp

Bay leaf – 1

Salt – as per taste

Oil – 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. To ½ cup water add the spinach, half the onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chilies and salt.
2. Mix all of them together and microwave on high for about 5-8 minutes.
3. Once the spinach mix is cooked, let it cool and grind it into a smooth paste.
4. Heat oil in a pan and fry the paneer in the oil. Remove the fried paneer onto a tissue paper.
5. To the same pan, add cumin, cloves and the bay leaf. Once the cumin starts to splutter, add the remaining onion and fry till translucent.
6. Add the spinach puree to this and let it simmer for about 2-3 mins.
7. Now add the paneer and let the gravy simmer to desired consistency.

Jeera rice 

Ingredients:

Basmati/Ordinary rice – 1 cup

Water – 2 cups

Onion – 1 medium (chopped into thin strips)

Jeera – 3-4 tbsp

Bay leaf – 1

Oil – 1 tbsp

Garam Masala – ½ tsp

Salt – as per taste

Procedure:

1. Wash the rice and keep aside.
2. In a pan, heat the oil, and add jeera and bay leaf. Fry for a minute.
3. Add the onion, garam masala and fry till the onion is almost brown in color. Be careful not to burn the onion.
4. After the onions are fried, add the washed rice and fry for another min or so. Add salt and mix well.
5. Add the water and cook till the rice is done. Serve hot with palak paneer.

Semolina Dhokla

I used a ready-to-cook packet bought from the store. Simply mix everything as per the instructions and steam it along with the jeera rice in a pressure cooker. This will save your cooking time.

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