I had mentioned about my love for the panini at panera bread . I had to try making it at home. I had mentioned in the above mentioned post that I had frozen 1/3rd of the dough. So, yesterday night for dinner, I made these paninis . Since the bread was just out of oven, these were crispy and very very tasty. I think I will make this often now. This is not exactly same as panera bread version, but was definitely very good.
Ingredients: Small loaf of bread(any bread will do) Mozzerella cheese Few tomato slices Sun dried tomato pesto : 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes 1 tea spn freshly chopped garlic 1/4 tea spn chilli flakes 1/2 tea spn dried basil Salt
Method: Grind the pesto ingredients (do not add water, if necessary, add olive oil). Cut the loaf horizontally. Spread the pesto on one side. Keep fresh tomato slice on it. Then spread mozzerella cheese. Cover with the second half. Grill it in panini press or on a normal grill(Keep the bread on grill and keep a heavy weight on top) till it gets marks from both sides. Serve hot.
PS: Fresh basil works better than dried one in this. If you can find it, add the chopped leaves to panini instead of including it in pesto. For melting the cheese faster, broil it in oven for few minutes and then grill. The quantity of all the ingredients is not mentioned as it is a mix and match dish.
Thanks to all who gave me suggestions about different fishes at my tilapia in spices post. I will be trying them all soon. This is another dish which I have been preparing, lot many times these days. It is inspired by Kerala style fish curry .
Ingredients: 1 cup tomato 1 cup yogurt(curds) 1 tea spn ginger-garlic paste (freshly made) 1 tea spn coriander seeds 2-3 strands coriander leaves 3 cloves 1″ cinnamon 7-8 curry leaves 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1/2 tea spn chilli powder Salt
Fish(Grilled/fried): 1/2 lb(about 0.22kgs) any white fish fillets 1/2 tea spn chilli powder A pinch turmeric Salt
If you need more gravy, increase the amount of yogurt and tomato.
Method: Apply chilli powder, turmeric, salt to the fish and leave it for around 30mins. Shallow fry the pieces on a tava or grill them on a grill pan (I grilled them) till they are done. Take them on a plate and keep aside. Heat a little oil and add cloves, cinnamon, coriander seeds. Powder them. Heat a little oil in a vessel( kadai ) and add cumin seeds. When they pop, add curry leaves, ginger-garlic paste, spice powder and fry for few minutes till the raw smell goes off. Now add chilli powder, yogurt(curds), tomatoes, salt and cook till the tomatoes become mushy and gravy becomes thick. (yogurt separates when you heat it, but that is fine, cook till all the water evaporates). At this point, I picked up few tomato peels from the gravy and ground them to get a better texture to the gravy . Now add enough water to bring the gravy to required consistency. Carefully slide in the fish. Cook for couple of minutes. Do not mix too much after adding fish, tilapia is very delicate, it will fall apart if mixed again and again. Garnish with coriander leaves and take off the heat.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 20mins
PS: For a better consistency, instead of adding tomatoes and frying them, blanch them in water for few minutes, grind and add. Do not use yogurt/curd that is very sour.
