Cut red onion, red and green peppers, mushrooms and a tomato into large pieces. Heat oil, add about tbsp of panch phoran. Add all veggies except tomatoes and sauté. Add an glug of mustard oil. Add some prepared onion-tomato-ginger-garlic paste. Sauté. Add salt, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, dhania powder and amchoor. Add tomatoes and cook for another minute. Add paneer pieces, mix and cook. Add a tsp of ketchup and cilantro and serve hot.
This one is a Holi special. For Karachi Halwa: Chop a handful of almonds, cashews and pistachios and mix with some melon seeds. Heat a tbsp ghee in a pan, toast the nuts lightly and set aside. In a bowl, mix 1 cup cornstarch with 11/3 cups water. Heat 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water in a pan and heat until the sugar melts. Add crushed cardamom and few drops of red+yellow food color. Add cornstarch slurry to the sugar syrup and cook until it comes together. Add 6 tsp ghee slowly, mix and cook for a few more minutes. Add nuts and transfer to an 8X8 pan, lined with parchment paper. Cool for a couple of hours, chop into bite sized pieces and serve. https://youtu.be/JTow_deXEqo For Daal filling: Soak 1 cup Chana daal for 4-6 hours. Wash. Add 1 cup water, salt and turmeric and cook until the daal is soft and no more water remains. Initially I cooked without covering, removed foam, and then later on I covered it for a bit. The daal should have a bite. On...