With Diwali just around the corner, the festivities are in full swing with buying gifts, clothes, home decor and so much more. No festival is complete without sweets so how can the biggest Indian festival be celebrated without a lot of tasty treats? Ditch buying food from the outside and add a homemade touch to your Diwali party by making it yourself! If you love making deliciousness at home but don’t want to indulge in tedious recipes, then we have a solution for you – Here are some super easy recipes with Frozen Food that you can make in no time with just a few ingredients and some Meatington magic! From tasty vegetarian dishes to scrumptious non-vegetarian delights, we have made sure we cover every Diwali dish for you!
1. Paneer Tikka Masala
Paneer Tikka Masala is a popular curry where cubes of grilled marinated paneer, onions and peppers are tossed with yogurt and spices, into a creamy tomato-based curry. This dish goes extremely well with butter naan, paratha or basmati rice. Do you know the most famous Indian food in the world? It is Chicken Tikka Masala – if one has to take the Europeans at face value! Our take is, of course, the much-loved Paneer Tikka Masala which captures our attention with spice and decadence equally. The base of the dish is made with onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic which is quite a staple for most creamy Indian curries. Here’s how our resident Chef Sachin Sahgal prepares his recipe! Heat 1 tablespoon oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a pan on medium heat. Once hot, add 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds and 1-inch cinnamon stick. Let the seeds sizzle and then add 1 large white onion (roughly chopped), 3 to 4 large garlic cloves, chopped and 1-inch chopped ginger. Stir and cook for around 5 to 6 minutes until onions turn light golden brown, stir often in between. Then add 3 large tomatoes (chopped) along with 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of curry powder, 1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder, and 3/4 teaspoon salt to taste. Stir and cook the tomatoes for 7 to 8 minutes until soft and completely cooked. Once the tomatoes are completely cooked, remove the pan from the heat. Let it cool down a bit and then remove the cinnamon stick and transfer everything to a blender and blend to a fine paste. Set this aside. Grill the Meatington Paneer Tikka and add the roasted paneer, onions and peppers to the curry. Mix well and let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Garnish with more cilantro and serve Paneer Tikka Masala with naan or paratha. Have fun!
2. Creamy Garlic Basil Chili Prawn Pasta
This Creamy Garlic Prawn Pasta is for all those easy festive nights when nothing but creamy pasta with tasty Meatington Prawns will do – and we bet the kiddos will definitely enjoy it! This pasta version of Creamy Garlic Prawns features pasta smothered in a creamy sauce infused with garlic flavour and tossed through with plump prawns (shrimp). It’s indulgent but not ridiculously rich. Every pasta lover’s dream come true! You don’t need gallons of cream for great creamy pasta. This recipe serves 4 and is made with 1 cup of cream, which we think is actually a very reasonable amount for creamy pasta. The sauce is thickened using a combination of freshly grated parmesan cheese and emulsifying the sauce. Toss the pasta in the sauce on the stove with a splash of pasta cooking water. This makes the starch and fat in the sauce work their magic to thicken the sauce and makes it sticky so it clings to the pasta rather than sitting in a pool at the bottom of the skillet. Bring to boil a large pot of water. Add pasta and cook. Just before draining, scoop out 1 cup of pasta cooking water and set aside. Drain pasta. Meanwhile, melt 1 tbsp of butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add prawns and cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side until just cooked through. Remove the prawns. In the same skillet, add 1 tbsp butter. Once melted, add garlic. Stir for 20 seconds until fragrant. Add wine and stir. Add cream, broth and parmesan. Stir until the parmesan is melted, then leave to simmer for 1 1/2 minutes until it thickens slightly. Add prawns, stir, then add pasta plus about 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water. Toss pasta and the sauce will thicken in about 30 – 45 seconds and start clinging to the pasta. Take it off the stove before the sauce is as thick as you want. Sprinkle with most of the parsley and black pepper. Toss again until the sauce consistency is to your taste. Add a tiny splash of pasta water if it gets too gluggy. Serve immediately, garnished with remaining parsley and parmesan if desired. Enjoy!
3. Chicken Seekh Kabab Rolls
This one is for the kebab fans, this festive season! Spice up your Diwali, with the Meatington Chicken Seekh Kebab. Treat your family to this simple, yet delicious recipe and watch them swoon. What’s more, cook this recipe fast and easy and revel in the delicious taste! Simply thaw the Meatington Chicken Seekh Kebab packet, and fry the kebabs over medium heat. Cook thoroughly until the colour turns golden brown and the aroma fills the room! Pan to plate in 7 minutes – sounds like a dream come true, doesn’t it?! Slice up a few onions and tomatoes then set these aside. Knead dough by using all-purpose flour, salt and water. Set aside. Once done, take a small portion from the dough, and roll it like chapati. Heat your Tawa pan until the pan is hot, then add the rolled-out dough onto the pan. Cook from both sides. Get ready for the assembly! Spread the cilantro-mint chutney on both parathas. Now, add the seekh kebabs, sliced onions and tomatoes to the center of the bread and start wrapping the paratha. After folding the bread in half, tuck and seal one end of the roll and wrap the bread tightly all the way. Serve it with more green chutney and onion rings. Do try out these recipes and let us know how you like these! Don’t keep these hacks just to yourself, share these recipes & also gift our SPECIAL MEATINGTON BOX OF HAPPINESS to your loved ones this festive season. Happy Diwali! Keep snacking!
