MW Peas Pulao, MW Paneer Masala & MW Semiya Paayasam

Thanks a lot friends for all ur beautiful wishes in Orkut as well as in Facebook on my birthday..Am really very happy to see all ur wonderful wishes and i really enjoyed my day....My day started with a beautiful gift from my Hubby who bought me Iphone which was i wished to buy since a long, needless to say my happiness and the morning itself started marvellous for me, and coming to the birthday lunch i prepared easily in microwave and menu goes for peas pulao, paneer masala and semiya paayasam , i prepared one by one in microwave oven which need quite a bit more time to prepare and i enjoyed my day without much chopping veggies and stirring the gravies or frying...This microwave dishes need each atleast half an hour to prepare eventhough its quite a long to prepare than the stove top..Its was a really a feast for me to enjoy all these microwave dishes and had a great time with my family..

Microwave Peas Pulao:
2cups Basmati Rice
1/2cup Green peas (frozen)
1tsp Cumin seeds
2cups Water
1cup Thick Coconut milk
2tbsp Oil + ghee
Salt

Heat the oil and ghee in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes, add the cumin seeds to the hot oil-ghee and cook for 3 minutes in high..add the frozen green peas to the roasted cumin seeds and cook for 5 minutes, give a stir twice in between...Now add the thick coconut milk, salt and water to the green peas and cook for 5 minutes in high, meanwhile wash the basmati rice and strain the excess of water in a colander...add the basmati rice to the hot coconut milk give a stir and cook for 5 minutes...take off the microwave bowl, give a stir and cook again for 15 minutes in high until the rice get well cooked, dont forget to stir every 5 minutes..

Serve hot with any side dish!!

Microwave Paneer Masala:
1cup Paneer cubes
2nos Onion (chopped)
2nos Tomatoes (chopped)
5nos Garlic cloves
1tbsp Ginger pieces
1/2cup Milk
5nos Almonds
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
1tsp Coriander powder
Salt
Oil

Soak the almonds in hot milk (heat the milk in microwave for 2 minutes) atleast for an hour...Grease a microwave safe bowl with few drops of oil and add the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, garlic cloves and ginger pieces, cook in high for 10 minutes (stir in between twice)..take off the bowl and grind the cooked veggies as bit coarse paste...Meanwhile heat few drops of oil and cook the paneer pieces for 2minutes in high in microwave plate and keep aside...Heat enough oil and add the grounded paste with red chilly powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder and salt, cook in high for 10 minutes (stir in between) or until the oil gets separates, now grind the soaked almonds and milk as fine paste..add this fine paste to the cooked masala (can add water if u need for, i didnt add water as i need for thick paneer masala for my rice) and cook again for 2 minutes...finally add the paneer cubes and cook everything for again 5 minutes in high..take off the paneer masala from the microwave..

Serve hot as side dish for pea pulao & with rotis!!

Microwave Semiya Paayasam:
1/2cup Semiya (vermicelli)
2tsp Butter
10nos Cashew nuts
2cups Milk
1/2cup Milkmaid
1/2tsp Cardamom powder
Few saffron strands

Heat the butter in microwave safe bowl and roast the cashew nuts for 2 minutes, take off the cashew nuts and add the semiya to the same bowl and cook for 2 minutes until they get slightly roasted...Add the milk and milkmaid together in an another microwave bowl and heat for 3 minutes in high(give a stir in between), add the roasted semiya to the hot milk and cook for 10-15minutes until they get well cooked(stir atleast twice while cooking) finally add the roasted cashew nuts, cardamom powder and saffron strands to the hot semiya paayasam, give a stir and serve hot or cold ..