Spinach Paneer
Posted: September 25, 2011 Filed under: food, indian, vegetarian Leave a comment »
recipe from Curried Favors
paneer:
2 quarts whole milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
Heat milk in a large, deep pot over medium heat. As soon as it reaches full boil and foams up, remove from heat. Milk will split into curds and whey.
Pour the contents into cheesecloth placed in a colander. When cool, squeeze out excess liquid. Flatten cheese into a disc and set on a baking sheet. Put a heavy book or weight on it and leave it for 2 hours at room temperature to flatten it.
Though it’s a bit more time consuming, I cook my cheese cubes in a nonstick skillet with a little oil. I don’t like using the oil it takes to deep fry, and I tend to ruin it if I don’t cook it in a nonstick skillet.
spinach paneer:
1 recipe paneer
20 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess liquid
1 green chili, split lengthwise
1 t salt
1 cup thinly sliced onion
3 T vegetable oil
1 t minced garlic
1 t minced ginger
1 c chopped tomatoes, fresh or canned, drained
1 t salt
spice mixture:
1 t ground coriander
1 t ground cumin
1/4 t ground turmeric
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/4 c water
1 c water
1/4 t garam masala
Prepare paneer at least 2 hours ahead.
Over medium heat, cook spinach and chili and 1 t salt for about 5 minutes (I skipped this step and cooked the chili with the onions and garlic, then added the spinach at the end). Set aside.
Fry onion over medium-high heat until edges are browned. Add garlic and ginger and fry for another minute or so. Add tomatoes and 1 t salt, and fry until tomato pieces begin to break up.
Add the spice mixture and stir for a minute. Add 1/4 c water and continue to fry until tomato pieces have softened and broken up.
Stir in spinach. Add 1 c water and paneer and simmer until water is absorbed. Stir in garam masala and remove from heat.
Tastes better the next day 
polenta: simple is best
Posted: September 23, 2011 Filed under: food, vegetarian Leave a comment »
I love polenta. I don’t know what it is about it. Maybe I just enjoy mushy foods, like this and oatmeal. For a smaller portion than what it usually described on a package, boil 3 cups of water with a bit of salt, slowly add 1 cup of polenta (corn grits, whatever they’re called), and stir it until it thickens up to your liking, which is usually too long. But it’s worth it. Dab with a bit of butter or parmesan. Or go crazy and have both.
TOFU
Posted: September 18, 2011 Filed under: food, tofu, vegan, vegetarian Leave a comment »The more tofu I eat, the more I want to eat tofu. Sometimes I sit and fantasize about certain foods, usually those involving chocolate or sugar (though I’m a regular oatmeal fantasizer…). It would be nice if these fantasies would include what most would consider a ‘healthy’ food. This probably will never happen, but the fact that I actually want to eat foods like tofu and kale is enough.
Anyway, I braised some tofu a couple of times recently. One time it was really good, the other not so much. Soy sauce is really, really salty. Use caution. Also, the first time I made it with tofu from Central Soyfoods in Lawrence, KS (just a short trip from KC), the other time I used the Whole Foods brand. Sorry WF, but I am not privy to your tofu.
It looks pretty, though:
Here is a specific recipe for braising liquid from Ken Hom’s Chinese Kitchen, but I use more or less of some things depending on what I have. I omitted the sugar completely. If you use tofu, it’s best to leave it in the liquid overnight or for a few hours before actually cooking it.
3.75 c stock
3.75 c dark soy sauce
1.75 c light soy sauce
1.25 c Shaoxing rice wine
1 c sugar
5 whole star anise
5 pieces cinnamon bark or sticks
3 T cumin seeds
tofu or meat
The actual recipe was for chicken. For that, mix the liquid then bring to a simmer. Add the chicken and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, cover with a tightly fitting lid and let sit for about an hour. It’s tasty. For the tofu, I marinate it for a while, then simmer for about 20 minutes. It’s good if you add sweet potatoes and take it off of the heat when they are cooked through. Cornstarch is also good to add at the end if you want a thicker sauce.
The first time around I made the recipe above with chicken, then used the leftover liquid to braise the tofu. The picture from above was made sans meat products. Maybe that’s why it didn’t taste as good.
I need a cookie.
I welcome myself to the blogging community!
Posted: September 16, 2011 Filed under: soup, vegan, vegetarian | Tags: carrots, coconut milk, curry, dinner, food, garilc, ginger, lunch, shallots, soup, sweet potatoes, vegan, vegetarian Leave a comment »I made this sweet potato soup last night, and was pretty happy with it considering I just threw some food in a pot and cooked it for a while. I did do some googling for inspiration, but I had a pretty good idea what I wanted. It went a little something like this:
- 2 medium sweet potatoes
- 1 – 2 carrots
- 2 shallots
- lots of garlic (the husband is sick)
- some ginger for good measure (again, sick husband)
- maybe 2 1/2 teaspoons madras curry powder
- 1 1/2 cups of coconut milk, more or less
- the last of the broth that’s been at the back of the refrigerator for what is probably an unsafe amount of time
- some water, which depends on how much of the other liquid you have (do you want soup or baby food?)
- salt and pepper
- cilantro is a good garnish
Grind all ingredients with a mortar and pestle. Eat.
Just kidding. Chop up your vegetables and put them in a pot of hot oil. I like to cook mine until they get nice and brown and crispy. Add the curry powder and stir it all up. Add just enough broth or water so that you can scrape all of the good stuff off of the bottom of the pan. Add the coconut milk and the rest of the broth. Initially, I think I used about a cup of broth. Bring the soup to a boil, then simmer until the potatoes are nice and mushy. If you are lucky enough (I am!) to have an immersion blender, now is the time to use it. Otherwise, puree the soup in a food processor or blender, but be careful. I cannot stress this enough. Thick, scalding mush on your body hurts. IT HURTS. Once your soup is nice and silky, check the thickness, saltiness, flavor, etc. to see if you need to make any additions. Unfortunately, you cannot make any subtractions at this point. Don’t worry, it’s not necessary.
