opportunity knocks

Deborah

The cupboards are wide open and spice jars are everywhere. It is a marathon Indian cooking evening I am sharing with my brother who is visiting from the Dominican Republic. We decided to go spicy because my husband is not going to be home and therefore I won't have to deal with table-side complaints! I have been waiting for a chance to explore some of the recipes on the web site Manjula's Kitchen featuring Indian Vegetarian cooking. In particular I was eager to try the Saag Paneer, one of my favorite spinach dishes of all time. 
My brother and I chose several recipes from the site to sample and got down to business. We wanted to try a bread recipe and a lentil recipe as well. While we kneaded and stirred and grated ingredients we chattered away, catching up on each other's families. My brother lives in Santiago, Dominican Republic with his wife and three boys. He described his first earthquake, the recent one in Haiti, that rocked his world over 150 hundreds miles away. "The ground shook for at least 45 seconds. It was the most alarming, humbling and profoundly disorienting experience I have ever had," he told me. Nothing was damaged, but for his family it was a potent reminder of the forces beyond one's control.

For our cooking marathon we stuck pretty much to the recipes as written, with some minor changes.
The Bread:

The bread recipe called for a filling of cauliflower, but we decided to swap it with grated pumpkin and zucchini instead.

The simple bread dough consists of whole wheat flower and water. It is rolled out, filled with the stuffing and then rolled again. The technique was easy and fun and the filling variations seem endless.

The Saag Paneer:

The saag paneer or palak paneer recipe was a little more complicated and required several steps. Paneer is an Indian cheese that can be made at home. I had some in my freezer and so we used that.

I defrosted the paneer and cut it into cubes. I am not sure if freezing was such a good idea. The texture seemed perhaps a little too chewy.

The cubes of paneer are pan fried till golden brown before being added to the spinach.

To make the spinach you start with tomatoes and spices that are cooked until reduced by half.

The spinach is then added into the pan. The recipe calls for astaftida which adds an oniony flavor. I did not have any so we added a chopped shallot as substitute. For a finishing touch, a mixture of flour and heavy cream is added. We decided the dish still tasted a little raw so we added some water and let it cook down for an extra 15-20 minutes.

The red lentil recipe I ended up making up myself, starting with a paste of ginger, garlic, sugar and scallions that I hand pounded with mortar and pestle. The lentils are cooked in water with this paste until thick. We stirred into the finished lentils the rest of the vegetable filling leftover from the bread and that worked out very well.

Our feast was a great success. As usual, my house filled up with kids as the food hit the table. Everything looked so colorful on the plate. My brother suggested Kingfisher beer as the beverage of choice. We could not find it at the local supermarket, but I will keep an eye out for it when I next hit the Indian markets of Jackson Heights.

Palak Paneer- from Manjula's Kitchen

Palak Paneer is creamy spinach with paneer (indian home made paneer). This is a very popular with youngsters and served in every indian resturant. The creamy texture of spinach with paneer is a very good combination.
Serves 4.
Ingredients:

• 1 10 oz package of chopped frozen spinach or 4 cups of fresh finely chopped spinach
• 1/3 lb paneer
• 2 medium tomatoes, pureed
• 1 teaspoon chopped ginger
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder (dhania)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed (jeera)
• Pinch of asafetida (hing)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tomato thinly sliced to garnish

Method:

1. If using frozen spinach thaw and blend it just for a minute so spinach has a creamy texture but without becoming pasty.
2. blend the tomatoes and ginger to make puree.
3. Mix coriander, turmeric, and red chili with tomato puree and set aside.
4. Mix whole-wheat flour with heavy cream and set aside.
5. Cube the paneer in about half inch pieces and deep fry them on medium high heat just for few minutes so paneer become very light gold in color, take paneer out on paper towel so extra oil can be absorbed.
6. Heat the oil in a saucepan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away it is ready.
7. Add hing and cumin seed. After cumin seeds crack, add the tomato puree mixture, and let it cook for a few minutes until the tomato puree is about half in volume.
8. Add the spinach, and let it cook on low medium heat for about 10 minutes covered.
9. Add heavy cream mixture and let this cook another four to five minutes.
10. Add paneer and fold it gently with spinach and let it simmer for a 2-3 minutes. Pot should remain covered until the cooking is finished, otherwise the spinach will splatter.
11. Transfer the spinach to a serving dish and spread the tomato slices over the top, and cover the dish so tomato slices get tender with the steam from the spinach.

Suggestion
You can replace the heavy cream with 1 1/2 cups of milk.



Gobhi parathas (stuffed cauliflower bread) -from Manjula's Kitchen
Makes 6 parathas.
Ingredients:
Dough:
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup water (Use more as needed)
1/2 teaspoon of salt

• Filling:
  
  
  
  • 2 cup shredded cauliflower
  • 1/2 teaspoon ajwain
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (Jeera)
  • 1 chopped green chili
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (green coriander)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Also needed:
  
  
  
  • 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour for rolling
  • Oil to cook

Method
Dough

1. Mix flour, salt and water together to make a soft dough (if the dough is hard add a little more water). I like mixing the dough by hand.
2. Knead the dough for a few minutes on a lightly greased surface to make a smooth and pliable dough.
3. Set the dough aside and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough rest for at least ten minutes.

Filling

1. Mix all filling ingredients together by hand. After mixing let the filling settle for about 5 minutes. Note: Shred the cauliflower using a shredder (electric or manual). However, do not use a food processor to blend the cauliflower, as the cauliflower will become too moist and hard to work with.
2. Squeeze the cauliflower mix in order to take out as much water as possible.

Making of paratha

1. Divide the dough and cauliflower mixture into 6 equal parts.
2. Roll the dough into 3 inch diameter circles. Put the filling in the center. Seal by pulling the edges of the rolled dough together to make a ball. Proceed to make all six balls.
3. Each ball needs to settle for two minutes before rolling. Note: If you don’t wait long enough the cauliflower mixture will seep through the edges when rolling the parathas.
4. Heat the skillet on medium high. Note: An iron skillet works best. To see if the skillet is ready, put a couple of drops of water on it. If the water sizzles right away, the skillet is ready.
5. To make it easier to roll the balls, first roll them in dry whole-wheat flour.
6. Lightly press the ball on the sealed side and keep it on the topside when rolling. Roll the ball light handed in to 6 inch circles. To reduce the stickiness on the rolling pin or rolling surface, sprinkle dry whole-wheat flour on both side of the semi-rolled paratha.
7. Place the paratha over the skillet. You will see the color change and the paratha will bubble in different places.
8. Then turn the paratha over. Paratha should have golden-brown spots. Wait a few seconds and put 1 teaspoon of oil over paratha and spread the oil on the topside. Flip the paratha and lightly press the puffed areas with a spatula.
9. Flip again and press with the spatula making sure the paratha is golden-brown on both sides.
10. Cool the Parathas on a wire rack so they don’t get soggy.
11. Parathas can be kept outside wrapped in aluminum foil or a cover container for 2 days or they can be refrigerated for 5-6 days (wrapped aluminum foil). To re-heat warm on a skillet or toaster oven.

Amanda
Wow! Sounds amazing. I hope it all came out as wonderful as it sounds! I have to try that bread!! I think your brother had a good idea when he suggested beer with these dishes. There are scores of interesting beers that pair beautifully with Indian food. Beer is often my libation of choice when dining at local "bring-your-own" Indian establishments.


Indian food is absolutely one of my favorite cuisines. Back in my pre-children days I would spend a whole Sunday afternoon preparing Indian dishes. I would start my day in "Little India" in Manhattan buying the necessary ingredients I could not find locally at the time (this was several years ago before international spices starting popping up in regular supermarket chains). The rest of the day would consist of toasting spices, crushing them with a mortar and pestle, and concocting various renditions of curries and vindaloos. Ahhh, back in the day....


One of my favorite wines to enjoy with Indian cuisine is Vouvray, a white from the Loire Valley in France. I LOVE Vouvray. Made from 100% Chenin Blanc, this incredible wine is made in a variety of styles ranging from dry, to sparkling, to sweet. The wines are known for having high acidity. Dry or Sec styles will have more pronounced acidity than the sweeter styles. Vouvray are wonderful when paired alongside rich, hearty dishes.


An off-dry (or slightly sweet) style would be my pick to accompany the spicy flavors of Indian food. This delightful white typically exhibits flavors of nuts, figs and honey. Indian food screams for a wine which is slightly sweet. Definitely avoid high-alcohol wines and very tannic ones as well. These qualities will only serve to exacerbate the heat of the food and will leave your taste buds in shambles. The sweet fruit of Vouvray will soothe the palate mitigating the fiery heat of the food, making it a perfect fit for Indian!


If you are adamant about having red, be sure to choose one that is low in tannins, such as a Pinot Noir or perhaps Beaujolais. Whatever you choose, I'm sure Deb's recipes will be another great hit!

comfort and soy

Deborah

As the days get shorter our thoughts turn to comfort. Comfort food, of course. Now Amanda, I apologize right up front, I'm not talking diet food. Oh no. I am thinking about peanut sauce, gooey and rich and poured over noodles. Peanut sauce takes on all types of shapes and flavors in my kitchen. I never make it the same way twice. Rather, I proceed from a basic plan and improvise as I go. My peanut sauce is an Asian melting pot with my gratitude and apologies to all.

Tonight the peanut sauce was tossed over noodles with some steamed broccoli and some pan fried firm tofu. I like to get the tofu really golden and crispy.

It's about half way there.

I then add to the noodles tons of chopped scallions and julienned cucumber. I love the mixture of all the  crunchy textures glued together with that non-dietetic peanut sauce. The sauce itself usually has ginger, garlic, lime and or lemon juice, jalapeno, sugar, coconut milk and soy sauce. I just throw it all in a pot and let it melt down a bit and start tasting it to adjust the flavor. Oh yeah, and I use Skippy extra chunky peanut butter. I can hear you all groaning. I'm sorry. It tastes really good. Amanda, just skip down to the next paragraph about the kale salad. Ok, I would love to hear anyone's peanut sauce recipe. I tried Daniel Boulud's version and IT WAS NOT GOOD. It really wasn't and he is GREAT. The Malaysian Restaurant Penang on Queens Boulevard makes an AMAZING  peanut sauce that I just love but am too shy to ask for the recipe because if they said no I would probably cry.

It's a white girl from Manhattan's version of peanut sauce over noodles. Yeah that's linguine under there. I said I'm sorry.



Anyway, kale salad, what a concept. Amanda told me about a swanky wine tasting dinner she recently attended that served a salad she believed to be finely minced uncooked kale. Really? She said it was fantastic. Huh, worth a try. I picked up a bunch of stunningly colorful red kale today at Whole Foods and thought I would give the salad a shot.

When you finely mince beef for steak tartar it gets very tender, so perhaps it would work for kale. Perhaps. Kale leaves are particularly tough for a green leafy veg, but if this technique worked, well, how cool? So I tried it, chop chop chop.

I dressed it with white balsamic vinegar and some walnut oil and lots of s & p. And I tasted it. Um, chewy. Really chewy. It didn't taste bad and if you served it to me I would eat it, but I did not get it to the point where I would serve it to you. So I will pursue this concept further and see where it goes.

Peanut Sauce
1 cup of extra chunky peanut butter
3/4 cup of coconut milk
2 cloves of garlic finely minced
1 inch piece of peeled ginger finely minced
2 scallions finely minced
1 jalapeno finely minced
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs sugar

Put all ingredients in a small pot and cook over low heat for 10 minutes untill all the ingredients are blended. taste to adjust seasoning. Store in fridge for a week. Great with everything!

Amanda
You had me at "peanut sauce". Admittedly, it doesn't take much to get me salivating. But I am particularly susceptible to any recipe involving peanut butter, be it main course, salad or dessert. I get weak at just the thought of cold sesame noodles from my local Chinese take-out establishment. I can waive the calorie counting for a night for the occasion of trying out your recipe!

Vouvray is the wine that jumps to mind. One of my favorite whites, I sometimes inadvertantly overlook it. Vouvray is a region in France located in the Loire Valley.  Made from 100% Chenin Blanc, the wine is made in a variety of styles, raging in dry, or sec to the slightly sweeter demi-sec, and much sweeter moelleux. There is an occasion for each style! I would enjoy a richer style with this dish, one which has characteristics of honey, figs and nuts. Vouvray pairs very well with stronly flavored dishes, and I think this combination would be beautiful!

The style and acidity of Vouvray is based on the balance of sugar in the wine. Vouvrays have great ageability, especially the moeulleux style. This is a wine, if you have not yet tried, is definitely worth seeking out. With Deb's peanut sauce, I would definitely lean towards an off-dry, or slightly sweet style. The sweetness of the wine is a fine balance to the zip from the jalapeno, and saltiness from the soy sauce.

Deb, I cannot wait to try this one out! Sounds wonderful and right up my alley!

As for the kale salad, it definitely looks like the one I enjoyed the other night! You mentioned the toughness of kale, and that you chopped away - believe it or not, your pieces are still larger than the ones in my salad! The kale I had was chopped so fine, almost like little strands of confetti. It was so shredded, there was no toughness at all. Just a wonderful crunchiness that gave me the idea that it could not have been blanched. Pine nuts added to the crunchiness as well, and plump somethings (like very large raisins, but I don't know what they were) gave the salad a scrumptuous sweetness and chewy texture. Perhaps I should call the restaurant and investigate this a little!

stepping away

Deborah

When my teenage daughter ventures into the kitchen to cook I often have to remind her that once you start cooking something you have to finish it. You can't walk away and then yell out a quarter of an hour later from another room "Mom, could you flip that grilled cheese sandwich in the pan for me?" Well, you can, but I won't be amused.

Not everything has to be watched so closely however. After the initial setup it is nice to walk away for a while and let applied heat do its thing while delicious aromas waft up occasionally to remind you of what's going on. Jeffery Steingarten, the food writer for Vogue Magazine experimented with cooking dried beans a while back and came up with a method I have fully adopted. I may have strayed from his instructions a bit at this point, but the basic idea applies. Dried beans are placed in a pot, covered with 3 inches of water, brought to a boil, covered, brought down to a simmer and left to cook for about an hour. It works perfectly with white and black beans in particular.

My friend Laura shared with me the secret to her own version of black bean soup where you create a soffritto (slow cooked aromatic vegetables) and add it to the pot of cooked beans and then blend into a puree (for the real fancy pants version of how to make soffritto as Thomas Keller would do it, via a very nice site called The Paupered Chef, click on the above link).

I have combined these two methods for what I will call Laura's Black Bean Soup, a simple, almost walk away recipe that is perfect for a fall day.

As you can see on this cutting board I snuck in some extra vegetables, 

like a chopped up chunk of butternut squash leftover from yesterdays recipe.

My version of soffritto for this recipe is slow cooked onions, garlic, celery, peppers and tomatoes in a scant amount of oil to bring out the flavors. Soffritto is a staple of many cuisines and I use and abuse the concept liberally in my own cooking.

Do black beans have a logical wine companion Amanda?

Laura's Black Bean Soup
1 lbs. dry black beans, rinsed and sorted
1 bay leaf
6 cups of water (or enough to cover beans by three inches)
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, cored and chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons salt
1 lime juiced

Place beans and bay leaf in a large pot and cover with water. Bring pot to a boil, cover tightly and allow to simmer at the lowest temp possible for 1 hour. Check the beans after an hour to see if they are tender and soft. Continue to cook covered if they are not.

Soffritto:
In a saute pan heat the oil and then add the onion, garlic, celery, tomato, jalapenos and bell pepper and slowly cook for at least half an hour till vegetables are soft and translucent and beginning to become like a paste.

When the beans are tender drain them and reserve the cooking liquid. Add half the beans into a food processor, a cup of the cooking liquid and all the soffritto, the chopped cilantro and the salt and blend until smooth. Transfer contents from food processor to a clean pot and add the rest of the beans and enough of the cooking liquid to make a thick soup consistency. Heat till warm and stir in lime juice.

Amanda
Well, this is apropos, because for dinner I just finished what else? Black beans! So, I am in a black bean frame of mind and the timing couldn't be better.  As I ate, although my dinner was quite different than Deb's recipe, I did consider the possibilities of wine partners. Actually, I was sipping a glass of Ciacci di Piccolomini d'Aragona Toscana Rosso (mostly Sangiovese), not because I thought it would go well with my dinner (which, by the way, consisted of my own special black beans, brown rice, a little shredded Mexican cheese blend and chopped pickled jalapenos all rolled up in a tortilla), but because that is what I took home from work today, and have been wanting to try. It's a soft, fruity wine with some subtle hints of spice. Actually, for a red wine pairing with Laura's Black Bean Soup, it wouldn't be bad. However, I would recommend white.


But let me remind you of what I said in an earlier post. Wine and soup do not naturally pair well. It's a tough call. Many would suggest that wine and soup should not be paired. But you are dealing with someone that thinks there is a wine for every food, and thus would not miss the opportunity to discover what the perfect wine for Doritos would be.


This Black Bean soup recipe, with its soffritto, jalapeno and cilantro, has of course ethnic undertones. So, let's call on the whites we look to for "hard-to-match" cuisine. Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Gewurztraminer should be on everyone's "go to" list when they are stumped. (This is a tip, not a steadfast rule). I would definitely pair this soup with something full of fruit; something which has sweetness of fruit, but is not necessarily a "sweet" wine. There is a difference. Wines that are very fruity can sometimes give the impression of sweetness without actually being sweet. I think another good idea would be Vouvray, a wine from the Loire Valley in France made from 100% Chenin Blanc, and one of my favorite whites. 


I've been on a roll now making a different soup everyone Sunday. I'm happy to say I already know what I'm making this week! Thanks, Deb. And Laura too!