Palak Paneer, Evolution.

There has been a blog about Palak Paneer 4 years back,
http://rpcooks.blogspot.de/2010/09/taste-of-nature-palak-paneer.html
but, 4 years is a very very long time in this age of culinary evolution. I also felt that as an experimentalist, it is quite important to try out new variations to attain higher flavor profiles without destroying the base. Hence, this version of Palak Paneer is a bit modified than its predecessor.

What I offer here is home cooking, not fine dining. So it is very important to have a high power blender that can blend in your whole spices. Alternatively, one can use pre-blended spice mix and a normal blender to attain similar results. Since I believe in not wasting anything, the blended sauce is not sieved to obtain silkiness.

Moving on to the procedure - 

1. Make your own Paneer (fresh cheese from milk) - This is a very simple procedure. Boil 1ltr high fat content milk and just as it begins to rise, add few table spoons of lemon juice and simmer down the heat. The lemon juice will incorporate a mild tanginess to the Paneer and this will taste much better that using vinegar. Once the milk is split, immediately filter it through a fine cloth (muslin is the best, however fine cotton towels also work) and squeeze it dry. Bring the cheese together within the towel and wrap it inside. Place a heavy pan filled with water over the folded towel and let it rest for 2 hours. The Paneer will get pressed and it will be easier to cut it into cubes! Freeze for later use or refrigerate for immediate use.

2.  Blanch 1 kg fresh spinach - Oh yes, please use fresh spinach! Removes the leaves from the bunch and wash them well. Drop them for 4-5 minutes in boiling water and then transfer them immediately to cold water. Squeeze them to remove the water and set aside.

3. The sauce - Melt 25g of butter is a skillet and add the whole spices (3 pods cardamom without skin, 1 tsp regular cumin, 1/2 tsp black cumin, 3 cloves, half a finger size of cinnamon and half a star anise). Saute for a minute and add finely minced garlic and ginger (according to taste), 2 finely chopped onions (medium sized, just 1 if big) and a few green chilies. Add salt to taste and close skillet with a lid. Allow the onions to sweat in medium heat. When the onions are almost cooked, add 1 (big) finely chopped tomato and 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro. Stir and close the skilled and allow the mixture to get cooked well. Once the tomatoes are cooked, transfer the contents to a blender along with the blanched spinach and blend till smooth. Add 2 to 3 tsp of hot water during blending to get a good consistency and transfer to a serving bowl. Top it off with cubes of Paneer and mix it in!

4. To Note - Instead of whole spices, one can also use "garam masala". Replace chilies with black pepper pods if chilies seem very spicy. A little sugar can be used to balance the sauce if necessary. Cream is totally unnecessary! 

The taste of nature, Palak Paneer

There should be something that comes close to how Nature would taste. Well, people would suggest to eat raw vegetables or eat a carrot that has just been dug up from earth seconds ago. Agreed. But then, there should also be something that will taste as fresh as nature even after cooking. Words are lost in translation and similarly, flavors are lost during cooking. The final palatable dish is a conjuncture of new flavors and not the initial and most of the times we never complain, because that is what we want! Palak Paneer is one subtle item where you want the initial flavor to remain and not get a different modified taste. When you eat a mouth full of palak paneer, you should realize the taste of "green" and the taste of "milk" and there should be nothing else gaudy. There should be no oil oozing out, there should be no spice dominance, it should be green, lush and smooth.

Too many rules eh?! The fascinating fact about cooking palak paneer is, just keep the procedure simple to attain the best result. There is no strain, no hurry. But there needs to be the willingness to get it right.A little science, frying in oil will result in change in flavor and color. And a little irony, oil has to be used anyways!

Clean the fresh palak leaves (Blatt spinat in German) and remove the thick stems. Boil water in a huge vessel and add the uncut leaves to it (remember, add only when the water is boiling). The leaves will get cooked in just over 3 minutes. Drain the water and transfer the cooked leaves to a blender. Don't start blending yet.

Heat just a tablespoon of oil in a pan and saute finely chopped onions, just one small garlic and a similarly sized ginger. Add chopped green chili to this if a little hotness is required. Once the onions are sublime, transfer the contents to the blender and blend along with the spinach to a very fine smooth consistency. Keep aside.

To a cup of water, add cumin powder, coriander powder, a little red chili powder and a drop of turmeric. Mix well, keep it watery and not make into a paste. Heat a little more than half a teaspoon of oil in a pan. Add into it broken cloves(2), slit cardamom(2) and very little cinnamon. Now add the cumin+coriander+chili water into this and allow to cook on medium heat. Add some hand crushed dried kasoori methi (fenugreek) to this. Now transfer the blended spinach mixture into this, wash the blender with little milk to transfer the still sticking spinach. Never increase the heat beyond medium, the slower the cooking, the better. Add fresh cubes of paneer (cottage cheese) into this and allow simmer for a few minutes before taking it off the heat.

More than the do's, there are many do not's in cooking this! Well, experimentalists can always ignore these, but a perfectionist can appreciate. Do not add fried paneer cubes. Do not fry the spice powders directly in oil. Do not use more than few pieces of whole spices. Do not over load garlic. Do not add cashews and raisins. Do not add mint leaves and tomatoes. Oh, and in case I have failed to mention, palak paneer should be green!

When Deutchland went ole ole ole, I went chole chole chole!

Trusting my memory, I can say that this has been the dish of my life until now. It was the first north Indian dish I got introduced to and the most relished too. There was a chat corner near Vitan. Where Rex fashions stands now, previously was a ladies garments outlet and Vitan was spread into three huge sections, the basement with groceries, a fancy store and one huge floor with toys. I just couldnt stop remembering all this. Near Vitan, stood this chat corner which was managed by a Mallu family. It was the source of Chole or Channa masala for us. I remember the countless days I have taken a pathiram (vessel) from home to take home the chole. We never liked packing the hot stuff in polythene. Invariably any amount that was bought was never sufficient and Amma and Appa had to always part from their shares to satisfy the hungry looking eyes of their two little foodies. Never without a scold though!

When Amma started making this at home, she would first serve me the boiled channa with excess of the water in which it was boiled in. It tastes divine. Maximum of 10 channas in a cup of the hot protein extract. It was the method to stop me nagging her when she was cooking and I never complained because I just love the channa water soup! And yes, I was very choosy about the type of channa used. For me, it has to be the white channa (chick peas or garbanzo) and never used to like the brown (coated) ones. 

Yet another fascinating thing about this channa masala is that it goes well with just about anything. Be it pulao or just steamed rice, naan, roti, poori, samosa, cutlets and imaginations extended. Just fill a bowl with hot chole with raw onion garnish and eat, it is still fantastic. I also feel that channa masala is one of those dishes that can be made in variety of way and every method can be as tasty as the other. What ever the method is going to be, the spices added into this can still remain a constant. My channa masala consists of the following: coriander powder, cumin powder, chili powder, turmeric powder, amchur powder, pomegranate seed powder and a slight hint of pepper.

I am now going to put forth three methods that I follow to make channa masala is different tastes. They are only mind variants, but will make quite a difference to the taste. The first one is the ever conventional way. After spluttering whole garam masala (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf), finely chopped onions (with chopped garlic and ginger) are sauted and finely chopped tomatoes are added to this. Right after the addition of tomatoes, the channa masala mix (the one mentioned in the above paragraph) is added and allowed to cook well until the tomatoes and onions become a gravy and till the oil separates. Now, the boiled channa is added into this and water is adjusted according to preferred consistency and the cooking vessel is closed for a few minutes to allows the channa to swim and get adjusted to the spicy environment. 

Variant two is to add fresh cream at this stage and then garnish. For variant three, before adding the channa into the spicy onion-tomato gravy, well beaten curd is added and to this yogurt gravy, the channa is added and allowed to simmer for a few minutes. Garnish with your imagination, coriander leaves and raw onions.

The channa masala without cream or yogurt can receive an additional garnish with fresh lemon juice.

The picture below is the usual chole. I will add pictures of other variants soon!
*written from i pod when traveling from Düsseldof to Mülheim!

Wicket in the first ball, Malai kofta!

Not to get confused with the title, the dish wasnt a failure, it was in fact a huge delight! I used this metaphor for comparison because, the look on the bowlers face when he strikes the wicket in his very first ball, will tell his exhilaration. This was exactly how I felt when my friends masticated the soft kofta and let out a soft moan, wow.

For a long time I have been wanting to cook this. Ever since the first time I ate this in Sangeetha, Mylapore, whenever mom would ask me what to cook, my instantaneous reply would be Malai Kofta. Well, I didnt get it ever time I asked for it, because, if I had, then I would have probably been in rehabilitation for reducing my obesity. It is sure one of the rich dishes. And only when you are seldom exposed to it, the mystery stays intact! 

Malai kofta is not sweet. I dont understand why some restaurants make it sweet. At least my opinion, which Tez also is stubborn about is that, Malai kofta tastes better when it is hot and spicy. After coming to Germany, I have loved this dish at Taj Mahal, Bochum. Every time I enter the restaurant, Jagadeesan know exactly what I would order and he would throw in an extra Batura and raita in for me and say it is on the house. Spicy and hot Malai kofta!!

I steam cooked the vegetables when I was cooking the rice in the electrical cooker. Potatoes, carrots, beans and peas. Then peeled the potatoes and shredded them. Carrot was also shredded, peas added directly and beans was cut into small pieces. The important thing to keep in mind is that, these vegetables should not be over boiled and dripping with water. Excess water can be removed by squeezing them in a muslin cloth, but then, this is for people who overshoot the water limit or over boil or use a pressure cooker to boil the vegetables. So, advises apart, then came the shredding of paneer into this. Not too much, not too less! And then went in chopped green chillies, coriander powder, cumin powder, few raisins and roasted cashew. Of course, the right amount of salt too! It is funny when cooks quantasise ingredients like half table spoon of cumin, one tea spoon of salt and the likes. The best is to feel connected to what you are cooking, then you will by yourself realize the quanta! So, after everything was in, I smashed it together. Even when I was doing this, I knew that the koftas were in the right consistency and would not break up. Vimal was eager to help, so he sat down patiently to make nice kofta balls and roll them in all purpose flour.

When this was getting done, I cooked onions and tomatoes in oil, put them into a blender and made a fine puree. After spluttering whole spices (cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves), I added some ginger-garlic paste, followed by the puree and into this puree went in turmeric and red chilli powder. Once I was satisfied that the red chilli powder would have got cooked in the puree, I added thick cream into this. By then, Tez had finished frying the koftas in oil. They were soft and ready to fraternize with the hot malai sauce. In the went and the a few leaves of dhania to commemorate the delicious union! 

Fascinations one, Mutter Paneer

There are a few dishes that have fascinated me. Some for their simplicity and some for their exotic preparation style. Mutter Paneer is the one which fills in the former but with a taste in the latter. Many times I have ordered this in the restaurants, in various restaurants and even in various countries and as far as I can remember, the best one has been in a Dhabba in Mount road, Chennai. I have tried to make this at home in Germany and invariable, during my initial trials, the taste has not been up to my expectation and this was until on 4th June when I first mastered this preparation and the second time on 11th June with I repeated the performance for a bigger group of friends.

My initial attempts were catastrophic due to some misunderstandings in concepts and my stubbornness in not referring to any preparation method. But this time, I studied various methods and the chef in me guided me towards the fantastic final result. First of all, there are a few pointers. Using fresh green peas (Mutter) is the best. Frozen green peas are good, but tinned peas is a strict NO! Secondly and importantly, using premixed garam masala powder spoils the taste. Thirdly, adding cream will spoil the taste. It will kill the dish. Finally, forget frying the paneer. Use is fresh, use it raw. There was one improvisation which I saw, adding mint leaves to the preparation. I wouldn't recommend this at all, for according to me, it defiles the sanctity of the dish. You lose the color and the taste of peas is lost admist the strong mint.

"I soaked the peas in boiling water and allowed them to get cooked as much as it could on its own. Did not pressure cook or put it further in the heat. Whilst cooking onions and tomatoes together, turmeric was the only additive apart from salt which is required. Some people add cashew nuts to this to get a thick gravy, but trust me, do not do this. After blending this finely in a blender, I poured this over sauteed  whole spices (cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves) and added to it cumin powder, coriander powder, chili powder and crushed dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi) and immediately added the peas after straining the water off it. The peas now got completely cooked in this gravy. The most important thing is to cook this on slow heat until the oil separates from the gravy and at this point I added the paneer, cut in cubes. Mixed it slowly and cooked it just for a few minutes."

Mutter paneer can be made extra hot (more chili), but dont make it extra spicy!