Jb's fragrant rice

Rice
Basmati or long grain : 1 cup : 2 cups water or chicken/ vegetable stock
Oil, butter or ghee 1 tbs
Onion brown, 1 medium, thinly sliced
Dry spices :-
1-2 bay leaves
2 cloves whole
4 black peppercorns whole
1 black or 2 green cardamoms, crushed a bit
1/2 inch cinnamon
Red chilli powder or chopped green chillies (optional)

Green peas
Chopped cashew or almond (optional)
Sultanas (optional)

Pre-cooked  additions: (optional)
Cooked chicken/ meat, shredded, optional
Steamed/boiled veggies

Garnish:
Boiled eggs, optional
Coriander, chopped

Wash rice thoroughly, drain and allow to dry in colander for 30 mins-1 hour.
Heat ghee/oil/butter in rice pan/saucepan. Once hot, add dry spices and fry for a minute. Add onions and fry till slightly caramelised and soft. Add rice and with a slotted spoon - prevents grains from breaking - fry rice while stirring till all of it is coated with ghee and shiny (5 mins or so).

Add water/stock - (peas here if adding) - give one stir and bring to boil on high heat. As soon as it boils, turn down heat to lowest, cover with lid and cook for 20 mins exactly. Turn off

Add chicken and/or veggies, chuck coriander on top, decorate with boiled eggs and you're done. 

Palak paneer (Cottage cheese/ricotta in creamy spinach gravy)

21 September 2009

They say that if you were force-fed spinach as a child, you probably wouldn't like it as an adult. Despite the force-feeding though, spinach is another vegetable -- like pumpkin -- I've started enjoying and appreciating more as an adult.

Palak paneer* is one of my favourite dishes, easy to cook and very easy on the stomach as well. For those who are weight conscious, it couldn't get better than this dish: Lots of green, cheese that doesn't make you feel guilty. For moms who find it hard to feed anything remotely leafy to their kids, this is a good option since they don't see the leaves in this dish and it's very creamy, which I'm told kids like.

(*Palak = spinach; paneer = Indian cottage cheese)

Like most Indian recipes, there are different ways to make palak paneer. Since most of those recipes involve frying the paneer and adding cream, I don't really enjoy them. I've also found that in the popular recipes, the spinach base can turn out to be bitter. Even if this sounds like blowing my own trumpet, I enjoy making and eating my version of palak paneer the best.

I use very little oil (1 TBS), don't fry the paneer and have found that my spinach base is much creamier -- without using any cream -- than the other versions on the net. Try it, you'll like it.

JB Special: Palak paneer (Ricotta/ cottage cheese in creamy spinach gravy)

Serves: 4

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Try this with: Bread or rice

INGREDIENTS

Cottage cheese/ ricotta/tofu 300-500 gms

Spinach leaves 160-200 gms (I use baby/English spinach, works just as fine as the big-leafed variety found in India)

Garlic 4 cloves

Cloves 2-3

Cardamom 1

Black peppercorns 4 (optional)

Bay leaves 2

Onion 1 large, finely chopped

Ginger 1", grated

Salt to taste

Oil 1 TBS

NOTES

It's imperative that you wash spinach and all leafy vegetables very thoroughly. There's often mud and insects hiding between the leaves. A good way to wash leafy greens is to soak them in enough water and let them sit for 10-15 minutes. This way the mud and dirt washes off the leaves and settles at the bottom of your washing bowl/bucket. Gently pull out the leaves, throw the dirty water and rinse the leaves again in running water.

METHOD

1. Cut your paneer, ricotta or tofu into small cubes, cover with a wet cloth and keep aside.
2. Spinach gravy base: Put the washed spinach leaves, garlic, cloves, cardamom and peppercorns in a deep saucepan (with lid). Fill with just enough water to cover the spinach, put the lid on and cook the spinach for 15-20 minutes. Once done, drain the leaves and spices in a colander/sieve, keep the water aside and allow it to cool slightly. Blend the spinach leaves (with garlic and spices) in a blender to form a smooth paste. Your spinach gravy base is ready.
3. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Once its hot, add the bay leaves and saute for a minute.
4. Add onions and grated ginger and fry till onions are golden. (If you are not using onion, saute the grated ginger for a minute, taking care not to burn it)
5. Add 1 TSP (heaped) salt, mix well and add the spinach paste. The paste could be thick, add about 1/2-1 cup of the spinach water that you've kept aside earlier.
6. Mix well and cook, on high heat, stirring intermittently, till the gravy boils. (For those who like it spicy, you can add chilli powder.)
7. Once spinach paste boils, reduce heat, add the paneer/ricotta/tofu, gently mix it in and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Taste to see if it needs salt and add (or not) accordingly.

Your palak paneer is ready. You can garnish it with a teaspoon of cream or butter. Wasn't that simple? Try the dish and let me know if you like it.

Aloo poshto

7 September 2009

Poppy seeds* -- or poshto in Bengali and khus-khus in Hindi/Punjabi/Marathi -- have been used as an ingredient in cooking and herbal treatment for long. A little research revealed an interesting history behind the use, which you can read here.

For me, aloo-poshto has been part of the standard vegetarian meals that Ma served. Partnered with dhal/daal (from red lentils) served with slit green chillies and a dash of lime, and very tasty begun bhaaja (thick slices of eggplant, deep fried in mustard oil); this was usually a Sunday lunch. Given that the daal-aloo-poshto-bhaaja combo was usually followed by a tasty mutton dish -- Pa couldn't do without his meat -- aloo-poshto has always been a highlight for me.

The first time I made this dish in Australia, many wondered if, "Poppy seeds! Oh my god, opium...does this make you high?" The answer, (un)fortunately is, no it doesn't. Apparently it's only the 'natural' poppy seeds that give you a buzz if ingested. However, there are discussion threads on the Internet on how eating poppy seeds can give you a negative blood test (opiates found in the blood) and there have also been news reports on people getting addicted to poppy seed tea. Rest assured though, this dish does not give you a high -- only a gastronomical one -- and trust me on that, I've tried. ;)

My first experiment with cooking poshto was a disaster. Unless using on a bagel or in cakes/pastries, Indian cooking usually involves the poppy seeds to be finely grinded. And let me tell you the bloody things are very resistant to blenders/mixers. I learnt it the hard way when the first time I cooked aloo-poshto, it neither looked nor tasted anything like Ma's. No matter what the class or quality of your blender at home, keep a mortar-pestle ready to grind these seeds to get a perfect dish. The rest of it is fairly simple.

* Can be bought at any Indian specialty store, or most supermarkets also stock it

**The poppy seeds in India are white, while in Australia, I'm using the black ones; works the same way.

Aloo-poshto (diced potatoes in poppy seed paste)

Serves: 4

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes, on low heat, covered

Try this with: Steamed rice or hot chapatis

INGREDIENTS

Poppy seeds 4 TBS

Green chillies 4-6, depending on how hot you want it; 2 should be slit lengthwise

Potatoes 5-6 medium sized, diced small

Kalonji or onion seeds 1/2 TSP

Mustard/vegetable oil 2 TBS

Sugar 1/2 TSP

Turmeric poweder 1/2 TSP

Salt to taste

NOTES

1. As mentioned, poppy seeds are tough to grind into a fine paste. Prior to grinding, soak the seeds in hot water for 30 minutes. Keep a couple tablespoons of the water aside, drain the rest. In your blender, grind the seeds along with four of the green chillies. Take the resulting paste out and hand-grind them again in the mortar-pestle. The paste should be as fine as possible and should be slightly frothy.
2. In case you prefer to dice the potatoes earlier, place them in salted water to prevent them from blackening (happens due to oxidising). When cooking, drain them well before adding to the hot oil; water in hot oil splutters a lot.

METHOD

1. Heat the mustard oil in a wok/frying pan till it smokes.
2. Add the onion seeds/kalaunji and fry for 2 minutes till the seeds pop.
3. Add the diced potatoes and fry for 5-8 minutes. You need to stir intermittently to avoid the potatoes sticking to the sides of the pan. The spuds are ready once they are browned and somewhat softer.
4. Now add the poppy seed-chilli paste with half a cup of water and mix well to coat all the potatoes with the paste.
5. Add salt, sugar and turmeric, mix well and fry for another 3 minutes.
6. Cover the wok/pan and cook over low heat till the potatoes are done (should be soft).
7. While you cook the spuds, keep checking and scraping the paste off the sides as it can get somewhat sticky.
8. Once the potatoes soften, cook uncovered to dry out any water and scrape off the paste from the sides.

Serve hot with the JB special daal/dhal and steamed rice. And yes, I do look forward to your comment and food stories, so please keep them coming. If you try this and like it, leave a testimonial...if something goes wrong, feel free to ask. If you have aloo-poshto stories, I'd love to hear them! Share people...