Indian Dinner

My sister Paula had a little time between her wedding/honeymoon and starting her new job (with a Ph.D. - my little sis is amazing!) and was doing some cooking that intrigued me.  I'm excited to try all this out - especially homemade naan . . . that sounds incredible!  I asked her to share her recipes with us as a guest blogger:

I recently was looking for books to read on vacation and just as I turn to this blog for cooking ideas, I turned to Rebecca’s “Shelfari” page for book suggestions.  As a result, I just finished reading “Secret Daughter” by  Shilpi Somaya Gowda.  Part of the book takes place in India and one of the characters mentions that any 12 year-old  Indian girl can make Saag Paneer without a recipe.  I figured if a 12 year old can do it without a recipe I certainly could do so with a recipe.  (Note: this logic has gotten me in trouble before, like the time I came home from school and announced that I was going to make a buche de noel/Yule log because if Julia Child can do it, I can do it, but that’s a whole other blog post).  I then thought of how my friend Ashlee made Naan the first time I met her (good first impression) and I recollected a recipe for “Tandoorish” chicken in a cookbook I received from Rebecca several Christmases ago. Thus, I set out on an adventure creating my first Indian meal. 

The process was a bit time consuming but pretty easy and the fruit of my labor was super tasty.  I was most proud of the fact that I made my own cheese! You can buy paneer at an Asian grocery store but making it will make you feel like a rock star so I recommend giving it a try.  

Paneer (Indian Cheese)

From foodnetwork.com

Cheesecloth

8 cups whole milk

¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more as needed

Line a large colander with a large double layer of cheesecloth, and set it in your sink. In a large wide pot, bring the milk to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring frequently to avoid burning the bottom.  This will take a little while so be patient.

Add the lemon juice and turn the heat down to low. Stirring gently, you should almost immediately see the curds (white milk solids) and whey (the greenish liquid) separate. (if milk doesn’t separate juice some more lemons an add another tablespoon or two.  Boost the heat gain and the milk should separate.)

Stir in a motion that gathers the curds together rather than breaks them up.

Remove the pot from the heat and carefully pour the contents into the cheesecloth-lined colander.  Gently rinse with cool water to get rid of the lemon flavor.  

Grab the ends of the cheesecloth and twist the ball of cheese to squeeze out the excess whey.  Tie the cheesecloth to your kitchen faucet and allow the cheese to drain for about 5 minutes.  

Twisting the ball to compact the cheese into a block, place it on a plate with the twisted part of the cheesecloth on the side and set another plate on top. Weigh the second plate down with cans of beans or a heavy pot.  Move to the refrigerator and let it sit about 20 minutes.

Saag Paneer (serves 4)

From foodnetwork.com

1 tsp turmeric

½ tsp cayenne

Kosher salt

3 tbsp plus 1½ tbsp vegetable oil

12 oz paneer, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 (16 oz) package frozen chopped spinach

1 (1-inch) thumb ginger, peeled and minced (about 1 tbsp)

4 cloves garlic minced

1 lg green Serrano chile, finely chopped (seeds removed if you don’t like it spicy)

½ tsp garam masala

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

½ cup plain yogurt, stirred until smooth

In a large bowl, whisk together the turmeric, cayenne, 1tsp salt, and 3 tbsp oil. Gently drop in the cubes of paneer and gently toss, taking care not to break the cubes. Let the cubes marinate while you get the rest of your ingredients together and prepped.

Thaw the spinach in the microwave, 5 minutes on high, then puree in a food processor until smooth, alternatively you can chop it up very finely with your knife (I skipped the food processor step, it’s a matter of texture). 

Place a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, and add paneer as the pan warms.  In a couple of minutes give the pan a toss; each piece of paneer should be browned on one side. Fry another minute or so, and then remove the paneer from the pan onto a plate.

Add the remaining 1 ½ tbsp oil to the pan. Add onions, ginger, garlic, and chile. Saute the mixture until it is evenly toffee colored, which should take about 15 minutes (this is the foundation of the dish, don’t rush this step). If you feel like the mixture is drying out and burning, add a couple tbsps of water.

Add the garam masala, coriander, and cumin. If you haven’t already, sprinkle a little water to keep the spices from burning.  Cook, stirring often for 3-5 minutes.

Add the spinach and stir well, incorporating the spiced onion mixture into the spinach. Add a little salt and ½ cup of water, stir, and cook about 5 minutes with the lid off.

Turn off the heat and add yogurt a little at a time to keep it from curdling. Once the yogurt is well mixed into the spinach, add the paneer. Turn the heat back on, cover, and cook until everything is warmed through, about 5 minutes. Serve with naan!

Naan (6 pieces) *I will double this next time I make it

Foodnetwork.com

1 tsp active dry yeast

2 tsps sugar

2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 tsp fine sea salt

1/8  tsp baking powder

3 tbsps plain yogurt

2 tbsps extra virgin olive oil

Melted butter for finished naan

Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Note: you can make GF naan by substituting 2 ¼ c of gf all purpose flour mix for the regular flour plus 1 ¼ tsps of xanthum gum. When it is time to roll it out try pressing the dough with fingertips rather than rolling

In a large glass, dissolve the dry yeast and 1 tsp sugar with ¾ cup warm water (about 100 degrees F). Let it sit on your counter until its frothy, about 10 minutes (I accidently put all my sugar in at this step but it turned out fine).

Meanwhile, mix the flour, salt, remaining 1tsp of sugar and baking powder into a large deep bowl.

Once the yeast is frothy, add the yogurt and the olive oil into the glass, and stir to combine.  Pour the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients and gently mix the ingredients together with a fork. When the dough is about to come together, use your hands to mix until it transforms into a soft, slightly sticky and pliable dough.  As soon as it comes together, stop kneading. Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and let it sit in a warm draft-free place for 2-4 hours.

  

When you are ready to roll, make sure you have two bowls, one with extra flour and one with water. The dough should be extremely soft and sticky.  Separate the dough into 6 equal portions and lightly roll each one in the bowl of extra flour to keep them from sticking to each other.

Shape the naan, using a rolling pin roll each piece of dough into a tear drop shape, narrower at the top than at the bottom.  It should be 8-9 inches long, 4 inches wide at its widest pint and ¼ inch thick.  

Once you’ve formed the general shape you can also pick it up by one and wiggle it to stretch it out a little.  Repeat with rest of the dough.  Warm a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until it’s nearly smoking.  Make sure you have a lid large enough to fit the skillet and have a bowl of melted butter ready.

Dampen your hands in the bowl of water and pick up one of your naans. Flip-flopping it from one hand to the other to lightly dampen it.  Gently lay it in the skillet. The dough should start to bubble. After about 1 minute, flip the naan. It should be blistered and somewhat blackened.  Cover the skillet with the lid and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute more.

Remove the naan from the skillet, brush with a bit of butter and sprinkle with a little coars sea salt. Place the naan in a tea towel-lined dish. Repeat with the rest of the naan and serve.

Tandoor(ish) Chicken (serves 4)

“The food you want to eat” by Ted Allen

The marinade smelled so delicious I wanted to eat it straight out of the blender…super easy and delicious chicken dish I will definitely make again. 

Marinade

½ medium onion, quartered

3 medium garlic cloves

2 inch piece of fresh ginger peeled

Juice of ½ lemon (about 1 tbsp)

½ cup plain yogurt

½ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp ground turmeric

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper

pinch of ground cardamom

Chicken

1½ to 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut crosswise 1½ to 2 inches thick

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 lemon or line cut into wedges for serving

Combine all of the marinade ingredients in a blender and puree (I used my new nutribullet, it worked great!). Pour out into a glass baking dish. Add the chicken and stir to coat. Add the flour and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat charcoal or gas grill. Just before you’re ready to cook the chicken add the oil to the chicken mixture and stir. Lightly oil the grate with folded paper towels drizzled with oil.  Heat up grate for a few minutes until it has reached medium high heat (when you can hold your hand 5 inches above the grate for about 3 seconds) and place the chicken on the grill. Cook until browned on both sides, 8 to 10 minutes total. Serve with lemon or lime wedges.

Our Easter Activities

We didn't quite get to everything on our Easter activity list - since the girls had already made empty tomb cookies and since they had a particularly bad attitude on the afternoon we were going to do them, we didn't make the cookies this year.  However, we had fun dying Easter eggs and we made Hot Cross Buns.  The hot cross buns turned out fantastic - it reminded me why baking from a raised yeast dough is so amazing.  They were white flour goodness!  We ate a few, gave some to friends, and unfortunately, the saran wrap got left open and the next morning, they were hard and yucky.  I had ambitions of making bread pudding out of the rolls but let's be honest - I would probably be the one here to eat most of it and I'm trying to get back to my normal shape, not eat loads of bread soaked in cream and eggs.

Hot Cross Buns (made 2 dozen)

1.5 cups boiling water
1/4 cup chilled butter, chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 cup evaporated milk
1 T (2 half ounce packages) active dry yeast
2 large eggs, beaten
5-7 cups bread flour
1 T butter, melted
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

Put chopped butter into a large bowl and pour boiling water over it, stirring until butter is dissolved.  Stir in sugar and salt.  Stir in 1 cup of evaporated milk and let mixture cool until lukewarm (about 95 degrees F).  Keep the rest of the evaporated milk in the can - you can use this to make the icing at the end.

Stir yeast into lukewarm liquid.  Mix in eggs and 4 cups of flour.  Mix in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough.  I think I added about an extra cup and a half.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.  Place dough in a greased bowl and turn it over so that the top is lightly greased.  Cover and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

Punch the dough down and knead for 3 minutes.  Shape the dough into buns.  Set the buns on greased or lined baking sheets (I used Silpat - you can use parchment paper).  Cut a cross into the top of each bun.  I used kitchen shears and made a cut lengthwise and crosswise.  Cover and let them rise for about 30 minutes or until they've doubled in bulk.  Bake at 425 degrees for 7-12 minutes.  Remove buns from the oven and brush with melted butter.  Set on a rack to cool.

Mix confectioner's sugar with enough evaporated milk to make a thick icing (or you can use regular milk).  Ice the cross that you cut into each bun.  Let stand until icing thickens on buns.  Best eaten the same day.

On Easter, we had a great day with family at church and at my parents' house.  My girls wore fancy Easter dresses, had an egg hunt with cousins and really enjoyed the day as well.  Hope you have good Easter memories from 2013 as well!

The bread

I regularly made yeast bread for a few years early in our marriage when I was working from home part of the week and didn't yet have kids.  One day I stopped and I never picked it up again.  I still have my tattered copy of my beloved honey wheat bread recipe that I'd often make but when I decided to make bread again last week, it was with a much easier method.  So easy, in fact, that I was pretty skeptical about how it would turn out.  I found the recipe on Pinterest which made me doubly skeptical.

But, it was amazing!  I've thought about it since and I'm making myself refrain from making it every day because my big ol' belly (and big ol' everything else) doesn't need all that white flour-y goodness every day.  Even if bread intimidates you (and even if you're gone from the house a lot), you can make this.  You don't need to knead, punch it down, or attend to it hardly at all.  You just need an hour and a half or so on the day you're going to serve it to heat your oven and bake it.

The easiest bread ever (yields one round loaf)
from this post  (good photos of each step)

3 cups of flour
1 cup of water
3/4 teaspoon yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 T chopped rosemary and zest of one lemon (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and yeast.  Add water (and rosemary & lemon if you're using it) and mix until a shaggy mixture forms.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 12 - 18 hours.  Overnight works great.  

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  When the oven has reached 450 degrees place a cast iron pot with a lid in the oven and heat the pot for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, pour dough onto a heavily floured surface and shape into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and let set while the pot is heating.  Remove hot pot from the oven and drop in the dough.  Cover and return to oven for 30 minutes.  

After 30 minutes remove the lid and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Remove bread from oven and place on a cooling rack to cool. 

On the blog where the original recipe is posted, she has other flavor combinations (rosemary & gruyere, sharp cheddar, etc).  It seems really versatile and you stir your additions in when you add the water.  Next time, I'd probably leave out the lemon and just go with the rosemary.  My friend was suggesting cranberry and orange or olive with the rosemary - yum!