Palak Paneer (Spinach Cheese)

Sorry for the super long delay between posts!  So much has happened in the last six months!  Our sweet baby boy turned 1 year old, we took on a huge move from Chicago to Jersey City, I started and left a life changing program for junior youth, my husband began a new job, and we are now just starting to have some normality in our lives.  Cooking has certainly been a large part of these last six months, but documenting and sharing have fallen to the way side.  I'm so very excited to start this back up again and I do hope that those who are following and have tried these recipes will share their experiences!!!  This blog has received an amazing number of hits and I hope it's been helpful!  Some upcoming recipes to look forward to:  Chicken Biryani, Kofta, Kofta Pilau, Urid Ki Daal, Kaddu Ki Sabzi, & Tahari! 

                                     

Palak Paneer (Spinach Cheese) is one of those dishes that almost every American that has tasted Indian/Pakistani food has tried or at least heard about.  It's one of the more popular dishes.  I'm not quite sure if I'm happy with this recipe or not...  something about the cream makes it taste a little different than I'm used to in restaurants.  It's still EXTREMELY mild and definitely something you should make if you are new to the Pakistani cooking realm.  I make it on occasion when I'm craving paneer and spinach.  Paneer is a sort of soft cheese that you should not really try to substitute with any other kind of cheese.  It holds its form while frying, which is an important part of the process.

First, chop & boil 2 pounds of spinach for about 10 minutes.  Drain the water.

Then finely chop 1 small onion.

(How it looks when boiled & drained).

Put in blender and blend into a paste.

Looking good!

In two tablespoons of vegetable/canola oil, and 7 tablespoons of butter (not pictured because I did it wrong in these pictures -- I added mine much later), fry your onions on high heat.

Until they are golden brown (like the above picture).  Add 1 tablespoon of Garlic Paste.  Fry for a couple of minutes on high heat.

Next add your blended spinach, about 1-1.5 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon white pepper, and 1 tablespoon of green chili paste.

I used this sauce instead of the paste once and it didn't make a huge difference, so feel free to use what you can find.  Or blend up some fresh green chilis (maybe 1 or 2).  Cook for about 5 minutes on medium/high heat.

Add 3 teaspoons of corn meal (not corn starch), mix, and cook for another 5 minutes.

                                                 

Add 1 & 1/2 cups of fresh cream (Puck is the brand that we use).  Turn off stove.

 Next cut up about 1 & 1/2 cups of paneer (maybe half a standard block from the store).

Fry on high heat in enough oil to cover the base of the pan.  Or you can deep fry them like I did in the picture...  but really you just need to brown the edges -- so what I did was a little excessive.

You just want to fry them until they are a nice golden color and then quickly take them out and put them on a paper towel.

Like this is good.

Then add the paneer to your sauce and it's good to go!  Eat with naan.  Hope the pictures weren't too confusing :(.  I'll have to swap them out with some updated ones at some point.

Aloo Cholay (Potato Chickpeas)

Some days, you just need to make something quick and easy. That's where Aloo Cholay (Potato Chickpeas) comes in.  People enjoy this during breakfast and sometimes as a side dish.  Meet Shan.  

Shan is your good friend when you either a) don't have a recipe, b) don't feel like using your own spices.  Mine is, unfortunately, the former.  That said, sometimes your friend, Shan, lies to you.  Telling you to use the WHOLE packet (not in this case) or sometimes asking you to do some crazy things that you know in your achi bivi heart are just wrong!!  That's why I'm giving you my side of the story, instead of Shan's.  I'm also going to tell you to add a potato and use a can of cooked chickpeas instead!

Start by getting yourself a 25oz can of garbanzo beans (also known as canned, cooked, chickpeas).  Peel and chop 1 medium sized potato into 1" cubes.

Put in a pot and cover with water (~5 cups?).  Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for approximately 25 minutes.  Drain water.

Finely chop 1 small onion and fry on medium/high heat in enough oil to cover the base of a new, large pan (~1/2 cup).  When lightly browned, add 3 Tablespoons Shan Chana Masala mix and cook for 5 minutes.  Add drained chickpeas/potatoes, and cook for 5-10 minutes.

Serve with naan or paratha!  Enjoy your easy meal!  :)

Chukunder Ghosht (Beetroots w/Goat Meat)

Chukunder Ghosht is quite possibly my favorite goat dish.  Pakistanis eat a lot of goat meat.  As an American, I thought it was unusual at first, but now I feel it is better tasting that beef and is generally very, very tender.  When purchasing goat from your local Arab or Pakistani market, you should try to get it from the leg.  Shoulder meat is the other option and it may have more bones (which is not a huge deal, so if your only option is shoulder meat, that's fine).  Just order it how you would order any other meat, "1 pound goat meat, from the leg, cut into pieces."  It's probably quite obvious to Pakistanis how to order this kind of meat, but prior to marrying a Pakistani, I only purchased meat that was pre-packaged on a shelf!  The nice thing about ordering it this way is that the butcher will generally cut the meat into pieces for you, which helps a LOT!

This recipe is wonderful for stomach pains or sensitive stomachs.  It is relatively mild and incredibly tender.  It was one of the few recipes I could enjoy while pregnant and something I have made for my husband recovering from surgery.  It makes a great davvaat (invitation) and at-home meal.  Recently, I made this for my visiting in-laws and was told it tasted exactly like my mother-in-law's!  Enjoy. :)

First, cut off the tails and use a peeler to peel four medium sized beetroots.

Thinly slice your beetroots (if you are good at parring instead of chopping, you might be able to make them even thinner than I did!).

Stack them up and chop them in half.

Finely chop 1 medium onion and fry in 1/2 cup vegetable oil on high heat until golden brown in a large pot.  Add pre-washed 1 pound of chopped goat meat.  Fry until meat changes color.  Add 2 teaspoons ginger & garlic paste, 1 teaspoon red chili powder, ~1 Tablespoon salt, and fry for a few minutes.

Finely chop 1 medium tomato and add it to the pot.  Add beetroot and ~5 cups of water.

Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer (low heat) and cook for 1 1/2 hours, covered.

When you're done, it might look like this (above).  Make sure that you evaporate a good amount of the water until it looks like a gravy (just turn the heat on high and stir continuously until some of the water evaporates -- this can take about 10 minutes).

When it's ready, it will look like this -- notice how the water went down almost 2 inches!  You'll end up having about 1 1/2 cups of water/gravy left over.

Add 3 green chilis and 1/2 teaspoon garam masala.

 Remove from heat into serving bowl.  Top with ~1/2 cup of cilantro leaves and serve with basmati rice or naan.

Baigan ka Raita (Eggplant made in Yogurt)

Baigan ka Raita (Eggplant made in Yogurt) is a dish I recently learned from my mother-in-law.  She is visiting now and so I have several recipes that need to be posted.  Unfortunately, there are more photos of recipes than I have time to write up.  However, because this was so great, I am skipping some others that were planned and going straight to this.  It's really a perfect recipe for achi bivis, new and old.  In fact, I've already made it twice in 7 days...  It has a bit of a baba ghanoush taste to it because of the eggplant -- the main differences being that this is made with yogurt and Indian/Pakistani spices, instead of straight eggplant and tahini.  It is great as a side dish, but some people can enjoy it as a main dish.  It is also completely meatless!  A new family favorite here.

Begin with a large eggplant, cut into tiny cubes.

Put everything in a large pot.

Chop up 6 cloves of garlic and throw it in your pot.

Fill pot with enough water to cover the eggplant (it really does not take very much, just until the eggplant floats).

Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes on medium-high heat, uncovered.

Stir your eggplant and cook until most/all of the water has evaporated (pictured above).

Remove from pot and mash with a fork.

Finely chop 1 small onion (or half a medium sized onion) and put in a large pan with 3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Cook on high heat until onions are golden brown.

When onions are golden, add 1/2 teaspoon red chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed powder, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder, 1 & 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and eggplant from your bowl.

Fry for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool.  At this point, you can measure how much you have or if you have good estimation skills, you can eyeball this part.

Look at your eggplant.  Take that amount, plus half of that amount in yogurt and put in a separate bowl (pictured above).  Add 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed powder and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder.  Mix well together.

Next, pour your eggplant mixture into the yogurt mixture and slowly combine it together by hand.

Lastly, for my favorite part, the baghar!  If you don't remember how to do a baghar, check it out under the Masoor ki Daal recipe.  Basically, just take a small pan, 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil, 4 round whole red chilis, and 1/2 teaspoon cumin seed, and cook on high heat until brown.  Then quickly pour it on top of your dish, yelling "Baghar!!  Baghar!!!"  Stir.

Garnish with 1/4 cup of cilantro leaves and 1-2 chopped green chilis.  Serve cold  or at room temperature with naan.

Enjoy! :)