January 15th

January 15th

I went shopping on Sunday and was looking for collard greens, and had to go to my local natural supermarket to find them. I also picked up a few other odds and ends including tempeh (because it’s actually cheaper there than at the Asian grocer). They have a great cheese counter so I decided to look for paneer, the firm and bland Indian cheese. It’s a fairly easy thing to make at home (it’s whole milk that’s curdled with vinegar or lemon juice and then strained and pressed) but we hadn’t had time recently so I looked for some on the off chance that they had it. They did so I picked some up because we love Palak Paneer, which is essentially paneer in a saag-like spinach sauce.

If you have paneer, palak paneer is quick enough to make on a week night. The meat saags benefit from longer braising, but once the spinach sauce is made, the paneer only needs to sit in the sauce long enough to heat through. The beauty of the dish is that the paneer is very mild tasting and offers and excellent rich counterpoint to the spicy spinach. We’d been doing the hot and spicy thing for several nights now and my wife had requested it a little milder than I normally would have made it, but I added a little bit of crushed red chile to mine at the end to get a bigger punch of heat and therefore a better contrast between the paneer and the sauce. The store bought paneer was good, but not as good as homemade, plus it was expensive (about $8 a pound). You can make about a pound of paneer from a gallon of milk, so it’s worth it both from a taste and cost stand point if you give yourself enough time. Paneer can be made in one day, but you need to start it early. Most of the time is spent letting it drain and then pressing it under a weight until it’s firm enough to cut and to hold its own shape. But knowing that you can buy it is a nice backup for the times I’m too lazy to make it.

The palak paneer sauce is made of sautéed browned onions, chiles, ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and bay leaves. I also add small amounts of clove and cardamom and then give it a little garam masala at the end. I have seen recipes which use fewer spices, but I like complexity of this blend and like the sweeter spices in the mix. The sauce is thickened with yogurt and then pureed (you may need to add a little water to it as well). You can make the sauce in about 30 minutes, including the simmering time, so it’s not too bad. Yes, it could cook longer and would likely be better. Yes, it’s better the next day, but it’s nice to know that I can cook one of my favorite Indian meals on a weeknight. All you really need on the side is some steamed rice, but naan or chapattis would be nice as well. I normally keep a variety of jarred chutneys around for things like this as well.

I wished I had more of the Widmer Crimson Wheat but made due with some homebrewed bitter. I could have done a lot worse.