Whew! I spent the last couple days in a spice-induced trance, I think. So, on Friday afternoon, I decided to make some paneer. That's a fresh cheese and it's easy to make. Now, I have a bit of a history with cheese making: a very unfortunate history. When I was about 11 years old, I got it into my head that I wanted to make cheese. I persuaded my parents to get me a cheese making kit. I did all the steps (my parents memorialized this in photos, wish I could find them), and the cheese turned out - just dreadful. I wish I could have had a bit more encouragement to keep at it...I just didn't realize that cheese making is an art, and requires practice. In today's internet age, I could watch videos on how to make paneer at Manjula's Kitchen, and feel pretty confident that I could do it. I made an attempt a couple weeks ago that did not turn out very well. I discovered that I added too much lemon juice to the hot milk. So this time, I tried and added the juice a teaspoon at a time. Well, it turned out just great! You can see the soft curds in the muslin, the pressed paneer (after about an hour), the sauteed cubes and the final dish, zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers with panner and some chapati. Hooray! I did it, I made paneer. It was quite good, mild, firm, and creamy delicious. That is what led to the trance. The dish I made was from Lord Krishna's Cuisine. Heavy on the fresh ginger and hot red pepper. Out of this world. No, really, I think I ended up in another universe. OK not really, but I did feel transported to new culinary heights. I made the paneer with regular whole cow's milk, but I think I might try goat milk next time. I like a stronger taste and that might be good.
Here is the recipe for the dish I made - I added eggplant, because I had eggplant.
Panir Louki Tarkari
Lord Krishna's Cuisine
1/2 T ground coriander
1/2 t ground cumin
1/4 t ground fennel
1/4 t tumeric
3/4 t garam masala
1/4 cup fresh or dried grated coconut
1/2 cup water
4 T ghee or mixture of veg oil and butter
6 0z fresh panir, cubed (go to Manjulaskitchen.com on my links to see how she makes it)
1 whole dried red chili (I used crushed red pepper)
1 inch peeled ginger sliced thin
7-8 small zucchini or other summer squash, cubed
2 small red or yellow bell peppers, cut into thin strips
1 1/4 t salt
1 medium tomato, diced
3 T chopped fresh cilantro or parsely
Combine the coriander, cumin, fennel, turmeric, garam masala, coconut, and water in a small bowl and set aside.
Heat ghee or oil in a large saute pan or wok. Saute panir cubes, until nicely browned. Take out of pan and drain on paper towels.
Add a bit more oil to pan if it is dry and then add chili and ginger and stir fry for a minute. Add zucchini and bell peppers (and any other firm veggie, like eggplant) and saute until tender-crisp. Add salt, spice paste, tomato, and panir cubes and saute until the spices are cooked out and smell delicious. Add fresh herbs to serve.
See, now isn't that easy? This dish is transcendent. Eat it with chapati and a beer and have a lost weekend of your own.
