of radishes and cabbages, and paniyaram and panir

The recipe for cabbage curry (see post below) looks very neat. I might actually do it as a bubble and squeak (you folks over in Britain know what I'm talking about). Steam the cabbage and potato and saute briefly with the spices and tomato, then into a non-stick frypan with a good bit of oil at the bottom. Cover and cook until the bottom is browned, (hear it bubble?), really browned, (hear it squeak?), don't be scared now, go on, let it cook. Flip if out onto a big plate. Yum. This would be great with a piquant tomato chutney, some marinated panir (soak it in the spiced lemon vinaigrette recipe for a half hour), and simple chapati or roti. Oh, YEAH!

So...radishes. Not just for salads anymore. I am growing some lovely watermelon radishes in the garden (see the cross section photo, how lovely). They are so peppery hot that I can't eat them raw. I was thinking of pickling them, but then decided to cook them using a recipe from Lord Krishna's Cuisine. I also happen to be growing swiss chard, which was also featured in the same recipe. This turned out beautifully. The radish mellows and turns soft and buttery. Married with the tangy chard and suffused with spices. It was just heavenly. One downside is that cooking radishes, as with most cruciferous vegetables, smells up the house. So light some incense and get cooking.

OK, by now you must have suspected that the cookware pictured above is, in fact, the aebelskiver pan that I have been waiting for. Aebelskivers are puffy Skandinavian delicacies, like little souffle cupcakes. What does this have to do with Indian food? Well, the same pan can be used to make Paniyaram: little Indian souffle cupcakes. Paniyaram are made with a thick, fermented, dosa batter, with added spices and veggies. I didn't have any dosa batter brewing, so I used pancake batter with a bit of cardamom and the result was so cute. Little round fluffy pancake muffin things. Of course I ate them with chutney. Next week I will experiment with the actual dosa batter paniyaram recipes. Various websites suggest that these make great lunchbox fillers for the kiddies. We'll see about that.

Now, on to panir. I did make some the other day and did make a salad with it. Best salad ever. Can't really say anything more. Recipes are below, try them out.

Radish and Chard (mooli sabji)

6 medium radishes
1/2 lb Swiss Chard
1 t cumin seeds
1 t coriander seeds
1/4 t ajwain seeds
3 T ghee or oil (or less as preferred)
1/2 t turmeric
1/4 t cayenne
2 t sugar, maple or brown
1 t salt
2 t fresh lemon or lime juice

Thinly slice radishes and chop the chard. Steam in a vegetable steamer until crisp tender 10-15 min. heat the ghee or oil in a non stick pan and toss in the seeds. Fry for a minute then turn in the steamed veggies. Stir fry for 5 minutes, then toss in the turmeric, cayenne, sugar, and salt. Stir fry 2 minutes more. Turn onto plate and sprinkle with the lemon or lime juice.

Lisa's spinach salad with panir.

1/4 cup dry garbanzo beans
1 t fresh grated ginger
1/2 bag of fresh baby spinach leaves (or a large bunch of leaves, torn to salad size)
1 or 2 carrots, shredded
2 or three oz fresh panir, cubed.
Spiced Lemon Vinaigrette (see recipe page)

Soak the garbanzo beans overnight. Drain and mix with the grated ginger. Set aside. Put the spinace, carrots, and panir in a bowl and toss with the vinaigrette. Arrange on plates and sprinkle with garbanzo beans.
Simple, healthy, and good.

what? huh? where am I?

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.