Kebab Time

Hola readers! It has been a while since a posted......a seriously long while. In case you were wondering (I hope you were.....) if I stopped blogging, here's your answer. This blog and I are still around to share my culinary adventures, but posting has been and will be a little sporadic for some time.....so, my apologies.

Now since that is out of the way, let's talk food. I love the flavors of fresh coriander (cilantro) and mint. Those two can brighten up most savory food and do an excellent job of it. But even with all the cleaning and ziplock bagging, the rate at which fresh herbs become slimy/yellow is way faster than my rate of consuming them. So, how do you get the most out of your grocery store haul of cilantro and mint? You grind them together into a paste, that's how! I put generous amounts of cilantro and mint into my food processor along with some fresh ginger, garlic and green chilies. Et voila! The result is a beautiful spice paste or 'green masala' that can go into curries, marinades or even work as a condiment with some dressing up. 

So what did I do with my herb paste? I incorporated it into some seriously delicious chicken kebabs / mini burgers / koftas. Name them what you like, but first read on for how you make them. :)

Chicken Kebabs
(makes about 15)

1 lb ground chicken (450 grams)
3/4 cup green masala / herb paste (Recipe follows)
1/2 medium sized onion, chopped finely
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon tandoori chicken masala or garam masala
1/4 cup breadcrumbs, more if required
1 teaspoon kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves), optional if you can't find it
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder, completely optional
1 tablespoon oil

Mix the bread crumbs, salt, tandoori chicken masala, kasoori methi and red chilli powder (if using). Mix the ground chicken, onion and herb paste well. Add the breadcrumb mixture and combine. Divide the mixture into equal portions. Shape them like mini burgers.

Heat the oil in a shallow frying pan on medium heat. Cook the kebabs/burgers on both sides until browned and completely cooked, about 10 minutes on each side.

Serve with yogurt, tamarind-date chutney, a cabbage slaw or with mini buns like sliders.

Green Masala
(should make about 3/4 cup)

1.5 loosely packed cup cilantro leaves, stalks removed
3/4 cup mint leaves
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 Thai green chili peppers or any other green chili pepper

Grind all the ingredients in a food processor until you get a paste consistency. Add a spoonful of water while grinding, if required. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes:

1. The chili peppers in the herb paste are hot enough. Adjust the quantity per your heat tolerance. Add ground chili powder ONLY IF you like very hot/spicy food.

2. The quantities for the masala paste are indicative. Experiment all you want with the proportions.

Paneer: Part II

September is almost over!!! So much for more frequent posts. Oh well, two in a month is still more frequent than I usually am, so the goal for birthday month has been achieved. Sort of.... I'll dedicate the post to the weather which makes me want to nap instead of working. At least blogging is more productive.

Anyway, I realized that I never did a follow up post on what I made with the paneer I'd posted about a loooong time ago. So here's what I did. I cooked it with onions, tomatoes and bell peppers for some yummy Paneer Masala. Yeah, how creative is that name? Who cares about names when the food tastes great, right? Right!! Since we agree on that, let me jump straight to the recipe. Enjoy!

PS: If you made this recipe with modifications or if you usually make it in a different way, do leave a note about it.

Paneer Masala

1 cup diced paneer (diced as in medium sized chunks, not too large)
1/2 medium red onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 to 1.5 teaspoons oil
1 bay leaf
2 pods of green cardamom
4-5 black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon ginger paste
1/2 teaspoon garlic paste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon each of coriander and cumin powders
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Optional - 1/2 teaspoon kasuri methi (dried fenugreek) 
salt, to taste

Heat the oil in a medium sized skillet or saute pan. Add the bay leaf, cardamom and peppercorns and let them sizzle for about 10 seconds. Add the onion to the pan and saute it until the onions turn pinkish. (If you're using another kind of onion, cook it until it turns translucent but don't brown it.) Now add the ginger and garlic pastes, honey, and the spice powders other than garam masala. Let it all cook for 2-3 minutes. Throw in a couple teaspoons of water if you think the spices/pastes are burning. 

Add the tomatoes and bell pepper into the pan. Cook until the tomatoes are done, about 5-6 minutes. The oil sort of separates from the tomatoes when they're done, but don't worry if it doesn't seem to. Now add the salt, garam masala and paneer. Mix well to ensure that the paneer is coated with the spices, but don't crumble it. Finally add the kasuri methi and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium to low heat.

Serve with parathas, naan or whatever other bread you fancy.

Notes:

1. It looks (and cooks) better if all the vegetables and paneer are diced to approximately the same size.

2. For those unfamiliar with kasuri methi, they're dried leaves of the fenugreek plant. Fenugreek is a commonly used green vegetable in Indian cooking. The fresh leaves have a slightly bitter, but not overpowering taste. If you don't find dried fenugreek, just leave it out....the paneer will still be tasty.

3. As always, play with the quantity of spices and find what works best for you. 

Kitchen Experiments: Paneer

It's not like I need an excuse to cook or bake, but spring break has ensured I have some extra time to carry out experiments that have long been on the back burner. This post is not going to have a recipe as such....it's more about my successful maiden attempt at making paneer. If you're familiar with Indian cuisine, you most likely know what it is. For those who aren't, paneer is a kind of soft cheese that can be compared to queso fresco or queso blanco. Paneer is a really versatile ingredient that can go into curries, rice dishes, desserts and more. And if you're me, you can probably just eat it by itself.

So paneer making is not a terribly difficult task. You just need to be a little attentive and a tad bit patient. It's really as simple as adding an acidic agent to boiling milk so the curds separate from the whey. Then you just drain all the whey off and let the curds sit until they are firm. Make sure you save the whey...more on that in a little bit. Here's how I made the paneer.....and keep watching this space for what I did with this paneer.

Paneer

1 quart (946 ml) whole milk
2-3 teaspoons vinegar

Pour the milk into a heavy bottomed saucepan and bring it to a rolling boil over medium heat. Once the milk comes to a boil, add the vinegar and stir well. As the milk curdles and you see the whey and the curds separating, turn the heat off.

Line a strainer with a cheese cloth or a fine muslin cloth. Place the strainer over a large bowl and pour the contents of the saucepan into the strainer. Let the whey drain off for about 15 minutes. If you want soft, crumbly paneer, you're good to go. If you want it to be firm, make sure the paneer is covered with the cheese cloth and place a heavy weight on top (I used a ceramic mortar and pestle). Let the paneer rest for 2-3 hours and then use it as desired.

Notes:

1. You can use lemon juice instead of vinegar to curdle the milk.

2. Refrigerate the paneer if you're not going to use it immediately. The whey goes in the refrigerator too.

3. The logic behind saving the whey is that it is very nutritious and can be used instead of water in your regular cooking.....while boiling rice or in paratha/chapati dough or even in curries. The whey can also be used to make paneer in the future.

4. If you choose to go the firm paneer way, you can take the bowl with the whey away before you place the weight on the paneer.....whey is nutritious but you don't need to squeeze every last drop of it.

Grand Comeback....It's Curry Time Folks!!!

It has been almost two months since the last post....so so very tardy!! Winter break, research and other school work have been conspiring to keep me super busy and away from my blog. Oh well...to make up for the absence I'm going to share the delicious outcome of an experiment from last year. It's my favorite, very special chicken curry...so meat lovers rejoice!!

Back home, chicken used to play the lead role in Sunday lunches every other week or so. Now that I think back, it was probably one of the things I looked forward to the most on weekends. It's surprising that in spite of liking chicken so much, my own frequency of cooking it is even lower than every other Sunday. Maybe it's because cooking vegetarian lends itself to easier prep and clean up. Anyhow, so I bought some chicken breasts from the store one day and threw together a bunch of things from the kitchen and pantry into a marinade - yes the whole spectrum from veggies to spices to nuts. Now it wasn't nearly as random as I'm making it sound.....I definitely have some sense of what ingredients go together well so long as it's regular kitchen stuff. Now if they put me on an episode of Chopped, I probably wouldn't survive even 5 minutes.....

So getting back to my story, I came up with this chicken marinade and then turned the thing into a seriously amazing curry that far exceeded whatever expectations I had. It's tried and tested and I'm yet to meet a person who dislikes it. Either that or I know some seriously polite people!! If curry is not your style, the marinade along with some red chilli powder (ground red pepper/cayenne pepper), salt and garam masala is fabulous on grilled chicken. 

Chicken Curry

2 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into medium sized pieces

Marinade :

4 large cashews

2 tsp slivered almonds (without skin)

1 Kashmiri red chilli - optional

2 teaspoons oil

1 medium red onion, sliced thin

1 medium sized tomato, cut into chunks

3-4 large cloves of garlic, cut into chunks

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and cut into chunks

1 cup cilantro (coriander) leaves, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

¼  tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

 

Curry:

1 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon garam masala

salt, to taste

1 cup water

Marinade: Soak the cashews, almonds and the red chilli (if using) in warm water for an hour. Heat oil in a pan. Saute the onion until it begins browning. Then add the ginger, garlic and tomatoes and continue to cook until the tomatoes become soft, about 5 minutes. Take it off the heat. Add the soaked ingredients and cilantro leaves. Grind the mixture with a little bit of water (about 2 tablespoons), after it cools. Marinate the chicken with this paste, salt and spice powders. Let it sit in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.

Curry: Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the chicken and saute for 4-5 mins. Add water and cover the pan to let the chicken cook. When the chicken is almost done, add garam masala. Add more salt and red chilli powder as required. Let the chicken simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Serve over rice or with your favorite bread.

Notes:

1. Slivered almonds are basically almonds with the skin taken off and chopped lengthwise. If you can't find them, just soak whole almonds and make sure you take the skin off before adding them to the marinade.

2. For the uninitiated, a Kashmiri chilli is a kind of chilli pepper that is widely used for color and flavor and not so much for the heat. You can leave it out if you don't have it. 

3. Adding a little bit of cream or half and half during the last minute or two of simmering the curry makes it richer and takes the flavor up a couple of notches. Do not overdo it though.

4. There really is no substitute for cilantro in this one. Parsley will NOT work!!

When zucchini meets Indian food....

Hello world! We’re halfway through October and I suddenly realized that it has been a month since my first holler. For all my rant about the ‘food I love’, I haven’t shared a thing yet and that’s certainly an oops moment for a (wannabe?) blogger. So it’s time to get started on the food trip readers! Fasten your seat belts and let the journey begin…..

Since I’m taking you through the A to Z of the food I love, let’s start with Z for zucchini. As I type ‘zucchini’ I can already feel some of you losing interesting and thinking of better things to eat and read about. If I still have you hooked to this post, I promise this will get interesting…….and if you eat this you won’t even believe there’s zucchini in it. The vegetable lover in me rediscovered zucchini this summer and the versatility of this green squash is simply amazing. Roast it, saute it or combine it with chocolate in a freshly baked bread…..there’s something for everyone. And if none of these ideas are appealing enough, zucchini and Indian food is a match made in heaven. I did say this would get interesting…….

So there I was one fine evening with cabbage and zucchini in the refrigerator and the desire to whip up something fun. And thus was born ‘Zucchini Cabbage Kofta Curry’. A vegetarian kofta curry is by no means an innovation and is quite the staple in Indian restaurants all over the world. For the uninitiated, ‘koftas’ are dumplings made from vegetables or meat and the curry bit comes from the koftas being simmered in a spiced sauce. Vegetarian koftas are usually made with cabbage, carrots and/or cottage cheese. Now zucchini is not typically found in India or used in Indian cooking. Well maybe it’s available in the new and fancy grocery stores in big cities, but it’s definitely not used in traditional cooking. So the creative genius in me decided to throw zucchini into the koftas and the rest, as they say, is history......

By the way, the picture is not that great because my camera decided to die on me just I was about to take a picture and I had to let my phone do the honors. 

Zucchini Cabbage Kofta Curry

For the koftas / dumplings :

2 cups shredded cabbage

1 cup shredded zucchini

1/2 cup chickpea flour (a.k.a besan)

2 small slices of whole wheat bread ground into breadcrumbs

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon powdered cumin

1/2 teaspoon powdered coriander (powdered cilantro seeds)

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder (ground cayenne pepper)

salt 

Mix all the ingredients together and divide the mixture into 12-13 equal sized portions. Make sure the portions are reasonably round shaped and space them evenly on a greased cookie sheet. Spoon a drop of oil over each portion if you'd like to. (You don't need to think 'oil rig' here....just a drop). Preheat the oven to 400 F and bake for 15-20 minutes. 

For the curry :

1 tablespoon oil (I use canola)

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 pods of green cardamom

1 pod of black cardamom

a tiny bit of mace (skip it if you can't find it)

1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1/2 teaspoon sugar 

1/4 teaspoon powdered cumin

1/2 teaspoon powdered coriander 

1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder

3/4 teaspoon garam masala (store bought spice mix)

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

1.5 cups water

salt, as preferred

Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat and add the whole spices (ingredients 2 through 5). Fry the spices for about 10-15 seconds and then take the pan OFF the heat. Mix the tomato and ginger garlic pastes and add them to the pan with a few teaspoons of water. Mix well and return the pan to the heat source. (DISASTER ALERT : Refer to the note below). Let the pastes cook together for 3-5 minutes. Then add the sugar, salt and spices and mix well. Add water, cover the pot and let the sauce come to a boil. Add the koftas to the curry (SLOWLY) and simmer for 6-7 minutes. Combine the cornstarch with a teaspoon of water and add it to the curry. Stir gently until it begins to thicken. Voila!! Serve over rice or with bread.

Notes :

1. Adding any kind of paste to hot oil has all sorts of disastrous potential. Stuff may splatter all over you and your stove. So make sure the pan is off the heat source for a few seconds before throwing the pastes in and have a lid handy to cover the pot and contain the splatter.

2. Cornstarch acts like slow relief medication in my experience. It takes a little bit of time (in single digit minutes) for the curry to become really thick. Remember that before dumping half the box into the sauce.

3. The quantities of sugar and spices are indicative. Adjust them to your spice tolerance levels.