Spinach Curry with Homemade Cheese (Palak Paneer), Saffron Rice, and Tandoori Chicken:


I had a hankering for my favorite Indian dish yesterday, and decided that rather than buying some pre-made curry, that I would try my hand at making it from scratch. The results were, I thought, pretty good for a first attempt. The recipe was from foodnetwork.com

To make the cheese, bring a half gallon of whole milk to a boil (this made enough cheese for two; double the milk for a larger crowd), stirring occasionally. When the milk reaches a boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/6 cup of lemon juice and remove from the heat. Stir along the outstide edges of the saucepan until curds start to form in the center. Drain the cheese through a double layer of cheese cloth in a colander. Once it has cooled some, gather up the edges of the cheesecloth and squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Wrap the cheese tightly, place in a bowl, and weight it down with another bowl full of water. Set aside at room temperature for an hour or so.

For the curry, steam down 1 pound of spinach and pulse in a food processor. Heat 1/3 cup of vegetable oil and add 2 teaspoons of coriander seeds, 4 whole cloves, 2 whole allspice berries, 1 teaspoon of whole cumin seeds, and a cinnamon stick. Fry these until the cinnamon stick starts to uncurl. Add a thinly sliced onion and saute 3 minutes or so, until golden. Add 4 grated or pressed cloves of garlic and a 2 inch piece of ginger that has been grated. Once these flavors have melded, add two peeled, chopped roma tomatoes and continue to cook. Salt to taste. Finally, add the spinach back into the mix and allow to cook down until most of the visible liquid has disappeared. Finally, add some cream.

For the saffron rice, cook rice as you usually do, just add a pinch of saffron to the water. The tandoori chicken I made occording to the recipe on the side of a jar of commercially available tandoori paste (maybe one of these days I will make my own version of this as well).

I served this with a crisp sauvignon blanc, but an ice cold beer would have gone nicely as well.