How To Cook Indian project - Dishes 25-27
One thing that always comes to mind when I think of Indian cuisine is that there are always many dishes on the table. I wanted to recreate that a bit more, so I made a few more dishes this week (from left to right).
Palak Shorba (Spinach soup - page 57)
I was worried at first that this was going to taste gross, lol. Spinach soup? Is that really going to be good? That must have been childhood-me talking because I recently learned through this endeavor that I do like spinach. I should have remembered that because it took until I tasted it that I realized a spinach soup could be tasty.
Dal Gosht (Lamb cooked with lentils and spices - pages 358-9)
I wasn’t sure what to think of lamb and lentils cooked together. This is not a dish that I was used to, when I was growing up. But, curiosity got the best of me, and I decided to try it. Other than my usual adjustments, reducing the green chilies and red onions by half, I followed this recipe as it was listed in the book. It turned out well! I didn’t expect it! I would make it again.
When making this, I didn’t know what a medium bunches of spinach was, so I just used a container of 16oz of pre-washed spinach. I only used half of the expected onions though. Everything else, I left the same.
Tiranaga Paneer Tikka (Tri-color cheese bites - page 163)
As a kid, I didn’t like paneer, but as an adult, it’s grown on me. After making the Palak Paneer a few weeks back, I wanted to try something else with paneer. This recipe intrigued me. I wanted to see how the tri-colored part would turn out.
I did not like the preparation for this dish. Making the little spaces to stuff in the red and green ingredients, and then stuffing the paneer was a pain in the @**. I would not recommend following this preparation. The paneer kept falling apart at the “hinge”. I searched online and it looked like others just dipped an entire cube of paneer into the chutney or the red chili powder, and just used one third of paneer cubes for each color. That seems like a much easier preparation and looks just as impressive, if not more so. This preparation was just so messy and fell apart so easily.
I skewered each one individually, on toothpicks, instead of a large skewer with many paneer on them.
For the few paneers that actually heated well on the stove, they turned out great! It was really tasty. It was not worth the effort though. The ingredients were tasty together, but I would look for another preparation and presentation, if I wanted to make it again.
Bonus Dish! Pudina Aur Dhaniya Chutney (Mint and Cilantro Chutney - pages 22-3)
This recipe was listed in the basics section of the book, so I didn’t include it as counting towards a dish. But I’m also inconsistent about that, this time, I guess I didn’t want to count it. But it was needed as a stuffing for the paneer dish.
I liked this chutney. It was good, simple. In case it isn’t clear, pudina means “mint”. Aur means “and”. Dhaniya means "cilantro”. The name of this chutney is literally mint and cilantro.
Disclaimer and Links: As I can’t just post the recipe from the book (I guess I don’t want to get in trouble over copyright) I am including links to similar recipes. That said, I didn’t make the linked recipes, so I can’t vouch for them. I’m only including them in case you want to make something similar, but don’t want to buy the book.
I couldn’t find a simple Palak Shorba from Kapoor online, similar to what was in the book. There was this one, with red lentils, if you want to try that.
Here’s a Sanjeev Kapoor Dal Gosht recipe.
Here’s a youtube video of a Tiranga Paneer Tikka from Kapoor.
And a mint and cilantro chutney recipe on Kapoor’s site.