Paneer Makhani

Paneer Makhani (Butter Paneer)

There is actually no butter in this dish, at least the way I make it. The richness comes from ground cashews, and not from cream and butter the way it is traditionally made. I like it better this way, not just because of health reasons, but I think that the cream dulls out a lot of the flavor, and adds quite a bit of richness.  That is not to say that I omit the cream completely, because if I do have some around, I add a splash of it in just as a final touch.  But it is absolutely not necessary.

I do make my own paneer typically. You can of course buy it at any Indian grocery store, but I live rather far from the nearest one, and since I can get curry leaves  at my local Thai grocery (yeah, go figure !), I rarely make the trek all the way to the Indian grocery. Also note that the onions have to be quite finely chopped, (I do mine in the food processor), and the cashews should be finely ground to a paste. The best thing for the cashews is to do them in a blender, rather than a food processor.  Do not use your spice grinder, because like me, you will break it, and now it just sits there like a showpiece like those in an 80s glass cabinets all Indians tend to have in their house.  (Why oh why !)  

 

Ingredients

3 T sunflower oil

1 cup onions, chopped fine

1 cinnamon stick

3 bay leaves

1 T ginger and garlic paste (I do this in a food processor, or you can use a mortar & pestle)

2 green chillies, chopped

3 T tomato paste
11/2 t cumin powder
1 t coriander powder
1 t red chili powder
1/2 t ground cloves
1/2 t ground fennel
1/2 t haldi

2 T cashew paste

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

3 cups of water

1 t kasthoori methi (Dried fenugreek leaves)
1 t nigella seeds

1/2 t garam masala

1 cup paneer, cubed

Add oil to a pan on Medium Heat.  Add the onions, and sautee until golden brown.  Add the cinnamon stick and bay leaves.  Add the ginger and garlic paste, green chilies and sautee for a few minutes.  Add the tomato paste, and the spices:  cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, haldi, ground cloves and ground fennel.  Let this sautee until the tomatoes are cooked. You know this when there is oil towards the sides of the pan.  Next  add the cashew paste and let that sautee for 5 minutes or so.  Add the chopped tomatoes, water and let it simmer away for 15 minutes.  Crush methi in your hand before adding it, add the nigella seeds, and a pinch of garam masala, and it is at this point you can add some cream if you like. It is at this point you can add some cream for richness... Add pieces of paneer, and in about 5 minutes, you are ready to dig in.

Lebanese Fattoush Salad with Z'attar Chicken

Of late I have been trying to come up with lighter dinners to adhere to the rules that my mom has put in our heads since we were little:

• Eat Breakfast like a king
• Eat Lunch like a prince
• Eat Dinner like a pauper

From my experience, the most challenging aspect of eating a light dinner is that after a long day at work, you want to come home and eat something comforting, so it is generally hard to come up with something that is satisfying to you, and doesn't break the rule of eating light.  I wouldn't necessarily label this meal as a pauper's, because what a lucky pauper he would be!

The first thing I want to discuss is the Ingredients before I go into the recipe.  These are ingredients that even I do not generally find in my pantry so my initial reaction was that I would need to go on a search in my local grocery stores.  Here is what I found:  it is not that hard to find what you think of as exotic ingredients at all !  The most obvious choice to start off my search is usually Whole Foods, since I do not live in a major cosmopolitan city, this is the most convenient. However, when I used to live in San Francisco, I would definitely go to the local middle eastern stores, and thoroughly enjoy it !

So please don't let the availability of ingredients get the better of you, because you really don't need to go that far to find them anymore.


Ingredients
Z'attar Chicken
1/2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, pounded ( I prefer using thigh meat rather than breast because it stays moist during grilling, and I grilled these on my stove top grill pan), Or Tofu
2 T harissa
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp dried mint
2 tsp z'attar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green chili, chopped
1 T fresh thyme
2 T lemon juice
1 T olive oil
1 tsp salt

Pita Chips
1 whole wheat pita
1 tsp olive oil
Sprinkling of salt
Sprinkling of z'attar
Sprinkling of sumac

Salad & Dressing
2 cloves of garlic, pounded in a mortar & pestle
1/4 cup olive oil
4 T lemon juice
2 tsp sumac
salt & pepper to taste
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
a handful of flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, cubed
1 small red onion, sliced thinly into half moons
1 cucumber, sliced thinly into half moons
Feta cheese, cubed (Optional)

Preheat oven to 400F, and preheat stove top grill pan on Medium High heat

First thing we have to do is marinate the chicken.  Add all the ingredients for the marinade to a bowl or a large ziploc bag, and refrigerate for at least one hour, and at most 8 hours. Before adding the chicken, if the pieces are a bit uneven or thicker than 1/2 an inch, place some cling film on top of the chicken, and pound away with either a rolling pin or a heavy bottomed pan. This will do two things: it will ensure that the chicken is tender once it is cooked, and also ensure that all of it cooks evenly.

Once you are ready to prepare the salad, I generally start with putting the chicken on a stove top grill right away.  The chicken should take a total of 15 minutes to cook depending on the size of the chicken pieces.  I start with 7 minutes on one side until it has some nice charring before I flip them over.

Next I put the pita bread on a baking sheet and brush it with olive oil.  Then I sprinkle the seasonings and put it in the oven for 15 minutes, or until it is crispy.  Once it is taken out, I cut the pita into 1 inch squares and add it to the salad bowl.

Next I prepare the dressing.  I pound the garlic cloves in a mortar & pestle, add olive oil, lemon juice, sumac and salt and pepper and mix thoroughly until it is emulsified.  As a general rule, I like my dressing tangy, so it is upto you how much lemon juice you want to add.

Chop the lettuce, cucumber, onions and tomatoes and add to the salad bowl.  Add pita chips, and toss together with the dressing.  Serve with the grilled chicken on top and Enjoy.