Madhu Knits and Cooks

Nailed It - At-Home Creamy and Mild Paneer Makhani

Learning from a past blog post, I've finally found success with a recipe I have long wanted to master at home.  Paneer Makhani, this rich North Indian-inspired dish can be mine, all mine!  And this version is probably much healthier than whatever you get at restaurants to boot.

This recipe produces a creamy, smooth light tomato sauce with a nice and unexpected tang from the inadvertent idli podi that I added, thinking it was chili powder.  I'll report back if the podi is a necessary ingredient, or just something that helps mix things up. 

Otherwise though, the below ingredients produce an evenly spiced dish, not the too-often harshly flavored North Indian recipes one finds on the internet or in books.

Ingredients

• 1/2 block of store bought paneer, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 thai green chile, sliced lengthwise
• 2 green cardamon pods, left whole
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp idli podi or chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• ~1/4 cup heavy cream (eyeballed amount)
• sea salt
• olive oil

Directions

• Heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil in a skillet or sauce pan on medium-high heat.  When hot, add the paneer and saute, tossing every minute or two, until all of the sides are lightly browned.  Transfer paneer to a plate or bowl.
• In a blender, puree the onion, garlic and tomatoes until smooth.  
• In the same skillet, add another tbsp. of olive oil and heat until warm.  Add the chile, cardamon, cinnamon stick, podi, cumin and turmeric, and saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until fragrant.  
• Then stir in the tomato mixture, reducing heat and simmering the sauce for 10 minutes or until lightly reduced.  
• Then mix in the heavy cream and the paneer, and cook until the paneer is re-heated through.  Season with salt to taste. 
• Remove the whole spices before serving.

Two Sleevers Palak Paneer - An Unfortunate Miss

It saddens me that my latest Two Sleevers Indian Instant Pot cookbook attempt was a bust for a few reasons.  First, I'd love to find an amazing new Palak Paneer recipe.  Second, I would love if I could find an amazing Palak Paneer recipe that is as easy to make as this one.  Third, I have been really liking my past Two Sleevers attempts, so it's unfortunate to break that positive streak.

Fourth, I can't fully identify what we didn't like about this final dish.  It was well-spiced, maybe slightly overly so, but also somehow lacked something to bring it all together.  It also had this slight tang that I didn't quite like.  Unless I figure out how to soften this taste, I'll probably continue to search for other recipes.

The recipe is quite simple to put together - saute most of the ingredients together, and then quickly cook on high pressure before quick releasing the pressure.

This was my first time using the quick release feature, which was a bit scary and fun to see all the steam so rapidly escape from the pot.

You then blend the cooked spinach mixture with an immersion blender, before adding the paneer and serving.  I do think that reducing the water by about half would also been good in the future to avoid too watery of a sauce.

Super quick and easy for a weeknight - sadly, it just didn't work.  Back to the drawing board!

Two Sleevers Paneer Biryani - Delicious Weeknight Side or Main Course

The Two Sleevers Indian Instant Pot cookbook continues to outperform with a seemingly untraditional, but delicious, paneer biryani recipe.  

I used a pre-made garam masala blend, which made this dish a complete breeze to put together.  Basically, saute some onions in oil, and then add the ginger, garlic, and chiles.  

Add the spices, paneer, and frozen vegetables, and then without stirring, pour the pre-washed rice on top of the vegetable / paneer layer.

Pour the water over the dish, and set the Instant Pot to cook for 5 minutes.

Let the pressure release naturally, and voila, perfectly spiced and delicious paneer biryani!

The only change I may make moving forward is to add an additional quarter cup of water because the one cup called for the recipe didn't quite submerge the amount of rice I had and my husband thought the rice was undercooked.  I liked the more stiff rice (felt more like authentic biryani), but I'll probably try this slightly increased water approach to see if I can please all of the palates in our family.

This is both a great weeknight dish, as well as a fantastic dinner party dish.  Look forward to making it again!

Instant Pot Chana Masala - My First Two Sleevers Recipe!

Several month ago, a friend raved about the Instant Pot recipes that he and his wife had been trying from the Two Sleevers blog.  Hearing my friend's voice in my head during a browse on the Queens Library website, I decided to order the Indian cookbook authored by Two Sleevers blogger Urvashi Pitre.

The first recipe I made from the cookbook - Chana Masala - was fantastic, even though I made a number of modifications to fit my even lazier cooking schedule than the easy-to-follow recipe allowed.

First, I ended up cooking the chickpeas a few days before I made the chana masala because the day I pre-soaked the chickpeas, I was just too tired at night to put together the full recipe.

Second, instead of pre-making the onion masala, I concocted my own fake onion masala (just sauteing the onion, tomato, etc. in the Instant Pot immediately before adding the cooked chickpeas).  It seemed to work completely fine for the end result, so I think I will keep doing this moving forward.

Because I omitted the Instant Pot-made onion masala, I didn't really need to use the Two Sleevers recipe because the Instant Pot was only critical for cooking the chickpeas.  I do think I will continue follow this recipe though because the inclusion of pre-made chana masala powder really brought the dish together.  I had never thought of using store-bought until reading Pitre's strong guidance that the ready-made blend was close-enough to the real thing to offset making your own.   

So the pre-made spice blend and Two Sleevers approach have won the chana masala recipe war!  This will be my go-to moving forward.

An Instant Pot Version of a Madhu Knits and Cooks Favorite - Gujarati Dal

In addition to making new recipes in the Instant Pot, I also have been wanting to to experiment with some of my favorite standbys in this time-saving gadget.  I finally did so with the Gujarati Dal I really enjoy making - could the Instant Pot actually improve this recipe?

Sadly, my verdict is one of disappointment.  While it was nice to not have to stand over the stove while this dal was cooking, the ultimate texture was one of...mush.  Mush that was well-flavored to be sure, but mush nonetheless. 

I used approx. 3/4 cup of a mix of toor, masoor, and split moong dal, with approx. 1.5 cups of water.  I cooked this recipe at 15 minutes on high pressure, allowed 12 minutes for natural depressurization.

I think my flaw was perhaps that this was just too much cooking time, or the Instant Pot may not be as good to use for these thinner, faster cooking lentils.  Or maybe even I should have cooked at low pressure instead of high.  In any case, I was so dismayed with this Instant Pot effort that I may not even try to perfect this approach moving forward.  Oh well, back to the heavier Instant Pot beans!

An Instant Pot Version of a Madhu Knits and Cooks Favorite - Gujarati Dal

In addition to making new recipes in the Instant Pot, I also have been wanting to to experiment with some of my favorite standbys in this time-saving gadget.  I finally did so with the Gujarati Dal I really enjoy making - could the Instant Pot actually improve this recipe?

Sadly, my verdict is one of disappointment.  While it was nice to not have to stand over the stove while this dal was cooking, the ultimate texture was one of...mush.  Mush that was well-flavored to be sure, but mush nonetheless. 

I used approx. 3/4 cup of a mix of toor, masoor, and split moong dal, with approx. 1.5 cups of water.  I cooked this recipe at 15 minutes on high pressure, allowed 12 minutes for natural depressurization.

I think my flaw was perhaps that this was just too much cooking time, or the Instant Pot may not be as good to use for these thinner, faster cooking lentils.  Or maybe even I should have cooked at low pressure instead of high.  In any case, I was so dismayed with this Instant Pot effort that I may not even try to perfect this approach moving forward.  Oh well, back to the heavier Instant Pot beans!

Mint Raita - Simple Accompaniment to Many a Meal (or a Snack on Its Own)

I've been making different types of raita, a refreshing Indian yogurt accompaniment, for years, but only recently did I realize that I have never blogged about this simple, protein-rich side dish.  

What finally inspired this long overdue post was that I used a new ingredient for my latest raita - fresh mint from my mother's garden.  I usually use cilantro as my standard herb, but the mint added a nice freshness, and made this type of raita a great stand-alone breakfast or side to spicy Indian curries.  Look forward to continuing to experiment with more ingredients and will report back with any new findings!

Mint Raita

Ingredients:

• Approx. 1.5 cups of 0% Fage Greek Yogurt
• 1 seedless cucumber, diced into 1/4 inch square pieces
• 2 tbsp. scallions, divided
• 2 tsp. minced mint, divided
• 1 tsp. minced jalapeno, divided
• Pinch of cumin, or to taste
• Pinch of coriander, or to taste
• Salt, to taste 
• Lemon juice, to taste

Directions:

• Divide the ingredients in half, and place each Fage serving in a separate bowl.

• Add equal amounts of vegetables and seasonings to each bowl, and mix together.

• Let ingredients sit for 15 - 20 minutes, and then serve.  Store any leftovers in the fridge - will keep for ~3 days.

 

Cucumber Dal - Lighter and Summery Dal Preparation

With the farmers market in full swing the past month, I felt the desire to make a lighter, almost more summery, cucumber dal preparation from Saranya Mandava's Indian Cuisine cookbook.  

The result was pretty good - the cucumber and lemon juice (in place of tamarind) added a light, almost tart flavor to the dal, while still maintaining a nice thickness from the cooked toor dal itself.  I may try this preparation with a different dal in the future, like a moong dal, because the toor dal has such a strong flavor that the cucumber couldn't quite stand up to, but otherwise this was a solid, easy dish to try again in the future.  It also froze very well, so it's a great make-ahead meal as well!

Dal Makhani - Successful Second Round!

A few years ago, I unsuccessfully tried my hand at Dal Makhani, the buttery, creamy north Indian legume dish.  The recipe I used called for a tremendous amount of butter and cream, and my efforts to reduce both still resulted in a rich, unhealthy mess.

As such, I thought Dal Makhani was a dish of my past.  However, the remaining bag of leftover, dried whole black urad dal, the main ingredient in Dal Makhani, has been languishing in my cupboard for a few years.  I decided to give the dish another try when I couldn't think of another use for this type of dal.

I turned to the internet to find another recipe, ideally one that doesn't call for multiple sticks of butter.  I found a great version in the form of the Veg Recipes of India site, which I used as a loose guide for my new Dal Makhani attempt.

I soaked 3/4 cup of whole black urad dal overnight, which ended up being perfect for four servings the next day.  

To start the dish, I cooked the dal in a pot on a low simmer until tender - approx. 1 - 1.5 hours.  I then drained the water and lightly mashed the dal (I did not have any rajma on hand, which is also called for in the recipe).  

I then melted 2 tbsp. of butter and 1 tbsp. of oil in a pot and add some standard Indian spices - cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, and cumin.

I then added in one chopped onion, ginger, garlic, and green chiles, and sauteed until the onion was translucent.

I then added some pureed tomatoes and chile powder, and cooked down for a few minutes.  Finally, in went the dal.

I honestly don't remember how long I cooked the dal in the spice mixture - maybe 20 minutes - before adding in some leftover heavy cream.

As you can tell, I had far more cream than I anticipated - I thought it was maybe 1/4 cup of heavy cream left in the carton, when in fact it was probably more like 3/4 of a cup?  

The extra cream though didn't dilute the great flavors that the spices, tomato and onion added to the dal.  I definitely will make this recipe again, though with less cream - if anything too much cream at the end made the dish look far creamier and rich than it actually was!  In addition, I will probably add some rajma (kidney beans) if I have any because I think it'll add some textural creaminess to the dish without adding too much fat.

Steel-cut Oats Upma - Savory Breakfast for Health

While I sometimes vary on whether I want a sweet or savory breakfast, savory is usually my preferred option.  And I feel that no one does savory breakfast quite like South Indian cuisine, which has a range of fantastic vegetarian breakfast items, from idli to dosa to upma.

Upma is a wheat-flour based dish that incorporates many of the standard tempering spices and vegetables used in South Indian food generally.  It can be a great one-pot meal that I wanted to make even healthier by incorporating steel-cut oats - an approach used by some of my cousins.  My thought was that if I get this recipe right, it could be my new weekday breakfast that I could prepare on Sundays for the entire week (taking from a NY Times recommendation to cook a pot of steel-cut oats on Sunday to last until Friday).  

My first attempt at steel-cut oats upma was pretty good, though not great.  I think I should have added curry leaves to add a bit more complexity of flavor; used maybe 1/2 onion instead of a full one; and perhaps should have shredded the carrot instead of chopping it, for more textural consistency.  I'll report back as I continue to refine the recipe, but in the mean time, I think the following recipe will result in a pretty good, spicy and filling make-ahead breakfast.

Steel-cut Oats Upma

Ingredients:

• 1 carrot diced
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 green chile, sliced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 tsp ginger, minced
• 1 cup steel cut oats, roasted
• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• 1.5 tsp urad dal
• 1.5 tsp channa dal
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 tbsp grapeseed or vegetable oil

Directions:

• Heat a small pot on medium heat, and dry roast the oats until fragrant with a nutty smell - approx. 2 - 4 minutes.

• Place oats in separate bowl to cool, and use same pot to heat oil on medium heat.
• When hot, add spices and stir mixture periodically.  When mustard seeds begin to pop, add the ginger, chile and onion.  When the onion is translucent (approx. 4 minutes), add the tomato and carrot.  Cook down for 4 - 5 minutes or until tomatoes begin to break down.

• Then add oats, coating oats in vegetable and spice mixture.  Add water, salt and turmeric and bring to a boil.

• When boiling, turn down heat to low and cover the pot.  
• Cook for approx. 40 minutes, stirring every ten minutes or so, or until the oats are cooked down to your liking.  
• Add additional salt and pepper to taste before serving.