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.

Blue Cheese Buttermilk Dressing - Heaven is a Place in My Kitchen

I've consistently only made one type of salad dressing - vinaigrette.  I've made balsamic, dijon, and various vinegar-based vinaigrettes (red wine, champagne, apple cider, etc.), usually via eyeballed ingredients, but they are generally the same.  Oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and sometimes herbs or garlic.  

Feeling a bit bored by this routine, and also maybe extra hungry, I decided to try making a creamy dressing at home instead.  I mean how hard could it be?

Turns out even easier than I expected.  I very loosely followed a Cook's Illustrated recipe, modifying it so much that it became my own simple and delicious dressing.  The dressing had tang from sour cream, saltiness and creaminess from gorgonzola crumbles, and a sharp tart flavor from champagne vinegar.  Coupled with a buttermilk base, this dressing really made my otherwise simple lettuce meal incredibly satisfying and comforting.

I don't even know if I can provide a proper recipe for this dressing.  I basically used equal parts sour cream and buttermilk, added in maybe a tsp. of champagne vinegar to taste, a pinch of garlic powder and sugar, and enough gorgonzola until it looked "right."

I look forward to making this 3-minute dressing again and again!

Collard Chips are the New Kale Chips (Maybe I'm a Few Years Late to the Trend)

A few years ago, collard greens replaced kale as the hot green superfood.  This declaration may not have been from a particularly reliable source of information, but instead from places like the Food Network.  Well, whatever collards are and however popular or trendy they may be, I learned that they make an equally delicious, if not more delicious, baked chip as kale.  

I simply ripped up some heavily wilting collards from the fridge, eyeballed some olive oil and kosher salt to rub onto the leaves, and baked them.

Eighteen minutes in a preheated 300-degree oven was all it took, with a simple toss of the chips at the 12 minute mark.  

I think I liked these chips better than kale chips because the slightly bitter flavor of the collards came out more in these chips, which made them feel more hearty and interesting than kale chips, which are blander in flavor.  So I can certainly see myself making these again!

Roasted Green Beans - Great Weeknight Vegetable Preparation

I'm not sure what inspired me to make this simple roasted vegetable recipe, but whatever it was, I was incredibly pleased with the result.  Salted and crisp green beans and red bell peppers that required almost no work.  Yum!

I didn't really follow any measurements for this 22-minute oven roasting approach, just tossed a bit of olive oil and kosher salt with the green beans and bell pepper slices before putting them in a 450-degree oven.  

I tossed them once halfway through cooking, and then served immediately.  I was surprised by how crisp the vegetables ended up via this method, and how much the natural flavor of the green beans and bell peppers came through.  I wasn't just eating overcooked vegetables, rather felt like a better version of both vegetables.  Heat really worked wonders!  I look forward to making this simple side again and again!

Improved Pearl Barley Risotto - Fantastic Spring or Winter Meal

Having some leftover pearl barley from two recent Ottelenghi recipes, I wanted to use up the remainder before an upcoming move.  It seems like the most popular approach these days, per the internet, is pearl barley risotto, but unfortunately the recipes I found all were a bit more complicated than what I wanted to invest in - particularly with a move coming up.

I ultimately decided to improve a recipe, and I could not have been happier with the result.  The risotto had a bright herb flavor, and the consistency was substantive and creamy.  I also really liked the pearl barley as the main ingredient as it resulted in a vegetarian risotto that felt like a true main course, instead of the arborio rice versions which always strike me as side dishes.

Needless to say, this will be a recipe repeat.  Current recipe below - I will post any updates or modifications as I make them!

Pearl Barley Risotto

Ingredients

• 1.5 tbsp. olive oil 
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup pearl barley, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 cup frozen green peas, defrosted
• 1/3 cup parsley, minced
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• parmesan shavings (optional), salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• In a medium pot, heat olive oil on medium-high heat.  When hot, add onion and celery and saute for 5 - 6 minutes or until soft.

• Add garlic and stir for another 30 seconds.  Stir in the pearl barley and saute fairly continuously for 3 - 4 minutes to toast.

• Add the vegetable broth, and bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, and cook until liquid is almost completely absorbed by the barley.  When that happens, add the remaining one cup of water and cook until partly absorbed.

• Stir in the peas, parsley, and lemon juice and cook until liquid is almost completely absorbed and barley dish appears creamy. 

• Add parmesan, salt and pepper to taste and serve while warm.

The Easiest and Most Delicious Weeknight Black Beans

When my husband and I recently gorged ourselves on Tex-Mex throughout Austin and San Antonio, my husband remarked that he wasn't sure if black beans could ever be that good if they were truly vegetarian. 

Taking that as a challenge, and with lots of delicious vegetarian Tex-Mex meals on my mind, when we returned home, I decided to perfect cooking dried black beans as I figured that it's easier to infuse flavor into cooking black beans from dry than cooking them from a can.

Surprisingly enough, by looking at some cookbooks and online Instant Pot websites, I quickly perfected a fantastic recipe.  The beans are well-seasoned, flavorful, and soft - even if not soaked beforehand.

The only thing that I've had to play with over the past four attempts at this recipe is the Instant Pot high pressure cooking time.  I initially cooked these beans at 22 minutes, but then had to cook the beans for another 3 - 5 minutes to get them to be evenly soft. 

I think moving forward 28 minutes is the right amount of time - but I'll report back if that changes in practice!

Instant Pot Weeknight Black Beans

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup dried black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 small onion, halved (red, white, or yellow - it doesn't matter)
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup water
• salt to taste, perhaps start with 1/2 tsp.

Directions

• Put all ingredients in Instant Pot.  No need to stir.

• Set to manual, high pressure for 28 minutes.  Keep on sealed option.
• Allow for natural release (approx. 22 minutes of keeping Instant Pot on warm after cooking), release to "vent" and taste beans for consistently.  Cook for 1 - 2 minutes further if beans are not to your desired consistency.

Basic Instant Pot Pinto Beans - A Work in Progress

I never cooked dried pinto beans until the fantastic Cook's Illustrated Drunken Beans recipe.  Wowsa, that's a great approach that develops a really flavorful and interesting pot of beans.

However, it's not quite a simple recipe as it requires a lot of different ingredients (including two types of alcohol!) and a number of steps to get those oh-so-perfect beans.

Given that my time is sadly finite, as is my cupboard, I decided to experiment with a simpler Instant Pot dried pinto bean recipe.  While this approach wasn't quite that great (resulted in overcooked, bland beans), it's definitely a start to making a simpler pot of beans.

To begin this improvised approach, I soaked 1 cup of beans overnight and then cooked the beans with 1/2 white onion (left halved), 2 peeled garlic cloves, a few cilantro sprigs, and 2 bay leaves. 

I supplemented the above with approx. 2 cups of water and omitted salt for the cooking because I had remembered reading that cooking beans with salt can make them too hard.  However, on a recent Milk Street Radio podcast with Chris Kimball and Sara Moulton, I learned that this is an old wives tale!  So in the future, I'll add the salt to the outset of cooking (if not also soaking the beans with salt as well).

I set the timer to 25 minutes on manual / high pressure and let the pot depressurize naturally.

Unfortunately, this is where the problems started.  Pressure cookers do not need nearly the amount of water as standard stove-top cooking and I learned this lesson yet again the hard way.  Way too much water in the pot, such that sauteing it down wasn't going to be sufficient.  So I scooped out some of the extra water (which probably had a decent amount of flavor in it) and threw it down the sink.

I also learned that 25 minutes was WAY too long for pre-soaked pinto beans.  I think I should half the time next time to not get horribly mushy beans.

The beans were also incredibly bland.  So lots of salt next time, and maybe that many more herbs as well. Will report back as I continue to refine this "simple" pinto bean approach!

Vegan Noodle Soup - A Madhu Knits and Cooks Original, Revised

This post will be a short one focused on an oldie, but a goodie Madhu Knits and Cooks improvised recipe.  That recipe - Vegan Noodle Soup - is as great as ever, as a recent attempt proved.

I made just a few slight modifications to my first attempt - notably substituting parsley in for the cilantro, and omitting the thyme as I didn't have any on-hand.  I added in a half cup of orzo, and served the soup with a healthy amount of parmesan, which was a great slightly salty and rich touch, albeit a non-vegan one.

The other modification I made was to use my newly acquired Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base in place of bouillon cubes.  Now I understand what the great reviews are about - this will definitely be a staple in my kitchen moving forward.  Similarly, this soup is making a comeback in my kitchen as well, and I can't wait to continue to experiment with it (next up - adding beans?).

A Messy First Attempt at Frittata - Broccoli Cheddar Frittata

As the post title indicates, my first attempt at frittata was a bit of a mess.  Thankfully, it ended up tasted great, but not only was the process a mess, the final output was also a bit...messy.  

The challenge I had is that the saute pan I used was not oven safe to the temperature I needed, so I decided midway to use the Serious Eats flipping method.  But instead of actually using that full flipping method - which I was ultimately too scared to do - I decided to weakly semi-flip the frittata onto a plate to then slide the undercooked side back into the pan.  

In short, I kept changing my mind on what to do, and did each resulting step with such a heavy amount of hesitancy that the appearance of my frittata was largely doomed.  But soldier on I did, and the resulting frittata was one that I will make again (though with more certainty, gusto, and perhaps a different pan to just finish in the oven!). 

I settled on a broccoli cheddar frittata largely because I had the ingredients on hand and I thought this would be a good way to use frozen broccoli.  I also wanted to make a frittata that was more vegetable than egg-heavy, and given that broccoli is my favorite vegetable, it felt like the perfect way to anchor a vegetable-heavy frittata.

The hot frittata achieved my flavor combination perfectly.  When cooled though, the frittata was a bit more eggy than I generally prefer - but still, it's an egg-based dish, so what else would I expect?  

Recipe and instructions follow the picture below.

Broccoli Cheddar Frittata

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 2 - 3 tbsp. milk (my milk went bad, so I couldn't use it, but I will in the future)
• 10 oz. bag frozen chopped broccoli
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. water
• 3/4 cup shredded cheddar
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

• Defrost frozen broccoli according to bag instructions, and drain any excess water.
• Heat olive oil in a medium-t0-large saucepan on medium high heat.  When hot, add drained broccoli, red chili flake, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.  Saute for approx. 5 - 7 min or until hot and fully cooked.

• In a bowl, lightly beat eggs with milk, salt, pepper, and then add cheddar, stirring to combine.

• Add to the hot pan with the broccoli and shift the pan around for the egg to evenly coat the pan.  Let sit for approx. 6 minutes, and then flip into a prepared plate.  Slide the undercooked side back into the pan, and then cook for another 2 - 3 minutes.

• You can then flip another 1 - 2 times if you would like (I did this with messy results), and then serve when the eggs are cooked to your liking.  Season generously with salt and pepper, and serve!

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.