Palak Paneer (and how to make paneer)

I made cheese! Wohoo! I love activities where in cooking where i can make the components that you're so used to buying ready made. It adds another level to the care and control you have over a dish. And in this case, paneer is so cheap and so easy to make, I'm sure it, or other home made cheeses, will appear in other recipes down the line.

Palak Paneer is a vegetarian curry using paneer instead of meat, and with spinach as the basis for the sauce. Paneer has a taste and texture similar to firm ricotta (in fact this whole dish rings of cannelloni filling to me); as such, it acts in this dish as a conveyor of the sauce's flavor rather than as a distinct flavoring element of its own.

Happy cheese making!

Green Masala Lamb Chops on a Fennel, Tomato and White Balsamic Salad

This recipe is a twisted variation on one that i found from Neil Perry. This is the first time i've used Neil Perry as an influence for a dish because although i've not been to one of his restaurants, his dishes come across to me as very finnicky (this is not a negative reflection - i just dont have the patience to cook them myself, marvelous though they may be).

There are two things that make this dish so good: Firstly, the green masala marinade brings the lamb to life with fresh herbs and tangy spices, and the fennel seed matches so well with the crisp fennel salad. Secondly, the white balsamic makes the salad stand out. Sure, you could use red wine vinegar, or even regular balsamic. But i encourage you to seek out white balsamic for its slightly tarter but more sublte and simpler flavour to traditional balsamic. 

Beef Dopiaza & Spiced Carrot Salad

So my dad's been getting all this neat new curry stuff, but he hasn't used any of it yet! Amongst the great gear he recieved for Christmas and his birthday were the above metal bowls, a chest full of spices including whole dried tumeric which i've never seen before, and a spice grinder from yours truly (actually that was for fathers day). And this dish puts it all to good use!

Murg Makhani - Butter Chicken

I used to love Indian cuisine. I still do, but once upon a time it was miles ahead of any other food as my favorite food to eat. But there was one dish i wasn't a fan of: butter chicken. It was the dish for fussy people, chunks of chicken in what tasted like spiced tomato soup (in fact, some recipes call for tomato soup as the core ingredient). Since then, i have found places that do a good butter chicken. Though it's still not my favorite curry, the recipe below is delicious!

Saoji Curried Lamb Shanks with Aloo Paratha

What better a way to welcome in the cooler months in style than with a rich lamb curry and crisp flaky Indian Breads?

A saoji, a traditional curry of Nagpur, would normally be made with mutton, but seriously the lax guidelines used in Australia to delineate between lamb and mutton mean that unless you're buying it from a reputable butcher, chances are that 'lamb' you're buying is actually borderline mutton. In this case, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. This is not a burn-your-buds sort of curry but rather a rich and hearty one which sticks to the ribs.

A paratha is a flaky Indian flatbread which literally translates to 'layers of cooked flour'. The recipe below is for aloo paratha, or spiced potato paratha. It is easy to make but don't feel confined to the ingredients below, or even to potato. Parathas can contain minced lamb, cheese, herbs, even, as at The Langham Buffet in Melbourne, mini m&ms. (darn, now i wish i made one of them whilst i was at it. Next time!)

Kaju Chicken in Kaala Masala

I lifted the original version of this recipe from a great cookbook i got titled '50 great curries of india'. I can make a decent curry, but i still haven't managed to make a curry that tastes quite as strong and flavour packed as what you can get in any Indian restaurant.

The most important thing in making this dish is to ensure that you blend the ingredients as finely as possible. Failure to do so will result in an unappealing texture, and a visual that suggests the curry sauce has curdled. Not good peeps!

Also, go out and buy some ghee! Ghee is a clarified butter used commonly in Indian cuisine. Because it's clarified it means it has a much higher smoke point than regular butter, but still imparts a flavor to foods that vegetable oils can never match. You can pick up ghee in the international section of a good supermarket. 

Ingredients (Serves 4)

• 1 kg skinless thicken thighs
• 1 head garlic, peeled
• 100gm grated coconut (fresh if you keep it around)
  
• 1 2cm cube of ginger, chopped
• 2 1/2 tbs coriander seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 5 dried chillis
  
• 5 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 200gm raw cashews
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 5 tbsp ghee or oil 
• Salt to taste

Method

Heat the oven to 175 degrees and toast the cashews for 10 minutes then set aside.

In a large frying pan free of oil or fat, roast the coconut, garlic, chillis, ginger, and spices for 5 minutes on medium heat.

Add the onions and half of the cashews and saute for a further 10 minutes.

Once cooled slightly, process this mixture. This is the part where you must get the paste as fine as possible.

The above is NOT fine enough!

This is much better. We want smooth peanut butter, not crunchy.

Heat the ghee in a pot on medium heat and add the cashew spice mixture and fry for 10 minutes.

Add the chicken thighs and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes.

Add 600ml of water and the conver and leave to cook on a low heat for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid, and continue to cook until the sauce thickens to the desired level.

When close to serving, stir through the remaining cashews.

Serve with safron rice and cachumber.

Curried Carrot & Chickpea Soup

Today it's 36 degrees. What did i decide to cook last night (and therefore have for leftovers today)... soup! I love my soups, but in 36 degree heat, yeah coulda thought that one through a bit better.

Nonetheless this is a soup i whipped up from my head to get rid of the chickpeas in my cupboard. My aim over the next few weeks is to cook stuff that uses what's in my freezer/pantry and doesn't add anything to it.

The culprit: Chickpeas.

I originally used natural yoghurt in this recipe instead of the cream, but found that cream works better in this case. Coconut milk would probably work even better.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup thickened cream
• 500gm carrots
• 1 leek
• 1 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 heaped tablespoon curry powder
• 1 litre vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp Ghee (oil can be used instead; ghee is a clarified animal oil)
  
• Salt and pepper to season

Method

Thinly slice the carrots and leeks.

Heat large pot over low heat; add ghee.

Add the leeks and allow to sweat for 5-10 minutes.

Add the carrots and garlic and turn up the heat to medium. Saute for 5 minutes.

Add chickpeas and curry powder and saute for 2 minutes, stirring powder through the vegetables.

Add the stock, and bring to the boil.

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes.

Transfer the soup to a blender in batched and puree finely.

Season to taste.

Just before serving, add the cream but be sure not to bring the soup to a boil (save a little bit for garnish)