Paneer Tikka Masala (with some korma flare)

I said I was gonna stick with this blog. I meant it. Then winter came. Days got short. Natural light for taking pictures of food became scarce. Finals took hold. I went away for break. I came back. I got super busy covering for a rabbi on sabbatical in Maryland. Second semester began. And suddenly it was nearly March and my most recent post was just after Thanksgiving. Oops.

Today I had some time, so I decided to experiment with paneer, which my wonderful co-op happens to carry. Whenever I order Indian food, paneer is my go-to.  My favorite dish at Tiffin, the Indian restaurant around the corner from my house, is paneer tikka masala-- cubes of paneer simmered with some onions and peas in a creamy tomato sauce. It being me, I decided to go off-book and not just try to replicate the dish.



Spices in this are approximate. As with anything spicy, it's all up to personal taste. Experiment and see what you like. Also, the veggies were what I had on hand. I imagine any combo of relatively quick-cooking vegetables would do well with this.


Ingredients

Paneer Skewers

• 1/2 pound of paneer, cubed (you could probably sub meat here)
• 1/2 red pepper, cut into 1-inch chunks
• a few large slices of onion
• 3 TBS half-and-half or yogurt
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1.5 inch ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (please use your own tastebuds/spice tolerance as a guide here!!)

Sauce

• 2 TBS oil or ghee
• 1/2 large onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 inch ginger
• 3 TBS cashews
• 1 14 oz can tomatoes
• water as needed
• a small handful of mushrooms, washed and sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 1/4 tsp cayenne 
• 1/2 cup milk, half-and-half, or cream
• cashews to garnish

Procedure

Paneer Skewers

• Stir half-and-half, ginger, garlic, and all spices together in a large bowl
• Add paneer, peppers, and onions and stir until everything is well-coated-- if there's not enough liquid for this, add a touch more half-and-half.

• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge for 90 minutes.

• After the paneer has marinated, preheat the oven to 400°F, thread the paneer and veggies onto skewers, and bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges are beginning to brown. Save the leftover marinade for the sauce. 

Sauce

• Roughly chop the onion, place in a food processor, and turn into an onion mush. 

• Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion, and cook for about 5 minutes over medium-low heat, until the onion begins to turn golden.

• While the onion is cooking, roughly chop the garlic and ginger, add to the food processor with the cashews, and blend. 
• Stir the cashew mix into the onion mix, adding a little water if everything gets sticky, and cook for a few minutes more. Meanwhile, place the tomatoes in the food processor and puree. 

• Add the tomatoes and 1/4 cup water. Stir over medium heat for a minute or two until blended. 
• Stir in the mushrooms and peas, bring to a simmer, and let cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often and letting the sauce reduce. 

• Add the spices and taste for flavor. Since you'll be adding dairy, it should be slightly stronger than you want the final dish to be. 
• Remember the leftover marinade? Stir it slowly into the sauce.

• Remove the sauce from the heat, give a moment to cool slightly, and then slowly stir in the milk or cream. 

• Slide the paneer and veggies off the skewers and into the sauce, stirring well to incorporate. 
• Serve with rice, naan, or both, with some cashews on top.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Leek and Kale Coconut Curry with Rice Noodles

I spent last weekend at a conference for rabbinical students from all over the country. It was a fantastic experience and I learned so much from the students and "full-grown" rabbis there. I also increased my understanding of strict kosher eating practices, like not being allowed to bring my water bottle into the cafeteria (the staff took it away but I got it back!) and using tea essence rather than tea bags on shabbat. I don't really keep kosher at home. I'm a vegetarian, so I don't mix meat and milk because I'm not ever consuming meat, but I buy products that aren't marked kosher, and since my roommates aren't vegetarian, my pots and pans and dishes aren't kosher. I feel like my practices make sense for me, and when I have my own kitchen I might just keep it vegetarian. In any case, some of the practices at the conference were new to me, and it was awesome to learn from my more traditionally-observant colleagues.

When I got back yesterday afternoon, all I really wanted to do was curl up and chill, but instead I ran out to the co-op for groceries and then hopped in the car to get to choir practice on time. (I'm a good little chorister.) So I didn't really have a lot of time to cook yesterday, but when I got home from work today I decided it was time to use yesterday's hastily-purchased groceries to make something awesome. And then I did. These proportions worked out well for me, but the veggie amounts are really up to you. Also, feel free to sub other greens for the kale if you like. This recipe is quite forgiving and can hang out without constant attention for most of the cooking process.

Ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves, sliced or diced large
• about 2 inches ginger, peeled and sliced
• 1 large leek, greens and whites washed well and sliced thinly
• a handful of mushrooms, washed and sliced
• half a package of tofu (you could use more-- that's what I had), pressed and cubed
• about half a head of kale, stemmed (if you like) washed and torn into bite-sized chunks
• 2 TBS canola oil or other cooking oil
• 1 14 oz can light coconut milk
• 1 TBS red curry paste (I use thai kitchen)
• about half a package rice noodles
• 1 tsp soy sauce, plus more to taste
• sesame chili oil to taste

Procedure

• Cook the rice noodles according to package directions. If they're done before your veggies are, rinse in cool water and set aside. 
• Heat the canola oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, for a couple of minutes. 
• Add the leeks and let cook slowly for about 5 minutes, until they start to soften up.
• Add the tofu and mushrooms. Continue to cook over medium-low for perhaps another 5 minutes, stirring about from time to time. Add more oil if the veggies start to stick or get super dry. 
• 
• When the veggies are softish and starting to look cohesive, add in the kale. It may well take over your pan. Be patient. Stir it gently. Eventually the kale will start to break down and fit properly in the pan. 



Before



• After the kale has been cooking for about 5 minutes, stir in the coconut milk and curry paste. Cook for about 5 minutes more or until veggies are as tender as you like. 
• Stir in rice noodles, soy sauce, and chili oil (if using).
• Eat up.  
• 

First-Week-of-the-Second-Half-of-Rabbinical-School Pasta

This seems to happen every year. In the Fall, I get grand ambitions of the food blogging that I shall revive, of the recipes that I shall post, of the deliciousness to be documented. And then, inevitably, school and work take over, and the blogging stops almost before it starts. Well, not this year. It is now my second half of rabbinical school. I can do things like chant Torah and talk about modern Jewish history and even maybe tell you what month it is in the Hebrew calendar. I can keep up with this blog, and I shall.

To begin, I'll be sharing a First-Week-of-the-Second-Half-of-Rabbinical-School Pasta.

My lovely roommate works for a synagogue that hosts a CSA pick-up. It's a great idea! As a nice bonus, when there's leftover produce from the boxes, Sara gets to take some of it. Last week she brought home beautiful eggplants and red peppers, and she was nice enough to share them with me.

Eggplant is delicious. Often when I get eggplant, I'll make a Chinese dish called 红烧茄子 (Hong Shao Qiezi), which is just about the most delicious way to eat eggplant ever. But, not knowing that Sara was going to be bringing eggplant home, I'd bought my own a few days earlier and already cooked up a batch, so I was looking for something different.

I experiment in the kitchen. Most cooks do, I guess. For me, it's a creative outlet and something very tactile in a life that's largely not. Much of my day consists of reading and listening and talking. I like reading and listening and talking very much! But I also have to find ways to keep my body engaged. I knit in class. I fidget. I play with my hair (curly hair makes it easy). Often, when I get home after a long day, the possibility of going into the kitchen and playing with my food is about the most enticing thing there is.

So, without further adieu, here's what I came up with. It's vegan unless you add parmesan at the end, and if you sub gluten-free pasta it'd be gluten-free. :)

Ingredients:

• several generous glugs of olive oil
• 1 large globe eggplant, sliced into finger-sized pieces
• 1 small red pepper, diced
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2-5 cloves of garlic, diced (I love garlic. If you don't, put in less)
• 1 handful of mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried basil (if you have fresh, all the better!)
• 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 lb pasta of choice
• salt and pepper to taste
• (optional) parmesan cheese
• (optional) fake meatballs-- or real ones, if you don't keep kosher/do eat meat

When I set out to make this, I had limited time because I had only about a half hour at home before a dinner-time (but not dinner) meeting. So I  got home from school, chopped my veggies, threw them in a box in the fridge, and drove off to work. 

Once I got back, it was play time. There's an eggplant dish called "pasta alla norma" that's pretty delish. I like to use a light variation on Jamie Oliver's recipe. I started out with this much the same way, cooking the eggplant in batches, but then I got all excited about my other ingredients and went off-book. Approximate procedure is below, but, as always, play!

Procedure:

1. Fry Your Eggplant: heat a large skillet over medium, give it a nice drink of olive oil (probably a couple of tablespoons), and add as much of the eggplant as you can fit in a single layer. (You may need to do two batches.) Stir some, but you want to leave it still long enough for the eggplant to brown. Once the eggplant's beginning to soften and turn golden, add a little salt and the basil and oregano. You may also need to add a little oil if it starts to stick. Keep tossing it around so it all cooks evenly. You can use the back of a spoon or a spatula to smoosh the eggplants and release some of the oil back into the pan. If necessary, remove the first batch and add in the second.
2. Once the eggplant is starting to look mostly done, add it all back in, along with the onion and garlic. You may need to turn the heat down a tad at this point so that the onion doesn't scorch. Let it cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to soften, then add the pepper and mushrooms. 
   
3. Cook the veggies until the shrooms are shrunken, adding a touch more oil if needed to prevent sticking. Taste the veggies and add salt and pepper to taste. This is also a good time to get the water for your pasta going.
   
4. Add in the can of tomatoes, along with a few tablespoons of water. Stir so that everything is incorporated. If you're using frozen meatballs (or fake meatballs), add them in now so that they can cook. 
5. Turn the heat to low and let the sauce simmer for about 15 minutes. If it gets too thick (and it probably will), stir in some of the cooking water. Taste for spice and adjust as necessary. 
   
6. Once the pasta is done, drain, reserving a little of the cooking water in case the sauce is still too thick. Spoon pasta into bowls, top with sauce and cheese (if desired), and dig in. 
   

Pappardelle with Mushroom Sauce

There's something about mushrooms and pasta. I love mushrooms in stir-fries and curries, and when it comes to veggie burgers not much beats a properly marinated and grilled portabella cap, but pasta and mushrooms really do seem made for each other, especially when there's no meat involved.

So it was that, yesterday, I decided to make a pasta sauce with mushrooms and not much else. I happened to have brown crimini mushrooms and some dried porcini on hand, but I bet that this would be equally good (or better) with many different varieties. Having dried mushrooms is important though, because the water you rehydrate them in is a component of the sauce.

This doesn't take long to whip up at all, and it's delicious. I loved it with pappardelle, but any pasta would work fine, I'm sure.

Dried Porcini Mushrooms

Ingredients
-8 oz pappardelle or pasta of choice
-2 glugs olive oil (about 1-2 TBS each)
-1 large shallot, thinly sliced (you can sub half a small onion here if you'd like)
-generous sprinklings of dried parsley, basil, and oregano (if you have fresh, even better)
-3 medium cloves of garlic, minced
-about 12 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
-1 generous glug (about 2-3 TBS) white wine--unnecessary but really good
-1/4 cup dried porcini mushrooms, rehydrated in 1 cup boiling water and chopped
-a couple handfuls of fresh spinach, stemmed and chopped
-salt and pepper to taste
-lots of parmesan, for serving




Procedure

1) Start preparing your pasta as directed--if you already have your sauce ingredients ready to go, the pasta and sauce should be ready around the same time
2) Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with the boiling water. Give them at least 15 minutes and up to an hour, really, to rehydrate. Don't throw away the water!
3) Swirl 1 glug of olive oil into a frying pan over medium low heat and add the shallots. Saute gently for a few minutes until they start to soften, then add about half of your minced garlic along with dashes of your herbs and a bit of salt.

4) If your pan looks dry, add your second glug of oil. Turn the heat up to medium high and stir in the fresh mushrooms and the rest of the garlic. My Dad says that when cooking mushrooms, the two important tasks are to keep them hot and keep them moving. So move that spoon around the pan, adding a bit more oil if you need to.
5) A minute or so into cooking, add your wine and give the alcohol a minute to evaporate. If your kitchen doesn't smell amazing at this point, there is either something wrong with your mushrooms or with your nose.
6) Turn the heat down to medium/medium low and throw in the rehydrated mushrooms. Start adding the mushroom water, but don't put it in all at once. You may not end up using it all. Let the sauce simmer. You don't want your mushrooms swimming in liquid, but they should be wading. Watch the sauce and add liquid accordingly. Let simmer for about 3-4 minutes, throwing in the spinach a minute or so from the end so that it just wilts. The mushrooms should be beautifully brown.
7) Season the sauce to taste, toss with the pasta and serve topped with lots of cheese.