Matar Paneer and Aloo Tikki

After my first major success in cooking authentic tasting Indian food at home, I had in mind to show off my new skills to my boyfriend. Oh, how very rude of me, you haven't been introduced, have you? This is Steve, my most wonderful boyfriend. Everyone say, "Hi Steve!" He pretty much rules, and I am certain that you would love him.

Steve shares my love of Indian food so I was very excited to cook up something special for him. We both love all things paneer, so I thought it would be most fun and tasty to conquer a paneer dish. I returned to Lisa's Kitchen for inspiration since her Chana Masala was such a hit, and I was pleased to find many paneer recipes in her archives. With a big bag of frozen peas already in my freezer the Matar Paneer was the obvious choice. I put Steve to work measuring spices into small bowls so they would be ready for me when I needed them. He seemed to really enjoy the process of watching it all come together. We were super happy with the end result, and I definitely plan to make this dish again.

To make this an extra special feast I made Aloo Tikki as an appetizer, Indian spiced fried potato patties. I don't have any experience making fried things at home, because I shy away from recipes that involve submerging food in oil. We did not have the highest expectations for these, but were very pleasantly surprised in the end. I love it when that happens! I want to continue with my habit of not submerging my food in oil, but it will be hard not to indulge in this recipe from time to time. This would be great with some tamarind chutney on top, but we did not have any this time.

Matar Paneer

(from Lisa's Kitchen)

a few tablespoons of oil or butter, or a mixture of both
1 1/2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of black mustard seeds
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 hot green chillies or jalapenos, finely minced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 inch piece of ginger, grated or finely minced
1 generous teaspoon of ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
1 teaspoon of turmeric
2 teaspoons of water
2 cups of tomatoes, finely chopped
1 - 2 teaspoons of sea salt
2 cups of paneer cheese, cubed
1 1/2 cups of frozen peas, defrosted
1/2 - 1 cup of yogurt
2 teaspoons of garam masala
1 1/2 teaspoons of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - I could not find this, so I omitted
3 tablespoons of fresh parsley or coriander, chopped

In a mortar and pestle, make a paste of the garlic, ginger, cayenne, coriander, paprika, turmeric and water. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat the oil and butter over medium heat. When hot, add the cumin and black mustard seeds and stir and fry until the mustard seeds turn gray and begin to pop. Now add the onion and cook until it is translucent, stirring frequently. Add the chillies, stir and then add the ginger, garlic spice paste. Stir and fry for a minute.

Add the tomatoes and salt to the pot, increase the heat slightly and cook for about 5 - 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened. Reduce the heat, and add the peas, paneer, yogurt, garam masala, kasoori methi and parsley. Stir to combine and gently cook for another 5 minutes.

Serves 4.

Aloo Tikki

(adapted from VegNews)

2 russet potatoes, peeled, chopped, and boiled (apprx 1.5 - 2 cups)

3/4 cup cooked chickpeas

1 green chile, seeded and minced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1 tbsp ginger, grated

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp fine grain sea salt

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup canola oil, for frying

In a large bowl, mash potato and chickpeas (the chickpeas will remain a bit chunky which is fine). Add chile, cilantro, ginger, lemon juice, salt, pepper, coriander, cumin, flour, and cornstarch and mix well. Use your hands to shape the mixture into small, tight patties.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add the patties and cook until both sides are golden brown, turning once. Serve hot.

Indian-Spiced Stuffed Eggplants with Paneer

For some unknown reason I have limited success with eggplant (well, limited experience for that matter), and usually that success is with red sauce Italian dishes. I find eggplant to be the loveliest addition to Indian and Thai curry dishes, but the handful of times I've tried this at home the eggplant usually doesn't turn out right. Eggplant-dishes-gone-awry are usually due to an unappealing consistency, whether it be too soft and mushy, or the skin remaining too tough and chewy. (Anyone else out there, or is it just me?) I was so excited to try making stuffed eggplants, seemed simple enough, but then about 20 minutes into the process of making them I felt that another disappointment was on the way. I had the urge to dump these into the garbage rather than continue on. Ultimately I fought that urge, but I did start making a pot of soup on the side as a backup. 

My adaptation was inspired by The Purple Foodie, a blogger from Mumbai. Based on my much different experience I suspect that she was working with a different variety of eggplant. The first step in this recipe is to halve and bake 2 eggplants for 20 minutes, and then scoop the flesh out. I baked mine for 40 minutes and the flesh was still not scooping out easily. I resolved to slice gently around the edge and make crosswise slits (meanwhile being careful not to puncture the skin) to loosen up the flesh enough for me to scoop it out. Then after scooping she recommends mashing the flesh with a fork. This, too, wasn't cutting it, so I gave the flesh 7 or 8 pulses in the food processor, which ended up working great. I am sure that her eggplants were much smaller also because of the amount of spice used, I ended up doubling the spices and adding a few more (as listed below). My eggplants were about 9 inches in length, but I'd recommend looking for smaller ones, in the 6"-7" range.

In the end this dish was wonderful, but it didn't come without some frustration. On the upside, this was my first time working with paneer, which was exciting. I do expect that I'll be making some saag paneer soon (my fave!) to use up the leftovers.

Indian-Spiced Stuffed Eggplants
(Adapted from The Purple Foodie)

2 eggplants (about 6"-7" in length)
Olive oil (for sprinkling)
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp ground red chilli powder
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 medium ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 bay leaf
1 cup paneer, crumbled (or substitute ricotta)
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
2 vegetarian sausage patties, thawed and chopped
1 egg, beaten
Extra fresh cilantro, chopped (for sprinkling)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Halve the eggplant lengthwise. Place them in the baking dish, cut sides up. Drizzle with olive oil and season to taste. Bake for 30 minutes or until tender.
Scoop out the eggplant flesh with a spoon and mash it gently with a fork (or if it's a little tough still use the food processor like I did).
In a skillet, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. When it is hot, add the coriander, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, ginger and chopped garlic to it. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, for 2 minutes.
Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often, for 3-4 minutes.
Stir in the eggplant flesh. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes or until the mixture is pulpy and well flavored. Discard the bay leaf.
Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees.
Stir the paneer, parmesan, cilantro, vegetarian sausage, salt, and pepper into the eggplant mixture. Once the mixture is little cool, stir in the beaten egg. Fill the eggplant shells back with the stuffing. Reserve some of the parmesan for later.
Return the shells to the baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil. Bake the eggplant for 30-40 minutes or until the shells are tender when pierced with a skewer. During the last 10 minutes of baking, sprinkle the reserved parmesan on top.