 David Rubel'sWhat's For Dinner?3/14/07
2. Meanwhile, prepare the spinach. If you're using fresh bunches, trim the stems and wash it carefully. If you're using bagged spinach, there's no trimming to do, but wash the leaves twice to remove all of the bitter-tasting preservatives. Dry the leaves in a salad spinner, and chop them coarsely. Peel and dice the ginger. 3. When the cheese has finished frying, discard the oil and wipe the wok clean with a paper towel. Heat another tablespoon of peanut oil over a high flame. Add the ginger, and stir-fry until it becomes very fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the spinach in batches, allowing the leaves to wilt a little before adding more. Once all the spinach is in the wok, add the tomatoes, fried paneer, and cayenne. Toss and stir so that the ingredients combine evenly. 4. Once the spinach has completely wilted, add the garam masala. Then add the heavy cream and stir to combine. Serve with basmati rice. Paneer
2. Line a colander with a double thickness of cheesecloth. Pour the milk mixture over the cheesecloth to trap the curds. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth and gently squeeze out the excess liquid. Return the curds, still wrapped tightly in the cheesecloth, to the colander and cover with a small plate. Weigh down the plate to compact and drain the curds further, about 30 minutes. 3. Remove the weight, unwrap the cheesecloth, and transfer the cheese to a plate or bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, up to several days.
Tips * Here is my hierarchy of fresh spinach: from my own garden, from a local farm stand, bunched in the market, bagged in the market. If you have no other choice than to buy your spinach bagged, make sure that you wash it especially well. Bagged spinach is treated with alum to keep it "fresh," which is why you get a bitter aftertaste if you eat a leaf out of the bag. * When draining the curds for the paneer, moderation is the key. A pound or two of weight is plenty. Also, you want them dry, not desiccated. * Because your paneer will likely turn out as misshapen as mine, don't get too caught up with uniformity when cutting the cubes. Instead, do the best you can, and then press together whatever small pieces that remain to form similarly sized blobs. * This dish cooks especially well in a wok for two reasons. First, you need much less oil to produce an inch's worth in the curved bottom of a wok (for frying the paneer). Second, the wok's tall sides provide a lot of surface area for wilting the large volume of spinach. * An easy way to discard the oil used in frying the paneer is to soak it up with a wad of paper towels. This way, the oil goes out with the garbage and doesn't clog up your pipes. * You can buy garam masala, which is a common Indian spice blend, or-better yet-make it yourself. First, toast in a skillet 2 Tbs cumin seeds, 2 Tbs coriander seeds, and 2 Tbs cardamom pods. Then grind these toasted spices in a spice grinder with 2 Tbs black peppercorns, a 3-inch cinnamon stick (broken up), 1 tsp whole cloves, and 1 tsp grated nutmeg.
If you have tried one of these recipes and have an improvement or tip or variation to suggest, please e-mail David at dinner@wamc.org. Also feel free to send along your own family cuisine recipes. You can even request dishes that you'd like David to present in the future. David Rubel is president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York. He spends his days writing American history, then heads home after work to cook for his wife and two young children. His most recent book is The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality (DK, 2005). |
