Paneer Tikka Masala

When we lived in San Francisco this was one of our favourite dishes at our favourite Indian place "Naan and Curry". We were introduced to this, then hole in the wall restaurant, by a American colleague of mine whose wife was Indian. We were quite amazed at how bad the place looked but after eating there, well, we never went anywhere else (for Indian food that is). The food was amazingly good, amazingly cheap and there was free chai, as much as you could possibly drink.
Since that first visit the restaurant branched out and we were lucky enough to have a large branch open up a few blocks from where we lived. So we would dress up our kids in yellow, orange or red attire and walk down the street to get our naan and curry fix. The dress was very important given that there was so much turmeric (note that there is none in the recipe below but the tomato will do the trick) in everything, that the kids ate with their hands, there were no booster seats and our kids were under 4 years old! Any mistake with the dress code meant that piece of clothing was destroyed for life.
Once we moved to Germany we found that not only was there no Nann and Curry (which we fully expected) but there was no decent Indian food. We finally found one that had decent food but the price has gone up by so much that the only decently priced item on the menu is "suicide water", which is just a fancy word for tap water (price 0 Euro). There was no option but to start cooking Indian food at home. After much research and much tweaking I settled on this recipe.
There is one problem though. My kids do not like the taste of the paneer that we get in Germany. We substitute with feta made from cows milk, which is a much cheaper option than paneer so everyone is happy.

Preparation time: 40 minutes (can be made in advance and refrigerated or frozen); Serves 4 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp.	Butter or ghee
2	Cloves of garlic, minced
1	Chili, minced (optional)
2 tsp.	Ground coriander
1 tsp.	Ground cumin

1 tsp.	Chili powder
1 tsp.	Garam masala
1/2 tsp.	Salt
8 fl.oz.	Tomato puree
1 cup	Whipping cream
1/4 cup	Cilantro, chopped
200 g	Paneer (or feta or tofu or anything you like!)

Method:

This is a majorly simple recipe it just takes a while because the longer you cook it the better it tastes! So first melt the butter over medium high heat. Once the butter is melted add the garlic and chili and fry them until they become fragrant (usually a few seconds). Then add the coriander, cumin, chili, garam masala and salt and continue to fry stirring all the time. Do this also until fragrant. Do not burn the spices! Talking about fragrant, be aware that after you fry all this stuff you are going to have to air your kitchen really well to get rid of the lingering spice smell. 

Now add all the tomato puree, stir and cook on low heat for 15 minutes. I actually don't use tomato puree but something called "Tomatenmark" it is very highly concentrated tomato and comes in a tube as a paste. I put around 2 - 3 fl. oz of this and make up the rest with water. How much I put depends on which particular brand I am using because they all claim different concentrations.

Now add the whipping cream (or full cream or heavy whipping cream) and bring to the boil again. Reduce the heat and simmer for another 5 minutes. I don't have any photos after this stage because I turned off the cooker and ran out of the house to pick someone up. Instructions were then sent via Whatsapp as to how to heat up the dinner. 

Finally add the cheese and the coriander leaves, heat everything through and serve with any type of bread or rice. 

I have found that the sauce re-heats and freezes very well but the cheese doesn't. So what I do is I make a double batch of gravy and only put in the amount of cheese that can be consumed in one meal. The left over gravy can then be reheated and new cheese put in. 

Left overs from the next day!

Enjoy!

Hummus - Quick, Easy, Delicious!

I'm back!!!

I have figured out how to work my new phone and things have settled down enough that I actually have time to cook peacefully. Only when cooking peacefully does one have time to take pictures.

Today I wasn't really "cooking", since I never even put the cooker on.

My kids absolutely love hummus and given that it is nutritious and delicious I wonder why I don't make it more often. Whenever there is a pot luck and I don't have time to bake anything I grab for a large can of chickpeas. Its always a hit. Today I needed something quick for lunch so we picked up some Lebanese flat bread and made some hummus.

Just as a warning, don't omit the tahini (don't buy the cheapest either) because without tahini it does not taste half as good.

Preparation time: 15 min. Serves 4 (as an appetizer) 

Ingredients:

1	14 oz can chickpeas (or 225 g dried chickpeas soaked in cold water overnight
1	Lemon, juice of
75 ml (1/4 cup)	Tahini paste
2 tbsp.	Olive oil
1 clove	Garlic
	Salt and pepper
1 pinch	Chilli powder

Method:

I almost always use canned chickpeas. They are easy to come by and make this recipe really easy to make.

One mistake that I always make when putting my hummus together is that I throw away the water in the chickpea can. DO NOT throw away the water!! You of course have to drain the water because you don't want that much but you do need a little. 

Once you have drained the chickpeas put them into a food processor. Cut the clove or garlic into about 3 and put it in together with the olive oil, tahini and lemon juice. Be careful with the lemon juice. If you don't like things too sour put in the juice of half the lemon first. You can always add more juice later. Add some salt and pepper to taste (you can also add more later).

Then whizz it in your food processor until it is nice and smooth. If it doesn't get smooth it's probably because there is not enough liquid in the mixture. Taste the hummus and see if it needs more lemon juice. Add as much as you like and then whizz it again. If it is still too dry add the liquid that you drained from the can a teaspoon at a time. Whizz it each time and check the consistency. I like mine not so dry because then the hummus is smoother. So in this batch I ended up putting almost all the lemon and a tablespoon of chickpea liquid. Once you have a smooth paste you are done. 

To serve it place it in a bowl and flatten the top with a spoon making a swirl in the hummus. Drizzle a bit of olive oil onto the swirl and then sprinkle with a pinch of chilli powder. You can also use paprika or any other hot powder. 

Serve as an appetizer or snack with flat bread or vegetable sticks.

For a chef friendly version click here. 

Potato Gratin, Easy-peasy and Delicious

I don't make enough of this stuff! It is so easy to make and every one just wolfs it down. So much so that this time I made two dishes of it so we could get a second meal out of it.

Preparation time: 25 min. Serves 4 

Ingredients:

6	Potatoes
200 ml	Cream (or soy substitute)
	Salt and Pepper
1 tbsp.	Finely chopped fresh herbs
1 cup	Grated cheese

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 C, 400 F or 180 C if you have a fan oven.

Peel and slice the potatoes. The thinner you slice the potatoes the quicker it will cook and the better it will taste.

Arrange the potatoes in a heat proof flan dish.

Pour over the cream ( I use half whipping cream and half soy based cream in order to lower the fat content). Make sure that your potatoes are covered with liquid. They should not be swimming in it, but every potato should have something on it, else they will not cook properly.

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and the herbs. For herbs I used thyme and rosemary because I still have them in a pot left over from some other recipes, but you could use anything or nothing at all! Finally sprinkle with cheese.

Stick it in the oven and once you can stick a fork through the potatoes and the cheese is melted take it out and enjoy. I can't tell you how long it will take since I don't know how fat your slices will be or how large your potatoes were. Mine took about 20 - 30 minutes. Just wait for the cheese to melt, the cream to bubble and then try pricking it with your fork.

Sorry, it was consumed to fast to be able to take pictures of the final product!!

We enjoyed our potato gratin with vegetarian schnitzel and steamed beans. But they can be eaten with anything.