Saag Paneer and Tandoori Spiced Cauliflower

My favorite Indian dishes, hands down, are saag paneer and chana masala.  Unfortunately, our preferred Indian joint here in Jakarta is kinda a pain to get to on the regular, so I don't get my favorites as often as I would like, leaving it up to me to try to recreate them at home.

Step 1: Sag Paneer.  Step 2: Chana masala (coming soon... maybe this recipe?).

 

My first attempt at saag paneer was pretty successful!  Two thumbs up for the recipe, although I wish now that I had made my own paneer (there are instructions in the recipe) rather than using the store-bought kind... the consistency of the cheese wasn't what I was looking for, but I bet homemade would have the creamy goodness I seek.

The only change I made was to splash a few tablespoons of heavy cream into the dish before serving, as it was a little too thick for my taste.  Other than that, pretty straightforward and simple.  And healthy, too... Give it a try!

We paired it with some tandoori-style roasted cauliflower that had a nice flavor, but turned out a bit mushy for my taste.  Maybe a dry spice rub is better for cauliflower than the yogurt-based marinade in this recipe?

Roasted and Mayo-Free Potato Salad

This potato salad is a winner for those folks who don't like mayo.  Full of flavor from stone-ground mustard, garlic and coriander seeds, made creamy by Greek-style yogurt, and garnished with parsley and thinly sliced green onions, it's really the anecdote to boring old potato salad.  

Orange Glazed Tempeh with Broccoli

Did you know that tempeh originated in Indonesia?  On the island of Java, in particular.  Me neither, until recently.  Fermented soy beans formed into a cake and wrapped in a banana leaf, it's got a meaty texture and it's pretty inexpensive and quite tasty.  It's got a bit of a nutty flavor that I adore.

In the U.S. tempeh is almost exclusively sold to hippies, but here's it's ubiquitous.  I've been eating a lot of it (spelled "tempe" here) around town... fried, curried, coated in sweet soy sauce and chilis... they've got it all.  My favorite, though, is this curried tempe/tofu combo (which I think may be called tempe gulai, but I am not sure yet- I just point) that I have been getting for lunch, along with these awesome papaya leaves and spicy green beans (all the above, including Diet Coke for the equivalent of $2.92).  

Inspired, I bought some tempeh at the grocery store and used it to make a recipe I had made last year using tofu... orangey ginger glaze, cilantro and coriander, plus my addition of hot sauce and green onions.  Mmm.  

I highly recommend you try some tempeh, and this recipe.  I also warn you that the tempeh smells not unlike feet when it first starts to cook.  Don't be intimidated or dissuaded.  Soldier on and it will be worth it.

Rice with Pineapple and Beans

Tim and I bought a fresh pineapple last week, and after eating most of it straight, my tongue was going a little numb from the acid.  I decided I needed to cook the remaining fruit a little to tone it down, and thought I might mix it with some beans and rice.  (As an aside, I thought I was buying black beans, but somehow ended up with red kidney beans... oh well.)

  I sorta made the dish up, loosely based on some recipes I found online:

-In a small pot, saute a couple cloves of garlic (minced) and some chopped onion in a pan, add 1 cup of rice and then 1.5 cups of chicken stock- cook until rice is done

- Meanwhile, in a frying pan, saute a couple cloves of minced garlic, 2 or 3 chopped green onions, a couple minced hot peppers (I think I used 3 or 4 birds' eye chilis) and about a teaspoon each of cumin and coriander until fragrant.  

- Throw 1.5 cups of chopped pineapple (and any juices that accumulated) and a 15 ounce can of rinsed beans into the frying pan heat up and carmelize a little bit.

-  Mix the rice and bean mixture, add salt and pepper to taste

- Top with lime juice to taste and lots of coarsely chopped cilantro.

- Eat!

Pretty good!  Tangy, sweet, spicy, earthy.  You could probably make it healthier with brown rice, but that's hard to find here. 

Orange Pan-Glazed Tofu

Colleen sent me this tasty looking orange pan-glazed tempeh/tofu recipe a couple weeks ago, but I didn't get around to giving it a try until this week, and she's busy hiking the Inca Trail... good news is, the recipe is great, so I'm happy to make it for her when she gets back. I bet at that point, she'll probably be ready for a break from Peru's national dish, guinea pig.Crispy tofu coated in a sour, sweet, gingery glaze was delicious served with rice (to which I added some lime juice, cilantro and minced scallions) and roasted broccoli. The only change I made to the recipe (because it seems like I'm incapable of making a recipe word-for-word these days) was to add a couple big squirts of Sriracha to the glaze prior to adding to the tofu, because I like it spicy.

Cumin-Coriander Sirloin and Sweet Potato Fries

Mmmm... this super simple steak rub was really good: a little spicy, earthy. Served with similarly spiced sweet potato fries that I was hoping would be a little crispier. I made a tasty chipotle lime sour cream for fry dippin'.