Kamal's India

By Kamaljit Zubieta

Dear IF readers,

Now, for the recipes.  Didn't realize how hard this would be b/c my recipes are given to me by my mom over the phone, with no quantities.  I'm just supposed to eyeball it.  For these, I had to actually put things into standard measures.

Shahi Paneer

(a decadent cheese dish)

Ingredients:
4 T ghee (can be found in Indian grocery or organic store or can substitue oil)
1 black cardamom (can substitute green cardamom) - crushed
1-2 green chili peppers (any variety) - chopped
2-3 cm piece of ginger - chopped
1 medium cooking onion - chopped
2  medium tomatoes - chopped
1/3 cup yogurt
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garam masala (can be found in Indian grocery or organic store)
2 T tomato sauce
water
1 block paneer - cubed (can be found in Indian grocery or organic store)
1/4 cup heavy cream
handful cilantro - chopped

Heat ghee in Indian karahi or pot with heavy bottom.  Fry cardamom, tomatoes, chili, and ginger, and onion until golden brown on high heat.  Add tomatoes, cover, and put on low heat until tomatoes are very mushy.   Uncover and add yogurt.  Cook for 2 minutes.  Remove mixture and blend smooth in blender.  Return mixture to karahi and add salt, paprika, garam masala, and tomato sauce and cook for 3-4 minutes.  Gravy should be thick but fluid.  Add water if needed and cook a bit more.  Finally add paneer and cream.  Heat to boil.  Garnish with cilantro.  

Serve with rice or naan.

Alu di Roti

(Potato Bread)

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes - boiled, then skin removed, then mashed
4 tsp salt
2 cooking onions - chopped
2-3 cm piece ginger - chopped
handful cilantro - chopped
3 tsp cilantro/coriander powder (can be found in Indian grocery or organic store)
2 green chili peppers
2 tsp ajwain seeds (can be found in Indian grocery)
Ghee (can be found in Indian grocery or organic store or can substitue oil)
2 cups Stone ground Indian-style wheat chappati flour (can be found in Indian grocery)
water

Mix all ingredients (except ghee and flour) by hand in bowl.  Make 8 balls of mixture.  Surround/cover each mixture ball with a rolled out circle of attah.*  Roll each covered ball out into a flat circle with rolling pin.  Thickness of each roti will be about 1/2 - 1 cm.  Heat 1 tsp ghee on Indian tawa or nonstick pan.  Cook one side of one roti on medium heat until golden brown.  Put another tsp ghee on tawa and cook other side.  Repeat until all rotis done.

Serve with cold, plain yogurt for dipping.

*Attah- Add enough water to flour to make dough, kneading the whole time.  Cover dough and refrigerate for one hour.  Divide dough into 8 balls.  Roll each ball out into a flat circle with rolling pin.