Spinach with Ricotta cheese - Alternate version of Palak Panneer

It was a slow day, and one of my friends from Mexico inspired me to cook today.So dedicating this dish to my friend - Carmen Alcantara.
I went to whole foods, and purchased the items needed for making my dinner ( and for next few days if it lasts ).

Do you need organic?
You can refer to this list to decide.
http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list/

a) Spinach -- Preferred as they are rated as one of top 10 dirty offenders, the cost difference would be few cents.
b) Onion -- no, not required to be organic.
c) Tomatoes -- Your call.


Few tips for first timers?

1. Use vegetables with skin if you can. Wash it thoroughly.
2. Peel the skin of onion, however, do not peel the outermost thin skin.
3. Use oils like Coconut oil/ Gingelly oil/Grape seed oil for cooking. Stay away from Olive oil, Soybean oil or canola oil for cooking. Olive oil is very good oil, but have very low smoke point. Olive oil is perfect companion when you need to use for dressing. Coming to canola and soybean oil, i stay away from GMO ( or genetically modified oil ).
4. Spend some time for cooking, and there is absolutely no quick fix. Good time invested = good food.
5. Stay away from hormone injected dairy products. Look at the source of the product.

Generally about the dish :

1. Very low on spice flavors, you would be able to appreciate the taste.
2. Contains important vitamins and minerals.
3. Approximate fat per serving: 3 - 5 gms.
4. Garlic and Onion is highly anti inflammatory.
5. Dish supposed to have very good ORAC values ( Strong anti oxidants ). 

What to expect?

Cooking time : 20 minutes
Prep time: 5-15 minutes
Serves : 6 - 8 people

Seeds and Spices

• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 tablespoon turmeric
• 1/2 tablespoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder

Other items

• Small size red onion
• 2 medium sized tomatoes
• 50 gm ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoon yogurt ( instead of cream )  (Secret ingredient)
• 5-6 small garlic pods ( if you do not like garlic skip it )
• 2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• Most importantly Spinach. I used 20 OZ of frozen spinach. You can use 1/2 kg fresh spinach instead.
• 1 tsp coconut/sesame seed oil ( or any neutral oil with high smoking point of your choice )

15 minutes before you start.

Wash spinach and cut it in to small parts. If you are using frozen spinach, defrost it and keep it ready before you start cooking.

5 minutes before you start cooking

1) Cut onions, ginger,garlic into very small pieces.
2) Cut a slice of tomato for garnishing. Remaining can be cut into small pieces.

Lets start cooking.

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil. Always need to make sure you do not use oil with low smoking points when cooking food at high temperatures. For this reason, please do not use extra virgin olive oil when cooking.Put a couple of mustard seeds and see if it splutters. If it splutters, then we are ready to start cooking.You do not need more than 1 tablespoon of oil. Once oil starts smoking, this is the time you start getting unhealthy fats. So do not heat the oil beyond its smoke point.I prefer coconut oil or sesame oil.
2. Once oil starts to smoke, reduce the flame, and add remaining mustard seeds.
3. Once mustard seed splutters, add ginger and garlic. Roast it for 1 minute.
4. Heat onions at this phase. Add a pinch of salt so that onion cooks faster. Sautee for 2 minute. You would start noticing that onions would be translucent at this point.
5. Add cut tomatoes to this mixture, and close the lid and put it in low flame. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Bottom-line, your tomatoes should be fully cooked.
6. Add your spice mixture - Turmeric, Cumin, Coriander and Cayenne powder - with 2 teaspoon of water in a bowl.  Add it to above mixture.You do not want this dish to be spicy at all, since we are adding cheese to it. Cook it for another 2 minutes.
7. Now add your spinach to the above mixture. Cook with lid open, so that color of the dish stays "spinach" green. Cooking spinach with lid closed can prevent volatile acids from escaping out, and would accelerate discoloring. Cook it for 10 minutes or until when your gravy is little thick and not too liquid.
8. Add Salt to taste.
9. At this stage, add yogurt to make the mixture, consistent for your gravy. Just cook for 1-2 minutes, until spinach starts boiling again.
10. Make sure to add ricotta cheese at this point, and keep cooking for another 5 minutes. You would see cheese crumbles, and its perfectly OK.
11. Voila, now we have to garnish it. Roast the slice of tomato which was saved earlier. I fire roasted it. You can also grill it or keep it raw. And the dish is ready.

Any comments, please let me know.

Indian : Paneer Aloo Mattar masala ( Dry ) ( Cheese/potatoes/green peas )

Last few years, being a nomad, i have mastered my skills to succeed my own taste buds. Credit of-course goes to my dad,mom, and my grandmom.

This is one of the very famous north indian dishes which you would find in any restaurants.
Today, i am sharing my own recipe for making Aloo Mattar Paneer.

Do you need organic?
Your choice. I wouldnt bother about buying organic onions, as they tend to contain less pesticides, so the below dish can be cost effective and healthy. I do try to get it from local producer rather than bigger corporate chains.

Potatoes -- if possible -- choose organic.

Few tips for first timers?

1. Use vegetables with skin if you can. Wash it thoroughly.
2. Peel the skin of onion, however, do not peel the outermost thin skin.
3. Use oils like Coconut oil/ Gingelly oil/Grape seed oil for cooking. Stay away from Olive oil, Soybean oil or canola oil for cooking. Olive oil is very good oil, but have very low smoke point. Olive oil is perfect companion when you need to use for dressing. Coming to canola and soybean oil, i stay away from GMO ( or genetically modified oil ).
4. Spend some time for cooking, and there is absolutely no quick fix. Good time invested = good food.
5. Skip anything processed - Includes MSG/Mayo/Heavy cream/artificial sweeteners etc. 

Generally about the dish :

1. Contains lot of soluble and insoluble fibre.
2. Approximate fat per serving: 3 - 8 gms - depending on panneer and yogurt used. Use fewer paneer/cheese, and low fat yogurt.
3. Garlic and Onion is highly anti inflammatory.
4. Dish supposed to have very good ORAC values ( Strong anti oxidants ). 
5. Yogurt used helps in general digestion ( make sure only to warm it).

What to expect?
Cooking time : 35 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Serves : 6 - 8 people

Spices

• 5 Cloves
• 1 Anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 green cardamom
• 2 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
• 1/2 tablespoon turmeric
• 1/2 tablespoon chilli powder
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera/cumin seeds

Other items

• 1 medium size onion
• 4-5 medium sized tomatoes
• 50 gm paneer/ hard tofu / any cheese which doesnt melt
• 50 ml yogurt ( preferably low fat or full fat - Secret ingredient )
• 2 medium sized potatoes ( I prefer red potatoes or russet potatoes )
• 500 gm green peas
• 10 small garlic pods ( if you do not like garlic skip it )
• 2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 3 teaspoon fresh cilantro or coriander leaves
• 1 leaf mint
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon of Oil (Sesame/Mustard/Coconut oil)
• 1 tablespoon sieved almonds ( or any nuts ) ( Do not throw away skin )

Alright, lets start the process.

5 minutes before you start cooking

1) Cut onions into small slices.
2) Cut each tomato into 2 halves..And each half into 4 pieces ( cut in length ). Do not worry that the size is chunky - trust me.

Lets start cooking

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil or butter. Always need to make sure you do not use oil with low smoking points when cooking food at high temperatures. For this reason, please do not use olive oil when cooking.Put a couple of mustard seeds and see if it splutters. If it splutters, then we are ready to start cooking.You do not need more than 1 tablespoon of oil. Once oil starts smoking, this is the time you start getting unhealthy fats. So do not heat the oil beyond its smoke point.I prefer coconut oil or sesame oil.
2. Put anise,cloves, cinnamon stick and cardamom and sauté for 1 minute until you feel the fresh aroma. We will add powder at later stage.
3. Now we are ready to add garlic and ginger to the above mixture along with cumin seeds. Sautee for 1 minute. You do not want to make it brown.
4. Heat onions at this phase. Add a pinch of salt so that onion cooks faster. Sautee for 2 minute. You would start noticing that onions would be translucent at this point.
5. Wash potatoes thoroughly and throw away all the water as all the loose starches gets washed away.Do not peel the skin, as skin comprises healthy part of the potato.
6. Add all the cut tomatoes,potatoes and sieved green chilis to above mixture. Close the pan, and let the mixture cook in its own juice. You would need your tomato to be mushy and soft. You can add salt, coriander powder, chili powder and turmeric powder at this point.
7. You need to cook this mixture for 15 minutes at medium flame. Make sure potato is half cooked.
8. Do not worry about oil separation process at this point - because we havent used so much oil as you see in standard recipes. 15 minutes is a good time.
9. At this point, you would start getting a fragrant spicy smell. Do not worry if it is spicy as we would adjust the spice level later.
10. Add green peas now - And let it cook for 15 minutes. You dont need to add water, since the peas gets cooked in tomato juice. Make sure green peas is cooked thoroughly.
11. When green peas is cooking, cut paneer or cheese , into small cube , and grill it lightly. I know many people fry it. I tend to avoid any frying methods, unless absolutely necessary.
12. Once the peas is cooked, add the paneer or cheese to it. And sauté for 2 minutes.
13. Whisk garam masala together with yogurt, and make sure you dont have any solid lumps.
14. Add plain yogurt ( mixed with garam masala ) to the above mixture. Mix it well. Yogurt supposedly gives you less spicy food. Do not boil mixture over a minute. Enzymes in yogurt gets killed if you are heating the mixture around 120 F. You need to warm the mixture..not boil it.
15. Good thumb rule is turn the stove off in less than a minute.
16. My recipe is not complete without garnishing it. So please make sure to applaud your food, by garnishing it with cilantro, a mint leaf, roasted sieved almonds.

I must admit i do toss a teaspoon of kesar water / saffron water. Before pouring yogurt.
Boiling green chili with seeds gives you a different taste - you wouldnt know the heat until you swallow it.Serve it with rice or wheat bread ( roti ) as it would be an instant hit, if you like spicy food.

If you have any comments, let me know.