Sunday Dinner

I had a request for a pulled pork with a Mexican twist that I make now and then.

Get yourself a nice 2 to 3 pound Boston Butt or nicely marbled hunk o' pork. Brown it on all sides in a little oil and remove. Saute some yellow onion and garlic in the same pot and when they're almost done add cumin powder or seeds (I use seeds), chili powder and Mexican oregano and bay leaves. Cook this a bit and then it's time for the heat! I blend up three or four whole chipotles and slide that into the onion mixture and cook it a bit more.

Put the pork back in the pot, cover it with water and cook it on medium for three hours. It will pull apart with your fingers at this point. But here is where I deviate from a true Carnitas recipe. I don't braise or roast the meat at this point to get the carmelization on some of the meat. I've waited three hours, I want to eat it now!

The leftovers are even better.

Shahi Paneer

The missus and I went to Taj Mahal for dinner back on Valentine's Day. We both broke out of our norm and tried dishes we've never had before. I had a Dal of black lentils and kidney beans that was amazing. My wife ordered the Shahi Paneer. Shahi is a Hindi term for Royal and Paneer is of course cheese so she had "Royal Cheese". The dish contains cashews and raisins and is a Punjabi dish most popular in northern part of India.

I think I need to blanch some cashews next time and purée it with the tomato base. My dish was not as sweet and I think it was lacking them.

Fry up some paneer cubes and set aside.

Purée the tomato, ginger, chili, onion, and garlic. Slide this gently into some hot oil and cook it till the oil starts to separate. Add red chili powder, turmeric, garam masala and a little salt. Cook for a bit then add milk or yogurt to make the gravy. Add the whole raisins and cashews and cook till the gravy thickens. Add the paneer and a dash of heavy cream. Cook for five minutes and garnish with chopped cilantro. I served it with plain basmati rice.

Some roti or chapati would have been good with this.

New posts this weekend..

I've got some posts coming this weekend. Been doing research on Karnataka state in India. India's food is very regional as most anywhere in the world. I find it fascinating. If I could spend equal time in India and Italy, I'd be a really happy guy.

Anyway, I'm working on some dishes that aren't on the menu at The Oven or Taj Mahal. As a kid my Mom used to make a lentil dish that was out of this world. So I've taken a keen interest in Dal dishes. Mmm good!

Last week I made roti twice and I know what you're saying. "Sheesh how easy". I'm going to go all out with a paneer puri and a gobi paratha. Maybe a paneer kulcha also. I do loves me some cheese and bread.



Thank you loyal readers for visiting, nummy stuff coming!

Sunday Dinner

Meatloaf and Sweet Potato Purée.



Not your traditional meatloaf. White bread crumbs, minced carrot, celery, yellow onion, garlic, flat leaf parsley. Eggs, ground beef, ground pork. Ketchup or catsup if you prefer! Powdered mustard, salt, pepper, rosemary.



Mixed with my hands for about a minute then formed a free form loaf on parchment paper suspended on a cooling rack. The paper lets most of the fat run off. The free form loaf produces more tasty crust than using a loaf pan.



About thirty minutes into the hour cook time I sprinkled more fresh rosemary over the top.

For the taters, I baked 3 sweet potatoes and let them cool. The peel pretty much falls off. Into a pan with a little milk, heavy cream or butter and whipped them up a little. That's it for them, very simple. They taste like candy they're so sweet.

Have a good week everyone!

Aloo Mattar Paneer

Potato, Peas and Cheese, a great spicy meal on a cold snowy evening!
I stopped at The Oven on the way home and picked up some samosas and bread to go with tonite's dinner. Indian food is delicious!

Clockwise: cilantro, garlic, habanero chili, peas, potato, onion and tomato. Ginger in the middle.

Cut some paneer into cubes and lightly fry it till golden.

Blend garlic, onion and ginger till it's smooth. Do the same with some cilantro and the tomato. Cook the onion mix in some hot oil till it starts to brown, then add the tomato mix, coriander, cumin, turmeric and paprika. I took Steve's advice and got a bunch of fresh spices from Open Harvest a while back.

Cook this mixture a couple minutes and then add fresh peas, a large diced potato and the cheese. For extra zip, I added the whole habanero that I cut in half. No seeds! I grew a bunch of these little fireballs in 2008 and they are hotter than hell. Cover with 3 cups of water and simmer for a half hour.

Just enough zing from the habanero to clear my sinuses!

Say Cheese!

I've always liked the paneer cheese in Indian food. And after watching Mr. T make some from scratch, I decided to finally jump in. I read up on the process and decided to make two batches. One with lemon juice for the acid and the other with vinegar. They both taste about the same to me.





I brought each half gallon of whole organic milk to 200 degrees while stirring to prevent scorching. I added the acids and gently stirred to get the curds to seperate. I took the pots off the heat and let them sit for ten minutes or so till the separation of curds and whey seemed complete. I drained the whey but saved it to make roti later. If you don't mind the taste, the whey is good for you to drink as well. And you can use it as the curdling agent in your next batch.

I tied up the cheese cloth and let the paneer drain for another 10 minutes. Then I put the cheese ball between two dinner plates and set a heavy pot on top. The flavor is very mild but when added to a dish it absorbs the flavors of the dish and is really good.

Try it, you'll like it!

Winter Is Back

Yesterday was so nice I grilled beer brats from Karpisek's for me and the rest of my department at work.

Didn't do any outdoor cooking today!