Saag Paneer

Great idea Anna, am jumping on the bandwagon of posting a recipe for Chris's birthday (although a day late!)

My additon to this ever increasing list of fabulous food-tasticness is a traditional punjabi dish with spinach (or Palak) and can be made with paneer and/or potatoes.

I have no idea of quantities I'm afraid so these are rough guidelines. I just normally wing it and taste and smell as I go along!!

This will feed about 4-6 people.

What you need:

Ghee (enough to coat the bottom of the pan and the cover the onions)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 medium size onions finally chopped
Garlic
Fresh Ginger & Fresh green chilli (can be finely chopped with a hand blender)
Salt
Cumin seeds (jeera)
Whole corriandar seeds (Dhania - these will needs to be crushed in a pestle and mortar style)
Turmaric (haldi)
half tin of tinned tomotoes (pureed)
Loads of spinach chopped. If you're buying from the supermarket in bags then you'll need about 8 bags. If buying fresh then you'll need about 5 bunches if quite big.
Paneer - some supermarkets stock this now
or potatoes
Fresh corriander
Masala

And this is how you do it....

In a large pan, heat the ghee. Once hot add the mustard seeds, cumin, ground corriander and garlic. This will release the flavour of the spices. let them sizzle for a few seconds and then add in the finely chopped onions. The onions are the important bit. The onions need to slow cook for about 20 mins or until they're a red/brown in colour (but not burnt!)

Once they turned red/brown in colour, add the finely chopped ginger, chilli and salt and turmaric (haldi) and then the pureed tomotoes. Cook the tomatoes for about 10 mins on a low heat to cook through and once it's in a paste add the spinach. Cover and cook for about half an hour or until it breaks down nicely, and then add the paneer and/or potatoes then cook for a further 20 mins or unitl the potatoes are cooked.

At the end, add about 1/2 - 1 tspn of masala to taste and some fresh chopped corriandar.

Serve with chappatti (roti) and rice.

Yum yum.

Scrambled Eggs done properly

As a kid, eating wobbly, rubbery scrambled eggs was all I knew. As a grown-up I've learnt how to make them properly and now I'm telling the world! You too will want them cooked this divine way instead of fried or poached on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

Ingredients
Free range eggs (1-2 per person)
Butter
Chives or spring onions, chopped
Salt and pepper

Method
Whisk your eggs in a bowl with a fork. Put a saucepan (not too small, you don't want the egg half-way up the sides) over a gentle heat and melt some butter. As soon as it's all melted add in the chives or spring onions and let them soften for a short while. Then add in the eggs. You will need stir the eggs regularly to ensure they don't stick and the uncooked egg gets the heat from the bottom of the pan.

Get your bread/crumpets/muffins in the toaster!

As the egg cooks and the mixture will become more solid make sure you stir it so the consistency is as even as possible. When you think it's nearly ready take it off the heat so it is still runny. Yes, before it's ready - this is necessary! You will see steam still coming off it and this means that the egg is continuing to cook in its own heat, which is what you want.

Add salt and pepper to taste. You should be able to 'pour' the eggs from the pan onto your toast. Serve with some lovely sausages from the butcher (or tomatos if you're a veggie).

I'm salivating just writing this. And it's only Tuesday - can i wait til the weekend?

P.S. This is dedicated to Chris who's been nagging me to do this for ages and since it's his 30th birthday I thought it would be an easier present to sort out than the stripper I know he really wanted. Happy birthday Chris.