A journey into the vegetarian, Indian cuisine at Prabhi's
There is always something going on at Prabhi's home. Lots of family, hustle and bustle, joy, culture. And where does it all come together? Exactly, when cooking and eating together with the whole family.
What is perhaps not so well known about Indian cuisine is that it offers a wide variety of vegetarian dishes, because almost 80% of the Indian population are vegetarians and abstain from meat. Prabhi also grew up vegetarian and told me one of his favorite dishes: Shahi Paneer, "the royal cream cheese" within a seasoned tomato sauce
Paneer, an Indian cream cheese, is a super culinary alternative for tofu and reminds a bit of mozzarella in terms of consistency.
"A meal that is too little seasoned is not a good one."
The recipe itself is not particularly difficult, but what makes it so exciting are the great and rich spices.
So, let's dive right into it and explore new ways of vegetarian dishes from around the world!
Portions: 4
Preparation time: 60 min
Ingredients:
Basic ingredients
300 g paneer
1-2 onions
10-15 cashew nuts or almonds
1 cm ginger for garlic-ginger paste
1-2 garlic cloves for garlic-ginger paste
4-5 tomatoes alternatively 400ml chopped tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons ghee or oil
Solid spices
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 stick of cinnamon (Dalchini, Cassia)
2 cloves
1 star anise
2 capsules green cardamom
1 capsule black cardamom
1-2 Indian bay leaves alternatively normal bay leaf
Ground spices
1/2 tsp turmeric (ground)
1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili
1 tsp coriander (ground)
1/2 tsp garam masala
2-3 tbsp yogurt
To taste
1-2 tbsp ghee or oil
1 tsp Kashmiri chili
1 tsp Kasuri Methi dried fenugreek leaves
sugar
salt and pepper
Equipment
Two medium pots
Grater for garlic and ginger
Hand blender or blender
Steps to Success
Preparation
Soak cashews in a little warm water. Wash and coarsely dice tomatoes.
Peel and coarsely dice onions. Peel ginger and garlic and make into a paste, i.e. mortar or grind finely.
Prepare coarse spices, i.e., search spice cabinet. Press open cardamom pods with a knife.
Mix the various spice powders (chili, coriander, garam masala, turmeric) with yogurt.
Heat oil in a pot. Sauté onions and coarse spices (cumin, star anise, cloves, bay leaf, cardamom pods, cinnamon stick) over low to medium heat. Sauté garlic-ginger paste briefly, but do not let it burn.
Add yogurt first and heat briefly. Then add diced tomatoes, cashews as well as some water. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes.
If necessary, let the tomato sauce cool down a bit and puree it thoroughly with a hand blender - remove the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cardamom pods if necessary. Pass the sauce through a sieve.
Finish
(optional) For a little more fire and intense color: Heat some Kashmiri chili and kasuri methi in oil in a pan and add to the sauce.
Season sauce with cream (possibly also butter), salt, pepper and sugar.
Cut paneer into 1-2cm cubes, add to the sauce and warm up in it for a good 5 minutes.
Divide Shahi Paneer into bowls, serve garnished with some cream and Kasuri Methi. Serve with rice or pita bread.
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