Deniz and I love indian food and palak paneer is one of those great flavorful and healthy dishes.  We had a lot of extra ong choi in the garden and figured, why not try it with water spinach instead?  We took Dassan’s Palak Paneer recipe and modified it slightly to make it our own.  Here is our fusion recipe, we couldn’t be more pleased with the results.  So flavorful, bursting with Indian spice and with the smoothness of ong choi.  Enjoy!

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Fusion Indian-Chinese Pani Palak Paneer / Pureed Ong Choi with Tofu

We were skeptical with our Palak Paneer using Ong Choi and Tofu first but we couldn't be more pleased with the results.  This fusion creation is so flavorful, bursting with Indian spice and with the smoothness of ong choi.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

Ingredients:

• Ong Choi Puree
• 1½ lbs fresh ong choi washed well and large stems removed
• 1 anaheim chilli chopped
• 2 t garlic
• 1 t ginger
• 3/4 c water for the puree
• 6 c water boiling
• 6 c water frigid with ice cubes

Tofu Sauce:

• 4 T oil
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 2 bay leaves
• medium onions diced in a food processor
• 2½ T garlic minced
• small tomatoes chopped
• ½ t turmeric powderi
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t garam masala
• 2 t vegeta
• salt to taste
• 1 block approx 1 lb of extra firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 t kasuri methi leaves/dry fenugreek leaves crumbled
• ½ c half and half

Instructions

Instructions:

Ong Choi Puree:

• Boil 6 cups water in a pot and with 1 tsp salt. Add the ong choi leaves and thin stems into the boiling water. Cover and cook for 2 minutes.
• Strain the leaves and then immediately place the strained leaves into 6 cups of cold water with ice cubes to cool it down.  Drain again.
• Blend the cooled cooked ong choi in a blender with the ginger, garlic, and 3/4 c of water until smooth.

Tofu Sauce:

• Heat the cooking oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and let them splutter.
• Add the bay leaves and diced onions and saute till the onions  become golden.
• Add the minced garlic. Saute it without browning it.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, stirring until they soften, about 1 minute.
• Stir in the turmeric powder and chili powder.
• Stir in the ong choi puree. Simmer for 6-7 minutes or more till the ong choi is cooked, adding water as needed to keep it a smooth creamy consistency.
• Stir in the vegeta, salt to taste, garam masala, and tofu cubes. Simmer for 2 minutes.
• Stir in the crumbled dry fenugreek leaves.
• Stir in the cream.

I’ve always wondered why there aren’t many savory pancake offerings.  I love the texture of pancakes, but don’t much like sweet in the morning, especially cloying syrupy sweetness.  I’d always wished pancakes were salty instead of sweet.  So when I found Lail Hossain’s Bangladeshi Chapri recipe, I decided to try making it using pancake batter.  The results were so delicious, we’ve made it many times, and also tried other savory pancake concoctions.

Ingredients:

• 3 c Krusteaz Light and Fluffy Buttermilk Pancake mix
• 2 c water
• ½ T garlic, chopped
• ½ t ginger paste
• ½ T cumin
• 2 c cilantro, chopped
• 1 c onion, chopped
• 1 Anaheim chili, chopped
• 2 dashes cayenne powder

Instructions:

Prepare the ingredients as described above

Blend together the pancake mix and water until there are little to no lumps.

Add the remaining ingredients into the batter and mix to combine well.

Heat a large griddle/frying pan on medium high heat.  Spray or brush oil it.  Sprinkle a little salt on the oil.

Pour about ¼ c of batter onto the griddle.  Sprinkle a little salt on the top of the pancake.  Once bubbles appear throughout the pancake and the bottom is golden brown (about 1 min 15 seconds), flip the pancake and cook the other side until the other side is golden brown.

Deniz and I love Aloo Gobi, so when we decided to make it this week, we were really excited.  Now, normally we go grocery shopping together.  But this week I wasn’t feeling well, so he went on the mission by himself.  Best husband ever, he went to two grocery stores to get everything, and even unloaded the groceries without a compliant.  When we were ready to cook the next day, he took all the items out of the refrigerator.  No red potatoes.  I asked him where the red potatoes were.  And that’s when he showed me a sweet potato.  “It’s a red potato,” he said.  Sure enough, the sweet potato had a red skin, and yes it was a potato.  After we cut it open, we discovered that it was actually an Okinawan sweet potato, which is purple on the inside.  After laughing for 5 minutes, we debated for another 5 minutes whether to go back to the store and buy real red potatoes.  We decided to make do with the sweet potato and see what happened.  After all, I’ve always felt that aloo gobi is missing a sweet touch, so this would be a good way to fix that.  And that it did.  The aloo gobi turned out delicious and colorful.  Just the right balance of spice, salty and sweet.  We’re converts.  And here’s our recipe for Fusion Aloo Gobi:

Ingredients:

• 1/3 c veggie oil
• 1 t cumin seeds
• 1 large sweet potato (we used an Okinawan purple sweet potato), cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 heads of cauliflower, pulled apart into bite-sized florettes
• 1/2 c water
• 2 tomatoes, chopped

Wet spices:

• 1 medium onion, minced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 T ginger, minced

Dry spices:

• 1/4 c dried fenugreek leaves, crushed
• 1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 T ground coriander seeds
• 1 t ground cumin
• 2 t salt
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 1/2 t turmeric

Directions:

Combine the Wet Spices ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine the Dry Spices ingredients in a medium bowl.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add cumin seeds and sizzle for 1 minute.  Add the Wet Spices and stir-fry until the onion is golden brown.

Add the potatoes and mix until the potatoes are well coated in oil.  Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook for 8 minutes.

Add the Dry Spices and the cauliflower, and mix until everything is combined well.  Then add the water.

Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until cauliflower is tender.

Add in tomatoes and stir to combine. Continue cooking for 3 more minutes.

Sprinkle on extra chopped fresh cilantro for garnish.

If you like mashed eggplant dishes like Baba Ganoosh, this dish is for you. It’s a tart Indian dish, packing in lots of spices and flavor. If you have the ingredients, making it is very easy. Either eat as a side dish, or make it a dip for your chips.

Ingredients

• 2lbs of eggplant
• ¼ c cilantro
• ½ c finely chopped onion
• 1 t garam masala
• 1 t cumin seed
• 2 T butter

Eggplant spice mix:

• 2 t ground coriander seed
• 1 t ground cumin seed
• 1 t salt
• ¼ cayenne pepper
• ¼ t ground turmeric
• ½ c finely chopped onion
• ½ c tomato sauce
• ½ T lime juice
• 1 t grated ginger
• 1 T (or 2 cloves) finely chopped garlic
• ¼ c cilantro

Pierce eggplants with fork to vent steam when grilling. Grill for 15-20 minutes until skin is blistered (we put in them in the oven at 500°F, but you can use charcoal/gas grill or your oven).

Place eggplants in a large bowl, cover it for 30 minutes, Peel the skin, mash the eggplant pulp until smooth (you can use your food processor).

Combine the Eggplant Spice Mix ingredients in a large bowl.

Add the mashed eggplant to the Eggplant Spice Mix.  Mix to combine evenly.

Heat 2 T butter in a wok or a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Sizzle cumin seeds for about 30 seconds. Add 2 T of the chopped onion, stir fry until golden brown.

Add eggplant mixture, and rest of the chopped onions, stir-fry for 10 minutes. Lastly, stir in garam masala just before removing from heat. Sprinkle some chopped cilantro on the top.

If I were to die tomorrow, and could have one final supper, I would order Malai Kofta.  It is my favorite dish hands down.  It’s the first thing I look for on the menu at any Indian restaurant before considering any other option.  I must have tasted over 100 different Malai Kofta recipes at Indian restaurants throughout the world, including in India.  So yeah, I’m a bit of a Malai Kofta snob.  Not all Malai Kofta’s I’ve tried taste right or have the right texture.  It’s a hard thing to get right.  And I know, because I’ve also tried dozens of recipes to learn to make it myself.  None have turned out right.  I few years back, I made it a life goal to learn how to make the dish right, but had gotten so frustrated I quit trying for several years.  Until today.  Today, Deniz and I made Dassana’s Malai Kofta recipe, and it is unbelievable.  The perfect Malai Kofta.  It’s a day for the books.  We can finally stop looking for recipes.  We’ve found the one.  Thank you Dassana!

I’m including the link to Dassana’s recipe so its easy to find.  Deniz and I will be making this many more times in the future.

A couple of notes on the recipe:

• We hydrated golden raisins for 30 minutes in warm water and then put one in the center of each kofta ball before frying.  We also included a few raisins and cashews in the sauce.
• Shallow-frying the kofta was didn’t work for us because the balls stuck to the bottom of the pan and tended to brown unevenly.  Deep frying worked perfectly for us.
• The balls needed about 3 minutes in the deep fryer.  We found it best not to touch the balls until they were completely done cooking or they would fall apart and/or dissolve into pieces in the oil.
• The recipe calls for tomato paste, but it actually needs tomato puree.
• We made the sauce with 2 tsp of sugar and 3 tsp of salt.  We added 1 Tablespoon of salt to the kofta mixture.  Turned out perfect.
• We doubled the recipe so we could enjoy it through the week.