Green Masala Mattar Paneer

90 Min

GF

Baked Saffron Paneer

Paneer is as simple as fresh cheese gets - a simple curdling of milk usually done by vinegar or lemon juice to obtain clumps. Best made with whole milk, the better the quality of the milk the better the paneer.

120 Min

Paneer Pot Pie

I spent my childhood in Gujarat, India, and Diwali was one of my favorite holidays. The fanfare began days earlier when boxes of sweets would begin to arrive from friends or my father’s co-workers. To celebrate love and generosity and invoke good luck and fortune into our home, we’d make rangoli designs on the floor just inside the front door — rangoli being a range of traditional handmade folk designs usually with colored powders, rice or lentils. Our parents would surprise us with new outfits to be worn on Diwali day. Two to three nights before, we’d start playing with firecrackers and lighting “diyas,” small terra-cotta lamps in which cotton wicks flicker in warm ghee. My mother would order fresh flowers and garlands, and an intoxicating perfume of marigold, tube roses and fragrant jasmine would envelop our home. Even today, when I go into a temple, the aroma of those flowers transports me to childhood joys of Diwali. Diwali morning we’d eat a light lunch in anticipation of an elaborate dinner that would follow the Laxmi pooja (a prayer ceremony), a common practice in Gujarat. My brothers and I would sit through the pooja with stomachs gurgling, anxiously awaiting the customary dinner of a seven-vegetable stew, pooris (puffy balloon bread) and halwa, a sweet pudding made with whole-wheat flour scented with cardamom. Living in America many decades later, I don’t follow many of those customs at home, but it’s still a time for reminiscing, joy and celebration. Depending on whether my now-adult children are with me, we celebrate accordingly. This year, we will make a delicious pot pie filled with paneer with a simple salad of local greens.

90 Min

GF

Roasted Eggplant with Goat Cheese & Yogurt

It’s almost the end of the local eggplant season in Texas, and I have been flush with hundreds of pounds to play with at the restaurant, courtesy of nearby Knopp Branch Farm. My favorite way to cook them is to smoke, mash and turn them into a pickle, masala or a spread. However, when cooking eggplants at home, I resort to simpler ideas, such as searing them on a skillet and finishing them in the oven. There are ample choices of what to top the eggplants with — cheese, herbs, chopped nuts, nut butter, yogurt, spices and more. I have tried them and love them all. When cooked perfectly, cutting into an eggplant almost feels like cutting into a good piece of meat.

90 Min

DF

GF

V

Green Vegetable Curry

This curry is made entirely with vegetables, but feel free to add meats or seafood — in either case, be sure to cook everything in the curry before adding the green herb sauce. Just before serving, add the green herb sauce to keep the colors bright and the flavors vibrant.

90 Min

GF

NF

Homestyle Butter Paneer

Not for the faint-hearted, this recipe is decadent and rich. It is the paneer version of butter chicken, just as tasty, creamy and delicious.

90 Min

GF

Ricotta & Pea Stuffed Karela

Once balanced and tempered with other seasonings, bitter melon transforms into a thing of beauty.

120 Min

Paneer Pot Pie

I spent my childhood in Gujarat, India, and Diwali was one of my favorite holidays. The fanfare began days earlier when boxes of sweets would begin to arrive from friends or my father’s co-workers. To celebrate love and generosity and invoke good luck and fortune into our home, we’d make rangoli designs on the floor just inside the front door — rangoli being a range of traditional handmade folk designs usually with colored powders, rice or lentils. Our parents would surprise us with new outfits to be worn on Diwali day. Two to three nights before, we’d start playing with firecrackers and lighting “diyas,” small terra-cotta lamps in which cotton wicks flicker in warm ghee. My mother would order fresh flowers and garlands, and an intoxicating perfume of marigold, tube roses and fragrant jasmine would envelop our home. Even today, when I go into a temple, the aroma of those flowers transports me to childhood joys of Diwali. Diwali morning we’d eat a light lunch in anticipation of an elaborate dinner that would follow the Laxmi pooja (a prayer ceremony), a common practice in Gujarat. My brothers and I would sit through the pooja with stomachs gurgling, anxiously awaiting the customary dinner of a seven-vegetable stew, pooris (puffy balloon bread) and halwa, a sweet pudding made with whole-wheat flour scented with cardamom. Living in America many decades later, I don’t follow many of those customs at home, but it’s still a time for reminiscing, joy and celebration. Depending on whether my now-adult children are with me, we celebrate accordingly. This year, we will make a delicious pot pie filled with paneer with a simple salad of local greens.

90 Min

GF

Roasted Eggplant with Goat Cheese & Yogurt

It’s almost the end of the local eggplant season in Texas, and I have been flush with hundreds of pounds to play with at the restaurant, courtesy of nearby Knopp Branch Farm. My favorite way to cook them is to smoke, mash and turn them into a pickle, masala or a spread. However, when cooking eggplants at home, I resort to simpler ideas, such as searing them on a skillet and finishing them in the oven. There are ample choices of what to top the eggplants with — cheese, herbs, chopped nuts, nut butter, yogurt, spices and more. I have tried them and love them all. When cooked perfectly, cutting into an eggplant almost feels like cutting into a good piece of meat.

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