The Hungry Liberals do Indian

Last night, my co-host Beth and I oversaw an exciting meeting of the Hungry Liberals Supper Club: a culinary trip to the Indian subcontinent for a curried night replete with hot spices, hot conversation and hot liberals.

On the menu were samosas (potato-filled turnovers), chana masala (chickpea curry) and saag paneer (spinach curry with Indian cheese). Though we'd tackled the chana masala several times before, the other dishes were new to our kitchen and presented quite the challenge. I'm happy to report that, at the end of the day, everything worked out deliciously well. Let me walk you through our process.

The night before last, Beth and I prepared the paneer and did prep for the samosas. The cheese is actually remarkably, and embarrassingly, easy to make. I almost don't want to tell you how easy it is, lest you be less impressed with my cooking skills.

Paneer

1 gallon of whole milk

1/3 cup of vinegar

Cheese cloth

To make paneer, simply bring the milk to a simmer. Just before it boils, add the vinegar and watch as the curds begin to separate from the whey. It looks like a bunch of white clouds in a clear, almost yellowish liquid. At this point, place the cheese cloth over a large bowl and and pour the mixture atop it. Lift the cheese cloth, separating the curds, and discard the remaining liquid. Let the cheese cloth drain for 10-15 minutes, and then place between two plates with a weight on top to compress the cheese. Then, voila! You have paneer.

For step-by-step pictures, check out one of my favorite food blogs for the hungry and underemployed, The Paupered Chef.

The samosas presented a bit more of a challenge. At first, the dough was too dry and then too wet. When we tried filling them, they'd crack and break into a big, spiced mess. Eventually, Beth altered the recipe by adding twice the amount of oil and water to the dough, which changed everything. You can see that our samosas from different batches came out, er, differently.

Ultimately, this was our altered samosa recipe. We used steps given at Food-india.com:

Samosas

For Pastry:

2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoon oil
12 tablespoon water

For Potato Stuffing:
5 medium potatoes
4 tablespoon oil
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 cup green peas
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
1 hot green chili (finely chopped)
3 tablespoon green coriander (cilantro), chopped
1.5 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon ground cumin seeds

Oil for deep frying

Dough for Samosa Pastry
Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Add oil and rub until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Slowly add about water and knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until it is smooth. Rub dough with oil. Cover it and set aside for 30 minutes or longer.

Potato stuffing for Samosa

Boil, cool and peel the potatoes. Dice it into 1/4 inch size. Heat 4 tablespoons oil in karahi or wok in medium flame. Lower the heat and carefully put the onion. Stir fry until golden brown in medium heat. Add peas, ginger, green chili, and fresh coriander (cilantro). Add diced potatoes, salt and all spices. Mix and cook on low heat for 3-4 minutes. Do not forget to stir while cooking.

Making Samosa

Knead the dough again. Roll it into flat round shape. Use a small bowl to cut circles about 6 inches in diameter. Cut each in half. With each piece of dough, make the half into a cone by sticking seam together with a little water. Fill the cone with the potato mixture. Stick the top of the cone together with a little water.

Cooking Samosa

Heat about 2 inches of oil for deep frying over a medium-low flame. (You may use a wok, Indian karhai or any other utensil you seem fit) When the oil is hot, carefully put in as many samosas as it fits. Fry slowly, turning the samosas until they are golden brown and crisp. Drain excess oil and serve hot.

For the chana masala recipe, check out my previous post. It was too good (and easy!) not to replicate for this dinner, and we already had our hands full with our other dishes. As always, it came out amazing!

For the saag paneer, Beth and I first cut the cheese we had prepared the night before into small cubes. We then followed a great recipe from quintessential food blog, Serious Eats.

Saag Paneer

Ingredients

4 teaspoons butter, divided
4 teaspoons grapeseed or other neutral oil, divided
1 pound frozen paneer
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2" piece ginger, peeled and chopped
1-3 small green chiles, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon mild, medium, or hot curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 10-ounce packages spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Large bunch of fresh spinach (not included in the original recipe, but we felt we needed more spinach)
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt, as needed
Salt, to taste

1/2 cup chopped cilantro, optional

Heat 1 teaspoon each butter and oil over medium heat in a large nonstick pan. Add paneer, frying until each square in browned on two or more sides, 12 to 15 minutes. Turn the paneer and shake pan occasionally. Remove from pan, set aside.

Wipe out pan. Heat remaining butter and oil. Add onion, ginger, garlic, and chiles. Fry over medium heat until onions are soft but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add curry and cumin, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add spinach to pan, stirring until well blended. Use hand blender while adding enough yogurt to render the mixture creamy. If you prefer a coarser mixture, reserve 1/3 of the spinach before processing. Add warm water, if needed, to thin. Stir in paneer, heating gently until paneer softens somewhat.

Serve over Indian bread or white rice. Top with cilantro, if desired.

Though these recipes do call for a lot of spices, they're actually quite easy once you've assembled all the ingredients. All you do, really, is throw them all in one pot and let the mixture simmer. There isn't much technique aside from that, at least with the latter two dishes.

Though I may wait a spell before I try to tackle samosas again, chana masala and saag paneer are two extraordinarily simple and delicious dishes that I will most certainly be making again in the near future.

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as the Hungry Liberals did. Write me and send me your pictures when you whip up this menu!