It all started with paneer. This is a yummy cottage-cheese-type product that is a staple in Indian food. It's very firm and maintains its shape instead of melting. I've thoroughly enjoyed it every time I've ordered a dish that contained it.
It seemed easy enough to make, and as it turns out, it was. I took a gallon of skim milk and heated it on medium until it boiled. It has to boil, not just simmer. I stirred occasionally and did other things while I was waiting patiently for it to boil--and it takes a long time, I'm guessing 40 minutes or so; I should have paid more attention. Once boiling, I added 8 TBSP of lemon juice, which curdles the milk. I took it off the heat, stirred it well and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes to finish curdling. Then I poured it into a strainer lined with cheesecloth, covered the top with the cheesecloth, and pushed on it with the back of my wooden spoon to squish out the remaining whey (liquid). After a minute or two, I could get in there comfortably with my hands. To really get it drained, I put it on a cookie sheet, filled the pot with water for weight, and put the pot on top of the cheese for about 20 minutes. (I put a clean dish towel between the cheese and the pot, just in case.) I ended up with some mighty nice, fat-free paneer. A gallon of milk got me about a pound of cheese. Not bad...cheese for about $2.50-$3.00 per pound.
Once I knew I could make the paneer happen, I started looking up recipes. I love saag paneer, so that was one of the recipes I searched. I needed something that was fairly simple and didn't call for a bunch of weird ingredients that I'd have to find and order online. The one I finally settled on was from the Food Network page: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/saag-paneer-recipe/index.html.
I appreciated that it gave the recipe for ghee, a clarified butter product. I have seen it at the natural food store I frequent, but it's rather expensive. But given the high fat content, I decided to substitute plain old butter for the ghee, a common switcheroo that I came across quite often in my recipe research. I also used about half of what the recipe called for--just enough to get my paneer cooked and the veggies sauteed. My paneer didn't actually brown, though. I think it might be because it was non-fat or because I used butter instead of ghee, or maybe a little of both. It was still fabulous, though.
The Food Network site also gave a recipe for curry, which I might use in the future. This time, I used a hot curry powder I'd gotten at the New World Market and already had on hand. In the end, it wasn't quite as hot as I'd prefer, but it was a nice slow burn that still let you taste the food.
I made a little adjustment to the recipe by throwing in a couple of handfuls of sliced almonds. It gave a little texture and tasted awesome. I've had this before in restaurants with dates in there as well, so maybe that will be a next time thing. (And by dates I mean the fruit, not the boys I went to Indian restaurants with.)
A couple of other next-time things: The fat-free paneer was good, but it had a squeaky texture to it. I'll probably use 2% milk next time to get some creamy-ness back in. I'll also use more spinach and yogurt to give it a more sauce-like texture. If I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll blend the spinach and veggies as well. They do that at the Bombay Grill and it's pretty good!
Now for the side dishes!
At the natural food store, I found brown basmati rice. I'd never cooked it before, so I used their ratio and time setting: 2 parts water to 1 part rice, wash rice, put in boiling water, simmer covered for 40-50 minutes. When the rice was done cooking, there was still water left over and it was sticky, not fluffy, even after I uncovered it and tried to simmer off the remaining moisture. I'll need to decrease the water next time...maybe 1.5 parts water to 1 part rice, watch it carefully and add water if necessary. I'd made some white basmati in our rice cooker, though, and the brown rice was still quite good, so it wasn't a big deal.
I had to finish the day with naan--basically a yeasted flat bread, or dinner rolls flattened and cooked on a grill. I found a simple recipe here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Naan/Detail.aspx
I didn't trust the cleanliness of our grill, plus it's a gas grill and it might have been gross tasting. I couldn't find our little hot dog oven-top grill, so I pulled out our pancake griddle. I was able to cook six at a time and got through it all pretty fast. So I didn't have pretty grill marks on the bread, but it didn't really matter. I did hand-flatten and shape them, so they were a bit thicker than they should be. Had I bothered to clean off the counter and make another mess, I could have rolled them out to be really flat and more authentic, but I was lazy and in a hurry.
As a cooling-factor--something I think is important with spicy food--I made another batch of my herbed yogurt and cheese spread from my "Book of Yogurt" by Sonia Uvezian. It's basically low fat cream cheese, feta, and yogurt with fresh mint, dill, chives, and garlic. I substitute yogurt cheese for the cream cheese and eyeball quantities, and it turns out really well. It was excellent on the naan, provided a nice little cool break from the curry, and also allowed me to take credit for a little fusion cuisine!
So in all, this adventure was a success! It required quite a bit of pre-planning, since I made the paneer ahead of time and yeast bread always needs wait-time, but I'd do it again. We have a lot of leftover naan (I purposefully doubled the recipe) and I think it will make good snacks and sandwiches (some more fusion cuisine).
The next project: homemade frozen yogurt. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Culinary Adventures--Yogurt and Yogurt Cheese
You may have already read this on my Facebook notes. So here it is again...this time with links!
I read in Yoga Journal last month about how to make yogurt. It seemed pretty easy, so I figured I might as well give it a try. All-natural, pectin-free, made-fresh yogurt seemed like a worthwhile endeavor.
I used the recipe from Yoga Journal, which involves heating up 4 cups of milk to 185, then keeping it there for 30 minutes. Let it cool to 110-112, then add 1/2 cup plain yogurt. Put it in small-ish (8oz or so) containers that seal tightly. Place them in an oven that has been warmed and has a pan of boiling water at the bottom. Let sit for several hours: 6-8 for whole or low-fat milk, 10 for skim.
I was delighted when it actually worked. It was easy and yummy and made by me! After a couple of batches, I knew this was something I could keep up, since I love yogurt. But I wanted more than just my usual fruit, sweetener, and flax seed concoction. I also wanted a more consistent preparation method so I could know for sure that when I experimented, it would be my changes and not some temperature fluke that had results, good or bad. I consulted my online guru-for-everything: amazon.com.
I looked up yogurt makers and found several. After sorting through customer reviews, I settled on the one made by Donvier. It's moderately priced (pretty much in the middle at $50), has an automatic shut-off, makes about 6 cups of yogurt per batch, and replacement/extra cups and lids are reasonably priced. On Amazon, I got a little bit of a deal if I bought it along with the Donvier Yogurt Cheese maker. The yogurt cheese maker was regularly priced at $18, so it wasn't a huge investment and after peeking at customer reviews, I knew that yogurt cheese was the next step in this adventure, so I splurged.
I found a book called The Book of Yogurt by Sonia Uvezian. Customer reviews were very good. I also needed something to help me along my path to yogurt cheese usage, so I also picked up Not Just Cheesecake: A Yogurt Cheese Cookbook by Shelly Melvin, also highly reviewed.
I have not been disappointed. I've started using Uvezian's yogurt preparation method. I bring 6 cups of milk to 185 degrees, turn off the heat, let it cool to 110-112, add 3 TBSP yogurt and incubate for 10 hours in the yogurt maker. Then I transfer the cups of yogurt into the fridge.
To make yogurt cheese, I put three cups of yogurt into the yogurt cheese maker, which is basically an airtight square container with a strainer inside. It drains the whey (liquid) from the yogurt and leaves you with something resembling the consistency of sour cream and mimicking the taste of cream cheese--just tangier. From the yogurt you put in, you'll get about half that amount in yogurt cheese. I throw away the whey, but apparently, it's good in soups and can also be fed to infants who cannot digest milk. Who knew? I may try the whey in soup thing a bit later, but I'm not quite up to that yet.
I've tried a couple of recipes from Uvezian's book. One of my favorites so far is a dip/spread. Yogurt cheese (in place of reduced-fat cream cheese), yogurt, feta, fresh dill, mint, chives, and garlic. Totally fresh and close to non-fat. I served it with rye and pumpernickle and also used it on a tofu burger. I'll be trying a recipe from the soup section soon.
From the Not Just Cheesecake book, I've made...cheesecake. The first attempt I made exactly according to recipe. It was actually really good--tangy and spongy, not exactly cheesecake, but nothing to frown at. My complaints were that it had an eggy taste and I wasn't a big fan of no crust. For take two I used a premade graham crust and instead of using two eggs, I used 4 egg whites. This was not good. The absence of the fat in the yolks made the cake dry. It also wasn't very tangy. I think this might be because of the sweetness of the crust, but it also might have to do with the eggs. For my third attempt, I will keep the crust and try Egg Beaters instead of eggs.
Also with yogurt cheese, I substituted it for cream cheese when preparing the Harry and David Pepper Relish that Al and I both love. I also used it instead of sour cream when making onion dip. Both had great results. Al is using it as a garnish on his burgers and I've sweetened it with agave or honey and used it on English muffins.
Yogurt Maker:
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisipro-Donvier-Electronic-Yogurt-Maker/dp/B0000DE4TY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1244822014&sr=8-1
Extra Yogurt-Maker Supplies:
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisipro-Donvier-Yogurt-Maker-Jars/dp/B0000DDXD2/ref=pd_sim_k_1
Yogurt Cheese Maker:
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisipro-Donvier-Yogurt-Cheese-Maker/dp/B000064841/ref=pd_sim_k_2
The Book of Yogurt:
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Yogurt-Sonia-Uvezian/dp/0880016515/ref=pd_sim_k_2
Not Just Cheesecake: A Yogurt Cheese Cookbook:
http://www.amazon.com/Not-Just-Cheesecake-Yogurt-Cookbook/dp/0937404454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244822175&sr=1-1
I read in Yoga Journal last month about how to make yogurt. It seemed pretty easy, so I figured I might as well give it a try. All-natural, pectin-free, made-fresh yogurt seemed like a worthwhile endeavor.
I used the recipe from Yoga Journal, which involves heating up 4 cups of milk to 185, then keeping it there for 30 minutes. Let it cool to 110-112, then add 1/2 cup plain yogurt. Put it in small-ish (8oz or so) containers that seal tightly. Place them in an oven that has been warmed and has a pan of boiling water at the bottom. Let sit for several hours: 6-8 for whole or low-fat milk, 10 for skim.
I was delighted when it actually worked. It was easy and yummy and made by me! After a couple of batches, I knew this was something I could keep up, since I love yogurt. But I wanted more than just my usual fruit, sweetener, and flax seed concoction. I also wanted a more consistent preparation method so I could know for sure that when I experimented, it would be my changes and not some temperature fluke that had results, good or bad. I consulted my online guru-for-everything: amazon.com.
I looked up yogurt makers and found several. After sorting through customer reviews, I settled on the one made by Donvier. It's moderately priced (pretty much in the middle at $50), has an automatic shut-off, makes about 6 cups of yogurt per batch, and replacement/extra cups and lids are reasonably priced. On Amazon, I got a little bit of a deal if I bought it along with the Donvier Yogurt Cheese maker. The yogurt cheese maker was regularly priced at $18, so it wasn't a huge investment and after peeking at customer reviews, I knew that yogurt cheese was the next step in this adventure, so I splurged.
I found a book called The Book of Yogurt by Sonia Uvezian. Customer reviews were very good. I also needed something to help me along my path to yogurt cheese usage, so I also picked up Not Just Cheesecake: A Yogurt Cheese Cookbook by Shelly Melvin, also highly reviewed.
I have not been disappointed. I've started using Uvezian's yogurt preparation method. I bring 6 cups of milk to 185 degrees, turn off the heat, let it cool to 110-112, add 3 TBSP yogurt and incubate for 10 hours in the yogurt maker. Then I transfer the cups of yogurt into the fridge.
To make yogurt cheese, I put three cups of yogurt into the yogurt cheese maker, which is basically an airtight square container with a strainer inside. It drains the whey (liquid) from the yogurt and leaves you with something resembling the consistency of sour cream and mimicking the taste of cream cheese--just tangier. From the yogurt you put in, you'll get about half that amount in yogurt cheese. I throw away the whey, but apparently, it's good in soups and can also be fed to infants who cannot digest milk. Who knew? I may try the whey in soup thing a bit later, but I'm not quite up to that yet.
I've tried a couple of recipes from Uvezian's book. One of my favorites so far is a dip/spread. Yogurt cheese (in place of reduced-fat cream cheese), yogurt, feta, fresh dill, mint, chives, and garlic. Totally fresh and close to non-fat. I served it with rye and pumpernickle and also used it on a tofu burger. I'll be trying a recipe from the soup section soon.
From the Not Just Cheesecake book, I've made...cheesecake. The first attempt I made exactly according to recipe. It was actually really good--tangy and spongy, not exactly cheesecake, but nothing to frown at. My complaints were that it had an eggy taste and I wasn't a big fan of no crust. For take two I used a premade graham crust and instead of using two eggs, I used 4 egg whites. This was not good. The absence of the fat in the yolks made the cake dry. It also wasn't very tangy. I think this might be because of the sweetness of the crust, but it also might have to do with the eggs. For my third attempt, I will keep the crust and try Egg Beaters instead of eggs.
Also with yogurt cheese, I substituted it for cream cheese when preparing the Harry and David Pepper Relish that Al and I both love. I also used it instead of sour cream when making onion dip. Both had great results. Al is using it as a garnish on his burgers and I've sweetened it with agave or honey and used it on English muffins.
Yogurt Maker:
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisipro-Donvier-Electronic-Yogurt-Maker/dp/B0000DE4TY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1244822014&sr=8-1
Extra Yogurt-Maker Supplies:
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisipro-Donvier-Yogurt-Maker-Jars/dp/B0000DDXD2/ref=pd_sim_k_1
Yogurt Cheese Maker:
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisipro-Donvier-Yogurt-Cheese-Maker/dp/B000064841/ref=pd_sim_k_2
The Book of Yogurt:
http://www.amazon.com/Book-Yogurt-Sonia-Uvezian/dp/0880016515/ref=pd_sim_k_2
Not Just Cheesecake: A Yogurt Cheese Cookbook:
http://www.amazon.com/Not-Just-Cheesecake-Yogurt-Cookbook/dp/0937404454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244822175&sr=1-1
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