I would love to taste your hot and spicy dish.
The dish is easy to describe texturally (think pureed spinach enriched with butter and softened onions), but the flavor is harder to describe to people who are perhaps not familar to indian cuisine. The signature spice is garam masala (a blend of black pepper, cumin, coriander, green cardamon, black cardamon, bay leaves, cayenne, a little clove and a little cinnamon - I make my own since store bought examples are often not optimally fresh), paired with a healthy dose of ginger and garlic. The mustard greens give an addictive pungent mustardy counterpoint to the spinach, and additional heat is supplied by tiny green Thai "birdeye" chilies. The dish is usually enriched with ghee (clarified butter), sometimes with a little mustard oil for extra kick. The spices add a complex, but not overpowering harmonious warmth, and the chilies add heat and zest. Here's a restaurant secret: a lot of indian restaurants that make their own paneer will use the resulting whey (or the buttermilk from making their butter) not just as part of the liquid for making their naan but also to replace the water used in pureeing this dish, which adds a subtle milky backnote when present.
The diced raw onions add some crunch, and the seared paneer (a non-melting cheese) add another layer of flavor and texture as well as the protein element that enables it to become an entree rather than just a side. Hot flat bread is traditionally used as the eating utensil, and can be used to supplement or entirely replace rice when serving this. I'll take naan over rice almost every time.
Last edited by Darby on March 2nd, 2015, 4:45 pm, edited 5 times in total.
