Masala Lesson
Mmmm… doesn’t it smell good? We love our upstairs apartment, but one of the downsides of living above an Indian family is the scent of masala that drifts up the stairwell each afternoon as dinner is prepared! Our mouths start watering, and then whatever simple dish I’m throwing together in my own kitchen just isn’t as satisfying. One of my local favorites is a dish Indians call “tomato paneer.” Since we will soon be leaving here to return to California, I asked our landlord’s wife, Raja, to show me how to make it.
Paneer is a locally-made cheese with a mild flavor, similar to ricotta, only stiffer.
The first step is to cut it into pieces and fry it in oil to a light golden-brown. Then Raja set it aside and collected her spices. She sautéed chopped onion and garlic in oil and then added the assorted spices—her own masala blend. One of the secrets to Indian-style cooking is to let the spices mix and sizzle in the oil for quite a while until their full flavor is released. She added water and chopped tomatoes, and while the tomatoes were cooking, she mashed them with her wooden spoon and let the whole mixture boil down to a thick, aromatic sauce. The last step was to add the paneer and a little salt.
We all ate together, spooning the paneer and sauce onto plates heaped with rice. We’ve learned pretty well how to mix the rice and sauce together with our fingers and plop it into our mouths with only a little mess. So tasty! I’ll bring this recipe back to California, and see if I can find an Indian shop that sells paneer. Would you like to come over and try it, sitting on the floor with us and eating with our hands? Along with the recipe, I’m bringing back fragrant memories of the friendship of Raja and her family, packed safely in my heart.
Posted in Uncategorized and tagged cooking by Lisa