SPINACH PEANUT PANEER KOFTA

That tasted amazing, you bet it did. When people say "palak & paneer" taste amazing, we should believe... when I say the addition of roasted and ground peanuts took the taste level to another height, you must accept it and give it a try... You bet you win. It was actually done two months back when I had my visiting family here in Singapore. I discovered some 50 grams of paneer inside the refrigerator one evening, just forgot to stack it before the family arrived neither was willing to boil 2 litres of milk to get this little amount of paneer. Availability of spinach / palak is not a problem here, we get locally the Thai and Chinese varieties, for the young Indian variety we need to visit the Indian super store or the Southern Indian Marts. The Thai Palak tastes exactly like the Indian variety, so it is welcome. When two bunches of palak got cooked with the little amount of crumbled paneer, the amount looked this little, I had to feed seven people. I always have a big jar of roasted peanut stored at home, the husband needs it everyday with his beer. I so tried other combination of mixed nuts & dried fruits on him but he does not enjoy them on a regular basis. So adding roasted peanut powder was not a problem. It made a big difference, all in the family so loved the warm, tomato based curry with the non-fried creamy textured kofta. I could not stop getting down the daddy in to the scene, he used to love kofta curries, made of raw banana the most. I started cooking KANCHAKOLAR KOFTA CURRY for his love of it but hardly got any chance to feed him. 

Our mother does not let anyone get away with accolades, to keep the rein in control she is ready to take the pain of tremendous labour even at this age. We do not stop her, at least she should have some engagement around attractive enough to make her live a decent life. Else, the brother's wife cooked a fabulous keema chana curry the day we reached Kolkata this time, I cook better dals than our mother, I find her dals bland.... Anyway, along with my brother, his wife, she also liked the vegetarian curry, the side of SPINACH PEANUT PANEER KOFTA I served them. That definitely was a big satisfaction. The mother truly had grown old, one who so loved dosa & idli, could not digest the giant sized dosas served here. She was more comfortable with the idli I prepared at home with semolina or dalia. She was more willing to have oriental style light soups that did not have pork or beef. On every outing, I had to instruct the outlets how to make a customised soup with fried & boneless fish, egg, prawn, a bit of chicken, .... she preferred vegetarian soups actually adding soya sauce, sesame oil, red chilli paste to it. I prepared soup for her too, one we so loved I did click, shall share with my loving readers at a later date.

Coming to this SPINACH PEANUT PANEER KOFTA, I just forgot clicking all the steps. When the kofta mixture was done, I realised I forgot clicking. Anyway, I did the entire process with the regular kitchen spices we usually use in our cooking. I mean being in the food world for a while, I came across different varieties of spices, the tour of Istanbul Spice Bazaar further enriched my experience but I had to throw off half of the Ottoman Meat Spice I bought from there, meat curries with that did not catch my fancy. Its either South Asian Spices or Oriental Sauces for me... ok different salad creams too are a favourite. I still have some amount of the dried vegetables I got from Istanbul safe in the refrigerator, thinking of making a spicy, lemony pulao to serve with chicken tonight. I find it difficult to give life to a dish or do justice to it if it totally goes against my taste bud. So, the principle of "love thyself to be able to love others" pretty well works actually. Like I find broccoli too bland a stuff, I also know it has tremendous health benefits and it tastes horrible if we overcook it. What I do is I serve it over a bed of boiled noodles with a drizzle of olive oil, Thai & Vietnamese sauces I am fond of or add to spicy tomato rice. Me happy, family too. 

Cooking occupies a major part of my life, it imparts happiness within. Had I have known cooking is a pleasure at an young age , would I have pursued something like a hotel management course? Nope, cooking is a pleasure, literature is a love. When I did not take it as the subject of  major in graduation fearing a poorer performance, the husband and the mother told me I am doing the biggest mistake in life and yes I did, the Masters + a bachelor's degree in education seems useless pieces of paper resting in the locker. In my country of origin, most get a master's degree by fluke, not loving the subject taken as major but by mugging up the "previous ten years of question papers". A Nupur Datta told me after our Master's results were out .... " S you got higher score than me because you have a superior power of mugging up texts".... I am not my mother that I would get a hell out of people doing positive criticism. There is a but, however our mother is, she means more to me than any other's parents. Nupur in her own right was the head girl of Ballygaung Shiksha Sadan in 10th standard or in Modern High in her 12th may be. In the recent past, I was not surprised to see her as a principal in a full fledged high school. This time too I could not meet her though we discovered we live near each other, there is a next time and I know she would not have a problem accepting the fact that I cook maacher jhol perfectly like the wonder women in our grandmother's era .... neither I will hesitate to tell her "listen the thought of facing an interview gives me goosebumps till date" if she  asks me why I wasted my life sitting at home. She will not find it necessary to tell and remind me often how successful she is in her profession because she knows she is, I know she is. We would definitely not try to take over and own each other, we know there are many people around who together contribute to our life, we cannot be selfish or idiot enough to pay attention to anyone in particular, thats so impossible at this age. She and her likes know what decorum a teacher should maintain at least in public, neither a Partha Dey and his likes need to stand at the roof top and shout what a big shot he is, he knows he is, frustrated souls like me are always in a hurry to prove themselves in public. Anyway, here is a full proof, yummy vegetarian recipe for near friends, just friends, distant friends, acquaintances.... everyone who follows CURRY AND SPICE !

INGREDIENTS FOR THE KOFTA BALL :

SPINACH / PALAK : 500GM
PANEER : 50GM-100GM
ROASTED PEANUT POWDER : 1SMALL TEA CUP
SLICED ONION : 1/2SMALL TEA CUP
CHOPPED GREEN CHILLI : 1TBSP
CUMIN SEED : 2PINCH
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1/2TSP
CUMIN POWDER : 1/2TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1/2TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 2PINCH
SALT : AS REQUIRED
SUGAR : 1TSP
OIL : 2TBSP

INGREDIENTS FOR THE KOFTA CURRY :

THE PREPARED KOFTA BALLS
TOMATO : 4-5 MEDIUM SIZED
ONION : 1BIG
CUMIN POWDER : 1TSP
CORIANDER POWDER : 1TSP
TURMERIC POWDER : 1/2TSP
GARAM MASALA POWDER : 1TSP
RED CHILLI POWDER : 1TSP
GINGER PASTE : 1TSP
CUMIN SEED : 1/4TSP
BAY LEAF : 1
BUTTER : 1TBSP
SALT : AS REQUIRED
OIL : 3-4TBSP

PROCEDURE :

Discard the root ends of the spinach stalks. Roughly chop them, wash and blanch in hot water for few minutes. Discard the water and make a paste out of it in a blender. Crumble the paneer.

Heat oil in a wok, temper with cumin seeds. Add the cumin seeds, chopped green chillies and stir. Add the washed onion slices and fry till golden brown. 

Add the spinach paste and stir for few minutes. Add the crumbled paneer. Fold in well. Now, add the salt, turmeric + red chilli + cumin + coriander powders + salt + sugar. Stir cook for 2-3 minutes.

Take it on a plate. Add the roasted peanut powder. Let cool, then mix well.

Shape into kofta of your choice tearing smaller portions. 

I cook my kofta mixture well and avoid frying them. 

For the curry, we would chop and wash the tomatoes. We would discard the two end of the onion, peel + halve + slice + wash the onion. 

We would make a paste of the tomato pieces.

We would heat the oil in a clean wok and fry the onion until brown in it. We would take them out, cool and make a paste of it.

In the same reheated oil, we would add the bay leaf and the cumin seeds. We would then add the ginger paste and fry for 11/2-2 minutes. 

Thereafter, we would add the tomato paste and stir at low heat for 2 minutes.

We would add the onion paste there after and fold in well.

We would stir cook for a minute or so and add the turmeric + cumin + coriander + red chilli powders & salt to it.

Mix it well and add 11/2 coffee mug of water. Let the gravy simmer at low heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the garam masala powder now.

After simmering it for 2-3 minutes, we would add the butter. As the butter melts, we would arrange the koftas is a bowl. 

After allowing the gravy to simmer for another minute, we would pour it over the koftas evenly.

We would wait at least 1/2 an hour before serving the kofta curry with flat breads / rice or even toasted breads.