4 posts tagged “indian”
From: Neelam Batra's 'The Indian Vegetarian: Flavors for the American Kitchen'
1 bunch mustard greens, trimmed of tough stems and washed
1 small turnip, peeled and chopped
1/4 c water
3 Tbl veg oil
One 3-inch stick cinnamon
8 green cardamom pods, pounded lightly to break the skin*
One 1 1/2 by 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into julienne strips
1 1/2 c finely chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 c finely chopped fresh tomatoes
1/4 c nonfat plain yogurt, whisked until smooth (Note: I used soy yogurt)
2 Tbl ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1 recipe basic paneer cheese, cut into 1 by 1/4-inch squares
cherry tomatoes for garnish
*Substitutes: brown cardamom OR equal parts ground nutmeg and cinnamon OR equal parts ground cloves and cinnamon OR nutmeg OR cinnamon
**You can buy paneer in some high-end grocery stores. I use tofu and it ends up having a similar consistency. Cut the X-tra firm tofu into the right sized squares (the recipe they refer to makes 30 of the 1 by 1/4 in squares. Shouldn't take more than a block, probably less). Put in a bowl and toss with enough veg oil to coat them. Pour out onto a baking sheet covered in tin foil. Back at around 350 the entire time you are cooking your dish until they sort of toughen up (but don't brown them).
Place the spinach, mustard freens, turnip, and water in a large nonstick saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil over high hear. Reduve the hear to medium and continue to simmer until the turnip is tenger, 5 to 7 minutes. Cool, then process in a good processor until smooth. Return to pot and set aside.
Heat the oil in a small saucepan over moderately high heat and cook the cinnamon, cardamom pods, onion, and ginger, stirring, until the onion turns medium brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and tomatoes and cook until all the liquid from the tomatoes evaporates, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the yogurt a little at a time to prevent curdling, then add the coriander, garam masala, paprika and salt.
Immediately transfer the contents to the pan with the blended spinach, cover, and simmer over medium heat for 7-10 minutes. Add paneer and stir gently to mix (Do not break the pieces). Simmer another 5 to 7 minutes to blend the flavours.
Transfer to a serving dish, garnish the the cherry tomatoes, and serve as a main dish with any Indian bread. Palak paneer stays fresh in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.
Makes 8 servings.
I'm tellin' ya, I need to get rid of all this Indian type fabric. However, I am enjoying these skirts. I'm trying to make each of the designs different so that they don't get too boring.
My last one (the orange one, which I have named 'Sunset') was inspired by the wrapping of a sari. Well, that is where my sketches started. It evolved into what you saw. This one was also inspired by a sari, the draping/pleated part of it. Much more obviously sari-like than the last one.
Pretty quick to make. Not as scary cutting into the fabric since these are simple. The bottom hem has to be even, so you just cut the fabric to length and then drape/pleat/etc the fabric to fit around your waist. I decided to use a waist band on this one, which was tricky, but I love the way it turned out. Tricky because, those who don't know how clothes are constructed, even straight waist bands are made out of curved fabric. The border I made the waist out of is..well..straight. I worked it out by adding a few darts here and there. Yes, there is one in the front, yes, it is supposed to dip like that (I guess the weight of the pleats on real saris pull it down as well, that is why I added it. Plus...It needed to be curved there anyway and was wanting to pull. Oh, and yes, it is supposed to be off center. :) I hope everyone likes it!
I loved the colour of the fabric, which doesn't show it's true glory in these pictures. Only problem is that you so much as look at the thing wrong and it wrinkles. Oh well, nothing can be done about that.
Anyway, this is my last sewing post before I leave for DC for 13 days as I'm about to clean up my sewing room. Have a nice couple of weeks! Know that I will be flipping out during the election even if I'm not here to share it with you :)
~Nikki
Finished another skirt! While I was about to put it on to take picture I was going to iron some creases out. You wouldn't believe it...the damn thing melted. Luckily it was up towards the top so I only had to take half of the top out and pulled the melted part up. So, the top tier in the front is about an inch and a half shorter than it was previously. Thank god it didn't make it too short, the bottom layer isn't totally full, it is sewn on to a lining.
Well, the most time consuming thing about this skirt was the design stages. Took me a long time to figure out what I could do with the amount of fabric I had (not much) and the shape of the pieces, etc. The previous skirts have been easy because I didn't have to do much drafting of a pattern, it was pretty much just a piece of fabric with one seam and 'pleat this enough to fit around my waist' mentality. Well, this fabric I suppose could have done that, but it was very plain, there isn't a design on the vast part of it, just the border. So, something different.
Went through a bunch of different designs (all mostly the same, small differences)before I came to this one. The back came out sort of like a bustle. It wasn't really intentional, but there wasn't anything I could do about it, and it eventualy grew on me. It would look better if it were hemmed again, there is just a really thin hem on the bottom, but unfortunately, I didn't make it long enough for a real hem :P There goes my 'planning'
That last one is just better lighting to see the border.
I'm glad it came out and I like it...but I'm still deciding if I like it. Does that make sense? Ah well, whatever.
I have some more fabric I'm going to make another one out of (Joann's was having a huge sale, so I stocked up. SO CHEAP. And then I'll have an entire stock of Indian inspired skirts and won't need ANY more), but I need the lining to start it and Hobby Lobby is closed, so I have to wait until tomorrow. I could work on the other skirt that I'm half finished with, but I'm hesitant about cutting into the fabric. Usually I'm not, but I love this fabric and I usually have a pattern to follow, which I don't this time...so....I'm a little scared. I'll get over it eventually.
~Nikki
Oh, and I made those pumpkin rolls, damn, they cam out huge, it could have made twice as many smaller ones, probably would have kept me from eating an entire bloody roll. I may have to bring some to my sister and her boy. Just to keep me from eating them. I'll post the recipe later! They turned out delicious.
Here is the second skirt that I made with the fabric that I bought earlier (same time as the blue fabric). The dress I worked on yesterday was a disaster (I may turn it into a skirt) and I wanted something to wear on my birthday (going out to dinner tonight) so I figured I would finish up this skirt (I've been working on it for a while, it was almost done anyway).
Sorry for all the pics. I can sometimes be narcissistic. It is the maroon chiffon with the border print on top of a half-circle under skirt made of shiny gold fabric. The effect with that was exactly what I wanted. The skirt has pleats (2in in the front, 1in all the rest) going all the way around it. Longer ones in the front to make it flatter. The pleats are inverse (showing on the outside) and have top stitching on the outside near the folds. It took a while. I played with the idea of doing top stitching on random pleats in a gold thread. I may still, I'm not sure....Zipper in the back....that's it. It was fun, it didn't turn out exactly like it did in my head, but that is alright. And, just like that blue skirt, this is the most comfortable thing ever.
Don't worry, I won't be wearing that shirt with it. I really need to make some shirts for these skirts, I really don't have any options. A choli would be most authentic, but I'm not okay walking around with my mid-drift showing. I'll figure something out.
Happy birthday to me :) It is so exciting when things turn out (that you'll actually wear)
~Nikki
