Saag Paneer!

I made this for crew chow last night to get rid of some damn near inedible ricotta salatta. It's a very creamy yellow colored sauce with tons of greens. This dish is one of my favorite ways to eats cheese. I'll get to the recipe, but first, a little about r.s., paneer and that crazy name up top.

Ricotta Salatta- An Italian style firm cheese (which, generally can be melted, but we boiled this crap we had for an hour and it still didn't desintegrate one bit).
Paneer- an indian cheese close to the texture of pan seared medium tofu.
Saag Paneer- an indian curry dish made with paneer and a mixture of spinach and other greens
Palak Paneer- indian curry dish made with only spinach greens and paneer
Saag Aloo- curry spinach dish with potatoes (gonna have to try this)

So, this is a superfatty recipe that I already cut part of the fat out by substituting half the cream for buttermilk, but as is, I would serve it as a side dish so your guests don't have a coronary at the end of the night. A note on the cheese. The end product should have chunks of paneer or ricotta left when you serve it, not blend into the sauce, so you probably want to add it more at the end. The braised greens I used last night were very tough and so took about 45 minutes to break down so they looked like an indian sauce. And, the tougher and more bitter your greens are, the more you will have to balance with sugar.

And now that that's done...

Here's the recipe:
Spice Blend:
1/4 cups water
4 serrano chilis (I deseeded them, but probably would only deseed half them next time)
1 T Turmeric
2 T Cumin
1 T Paprika (or, I used pimenton)
2 T Coriander
2 T Garam Masala
2 T fresh ginger
Blend the above in a blender until smooth

3 cups cream
3 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup garlic
1/8 cup shallot
1 onion diced
1.5 gallon container of chopped greens
16 oz Paneer or ricotta salatta

Balance with:
Curry Powder
Garam Masala
Sugar
Santaka Chilis (Red Chili Flakes)

Put 1/4 olive oil in a pan, heat the garlic and shallots, add the greens and braise with a cup of water until they collapse. Add the dairy, spice mixture, onion and boil until the consistency reduces to what you want. Add in the cheese dependent on how hard it is. Taste along the way and add more curry powder or garam masala to make the sauce pungent enough. Adjust spiciness with santaka chilis. The suace will get more bitter the longer it boils because the greens will release more the longer they are boiled. If you overreduce, just add water. If you add too much sugar, just cook it a little longer to let the bitterness come back.

This recipe can feed about 10 people or more when served over rice.

Pulled Chicken (Spanish Style)

I made this pulled chicken at work last night and need somewhere to save the beginnings of a recipe. It would be good slightly modified for pulled pork or beef as well. I have absolutely no measurement and some of the ingredients were added behind my back as is the nature of crew chow. All I know is the beer should be about half of the wet ingredients before braising.

Wet Ingredients:
Veg Stock
Lighter, not very hoppy beer (used Kolsch)
Santaka Chilis
Pimenton
4 preserved chilis
Salt
Cilantro, minced
Red wine vinegar (Not much)
Heat the above to meld the flavors. The chilis should definitely sit for a while.

Braise the chicken with:
Small dice celery (use quite a bit, they blend to bulk up the sauce)
Small dice carrot
Shallots
Garlic (lots)

Finish with
Lemon Juice
Lime Juice
Cumin

Strain the sauce and keep.
Shred the chicken.
Blend the sauce.
Add back into the pot and cook to the desired consistency.

Delicious. Serve chicken with tortillas, cheese, salsa, cilantro, grilled onions, sour cream. The salsa we made below can be made in a pinch as it uses canned tomatoes.

2 cans tomatoes with green chilis
3 t chipotle sauce from spicy chipotles (this should make it quite spicy)
1/4 cup cilantro chopped
1.5 cup onions sweated in olive oil
salt
pepper
lemon juice
balsamic vinegar