I LOVE saag paneer. Probably top 3 favorite indian dishes. I made paneer from scratch one time and it is really easy. I am 100% off dairy right now though so everything is coconut milk this, coconut oil that. I can't wait til I can have cheese and yogurt again.
Is it a texture thing for you? Because saag is creamy and seasoned so deliciously, but it is definitely still cooked spinach.
I’ve made saag tofu for vegans before and it turned out surprisingly well! If you do the same seasoning for the tofu and bake it till it’s crispy while you make the saag, it’s really quite good. I used coconut milk to make the saag creamy and seasoned with turmeric, ginger, garlic, Garam masala, s & p. Probably some other stuff I’m forgetting, too. The saag always needs more salt after you hit it with the immersion blender, though (just enough to get the right consistency, not enough to turn it into true baby food). Something about blending it a little seems to disappear the salt. I’m sure there’s a cool food science reason but clearly I don’t know it.
Yeah... even a simple $40 infrared thermometer from Amazon is worth it's weight in gold... I use it all the time, to check for pan temps (flash points for oils, etc), or for oil temps. Even better for oil, though, is a thermometer dedicated to the task.
I have perfected my honey wheat bread in the bread maker recipe. 1 2/3c warm water ~1/4c honey 1.25t yeast 3T corn psyllium (aka equate brand plain metamucil) 3T brewer's yeast 3T vital wheat gluten 3c wheat flour (I weigh my flour out) 1t salt olive oil drizzled around edge of pan I proof the yeast and then layer the ingredients in the order I listed them. I sort of shake the pan to get it flat and then drizzle the oil. It makes the perfect loaf and tastes great. Amount of honey isn't super important, you really just need a few T to start your yeast. More honey = sweeter loaf so you do you.
Got a sous vide for xmas and getting ready to try it out with some steaks. Do y’all just use baggies or is a vacuum sealer worth it? And if so, which one?
I've used both, and there's not much of a difference. With baggies you'll want to look up the immersion method to get as much of the air out as you can. Vacuum sealing is nice because you can drop it in no worries. With a baggie you need to make sure the zipper isn't submerged so water doesn't get into the bag. I actually think sous vide really shines with chicken and other poultry. You get such a juicy tasty piece of chicken with sous that is hard to do with baking or sautéing. If you do want to try a steak I recommend skirt or flank steak. Anything that is on the tougher end of the spectrum. The sous vide does a great job of softening those up. I find that the tried and true searing and into the oven method is still better for your finer pieces of steak. I never put my fillets in the sous vide anymore. Other board members rave about sous vide steak, so I'll let them speak more to it. It's a great tool to have in the kitchen.
I use a vacuum sealer because it's easier in the long run. Go to costco, get huge slabs of meat, cut them up, vacuum seal them in dinner-sized portions, sometimes with seasoning already in there. When it comes time for dinner, just grab it from the freezer, drop it in the sous vide at lunch time (perfect for most steaks and shorter time cooks), then it's ready whenever I want at dinner time. The longer ones I do (like a 24-48 hour roast, brisket, etc), I find that the plastic bag degrades too much and I've had one come apart on me, so ever since then I almost always do a heavy duty vacuum bag. One thing a lot of people forget about is that a sous vide is fantastic for reheating food as well... if you had your prime rib at the medium rare setting, just drop whatever leftovers you want into a zip lock bag and set the sous vide to 132, and it'll warm up and taste and feel exactly like it did the first time you served it... it won't be cooked more like it would be if you microwaved it or reheated it in some other manner.
I did not think about cutting up and portioning out larger cuts. Any brand you’d recommend in particular? Or just “whatever looks good on amazon”?
I spent a fair bit on one of the semi-commercial jobs from Cabela's and am not disappointed. Tried a foodsaver and it sucked, but not in the way it was supposed to. They tried to get too fancy with auto-detection/sealing/etc. And it didn't have the duty cycle for big jobs.
right after I posted that I noticed that mueller had one for $60. Jumped on that in a hurry. I have their nespresso machine and it’s amazing — not a lot of bells and whistles, works all the time.
Last night I ran across what might be the best thing ever. Drunk Alton Brown and his wife doing drunk cooking from their kitchen, LiveStream style.
I made homemade mayo with a duck egg. It was super easy. The recipe I used called for the whole egg as well as a T of mustard as an emulsifier. I used dijon mustard because it was either that or the spicy brown. Ended up adding a bunch of roasted garlic and a little more lemon juice at the end and it tastes great, but for plain mayo I'll have to try a different recipe because the mustard stood out a bit to me. It would have been fine for egg salad or something you would have added mustard to anyhow though.
@sisterkathlouise I was going to make saag with the substitutions you suggested. Do you make your baked tofu like this? https://cookieandkate.com/how-to-make-crispy-baked-tofu/
Honestly I just toss it with the spices/coconut oil and cook it in a pan, then set it aside while I make the saag. Anything to make fewer dishes. But getting as much water out as possible is always a good bet for tofu, and it’s totally possible that crispy tofu is better than my lazy pan tofu.
Maybe the excess moisture is where I messed up in the past. Mine always stuck to the pan so bad. The commentary in this recipe says that baked requires a lot less oil too. I'll give it a try at least once.