Does anyone know why spinach and cheese is "palak paneer" but chickpeas and spinach is "chana saag"? This has been something I've always been curious about but have never looked up.
Yesterday, rather than having a light cooking day as I'd planned, I made the Pumpkin Saag from 'nomicon. But instead of using 3 lbs of pumpkin, I used my 2 1/2 lb. carnival squash from two markets ago cause I was excited to use it. To make up for my pumpkin deficit, I used a lot of palak. Or saag. Wait, maybe "saag" is what's created with the palak? Gosh, I know I could just look it up.
Anyway, I just wrote this in a comment on Jess's blog, but I can't seem to cut open any hard squash without baking it first, so I had to bake it to make it soft, then slice it open, then roast some more. Then peel off that colorful shell. Then rinse and chop all that sandy spinach. So it was a lot more time consuming then your average weekday meal, but so what? I wanted it and I wanted it now.
It was yummy, but way too sweet, a veritable carnival of sugar in my mouth (probably why the recipe called for straight up pumpkin!) Though I cut the sweet with some rice and leftover spiced yogurt sauce from before we left. It got spicier while we were away! It certainly got me revved up for more Indian food, for sure for sure.
5 comments:
The sweet squash sounds so good! I was really planning on making that dish with my pumpkin...but then I realized I shouldnt't have pureed it! Travesty. I still have one small random squash at home...and was thinking of using that + puree...OR puree + sauteed tofu.
But realistically I won't make this till after my trip, since I am lacking in the Indian spice department. Excited to go shopping when I get back, though.
One more comment! I realized one of the first things we started talking about was where you should buy spices when you moved/just moved here! <3
oh, you remembered!
yeah, finding where to get the good spices is like my life's quest! i forgot to mention in this post how we stopped at my favorite spice shop in olympia -- it's called buck's fifth avenue -- and i stocked up on sumac and zaatar and chipotle etc!
oops! i forgot to say tell me how you like it when you make it! i liked it better today (cold, for lunch) than i did yesterday, so maybe the sweet had some time to mellow?
Post a Comment