Country 14: Bangladesh - Paneer Dalna & Luchi
My partner and I have a local Indian restaurant who (thankfully) is still open for delivery and collection during coronavirus. I was concerned that they were going to close throughout lockdown, but was delighted that they decided to stay open.
I went for a bike ride around central London on Saturday, the day I was preparing to cook my Bengali meal. It was the most exercise I've done and the most fresh air I've had since lockdown started, and I came back home absolutely completely and utterly exhausted. We ordered Indian takeaway rather than cooking, and I had an early night.
However, perhaps in hindsight getting a meal from the Indian subcontinent was probably not the best idea the night before cooking something from the Indian subcontinent. Especially because I always order a paneer dish from the Indian takeaway, and... you guessed it... I cooked paneer for my Bengali dish.
The dish that I cooked was supposed to actually have chenna in it, which is the same sort of thing as paneer except paneer gets pressed a little further. I assume this makes it more firm, whereas chenna is possibly softer.
You can actually make both paneer and chenna by curdling full-fat milk and straining the curds from the whey, and pressing the curds. I opted not to do this bit as I don't have any cheese cloth and conveniently I had paneer in the fridge already so just used this instead.
The dish was tasty-ish. I added coconut milk to take away some of the heat, but in hindsight I think I probably shouldn't have done this as it diluted the flavour. That being said, the leftovers that I ate for lunch today (having cooked the meal last night) were delicious and I think that by leaving the curry overnight it infused more of the flavours into the potatoes and paneer.
One thing I did like about this is that it was actually vegetarian. I thought a lot of Bangladeshi dishes would be vegetarian as the stereotype for the Indian subcontinent is that they don't eat that much meat, but I was wrong! Bengali cuisine does actually have quite a bit of meat in it so while it wasn't a struggle to find a vegetarian dish, it was difficult to find something that was a dish in itself rather than a side dish.
I served paneer dalna with luchi which is a traditional deep-fried puffed bread using Maida, which is all-purpose flour. I'm not particularly keen on cooking lots of deep-fried food as I think it's a waste of oil so I just used a little oil to cook this (maybe about 2cm deep in a small saucepan) and flipped the luchi over half-way. I think that my doughs are coming along really well though, it won't be long before I want to try cook my Afghani naan again for the hopes of a better outcome second time round!
Paneer Dalna
I went for a bike ride around central London on Saturday, the day I was preparing to cook my Bengali meal. It was the most exercise I've done and the most fresh air I've had since lockdown started, and I came back home absolutely completely and utterly exhausted. We ordered Indian takeaway rather than cooking, and I had an early night.
However, perhaps in hindsight getting a meal from the Indian subcontinent was probably not the best idea the night before cooking something from the Indian subcontinent. Especially because I always order a paneer dish from the Indian takeaway, and... you guessed it... I cooked paneer for my Bengali dish.
The dish that I cooked was supposed to actually have chenna in it, which is the same sort of thing as paneer except paneer gets pressed a little further. I assume this makes it more firm, whereas chenna is possibly softer.
You can actually make both paneer and chenna by curdling full-fat milk and straining the curds from the whey, and pressing the curds. I opted not to do this bit as I don't have any cheese cloth and conveniently I had paneer in the fridge already so just used this instead.
The dish was tasty-ish. I added coconut milk to take away some of the heat, but in hindsight I think I probably shouldn't have done this as it diluted the flavour. That being said, the leftovers that I ate for lunch today (having cooked the meal last night) were delicious and I think that by leaving the curry overnight it infused more of the flavours into the potatoes and paneer.
One thing I did like about this is that it was actually vegetarian. I thought a lot of Bangladeshi dishes would be vegetarian as the stereotype for the Indian subcontinent is that they don't eat that much meat, but I was wrong! Bengali cuisine does actually have quite a bit of meat in it so while it wasn't a struggle to find a vegetarian dish, it was difficult to find something that was a dish in itself rather than a side dish.
I served paneer dalna with luchi which is a traditional deep-fried puffed bread using Maida, which is all-purpose flour. I'm not particularly keen on cooking lots of deep-fried food as I think it's a waste of oil so I just used a little oil to cook this (maybe about 2cm deep in a small saucepan) and flipped the luchi over half-way. I think that my doughs are coming along really well though, it won't be long before I want to try cook my Afghani naan again for the hopes of a better outcome second time round!
Paneer Dalna
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 250g paneer
- 2 potatoes
- 1 tomaoto
- 1 inch ginger
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 dried red chilli
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- Salt to taste
- 50mL vegetable oil + 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons butter
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (optional)
Instructions
- Cut potatoes and paneer into medium sized cubes and chop tomatoes roughly
- Make a paste from the ginger and add cumin. Mix thoroughly.
- Mix both turmeric powder and red chilli powder with a little water to make a paste.
- Heat 50mL vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add potato cubes to the pan and fry until they turn golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add paneer cubes to the same oil and fry all sides until golden brown. Strain from the oil and set to the side.
- Temper remaining oil with the bay leaf and dried red chilli. Cook for about 30 seconds and then add chopped tomato and cook for around 2-3 minutes over a low temperature until the smell of tomatoes dissipates.
- Add ginger-cumin paste and turmeric-red chilli paste to pan and mix. Cook for about 2 minutes.
- Add sugar and salt to the mixture and add 2 tablespoons water. Cook until the oil separates from the mixture.
- Add 3 cups of water and coconut milk (optional) to the pan with the fried potatoes and paneer. Mix everything together, cover with a lid and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes.
- Add garam masala and butter to the gravy and mix. Remove from heat and rest for 5-7 minutes before serving with rice and luchi.
Luchi
Makes 4 small luchi
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Warm water as required, about 100mL but may be less/more
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Add flour, vegetable oil and salt in a bowl. Mix with a finger tip until fully combined. Add warm water and knead to make a firm dough.
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth and set aside for 20 minutes.
- Knead again for 3-4 minutes until smooth.
- Heat oil for frying in a small saucepan.
- Divide the dough into small golf-sized balls. Apply a little oil and roll the dough balls into 4-inch circles.
- When the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium and slip the luchi into the oil and gently press until it fluffs up. Flip and fry briefly on the other side. Do not overcook them, they should be very slightly browned. Remove the luchi and place on a plate lined with a paper towel.
- Serve hot.
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