SPINACH AND CHEESE CURRY

Indian vegetarian spinach and cheese curry

This is a dish I learned from an Indian lady, at a cooking class. It's simple to make and has a beautifully subtle flavor. As per true curries, it uses raw spices instead of some prepackaged curry powder.

Ingredients

(Serves 4 to 6)

700 g fresh spinach
250 g fresh ricotta cheese (see note)
3 medium brown onions
4 cm fresh ginger, chopped fine
1 medium tomato
7.5 ml cummin seeds
2.5 ml turmeric
2.5 ml red chile powder (cayenne) (or more to taste)
2 cloves
0.5 ml nutmeg
0.5 ml mace
15 ml ghee (or use melted butter or oil)
salt (to taste)

Procedure

Cook the spinach and chop it up.
Cut the cheese into 2-cm cubes and deep fry a few pieces at a time in oil (a wok is good for this).
Fry the chopped onions in the ghee. When almost brown, add the finely-chopped ginger. Use a medium to high heat.
When the onions are golden, reduce the heat and add the skinned and chopped tomato, then the spices and salt.
Cover for a few minutes, then add the spinach and salt.
Cover and simmer about 5 minutes to let spices penetrate.
Add the cheese pieces, mix, and serve.

Notes

We eat this dish as a meal with rice, although you can use it as one dish along with others.

The quantities given for the spinach and cheese are very flexible. I never weigh them, just putting in what seems right. Experiment. Similarly, it can be kept hot for a while with no loss in taste or texture.

In North America, most Ricotta cheese is packed as a pot cheese. This recipe calls for a more solid form of the cheese. Specialty ethnic markets in large cities will carry solid Ricotta. You can make your own by buying a tub of pot Ricotta and wrapping it in a clean cloth to wick the moisture out, leaving the whole assembly in the refrigerator for a week or so, and changing the cloth every day. With such treatment the cheese will gradually solidify enough that you can slice and fry it. Buffalo-milk Mozzarella is a fair substitute, and ordinary Mozzarella is a last-chance substitute.

Don't fry the cheese too long. It should have a golden exterior and have a marshmallow texture inside. Frying too long makes it hard and dry.

Use whole cummin seeds and cloves, not the ground variety.

Like most curries, this reheats splendidly.

Rating

Difficulty: easy to moderate.
Time: 1 hour.
Precision: Approximate measurement OK.

Contributor

 
Peter C. Maxwell, 
Department of Computer Science, 
University of New South Wales, 
Sydney, AUSTRALIA. 
 
peterm%cadvax.oz@seismo.css.gov

Recipe last modified: 16 Jun 86

Original header

Path: decwrl!recipes
From: peterm@cadvax.oz (Peter C. Maxwell)
Newsgroups: mod.recipes
Subject: RECIPE: Spinach and cheese curry
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Date: 10 Oct 86 07:38:05 GMT
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