"This is the best stew you have ever made" was the comment I got from my daughter when I made this dish. Lebanese stews are not vegetarian but as with a lot of non-vegetarian dishes with gravies it is fairly easy to replace the non-vegetarian ingredients with vegetarian ones and get a flavorful dish. I did just that with this stew. I used paneer and made it vegetarian. I also adjusted the cooking times for the paneer that cooks a lot faster than any non-vegetarian ingredient.
The spice blend makes this dish. I made a scant tablespoon of the spice mixture called Lebanese 7-spice. A little goes a long way. I had some of the spices in powder form and the other whole. I put them all together and pounded them to a powder with my mortal/pestle. I got the ingredients for this spice blend here. The aroma of these spices together was amazing. I used equal quantities of black pepper, coriander seeds, allspice, dried ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Try it, you will have your family gliding into the kitchen following the aroma.
You will need
1 tbsp. oil
7 oz. paneer, cut into cubes
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
a handful cilantro, diced
1 1/2 tsp. Lebanese 7-spice (recipe in text above)
1 tsp. paprika or cayenne powder (optional)
1 large potato, boiled and cubed
1/2 to 1 cup warm water
2 tsp. tomato paste
salt to taste
Heat oil in a pan and brown paneer cubes in it. Flip the cubes over when brown until well done. The oil will get sticky with residue that will be collected later. Add the onion and the cilantro.
Saute until the onion is translucent. Add the spice and paprika if you are using it. Mix well until the aroma of the spices fills the kitchen, about a minute.
Add the potatoes and the warm water. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat and allow it to simmer and thicken.
Add the tomato paste and salt to taste. Let it cook until you are happy with the gravy consistency.
Turn off the heat.
Enjoy!
This is my entry for week 39 of the 2014 52 week challenge for the theme stew.
1 tbsp. oil
7 oz. paneer, cut into cubes
1/4 cup onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
a handful cilantro, diced
1 1/2 tsp. Lebanese 7-spice (recipe in text above)
1 tsp. paprika or cayenne powder (optional)
1 large potato, boiled and cubed
1/2 to 1 cup warm water
2 tsp. tomato paste
salt to taste
Heat oil in a pan and brown paneer cubes in it. Flip the cubes over when brown until well done. The oil will get sticky with residue that will be collected later. Add the onion and the cilantro.
Saute until the onion is translucent. Add the spice and paprika if you are using it. Mix well until the aroma of the spices fills the kitchen, about a minute.
Add the potatoes and the warm water. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat and allow it to simmer and thicken.
Add the tomato paste and salt to taste. Let it cook until you are happy with the gravy consistency.
Turn off the heat.
Enjoy!
This is my entry for week 39 of the 2014 52 week challenge for the theme stew.
i can understand why she said so..the color is so rich and the sauce looks creamy and delicious. beautiful curry
ReplyDeleteAs you rightly said, most of the non-veg recipes can be easily made into veg and paneer is a nice substitute for meats.
ReplyDeleteSpice powder sounds so flavorful and the stew looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful color..the paneer looks amazing in that red sauce.
ReplyDeletespices must have made all the difference in this stew
ReplyDelete