Spinach at it's Best

Popeye had the right idea. You know it's true. Spinach is not only good for you, it's delicious. Especially when you give it the Indian treatment.

One of my favorite Indian dishes is saag (sah-g). Basically the Indian version of creamed spinach. I order it every single time I go out for Indian food. Nothing is more satisfying than scooping up a mound of saag with naan (nah-n: Indian flatbread). Heaven.

So, I decided it was about time I learned to make this wonderful dish so I could have it any time I wanted. I scoured the internet until I found one that looked like an authentic recipe that included fresh spinach, cream, and traditional Indian spices.

Happily, this recipe brought together two of my favorite things. First, one of my favorite vegetables: spinach. And a lot of it! Second, one of my Top 5 favorite kitchen appliances: the Cuisinart food processor! Works wonders.


 

A 1 lb. container of spinach compliments of Costco.

 

Wonder machine!

 

Lest I go off on a severe tangent in an ode to that God-send of a machine, I will move on and tell you about saag.

It starts will oil and onions and garlic and the spices. You can tell there's turmeric because of the yellow-orange color.

Then comes the main ingredient: spinach. At first there's so much it's like a mountain of spinach that might overcome the pot, but heat and steam eventually get the best of it and it cooks down.
 

After



Before



 Then the magic happens. You take all of the yumminess in the pot and puree it in the processor, making it into a green glob of goodness. And to this goodness you add yogurt and cream.

Now for the big finish. Serve with a piece of your favorite flavor naan. In my case, that is garlic naan. And there you have it: a delicious and nutritious Indian inspired snack.

 आप का खाना स्वादिष्ट हो (Hindi for "Delicious food for you") Ain't it the truth!



I could eat this picture!



So, until next time, enjoy whatever is in your bowl this week!

Time for Thai

For my first official blog post, I decided to document my get together with my friends Tom and Jenn. Tom and I cook together regularly, and Jenn and I are always cooking together or going out to eat. This is one of the few times the three of us got together to cook. It's always a good time.

So, we decided to test our skills and make some Thai food. We all love spicy food and Thai is a great source for some tasty and healthy fire-food. Not to mention I had brought some Thai Red Curry Sauce back from Trader Joe's. Gotta love that store!

Here's how everything looked at the beginning of the night:

We opted to make Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce for an appetizer. So simple and sooooo good. This particular recipe gave me the opportunity to employ one of my favorite kitchen gadgets: a hand-held carrot shredder.

Jenn demonstrates.

 Used like a vegetable peeler, this handy dandy gadget yields beautifully shredded carrots:

Mix up the peanut sauce, chop some more veggies, scramble an egg, and wash some lettuce and you've got lettuce wraps. Yummy!

While we munched on those bad boys, we prepared the main course: Thai red curry. We didn't have an actual recipe for this. We chopped up some garlic, veggies, and chicken and cooked them in a wok with peanut oil.

Tom working his magic!

Once the veggies were done, it was the chicken's turn. The last step was adding the sauce and letting it all simmer into deliciousness.



Can you smell it?

To top it off, we tossed everything with rice noodles and dug in.

It tasted even better than it looked!

As I'm sure you have concluded, it was a very fun, tasty evening. I can't wait to do it again. I think the three of us need to do this more often!

Until next time, bon appetit!

Intro

Hi All!

   So, I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while. Having followed so many of my friends' and family's blogs religiously, I have longed to join in and participate. There was just one problem: I didn't have anything to write about! Well, once school was over, I figured I had better come up with something to fill the time that was once occupied by homework.

   After much thought and deliberation, I decided to dedicate my blog to cooking. I'm always trying new things in the kitchen. It's about time I started documenting and sharing my conquests with the masses. Facebook just wasn't doing me justice!

   So, my goal is to try to cook something new every week. Feel free to share recipes as I will share any that are requested of me.

Let the journey begin!