In India this simple to make condiment is called Dhania ki Chuntney or Malliyila Chammanthi. Variations of coriander chutney recipes call for the addition of fresh mint leaves (pudina), coconut and other mixture of spices. In this case, many recipes are simple entitled Hari Chutney or Green Chutney. Outside of Asia, coriander is commonly referred to as cilantro.

Coriander chutney is an easy-to-make classic Indian condiment that should be a must have in your fridge. Served it for breakfast on the side with idli and dosa, or use it to marinate paneer or chicken before grilling. You’ll never grow tired of it’s fresh flavor.

Beginner Coriander Chutney Recipe

Ingredients
1.5 bunches coriander/cilantro chopped
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp toasted cumin powder
1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 inch ginger
juice of 1-2 small lemons

Prepare

Cuisinart: Combine all ingredients and pulse to a thick liquid or desired texture.

Blender: Combine all ingredients starting with just 1/4 amount of coriander. Pulse until the mixture becomes the consistency of a thick liquid. Add another 1/4 portion of coriander and pulse, repeating until all coriander is used.

Green coriander chutney can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week if kept in an airtight container. It can also be frozen but should be done immediately after preparation to keep it’s deep green color and fresh taste.

Intermediate Coriander Chutney Recipe

This coriander chutney recipe combines mint and the sourness of pomegranate seeds for a spicy yet tangy taste.

Ingredients

1 medium red onion, sliced
2 inch ginger, sliced
3 green chili, broken
1 Tbsp pomegranate seeds
1 cup chopped coriander leaves
1/2 cup chopped mint leaves
1 small lime, juiced
salt to taste

Prepare

Cuisinart or blender: Add onion, ginger and pomegranate seeds. Pulse to chunky paste. Add coriander and mint leaves. Pulse until a thick paste, add water as required to soften the mixture.

Place chutney in a serving dish, add lime juice and salt to taste. Mix well and serve.

What is Paneer?

Paneer is a soft, crumbly cheese native to India. It’s versatile mild flavor makes it an ideal ingredient in Indian food recipes, especially gravies. The cheese is made from whole milk, making it high in protein yet also in fat. Paneer is considered to be a fresh hard cheese. It is an unaged, acid-set, non-melting farmer cheese made by curdling heated milk with lemon juice or other food acid.

The cheese is most often compared to cottage cheese or tofu. However, paneer is generally prepared unsalted and without bacteria or animal products so the substitution of cottage cheese is a less desirable option compared to tofu. As with any cheese, it is best avoided by anyone with trouble digesting lactose. People with high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis or those watching their weight should limit their intake of paneer.  It is a terrific protein option for tourists or other travelers of India who wish to avoid meat.

Popular Paneer Dishes

North Indians will swear by their paneer, and there are a thousand recipes from snacks to curries and desserts which are made entirely with paneer as the main ingredient. Tourists of India may also see paneer referred to as panir, channa or chenna, based on regional languages.

When used for cooking in main dishes, the cheese is sliced into flat cubes roughly 1″ by 1′ and mixed into the final product before serving. Paneer also makes a nice shredded garnish topping for briyani rice dishes, omelets, and various other vegetarian dishes.

Popular paneer dishes include:

• Paneer tikka (marinated chunks of paneer placed on skewers and roasted in the tandoor)
• Saag Paneer (made with mustard leaves in India, spinach elsewhere)
• Palak Paneer (made with spinach, closer in flavor and consistency to saag paneer served outside of India)
• Mattar paneer (made with peas)
• Paneer pakora (fried fritter excellent with ketchup or chutney, served as a snack)
• Paneer Parantha (stuffed bread generally served for breakfast)
• Rasgulla (chilled cheese balls served in chilled sugar syrup)

How to Make Paneer (recipe and video)

1. Heat one half gallon (roughly two liters) of whole milk until it is almost boiling.

2.Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and stir the milk with a wooden spoon. The milk should start to curdle, forming a chunky white layer of curds from a thinner watery layer of whey. Add more lemon juice if this does not occur, and stir for several minutes.

3. Line a colander with clean cheesecloth, and pour the curds and whey into the colander. The whey will drain off, leaving the curds behind. Twist the cheesecloth to squeeze additional whey out, and hang it over the sink for half an hour.

4. After the half hour has elapsed, twist the cheesecloth again to compact the cheese and drain more whey away.

5. Hang the paneer for another half an hour, and then take it down and refrigerate it for several hours before use to compact it.

Biryani is derived from the Persian word ‘Birian’. In Farsi, Birian means ‘Fried before Cooking’. Biryani is said to have originated from Persia where it was brought by traders to Afghanistan and from there into North India. And yet other accounts give credit to Arab traders who potentially introduced the dish in the South India city of Calicut. Either way, more than 30 variations now exist throughout India. Each region of the country prepares biryani with a slight twist of spices. Two famously known versions are Awadhi Biryani found in Lucknow and Hyderabadi and/or Arcot Biryani found, where else, in Hyderabad.

For making biryani at home, popular choices of vegetables are cauliflower, carrots, peas, sweet bell peppers, green beans and potatoes. It’s not uncommon to also find dried fruits and fried nuts in some of the tastiest vegetable biryanis. The video below is an ambitious recipe. For those just venturing into Indian cooking you may find Majula’s recipe more comfortable. Don’t forget to serve it with a side of freshly made raita. So good!

“Please teach me Indian cooking! I will bring ingredients and pay you for your trouble. I would like to know about your culture as well.”

And with this posting on Craigslist, so begins Nani Power’s journey to learn traditional Indian cooking in the most ancient of ways — woman to woman. Welcomed warmly into the homes of strangers, Power meets women of all ages and backgrounds, and from them learns the skills that were passed on to them from their own mothers. Power takes the reader into a culture, a cuisine, and the female psyche, with recipes and stories from each chapter revealing the struggle of modern women, both American and of Indian descent, searching for identity and a definition of what it means to be a woman today.

The recipes shared in this collection are far from ordinary; they are treasured family recipes from vegetarian homes in India — from homemade cheese cubes in a rich cilantro and almond curry to coconut-stuffed okra and luscious potato-curry dumplings. Power’s recipes and stories pave the road to understanding a culture that is at the same time ancient and so very much part of our modern world.

Nani Power’s concept is smart and simple. Place an ad on Craigslist for Indians interested in teaching this middle aged, divorced mother of two how to cook proper Indian meals. But right from the beginning, it’s clear the book is struggling for compelling content and the author is grasping at straws to deliver enough storyline to fill a hardcover printing.

The first 19 pages are a jumbled mess of ideas from Ms Power’s long interest in cooking & longing for new foods to relationships, love, Feminism, spices and the Indian God Ganesh. Readers are repeatedly reminded how she is struggling to make ends meet on her writer salary all the while telling herself she is content at being alone (yet speaks about love and relationships incessantly). Add in the simple fact the author has not traveled to India, and it’s hard to keep an unbiased opinion throughout the pages.

The recounting of her shared cooking experiences, the crux of the book, comes off as lightweight fodder. More detail into the lives of each teacher is lacking, a shame given the chance to learn so much more than just a recipe. As a writer, you would think Ms Power would be delving into a laundry list of conversation starters with her hosts, but she backs away stating her concern for Indian etiquette and customs.

Half way into the book an odd love story-arc is introduced. Clearly designed to keep female readers interested, the gist of her love for Indian food has now translated into an interest in Indian men. And as much as the 48 year old Ms Power professes countless times not to be a cougar, her relationship with a 20 something Indian college student appears to be nothing short of a codependent train wreck that both parties can’t walk away from. The retelling of their nights of fighting, yelling, and unending phone calls proves to be as interesting as watching water boil.

Each teacher flits in and out of the author’s life quicker than Uncle Ben’s instant rice is finished. Although she writes as if it is the Indian women who move on or create obstacles to keep up the lessons, Ms Power’s self mentioned past bares some weight in the failing of these relationships.

While a great idea, Ginger and Ganesh would have been better off as a brilliantly written magazine article or Sunday newspaper cover story. Instead, the bloated storyline is distracted with too much talk of not wanting to bring women back into the kitchen even as she admits it would be beneficial to the household on many levels. Oddly lost are her kids who are only briefly mentioned as guinea pigs during her Indian culinary crusade. Ms Power ultimately discovers that life with a young Indian man, however dysfunctional, is better than no relationship. And Ganesh, well he’s just there as a symbol she seeks throughout the cooking lessons as a sign of comfort. It makes for a catchy title.

Ginger and Ganesh is a basket full of crazy which left me feeling sorry for the families who endured their time with the author. Skip this title if for nothing else, the bargain bin 1000 Greatest Indian Recipes found at nearly every corner bookshop.

When traveling India, most of my mornings are started with gobi paranthas for breakfast. Paired with a boiled egg and some chai, my hungry pains are covered until the late morning. Depending on the season or your location, gobi (cauliflower) may not be available and you’ll have to settled for aloo (potato). Parantha is stuffed whole wheat bread, similar to roti, with a spiced gobi or aloo filling. Served with pickled mango or chili peppers to really kick start your mornings, this staple of North Indian food can be found nearly anywhere.

Enjoy the video attached as well as the recipe. Serve this dish over rice with roti for a very filling meal.

Roti is one of those essential items for lunch and dinner along with say, a sliced red onion and chili peppers. It is the traditional flat bread served in millions of homes everyday across India. Baked in a tandoor (clay oven), the simple ingredients cook to a slight crunchy exterior.

Manjula’s Kitchen has a step by step video for making tandoori roti. Similar to naan, it’s great for eating meals without utensils or sopping up a well made masala gravy. If you like a bit of a crunch with your meal, check out Manjula’s recipe for Tandoori Roti.