Paneer curry hot pot and blackberry picking

I had quite a productive weekend. I was very excited when I discovered ripe blackberries! There are lots still to come and it is in the sunny spots that they are ripe. We picked a big bowl of gorgeous blackberries. On the way home we checked on the apples, almost ripe and some pears, not quite ripe yet, sloes and rosehip are also some time away yet.
We picked a nice big bowl of ripe blackberries, the majority went to liqueur. I still have some from last year and I love the fact that the liqueur never goes off but only gets better the longer you keep it! With the remaining blackberries I did a blackberry syrup for desserts to come.
I had an order for curry last week. It didn’t come with any other particular requests and I spent some time thinking about it. Last Friday I felt like heading to my local curry house, I came home too late to cook and I was too hungry so I went to Minar. Dinner was a curry as I really wanted some of their great Mattar paneer! I also got a cauliflower bahji extra, delicious.
Inspired by the cauliflower bahji we picked the last cauliflower at the allotment and I did a mild veg curry. I wanted the veg to really shine and only added some background spices that I thought would highlight the flavours. I cooked it like hot pot in the oven and just finished it off on the cooker.
Veg Hot Pot Curry
Oven on 160C
Add a little oil to an oven proof pan
Spices:
Turmeric
Mustard seeds
Cayenne pepper
Smoked paprika powder
Black pepper, cracked
Coriander seeds, cracked
Green pepper, cracked
For veg I used
Celery, chopped
Carrot, chopped
Garlic, chopped
Cauliflower, broken up in to florets
1 can pomodori tomatoes
The curry mixed with the spices before cooking in the oven.
When the veg is slightly browned add the canned tomatoes, stir and make sure you get all the bits in the bottom. Once mixed add to the oven for one hour. When it is cooked take it out, taste to see if anything else is needed. Cube paneer cheese, add to the pot and gently cook for another 30 minutes,
I made quite a big batch of the glaze so I took the rest and decided to make a pre-meal drink with the blackberry syrup, vodka and sparkly elderflower presse. It worked really well together. Next time I might try it with champagne.
so easy and full of flavours, by coincidence last night I cooked Indian too. The initial menu was paneer palek, but I could not find paneer. Where do you buy it? I love the blackberries and vodka. My last blackberries are now a fresh jam. RITA aka RITACOOKSITALIAN
hi Rita
I love to experiment with cooking curry but do realize what a novice I am! I buy the paneer in Sainsburys! It is brilliant and goes with so much! I love the flavor and the texture.
I’ve found exactly that too; know where the sunny spots are and you’ll find some wonderful blackberries. Your curry sounds great too.
YUM!!