My friend Jagriti and I decided to make paneer tikka masala the other day. Paneer is an Indian cottage cheese-like type of protein. Jagriti and I have cooked together since freshman year, but we’ve never made Indian food up till now, in part because it can be a very involved process but also because I’m fonder of cooking than Jagriti is and all I know is what my mom makes, which is mostly Taiwanese food.

Ingredients: paneer, butter, jalapeno peppers, bell pepper, onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, ground coriander, pepper, garam masala, yogurt, tomato sauce, salt.

Step 0 was obtaining all of the spices:

The first step was cutting up the vegetables into small slices:

And dicing the garlic and mincing the ginger:

Then we sauteed the paneer in butter until it was golden brown:

And added in the vegetables:

Then came the tomato sauce and yogurt:

As it simmered down, we warmed up our substitute naan, flour tortillas, with a bit of butter:

The jalapenos were spicier than we had expected. No fear, Jagriti mixed some brown sugar and yogurt for the cooling effect:

Very proud that my freshman year roomie and I finally got around to making some version of her type of homestyle comfort food after 4 years!

What I would do differently for next time: go easier on the jalapenos before tasting how spicy they are, mix milk and yogurt to replace cream since pure yogurt seems a little thick.

Till next time!
Anita