Until now, I had only eaten Indian food a couple times.  Both times occurred in the ‘eighties at the only Indian restaurant in Albuquerque.  It had been close to a decade but I vividly remembered being fascinated by the restaurant’s tall brass water pitchers, the women adorned with bindis and wearing saris, the dark-skinned men hovering over the tandoor ovens in the kitchen, the ethnic music, and the general elegance the restaurant assumed.  Most importantly though was my fascination with the wafting aromas of the unusual spices used to flavor the dishes.  “Sure.  It’s been a while but I enjoyed it the couple times I ate it.  Is it easy to make at home?”

“Oh sure!  I cook East Indian food almost on a daily basis.”  Jack responded as he dug into his rice and masala dal.

"I want that back!" Jack stated as he handed me: Flavors of India written by Shanta Numbark Sacharoff in 1972.  My excitement was almost palpable.  Literally.  I was feeling a bit palpy, but it was probably from the humidity.

After I returned home, I sat down and devoured this new book from cover to cover my mouth watering the entire time.  Being a vegetarian, I decided that I would master the art of Indian cuisine.  Apart from the dishes steeped in foreign history, it opened a whole new world to me with vegetarian food.  Over the next week I repeatedly attempted my hand at the same Masala Dal I had seen Jack eating.  The first attempt was okay – a little watery and the spices weren’t as pungent as I hoped.  The second attempt was better.  The dish was still a little watery but it was much more robust than that of the day before.  Before the end of that first week, I had bought, Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking by Julie Sahni which I also tore through.  By the fifth day I started making Masala dal from the first cookbook using the skills and techniques suggested in the second.  The attempt was a success.   I felt that the door to this mysterious cuisine was thrown wide open. I immediately began experimenting with numerous recipes.  I even started using vegetables I loathed, like eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, and okra.  I started creating my own curry powders and gave them as gifts that following Christmas.  My kitchen was steeped in the powerful and pungent aromas of toasted cumin, cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, clove, peppercorn, drying turmeric, and asafetida.  As the months progressed, I worked myself into a lather as I continued to create and gain a better understanding about these delicious recipes, all the while enjoying the fruits of my success.

Eventually, it was time for me to share my newfound passion, thus the first of my many Indian feasts was to take place.  Living in Grandma Georgie’s house now for over a year and still yet to host a dinner party, I knew it was time to fix this horrendous lack of hospitality.  Granted, within the first week of living in Grandma Georgie’s house, I had set the dining room table so that the ghosts of the past could enjoy the comforts of home.  Though those specters were comforted, I needed to create a feast for the living.  I ended up inviting a number of coworkers from books-a-bazillion and their domestic partners over for an evening filled with culinary delectations of the Indian persuasion; all of which were prepared by yours truly.

My guests’ plates overflowed with the bounties of my kitchen and I felt a sublime sense of accomplishment with the dinner party when belts were loosened, top buttons were unbuttoned, cigarettes and joints were passed around the table and everyone eventually ended up lying on the large area rug in the living room unable to move and exquisitely stuffed.

For that first feast, some of the dishes I prepared were a dry sautéed spinach with garlic and brown mustard seed, an anise infused mushroom and tomato dish, masala dal, curried cauliflower and potato, chana dal, stuffed and pan-fried okra, curried spinach with cheese, nan, parotha, and four or five different types of chutney.

Years later, while working at The Hopvine, I decided to introduce my Indian successes to the customers.  I started with the Masala Dal (page xx), then the Chana Dal (page xx), onto the Curried Cauliflower and Potato (page xx), which lead to the Curried Cauliflower and Cashew (page xx) and eventually ended up with my soup version of Saag Panir.  Spicy, velvety, pungent, rich and decadent, this soup could be mild or fiery hot.  By this time, I found I started gaining the attention of a few of The Hopvine regulars with my soups. This one was to be no exception.  It became an instant hit with The Hopvine’s customers and employees in the colder late winter and early spring months.

I would like to offer you a couple suggestions before you decide to create this soup.  If you don’t want to go through the ordeal of making your own panir, or you are not close to an Indian grocer who sells panir, firm tofu will suffice.  If you have made this dish a couple times and decide that you want to add a little oomph to the simple flavor of the panir, you can infuse the milk with cracked cardamom pods, whole clove buds, a cinnamon stick, whole peppercorns, saffron, anise seed or a combination of the above.  To make a smoother soup, I suggest freezing the spinach, and then crumbling it before adding it to the pot.  If you don’t do this before you add the spinach, you might find the soup to be a bit stringy as it will be difficult for your food processor or blender to make a smooth purée.  If you want to be all rustic in your soup, just remove the thicker stems and give the spinach a rough chop before adding it to the pot.  As with all of my soups, you may adjust or omit the peppers depending on your personal preference with heat.

3 HOURS (OVERNIGHT) PREP TIME • YIELDS TEN 1-CUP SERVINGS

Cheese

6 cups whole milk
1⁄4 cup lemon juice
cheesecloth
1⁄2 cup oil (peanut, coconut, or vegetable, not olive oil) or ghee
Flour, for dredging

Soup

2 tablespoons oil (peanut, vegetable, or coconut) or ghee
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 yellow onion, diced
Indian sea salt
1-inch piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 to 3 jalapeño, serrano, or Thai peppers, seeded and minced (optional)
2 tablespoons garam masala (recipe follows)
1⁄2 cup rice, toasted and ground
4 cups whey, saved from cheese-making process, or, if using tofu, water
21⁄2 pounds fresh spinach
14-ounce can coconut milk
2 red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded, veins removed, and chopped
Fried cheese cubes or fried tofu cubes
2 tablespoons lemon juice
GARAM MASALA (this will make more curry powder than you will need for this recipe)
2 cinnamon sticks, broken
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
2 teaspoons cloves
2 tablespoon cardamom pods

1. To make the cheese, pour the milk into a deep two-quart pot and place on your stove range. Turn the heat to medium-high and leave the pot uncovered. While waiting for the milk to reach a boil (about 30 minutes), place three layers of cheesecloth in a wire-mesh strainer and tape the cheesecloth around the edges so the hot cheese cannot pull it away from the mesh. Place the strainer over a storage container to save the liquid (whey) for the stock of the soup.
2. When the milk begins to boil, add the lemon juice and stir. In a few seconds the milk should begin to separate. The color will change from opaque white to a cloudy greenish-yellowish color. You should begin to find clumps of thick white stuff floating around in the pot. This is good! Take the pot off the burner and slowly pour the liquid through the cheesecloth-lined strainer. Once the soup pot is drained of liquid, wash it. Allow the whey to drip through the mesh until most of it has dripped. Pull the cheesecloth up around the cheese. Keep the strainer over the storage container. Carefully squeeze the cheesecloth-wrapped curds to get the rest of the water out. This will be very hot! Keep a bowl of ice water nearby. When you feel your fingers getting burned, cool them for a few minutes. Continue squeezing the curds until you have removed most of the excess water.
3. Place a large heavy, flat object on top of the cheesecloth-wrapped cheese and let it sit for at least 6 hours, overnight if possible. If you have room in your refrigerator, place the cheese with its weight there to cool down. (I like to turn a pie tin upside down, place the cheesecloth-wrapped cheese on top of it, place another pie tin right-side-up on top of it, and then place the weight in the top pie tin.)
4. When the cheese is very firm remove it from the pie tins. Pull off the cheesecloth and discard.
5. Heat the oil in a small pot until hot enough for frying. Cut the cheese into 1⁄2-inch cubes. Dredge the cubes in flour so they will not stick together. In batches, carefully place the cubes in the oil and fry until golden brown. Remove from the oil and place on a paper towel to soak up any excess grease. Set aside.
6. To make the garam masala, place a heavy-bottomed or cast iron skillet over high heat. Once hot, add the broken cinnamon sticks. Toast for a couple minutes or until a few shades darker and remove. Repeat this step with the cumin, coriander, black peppercorns, cloves, and cardamom pods.  As each of these spices will toast at different rates, I implore you to prepare each spice individually. Once all the spices are toasted, grind them together in a coffee mill or spice mill to a fine powder. Keep sealed in an opaque jar in a dark, cool area until ready to use.
7. To make the soup, heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the garlic and sauté until golden. Add the onion and stir well. Add 1 tablespoon salt and stir again. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Add the ginger and the peppers and mix well. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes.
8. Add the garam masala and ground rice and mix well. Add 1 cup of the reserved whey or water. Mix well, cover, and let cook for 10 minutes.
9. Add the spinach in four batches. After each batch stir to mix well, cover, and let the spinach reduce.
10. Once the spinach has decreased in size, add 3 more cups of whey and stir well. Cover and let reach a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and let simmer for 20 minutes.
11. Purée the soup in batches. Press through a strainer into a storage container. Discard any lumps left in the strainer.
12. Wash out the soup pot. Place the soup back in the pot. Add the coconut milk, red bell peppers, and fried cheese. Place back on the stove, cover, and let simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes.
13. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Serve immediately.