milkballs

rollum made us an incredibly delicious (but highly involved) meal last night: milkballs!  (that's what his dad called it; it's essentially fried, homemade indian cheese balls (paneer) with peas and tomatoes). the whole process took about 2 1/2 hours.  first step: homemade ghee (clarified butter).  you melt butter and skim the inpurities off the top.  in the meantime, bring a gallon of milk to a slow boil. after it boils, add the juice of two lemons.  then curds form.  (i missed the next part - i went to the store to get some cilantro).  for the "sauce" - rollum used a variety of spices (probably about 10 different ones), canned whole tomatoes, and peas.  when i got back from the store, he had the milk curds in a cheesecloth and we formed little balls out of the cheese.  this part's hard because the little buggers don't really want to stay together, but you have to pack the curds in kinda tight.  then he fried the balls in the ghee and transferred them over to the sauce.  i think he also added some of the whey to tomato juice (and maybe some ghee) to make the sauce more liquid-y.

THEN he decided he wanted to try his hand making poories for the first time - ghee solids, water, and whole wheat flour.  we rolled the dough out and then fried it in the ghee. they're supposed to poof out, and while they weren't as good as the indian restaurants, we did a pretty awesome job.  2 1/2 hours later...dinner time.  i literally said "mmmmm!" after every bite.  cheers to my awesome husband for making an awesome, authentic indian meal.  he is quite the cook now...he's been making different thai-ish stir fries with veggies, tofu and rice noodles.

  (LOOKS SEVEN YEARS OLD BECAUSE OF THE SHIRT AND SMILE)

in other news, i did a supported headstand for the first time in yoga tonight!  (shoulders rest on 2 chairs with my head inbetween 'em, go into downward dog and kick up, lay the legs against the wall).  in the past, i was always too afraid to just let myself go for this pose and to be upside down.  i had to close my eyes when i was inverted because it freaked me out. 

with all this talk of paneer, poori and yoga, i hereby declare this to be my hindu post.