Another Day for Savory?

Yesterday was rather a busy day in various respects, so I didn't get to making a curry dish or a stir fry like I had planned. However, I stopped by one of my favorite Indian eateries in Marina del Rey.

The place is called Shershah. The owner is extremely nice and I've been going there for years. He recognizes me each time I come in and I love his hospitality. Tonight I ordered some of my usual. He knows that I am a fan of their chicken tikka masala. So I ordered that and a serving of their chicken korma. Of course, basmati rice was part of the complete purchase. I asked for extra of their mint sauce. It's the tastiest sauce and I eat it with the curry and rice dishes, as well as any of their naan breads, among many of their other dishes. The last item I purchased with the total order was stuffed paratha with paneer. The stuffed paratha can be filled with a choice of potatoes, onions or panner (cheese).

Paneer is an Indian or Desi cheese similar to farmer cheese. It's texture can be compared to firm tofu and sometimes it is chopped into cubes. Other times it might be crumbly. I've had paneer in many Indian spinach-based curries (usually recognized by the word saag or palak in the dish's name), but I prefer it in or with naan breads.

I'm not sure what Shershah makes their mint sauce with other mint, obviously. I've never asked outright , but from the taste, I gather that there's definitely a hint of vinegar in there, some lemon juice and a little salt. Additionally, I think there's certainly some cilantro and garlic but the condiment is mostly mint in flavor - tangy, potent, delicious and slightly spicy (probably from chili powder). It's super yummy and I always get tons of it when I go into any Indian restaurant.

I have a good amount of the food left over from tonight. So lunch is taken care of.

I did manage to make some dough for some more cookies. I felt like I wanted to experiment further with a new chocolate cookie recipe. In these cookies, I added (since I have tons of it) Nutella, rum liquor, valrhona cocoa powder, and a chocolate ganache I made from valrhona dark chocolate fèves and heavy cream. The chocolate cookies will have a milk chocolate center so that when people take a bite, they get a mouthful of gooey and rich chocolate cookie core.

I'll post pictures of these later after they are baked. The dough is still chilling in the fridge. Tomorrow, I will do savory. LOL. I promised it, so I shall do it. Stay tuned...

BTW, how can I forget about Shirley O. Corriher? She's the author of the books BakeWise and CookWise. She's a baker, cook, and food scientist with a biochemistry degree (*yay*) who teaches about the how's and why's of cooking - basically the science behind cooking and the use/function/role of many ingredients in recipes.

I have to put her books on my reading list, especially BakeWise.