Cabbage soup with panir

Yum! This is a complete “Indian meal” in soup form, minus the gulab jamin.

Yesterday evening I made panir, a delicious fresh cheese. This soup may also be good with crumbled tofu*, but the flavor of panir is wonderful. Here is a sure-fire method, taught to me by a friend, which has never failed me: Bring to a boil two glasses (approx. 16 ounces) of organic milk, plus about half a glass of water to prevent the milk from scorching. Use medium heat, and stir pretty much constantly. (In other words, don’t leave the room....) When the milk comes to a roiling boil — and while still boiling — add about 2 Tablespoons of lime juice (Lakewood organic, pure lime juice.) Curds will form immediately, separating from the whey. If the liquid still looks milky, add a little more lime juice. Continue to boil for a few minutes (longer makes firmer panir). Pour through a sieve. (Keep the whey if you want to use it for soup etc. It’s very nutritious.) Fresh panir can be refrigerated but best used by the next day.

Soup starts with 1/2 cup of red lentils, and a heaping 1/3 cup mix of brown basmati rice and millet. Rinse well and bring to a boil in 1/5 quarts of water. Transfer to the crockpot on high heat.

One hour later or so, heat 2-3 Tablespoons of oil. I used sesame oil this time, but ghee or sunflower would be good too. Use medium/low heat and make sure the oil doesn’t start to smoke. If it does, like mine did this morning, start over. (Oils have different smoking temperatures, at which point they become carcinogenic and distasteful. Mustard seed oil is the exception—apparently it becomes tasty, though I've never tried it.)

To the heated oil add 1/2 teaspoon of brown mustard seeds. Sautée finely chopped ginger (1 inch, peeled) and leek or onion (1-2 inches, depending on your onion-preference) until fragrant. Add a heaping Tablespoon of curry powder mix or Vata Churna (from MAPI.com), and a hearty dash of hing. Add some tomato paste and/or several tomatoes—peeled is best—and a little water from the crockpot soup base. Simmer on low for a minute or two.

Add a couple of carrots and half a head of green cabbage, all finely chopped. Add 1 teaspoon of mineral salt, and mix well into the veggies. Add half a can of cooked garbonzo beans and crumble the panir into the mix.

By this time the veggies will be tender/crisp and it’s time to transfer it all to the crockpot. A little squeeze of lemon and a small handful of fresh cilantro... mmmmmm! Mix well, ladle ‘er up and away you go (remembering to turn the crockpot to "warm"...)

* If you opt for tofu, I highly recommend organic if you want to avoid genetically engineered soybeans...