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"For the girl, I make special sauce." The wok boy's promise was my first tip that this was going to be no ordinary egg foo yung, but then, I knew the dame was a sucker for special sauces, if you know what I mean.

Recommended Eateries in Kuala Lumpur Chinese Restaurants Upmarket 1) Dynasty at the Renaissance / New World Hotel on the junction of Jalan Ampang and Jalan Sultan Ismail 2) Golden Phoenix at the Equatorial Hotel, KL on Jalan Sultan Ismail (Food at th Dynasty and Golden Phoenix is good but service can be a bit poor at times. The food at all the Equatorial dining outlets are generally quite good.) 3) Xin at the Concorde (what was previously the Merlin Hotel) on Jalan Sultan Ismail 4) Li Yen the Ritz-Carlton on Jalan Imbi It seems that the chef who was there when the restaurant won its awards is no longer there so am not sure what the food is like now 5) Lai Cheng Yuen at the Regent on Jalan Bukit Bintang 6) Ming Palace at the Corus Hotel (previously known as Ming Court) on Jalan Ampang - halal 7) Shanghai at The Marriot on Jalan Bukit Bintang - expensive Mid-Range 1) Tai Thong on Jalan Barat, off Jalan Imbi (Tai Thong and Overseas are a chain of Chinese restaurants scattered all over the Klang Valley - I like the original outlets at Jalan Barat (off Jalan Imbi) and Jalan Imbi best) 2) Overseas on Jalan Imbi 3) Hakka Restaurant on Jalan Kia Peng 4) Marco Polo at Wisma Lim Foo Yong on Jalan Raja Chulan - generally good but didn't quite like a couple dishes when I went there last 5) Classic Restaurant on Jalan Pudu Lama (next to the Tong Shin Hospital, opposite the Puduraya bus terminal) - have always liked the food here but haven't been since they refurbished it 6) Magic Wok in Damansara Jaya - this is in one of the suburbs in Petaling Jaya 7) Ho Poh Village - Hakka food - the address in the FriedChillies site is not current - the new address is 30 Jalan Sri Hartamas 8 Taman Sri Hartamas Tel: 6203 1400 This is also in the suburbs, mid-way between KL and PJ. The Lui Cha Fan featured in the FriedChillies review is a specialty. However the taste gets some getting used too. I prefer the other Hakka specialties like "Mui Choy Kau Yook" (Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables), "Woo Tau Kau Yook" (Pork with Yam). 8) Greenview - this is also in the suburbs in Petaling Jaya. Famed for it's crabs and "Sang Har Meen" (deep-fried crunchy noodles with freshwater prawns in an eggy sauce). I also like the "Fatt Pud" (yam basket) there. It was one of the restaurants featured in John Krich's list of places to eat in KL featured in The Asian Wall Street Journal last Nov: 9) Fatty Crab at 2 Jalan SS24/13, Taman Megah, 47301 Petaling Jaya. They have a very limited menu (pei tan/ century eggs with slices of preserved ginger, grilled chicken wings, crabs done two ways - in either a sweet and sour sauce with slices of toast to dip into the sauce or steamed with egg white and a dash of Chinese rice wine, steamed prawns, steamed fish and fried rice) but there are queues waiting for a table here on weekends. 9) Purple Cane Restaurant at the Chinese Assembly Hall Quite interesting as everything is cooked with tea / tea leaves in it. Cheap / Hawker Chinese places next!

Shoestring Fries 2 lb russet potatoes -Peanut oil for frying -Kosher salt 1. Peel the potatoes, but don't bother to peel the ends fastidiously. Cut them into matchsticks using a mandoline fitted with the fine julienne blade. Somewhere around 1/8-inch is good. 2. Put the potato sticks into a bowl of cold water, place the bowl in the refrigerator, and soak for an hour or two. 3. Drain the potatoes and dry carefully. Pour about 3 inches of oil into a saucepan or wok. Heat to 375 F. Add a handful of potatoes, but don't crowd the pan. There should be room to stir the potatoes. 4. Cook until well browned, about 3-4 minutes. Remove with a bamboo skimmer, drain on paper towels, sprinkle with salt, and serve immediately Keywords: Side, Potatoes, The Daily Gullet ( RG550 )

Your wok will not be totally seasoned top-to-bottom until you have used it several times. A wok needs several applications of very high heat to acquire a real patina. Once you have it continue cleaning it with a stainless steel pad. Never use soap and put it back on the burner for a minute or so to complete the drying. I like to rub my woks with a paper towel dipped in oil before storing them. Interestingly enough Cook's Illustrated, in its latest issue, recommends a grill brush with stainless steel pads for barbecue grills (the Grill Wizard). When I ordered this brush its inventor recommended cleaning a very dirty cast iron grill with a pumice before using the brush. I have not tried this yet, but if it works well with cast iron it should do the same for a steel wok.

PLEASE Scroll up higher in the thread to my previous post. It gives very clear directions. Basically put a little oil in the pan, get it smoking hot, wash it out with water (no soap) using a copper or SS pad to scrub the interior surface clean. Put the wok over heat to dry it and wipe it clean with a towel. Repeat 4 or 5 times when new, then continue to clean the wok in this fashion after cooking in it.

FuManChu, the best Chinese food I've ever had in China has *rarely* been prepared by cooks who've had culinary training. Some of (in my opinion) China's best food is, in fact, "peasant" food ... and you'll eat some truly tasty dishes in all but the very poorest areas. The rural migrant (yes, peasant) who manned the wok at a Chengdu restaurant I frequented years ago would be hailed as a purveyor of true Chinese cuisine if he went to San Francisco and served up the same delicious fare that he was serving back then in his humble restaurant-that-looks-like-a-garage. I think the reasons for the sorry state of "Chinese" restaurant food in the US have more to do with dumbing it down for the American palate (or what the restaurant owners believe the American palate to be) than with the lack of proper culinary training in the kitchen. Case in point: I have had sweet and sour pork in Guangzhou. It was heavenly, and nothing at all like the version of this dish I had had before in the States (how did it get transformed into the overbreaded, heavy, sticky sweet concoction known to those of us unfortunate to have experienced it firsthand?). And quite often the same cooks who turn out the gloppy oversauced dishes served in the US are able to prepare a wonderful Chinese dish if you can get the point across to the waiter that you want the real deal. Of course, culinary training can take classic Chinese dishes to new levels (I'm thinking particularly of Cantonese food) .... and some very complex dishes will not be prepared well by someone without the knowledge to do it. But quite a lot of Chinese food is simple food (the ingredients must be fine) that doesn't require a year or two at a culinary school to master. I just think lack of sophistication in the kitchen has very little to do with the trouble I encounter finding decent Chinese food in the States. The problem is the *assumed* "lowest common denominator" that determines what the food coming out of those kitchens tastes like.

I recently bought a new wok from the wokshop. I followed the directions using the stove method and then the oven method, but they are not very clear. So I looked up seasoning carbon steel woks, and this is what I found. Does this sound correct? When I initially heated up the wok and saw the bottom turn from silver to purple/black/rainbow I was concerned. But if the following method is correct then I was on the right track. Any thoughts? Seasoning: To season a new carbon spun-steel wok or to re-season an old rusty wok, thoroughly scrub it inside and out with soap and a steel wool scouring pad to remove the manufacturer's protective coating on a new wok, or the rust on an old one. Rinse thoroughly with hot water. Some manufacturers apply a coating that is hard to remove, so set the wok on the stove, fill it with water and boil it for several minutes until the coating dissolves. Pour out the water and scrub the surface clean with steel wool and soap. Set the clean wok over high heat. Heat until a few drops of water sprinkled into the wok immediately turn into dancing beads. While the pan is heating, it will change from shiny steel gray to blue, purple, red and, finally, black. Dip several sheets of wadded-up paper towel into peanut or corn oil and wipe the oil on the entire inside surface of the wok (you may want to use long-handled tongs to hold the towels). Reduce heat to low and let the wok sit over the heat for 15 minutes to absorb the oil - the color changes will continue and, hopefully, the bottom of the wok will darken. In time and with frequent use the entire wok will turn black. if the surface looks dry, wipe with another thin film of oil. Remove wok from the burner and let it cool. Reheat the wok and repeat the oiling and heating process once more before using it for stir-frying.

Is that really true? Most of the things I think of as "American Chinese Food" most Cantonese I know wouldn't acknowledge them as Cantonese, inferior or not, and I don't see at the Cantonese restaurants I frequent. What dishes are you thinking of? When I think about American Chinese food I think about chop suey, beef with western broccoli, orange beef, general tso's whatever, sweet and sour pork that is breaded and deep fried and served with bright red sauce and pineapple, deep fried eggrolls with indistinguishable middles and really dark brown horrible versions of fried rice. Basically stuff people buy at those mall "Chinese" fast food places. Do you consider these Cantonese? Some of the stuff that I read about from people in the eastern US I've never run across (shrimp with lobster sauce???) so maybe "American Chinese Food" has a regional element as well. regards, trillium I think it's just a case of the guise of bastardization that some would euphemise as "fusion" food. Albeit done without the sophistication that most restauranteurs command in higher class culinary establishments. As to American Chinese food, my opinion is that it is a melange of food brought to America's shores via the then unsophisticated Chinese peasantry...people who fled under repressed and starved situations (perhaps during General Tso's time). A phenomenon you will find in many "Chinese" restaurants that are not located near places with higher concentrations of ethnic Chinese, is that these "chinese" restaurants may not even be operated by owners who are trained culinarily. Perhaps construction worker by day, chinese delivery by night. For a lack of a better way to make a buck, any asian looking person could hitch a tent and toss a wok with the same dexterity of a shovel. However, as most of the American public began to assume this type of unrefined cooking as "chinese", it eventually became a product demanded by the marketplace. In my opinion, the best Chinese cuisine can be found in large cities such as NYC, and cities in California. With a more recent wave of immigration sparked by the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre thru 1997 with the "handing over" of Hong Kong to its communist motherland, it's in my opinion that chinese food in the US and Canada especially has become much more sophisticated as this time professionals (in particular CHEFs) and those with means (not peasants) emmigrated. An increase in well-to-do Chinese overseas created a demand for more refined tastes and a new array of more refined chinese restaurants filled this niche market. In the UK, I have noticed that chinese food hasn't come under as large a degree of bastardization as it has in the US. Things don't seem to retain the authentic zest of ethnicity when crossing either the Atlantic or the Pacific.

I thought the watershed moment was when Masta Flay was asked if he was thinking about jumping up on the cutting board after the match. He responded with his typically dorky, "I might" or some paraphrase thereof. What a disrespectful dribble dick. But, hey, he won the battle and kept his cool when he was being "sabotaged" by the wok eye. I'll give him that. But blue corn crusted lobster? Shut the fuck up.

In Thailand fried rice, soup noodles, and fried noodles like guaytiaow laad naa (stir-fried rice noodles with meat and Chinese broccoli "gravy"), phad kee maow (with basil, chile, and meat or seafood), and phad siiew (with soy sauce, Chinese broccoli, and meat or seafood) are always served with a set of condiments so that diners can spice it up to their liking at the table. Chopped chili peppers floating in fish sauce (nam plaa), the same floating in white vinegar (phrik namsom), ground dried roasted red chiles (phrik daeng), and sugar (namtaan) comprise the condiment foursome that grace the tables of casual eateries in Thailand (some places will also have a shaker of white pepper at the table --- meant primarily for the laad naa --- but most wok jockeys will sprinkle the white pepper over before it's served to the diner). Fried rice is served with a section of lime on the side for squeezing over, as well as the above booster elements. I just *love* the way a whole lot of white vinegar plays off the sweet, dark soy-soaked wide rice noodles and smoky chicken pieces in a phad siiew gai (chicken), and the extra layer of heat that the dried chili lends to a khee maow that's already lip-numbingly spicy from the fried fresh chilis peaking out from amongst wilted Chinese broccoli leaves and stems and, if you're lucky, a few fresh baby corn cobs. And I like to pile *everything* (though not in equal proportions ... I'm partial to alot of vinegar in this one too) on a plate of laad naa for an addictive, comforting, soupy mess. Slurp slurp. I've always been hard-pressed to choose a fried rice over a fried rice noodle, but when I do I'm more likely to stick to the chili and fish sauce combo and pass over the vinegar -- I'll ask for an extra slice of lime instead. So my main advice to you is, before you cook up your next batch of Thai fried rice (which, by the way, should be dry in texture ... and do go very light on the fish sauce during the cooking) or venture on to noodles (and do venture ---- IMO there is just NOTHING like a plate of well-fried Thai noodles!), prepare the foursome and then experiment to find what combo of sweet/sour/salty/hot most speaks to you. I have made excellent versions of the above noodles (and many other dishes) from Khomalmal's Thai Kitchen (possibly out of print?). The fried rice comes out a little wet so cut back on liquids. As for peanut satay ... where in Thailand is this served? I never came across a peanut sauce in Bangkok ---- there muu yang (grilled pork) on a stick is served with a reddish chili-tomato-onion-and other sundries dipping sauce (namjim). It's a thin, non-uniform sauce ... smoky tasting, often sweet from caramelized onions or shallots, spicy. Just addictive, I'll just skip the BBQ pork and eat it straight with sticky rice for dipping. I've more often seen the peanut-sauced satay offered in Thai restaurants in the US, in Malaysia (although I think the stuff in the States is often much too sweet) .... you might try consulting a cookbook that focuses on this cuisine if you are not satisfied with the version you prepared. (And yeah, it separates .... no problem, just stir it back together. And it shouldn't be super thick and gloppy.) David Thompson's book is great for Thai food but if I was just starting out with the cuisine I would find it overwhelming. I'd go for a more homestyle cuisine-focused book instead. Hot Sour Salty Sweet turns out some real tasty Thai (and other) treats --- laad naa is in there --- and the recipes are easy to follow, not overwhelming at all. Good luck, and keep experimenting!

The former Diversity Hair Design space at Broadway and Roy now has a sign up for Da Lat Cafe (add several accent marks on various letters). I think it's Vietnamese. The space is completely gutted, and doesn't look like it will be ready for a while. Da Lat is joining a block that already has Siam on Broadway, Broadway Wok & Grill, and Jade Pagoda. The only non-Asian-restaurant businesses on that block are the minimart and Orpheum Records (which, to my great dismay, just announced it's closing, and has already sold most of its stock). Across the street, Galerias is doing a booming business with its new bar, and Thai Kitchen, recently re-opened under new management, has added sidewalk tables. (I haven't been there yet because we always go to Siam. Also, the new management made it very dark inside, and I don't really like sidewalk tables.) Pagliacci on Broadway is closed for at least two weeks for a complete remodel.

Spicy cashews from an Indian store - the cashews are sweet and the spices are tangy - sour, spicy and hot. You can make these so easilly at home. 1. Get a great big jar of cashews from Costco. 2. At home, heat a karhai (Indian version fo the wok). 3. Put a couple of sppons of ghee (clarified butter) in the karhai. 4. When the ghee is a little hot, but not smoking, throw in some garam masala, black pepper and red cilli powder. 5. When the spices have just cooked (they kinda rise to the surface of the ghee and almost foam), put the cahshews in and start mixing them in the masala. 6. Sprinkle salt on top, lower the heat to medium and stir the cashews until they are nicely coated and are hot to touch. 7. Some of cashews will get a bit charred in the process, but that just makes them oh-so-much-better. 8. When they are nicely done, take them out and put them in one layer on a cookies sheet. 9. Cool them thoroughly before you put them back in the jar. Quite frankly, if they are not crunchy and tastey enough for you, just throw them back in the wok and fix them. This is super easy and such a crowd pleaser - they are so good with sweetish drinks like cosmos :)

Keep 'em coming. The deadline is midnight, tonight, in a time zone of your choice. Belgian/Chinese? The Walloon Wok? Waterzoi Wonton?

oraklet, thank you. And thanks for the luck - I need it. mamster, oh you've just set me back on my re-conditioning with G. He does not need to be told he or his name are cool. But yes, he actually does have a nickname - one that Chef Thivet gave him: Romarin - Rosemary in French. Because he was always asking for it with every dish. Not cool maybe but - uncharacteristically for him - cute. And yes, you can use good salmon trimmings for mousse, but of course in French haute cuisine, why not puree a whole filet! In Basic we made a salmon mousse and my hand still cramps from the memory of scraping that sucker through a tami. KNorthrup, some of my classmates were going out right after. And most just don't have the fridge - much less freezer - space to keep all the food we make. Most are here by themselves and don't have a hungry sister and dog to feed the way I do. But it was pretty ridiculous that day. Like I'd burgled a butcher. Jon, oh puh-leeze! Soggy? As if! First of all, the beef was perfectly seared; secondly, I let it rest, and then I blotted it on paper before plating on the onions - a very good habit to get into especially with fish; finally when Chef Thivet sliced into the beef, then the juices were released on cue! nightscotsman, you should see Chin Sin in civilian clothes and shades - pure Japanimation inspiration. And it actually is a lot of fun. hollywood, I get my final exam grades at graduation. If you don't pass - and that has happened - they call you right after your exam to warn you not to show up. This happened to a girl last session - and her friends had to call the paramedics because she hyperventilated and passed out. JosephB, welcome to eGullet - and thank you! I promise to post the recipe very soon. Basically you take a duck breast, trim off most of the skin, wrap it in a sea salt studded bread crust and bake it. herbacidal, fish fat?! I don't know this! Give it up! What kind of fish and how? And I credit my mom for my love of fish skin. She makes the most amazing whole, wok-fried, gorgeous, red snapper.

Soul Food / American Chinese: "Wok and Soul" Signature dish: Chitlin' Chow Mein French / Mexican "Le Grande Tortilla" Chiles Rellenos, fried and stuffed with Boeuf Bourguignon

The otoshi buta is truely wonderful, I wonder why it hasn't caught on anywhere esle? I use a metal one that is adjustable, it can fit the smallest pan into the biggest wok, it can also be used for steaming so it get double duty! In Japan they also sell otoshi buta papers, these are pre-cut circles of a special kind of paper that not only are used to keep the food submerged but they also collect the oil and skum that collects at the top.

Brine: yes, with water, salt, lemon or lime juice, hot sauce (lots of all) Buttermilk: never. I guess I still harbor a few kosher sensibilities, which prevent me from mixing any milk product with poultry. Coating: basically all-purpose flour with lots of Old Bay and/or Goya adobo mixed in. Extra ground black pepper. Sometimes other flours, e.g. chickpea, as well (in which case then possibly a bit of ground fenugreek and curry powder, either Indian or Jamaican). I like spicy. I leave lots of the brine on the chix so the flour sticks. No batter, no crumbs. Frying medium: canola oil, sometimes with some cheap tasteless olive oil that I need to get rid of. And if I've filtered it to reuse, some chicken fat as well. Frying container: either my AllClad Chef Pan (kind of like a wok with a flat bottom and handles) or my new 12" cast iron skillet. White or dark: what are you, crazy? Take a chicken, cut it up: 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, 4 pieces of breast, and cut the backbone in half. The last is the best part, of course. Is this "Southern fried?" I don't know. I don't care. I like it.

Thanks Marlene! I just made that curry in a wok, just like I saw on TV. It was really good- it thickened up and developed a deep rich flavour (like second or third day curry) really quickly. One thing is that the bottom burns easily so the curry must be constantly stirred, unlike curry made in a regular pot which can be left to simmer on low with only the occasional stirring. I think I'll use the wok when I'm in a hurry but stick with my regular pot the rest of the time.

Tonight was the total cheat, slam me together in the wok dinner. Stir fried some premarinated pork shoulder cut into strips ($1.99/lb. at Han Ah Reum!!!) with garlic in wok. Dumped in bag of frozen oriental vegetables and continued to stir fry. Boiled the ramen from a packet of chili flavored Maruchan Ramen Noodles and fished them out of water into the wok. Used about 3/4 cup of "noodle water" and half the seasoning packet from the ramen to create a sauce with a small amount of cornstarch slurry. Total time - 10 minutes. Taste score - 7 out of 10. Not bad for a really quick throw together! And I have enough leftovers for two lunches

Recently at a local Thai restaurant (Bangkok Garden in Hackensack, NJ) I had a dish called "Nam Sod". Mind you they didnt have LARB on the menu, but they had this -- which is basically chicken Larb -- wokked up ground chicken, with an acidic dressing (pretty much the larb dressing) but with LOTS of chopped up ginger and lemongrass and chopped up peanuts in it Is Nam Sod just another name for a regional variant of Larb or is it really a different dish? Here's some recipes: http://bangkokcuisine.com/original/bangkok...nam_sod_moo.htm http://thai-sv.com/thai-cgi-bin/recipe/rec...0Sod%20Pork.txt http://importfood.com/recipes/naemsod.html http://www.joycesfinecooking.com/Ethnic/na...nam_sod_moo.htm Note that these are made with ground pork, not ground chicken. here's a chicken one, although probably not authentic as it uses hoisin sauce: http://2worksforyou.com/food/recipes/namsod.shtml

Yes, swamp cabbage. some places you can eat it in seattle According to a northern thai recipe I have, put garlic, sliced small chillis, and morning glory (or other green) in a hot wok. Toss, add sauce, then sliced large chili (not quite as spicy). (Sauce = soy bean paste, oyster sauce, thin soy sauce). The article above mentions a number of alternate ways of cooking it.

I'm referring to Morning Glory, the asian green vegetable. Looks a bit like a cross between spinach and Chinese 'Gai-Lan'. I think there is a recipe for the wok-fried version in the cookbook 'It Rains Fishes' (which I recommended for any Thai food fanatics). Rick

There is a great restaurant here in London which does a stir fry morning glory dish. Although having never sampled this particular dish in Thailand, I believe it is quite infamously known as the 'flying morning glory' dish, due to the fact that it is often cooked quite vigourously over very high heat in the wok and then literally 'flung' onto the awaiting serving plate. Anyway, in the dish I have sampled in London, they include small whole cloves of unpeeled garlic (not sure if they have been roasted/fried beforehand). This adds a great flavour to the dish as long as you like garlic. Off the top off my head, I would say there was some soy (probably light) and some oyster in there too as well as a couple of fresh birds eye chillies. Rgds Rick

how do you do your shiso dressing? ditto for the chile braised daikon.... Shiso dressing? I puree shiso with oil (EVOO sometimes, grapeseed in this case) and citrus juice. Season. I cut the daikon into 1 inch cubes, sear on a griddle, turn down heat, season, pour a ladle of chile sauce overtop, flip them around, cover with a few wok lids and let them steam a bit. Flip them around. The sauce reduces to a glaze. The chile sauce in this case was made with a puree of toasted chilhuacle negro, s&p, vodka, shallots, garlic. I had it left over from another menu.

INDIAN CHEESE IN AN HERBED GREEN SAUCE Saag Paneer Serves 4 Saag Paneer is a northern dish that originated in the states of Kashmir and Punjab. These days, cooks throughout India make it. The combination of spinach and fenugreek greens that I use in my recipe isn’t traditional to all homes although many Indians do make it that way. I grew up on it. On their own, fenugreek greens are pleasantly bitter but cooked in combination with spinach, they have a lovely, subtle woody fragrance. I particularly like the bitterness of the fenugreek in this dish because it cuts the rich dairy of the paneer. You can buy kasoori methi (dry fenugreek leaves) at any Indian grocery store – the fresh leaves are available in Indian grocery stores and in some specialty stores during the summer. The tempering oil is traditional but not necessary. Saag paneer is traditionally eaten with chappatis and plain rice but I sometimes just toast pita bread. Paneer (prepared before) 1 tablespoon Canola oil (for frying paneer) 10-ounce bag fresh spinach, stemmed and washed 2 tablespoons ghee or canola oil 3 whole, dried red chilies 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds 5 green cardamom pods 5 whole cloves 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds 1/8 teaspoon asafetida 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger 1/4 cup chopped fresh, or dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi) 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste TEMPERING OIL (optional) 1 tablespoon ghee or canola oil 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds 1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds 1 whole, dried red chili 1/8 teaspoon asafetida 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1. Heat 1/2 tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Add as many squares of paneer as will comfortably fit and brown the squares on all sides. Drain the cheese on paper towels. Continue this way to brown all of the paneer, adding 1/2 tablespoon more oil as needed. Set the paneer aside. 2. Bring about 2 inches water to a boil in a large soup pot. Add the spinach, cover and steam, stirring every now and then, until wilted, about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving the cooking water, and puree in a blender or food processor, adding a few tablespoons of the cooking water if necessary for pureeing. 3. Heat the ghee or oil with the red chilies, cumin, cardamom, cloves and fennel seeds in a large wok, kadai or frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until the cumin turns a golden brown color, 1 to 2 minutes. 4. Stir in the asafetida. Then add the ginger and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. 5. Add the fenugreek leaves and cook, stirring, 15 seconds. 6. Add the spinach puree and the salt. Cook, uncovered, over medium heat, 5 minutes. 7. Gently place the paneer squares on top of the greens. Cover and cook gently 5 more minutes. Halfway through the cooking, use a large spatula to gently turn the paneer in the spinach. (Careful, the paneer will break easily.) Taste the greens for salt. 8. For the tempering oil (if using), heat the ghee or oil with the cumin, fennel and red chili in a small frying pan or kadai over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until the seeds turn a golden brown color, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the asafetida and cayenne and pour immediately into the spinach mixture. Give it a stir and serve hot.