East Indian Delights

I recently wrote an article for Foodtv's blog about Indian Groceries, one of my favorite places to shop for everything East Asian, from spices to bottled sauces, pickles and...for my Honey...a fridge full of Indian Sweets.

When living in Toronto, I loved to invite friends and family to a homemade Indian Feast. And now that I know I can find all the ingredients here in Halifax, there's no reason not to continue. I think I'll wait until Joanna is able to climb the three flights of stairs though.

In addition to being able to buy every imaginable spice, 20 kinds of dal and gazillian bottled pickle and sauce options (and an occasional sweet for my Honey) I head over to the freezer. There's frozen cubes of fried paneer (hard pressed cheese similar to feta, but not as salty) perfect for making Saag Paneer . And the frozen stuffed parathas make a terrific fast lunch on the weekend or quick supper during the week. Just fry for 2-3 minutes per side and serve with some hot pickle...my favorite snack and I'm drooling as I write this. Good thing there are more in the freezer. You can see them peeking out at the top of the photo.

But my new fave dish that doesn't take long to make, thanks to one of my Honey's co-workers, is rice & dal ( I call it Indu's Dal & Rice because, well...Indu gave me the recipe) and as you can see from the photo at the top of the post...add them all together and you have a lovely dinner in about 30 minutes (only as long as the dal and rice take to soften).

What's your favorite quick fix?