Paneer Jalfreezi and Pumpkin Curry

I was planning to take Doris to the grocery store but by the time we left her school, it was already 5:30. I had already asked Karen to stop in at Whole Foods for some naan since I don't think they carry that at Giant, so I just called her and added onion and cloves to the list and I had what I needed for curry dinner.

For the Paneer Jalfreezi, I went the simple route. I stir fried a block of paneer, removed it from the pan, then stir fried a very large red bell pepper. Mixed the two together and added my leftover curry sauce. This is the leftover from every other curry we eat - be it homemade, frozen, or restaurant. It is a combination of Indian and Thai curries. Every time it's different and every time it's delicious. This was one of the best. Now I'm out and it will take me a while to save up again but it's so totally worth is since the good curry sauces aren't cheap.

For the Pumpkin Curry, I used this recipe. This is very similar to the curry that Karen's mom makes. My shortcut is to use canned pumpkin, which makes this an easy after work recipe. Leila actually peels a pumpkin, which I've done before but it is no fun and takes a lot longer to prepare.

We served both with naan, no rice needed. The two dishes tasted great together and Karen said she wanted to take it for lunch - a big complement because she never takes leftovers for lunch. Doris loved it. She's started to really like food inside bread. She took her naan and loaded it up with the two curries then asked me to roll it up like a burrito and ate it like such a big girl.

I'm always happy when I make a meal that doesn't require fake meat because I feel that we rely on that too much and I'm not sure what kind of message that sends Doris. You really can eat vegetarian food, and this proves it. I just need to do it more often.

Paneer: $4
CSA veggies: $2
Pumpkin: 89 cents
Onion: 50 cents
Spices: 20 cents
Garlic: 10 cents
Naan: $4

Total: $11.69 ($3.90 per person)

A little high on the budget but such a hit, so I guess it's worth it. If we buy our naan at Trader Joe's or the Indian store, it's much cheaper.