Some culinary notes regarding Indian food and dandelion greens
1. Just because curry and garam masala are both used in Indian food does NOT mean you can substitute one for the other. If you're halfway through making saag paneer and realize that you're out of garam masala, adding curry instead will make your saag paneer taste like... saag paneer curry.
2. Also, when using homemade paneer, the reason they tell you to bake the cheese blocks is so that they won't melt when you're attempting (and failing) to pan-fry them.
3. Dandelion greens are bitter. It doesn't matter if they receive sun or shade, how tiny they are, how new the leaves are, how much water they've received, etc. All of those things will affect *how* bitter they are, but they won't make it *not* bitter. I have experimented over and over for the past month, with my ideal dandelion plants (grown from seed so they're fresh and young, watered regularly which reduces bitterness, kept in shade which also reduces bitterness, fertilized which should also reduce bitterness), and THEY'RE STILL BITTER. For anyone who propagates the belief that dandelion greens are not bitter when they're little, pls to be stopping saying that. I have tried eating them when they were no more than 1/2" long (and that's tiny) and they're still bitter. (Luckily, you can boil the bitterness out of them because the bitter compounds are water-soluble. Or you can chop them into wee pieces and add them to a milder salad, where the bitterness is masked by other flavors but serves to enhance the salad.)
2. Also, when using homemade paneer, the reason they tell you to bake the cheese blocks is so that they won't melt when you're attempting (and failing) to pan-fry them.
3. Dandelion greens are bitter. It doesn't matter if they receive sun or shade, how tiny they are, how new the leaves are, how much water they've received, etc. All of those things will affect *how* bitter they are, but they won't make it *not* bitter. I have experimented over and over for the past month, with my ideal dandelion plants (grown from seed so they're fresh and young, watered regularly which reduces bitterness, kept in shade which also reduces bitterness, fertilized which should also reduce bitterness), and THEY'RE STILL BITTER. For anyone who propagates the belief that dandelion greens are not bitter when they're little, pls to be stopping saying that. I have tried eating them when they were no more than 1/2" long (and that's tiny) and they're still bitter. (Luckily, you can boil the bitterness out of them because the bitter compounds are water-soluble. Or you can chop them into wee pieces and add them to a milder salad, where the bitterness is masked by other flavors but serves to enhance the salad.)