14:06.08: Veggie Indian nite

Spicing up a Saturday nite: She prepared the much-loved saag paneer with the even-more-loved subs of halloumi for paneer, and filled out the plate with a too-good-to-be-true microwave recipe for eggplant curry. Since it was the weekend an' all, She pushed the boat out with ho-made raita, our favourite lime pickle, and some mini-poppadoms. An ultra-quick salad with pre-peeled pomegranate seeds provided cooling crunch.

HE SAYS: The saag went up against the eggplant curry and won convincingly. The eggplant dish was a not really a curry but a dry flavourless impostor, and well, I ate what was on me plate like a good boy but didn't feel the need for seconds. The saag, on the other hand, performed beautifully as per usual, I say it was a fix. The salad was a mixture of tart and aromatic, I have noticed that pomegranates have a nice horseradish-y aftertaste to them - discuss.

SHE SAYS: I'm now firmly committed to halloumi over saag in the paneer recipe stakes: it's so salty and yummy, and the extra kick from the spices puts me in culinary nirvana. That bogus eggplant curry recipe from the NYT, tho' - f'shame! It was, in a word, icky, with a cardboard flavour and limp, dryish texture. I could have cooked it even longer (already went over the tme suggested), but it wouldn't have improved the flavour. The only good thing to come out of this experiment was learning that you can toast dry coconut by microwaving it. Well, that's neat. But even my raita couldn't make the eggplant worth eating. Normally I'm opposed to packaged pomegranate due to the ripoff price, but the pack I bought was on sale, plus the seeds were ruby red and full of juice, yet taut and satisfying to pop between the teeth. All good.