Say goodbye to ho-hum party appetizers and serve this summery, fresh and ooey gooey Northern-India inspired Tawa Camembert Curry Dip. This fun cheese dish boasts unique flavours and comes together in less than 15 minutes. Sure to be the talk of the party!
This post contains sponsored content. I was fortunate enough to receive monetary compensation and/or products from Dairy Farmers of Canada. Although compensated for my efforts, all opinions are my own.
The official start to summer is upon us! How exciting is that, friends? I have already had a small taste of what the season has to offer and I am so excited for the next two and a half months. I will be party hopping, hosting slow backyard evening get-togethers and camping galore. All of these social events means there will be a lot of need for appetizer recipes and party snacks in my house. With so many events, it is hard to keep your party menus fresh and inspiring! Thankfully, Dairy Farmers of Canada challenged me to create a dish that showcased the delicate flavours of Comfort Cream, a Camembert-style cheese from the Upper Canada Cheese Company. Yes, Canada produces award winning and delicious soft cheeses like this Camembert that honestly rivals what is made in Europe (and why wouldn’t you want to buy Canadian?). With a cheese so unique, delicious and Canadian, I knew I had to think outside of the box with this one!
Before I get into detail about the curry cheese dip, let’s talk cows. Comfort Cream, by the Upper Canada Cheese Company in the Niagara area of south-eastern Ontario, is created with pure craftsmanship and care. The secret to this cheese is it is made from milk produced by a rare and prized breed of Dairy Cow: Guernsey Cows! You can tell that Upper Canada Cheese Company is very proud of their award-winning cows by their amazing branding. I mean, can this get any more cute?
With Comfort Cream’s unique tasting points of butter and mushrooms paired with it’s incredibly soft and ooey-gooey texture, I decided to put a spin on one of my favourite Northern-India dishes; Tawa Paneer. Tawa Paneer is a semi-dry cheese curry that features fresh flavours of green peppers, tomatoes, fenugreek and amchoor (mango) powder with just the slightest hint of spice. Topping the baked Comfort Cream Camembert with this veggie-based curry makes the summery flavours mix together to create a delicious dip that is perfect for smothering on top of freshly baked naan bread. LOOK AT THAT TEXTURE!
I was honestly surprised at how creamy and light the texture of the Comfort Cream was coming out of the oven. To best serve this Camembert, I was informed to cut-off the top rind of the cheese to help the melting while keeping the integrity to the shape of the cheese. The outside rind, once warmed, acted like a lovely bowl for this cheese and green pepper and tomato curry. That being said, the entire wheel of cheese was quickly devoured once I brought out the hot and buttery naan bread for dipping and scooping.
To prepare this dish, if you do not have a tawa pan for stovetop use, simply use a small and shallow frying pan to properly cook down the vegetable based curry mixture. I also used a brie baking dish to heat the Camembert in the oven. The dish doubles as a great serving dish if you so choose as things will get melt-y and this dish tends to spread! Both Amchoor powder and dried fenugreek leaves are easily sourced at your grocery store, typically in the international spice section.
All-in-all, this Canadian Cheese based appetizer is going to be my snack of the summer!
Ingredients
- 1 large hot house tomato
- ½ inch of ginger root
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Half medium sized yellow onion, finely diced
- Half green pepper, diced with seeds and veins removed
- 1 jalapeno pepper, diced with seeds and veins removed
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground coriander seed
- ⅛ teaspoon red chili powder
- ⅛ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala
- ¼ teaspoon amchoor powder
- Dash of black salt
- 1 wheel Comfort Cream or similar style Canadian Camembert Cheese
- 2 tablespoons dried fenugreek
- ¼ cup of roughly chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
- 4 pieces of freshly baked or warmed naan bread
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 F. Cut-off the top rind of the cheese and place in a small brie baker. Bake Comfort Cream for 8 to 10 minutes, until soft and melted.
- In the meantime, using a food processor or blender, puree entire tomato and ginger root until no chunks remain.
- Melt butter in tawa or small, shallow frying pan over medium heat. Soften onion, green pepper and jalapeno in butter for 3 minutes, or until fragrant. Add spice mixture to pan and toast spices for less than a minute, stirring them constantly to ensure they do not burn
- Add tomato and ginger puree and mix well, raise heat to medium-high. Cook for 5-7 minutes until tomato and ginger puree starts to thicken and turn from pale red to brown.
- Remove curry from heat. Stir-in fenugreek leaves.
- Remove Comfort Cream from oven and immediately top with curry mixture.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with freshly baked or warmed naan bread. Enjoy!
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