Palak Paneer

This Indian dish combines fresh spinach and paneer (cottage cheese) in a creamy sauce. I have tried many variations of Palak Paneer and the one below is one of my best. It is a vegetarian dish cooked in an onion-tomato-spinach based green sauce moderately spiced. It is a great accompaniment with rotis, naan or hot steamed rice. This is the healthy recipe for Palak Paneer since the Paneer is not fried but is still soft & tastes good.

No. of Servings: 3-4 persons
Preparation time: 25 mins



Ingredients:
2 bunches of fresh Spinach
300 gms of Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

1 onion
2 tomatoes
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp Garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
3 green chillies
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp Kasuri Methi (dry fenugreek leaves)
2 tbsp butter or oil
Method :
Wash Spinach, & boil it in a pan without adding water (i.e. allow it to boil in its own water).

Once spinach is boiled, drain the excess water (don’t throw it) and grind it.
In a pan take ½ tsp butter or oil, add cumin seeds & let them splutter.

Add onion followed by green chillies & tomatoes.

Saute for 2 mins.

Let the mixture cool & grind it.
In a pan add the remaining butter or oil.

Saute the onion-tomato mixture till fully cooked.
Add garlic & ginger paste, followed by garam masala, coriander powder and turmeric. Saute for additional 5 mins.
Now add the pureed Spinach, let it boil (if required add water) followed by Kasuri Methi
Finally add paneer and simmer for additional 5 mins.
One can also garnish it with more butter. Serve hot with Paratha.

Tips / Variations:
One can add more chilli paste as per taste & one’s liking.
To make paneer soft, place paneer cubes in warm water for approx 15 -20 mins.

Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

Paneer (Cottage Cheese) [Wikipedia reference] is a primary ingredient in many dishes in North Indian cuisine and is a good source of Protein. It is also used in making many Indian sweets. In India we also prefer having Paneer with some chat masala sprinkled on it as an appetizer.No. of servings: 100 gmsPreparation Time: 5 mins (once milk is boiled)Ingredients:1 litre of MilkJuice of 1 lemon or 1 cup curdMethod:Put the milk to boil.When it starts boiling, remove from the heat and wait for 2-3 minutes.Add the lemon juice/curd and stir gently till all milk curdles.Leave covered for some time.Pour over a thin muslin cloth and drain out the whey.Cover with cloth and place a weight on top to drain out the water.Cut into pieces or crumble as required.Tips/Variations:Use of curd gives the paneer a smoother textureOne can also use Fat Free Milk for a low fat paneer. Just add salt along with lemon or curd. This may result in lesser amount of paneer.Pressing for a shorter time (approximately 20 minutes), results in a softer, fluffier cheese.

Paneer Bhurji

We love paneer/cottage cheese in all forms. This is one of our favorite & easy to cook paneer recipe without any rich and creamy sauce like other paneer recipes. It is just a simple stir fry of scrambled paneer, with green chilies, onions, bell pepper & tomatoes. Paneer can be bought from any Indian Grocery store or can be made at home, the recipe of which i will add soon. The Paneer used in the recipe below is homemade Paneer from Fat free milk.