Sunday 15 February 2009

Palak Paneer

Recently I bought a packet of paneer at supermarket on a whim. I don’t recall cooking with it before so I was curious, even though I have eaten it elsewhere.

After the packet sat in the fridge a while, I turned to what was the most obvious dish to try – palak paneer or spinach and cheese curry. I found a recipe on the BBC website which didn’t seem too daunting. I used a 250g packet of frozen chopped spinach rather than washing, blanching, cooling and finely chopping 750g of spinach. In retrospect I wondered if I needed more spinach and if it should have been chopped a wee bit finer. I also made a few small changes to the spices.

I found the taste of the paneer surprising. I thought I had read it was interchangeable with halloumi and therefore I had expected it to be quite salty. But it was comparatively bland, although the texture was similarly quite hard. I’d like to try the palak paneer again and to try the paneer in other dishes too.

The end result was very spicy. In fact, it gave me a good laugh that E added Tabasco sauce to the curry because he thought it looked like it wasn’t spicy enough. I regularly tell him to taste before he adds Tabasco but he wont be told. He said his was very very spicy.

E liked the palak paneer but thought it had a little too much spinach. I think it is really a side dish rather than a main meal, even with rice. On the first night I served it with vegie sausages and the second night I served it with a vegie burger and some aloo jeera (potato with cumin). Originally I had planned to serve it with the dal makhani that I had made earlier in the week but didn’t get organised enough. Maybe another time as I think these dishes would complement each other nicely.

After dinner we watched a DVD of As it is in Heaven which my dad had bought us because he loved the film so much. It is the story of a big-city conductor re-discovering life in a small town in Sweden. It is full of joie de vivre and interesting character sketches with an ending that is both heartbreaking and heart lifting! If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it.

Palak Paneer
(adapted from BBC Food)
Serves 3-4 as a side dish

250g frozen chopped spinach,
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 onion, chopped
thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, finely grated
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
pinch salt, or to taste
200g packaged paneer, cut into cubes
½ tsp garam masala
4 tbsp cream
1 tsp lemon juice, or to taste

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the cumin and fry for about 30 seconds, until fragrant, then add the onion and fry over a low heat for about six minutes, until soft. Add the ginger, garlic and chillies and cook for a further minute.

Add the ground coriander and salt to taste. Cook for another 30 seconds then add the spinach and a splash of water if necessary. The mixture should be loose but not watery. Bring to a boil and simmer for three minutes.

Add the paneer cubes, garam masala and cream. Stir and cook for a few minutes or until the spinach is creamy. Stir in the lemon juice and check seasoning. Serve with rice or naan bread.

On stereo:
Adagio Chillout: Various Artists

14 comments:

  1. Too funny, my husband is always doing that Tabasco trick too!
    We really love spinach. I'll add this to our spinach recipes to try.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your version looks much lighter and, frankly, more appetizing than most dishes I see in Indian restaurants that are swimming in cream and ghee. Glad it turned out well; I'll have to give homemade Indian food a chance! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sailu at Sailu's food has a great recipe for palak paneer (and indeed many other things!). I tried it and liked it a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mmmmm palak paneer is one of my all time favourites and a whole bunch of altering of my favourite recipe has made it a super quick weekenight go to meal (and you're right, it needs side dishes! It goes awesomely with a big thick Naan bread). Mine is kind of heavier than yours, yours looks nice and summery! I tend to overdose on the spinach :P

    If you feel energized, I highly recommend making some paneer yourself using buttermilk to curdle it. I use the packet stuff most often, but the stuff you can make at home is much more juicy and tender.

    Mmmmm your picture has me drooling, I think I know what I'm going to be making this week!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Johanna,
    I tried veganising this tonight, and it turned out really delicious. I'll be posting about it soon- thanks for sharing your find!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks Tanna - Men! This is a good recipe for spinach lovers (I just wish it wasn't such a lot of work with the fresh stuff)

    Thanks Chris - yes, try Indian food at home - I still find it a little intimidating but the results are worthwhile

    Thanks Maninas - will try and remember that for ideas for more paneer recipes

    Thanks Vegetation - I think I would probably like a bit more spinach in it but it was nice and light!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Wanting Kneading - will be interested to see your vegan version!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Now you've made me curious to try paneer again. I tried it in an Indian restaurant ages ago and did, indeed, find it too bland for my taste. Or maybe I should have just poured on some Tabasco? ;)

    ReplyDelete
  9. One of my favourite dishes ever! Unfortunately, I can't get decent paneer up here and have to make my own. It's very easy though. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mmm two of my favourite things: Palak Paneer (I always order this along with Dahl in Indian restaurants) and As It Is In Heaven. I loved the bittersweet ending, the perfect antidote to predictable Hollywood movies :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. It is great to see you cooking Indian dishes. I adore paneer. It's especially good at absorbing the spices present in dishes it is used in.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks Lisa - it is nice to try a few more Indian dishes - would like to try more with paneer!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love palak paneer. I always tend to chose this when eating out at Indian restaurants despite my wishes to try something else...
    Thanks for the recipe.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks Nathalie - I never order it when out but now am curious to do so!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)