Saag (or palak) paneer is my favorite Indian dish. I order it in every Indian restaurant or takeaway I go.
Saag means spinach or any dark leafy greens.
Paneer is the fresh white cheese from India, made in a similar way as cottage cheese. It's a brilliant combo with soft earthy dark green leaves and a tad chewy paneer, all wrapped up by lightly spiced cream. I can eat this with basmati as a meal, any time.
Of course, being culinarily curious as I am, I have tried to make it at home. In my previous unsatisfactory attempts, I could never get the taste close to what I order from my favorite takeaway place. It's not that the recipes are not authentic but India is a big and diverse country and saag paneer can be made in many different ways. But this week, I think I am close (or closer). I finally found a recipe and tweaked it to give me saag paneer which I enjoy. The secret is to go very light handed in spices and, a ha, be quite generous with the cream. I hope you like it too.
Saag paneer
- 225g paneer (a typical pack size from UK, more or less won't hurt)
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp butter or vegetable oil
- 500-750g spinach (or mixture of spinach and collard greens or kale), blanched, water squeezed dry and roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsps minced onion (optional)
- 1 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1 whole green chili, pierced a few times with a pointed knife
- 1 tomato, roughly chopped
- 1/2 to 1 cup of cream-milk (with a ratio adjusted to your liking but I like to start with 2/3 cream and 1/3 milk)
Cut the paneer block into roughly half-inch cubes. In a plate or a wide-bottom bowl, combine the cumin and turmeric powder. Coat the paneer cubes with the mixed powder.
In a non-stick pan, heat the oil. Sear all sides of the paneer cubes lightly. Remove paneer from the pan.
In the same pan, sauté the garlic, onion for a few minutes. Add in the fenugreek seeds and green chili. Stir to mix with the onion mixture. If the mixture seems dry, add a little bit more oil. When the aroma from the fenugreek seeds comes through, add in chopped tomato.
When the liquid in the pan seems all gone, add in the chopped spinach. Stir thoroughly the spiced mixture into the spinach. Add in the cream-milk mixture. Stir the cream in and allow the pan to come to a slight boil. Once small bubbles start to rise from the edge of the pan, turn the heat to low and let it cook for 10 minutes. If your saag paneer looks still quite liquidy after 10 minutes, you could thicken it with some cornstarch (or let it cook longer).
Enjoy it with plenty of basmati rice.
