Palak Paneer

I have a love hate relationship with this veggie dish. It mostly feels to bland and more so when some recipes use cream in the making. I also have been put off by what I have identified as too many steps to preparation of it. I tend to use palak (spinach) in another recipe of mong dal with palak. Again, I have not made it in ages for it ends up slightly bland. Maybe I am being stingy in the spicing or is it that I forget to add more to counter the natural bland taste of the ingredients. This time when I got a bag of small palak and almost forgot it in the fridge I decided to make sure it does not get thrown away and salad is not an option as it is not hot enough during the day to just have a large salad for dinner. And surprise there was also some paneer in the fridge… maybe the universe is saying make the damn palak paneer! I looked up a few different recipes and decided to mix them up and come up with my own.

Ingredients 

• 250 gm of paneer cut into pieces to the size you want
• 120 – 150 gm of palak (leaves only)
• 1 medium red onion thinly sliced (you can use brown or even white onion)
• 2 medium green chillies finely sliced
• ½ inch ginger finely sliced
• 5 – 6 cloves of garlic sliced (optional)
• 1 large tomato chopped 
• ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
•  Salt to taste
• 1 table spoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

Method

• Wash and drain the palak. Boil water and add the palak and blanch for a minute. Drain and put aside to cool.
• Into the pain add the oil and cumin and sauté till it starts browning.
• Add the sliced onion, ginger, chillies and garlic and sauté the masala till onions are translucent. Remove half of the masala into a plate and cool it off.
• To the left-over masala in the pan add tomatoes and continue cooking till tomatoes are soft and breaking up.
• Put the cooled palak and the onion ginger garlic and chilli mix in a food processer and grind it coarsely. Many recipes call for very fine grinding but I prefer coarse to retain some texture.
• Once the tomatoes are cooked add the spices and cook for a further few minutes till the oil is released from the cooked masala.
• Then add the ground palak into the masala. Stir well and add a couple of spoons of water to loosen the mixture. Cover with lid and cook for a about 3 – 5 mins on medium heat so that the palak is fully cooked. 
• Add the paneer and stir well. Again, cover the pan and leave to cook for a few minutes so that the paneer gets warmed up and absorbs the spice flavours.

Tips to Serve

• Add a table spoon of cream / malai or butter and stir well. 
• Garnish with some fresh chopped coriander.
• Serve with naan or paratha or roti.

I must say the spicing was exactly right. I added some butter to get a richer taste. The taste was hot and tangy and I was very happy with the overall flavour. 

Paneer Parathas

I love stuffed parathas of all kinds. By far the one most loved by all in the family is aloo parathas. I remember going to Southall for Indian food. We used to eat the chats, pakodas, makki ki roti and saag but the eye was on getting a take away of a whole variety of stuffed parathas - aloo ones, methi ones, gobi ones and paneer ones. Now I cannot eat the gobi ones so paneer ones are the other choice after aloo. Eventually I learnt to make my own paneer parathas and after a couple of trials I think I have got the version that I am happy with.

Ingredients for Stuffing

• 300 gm of fresh paneer finely grated / crumbled
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 medium sized green chilli also finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon of whole jeera /cumin
• 1 table spoon of olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon of turmeric powder
• ½ teaspoon of chilli powder
• Salt to taste

Ingredients for Paratha

• 400 gm of plain wheat flour / chapatti flour and keep 100 gm of flour for dusting when rolling out the parathas
• Water about 225 ml
• 5 table spoons of olive oil

Preparing the Dough

Place the flour and 1 table spoon of olive oil in a bowl mix them together.

Then start adding water a little at a time while bringing the dough together.

Once all the dough is brought together knead it for a few minutes.

Finally take a teaspoon of olive oil in your hand and knead the dough to make it smooth.

Normally I set aside the dough of parathas and chapattis to rest for a while. Often I make the dough a couple of hours ahead and leave it covered with a damp tea cloth or an upturned bowl to keep it from drying out.

Preparing the Paneer Stuffing

In a medium sized saucepan heat the table spoon of olive oil and cumin.

As the cumin starts darkening add the onion and chillies and sauté them.

Once the onion turns translucent add the finely crumbled / grated paneer into it.

Add the spices and stir the paneer.

It will take a few minutes to warm through and get the spices incorporated into it.

Then put aside the cooked paneer stuffing to cool before you can begin preparing the parathas.

Preparing the Parathas

Divide the dough into 6 equal parts and give them a round shape like ball. Take one dough ball, press it between your palms to make a flat patty and dust with dry flour. This use of flour as you are rolling out keeps the dough from sticking on to the rolling pin or the surface you are rolling it on.

Place dough patty on rolling board and roll it out with a rolling pin into a thick circle of about 4-5 inch diameter. Put 1½ - 2 tablespoons stuffing in the centre, wrap it with sides of rolled circle, seal the edges and again give it a round shape like ball. I tend to have the centre thicker than the edges as when you pull the edges together you want it to be similar in thickness all round. If the side with sealed edges is thicker the paratha can split on its other side while rolling it out.

Press the stuffed ball flat and dust with flour and roll it out in to a 6 – 7 inches circle.

Put a flat griddle or tawa on the hob to get it heating. Have a small bowl with the rest of the oil and teaspoon to brush the paratha with oil as it is cooking. It is useful to get a foil ready to cover your parathas once they are done to keep them warm. 

Put on the hot griddle and wait for it to warm up and start to get cooked. Turn it over once and brush with oil. Then turn over again and brush the other side with oil. The cooked paratha will have some blistering and darkening patches.

These parathas can be eaten with raita or just some hot and sour pickle made from mango or chilli or lime.

Paneer and Peas Sabji

 

Usually recipes start with some sort of a story or an anecdote about the dish but I have none save that I like paneer but my husband is not a fan of it. This is the reason why I do not cook it often plus I guess I have been lazy to experiment with it. I am not sure why as he is happy with cooked cheese but I guess paneer is the bland variety that needs good spice mix to flavour it. Also in the past it was not as readily available as it is now, both as fresh and as frozen. I generally see paneer recipes like palak paneer or shahi paneer or mater paneer and also paneer tikka.

Tomato gravy is not always appreciated. I wanted to try something different to go with my palak parathas even though the rich tomato sauce of shahi paneer would go down well with them. I have not yet found the patience of making tikka. However, I am happy with the peas with my paneer but again decided that I did not want gravy maybe as I find it hard to thicken the gravy. Some recipes suggest frying the paneer before putting it into the gravy and I do not wish to make the dish heavy. This gave rise to my bhurji style sabji which we enjoyed and I will be making it again.

Ingredients

250 – 300 gm of paneer

250 – 300 gm of peas

1 medium onion

2 green chillies

1 medium ripe tomato

For tempering:

1 teaspoon whole cumin

3 whole cloves

1 tablespoon olive oil

Spices:

 ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

½ teaspoon red chilli powder

Salt to taste

Some fresh chopped coriander to add fresh flavour and as a garnish

Method

Crumble the paneer with your fingers so that you get small uneven pieces. Grating paneer as you would for a paratha stuffing makes it too fine and liable to clumping. If you are using frozen diced paneer, defrost it by putting it in a bowl, adding hot water till all the paneer is covered and leave for a few minutes before crumbling it.

If you are using frozen peas defrost in a manner similar to the paneer. Fresh peas should just be washed and put aside ready to add into the saucepan.

You can change the proportions of peas and paneer to suit your taste.

Finely chop the onion and chillies. Chop the tomato small and leave to the side.

Put the oil, cumin and cloves to heat in a saucepan.

Once the oil gets hot and the cumin starts turning dark add the onions and chillies to it. Turn the heat down to medium so that the onion sautés but does not burn.

Once the onion has turned translucent add the paneer and stir to ensure all of it gets coated with the hot oil and starts to heat through. After a few minutes the paneer will soften, at this time add the peas.

Add the salt, turmeric and chilli powder and stir it in. Leave the paneer and peas to cook. Do not cover with lid as this creates moisture that gets added back into the paneer. Add the tomato when the peas are nearly cooked. This will allow the tomato to cook without making it mushy.

Finally add the coriander leaving a few sprigs as garnish.