Lately life has been a little hectic. It is that time of the year when school exams are over and parents input in the school activities is very important to the younger children. Well so I have been running around from parents/teachers meeting to school sports day to summer fares. It definitely is fun time, attending parents nights out and mums coffee morning to catch up on all the school and playground gossip.
With all this going on I haven’t had time to cook a full meal for the family. But I will not allow myself to feel guilty as the meals on the table have been healthy. Well today though, when I went shopping I saw fresh green leafy spinach on the shelves. It looked very inviting.
As I walk along the isles of the supermarket I come across paneer. Palak Paneer with naan and rice would make a perfect healthy meal for today.
Paneer in my opinion, everyone loves, especially kids. Whether it is in spicy red tomato gravy, marinated dry on a BBQ, cooked with peas, in rich creamy gravy or as I have done, with spinach.
Paneer is made by adding either lemon juice or any citric acid to hot milk to separate the curds from the milk. The curds are then drained out using a muslin cloth, pressed then cut to make cubes of paneer.
Ingredients serves 6 time 30-45 min
4 bunches fresh Spinach (can use baby spinach too)
1 Pack of 500g of cubed Paneer
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp minced ginger
2 fresh minced chillies
3-4 cloves
1 inch piece of cinnamon stick
1 Star Aniseeds
1 Dry Red Chilli
1 Fresh tomato (or tinned tomato)
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp cumin and coriander powder
Salt to taste
Lemon
Palak Paneer is normally very rich and creamy but I prefer to make it the spicy and healthy way without the cream. I also prefer not to cook with too much oil and no butter or ghee in this particular dish.
Method
Rinse and chop the spinach then par boil it with a pinch of salt, 1 star aniseed, 3 cloves, 1 dry red chilli and cinnamon stick. In this way the flavour of the spices stays with the spinach without making it very spicy.
In a non stick or heavy bottom pan, saute the chopped oinions in oil, when golden brown, add in the minced ginger and chilli paste. Cook for another minute or so before adding the garlic. Once the garlic lets out its aroma add the paneer pieces and keep on stiring and turning the paneer until the colour is slightly golden.
Add turmeric powder and stir letting it cook for a minute or so before adding and stirring the cumin and coriander powder to cook for a further minute. Add the fresh tomatoes, salt and garam masala and cover on medium heat.
With a hand blender, blend the spinach into a lumpy paste making sure the whole spices don’t get chopped but remain whole for their flavour. Mix the spinach with the paneer.
Add some lemon juice and cover and let it cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
Serve hot with Naan and/or rice.
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