Palak paneer (spinach curry) is one of my favourites (along with chana marsala - chickpea curry) so when I come across the recipe
here at 101 Cookbooks, I had to give it a try. It's perfect for a Sunday night with a DVD, and it's dead easy. This was also my first attempt at home made tandoori paste - also very easy.
Saag Paneer
The 101 Cookbooks recipe suggests baby
spinach to avoid chopping out all the stems.
I actually used frozen spinach (stems and all) and blended with a stick
blender towards the end. I’ll try it
again with fresh spinach and see if there’s a difference.
The recipe also suggests halloumi as a
good paneer substitute (which I did) but living just over the road from Little
India so I’ll get the real deal when I pick up the spinach.
I didn’t have buttermilk, so I just
added some water instead, and ended up increasing the spice level, especially
the chilli.
Ingredients
680g fresh (baby) spinach, well washed
and dried
2 tablespoons ghee, clarified butter, or
unsalted butter
230 – 340g paneer cheese, cut into 1cm
cubes
2 medium onions, finely chopped
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
3 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon spice mixture* (see below)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup buttermilk
Splash of cream or dollop of plain
yogurt (optional)
Fresh lemon to finish, and toasted
sesame seeds to sprinkle
Chop the spinach well, and set aside in
a large bowl.
Cook the paneer in one tablespoon of the
butter over medium heat in a large skillet.
Cook the cubes in a single layer, turning regularly to brown
evenly. If using halloumi, keep an eye
out because it will brown much more quickly than paneer. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Heat the other tablespoon of butter in a
large pot. Add the onions and salt, and saute until the onions soften up, five
minutes or so. Add the garlic, ginger, spice mixture, and turmeric. Cook,
stirring frequently, until fragrant and nicely combined - a minute or two.
Turn the heat up to medium-high and add
the spinach to the pan all at once, if possible. Cook, stirring all the while,
until the spinach is collapsed and wilted, a couple of minutes. If you need to
add the spinach in batches (adding more spinach as it collapses), that is fine
too, just do it as quickly as possible.
Stir in the buttermilk and cream and
heat gently while stirring. Taste and add more salt if necessary and more red
pepper flakes if you like. Add a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice, stir in
the paneer, sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.
Serves
4-6.
*Spice Mixture: Use a mortar and pestle
or spice grinder to grind the following spices as finely as possible: 2
tablespoons cumin seed, 1 tablespoons coriander seed, 2 teaspoons mustard seed,
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/8 teaspoon cardamom seeds, 3 whole cloves. Store in an airtight container and use as
needed.
Tandoori Chicken
Paste
Recipe from Taste.com.au (here)
Ingredients
·
1/2 tsp
sweet paprika
·
1/4 cup
lemon juice
·
5cm cube
of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
·
2 garlic
cloves, skinned
·
1 tbsp
salt
·
1 teaspoon
chilli paste
·
1 tbsp
garam masala
·
3 tsp
ground cumin
·
2 tbsp oil
·
3 tsp
chilli powder
·
1 tbsp
natural yoghurt
Add everything together and mix well.
Coat chicken in paste (thighs, breast,
drumsticks), cover and set aside for several hours. Cook the chicken over a coal grill for a more
authentic flavour. I fried mine in a
pan.
Serves
4
Garlic Naan
Soften several tablespoons of butter and
mix in some well chopped parsley and minced garlic. Dot naan with butter mixture and heat in an
oven until piping hot.
 |
| Nothing left but crumbs! |
What are your favourite Sunday night recipes?
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