eCurry - The Recipe Blog

This one is a Treasure in my kitchen.  A delicious preparation of Paneer(soft Indian cottage cheese) gently simmered in curried Palak(spinach), this dish is relished with hot naan breads or chapatis. Or serve it as a delicious side accompaniment to any meals. Me & my kids spoon out & eat atleast half a bowl even before we start with the bread:-D. The origination of this dish is from the Northern Parts of India but is enjoyed all over the country & all over the world. 

I have not fried the paneer cubes and like it the way the original taste is retained and the way the flavors penetrates better than when the paneer is fried. But there are different versions of this dish and some like it better when the paneer cubes are slightly sauted to turn golden brown before simmering it in the spinach. I also use Methi/Fenugreek leaves along with spinach, more for the flavors than for taste.

The combination of Spinach & Cheese is a power pack, with the protein of cheese, & calcium, folate, iron, magnesium, vitamin C and vitamin A of spinach. so come on everyone and plunge yourselves & Enjoy.

I am sending this to Monthly Mingle: Sensational Sides started by Meeta.

& Eat Healthy- Fight Diabetes of Sangeeth’s ‘Art of Cooking Indian Food’.

Ingredients:

1. 2 lbs Spinach (if using fresh, use about 5-6 cups chopped)
2. 1 Big Red or Yellow Onion, quartered and thinly sliced
3. 4 cloves of garlic
4. 3 tomatoes chopped (Or 1 cup of Tomato Puree)
5. 5 tablespoon of oil
6. 1 spoon of methi/fenugreek seeds
7. 3 tablespoons of Kasuri Methi ( These are dried methi/fenugreek leaves available in Indian Grocery Stores)
8. 1.5 cups of Paneer/Indian Cottage Cheese cut in to cubes ( I buy the ready made ones from the Indian Grocery)
9. Salt to taste
10. 4 Green Hot Peppers Slit (Optional)

Preparation:

Take 1 cup of water in a large pan, add the spinach, garlic and 2 tablespoons of kasuri methi and boil it covered at low heat till the spinach leaves change color to darker green, about 15 minutes.

Cool it and blend it to a puree in the blender.

Heat the oil, add the Methi/Fenugreek seeds. Once the seeds start to sizzle, add the onions. Fry till the onions are glazed and starting to brown. Add the tomatoes and the salt. Cover and fry till the tomatoes are soft and mushy and the oil on the sides start to separate.

Pour the Spinach blend, green peppers and the rest of the kasuri methi . Cover and cook at low heat for another 20 minutes to ½ hr. Take care at this time because the spinach will pop and bubble as it boils.

Uncover and stir in the Cheese/Paneer cubes. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve with Roti, Paratha or Pulao.

Tags: cheese, curry, Fenugreek, indian, indian cheese, methi, oil, palak, palak paneer, Paneer, saag, side, spinach, tomato, Vegetarian recipe

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 10:17 am and is filed under Curries. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.