Saag Paneer / Palak Paneer

Saag Panner or Palak Paneer is a dearly loved dish across the globe. There is probably an authentic way of making it, but what I have here is my version of Saag Paneer, something I liked and the people I served it, loved it too, so I have just stuck to it. The Saag part of the paneer is a green leafy vegetable, which usually is Spinach. I like this veg because its very easy to make and liked by a lot of people, so its quite a no brainier when you are entertaining a mix of veg and meat eating crowd.


Here is what you need if you would like to give it a go:
Shopping list:

1. 1 Bunch of Spinach or a big bag of spinach.
2. 250 gms Paneer, you can get this ready made or make your own. Click here to find out how you can make your own paneer.
3. Cumin seeds
4. Green Chillies 3
5. 5-6 cloves of garlic
6. 1 inch of root ginger
7. Asafoetida (optional)
8. Garam masala
9. 1 large finely chopped onion
10. Salt to taste
11. A big dollop of naturally set yogurt / plain yogurt
12. sunflower oil for cooking or any flavour less oil will do.

Here is how you make it:

1. Make the base of the curry:

•  Crush Chillies, Garlic and Ginger in a blender or mortar and pestle. I do the later, it is much more fragrant.
• Chop the Spinach finely and cook it until it wilts completely.
• Cut Paneer is nice even cubes, so that it cooks evenly and fry it in a little oil. Let the Paneer brown on high heat but don't cook it for too long, else it will toughen up.

1.  Take a nice roomy pan add a table spoon of oil, if you like more add more, but I don't like my veg floating in oil.
2. When the oil is hot add the cumin seeds, once the crackle, turn the heat down and add the chili, garlic and ginger base and roast it until they cook and start turning a little brown, don't brown them completely as they will burn during cooking.
3. Add the chopped onion and fry until slightly brown.
4. Add the garam masala and salt.
5. Add the cooked Spinach and cook for further 2 mins, use a masher to mash everything in, some recipes suggest blending but I like some texture to the veg so I mash everything in and make it into a pulp.
6. Keep cooking until you see oil separating from the veg. At this stage your Saag base is nicely done.
7. Turn down the heat completely and add the yogurt, this is so that the yogurt does not split, add a bit at a time and mix, this will stop curdling. even if it does it does not matter.
8. Add 1/4 of the cooked panner to the pan and mash the paneer in the Veg base, this gives a good thickness to the base plus a nice texture. Cook for a min.
9. Add rest of the panner and stir it in,let it cook for a min.
10. There you have it your Saag Panner or Palak Paneer what ever you like to call it :)
11. You can try the same recipe for Saag Aloo, just substitute the Panner with boiled and stir fried potatoes.

Try this with a nice wholemeal paratha or some pilau :)

Bon Apetit!!!