Palak Paneer

This is one of my craziest week ever and it will be even more crazier for the following ones as I'm in the process of writing my thesis. I will try my hardest of posting recipes at least once a week. To let you all know, my deadline is on June 21.

Here is the first Indian dish on Random Cuisine. I have to admit that I'm not a spice person so I don't have a large inventory of spices. I love the taste of Indian food and it does require a fair amount of spices. I'm glad that my Australian friend is into Indian cuisine because I always wanted to explore this cuisine. Palak Paneer consists of spinach and paneer cheese cooked in a curry sauce. I'm very impressed of the results. If you have never tried Indian dish, follow this recipe. He also sent me the recipe for homemade paneer. Unfortunately, I don't have step-by-step instructions, but it is straightforward to make it. Let me know of the results.

Serves 6-8
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 large bunch of spinach, shredded or 2 pks frozen spinach (16 oz.)
100-200 g paneer, cut into cubes
1 large brown onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp hot chilli powder
2 shelled cardamon pods with the seeds broken up finely
pinch of salt
4 leaves of coriander, chopped, plus for garnish
Basmati rice

Procedure

1. In large pot, boil spinach in 2 cm of boiling water, with the lid on.

2. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion until transparent. Add in garlic and cook for 1 min until fragrant.

3. Once the spinach has softened, add in onions, garlic and tomatoes. Let it cook together with the lid on, over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

4. Meanwhile, fry paneer until the edges are slightly brown, and set aside.

5. Add spices and coriander to the pot. Taste and add more spices if necessary.

6. Once vegetables are cooked, add paneer. Let it warm and thicken with the lid off, over low heat.

7. Serve palak paneer on top of basmati rice. Garnish with coriander.

Paneer

about 2 L whole milk
Juice of one lemon
Cheesecloth

Procedure

In a clean pot, heat milk over high heat until it bubbles quickly up toward the rim of the pot. Immediately turn off the heat and drizzle in the strained juice of 1 lemon. Stir slowly and steadily with a clean spoon, around and around in one direction, until the curd (soft solid white bits) separates from the whey (yellowish-clear liquid), about 1 minute. (If it doesn't separate after a minute, put the pot over very low heat for about 30 seconds, stirring slowly--this should do the trick.) Stir slowly for another minute, then pour the curds and whey into a strainer lined with 3 layers of rinsed and squeezed cheesecloth set over a bowl to catch the whey. After most of the whey has drained into the bowl, gather up the edges of the cheesecloth and twist them to form a little ball of the curds and squeeze a bit more whey out; rinse the outside of the cheesecloth-wrapped ball for a minute under lukewarm running water, then put it back in the strainer and weight it down with a can or something heavy. Refrigerate for an hour or so, then unwrap the paneer and use it. Makes about 200 g of paneer.