Palak Panneer - Cottage Cheese in Spinach Sauce

I have not been a big fan of spinach (or any green for that matter) for a long time until I got introduced to Palak Panneer. Every restaurant does this in different way - I like it nice and silky. It does take a few steps and a few ingredients  to make it this way. Every minute is worth the effort though. :) Of course there are various versions of the recipe across the web. I did a mix of ideas from a few and the outcome was quite good. 

Ingredients

1. Palak (Spinach) - preferably not the frozen ones - 500 gms
2. Panneer - I used about 500 gms chopped in 1/2 inch cubes
3. Onions - 2
4. Tomatoes - 1
5. Ginger Garlic paste - 2 table spoons
6. Ginger juliennes - a few for garnishing
7. Garam masala - 2-3 tablespoons
8. Green chillies - 2-3
9. Cloves - 3-4
10. Cashews - 3-4
11. Black cardamom - 1-2
12. Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
13. Cream - 1 tablespoon
14. Butter - 2 tablespoons
15. Kasoori Methi - 1 tablespoon
16. Amchur powder - 1 teaspoon

The Method

1. Heat a kadai with any vegetable oil of your choice and saute Cashews, Cardamom, Cumin, Chillies, Onions, Tomatoes and Ginger Garlic paste. Saute until the onions and tomatoes turn slightly mushy.
2. Keep this mixture aside from the stove and let it cool down.
3. Blanch the spinach in boiling water until the leaves wilt a little. Be careful not to overcook the spinach.
4. Drain the spinach (save the water) and transfer the spinach into an ice bath (a bowl filled with cold water and ice cubes). This apparently stops further cooking of the spinach and maintains its colour.
5. Blend the Onion tomato mixture into a smooth paste.
6. Drain this paste using a metal sieve or filter to get only the smooth paste to filter out the chunky bits.
7. Filter the spinach from the ice bath and blend the spinach into a smooth paste and filter the contents as above.
8. In the same kadai heat used in step 1 melt the butter and add the blended onion tomato paste.
9. Add the garam masala, kasuri methi (crushed up), salt and amchur powder and saute until oil separates.
10. Add the spinach / palak paste and saute for a few minutes until both pastes blend well and it comes to a boil. 
11. Add the spinach water (from step 4) as much as needed for the amount of sauce / gravy needed. Do not add to much to make it too watery. This is meant to be a slightly thick sauce.
12. Add the diced up panneer and leave it to cook for a about 5 minutes.
13. Add a dollop of cream and ginger juliennes as garnish and serve hot with rotis.

Enjoy Palak Panneer!!

C

Panneer Lababdar - Panneer (Cottage Cheese) Indulgence

Here's Panneer Lababdar - a Mughal influenced Panneer curry. Google states Lababdar is some sort of strong desire or indulgence and I roughly translated this dish's name to Panneer Indulgence.I could agree with this adjective purely because of the ingredients that go in. While some recipes on the web claim to have a fat free, cholesterol free version - guess what don't bother. If you have to be diet conscious well...you might want to wait until later. ;-) My first introduction to Lababdar was actually Chicken Lababdar at Hilton Garden Inn, Gurgaon. However in the interest of my veggie friends - here's a Panneer version. If you ever wonder how to make a gravy / curry with restaurant style consistency - it's all in the paste. Of course a slight variation in ingredients can turn it into something completely different.

Ingredients:

1. Unsalted Butter - yes it all starts here :)
2. Panneer cubes
3. Cashews
4. Red onions
5. Tomatoes
6. Cardamom seeds (not the entire pod)
7. Cream 
8. Kashmiri Red Chilli powder
9. Garam Masala
10. Kasuri methi leaves (Dried Fenugreek leaves)

Method

1. Heat a pan in medium fire and melt the butter without burning it.
2. Saute the Cashews, Onions, Tomatoes and the Cardamom seeds until the onions and tomatoes get a bit mushy.
3. Let the mixture to cool for a few minutes and blend it into a smooth paste. 
4. Re-heat the same pan with a few table spoons of vegetable oil and saute the blended paste until oil separates.
5. Add Salt, Kashmiri Chilli Powder, Garam Masala and Kasuri Methi leaves while the paste sautes.
6. Once the oil separates add the Panneer cubes and mix it up carefully without breaking the cubes.
7. Add a dash of cream (not too much that it doesn't turn into a pale curry) and about a tablespoon of butter (yes again) and let it simmer for a few minutes.
8. You may add some water to get your choice of consistency (and quantity).
9. Garnish with grated Panneer, another dash of cream  and Coriander leaves.
10. Serve hot with roti or rice.

Enjoy!!

Happy Cooking 

C

Kadai Panneer

Kadai Panneer - one of the few dishes that I got accustomed in Bangalore probably during the later half of 1996 - when my stipend increased from Rs. 2500 - Rs. 4500 and we started graduating into the  "high end" Sagars (Sukh Sagar, Shanti Sagar etc)  from the road side Idli stalls. A yummy dish that's fairly simple to make as well. 

Ingredients:

1. Paneer - 500 gms diced into small cubes
2. Capsicum (Bell Pepper) - 1 (diced)
3. Onions - 3 (2 roughly chopped and 1 diced in cubes)
4. Green chillies - 3 o r 4
5. Tomato paste - 2 table spoons
6. Kashmiri Red chilli powder - 1 tea spoon
7. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tea spoon
8. Cumin powder - 1  table spoon
9. Coriander powder - 1 table spoon
10. Garam masala - 1 table spoon
11. Methi Kasuri - 1 table spoon  (crushed in hand)
12. Ginger garlic paste - 2 table spoons
13. Milk - 1 cup
14. Lemon juice - 2 teaspoons
15. Vegetable oil - 3-4 table spoons
16. Salt to taste
17. Coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Grind the 2 roughly chopped onions to a paste.
2. Heat up the kadai and saute the onion paste in vegetable oil for about 4-5 minutes.
3. Add ginger garlic paste, cumin, coriander, garam masala, red chilli, turmeric powders and sautee until the oil separates from the mix.
4. Add tomato paste and saute for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Add a 1/4 cup of milk and mix it up so that the milk blends into the masala well.
6. Add salt to taste and water to required consistency. Note this dish is usually a semi-gravy style and hence water should be kept to a minimum.
7. Add the diced onions and capsicum and mix it up for a few minutes until the onions become soft.
8. Add the lemon juice and cook it for about a minute.
9. Add the crushed methi kasuri and mix it well.
10. Add paneer and let it cook for a minute or two.
11. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Enjoy your Kadai Paneer!!

Happy Cooking
C