Week 29: Color (Orange, White, Green) - Saag Paneer

  

I was baffled by what to do for Color week. So I started some stream of consciousness. My wife is due on Friday and you always hear to eat spicy food to get things kick started (not that I'm trying to kick start anything, but it popped into my mind)... She loves saag paneer... Saag Paneer is Indian... The Indian flag is Orange, White, and Green... Those are colors... Hey, we have a winner!

I want to state up front that I am a pasty white guy from Cincinnati and I do not claim that this is authentic. It is not the same consistency as what you get at the Indian restaurants down the street (we have four within walking distance), but it still tastes really good.

When I make curry, I compare about 4 recipes in order to come up with what I want. I use my Indian cookbook, www.ecurry.com, and general internet searches. I will walk you through what I did.

You'll need the following:

 

4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1" piece of ginger, julienned or minced

1.5 Tbsp cumin seed (whole)
1 Tbsp coriander seed (whole)
1 Tsp mustard seed (whole)
1.5 Tsp Fenugreek seed (whole)
Seeds from 4 Cardamom pods

1.5 Tbsp Garam Masala

3 Tbsp Ghee (clarified butter)

1 onion, diced
hot peppers, minced (I used 1 Jalapeno (seeded) and 1 Serrano (with seeds))

16 - 20 oz fresh spinach

14 oz paneer, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1 14.5 oz can of diced tomatos
2 c chicken broth / stock / water
1 tsp Kasoori Methi (fenugreek)

1. Toast the whole seeds in a dry saute pan. Be careful not to burn, as they can turn quickly.
2. Grind the toasted seeds up in a spice grinder. Set aside.

3. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add spinach in batches. Blanche until the color turns vibrant, no more than 30 seconds. Remove to a colander set over a pot to catch drippings (you don't want to make a mess do you?)
4. Once the spinach is done, run under cold water to stop the cooking. Spread the spinach around the colander and let drain as you continue cooking.

I usually just use chicken stock, but the water I used to cook the spinach was green and smelled of spinach, so I reserved about 3/4 c to use instead of stock for the added flavor.

5. Heat 3 Tbsp of ghee in a deep heavy pot over medium high heat.

6. Fry the cubes of paneer on both sides until golden, brown, and delicious. Don't crowd the bottom. Do this in batches. Remove to a plate with a paper towel and reserve.

7. While the cheese is frying, add the garlic, ginger, and a small amount of diced onion to a small blender and blend into a paste. (Of course, if you want to do this before frying, then you won't have to worry about burning something)

I have heard from Indian friends that there are special blenders for this in India that work on much higher settings than what we have here. I have found that this is the best tool for making this paste. I use the flat blade not the blender blade. I use some onion in order to get enough liquid to to get things blending.

8. Add the garlic paste to the remaining hot oil and cook until fragrant. Add in the spice mixture and Garam Masala. Stir and cook the spices for 1 minute.

9. Add onions and peppers and saute until the translucent.

10. Add in the tomato, chicken stock, and Kasoori Methi. Stir. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

 11. Squeeze the spinach to release any excess water. You really want to squeeze, because there is a lot of water caught up in there. Roughly chop the squeezed out remains.

12. After the 10 minutes is up, uncover and simmer for another 20 minutes. This is a good time to put on the rice.

13. Stir in the spinach and paneer. Cook long enough to heat through.

14. Serve over rice.

Like I said, my wife is pregnant, and although she likes spicy foods, she can't really eat them right now. To help cool this down for her, I made a quick side.

Slice some onion and sautee in olive oil. Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas. Microwave the chickpeas for 1:33. Add them to the sautee pan. Chop some cilantro, stems included, about 1 tbsp. Add Stems to the pan. Mix 1/2 c yogurt with the cilantro. After the onions and chickpeas are cooked through, mix into the yogurt.

This quick side helped cook things down for her, and added some more protein.