Palak Paneer

I have spoken enough about my affinity towards greens. I consume a lot of spinach in various forms and I can beat popeye handsdown, if at all there is a competetion. Needless to say, it is highly nutritious and helps boosting your iron levels. If you are anaemic, include spinach in your every day diet or rather alternate days. I feel it is not good to have anything overdose. But this is a good source of calcium and iron and do remember to include this on a regular basis.

Palak Paneer is an interesting dish and a good way to consume spinach. It is a traditional north Indian dish where spinach is cooked in an onion-tomato gravy. It has a rich, creamy and smoothy texture sure to impress anyone. Try this melt-in-the-mouth recipe sometime.

Ingredients:
Palak - 2 bunches
Grated tomatoes - 2 medium
Oil for frying - 1 tablespoon
Panner cubes - 10
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Grind to a paste
Jeera - 1 tsp
Pepper - 1 tsp
Ginger - 1 big piece
Garlic - 3 pods
Red Chillies - 3
Onions - 1 big
Cinnamon 1 small stick
Cardomom - 2

Method:
1. Fry the paneer and immerse in hot water
2. Heat the oil and season with jeera
3. Add the ground paste and fry well
4. Add chilli powder, turmeric, salt and tomato pulp. Fry till the oil oozes out
5. Cook the palak separately and make into a fine paste after squeezing the cooked water
6. Add the palak and cooked water to the tomato gravy and cook till oil separates
7. Add the fried paneer and cook for 5 more minutes

Serve hot with roti.

Tip: If you are using yellow onions, do not grind it raw. Chop it, boil with palak and grind it together with palak. If you want to know why, click here

Sending this to SWC -Cooking With Greens hosted by Soumya.

Paneer Bhurji & Kathi roll

I feel paneer and potato are similar in more ways than one. Both are versatile and universally acclaimed. Of course, paneer is mostly used by Indians but still those who taste it once, will crave for it ever. Not to mention, both of them starts with the letter 'p' :) I'm leaving the potatoes here and going ahead with paneer to make a very simple and quick dish - paneer bhurji. You can use your creativity to come up with various other recipes using this as the base.

Paneer is Indian cottage cheese which is a rich source of protein good enough to substitute for meat. I have also mixed a handful of spinach in this recipe for extra nutrition. It is always better to mix a variety of vegetables/ingredients to get all possible nutrients in a single meal.Not only that, this strategy can be used to make your kids(sometimes even adults) eat things which they normally resist. But ofkors, the ingredients should blend well to make the meal tasty.

Ingredients:
Grated Paneer 2 cups
Jeera - 2 tsp
Onions - 1 or 2 finely chopped
Tomatoes - 1 (grated)
Chopped spinach - half a cup
Crushed green chillies - 2 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Kasoori methi - 1 tsp
Chopped Coriander to garnish
Salt to taste

Method :
1. Heat oil, season jeera, fry the onions.
2. Add the chillies and ginger garlic paste and fry.
3. Add spinach, fry half a minute and add the tomatoes.
4. Add the dry powders after the tomatoes get cooked.
5. Add paneer and a little water and cook till done. Be careful while adding salt as the paneer might be salty already. I made use of the masala paneer available in the Indian grocery. Give it a try.
6. Garnish with coriander and serve with rotis.

Serving tips:
1. You can use this to make paneer kathi rolls. Spread the paneer on the rotis and roll them tight to make the kathi rolls or wrap. You can heat it once on a tawa if you wish to. This can be used for travel or pack lunch boxes. It can be served anytime of the day. This is also a way to use your leftover rotis. You can also use this idea to conceal veggies which your kids don't eat otherwise.


2. You can stuff this inside dosa to make paneer masala dosa. The other way is, arrange 2 or 3 layers of dosa with paneer in between, roll them tight, slice them into pieces and serve. You can pour some curd on the top and serve as curd dosa similar to curd vada.

3. You can make paneer sandwiches by filling this in between bread slices and toasting it or even make stuffed paneer parathas.

Needless to say, this goes to the kids lunch event.

http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/03/monthly-mingle-31-kids-lunches.html http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-monthly-mingle.html