Palak Paneer

Quick & easy recipe if you have all the ingredients available...

INGREDIENTS

1. Spinach - 1 sprig - finely chopped/ 1 box of frozen spinach
2. Paneer / Cottage Cheese - 100 gms (soak in boilingn hot water for 5 mins before adding to the gravy)
3. Onion - 1 - chopped
4. Tomato - 2 - chopped
5. Jeera/ cumin seeds - 1 tbsp
6. Green chilly - 2
7. Dried red chilly - 1
8. Oil - 2 tbsp
9. Turmeric powder - a pinch
10. Ghee / Clarified butter - 1 tsp
11. Milk - 1 cup / cream - half cup
12. Salt to taste

METHOD

Boil the spinach in water along with green chilly, salt & turmeric pwd either in the gas or in the microwave. After its done let it cool then puree it & keep aside.

In a pan heat 1 tbsp of oil & saute the onion... when it turns translucent add the chopped tomatoes and saute till the raw smell of the tomato disappears. After this let it cool a little & puree it.

Now heat the rest of the oil in a pan and add jeera once it splutters add the onion-tomato puree and after 2 mins add the spinach puree and cook for 5 mins... till you see little oil floating... add water if the gravy is very thick. Try and do a quick taste check for salt & chilly. Add a little more if required as per yout taste.

Once its cooked add the milk / cream to the gravy. This gives it a very rich taste. The cream more than the milk. Keep 1 tbsp of cream aside for garnishing. Let the gravy cook with the milk for a while.

Now add the paneer pieces and let the gravy coat each paneer cube & cook for a few mins.

In a separate pan add the ghee... once thats heated add a pinch of jeera & the dried red chilly... pour this on top of the spinach gravy as a garnish and top this with the spoon of cream.

This serves 2 - 3 people and goes well with chapatis, phulkas, roti, naan, paratha... basically any Indian bread.