Recipes – № 45
Saag Paneer
Last spring, one of the dairy farmers started bringing fresh paneer to the market and since then I’ve been making saag paneer at least once during each spring or fall spinach season. Paneer is a mild, unaged Indian cheese and saag paneer is a classic Indian dish of spinach and pan-fried paneer.
If you can’t find paneer, it’s easy to make your own and there are plenty of recipes online (here’s one). If you think becoming a cheese maker is taking the ‘homemade is always better’ mentality one step to far, consider this: Paneer is the simplest cheese imaginable. It’s made by separating milk solids from whey by adding something acidic like lemon juice to hot milk and then pressing out the water using cheesecloth. That’s it. There is no rennet, mold or bacterial action going on, and paneer might be more accurately described as solid milk, rather than cheese. You could tell your friends you’re making spinach with crispy, pan-fried milk cubes, though they’ll probably think you’ve gone molecular.
Serves 8 as a main course with rice
3 cups basmati rice
2 lbs spinach
1 lb paneer
12 garlic cloves
⅔-inch piece of fresh ginger (around 1 Tbsp peeled and chopped)
3 green serrano peppers, green jalapeno peppers or other moderately hot green or purple peppers. Alternatively, use a smaller quantity of hotter green or purple peppers (optional)
¾ tsp cumin seeds
3 onions
¾ tsp dried ground turmeric or a 2-inch piece of fresh turmeric root (around ¾ Tbsp chopped)
¾ tsp coriander seeds
¾ tsp black mustard seeds
6 cloves
Seeds from 2 small cardamom pods
¾ cup plain whole milk yogurt
A generous squeeze of lime or lemon juice
Dried red chili flakes to taste (optional)
5 Tbsp olive oil
Equipment: spice/coffee grinder or mortar and pestle; blender or food processor
Wash and, if necessary, trim the spinach. Cut the paneer into 1-inch cubes. Peel and finely chop the garlic, ginger (and fresh turmeric, if using). Remove the stems and seeds from the green chilis and chop finely. Peel and coarsely chop the onion.
Cook the rice in a rice cooker or pot according to the package instructions.
Meanwhile, heat a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, add olive oil and fry the paneer cubes. Turn them after 3 minutes and again after 3 more minutes to achieve 3 crispy sides on each cube. Remove the cheese from the pot and set aside.
Add the remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil and add the garlic, ginger, green chili peppers, cumin seeds (and any fresh turmeric) and sauté for 1 minute. Add the onions and sauté until soft but not browned, around 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, grind the coriander seeds, black mustard seeds, cloves and cardamom seeds using a (clean) coffee or spice grinder or a mortar and pestle. When the onions are cooked, add salt, the ground spices and any dried turmeric and sauté for another minute. Add the spinach and cook covered, stirring occasionally, until wilted (about 4 minutes). Add yogurt and the lime/lemon juice. Transfer to the blender or food processor (possibly working in two rounds) and puree until the spinach appears chopped but before it becomes completely smooth. Return the mixture to the pot along with the paneer, briefly reheat if necessary, and add red chili flakes, more salt or lemon juice to taste. Serve over rice.
Recipe adapted from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food II.
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