| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 40 min |
| Prep: | 20 min |
| Cook: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds fresh baby spinach, washed and stems trimmed
- 1/4 cup Ghee, recipe follows
- 1/2 pound cubed paneer cheese
- 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon Curry Powder, recipe follows
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt
- Salt
- 1 pound unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon cardamom seeds
- 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
- 2 dried red chiles, broken in pieces, seeds discarded
- 1 tablespoon turmeric
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, toss in the spinach and blanch for 1 minute until very tender. Dump the spinach into a colander and press firmly with the back of a spoon to extract as much water as possible, set aside.
- Heat the ghee in a deep skillet over medium-high flame. Add the cubed paneer and fry for a couple of minutes until light brown on all sides, gently turning to avoid breaking up the cubes. Remove the cheese from the skillet and set aside.
- Return the skillet to the heat and sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger; cook and stir for about 5 minutes until soft. Sprinkle the mixture with the curry powder; continue to stir to marry the flavors, about 1 minute. Fold in the chopped spinach and give everything a good toss. Shut off the heat and stir the buttermilk and yogurt into the spinach to incorporate. The mixture should be creamy and somewhat thick. Gently fold in the fried paneer cubes, season with salt, to taste, and serve with steamed basmati rice and/or flat bread.
- Put the butter in a heavy saucepan over moderate heat, swirl the pot around to ensure that it melts slowly and does not sizzle or brown. Increase the heat and bring the butter to a boil. When the surface is covered with foam, stir gently and reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting. Gently simmer, uncovered, and undisturbed for 45 minutes, until the milk solids in the bottom of the pan have turned golden brown and the butter on top is transparent. Strain the ghee through a sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth. The ghee should be perfectly clear and smell nutty; pour into a glass jar and seal tightly.
- Toast the whole spices (coriander, cumin, fennel, cloves, mustard, cardamom and peppercorns) and the chiles in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, shaking the pan often to prevent them from burning. Toast for a couple of minutes until the spices smell fragrant. In a clean coffee grinder, grind the toasted spices together to a fine powder. Add the turmeric and give it another quick buzz to combine. Use the spice blend immediately, or store in a sealed jar for as long as 1 month.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 4 servings |
| Calories | 1005 |
| Total Fat | 97 g |
| Saturated Fat | 60 g |
| Carbohydrates | 25 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Sugar | 8 g |
| Protein | 17 g |
| Cholesterol | 257 mg |
| Sodium | 1207 mg |
Reviews
Curry powder is a misnomer, especially when dealing with Indian vegetarian cuisine.
This is not a good recipe. It is NOT at all creamy. Keep looking for a better recipe. I wish I had read the other reviews about putting it in a blender!!
After reading the recipe and the reviews, I made this recipe with only a few minor variations. I more than tripled the spices other than chilis and I left the heat on as I added the spinach and for a few minutes after to evaporate a bit of the moisture. Before adding the paneer, I buzzed my emulsion blender a few times in the pot. I served the leftovers to one of my coworkers who is from India and has only been in NY since Aug 1st. He said that it was very similar to the Palak Paneer his mother makes and he asked me how I made it. After telling him the recipe, he said the key is to make sure you sautee the onions and spices until they are well browned and “dry” before adding the spinach which brings out the flavors, makes the color richer and helps thicken the sauce. Otherwise, this is exactly how Palak Paneer is made and Saag Paneer is the same recipe, just using mustard greens instead of spinach. It was good enough that he ate all of the leftovers.
Like several other people have said, this recipe does not make saag paneer. The result doesn’t look or taste anything like traditional saag paneer. What came out wasn’t exactly horrid, but it was not what I was expecting. If you want reall saag paneer get a different recipe.
made this recipe 4 or 5 times … i take an immersion blender to it right before serving to creamy it up, works perfectly. so, all those complaining of watery consistency or lack of restaurant authenticity, take the blade to it! takes 15 seconds, and everyone’s happy.
The outcome of the recipe is great. I have made the following changes:
Instead of 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger, I use 1/2 cup, 1/4 finely chopped, 1/4 grated. I guess I just like the taste of ginger a lot.
instead of 1 teaspoon of the (homemade) curry I use 1 1/2 tablespoons
instead of 1/2 cup of buttermilk ONLY I use 1 cup of buttermilk and 1/2 cup of Weight Watchers cream cheese (try it for cooking it’s a light replacement of Creme Fraiche if you happen to watch your weight.)
Instead of 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger, I use 1/2 cup, 1/4 finely chopped, 1/4 grated. I guess I just like the taste of ginger a lot.
instead of 1 teaspoon of the (homemade) curry I use 1 1/2 tablespoons
instead of 1/2 cup of buttermilk ONLY I use 1 cup of buttermilk and 1/2 cup of Weight Watchers cream cheese (try it for cooking it’s a light replacement of Creme Fraiche if you happen to watch your weight.)
I keep several portions of the finished product in the freezer as a quick accompaniment to Indian-style meals (chick pea curry, etc.) If after freezing it pools a little liquid, well DUH, just drain it off. It doesn’t impair the great taste.
BTW the curry recipe imbedded in this recipe is terrific. Just make sure to toast the whole spices *a little bit* in a pan over med heat to activate the essential flavor oils as recommended. Let cool before grinding.
WOW!!! I do believe that I have lost the words to say how terrible and dissapointing this recipe is! being the years of education in culinary classes, I highly recommend “do not try” this recipe. I know that I have never had a failure with this website. However, please do take this off the site so no one else will have enduer this tragedy!
Don’t know how you threw this together but its certainly NOT Saag Paneer. Why don’t you try tasting the original first before you waste people’s time.
I am currently trying to save this recipe. I made it according to directions and have a weird, watery mess sitting on my stove. There’s almost no flavor to anything – I’ve added a lot more salt and curry than this calls for and it still tastes like almost nothing. I can’t figure it out, but this recipe doesn’t work! I wish I hadn’t spent the time & money to try it.
I have made this recipe at 5-6 times and everytime it gets rave reviews! And we are talking about real Indian food lovers. It is delicious.